Saape Poverty Report13 Final

CRISES, VULNERABILITY & POVERTY IN SOUTH ASIA
Peoples Struggles for Justice and Dignity
South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE)
Crises, Vulnerability & Poverty in South Asia Peoples Struggles for Justice and Dignity
Editorial Board: Babu Mathew Mohiuddin Ahmad Netra Prasad Timsina Sarba Raj Khadka Sharmila Karki Praman Adhikari Kunika Pandey Monalisa Editorial Advisors: Shobha Raghuram Arjun Karki Prabin Manandhar Country Authors: Afghanistan : Bangladesh : Bhutan : India : Maldives : Nepal : Pakistan : Sri Lanka :
Rafatullah Rahmatee Mohiuddin Ahmad Deo Narayan Sharma Dhakal, S.B. Subba, Karma Dupthob Sandeep Pendse, Sushovan Dhar, Sundara Babu Aneesa Yoosuf Sarba Raj Khadka, Padma Prasad Khatiwada Shujauddin Qureshi Balasingham Skanthakumar
With thanks to all those who have provided photographs for the publication. Date of Publication: September, 2013 Published by: SAAPE Secretariat 288 Gairidhara Marg, Gairidhara, Kathmandu, Nepal Tel.: +977 1-4004976, 4004985 Fax: +977 1-4004508, 4443494 E-mail: saape@saape.org Website: www.saape.org Printed in Kathmandu, Nepal at Sthapit Printing Press
Material from this report can be reproduced, republished and circulated for non-commercial and educational purposes, with due acknowledgment of the source. We appreciate being informed of the use of material and receiving a copy of the published document where possible. The report is available on the website of SAAPE, www.saape.org. No use of this publication may be made for resale or other commercial purposes without prior written consent of SAAPE. The opinions, facts and figures presented in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of our partners in any way, but are the sole responsibility of the authors concerned.
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Crises,Vulnerability & Poverty in South Asia: Peoples' Struggles for Justice and Dignity
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This report is the outcome of several peoples constant efforts and commitment. Dr. Dilli Raj Khanal, a noted political economist, contributed to the development of the conceptual framework and methodological approach of the report and helped comprehend alternative paradigms, providing guidance to country authors in these areas. The South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE) would like to thank him for his contributions without which this report would have been difficult to conceptualise. This report would not have been published without the eager involvement and contributions of all country authors, who prepared and depicted well their country situations. Mr. Rafatullah Rahmatee, Dr. Deo Narayan Sharma Dhakal, Dr. Sandeep Pendse, Ms. Aneesa Yoosuf, Dr. Sarba Raj Khadka, Mr. Shujauddin Qureshi, and Mr. Balasingham Skanthakumar compiled the country reports for Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, respectively. Likewise, Mr. S.B. Subba and Mr. Karma Dupthobs contributions to the Bhutan country report; Dr. Sundara Babu and Mr. Sushovan Dhars contributions to the India country report; Dr. Padma Prasad Khatiwada's contribution to the Nepal country report and Dr. Aly Ercelan and Ms. Zeenia Shaukats contributions to the Pakistan country report have made the entire report more critical, contextual and evidencebased. The continuous support and inputs including case studies received from Mr. Mohiuddin Ahmad, especially on the situation in Bangladesh, cannot go unmentioned. Thanks are due to Mr. Farooq Tariq (Pakistan), Mr. Herman Kumara (Sri Lanka), Ms. Arezo Qanih (Afghanistan), Mr. Ganesh BK (Nepal), Mr. S.B. Subba (Bhutan), Mr. Shushovan Dhar, Ms. Kunika Pandey and Ms. Monalisa (India) for providing contextual and relevant additional case studies, particularly on social movements in South Asia. We appreciate the constant guidance provided to the Secretariat by Dr. Shobha Raghuram, advisory member of SAAPE, including her critical and valuable feedback as well as suggestions. We are thankful to Dr. Arjun Karki, advisory member and immediate past co-ordinator of SAAPE, who provided political guidance and constant support during the entire process of preparing this report. Dr. Prabin Manandhars constructive input during the editorial work is greatly appreciated. We would like to thank Mr. Prem Dangal for providing constructive feedback in the making of this report. We are grateful to Prof. Babu Mathew, Dr. Sarba Raj Khadka, Mr. Mohiuddin Ahmad, Ms. Sharmila Karki, Ms. Kunika Pandey, Ms. Monalisa, Mr. Praman Adhikari and Dr. Netra Prasad Timsina for their substantive contributions to the editorial work. Thanks are due to Ms. Prerna Bomzan for her support and Ms. Sabhyata Timsina for her contribution during the copy editing of the report. We highly appreciate the support provided by Mr. Som Rai in the design of the report. We extend our gratitude to Mr. Kamal Tamang, Mr. Kishor Sharma, Mr. Laxmi Dahal and Mr. Bhojraj Ghimire for ensuring constant facilitation and logistical support at the Secretariat. SAAPE is also thankful to Prof. Dr. Ranbir Singh, Vice-Chancellor and Prof. Srikrishna Deva Rao, Registrar of the National Law University, New Delhi, India for hosting the editorial workshop of this report and providing both technical and logistical support. In closing, we would like to thank Bread for the World (BftW) for contributing to the vision of SAAPE - of poverty eradication and social justice in and beyond South Asia.
SAAPE Secretariat
Acknowledgements
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FOREWORD
Most governments of South Asian countries claim to be stern upholders of democracy. They claim to have maintained high levels of transparency and accountability and to have respected the rule of law necessary for the promotion of the interests of their citizens. These are nothing but political dogmas preached by most of the political forces in the region. This report provides and discusses evidence based narratives that uncover the realities of the concerned governments and their responsiveness to the social problems endured by the poor. Irrespective of the nomenclature of the political system and the political forces in these countries, they follow the modus operandi prescribed by the formidable structures of the neo-liberal economic development doctrine that promotes profit at the expense of people and planet. A broader analysis of the dominant development paradigm in operation is made in this report, highlighting its market centric nature and growth (not equity) led development, guided by the harmful principles enshrined in the texts of the Washington Consensus and World Trade Organisation (WTO), International Financial Institution (IFIs) and other instruments created for the suppression of the toiling masses in our part of the world. This has led to the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, widening the gap between the rich and the poor. Unbelievable scientific innovations and sociopolitical transformations have swept over the world during the past decades, impacting the great changes in South Asia, but they have failed to bring significant developments in the social, human rights, peace and justice fronts. Despite the oppressive forms of political and economic systems existing in South Asian states, the diverse forms of rights movements in the form of resistance movements are increasing. Peoples struggle against the ill forces of suppression, exploitation and marginalisation is becoming more and more purposeful, igniting the hope that these anti-people forces will soon be crippled. The current report is the fourth in the series of SAAPE's publication on poverty analysis and alternative development paradigms. The first report published in 2003 was an introduction to the iv status and nature of poverty in South Asian countries. The second, published in 2006, focused on five thematic areas; food sovereignty, gender justice, labour rights, peace, justice and demilitarisation and democratic and just governance in the region. The third report of 2010 analysed the poverty and vulnerability cycles, capturing the narratives of the survival and struggles of people in the region. All of these are available on the SAAPE website. The fourth report focuses on the crises, vulnerability and poverty in South Asia, building and expanding on previously discussed issues. The report features the voices of people against the injustice and indignity caused by the crisis-led vulnerability and poverty across the sub-continent and suggests sustainable alternatives. Thus, this report provides a critical review of the broad economic policy regime adopted by the South Asian states, the actors and factors influencing or dictating them. This is followed by an examination of transmission mechanisms and the likely effects on the national economy as well as living conditions of the people at the grassroots. The broad ramifications and impacts of the economic crisis on vulnerability and poverty have been analysed along with its impacts on various socioeconomic groups. Further, an assessment on the effect of globalisation on female workers in particular has been made within which the relation between the macroeconomic and labour policies and globalisation is debated. Other important analyses in the report concerns the ongoing social movements in South Asia and the impact of the acts of resistance against the effects of neo-liberal led policies and programmes. Finally, this report presents possible alternative development paradigms based on the emerging trend across South Asia of the peoples movements for restoration of the right to life and dignity. The alternative paradigms presented in this report does not stand independent, rather it strongly links the knowledge already built on by SAAPE in the poverty report of previous years. The alternative paradigm demands the reversing of the trickle-down or top-down approach of the
dominant paradigm that perpetuates the exploitation of the deprived and downtrodden through grabbing of resources, opportunities and benefits. The root of the problem is systemic and is linked to a state system driven by anti-people legal, regulatory and related institutional setups. The introduction of various people-centric progressive provisions in the constitution in South Asian countries should be regarded essential and recognised as one of the major ingredients of the alternative paradigm. It can be done through contributions toward transforming the status quo to a more progressive democratic system, not corporate interests, which are rapidly seizing state influence and directing state policies away from the people. An alternative paradigm advocates the need of comprehensive economic policies that could lead to enhanced productive capacity of the economy in which growth and productive employment of the workforce could go in tandem. At the grassroots level, community and cooperative-based production, services and organisations form the important ingredients of an alternative paradigm. Denouncing militarisation and campaigning for mutual trust and cooperation among the South Asian countries should be an implicit part of the alternative paradigm for South Asia. For the purpose of defending the alternative
paradigm, an alliance-building of people facing deprivation and marginalisation is the most powerful tool that can challenge the unequal power relations. It is required urgently that we develop strategies for investing in alliance-building that bring social transformations which last and profoundly affects people as individuals and as members of their communities. Social and existential problems do not deserve instrumentalist and technical solutions. Building durable and sustainable alliances while working through rights and dignity issues guarantee their realisation for millions left outside of development rights and entitlements. Strong alliances of social movements and peoples platforms in South Asia present rays of hope that bring countervailing power from people, thus returning power to the people at every sphere of life. I hope this report will be useful for those involved in the resistance against neo-liberal policies and those seeking an alternative development paradigm for change in South Asia, and also in the global level.
Netra Prasad Timsina (PhD) Co-ordinator
Foreword
