social issues in south asia

Growth in the region is dampening, says the World Bank in its twice-a-year update, underscoring the need for countries to build resilience. In Sri Lanka, the period of victory over the LTTE and its aftermath saw autocratization under the rule of the Rajapaksa family, a trend that changed when a new government came to power in 2015. The Baloch revolt is likely to endure, as the security establishment has not created a self-sustaining pro-state political order, but it does not currently pose a severe threat to state power. To learn more about cookies, click here. In functional terms, India could be compared to the European Union. HMk1+tLDiB;;lbCKrVb5;zL3W=~,PA+h~={|7bem]}274(gHR/f5>0DT|[iJ)%EkllWF4o6#2mKTk5Wu#kN8I*bP"P3/@G (cP As Nepals government went through extraordinary tumult in the early 2000s, the Maoists expanded their reach and fought the state to a standstill. With this knowledge, they can identify some of the early signs of mental health issues. Issues like water scarcity, poverty, food insecurity, resource depletion, climate change, environmental degradation, inadequacy of health services, and so forth directly affect millions of South Asians. Y$+nEq7q4},@B-A)?XH;Y.GQ4TU All of the active conflict zones remain potential areas of resurgence (for instance, the TTP has been trying to re-consolidate), but, compared to a decade ago, Pakistans security establishment has achieved a major shift in the balance of forces. In a number of cases, a self-sustaining, pro-state political order remains distant, and the security apparatus is instead needed to deter or contain resistance. Database searches were conducted in eight electronic databases. The political landscape of South Asia has changed dramatically in the last two decades. Despite the history of female leadership in the region, many women in South Asia face significant challenges throughout their entire lives. The same is true of the internal security buildup, both in terms of funding and MHA force sizes, as well as the policies toward both the Northeast and Naxalite-influenced areas. Annika and Nehal from the That Desi Spark podcast formerly known as The Woke Desi say they began their Donate to the Transnational Institute and While economic distress is weighing down all South Asian countries, some are coping better than others. ,MFYir`hJS(;e+\ /e*A:nXsv)GG`P`.AH &# #10 bE2?``8 cN#CA.&MeZ$i {``P,34@ 0} India and the international community have put sustained pressure on Pakistan to reduce its support for militants and terrorists. A participant at the 2018 World Nomad Games at Kyrchyn Gorge, Kyrgyzstan. In the face of these shocks, countries need to build stronger fiscal and monetary buffers, and reorient scarce resources towards strengthening resilience to protect their people.. Finally, the paper anticipates a call for the collective colloquium of south Asian social movements. None of this implies that the military has monopolized violence. This conflict, which experienced a resurgence in 2005, has not gone away and continues to be politically important. Such massive populations present economic opportunities for South Asian countries but also leave the regionone already prone to floods and heat wavesmore vulnerable to climate change and the spread of disease. The gap between promise and reality is widest in this region. Released today, the latest South Asia Economic Focus, Coping with Shocks: Migration and the Road to Resilience, projects regional growth to average 5.8 percent this year - a downward revision of 1 percentage point from the forecast made in June. It is also important that South Asian youth and families have discussions about their mental health struggles and learn ways to improve them. Fears of Pakistans collapse and rise of a revolutionary Islamist project drove international efforts to bolster state counterinsurgency capacity. The main reason is the general scarcity of two critical resources essential to the development and implementation of such policies: capital and technology. But all three have arrived in rapid succession over the past two years and are testing South Asias economies, said Martin Raiser, World Bank Vice President for South Asia. And in Nepal, a Maoist insurgency fought its way into a stalemate with Nepals security forces by 2005. Central Asian Society Drifts From Soviet Past, National Cultures Put on Display at Central Asian World Nomad Games, Central Asian Migration to Russia Brings Money, Social Problems. With the end of Cold War, social movement discourse of south Asia has been featured with identity-based movements, and it became more apparent after the emergence of non-state activism in the region. 0000007388 00000 n startxref 0000007939 00000 n Its home to Regions of the World, Return to South Asia is an immensely diverse and densely populated region. By using this website, you agree to our cookie policy. Despite having a long historical background, critics suggest that the social movements are increasingly contested with identity politics and agrarian issues. Crucially, however, this resurgence of state coercive power remains contested: while a new era of powerful states untroubled by internal competitors may have begun, there are reasons to be cautious. From 2002 to 2006, there was a ceasefire before brief, ill-fated negotiations that collapsed back into pitched warfare. In extreme cases, there were fears of partial or total state failure. These approaches to therapy are difficult to translate across language and cultures without appropriate modification. 