India’s regional connectivity efforts now have a dynamic, data-driven face in Sambandh, a platform developed by the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP). Conceived in 2020 by researcher Riya Sinha and her colleagues, Sambandh consolidates decades of data on India’s cross-border projects into an interactive map designed as a “public good” for policymakers, journalists, academics, and investors alike.
“South Asia is one of the least connected regions in the world. We wanted to break that down,” said Sinha, who initiated the project. “By visualizing infrastructure, trade, and other linkages, the aim is not to answer questions but to raise them—where are the gaps, where is the density, what more can India do?”
The first phase focused on Bhutan, with 39 projects mapped after nearly 18 months of painstaking data collection and validation. The database highlights timelines, entities involved, and the scope of connectivity initiatives, including many private sector efforts that rarely make headlines. Since 2000, India’s regional projects have multiplied fivefold, with private sector participation rising from 15% to nearly 40%, according to CSEP Visiting Fellow Abhishek Agarwal, who is leading the project’s expansion.
Agarwal noted that Nepal is next, followed by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, which together could account for half the mapped projects. “The first phase was the most difficult. Now we have a framework and can realistically complete one country in six to nine months,” he said. The goal is to map all BIMSTEC countries within two years.
Challenges remain, particularly the lack of reliable financial data and the small size of the Sambandh team—just two or three core researchers. But Agarwal is optimistic, citing plans to engage young scholars, deepen collaboration with government agencies, and eventually automate updates through links with official databases.
Crowdsourcing, however, is unlikely. “Authentication is key,” Agarwal stressed. Instead, the project seeks partnerships with universities and think tanks to maintain quality.
For now, Sambandh offers a first-of-its-kind visualization of India’s neighborhood engagement. “Even if it stops here,” said Sinha, “it serves as a stepping stone for bigger things.”
In a career spanning three decades and counting, Ramananda (Ram to his friends) has been the foreign editor of The Telegraph, Outlook Magazine and the New Indian Express. He helped set up rediff.com’s editorial operations in San Jose and New York, helmed sify.com, and was the founder editor of India.com.
His work has featured in national and international publications like the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, Global Times and Ashahi Shimbun. But his one constant over all these years, he says, has been the attempt to understand rising India’s place in the world.
He can rustle up a mean salad, his oil-less pepper chicken is to die for, and all it takes is some beer and rhythm and blues to rock his soul.
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