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements Foreword Acronyms 1. Introduction 1.1 Growth, equity and HDI 1.2 Problems of low economic growth and HDI 1.3 Crisis in capitalism and harsh anti-working class conspiracies 1.4 Peoples resistance for change 2. States and Societies in South Asia 2.1 Afghanistan 2.2 Bangladesh 2.3 Bhutan 2.4 India 2.5 Maldives 2.6 Nepal 2.7 Pakistan 2.8 Sri Lanka 3. Broad Policy Regimes 3.1 Failure of building domestic capacity 3.2 Collusion between global and local capitalist forces 3.3 Peoples' resistance 3.4 Transmission mechanisms of neo-liberal policies 4. Impacts of Neo-Liberalism on the Poor and Vulnerable People 4.1 Notional concepts of poverty and vulnerability 4.2 Groups, people and areas that are impacted 5. Economic Globalisation and Gender Justice 5.1 Feminisation of poverty 5.2 Women's rights 5.3 Violence against Women (VAW) 5.4 Care economy- womens unrecognised economic contributions and labour burden 5.5 Economic empowerment of women III IV VIII 1 2 7 9 10 13 14 15 16 17 17 18 19 20 23 24 26 27 28 31 32 32 51 52 53 57 63 63
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6. Growing Militarisation and Threats to Democracy 6.1 Militarisation vs democratisation: a general concern 6.2 Societies in post-conflict situations 6.3 Societies in conflict situations 7. Resistance Movements in South Asia against Neo-Liberalism 7.1 Social movements for food sovereignty 7.2 Peasant movements against land grabbing 7.3 Peoples resistance against the militarisation and violation of human rights 7.4 Womens rights movements in South Asia 7.5 Struggle for freedom from slavery and slavery-like situations 7.6 Labour rights movements 7.7 Refugee rights movements 8. Unveiling an Alternative Development Paradigm References Annexes Annex 1: SAAPE Milestones Annex 2: Manesar Declaration, 2000 Annex 3: Statement of Concern; Statement of Purpose, 2002 Annex 4: Colombo Declaration, 2003 Annex 5: Kathmandu Declaration 2004 Annex 6: Kathmandu Declaration 2006 Annex 7: Kathmandu Declaration 2012 Annex 8: South Asia at a Glance
67 68 73 75 81 82 87 89 93 95 95 100 101 106 108 108 110 113 117 120 122 123 125
Contents
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Boxes
Box 3.1 Box 4.1 Box 4.2 Box 4.3 Box 4.4 Box 4.5 Box 4.6 Box 4.7 Box 4.8 Box 4.9 Box 5.1 Box 5.2 Box 5.3 Box 5.4 Box 5.5 Box 5.6 Box 5.7 Box 5.8 Box 7.1 Box 7.2 Box 7.3 Box 7.4 Box 7.5 Box 7.6 Box 7.7 Box 7.8 Box 7.9 Examples of liberal policies: Sri Lanka Mockery of fixing poverty threshold in India Farm loan waiver schemes do not benefit distressed farmers in Andra Pradesh Increasing food insecurity: land grabbing/plotting for non-productive purposes, a challenge to food security Debt devastates family's dreams in Nepal Suicides due to extreme poverty Plight of poor and vulnerable food insecure people Narratives of disaster affected people, Bangladesh Implication of liberalisation in Sri Lanka Hunger stalks millions as food insecurity grows in Pakistan Womens rights to land resources Reasons for weak influence and voice of women Symbol of resistance against VAW Demand for justice and security for women Kamalari practice in Nepal: custom of enslaving girls Chhaupadi - a stark denial of womens rights India: propagating discrimination through the taxation system? Womens right to migration for work was grossly violated Struggle against maize crop failure in Nepal Food sovereignty in India Cases of land acquisition and displacement of people in Sri Lanka Peoples resistance against Phulbari Coal Mine- a form of land grabbing in Bangladesh Irom Chanu Sharmila's struggle against militarisation Young girl challenging culture of violence The Haliya rights movement in Nepal Trade union movement to increase minimum wage Struggle of Bhutanese refugees 29 33 35 36 37 38 41 43 45 49 54 56 57 58 61 61 62 65 83 83 85 89 91 94 96 97 98
Figures
Figure 1.1 HDI ranking of South Asian countries Figure 1.2 Transmission mechanism through which multiple crises increase vulnerability and poverty Figure 1.3 Peoples grassroots movement geared to change economic discourse at global, regional, national and grassroots levels Figure 3.1 Neo-Liberal policies, transmission mechanisms and ramifications Figure 4.1 Poverty trends by different geographic domains from 1995/96 to 2010/11; Nepal viii Crises,Vulnerability & Poverty in South Asia: Peoples' Struggles for Justice and Dignity 6 8 11 30 38
Figure 4.2 Proportion of people BPL on the basis of geographic domains; Nepal Figure 4.3 Distribution of poor and total population by development regions; Nepal Figure 4.4 Countries of the world on Gini index Figure 4.5 Gini index in Bangladesh during 1984-2010 Figure 5.1 Victims of acid throwing in Bangladesh Figure 5.2 Different forms of VAW in Bangladesh Figure 6.1 Trend of military expenditure of selected regions and the World Figure 6.2 Increasing trend of military spending in South Asia Figure 6.3 Military expenditure of South Asian countries (as a per cent of the GDP) Figure 6.4 Military expenditure trend in Nepal (NPR) Figure 8.1 An alternative development paradigm for South Asia
39 40 46 47 59 60 69 70 71 73 105
Tables
Table 1.1 Population, economic growth rate, per capita income, HDI, inequality adjusted HDI, gender-based Inequality and poverty in South Asia 4 Table 1.2 Infant mortality rates, under-five mortality rate, life expectancy at birth, access to improved water source and improved sanitation 5 Table 4.1 Food consumption by selected communities in the CHT of Bangladesh 42 Table 5.1 SPI ranking of South Asian economies 66 Table 6.1 Expenditure scenario of South Asian countries over a period 70 Table 6.2 Military expenditure by country as a percentage of the GDP, 2010-2012 71
Contents
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ACRONYMS
AD ADB AFSPA AGM AIDS ANPFa ANWA APGB APL BC BDT BMP BNWLA BPL CA CAG CBS CEDAW CHT CPA CPN-M CRC CSRC DAB DRC EEZ ESAF EVAW FATA FC FDI FIAN GA GAD GAFWU GDP GEFONT GII x : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Anno Domini Asian Development Bank Armed Forces Special Powers Act Annual General Meeting Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome All Nepal Peasants Federation All Nepal Womens Association Andhra Pragathi Grameena Bank Above Poverty Line Before Christ Bangladeshi Taka Bangladesh Mahila Parishad Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association Below Poverty Line Constituent Assembly Comptroller and Auditor General Central Bureau of Statistics Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women Chittagong Hill Tracts Comprehensive Peace Agreement Communist Party of Nepal -Maoist Convention on the Rights of the Child Community Self Reliance Centre Da Afghanistan Bank Democratic Republic of Congo Exclusive Economic Zone Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility Elimination of Violence Against Women Federally Administered Tribal Areas Frontier Corps Foreign Direct Investment Food First Information and Action Network General Assembly Gender and Development Garment and Fashion Workers Union Gross Domestic Product General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions Gender Inequality Index
GM GNH GNP GoN HDI HIV HRLN HRW HSZ HUROB ICCPR ICDS ICESCR IDPs IFIs ILO IMF IMSE INGO INR IOM IRIN JVT KKNPP LDC LKR MDGs MNCs MoF MPI NAFSO NGO NLSS NPR NRVA NSSO NTUI PCJSS PDS PFF PKR PKRC
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :
Genetically Modified Gross National Happiness Gross National Product Government of Nepal Human Development Index Human Immunodeficiency Virus Human Rights Law Network Human Rights Watch High Security Zone The Human Rights Organisation of Bhutan International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Integrated Child Development Scheme International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Internally Displaced Persons International Financial Institutions International Labour Organisation International Monetary Fund Institute for Motivating Self-Employment International Non-governmental Organisation Indian Rupee International Organisation for Migration Integrated Regional Information Network Joint Verification Team Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant Least Developed Country Sri Lankan Rupee Millennium Development Goals Multinational Corporations Ministry of Finance Multidimensional Poverty Index National Fisheries Solidarity Movement Non-governmental Organisation Nepal Living Standards Survey Nepalese Rupee National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment National Sample Survey Organisation National Trade Union of India Parbatyo Chattagram Jana Samhati Samity Public Distribution System Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum Pakistani Rupee Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee Acronyms xi
PMANE PMB PPP PRGMEA PRSP PUCL RGoB RMG SAAPE SAARC SEZ SIPRI SPI SSF SSPI SSR STD TNC UAE UK UN UNCTAD UNDP UNESCAP UNESCO UNHCR UNMIN UNRISD UP UPA US USA USSR VAW VDC VMF VVER WFP WHO WID WTO
: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : :
: Peoples Movement Against Nuclear Energy Paddy Marketing Board Purchasing Power Parity Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper People's Union for Civil Liberties Royal Government of Bhutan ReadyMade Garments South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Special Economic Zone Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Social Protection Index Social Security Fund Summary Social Protection Indicator Security Sector Reform Sexually Transmitted Disease Transnational Corporation United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United Nations United Nations Conference on Trade and Development United Nations Development Programme United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees United Nations Mission in Nepal United Nations Research Institute for Social Development Uttar Pradesh United Progressive Alliance United States United States of America Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Violence against Women Village Development Committee Voluntary Migration Form Vodo-Vodyanoi Energetichesky Reactor World Food Programme World Health Organisation Women in Development World Trade Organisation
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1 1
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
1. INTRODUCTION
South Asia has a rich history which has contributed to the regions unique advancement over the ages. Many old civilisations of the world have their historical roots in South Asia. Thus, the land is endowed with rich and diverse cultures. The brave daughters and sons of this land have made historic contributions to the cause of humankind, including emancipation of people from slavery and various forms of injustices and exploitation. Likewise, abundant in natural resources, South Asia has a huge potential for progress and prosperity. While the historical context and geographical endowment make for a promising start, South Asia faces many challenges. A vast majority of people in South Asia are persistently struggling for better livelihood. Out of the total population of the world, almost one quarter - about 1.6 billion people - live in South Asia, today. Noticeably, more than 40 per cent of the worlds poor live in this region. Another distinguishing factor is the large variation in population size as well as the level and pace of socio-economic development across the region which is not similar to regional groupings in other parts of the world. As of 2011, in terms of population size; of a total of 1593 million people, India had the dominant share of around 75 per cent followed by Pakistan (11.1 per cent), Bangladesh (9 per cent), Afghanistan (1.7 per cent), Nepal (1.7 per cent), Bhutan (0.05 per cent) and the Maldives (0.02 per cent). With regard to gross domestic product (GDP) per capita measured in USD, the Maldives has the highest at USD 6405 followed by Sri Lanka at USD 2835, Bhutan at USD 2346, India at USD 1489, Pakistan at USD 1189, Bangladesh at USD 743, Nepal at USD 619 and Afghanistan at USD 543, in 2011.1 Out of the eight countries, four countries fall in the category of the UN-defined least developed countries (LDCs), of which three are landlocked. The share of distribution of GDP among the South Asian countries indicates that there is a lack of symmetrical distribution. For instance, in 2011, Indias share was 81.4 per cent of the total GDP of
1 Source: World Bank online database 2 Ibid 3 Ibid
USD 2271 billion compared to 9.3 per cent share of Pakistan and 4.9 per cent of Bangladesh. The effect of low level of GDP vis--vis GDP share is reflected in the cases of Afghanistan and Nepal, both standing at 0.8 per cent.
1.1 Growth, equity and HDI