0000003857 00000 n -- Volume 25, Number 1, April 2010, Editorial Board 0000006899 00000 n -- Volume 34, Number 2, July 2019, Editorial Board -- Volume 21, Number 2, October 2006, Editorial Board In one Bollywood blockbuster, Two States, star-crossed lovers navigate their backgrounds from Punjab and Tamil Nadu, two Indian states from the north and farthest south of the country, with different languages and cultures. India is so large and diverse that it seems to be more a continent than a country. WebSocial and political issues LGBT communities. xref -- Volume 26, Number 1, April 2011, Editorial Board India and Pakistan continue to heavily garrison areas of insurgency, regardless of violence levels. -- Volume 24, Number 1, April 2009, Editorial Board Across all South Asian countries, patriarchal values and social norms tend to privilege men and boys access to opportunities and control over resources. These inequalities are manifested across the life cycle from conception, to birth, to childhood, adolescence through to adult life. -- Volume 22, Number 1, April 2007, Editorial Board -- Volume 28, Number 1, March 2013, Editorial Board Sharing part of this critique, the paper argues that the social movement has been undergone with the formation of contested domain of polity incorporating the previously neglected issues of poverty, inequality and marginalization. Social movements in southern Asia have been shaped by the social relations dominated by the elites of the south Asian societies who share some common features in terms of culture and ideology. 92 0 obj <>stream Suppressing violence is not necessarily the same as resolving conflict. Most anti-state revolts across the subcontinent have been crushed, demobilized, or contained. Figure 5 shows trends in V-Dems Liberal Democracy index since 2000 (higher numbers indicate greater liberal democracy). ;`w#O*>Brq` pdtw:E7[mEb"0pf"AEA57A{)c Anti-India armed groups are alleged to still operate on Pakistani soil, the Afghan Taliban has consistently used sanctuary along the Afghan border, and localized armed actors have worked with the state in counterinsurgency zones. South Asian countries have poor health care systems. Afghanistan has only 2.8 physicians per 10,000 people, Bhutan 3.8, Bangladesh 5.3, and Nepal 6.5, a 10th of the number in more advanced countries. Even India, which has one of the strongest health systems in the region, has only 7.8 physicians per 10,000 people ( Rasul, 2020 ). Some of the reasons include intergenerational conflict or the stress of adapting into western society. Without cookies your experience may not be seamless. Rapid urbanization has also led to high levels of air pollutionthe region is home to eighteen of the worlds twenty most polluted cities. This has not been a seamless process, and there have been various forms of political violence and conflict since the end of the civil war, but the war has nevertheless decisively ended. Some may still follow through with their desires in secrecy, but live in a constant fear of being found out. -- Volume 33, Number 1, March 2018, Editorial Board A chart showing the death rate of diarrheal diseases in Bangladesh going down as the percentage of people in Bangladesh using at least basic sanitation services goes up over the years. Cloudflare Ray ID: 7c066082ba9642ea The second factor in reducing insurgent violence has been Indias effective use of ceasefires, demobilization deals, and amnesties in the Northeast to peel off and demobilize insurgent factions. It emerges amid growing water crises in many regions, which have come to constitute a global crisis. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. While it has not disappeared and still has the potential for a major resurgence, there has been a dramatic fall from its high point of influence. Since 1965, when U.S. immigration laws replaced a national quota system, the number of immigrants living in the U.S. has more than quadrupled. It is based on conversations that took place at the Our Future is Public conferencein Santiago, Chile, in 2022, and is part of the movements critical response to- and reflections on the UN 2023 WaterConference. 0000008464 00000 n This is not a simple story of state capacity, however: coercive power has been deployed in selective ways, including cases in which a state ignores or cooperates with non-state armed groups, from militias to vigilantes. Kazakhstan used the inaugural games to showcase its national heritage and historic connection to the land just one week after Russian President Vladimir Putin insinuated that the former Soviet Republic should never have become an independent country. From 2006 to 2009, government forces and the LTTE waged an extremely intense, mostly conventional conflict with extensive human rights abuses. For example, the TTP is alleged to be regrouping in Afghanistan, Pakistan claims that India is supporting Baloch rebels, the Taliban operates out of Pakistan, India focuses on Pakistans long history of support for terrorist and militant groups, and Indian media signals concern about Chinese backing for insurgents in the Northeast. State police forces have been built up in conflict areas, fueled in part by infusions of resources from the central government. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. -- Volume 30, Number 1, March 2015, Editorial Board The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum. As commonly conceptualised, South Asia consists of the countries Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, with Afghanistan also often included.. Topographically, it is dominated by the Indian subcontinent and defined It is in Kashmir where the Modi government has most dramatically shifted policy by revoking the autonomy of and bifurcating the state of Jammu and Kashmir, accompanied by a massive crackdown on movement, communication, and political activity. Familiar landmarks created by the cold war have not Three states have populations of over one hundred million people. These changes across South Asia may be permanent, heralding the dominance of the state after a long period of persistent insurgent challenges. Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia, Editorial Board In India and Sri Lanka, mob violence and vigilantism have occurred with the connivance or tacit neglect of leading political parties. In 2018, there were less than 100 reported conflict-related fatalities, compared to approximately 1,100 in 2008. hTn0E|,[um)Bj,CM=!E*. These trajectories matter because political exclusion and partial democracies marked by factionalism can contribute to revolt, especially when combined with a potentially more volatile international environment. Finally, an insurgency grinds on in Balochistan, where a welter of Baloch rebels fights in an area of growing strategic and resource importance, including a Chinese presence linked to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Labor mobility across and within countries enables economic development by allowing people to move to locations where they are more productive. Nature-Society relations provide the foundation for social, economic, political, and environmental problems. The region is characterised by rapidly changing socioeconomic scenario, fast-increasing SOJOURN is published thrice a year, in March, July and November. Another major source of political violence in Pakistan was militarized electoral competition in Karachi, where the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)an armed political party with a strong base among ethnic Muhajirshad been a crucial presence in the city since the 1980s. Indias government battled ongoing insurgencies in Kashmir, the Naxalite belt in interior India, and the Northeast. 0000000896 00000 n Secondly, policymakers can de-risk migration through several means including more flexible visa policies, mechanisms to support migrant workers during shocks, and social protection programs. 1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW -- Volume 38, Number 1, March 2023, Editorial Board In the first decade of the 2000s, both Nepal and Sri Lanka grappled with major insurgencies. Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses. Having beaten back this challenge, the Pakistan Army has emerged as an even more influential force. Both separatist and revolutionary insurgencies presented serious challenges in India; Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban, rose with frightening speed to challenge a long-complacent Pakistani security establishment; Maoist insurgents mobilized against the Nepali government; the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; Tamil Tigers) carved out a de facto state in northern Sri Lanka; and some predicted a rising violent Islamist tide in Bangladesh. But there are downsides too. Afghanistan is not producing national accounts statistics since August 2021, so they are excluded from the table. As an admittedly crude proxy, however, overall conflict-related fatalities data leaves little doubt about broad trends. Religion in South Asia: Diverse But Source of Tension. This creates an internal struggle among South Asians who have been socialized to believe that family loyalty is of utmost importance. Others may comply with the expectations required of them, but at the cost of losing their sense of self, their self-concept. And these challenges will likely become more severe as the regions population continues to balloon. Exports and the services sector in India, the regions largest economy, have recovered more strongly than the world average while its ample foreign reserves served as a buffer to external shocks. Geopolitical stability and regional relationships WebContemporary South Asia (1992), 1(1), 143-146 Commentary Challenges and opportunities for South Asia M. B. NAQVI The destruction of both communism and the Soviet state in what was the USSR has profoundly changed the geopolitical environment of South Asia. In Bangladesh, regime repression of dissent and of opposition movements have been commonplace. wL/O0jG&rR>w y]YO_W! ;Kw6A?KFkdfA&A67iug!