The economic performance of countries in the South Asian region varies widely. Based on the relatively high growth performance of some South Asian countries, particularly India, South Asia as a whole is epitomised as a star performer or locomotive of the global economy compared to other parts of the world (UN, 2011). In reality, except for Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Maldives, the growth performance has either been low or has decelerated in recent years. In these three countries, growth rate has slightly improved from 6.1, 8.0 and 5.7 per cent between 2003 and 2007 to 6.7, 8.3 and 7.5 per cent during the period between 2007 and 2012, respectively.2 Contrarily, a deceleration in growth rate has taken place in India in recent years from 9.6 per cent between 2003 and 2007 to 6.9 per cent between 2007 and 2012. During both periods, growth performance of Pakistan was quite low at 3.0 to 3.5 per cent. Another low growth performer is Nepal at 4.8 per cent during the period of 2003 to 2007 and 3.9 per cent between the period of 2007 and 2012. In Bhutan, the growth rate has reduced considerably from 11.8 per cent between 2003 and 2007 to 5.6 per cent between 2007 and 2012.3 The statistics mentioned above clearly reflect the heterogeneous growth rate in South Asia. The fluctuations noted also underline the lack of sustainability of growth per se. Given that peoples lives are intertwined with the regions growth, it makes their involvement in both growth and outcome processes critically important. Such participation is linked to the policy regime and accompanying structural and institutional set ups,
Photo by: Mohiuddin Ahmed (Bangladesh)
Struggle for survival: Bangladeshi women workers in the informal sector both of which impact the development of productive forces, which in turn, determines social relations. It indicates that growth has to be accompanied by development which, inter alia, embodies equity and social justice; both principles being essential to the sustainability of growth itself. South Asia appears to be struggling on such fronts. A stark image of the region emerges from the analysis of the Human Development Index (HDI), the inequality adjusted HDI and the poverty by income and deprivation. These indicate that in addition to large variations among countries (which moves away from the rosy picture painted by the average growth trend of a few countries) the overall situation is quite alarming. The HDI of 0.558 of South Asia is one of the lowest in regional comparisons (UNDP, 2013). When inequality is adjusted, it reduces by more than one third to 0.395 which reiterates the high inequality in South Asia. The issue of exclusion is clearly highlighted by the gender inequality index (GII) which is extremely high at 0.568. It is almost at par with the GII of Sub-Saharan Africa, which is 0.577. The HDI is relatively high for Sri Lanka at 0.715 followed by the Maldives at 0.688, India at 0.554, Bhutan at 0.538, Pakistan at 0.515, Bangladesh at 0.515, Nepal at 0.463 and Afghanistan at 0.374. However, such ratios are reduced considerably when inequality is adjusted. These come down to 0.607 for Sri Lanka, 0.515 for the Maldives, 0.392 for India, 0.430 for Bhutan, 0.374 for Bangladesh, 0.356 for Pakistan and 0.301 for Nepal. Two types of ratios, for instance, show that inequality is high in Pakistan compared to Bangladesh (see table 1.1 and 1.2). The Human Development Report of 2013 confirms that in most South Asian countries, the score in terms of the HDI is very low. Out of the 187 countries, Norway ranks first while Niger ranks last. Although Sri Lanka and the Maldives are
Introduction
4 Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India 1259.7 75.20 1.59 18.9 0.8 619 1115 4.8 3.9 0.463 0.495 0.320 53.7 52.7 26.2 23.2 42.6 27.5 5.2 35.6 1.5 0.301 0.558 64.7 54.0 55.1 30.9 9.3 1189 2609 3.5 3.0 0.515 0.346 0.573 49.4 53.4 22.6 22.3 210.2 10.77 1848.0 81.4 1489 3296 9.6 6.9 0.554 0.392 0.495 27.2 43.9 0.617 7.5 0.688 5.7 5476 6405 0.1 2.1 0.02 1.27 59.2 2.6 2835 4772 8.0 8.3 0.715 0.579 0.419 5.3 38.7 7.0 15.2 0.558 0.393 0.601 3368 0.3 26.6 180.4 21.2 33.4 1.99 9.13 111.9 4.9 743 1416 6.1 6.7 0.515 0.363 0.707 0.550 57.8 50.4 49.6 36.0 40.0 0.538 5.6 11.8 5113 2346 0.1 1.7 0.04 19.2 0.8 543 1312 8.4 5.7 0.374 152.9 0.7 Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka South Asia 1675.2 100.00 2271.09 100.0
Table 1.1 Population, economic growth rate, per capita income, HDI, inequality adjusted HDI, gender-based inequality and poverty in South Asia
Country
Population (in million), mid-2012
Share of population in South Asia (in %)
GDP (in USD), 2011
GDP share
Per capita GDP
PPP per capita GDP (USD)
GDP growth rate, 2003-2007
GDP growth rate, 2008-2012
HDI
Inequality adjusted HDI
Gender-based inequality
% of people who are MPI poor
Intensity of deprivation
Population below poverty at PPP USD 1.25 a day, 2000-2009
National poverty line 2000-2009
Source: UNDP (2013), World Bank online database & 2012 World Population Data Sheet
Table 1.2 Infant mortality rate, under-five mortality rate, life expectancy at birth, access to improved water source and improved sanitation in South Asia, 2001-2011 Year 2001 2007 2011 2001 2007 2011 2001 2007 2011 68.9 21.0 41.0 48.0 32.0 35.0 37.0 44.0 50.0 53.0 80.0 80.0 91.0 92.0 62.0 64.0 65.0 79.0 91.0 2000 2005 2008 2000 2005 2008 67.3 65.5 81.0 85.0 88.0 25.0 28.0 31.0 47.2 67.7 65.8 64.1 45.6 65.2 62.2 62.0 101.1 46.0 53.7 61.3 10.7 71.3 75.4 76.9 91.0 90.0 91.0 81.0 92.0 98.0 113.4 57.4 19.3 64.3 70.0 132.8 80.0 85.2 85.0 45.3 78.9 58.4 48 62.3 67.0 68.7 83.0 86.0 88.0 23.0 28.0 31.0 88.0 89.0 90.0 37.0 41.0 45.0 80.0 86.0 90.0 82.0 88.0 91.0 72.7 36.7 39.0 42.0 47.2 9.2 80.5 44.6 49.2 46.1 52.9 16.0 65 59.2 93 80 72 63.4 64.5 92.7 62.6 35.7 59.3 74.3 59.2 62.4 Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka 15.8 12.4 10.5 18.4 14.4 12.2 71.8 74.3
Variables
Infant mortality rate (IMR)
Under-five mortality rate (U5MR)
Life expectancy at birth
Percentage of population access to improved water source
Percentage of population access to improved sanitation
Introduction
Source: UNDP and UNESCAP, online database
comparatively better, South Asia as a region is still inhumane in terms of access to income, health and education which is essential for decent living as per international standards. (see figure 1.1) National income poverty estimates of individual South Asian countries show that poverty is around 32 per cent in Bangladesh followed by India (29.8 per cent), Nepal (25.2 per cent)4 and Pakistan (22.3 per cent). Sri Lanka has the lowest rate at 8.3 per cent. The purchasing power parity (PPP) based poverty estimate with USD 1.25 per day pushes up poverty considerably. For instance, the poverty rate for Bangladesh goes up to 43.3 per cent followed by 32.7 per cent for India, 24.8 per cent for Nepal and 21 per cent for Pakistan.
In traditionally exclusionary societies, deprivationled poverty estimates reflect the ground reality more vividly.5 The latest multi-dimensional poverty estimates show that poverty continues to be very high in most South Asian countries. In terms of percentage, it is estimated at 57.8, 53.7, 49.4 and 44.2 per cent for Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal, respectively. The Maldives and Sri Lanka have low poverty levels at 5.2 and 5.3 per cent, respectively. The same measurements also depict the grave intensity of deprivation in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal, hovering around 50 per cent. Likewise, the poverty intensity is high in Bhutan at 43.9 per cent (UNDP, 2013). Hence, these figures adequately depict that as a result of wealth
Figure 1.1 HDI ranking of South Asian countries
4 See (CBS, 2012). 5 However, there are still many shortcomings in this method of estimating the rate of poverty, such as the use of arbitrary weights for various deprivation linked indicators; the exclusion of a number of critical variables like land assets, food security, shelter, productive employment and inequality; the problem of homogeneity in unit of measurement; bold assumptions on treating the extent and reliability of service availability under consideration, no room for shock type effect and the like. These factors would additionally yield a superior measure of poverty than taking the consumption or income approach of estimating poverty while linking it with deprivation.
accumulation in a few hands,6 a majority of the South Asian population is suffering from destitution, deprivation and misery.
1.2 Problems of low economic growth and HDI

As per the discussion above, it is now understood that the regions economic growth has been inadequate and the HDI performance continues to be unsatisfactory. However, these problems are not novel and are rooted in both historical and contemporary factors. Historically, the structural and systemic problems of patriarchy, feudalism, class hierarchy, religion, caste, race, geographic location and ethnic-based discrimination or exclusion, have persisted. Many countries freed from colonisation or autocratic regimes continued with the old state-and-subject system of ruling, despite adopting either parliamentary or presidential forms of governance. No noticeable difference in democratic governance under federal or unitary system is found. Countries like Pakistan have had to confront military regime, time and again. Nepal, where the erstwhile autocracy was followed by a decade-long violent conflict, is now undergoing a prolonged political transition. The Constituent Assembly (CA) elected in 2008 was dissolved in 2012, as it failed to draft a constitution even after four years of the constitution-making tenure. Although a fundamental change in the system is being pursued, one that focuses on socio-economic transformation and inclusion in political and social system, the prolonged transition accompanied by confrontation at the political level, is creating uncertainty in the institutionalisation of a progressive agenda. Bhutan is a young, evolving democracy while in the Maldives, bolstered by the forced resignation of the elected President, a conspiracy to weaken democracy is underway. Such developments indicate that people are deprived of political, civil and economic rights, and a true participatory democracy is yet to be institutionalised in South Asian countries. A political system, limiting democracy to inducement of the electorate during periodic elections, as a tool
for legitimising the bourgeois rule, continues. Democratic institutions strengthened by an in-built system to consolidate the rule of law, transparency and accountability, are conspicuous by their absence. The democratic rights of people are yet to be introduced and institutionalised at the grassroots. The judicial system also lacks the ability to ensure equality, rule of law and compliance to human rights. In most parts of South Asia, minority communities feel increasingly unprotected. Excess in abuse of authority and violation of minority rights are commonplace. Conflicts in different forms and manifestations - mainly rooted in denial, discrimination, exclusion, deprivation and marginalisation - are frequent. These conflicts are deeply rooted in widespread poverty and in the traditional interweaved mechanism of exclusion and fundamentalism in different forms and magnitude. Characterised by such tendencies, antipeople economic policies are considered to perpetuate insecurity and vulnerability, with pervasive impacts on peoples livelihood and consequent impoverishment. Frequent and deepening multiple crises in the capitalist countries have augmented the abovementioned phenomenon and made it more alarming. A quick look at the circles in figure 1.2, explaining the channels through which multiple crises are impinging on the economies and people of the poor countries provides a clearer picture of the scenario. As is evident from figure 1.2, along with the neoliberal dominant global capitalist system intensifying multiple crises in the form of food, energy, environmental, financial and debt, the vulnerability of economies as well as people of developing countries including South Asia is bound to aggravate. At the country level, the speculationled bubble is bound to contribute to the accumulation of imaginary wealth and capital, but at the cost of fast erosion in the production and productive base of economies. Amidst this, there are also attempts to weaken the civil society movements leading to the aggravation of dominant production and social relations with further adverse income distribution implications. Consequently, the vulnerability of the people at the
6 Today some of the richest persons are from South Asia as a result of the fast accumulation process, leading to a tiny section of the population becoming billionaires and hence, an unprecedented rise in the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
Introduction
Figure 1.2 Transmission mechanisms through which multiple crises increase vulnerability and poverty
Global Level
Neo-liberalism led financial oligarchic dominant capitalist system, prone to perennial multiple crises. Presently, mutually reinforcing five types of crises are most apparent: - Food - Energy - Environment - Financial - Debt
Local/ Grassroots Level

Changing socio-economic formations with increased vulnerability/ poverty added by discriminatory social structure/ weak or lack of social security system. The impact of crisis is transmitted to: - Food security and nutrition - Health - Education - Shelter - Ecology - Labour market, employment status/structure and wages - Access to land assets , natural, physical and financial resources - Vulnerability - Livelihood - Poverty
Country Level
Similar policy adaptations inducing bubbles/ accumulation of financial wealth and weakening of production and productivity base of the economies: - More adverse ramifications of crisis due to discriminatory political, economic and social institutions and structures in place, coupled with weak or non-existent effective social security system including attempts to weaken civil society institutions involved in protecting the rights of the working class/people - Consequent aggravation of dominant production and social relations with more adverse distributional implications
grassroots is accentuating further amidst multiple crises, transmitting severe adverse impacts on food security and nutrition, health, education, shelter, labour market and employment structure, access to land assets and natural, physical and financial resources, but above all, livelihoods and poverty.
1.3 Crisis in capitalism and harsh anti-working class conspiracies

Currently, we witness a scenario of overaccumulation of capital which has ensued from the anarchy of production. It manifests itself through an excess of saleable production. Such over accumulation accrues, not due to absence of enough people who have needs or desires of consumption, but because of the concentration of wealth prevents an increasingly large proportion of the population from being able to buy the merchandise. However, instead of it being a question of a standard overproduction of goods, the expansion of the credit system makes it possible for capital to accumulate in money capital which can take forms that are increasingly abstract, unreal, and fictitious. As such, the system has only been possible so far by excessive consumerism through increasing indebtedness, accelerated depletion of resources, increasing income inequalities and social exclusion and unrest which are no longer sustainable (Cair-i-Cspedes & Grem -Universidad de, 2010). The unique phenomenon of capitalism is the employment of various means to intensify exploitation and ensure profit; the latter being a pre-requisite to the systems survival. The conversion of industrial monopoly capitalism into financial capitalism today, is a vivid example. Put precisely, there are at least four different dimensions of the present systemic crisis: economic and financial crisis, human underdevelopment crisis, ecological crisis and socio-political and institutional crisis leading to human deprivation, increasing ecological depletion and rising conflict and social discontent. Thus, despite globalisation having integrated semi-capitalist, non-capitalist or pre-capitalist countries into the global markets, it has dismally failed to mitigate the crises (even temporarily) caused by growing wealth and concentration of capital in the hands of a few, amidst stagnating purchasing power of the masses. Evidence suggests that, in order to avoid or
minimise multiple crises or their intensification, fictitious capital of trillions of US dollars must be eliminated. However, given the present dominant financial oligarchic system, wherein the ruling class and elites of both advanced capitalist and developing countries function in proximity (the latter working as their surrogates); such a possibility is nearly impossible. Instead, along with the intensification of anti-working class policies, new or other alternative means are being explored and imposed globally to tackle the deepening crisis. The financialisation-led bubbles encouraged by, among other factors, loose monetary policy in the US had created a technology-stock bubble in the late 1990s. This collapsed in 2000 and 2001, leading to the recession. Again, with the collapse of the information technology-led bubbles, following a phenomenal rise in the stock and property market arbitrarily, attempts were made to counter the long recession by cutting prime rate to a 45 year low of one per cent in June 2003. This was accompanied by an excessive reliance on deficit budget which contributed to fuel trade deficit leading to another bubble that originated from the housing and real estate sector in the US. Ultimately, these bubbles exploded in 2008 leading to the financial crisis with a high contagion effect, generating recession throughout the world. Although trillions of US dollars in bail-outs and fiscal stimulus packages helped overcome the financial meltdown temporarily, reliance on excessive deficit finance is now augmenting the debt crisis and threatening recession in capitalist countries. It is further combined with forceful imposition of anti-working class policies and other neo-liberal policies which make third world countries poorer. Further, technocratic governments were installed in some peripheral Euro Zone countries, in violation of their constitutional provisions, in order to impose strong anti-working class austerity policies. In many capitalist countries today, including the US, policies pursued ensure high profits for big corporate houses, banks and financial institutions. On the other hand, high unemployment and stagnation are being ignored, threatening livelihoods of the majority. As an offshoot, the policy of quantitative easing by printing billions of dollars every month, has been adopted since October 2012 by the US, which is also violative of its obligations as a country Introduction 9
Street families in Dhaka, Bangladesh spend their nights out in the open women and girls are most vulnerable to rape and forced prostitution with international currency. Such a move is aimed at depreciating the dollar vis-a-vis currencies of developing countries. At the same time, it is also aimed at appreciating property prices in these countries by means of massive capital flows to these countries amidst low or zero interest rate in the US. The policy of quantitative easing has been replicated by other capitalist countries with adverse impact on the economies of developing countries and livelihood of people. Alongside, land grabbing, capturing of mining and other natural resources of poor countries; market encroachment by Transnational Corporations (TNCs) (backed by their governments and of poor countries) is also intensifying. Direct military intervention and aggression in disguise has increased massively, more so, in oil-rich countries. It is to be noted that profit is being grabbed through illegal means by exploiting the weak governance and accountability system, which has further augmented crony capitalism in developing countries. But along with exposition and defaming of ruling establishments as a result of promoting crony capitalism, diversion from the real issues are being created, albeit with the backing of 10 international monopoly capitalists. As such, more and more anti-working class policies are being intensified through further deregulation in administered prices. Similarly, these countries are pressurised to follow the policies of free entry of capital, goods and services of international monopoly capitalists in general and of TNCs, in particular.
1.4 Peoples resistance for change

Amidst such crises, the responsibility to alter exploitative discourse and safeguard the rights of the oppressed, lies upon the people and social movements, including women's rights groups, peasants' rights groups, groups devoted to the rights of fisher folks, indigenous peoples, Dalits, minorities, trade unions and other progressive forces fighting for social justice and societal change. With the aggravation in exploitation of people across the globe amidst multiple crises under the dominant capitalist system, peoples movements have intensified at different levels. This movement has been directed against neo-liberalism, which
Photo: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN, Source: www.irinnews.org
Figure 1.3 Peoples grassroots movement geared to change economic discourse at global, regional, national and grassroots levels
Global/Regional/Country Specific Peoples'/Social Movements Global movement against neo-liberalism Regional movements against austerity and anti-working class policies in Europe and other continents - Grassroots movements including advocacy and popularisation of alternative paradigm with practices focusing on: - Democracy, human rights and demilitarisation - Food sovereignty, land rights and rights to local resources - Women's rights, rights of indigenous people, minorities, Dalits and other deprived sections of society - Labour rights and social security - Environmental protection - Debt write-off -
Global and Regional Level

Pressure to support pro-people policies and programmes globally by replacing one-sizefits-all policies - Pressure to create new but democratic global financial architecture and eliminate unfair or discriminatory predominant practices - Pressure to dismantle structural adjustment programmes and stop imposing conditions to open up and liberalise markets of developing countries Needed Action - To give due attention to address the ramifications of multiple crises on developing countries with focus on food, environment and debt crisis - Special or preferential treatment to the least developed countries and their people - Stop illegal financial flows, addressing the root causes -
Country Level Responses

Civil society and other social movements at the grassroots level for strengthening participatory democracy and protection of the deprived from various forms of excesses Checking or reversing of the neoliberalism led anti-people policies Guaranteeing of human rights Legal and constitutional provisions on food security, including security to the old, disabled and other weaker sections of society Popularising of alternative development paradigm at state and grassroots level Introducing of coping strategy and programmes to safeguard people from multiple crises
Introduction
11
has manifested to the extent of revolt and uprising of the people in various parts of the globe. Today, the movement of the working class against austerities has heightened in Europe. In parallel, alternative development paradigms, which focus on genuine democracy, human rights and demilitarisation, food sovereignty, land rights and rights to local resources, womens rights, rights of the indigenous people, Dalits, labour rights and social security, environmental protection and debt write off, among others are also becoming popular. At the global and regional level, pressure is being mounted to support pro-people policies and programmes by replacing one-size-fits-all policies. Such movements are advocating for the need to create a new but democratic global financial architecture, eliminating unfair or discriminatory predominant practices, dismantling structural adjustment programmes, stopping imposition of conditions to open up and liberalise markets of developing countries, among others. The generation and intensification of pressure on the
need of concrete actions to insulate the developing countries from the severe adverse effect of multiple crises, is also part and parcel of peoples movements at the global, regional, country and grassroots levels. Figure 1.3 shows how such movements are becoming instrumental in achieving these goals. Experience shows that alliance-building and networking of civil society initiatives and other social groups involved in social movements of the South and North have succeeded in not only defeating many anti-people moves by multilateral institutions and other capitalist countries but has also provided alternative solutions to livelihood and empowerment. The global movement of 99 per cent against 1 per cent, the Arab Spring, the massive workers movements in European countries, the resurgence of the Left in Latin America and intensification of pro-people movements in South Asia and other parts of the world are clear examples in this regard.
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STATES & SOCIETIES IN SOUTH ASIA
2. STATES & SOCIETIES IN SOUTH ASIA*