~W\?mnbydk1KS1YQzsL0]|m How Do Californias Asian Americans View U.S. Foreign Policy? Drawing on its nomadic culture, Kyrgyzstan launched the World Nomad Games in 2014. -- Volume 24, Number 2, October 2009, Editorial Board The TTP was badly damaged by escalating military crackdowns between 2009 and 2014, most dramatically in the 2014 Zarb-e-Azb offensive. Firstly, cutting the costs migrants face should be high on the policy agenda. There are various currents of social movements, today, across the region, which have become strengthened and highly vocal over last three decades. South Asias migrant workers, many of whom are employed in the informal sector, were disproportionately affected when restrictions to movement were imposed during COVID-19. -- Volume 33, Number S, 2018, Editorial Board Social movements in southern Asia have been shaped by the social relations dominated by the elites of the south Asian societies who share some common features in New forms of state and non-state coercion have become more politically prominent, especially localized mob and vigilante violence, which are often linked to, rather than aimed at, the state and ruling parties. There has been less political accommodation than in Indias Northeast, and human rights abuses are pervasive, fusing counterinsurgency with the broader political objectives of the military in managing Pakistans political sphere. In nutshell, although having a century long background of various social movements, South Asia is undergoing a burgeoning phase of social movements transformation, which is outcome of the various factors including reluctantly changing state structure vis--vis social development, rights regime, marginalization, and conflict resolutions. Click to reveal Research has repeatedly demonstrated that a fulfilling career leads to better life satisfaction, and as a result, lower psychological problems. This triggered a major MHA response combined with the efforts of state police forces, as well as the involvement in some places and times of a controversial progovernment militia. Here are seven challenges the bloc faces in promoting sustainable economic growth, and suggested steps to solve them. The growing size and resources of internal security forces, consolidation of powerful regimes, and changed international environment may have made rebellion increasingly unsustainable, even when political grievances remain. 0000001688 00000 n Moving from corporate responsibility to impact, US Fed likely to make final interest rate hike in May, and other economy stories you need to read this week, World Economic Outlook shows economies facing high uncertainty, Mehdi Benatiya Andaloussi and Chiara Maggi, Heres what the mixed economic messages mean for business, IMF: Fiscal policy can promote economic stability and address risks to public finances, Francesca Caselli, Vitor Gaspar, Gee Hee Hong and Paulo Medas, Inflation reaches lowest point in almost two years, is affecting economies, industries and global issues, with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale. Being a homeland of number of caste and ethnic groups, the ways and process of how the social movements interact with contentious politics (and vice-versa) have been still less theorized empirically in the Asian societies. Finally, domestic political instability can provide both opportunity and motivation for insurgency. While trying to fit into a western society that prides itself on individual expression, they may find themselves navigating a culture at home where personal boundaries are blurred, and self-identity is determined by the validation of their family and community. First, violence suppression is not the same as conflict resolution. It rings true in south Asian countries where the society is rapidly changing with a complex set of State-society relationship. So while state governments can set their official languages and control their finances, the central government is in charge of communications, defense, diplomacy, and monetary policy. The countries of South Asia are incredibly diverse, so there are no simple takeaways from these trends. -- Volume 32, Number 3, November 2017, Editorial Board Like most international sporting events, the World Nomad Games also serve as a political forum. And similar to Europe, local identity is strong in Indiaturnout for state assembly elections is often higher than that for national elections. The return of tourism is helping to drive growth in Maldives, and to a lesser extent in Nepalboth of which have dynamic services sectors. Pandemics, sudden swings in global liquidity and commodity prices, and extreme weather disasters were once tail-end risks. Politics in South Asia. Nevertheless, the homeownership rate is on the rise among Asian Americans, increasing from 53% in 2000 to 59% in 2019. -- Volume 31, Number 2, July 2016, Editorial Board Meanwhile, Bangladeshanother neighboraccommodates a population over half the size of the United States in an area the size of Iowa. Finally, Nepal has meaningfully improved its democratic practice since the end of its civil war. 0000002159 00000 n University of Windsor provides funding as a member of The Conversation CA-FR. A chart showing the percentage of Kyrgyzstan's GDP that remittances make up. Finally, Bangladesh has become a de facto competitive authoritarian regime in which the ruling Awami League established a dominant position. -- Volume 30, Number 2, July 2015, Editorial Board Released today, the latest South Asia Economic Focus, Coping with Shocks: Migration and the Road to Resilience, projects regional growth to average 5.8 percent this year - a downward revision of 1 percentage point from the forecast made in June. WebPeople and Society South Asia is densely populated and immensely diverse. Beginning at a young age, girls in the region are sometimes excluded entirely from education. As a result, millions of people from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan looking for work traveled north to Russia, where wages were higher, jobs were plentiful, and the language was familiar. 