South Asia is the birthplace of some great religions and civilisations that can be traced back to more than three thousand years BC. In the ancient and middle ages, the region was globally known as the land of science, technology and creative literature, attracting migrants from other parts of the world. Prior to colonisation of the larger part of South Asia, it was ruled by different dynasties. Consequently, with a land-based feudal system and the Asian mode of production, South Asia relied on agriculture with horticulture, fisheries and livestock as the predominant source of livelihood. Resources, apart from land, remained largely underutilised. Due to the inherently constrained state capacity to develop necessary infrastructures, aspirations for a better life were generally unknown. However, some of the best centres of knowledge and civilisation flourished in parts of this region and facilitated common access. With the advent of colonial rulers, peoples plight intensified as the underexplored resources were soon usurped. An elaborate system of infrastructure was developed, devoted to extraction and transportation of natural resources along with the expansion of the market for colonial products. In the post-colonial period that commenced from the late 1940s, the South Asian region started asserting its sovereignty. Though the feudal system could not be completely reconciled with the newfound freedom, an era of democracy, equality, cooperation and understanding was ushered in. A natural corollary was the new setting, more conducive to exercising civil and political rights. This wave soon acquired a trans-border character, generating common hopes and desires among larger sections of the population in this region. Taking stock of the current political-economic scenario, we find that South Asia is the most populous region of the world with around 1.6 billion people. At present, it comprises eight nation states. As a geographical region, though the countries share many commonalities, the uniqueness of each is obvious. The following section provides an introduction to each country and also a narrative of their contemporary issues.
2.1 Afghanistan
Afghanistan has been a war-ridden nation since late 70s and the conflict has taken a toll on the country and its people. However, there has been a move towards a constitutional set up. In January 2004, a new constitution was introduced, which provided for a presidential system and a bicameral legislature. The Constitution also provided that one-quarter of the seats in the House of Representatives be reserved for women. The presidential election held in October 2004 has been an important political milestone in the democratisation process. Nevertheless, the countrys internal affairs are not free from extensive international interference. The international community and its agencies continue to design agreements about Afghanistan's peace and development outside its borders, as witnessed from various international conferences starting from Bonn (2001) to Tokyo (2012).
Photo source: http://zoom.mediafax.ro
An evacuated family in Nassaji camp, east of Kabul, Afghanistan
* This section is based on the longer country reports which are now available on the SAAPE website.
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Photo: Shehzad Noorani, Source: Flickr.com
The governments focus has been on developing a capitalist economic system with growth driven by the private sector. The country is rebuilding critical physical infrastructures and transforming Sovietstyle public sector institutions to promote marketled development. Limited technical and revenuegenerating capacities, deficient statistical information, weak service delivery systems and rampant corruption are now the major features of the Afghan state. Most of the economic activities are in the informal sector, which are not captured by statistics. Given the nascent stage of financial markets, the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) relies mainly on open market operations as an instrument of monetary policy. Poverty is rampant among different social groups. Over one-third of Afghans are not able to meet their basic needs. The Kuchi people have a much higher incidence of poverty. Factors that significantly correlate with poverty are large household size and number of children, sex of the household head (male-dominated), low educational attainment of the head of the family, lack of employment opportunities, existence of child labour, seasonal migration, low level of net primary and secondary enrolment, limited access to land and other basic services like safe drinking water and improved sanitation and electricity. Poorer households have more dependents. In urban areas, the difference between poor and nonpoor households is even more pronounced. The country has been reeling under civil strife and violence since it was turned into a hunting ground by the global super powers. The social fabric has been torn apart and women and children are the most adversely affected. However, people are now gradually looking forward to and working on rebuilding the nation.
A woman and a girl child collect murky water from the Buriganga river, Dhaka to fully understand in terms of the orthodox approach to class analysis. Since its inception, the ruling class has been debating the issue of collective identity. The society is divided into two broad groups. One group proudly pronounces Bangalee nationalism based on linguistic identity imbued with the doctrine of secularism. The other group proclaims Bangladeshi nationalism based on Islamic identity at the forefront, which reinforces the two nation theory that led to the partition of the region in 1947. For them, Bangladesh would not be possible had there been no Pakistan. Both the groups, however, agree not to regress to the pre-1947 era. Political parties representing these two camps hardly differ on issues of governance, which is top-down, and follow similar models of economic growth dictated by neo-liberal capitalism. The democratisation process has been repeatedly interrupted by military interventions. As elsewhere, the military takes advantage of governance failure and portrays itself as the ultimate saviour. With the exception of some civil groups, a small section of the intelligentsia and few minor political parties; popular resistance against military rule has largely been absent. Bangladeshi democracy is often termed as dictatorship of the elected Prime Minister. Two major political parties representing the two broad camps (Bangalee vs. Bangladeshi nationalism) have been running the state by rotation since 1991 States and Societies in South Asia 15
2.2 Bangladesh
Bangladesh deliberately chose a unitary system of parliamentary democracy in 1972, soon after its emergence as an independent political entity in 1971. It has been an impoverished country with a growing middle class that is still in its formative stage. A class of the neo-rich is emerging which has been successful in appropriating resources through the nexus of politicians, bureaucrats and the business community. This phenomenon is difficult
While the state remains far from being democratised, radical changes have taken place in certain spheres. Gender parity has been achieved in school enrolment and completion, both at the primary and the secondary levels. In the industrial sector, there are more women workers than men. Increasing visibility of women in the job market has largely shaken the orthodox understanding of womens roles. Women migrant workers are also increasing. Despite the risks of being trafficked, it has also opened a new horizon for them in terms of social mobility. In a society where traditional conservative value systems dominantly prevail and the extent of child marriage is so high, womens migration for livelihoods (from rural to urban, from agriculture to industry and from home to abroad) is perceived on a positive note as a struggle for survival with freedom and dignity.
Photo source: www.wikipedia.org
without any change in the main leadership. This political monopoly is manifested in the form of creating and strengthening coercive institutions the military, intelligence services, local level bureaucracy- and undermining the task of building and strengthening democratic institutions (the judiciary, Election Commission, Public Service Commission, local government and so on). At the same time, these two camps have been able to develop constituencies in the civil society with distribution of patronage and other mundane benefits. The civil society in Bangladesh is weak and highly fragmented.
Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal showing identity card cleansing mar the Bhutanese image of a peaceful nation. The conflict arose in the 1980s targeting the Lhotshampas, the people of Nepalese origin, who had settled in the southern region of Bhutan and had garnered influence. With a series of law reforms and draconian policies like One nation, One people, their citizenship was effectively nullified. These measures were introduced with retrospective effects. Their unique cultural identity and language were made illegal and there was backlash against those who protested. Having been declared anti-nationals, thousands were expelled from the country. The conditions for those desiring citizenship were almost impossible to meet. As a result, a mass exodus broke out with thousands of people moving to neighbouring countries like Nepal to escape the wrath of the state. There were 110,000 Bhutanese refugees in Nepal out of a population of 700,000 in Bhutan. As of now, the third-country resettlement intervention by nations like the USA, Canada and Australia has resulted in over 75,000 camp refugees being relocated within their borders. While such relocation has been welcomed by some sections of refugees, other sections subscribe to the idea that they must return to their homeland. The need for a strong, unified voice within the borders of the homeland is cited as the solution. Hence, a divided opinion exists on this issue. Further, Nepal and Bhutan have failed to reach an agreement on the issue of Bhutan accepting the refugees who were wrongly compelled to leave their country and thus, allowing them to return home.
2.3 Bhutan
Bhutan is known to the international community for its scenic beauty and the much talked about Gross National Happiness. Now a constitutional monarchy, it is inching towards a so-called democratic political set up. Its economy is primarily dependent on tourism and agriculture. However, Bhutan is witnessing increasing poverty. Unemployment is also escalating and the country has limited industrial base and hence, limited capacity to create jobs in the economy. Trade balance with India is another key concern and Bhutan continues to face the rupee crisis to maintain comfortable balance of payments. Its external debt is about USD 1.3 billion. Bhutan has also been a breeding ground for ethnic conflict. Reprehensible incidents of ethnic 16
2.4 India
India is constitutionally a secular and democratic republic imbibing the objective of securing justice, liberty, equality and fraternity for every individual. It is a pluralistic society comprising of a multireligious, multi-linguistic and an ethnically as well as culturally diverse population. The Indian state has a unique co-existence of contradictions as the prevalent government practices do not reflect the values enshrined in the Constitution. The widespread discontentment among the people belonging to varied castes, subcastes, tribes, regions, religions and gender reiterates this fact. The state is increasingly gaining an image of the perpetrator of violence for withholding the justifiable demands of its citizens. The growth of the Indian economy, following liberalisation in 1991, has been at the cost of marginalisation, exclusion and the expropriation of a vast section of the society. Industrialisation required access to land and natural resources, which were seized by expropriating the actual rights holders. All communities in specific areas were affected. But the Adivasis, Dalits and other minority groups have been major victims, forced to move towards the urban sector. The state collaborated with the private parties to perpetuate further violence upon its populace. The ruthless treatment of workers in the manufacturing and construction industries further reveals the lack of humanity, an intrinsic element of capitalism in a neo-liberal regime. The state abandoned its regulatory role and allowed capital to maximise profit by intensifying the exploitation of labour. The Adivasis, Dalits and Muslims continue to be victimised as the discriminatory education system pushes them to the bottom of the pyramid, denying future opportunities. Likewise, women are trapped in hostile environments and are repeatedly thrown back into the webs of poverty, vulnerability, and exclusion. The incessant increase in the incidents of sexual violence and the inability of the state to prevent them has made the patriarchal nature of the Indian society even more apparent. The credibility of the government has been further reduced by institutionalised corruption. Corruption has severely jeopardised the implementation of
Poto source: www.asiasociety.org
Muslim women from Gujarat chanting slogans during a protest in New Delhi against the discrimination, exclusion and persecution of Muslims various social schemes and has led to a state of poverty amidst plenty. A widespread unrest has been triggered among the people, made visible by the recent mass movements against corruption. The emergence of the new middle class has been a disturbing trend as it has limited sensitivity and a distorted social conscience. The mechanism that the victimised groups adopt to face this situation is flexible survival. They continuously make adjustments and manage to survive without much help from the system. The flexibility actually means uncertainty and insecurity, which is to say the current structure and organisation of capital with corporate globalisation as the most visible character, is responsible for the extension and intensification of poverty. Neoliberalism provides the theoretical justification for the various mechanisms adopted.
2.5 Maldives
The Maldives is an island nation dotted across the Indian Ocean composed of 26 natural atolls and 1,190 islands. With a history of over 1,000 years, the country is now defined by its religion, Islam. The approximate 342,000 islanders speak their own language of Dhivehi and use a script called Thaana with much influence from the regional languages of Tamil, Hindi and Arabic. The old caste system associated with monarchical society became nonexistent after development in the education sector, social standards, and especially with the creation of a republic state. States and Societies in South Asia 17
and the establishment of the new democratic government, there still remains scepticism over the role of civil society organisations and many of them are being abolished on charges that they are nonfunctional. The civil society of the Maldives and the media are in their nascent stage and require much capacity building, commitment, and trust from the public as well as support from all stakeholders.
Photo source:http://rt.com
2.6 Nepal
In political parlance, Nepal is characterised as an ever independent and sovereign country, engulfed by semi-feudal and semi-colonial influences. Mainly dependent on an agrarian economy, Nepal was ruled by the Shah dynasty until 1990, encompassing more than 225 years of absolute monarchy. It was run by a unitary system with centralised governance. The peoples movement (Jana Andolan II) of 1990 brought the absolute monarchy under constitutional terms and reintroduced multi-party democracy. From 1990 to 2005, the multi-party system was practised. However, the state was largely continuing the legacy of its previous system, leading to the frustration of the people at large. This generated a breeding ground for the People's War led by the then Communist Party of NepalMaoist (CPN-M) which started in 1996 and lasted almost a decade. Taking advantage of such situations, the constitutional King took over in 2005 and started exercising absolute monarchy. Consequently, in 2006, a broad-based second peoples movement (Jana Andolan II) was intensified that challenged the kingship and forced the king to relent and transfer the sovereign power to the people. In 2008, the CA election was conducted, which declared Nepal a federal democratic republic. Nevertheless, a new constitution could not be promulgated and currently Nepal is in the process of holding a new CA election and reorganising the state structures. Irrespective of political changes, the state has remained insensitive towards addressing the needs of the toiling masses. For example, the long awaited issues of landless people, just redistribution of the land resources and making governance system accessible to the poor and the marginalised, remain unresolved. Several policies
Supprters of ousted Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed clash with soldiers during a protest in Male The Maldives got independence from the British in 1965 and became a republic in 1968.7 The third Constitution of the republic declared on 7 August 2008 separated the judiciary from the executive. It has adopted a presidential system of government. Until 2008, the Maldives was ruled by the same President for three decades (1978-2008). In the general elections of 2008, the old regime lost out to a new democratic movement and for the first time, the President was elected through a multi-party election. Governmental reforms were introduced, which would, inter alia, decentralise state power and redistribute it in favour of the atolls and islands constituting the country. However, on 7 February 2012, the elected government was changed under controversial circumstances with involvement of the military and police and the then Vice-President took over. Currently, there is great political turmoil and the constitutional election is scheduled to be held on 7 September 2013. External players, both state and non-state, continue to wield strong influence in state politics. The Maldivian civil society was more engaged in sports club and recreational activities till 2005. However, with the reform movement calling for democratic values, the country saw the establishment of more rights based civil organisations. Earlier, there were only a handful of organisations that focussed on very specific issues and had close ties with the government. Since 2008
7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maldives, downloaded on 27 April 2013.
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democracy and authoritarianism continues even after six decades of independence. Further, the reach of democracy is limited within the society. For instance, democracy does not extend even to political parties. Political parties are a one-person show conducted by one man or woman who is the head or the chairperson. An attendant feature is dynastic politics. All efforts are made to keep the Election Commission susceptible to manipulation. The narrow political base of political parties renders them vulnerable to political outsiders who tinker with the electoral system and bring forward compromised politicians. This is how the concept of controlled democracy has been born. Linked to this is a controlled parliament, which is amenable to any in-house change brought about by actors external to the parliament. Corruption by politicians is blighting the face of democracy. Every elected regime has carried a list of corruption cases to be condoned by the law enforcement agencies and the courts. The scourge of corruption has soiled the reputation of politicians.
Peasants rally demanding food sovereignty, revolutionary land reform and peasants' rights in Kathmandu, Nepal and laws have been formulated but partial and ineffective implementation has followed. Part of the reason is the formulation of policies being devoid of a real understanding of problems. Political leaders are more accountable to their respective parties than their electorate. The entire governance system has plunged into corruption. Bureaucracy functions on the agenda of individual motives. The society is divided into two distinct layers of haves and haves-not, with additional layers in between. Traditionally, both class and caste/ethnic hierarchies prevail. The poor, Dalits, religious, cultural and ethnic minorities are often denied their rights, including participation in the political process. Due to deep rooted religious beliefs and patriarchal traditions, women are denied their fundamental rights. Efforts to introduce positive changes are resisted by the ruling elite in many ways, often exploiting the ignorance and taboo prevailing in the society. Nevertheless, under the influence of current political environment, peoples coalitions based on caste/ethnic and religious identity are on the rise.
Photo source: www.demotix.com
Photo source: SAAPE Secretariat
A rally organised by farmers' organisations against land grabbing in Hyderabad, Pakistan Bad governance attacks the roots of democracy. The idea of running the country with the help of technocrats is becoming popular. There seems to be a sense that Pakistan can be run better by technocrats (specialists), rather than politicians. The style of governance is sapping peoples confidence in democracy. States and Societies in South Asia
2.7 Pakistan
In Pakistan, political instability is perhaps the biggest challenge. Democracy is afflicted with the crisis of ownership. Democracy has not become a part of the political culture and is disowned at the micro level of society. The battle between
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The governments failure to deliver its promises has harmed the credibility of a democratic regime. Recognising the effectiveness of slogans such as the promise of bread, housing and jobs, political parties likes to cast themselves as true guardians of the dispossessed. Consequently, a wave of compassion is generated, a sympathy vote is garnered and later, lapses in performance are papered over. People are, however, becoming aware of these stratagems, thanks to the efforts of the media, and therefore are not going to be hoodwinked time and again.8 The democratisation process in Pakistan took a great leap forward in 2013 with the last regime completing its tenure and thus, making way for the peaceful transfer of political power through a participatory general election held under a neutral caretaker government, for the first time in the history of the country. The current debate in Pakistan largely revolves around the countrys identity between Islamic and democratic, even though these are not mutually exclusive. While there is a strong popular will to establish a democratic system based on the tenets of modernism, this is often marred by religious extremism, sectarian violence and military adventurism that diminish democratic participation, gender justice and economic opportunity.
Photo source: www.voiceforrighttofood.blogspot.com
Further, the absence of a local government system has impeded the road to a truly democratic future. Since 1947, if any dream has been left unfulfilled, it is the dream of regular elections at the local level. By not holding local bodies elections under one pretext or another, the government is demonstrating a lack of concern not only for the democratic rights of people but also for peoples democratic education.
Fisheries community demand food sovereignty while resisting existing fisheries policies in Negombo lagoon, Sri Lanka per cent of the population. Other ethno-religious communities are the Moors (that is, Muslims excluding Malays), originally Tamil-speaking but large numbers of whom are also now Sinhalaspeaking. They comprise around 9.2 per cent of the population. None of these ethnic, linguistic or religious communities are homogenous. Thus, there is caste differentiation within the Sinhalese and Tamil communities; regional cleavages within the Sinhalese, Muslim and Tamil communities, and there is differentiation based on sect and habitation within the Muslim community. Needless to say, class stratification exists in all these communities. Sri Lankas ethnic conflict arises out of the failure and inability of dominant political actors to reform the state; to accommodate the sharing of state power with national minorities, especially the Tamils of North-Eastern origin and the equality of ethnic and religious minorities with regard to access to higher education and public employment, as well as the protection of their linguistic and cultural rights. Extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, custodial torture, detention without trial, impunity for abuses by state security forces and public officials, violence and intimidation against the
2.8 Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multireligious state. The main ethnic communities are the Sinhalese who speak Sinhala, comprising around 74.9 per cent of the population. The Tamils who historically settled in the Northern and Eastern provinces speak Tamil and comprise around 15.4
8 Qaisar Rashid, The Crisis of Democracy, The News, Thursday, 11 August 2011
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media and human rights defenders have continued outside of the former conflict zone. The victimisation of Sinhalese as well as Tamils remains unabated even in the absence of war. On the economic front, the growth of a neo-liberal economic system, particularly the export manufacturing sector provided relatively limited direct employment while economic liberalisation drove many import-substituting industries to closure with the loss of employment among older male workers and thus, promoted growth at the expense of inequality.9 The most important source of foreign earnings for decades has been migrant workers' remittances, largely sent by women employed as domestic labour in the Middle East. The receipts from the export of tea are the second largest contributor of foreign exchange followed by
industrial goods - largely, ready-made garments sold in the European Union and the USA. Thus, womens wage labour is the mainstay of Sri Lankan economy.10 The urban and rural poor may be of Sinhalese, Tamil or Muslim ethnicities. The estate-poor are Tamils of recent Indian origin. Members of marginalised and depressed social groups are over-represented amongst the poor in proportion to their percentage in the population. The incidence of poverty in male-headed vis--vis female-headed households averages the same in national aggregate; but, if differentiated by sector, there are more poor female-headed households as against male-headed in the urban sector, in comparison to the rural and estate sectors.
9 Gunatilaka, Ramani; Wan, Guanghua; and Shiladitya Chatterjee (2009), Poverty and Human Development in Sri Lanka, Asian Development Bank: Manila. 10 Institute of Policy Studies (2008), Development Strategies, Welfare Regime and Poverty Reduction in Sri Lanka, Country Paper for UNRISD Project on Poverty Reduction and Policy Regimes, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development: Geneva.
States and Societies in South Asia
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Campaign poster for the Food Sovereignty Campaign
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BROAD POLICY REGIMES
3. BROAD POLICY REGIMES

Immediately after independence from colonial rule and autocratic regimes in the late 1940s, South Asian countries adopted the mixed economy system. The critical role of the state was recognised given the underdeveloped socio-economic infrastructure and vicious poverty cycle. Import substitution through industrialisation was envisaged as the major vehicle of capital accumulation and societal development. Under centralised planning and directed budgetary allocation; principles, policies and programmes of high subsidy, interest and exchange rate regulations, state-led distribution system, involvement of state in business and industry were pursued. Economic protection was extended as a part of import substitution and hence, measures such as high tariffs and licensing system were intensified. Such a system continued for nearly three decades. While these measures were seen as instrumental in building the base of social and physical development, initiate and augment industrialisation, enhance the capital accumulation process and undertake certain responsibility by the state to protect the weaker sections of the society; many problems surfaced and aggravated simultaneously. First, the strategy was biased against primary production and hence, it prevented specialisation according to comparative advantage where the resource misallocation and use played an adverse role. Second, the industrial sector became highly inefficient and also induced monopoly, eroding both economies of scale and international competitiveness over time. Third, it led to the overexpansion of the public sector as a result of increased misallocation of resources, leading to the widening of fiscal deficits and inflationary pressures. Fourth, inducement of capital-intensive investment aggravated unemployment and underemployment. Fifth, enhancement in transfer of resources from agriculture to urban economy led to the concentration of income and widening of the rural-urban gap. Sixth, increased capital and technology import-based industrialisation increased rather than reduced the degree of external dependency. Seventh, a new pattern of 24 inequality was aggravated, fostering the concentration of income and wealth in societies. Finally, the institutional structure facilitated the adoption of rigid mark-up pricing rules by leading firms which protected their revenue against demand shifts or adverse fluctuations in the level of activity. Despite protecting the investment in some key industries, it, however, increased the vulnerability of the economy to adverse supply shocks, balance of payments crisis, inflation and distributive conflicts. All problems described above are generally linked to the excessive role of the state and hence, the nature of the state and its behaviour, the institutional set up and arrangements, the political system and the accompanying dominant class interests and their ramifications were almost ignored. First of all, at a time when such policies were pursued, both autocratic and democratic governments were interested in developing state capitalism as complementary to monopoly capitalist or strengthening comprador and bureaucratic capitalism. The quota or license distribution system followed by high protection was misused or manipulated. Similarly, administered prices, subsidies and other forms of state control understood as being necessary for social welfare and equity were increasingly misused by the institutionalised system of patronage and clientelism. Thus, this system posed a two-fold challenge: shortages or supply constraints and thereby, smuggling and black-marketing and erosion of competitiveness of economies, which included their exports. Consequently, along with stagnation in growth; fiscal imbalances, higher inflation and balance of payments crisis steadily emerged as prominent problems in almost all countries of the South Asia region.
3.1 Failure of building domestic capacity