0000043115 00000 n South Asia consists of a remarkably diverse religious landscape. AoDCkso:DQ2 " Like European countries, Indias states are drawn along ethnic and linguistic lines and have distinct cultures. Growing poverty, high illiteracy, a crisis in governance and threats to human security are issues of growing concern in South Asia. 0(z5&owdB\ztmz}fCKm'4 /gpYu&1;O+aF(|i%X Consequently, many young South Asians keep their relationships hidden due to internalized shame and a fear of being rejected by their families. The LTTE was finally defeated, at a huge civilian cost, in 2009. For many youth, entering into a relationship prior to marriage is discouraged. This means that many western-trained therapists may find it difficult to comprehend the deeply ingrained cultural nuances of South Asian communities. The state is resurgent, and insurgencies have been eliminated or contained. This leads to heightened levels of psychological stress and interference with the identity formation process, especially when a person feels a stronger connection to the dominant western culture. With all this linguistic, ethnic, and political diversity, how has India stuck together as a single country for so long? The Indian Army also has an important presence in J&K and the Northeast, contributing to a vast security footprint that can suppress insurgent violence. Areas of special concern are ethnicity, religion, urbanization, migration, and development. Beset with Sri Lankas economic crisis, Pakistans catastrophic floods, a global slowdown, and impacts of the war in Ukraine, South Asia faces an unprecedented combination of shocks on top of the lingering scars of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now and Always,The Trusted Content Your Research Requires, Now and Always, The Trusted Content Your Research Requires, Built on the Johns Hopkins University Campus. The forces pursued a grim counterinsurgency policy: extrajudicial killings, disappearances, and a heavy security footprint coupled with surveillance and monitoring. The analysis presented will contribute to defining Americas Role in Asia. Although The resulting squeeze on real income is severe, particularly for the regions poor who spend a large share of their income on food. From the viewpoint of economics, the high population growth in South Asia has slowed down economic growth, increased the foreign trade imblance, and worsened In all of these cases, anti-state violence is now below its twenty-first-century peak. This follows growth of 7.8 percent in 2021, when most countries were rebounding from the pandemic slump. It is seen that modernization, democratization, political ideologies and emergence of mass societies threatened the personal and collective identities and the advancement in information systems have sustained peoples struggles against the dominant world view of the State and elites. During monsoon season, Dhaka and Mumbais streets flood regularly due to clogged drains and the cities low elevation. Riots between Hindu and Muslim groups in India killed over a thousand people in 2002. India's child malnutrition levels nearly double those of sub-Saharan Africa; one in ten Pakistani Religious discrimination, however, has often been a divisiveeven violentforce in the region. Children of South Asian immigrants may face challenges associated with the pressure of straddling two different worlds. The movements have become contested power games around the issues of class, caste/ethnicity, gender, region and development. Yet a peace process emerged that eventually led to the CPN-Ms demobilization and the Maoists incorporation into mainstream electoral politics. This success is usually chalked up to the central government striking a delicate balance of state autonomy and national unity. South Asian countries report the highest prevalence of common mental disorders (CMDs) globally. Pakistans counterinsurgency successes have been accompanied by the militarys enduring political power and serious limits on rights. 167.172.145.158 The reliability of data from this conflict environment is extremely limited: disappearances, dubious claims about the identity of the dead, extensive human rights abuses, and restricted media and NGO access have been characteristics of the last three decades. The group has since splintered, with cadres retreating into Afghanistan, abandoning the fight, or lying low. 0000004679 00000 n -- Volume 35, Number 3, November 2020, Editorial Board

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social issues in south asia