The abovementioned system operated in exclusion to the economic realities of South Asia. It ignored the fact that South Asia is one of the most unequal societies in the world in terms of access to income,
Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy, Source: www.thehindu.com
Protest against foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail at Town Hall, New Delhi, India wealth, and privileges. The strategies and policies adopted, reinforced these inequalities by failing to create jobs, compressing wages due to abundant availability and repression of labour, and lack of scientific land reform. The social and distributional features limited the domestic markets, skewed the structure of demand away from mass-consumed non-durable goods, and frequently blocked industries from expansion. While class interests inhibited a reform on such fronts, a panacea for the emerging crises was sought in economic liberalisation, privatisation and deregulation policies by all South Asian states. This emerged at a time when the 1970s crisis of the capitalist countries had concluded and the onslaught of imperialist forces on the developing countries had begun.11 Interestingly, economic liberalisation first started in Sri Lanka in 1977 which was projected then as the 'best example' of a welfare state in the South Asian region. Since then, it has moved from the course of domestically-led development to a more liberalised and open economic system. Such an orientation was further augmented during 1989-94. Bangladesh started sector-specific liberalisation in the 1980s under the extended fund facility programme of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It introduced World Bank and IMF guided structural adjustment programmes in 1986/87 under a three-year conditional loan facility. The structural adjustment guidelines were strictly followed in 1989/90. An even more intensive form of liberalisation started in the early 1990s. In Nepal, market oriented policies were initiated in the mid1980s by implementing the structural adjustment programmes of the IMF and the World Bank, after a severe foreign exchange crisis that had begun in the early 1980s. This was followed by the adaptation of the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) programme of the IMF which embodied stiff conditions. Indeed, most liberalisation programmes consisting of deregulation of interest and exchange rate and administered prices, privatisation, free market and open economy policies were pursued intensely. The period of liberalisation in India also coincided with that of Nepal, which in turn impacted the timing, speed and sequencing in Nepal (Khanal et al, 2005 & Khanal et al 2008). In India, partial domestic liberalisation was initiated in the mid-1980s, particularly in the industrial sector. The major liberalisation drive, however, started only in July 1991. In 1991, India faced a severe balance of payments crisis with the compulsion to pledge 20 tonnes of gold to the Union Bank of Switzerland and 47 tonnes to the Bank of England as part of a bailout deal with the IMF. As a part of the conditions, IMF directed India to undertake a series of free market led liberalisation policies.
11 For detailed discussion on the development of neo-liberalism from the developmental perspective, see Killick (1989) and Levitt (2006).
Broad Policy Regimes
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Consequently, the license raj system was dismantled by opening international trade and investment, deregulation, privatisation, drastic tariff rate reduction and changes in domestic tax rate policies as well as inflation-controlling fiscal and monetary measures. Since then, policies which further open up and liberalise the economy, have been continuously augmented. In Pakistan, the structural adjustment programmes commenced in 1980 with the approval of USD 50 million by the World Bank structural adjustment loan. Between 1980-1985, some more measures were undertaken to liberalise agriculture, industry and trade. With some gaps, the liberalisation programme was intensified from 1988-89, and still continues.
social responsibility to bring about the economy and polity under the diktat of the money and financial power of the oligopolies. Crony capitalism (corruption and misuse of resources emanating from the abuse of authority by the ruling establishment to provide undue benefits to corporate houses in exchange for financial support and other facilities) is increasingly being exposed12 even as attempts to divert people's attention are being made. It is interesting to note that when liberalisation was advocated by its proponents, it was argued that as a result of an increased transparent and competitive system along with the minimisation of the state's role in the economic sphere, the linkages and corruption would reduce dramatically. Contrary to this premise, currently, corruption and black economy is thriving in an unprecedented manner in South Asian countries. In India, instances of corruption involving trillions of rupees are being revealed time and again, pointing out the ills of the capitalist system. Further, the fact that the system is a tool for legitimising the anti-working class policies and programmes exposes the inherent lapses of the liberal democratic set up. Excessive state intervention through anti-working class liberal policies and simultaneous favours to big business and corporate houses domestically and monopoly capitalist internationally, also reveals that the neoliberal notion of the free market is a ploy to legitimise the exploitation of the common people and withdrawal of the state from its basic social responsibility. Thus, along with intensification in the market-led system, the mixed economic system adopted by the South Asian countries has now transformed into an anarchistic free market system that features today's neo-liberalism. As already pointed out, the policies have never been home-grown but always dictated by the multilateral institutions like the World Bank, IMF and World Trade Organisation (WTO) which operate under the diktat of capitalist imperialism. Hence, as an offshoot, the influence of the financial oligarchy has intensified in South Asian countries. We are increasingly becoming exposed to a speculative, 'bubble-and-bust' type system that characterises the present world financial capitalism. This, in turn, is aggravating the
3.2 Collusion between global and local capitalist forces

Today, South Asia as a whole is one of the highly liberalised regions in the world. In terms of tariff rate, facilitating free trade or open-up policies permitting foreign investment, South Asia is far ahead. Under the guise of economic stabilisation and reduction in budgetary deficit, financial stability, administered prices and subsidies are being dismantled aggressively. The economic areas where internal pressure afforded some protection are also being opened up, discarding the opposition of farmers, indigenous peoples, labour unions and civil society groups. More broadly, strategic attempts to fully integrate with the predominant global capitalist system are underway, which seems to coincide with the interests of big domestic businesses and corporate houses. In India, for instance, despite pressures from the opposition parties and various other stakeholders representing the majority of the people, the government decided to allow 51 per cent foreign investment in retail sectors in December 2012. In sectors like insurance and civil aviation, the foreign investment cap has been increased markedly. Likewise, the petroleum products including diesel and gas prices have been completely deregulated. Hiking the rates of public utility services has become a regular phenomenon. There have been attempts to abolish all types of subsidies and administered prices, minimise the state's role and
12 See Ghosh (2012) for crony capitalism in India.
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systemic crisis more intensively as a result of the widening gap between the fictitious capital and real sector, leading to stagnation and high unemployment amidst the unprecedented rise in income inequality. This underscores the fact that the threat of increased vulnerability of both the economies and people of South Asian countries, has aroused considerably.
3.3 Peoples' resistance

Financial capitalism has intensified the gap between the haves and have-nots and the exploiters and the oppressed in South Asian societies. The progressive forces of societal change and those involved in building grassroots movements are constantly trying to compel the state to continue pro-people policies and introduce new schemes to nullify the adverse, pervasive effects of neo-liberalism led policies. Issues of the social security of the informal workers, food sovereignty, right to information, right to education, right to employment, right to health and access to various insurance schemes are some of the programmes that are being continued or newly introduced as an outcome of such movements. Similarly, the various social security programmes ranging from public distribution of essential goods and services including food at low prices, old age pension, pension for single women and disabled people, various cash transfers to the targeted deprived sections of society including women, Dalits, minorities and indigenous peoples, are the outcomes of peoples' movements. They are also directly involved in either initiating pro-people programmes at the grassroots or advocating alternative paradigm in place of the one promoted by the pre-dominant neo-liberalised regime. Various constitutional provisions including rules and regulations, clearly show that the social movements are playing a catalytic role in pro-poor development. An anti-neoliberalism and globalisation movement has been intensified at the global level to counter the anti-people and highly discriminatory policies that have been enforced at the behest of monopoly capitalists. Their global, detrimental impact is being revolted against.
Building on the ongoing resistance movements, the struggle will have to be enlarged in the future as the inherent contradictions of global capitalism deepens. As long as amassed financial power dictates the real polity, exploitation will also aggravate globally. Second, as an offshoot, most of the so-called pro-people policies, whether retained or newly introduced, aim to appease certain sections, keeping intact the ideas advancing neoliberalism. This is apparent in the macroeconomic policy setting which encompasses very tight fiscal and monetary policies and also pushes trade and financial liberalisation further, paradoxically facilitating monopoly. It deliberately induces the commodification of not only labour but also services like health and education even as it claims to prioritise poverty and inclusive growth. Under such circumstances, unless there are changes in the superstructure or rules of the game added with changes in the entire economic policy discourses, pro-people production and social relations will not be consolidated. Third, the political forces that happened to be the champions of the workers rights and social justice, have now converted into the 'stooges' of the global financial oligarchic system. Many social democratic and labour parties of Europe now fall in this category. The tendency in South Asia is no different. In addition, some of the Left leaning parties which claim to be vanguards of the oppressed, now follow the same dominant economic regime by design or default. This is another attempt to entrench the neo-liberalist economic policy discourse which is trying to encroach and destroy the progressive bases of the society.13
3.4 Transmission mechanisms of neo-liberal policies

As discussed in the previous sections, the main feature of the neo-liberal policies is individualism which serves as its foundation. Hence, they derecognise the linkages between the pre-existing state, political and economic institutions and ramifications of the policies. Grounded on classical and neo-classical technical or mechanistic reasoning, at the surface, politics is considered as an obstacle to the expression of agents rationality and, therefore, termed as a disturbing factor or
13 It is reported that in Bangladesh about two thirds of parliamentarians come from the entrepreneurial and business communities. In such circumstances, it is very difficult to anticipate formulation and changes of law, rules and policies that could be more pro-people.
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element. By treating economics in isolation, it lays predominant emphasis on the elimination of exchange and price controls on the grounds that right prices determined by market forces ensure the allocative efficiency of the resources. This, in turn, is thought to enhance both productivity and growth, leading to reduction in poverty through spill-over and trickle-down effect.14 Based on a similar reasoning and presumption, the neo-liberal policies are justified and augmented worldwide, including South Asia. In the late 1990s, amidst the worldwide movement against Washington Consensus, the PRSP evolved and was recommended by the World Bank and IMF jointly, to the developing countries. In South Asia, a majority of the countries have introduced it. Evidence shows that the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) has been the catalytic agent for rising inequalities and social discontentment in South Asia. Moreover, intensification in liberal and open up polices are being carried out with additional incentive and backup to the asymmetrical market structures and other arrangements. Some studies after examining the macroeconomic and structural adjustment policy contents of PRSPs, conclude that there is no fundamental departure from the kind of policy advice imposed under the Washington Consensus (UNCTAD, 2002). One study goes a step further and claims that the PRSP is simply an augmented version of the Washington Consensus with several additional layers of policy reforms, focusing apparently on institutional and governance related areas (Rodrik, 2004). As an offshoot, recent notions of inclusive growth or development with human face advocated by the proponents of neoliberalism or other stooges, lack substance as they are alienated from historical and contemporary institutional and structural factors perpetuating inequality, exclusion or more broadly, underdevelopment. Further, they also project the idea that monopoly and oligopoly, not competition, are the inherent characteristics of a capitalist system without which it cannot survive or thrive.15
More dangerously, there have been deliberate attempts to augment microeconomic integration of grassroots resources, local production and domestic comprador-type capital into transnational circuits through denationalisation of firms, land grabbing and mining coupled with integration of products into global values and supply chains. In parallel, fictitious capital is enhanced to facilitate credit at both capital and money market. There is a constant inducement to partake in the share, commodity and bullion market as well as expansion of credit to the households even through the worsening of purchasing power. There are premeditated moves to intervene into and control the economies of this region through macro as well as micro-level means. Such a development points to the greater role the grassroots movements will have to play. Further explanation would be instructive from the standpoint of ramifications. First, the import substitution industrialisation, replaced by the neoliberal policy regime is devastating. It is eliminating the domestic production system, the livelihood of the people and the promotion of product substitution financed by foreign capital. Now the policies are geared toward dismantling the production systems that were established during import substitution industrialisation. It is also destroying the social structures and patterns of employment accompanying them. Additionally, the privatisation of the most productive enterprises is being augmented by the promotion of an alliance between foreign and domestic capital at the firm level and the denationalisation of industry and infrastructure at the national level. The transnationalisation of production and finance (globalisation) is a process of international integration at the firm level, that restructures the national system of production, making it structurally more dependent on foreign trade, investment, and technology. South Asia's productive base is shifting away from the longterm requirements of national accumulation towards the short-term imperatives of global accumulation.
14 See Killick (1989) and Levitt (2006). 15 For explanations on the weaknesses inherent in neo-liberalism from the political economy and institutional perspectives, see Khan (2002), Khanal et al (2005) and Beams (2008).
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Box 3.1
Examples of liberal policies: Sri Lanka

Some specific policies included: promoting bilateral and regional free trade agreements with nations including the United States of America; reducing taxes on investors; broadening and deepening financial markets; privatisation of the electricity sector; private sector participation in the distribution and sale of petroleum; privatisation of urban water supply; transferable water permits in the rural sector; five new export processing zones including for commercial agribusiness; creation of tourismdevelopment zones; encouraging increased migration from the rural to the urban sector; reduction in the public debt to gross domestic product ratio; broadening and simplifying the tax base while lowering taxes on corporations; removing remaining government controls on consumer prices and establishing regulatory authority for consumer protection; permitting private sector involvement in postal services, agricultural extension services, public roads maintenance, logging, petroleum bunkering and imports; lease domestic airports to private operators; private sector participation in seed production and marketing with government restricted to paddy seed production only; and conversion of tea lands for production of high value fruits, flowers and vegetables for export in partnership with trans-nationals such as Cargill, Del Monte and Dole. (Documented by Balasingham Skanthakumar, Sri Lanka, 2013) The disorganisation of the workforce and a significant shift in power away from the majority has been another worrying outcome. It has disintegrated unions through contractionary fiscal and monetary policies, high unemployment, informalisation, personal debt, and constant threat of inflationary or balance of payments crisis. Now, there are attempts being made to make neoliberalism and liberal democracy or other forms of political transition mutually reinforcing and, eventually, mutually constituting. It also deliberately aims at fragmenting and dismantling the peoples movements. Under neo-liberalism, the repression of working class activities becomes primarily economic' rather than political, as in the case under dictatorship. Moving beyond the import substitution industrialisation, it is becoming synonymous to economic stagnation and reverse to distributive economic and social policies. From the people's point of view, the emerging challenge is twofold: to elect governments that are committed to searching for an alternative economic model and to change the entire system of social relations dictated by the transnational corporations under global capitalism that are consolidating their grip on the resources. As is clear, it consolidates hegemonic political settlement and economic policies and relations as the mode of capitalism or accumulation in creating a specific material basis. This basis corresponds to a particular social structure in conjunction with foreign capital that is bound to aggravate peoples suffering. The likelihood of the augmentation of such a possibility can be gauged from figure 3.1.
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30
Figure 3.1 Neo-Liberal policies, transmission mechanisms and ramifications
Neo-Liberal policies, transmission mechanisms and ramifications
Tight fiscal/monetary policies/strong austerities Financial Capitalism
Intensity of trade liberalisation and open up enforced
Open up/financialisation/financial flows through quantitative easing among others
Micro level integration with transnational circuit through value/supply chain
Cuts spending- employ/ high interest rate
Deindustrialisation and overflow of external goods
Widening gap between fictitious capital and real sector production in capitalist countries Rising property prices/exchange rate appreciation
Encroachment to the production base and resources
Health, education, social security program affected/ financial exclusion BOP Crisis/Debt/ Dependency Financial bubble Stagnation/ unemploy ment
Unproductive investment foreign capital encroachment
Land, mining etc. resources grab/ acquisition / merger/ domestic capital alliance
Wage cuts, food insecurity/ vulnerability/ poverty Bust/multiple crises aggravation (i.e. financial, debt, energy, food, environmental etc.
Unemployment informalisation
Stock, bullion, commodity, energy, food price rise and casino economy
Displacement and vulnerability of local small producers and informal workers particularly women and deprived Wealth concentration, unemployment
Displacement of unskilled workers particularly women More aggregation/intervention through policy led and direct Vulnerability inequality Erosion of productive base of the economy/ecological damage/crisis/ vulnerability/poverty
Wealth concentration, unemployment
Increased proletarisation
Erosion of productive base of the economy/ecological damage vulnerability/poverty
IMPACTS OF NEO-LIBERALISM ON THE POOR AND VULNERABLE PEOPLE
4. IMPACTS OF NEO-LIBERALISM ON THE POOR AND VULNERABLE PEOPLE

4.1 Notional concepts of poverty and vulnerability
In general terms, poverty indicates the absence of means to live a life with basic human dignity that should guarantee food, shelter, clothing, education, health care and cultural resources. Disparity refers to the social chasm or abyss that separates the working classes from the leisure classes; the producers, the marketers, managers and speculative controllers. Vulnerability refers to the future and bases itself on the presence or absence of mechanisms and acquisitions that can fight and defeat pauperising forces. Exclusion refers to the wilful prevention of sections of a society or individuals from access to resources (natural or human-created) and opportunities. Today, there are continued attempts to not only limit poverty definitions in terms of a certain minimum basket of consumable goods and services by completely ignoring structural and exclusion linked factors that perpetuate intergenerational poverty, but also to underestimate the income and expenditure based poverty estimates in order to justify the anti-people policies and harsh measures, as described in the case in box 4.1. For poor people, vulnerability is both a condition and a determinant of poverty, and refers to the ability of people to avoid, withstand or recover from the harmful impacts of factors that disrupt their lives and that are beyond their immediate control. This includes shocks (sudden changes such as natural disasters, conflict or collapsing market prices), seasonality (low demand for farm labour between plantation and harvesting periods) and trends (gradual environmental degradation, oppressive political systems or deteriorating terms of trade). A wide range of vulnerabilities may be identified as follows: 32 The threat of landslides, floods, cyclones and storm surges that causes deaths and destruction The threat of land erosion that causes untold sufferings and dislocation Deterioration and the declining viability of many distinctive and threatened ecosystems Widespread hunger, poverty, limited livelihood opportunities (especially outside agriculture) and poorly developed economic linkages Little or no state provisions for health care Poor levels of service provision that isolate many areas Highly unequal social structures with a small powerful elite dominating the mass, allied to high levels of conflict and poor law and order Changing patterns of land use (including the growth of shrimp and salt production) that are affecting the coasts morphology and characteristics of water resources Resource degradation Poor access to infrastructure and technologies Surface and sub-surface salinisation including saline intrusion into the freshwater aquifers Flooding and drainage problems. -
4.2 Groups, people and areas that are impacted

There are many neo-liberal ramifications which indicate how, both in urban and rural areas, people are confronting livelihood and poverty-related problems. India is a testimony to this fact. The modernised industrial-commercial cities of India are harbouring a large number of poor and vulnerable people. The disparities among them are glaring. These cities function and progress on the
Photo source: SAAPE Secretariat
A farmer showing a maize cob without grain - the result of using Monsanto hybrid seeds in Nepal basis of the underpaid work of millions of workers. The workers in the organised industries are generally protected by various labour legislations. They are entitled to minimum many times reasonably decent wages and humane working conditions. These people have always been a tiny minority in South Asia. The vast majority works in much smaller units with hardly any protection by law or legal instruments. The small scale units too often lead to precarious existence. Similarly, barring a few larger establishments, the trade and service sectors employ only a few individuals often on a casual basis. In the current era of liberalism, this picture has become even more complicated. Industries have
Box 4.1
Mockery of fixing poverty threshold in India

Last year citing the calculations of the Tendulkar Committee,16 the Planning Commission of India declared that any person who earns (or can afford to spend) INR 28.60 (USD 0.514) in the rural areas and INR 32.00 in the urban areas per day do not come within the category of the poor. It, thus, debunked all who sought to raise a voice against conditions that are creating and perpetuating poverty. The statement outraged most activists familiar with peoples lives. It was said that a senior and respected social activist sent the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of India a money order for INR 32 and invited/dared him to survive on that for a day. The Commission did not respond and chose silence as the best response. Similarly, a more ludicrous but political statement simultaneously came from the Chief Minister (CM) of Delhi (the National Capital Territory). A palliative scheme claiming to alleviate the distress of the destitute was announced. It sanctioned INR 600 per month to such identified families. There was strong opposition saying that the scheme mocks and insults the poor since INR 600 a month mean nothing. Reacting to this onslaught the CM said that a family of five persons can buy rice, wheat and dal (pulses) to suffice them for a month with this amount. (Documented by Sandeep Pendse, Sundara Babu, Sushovan Dhar, India, 2013).
16 Suresh Tendulkar headed a committee named Suresh Tendulkar Committee to look into the people living under poverty line in India. A report named Report of the expert group to review the methodology for estimation of poverty was submitted to the Government of India in November 2009.
Impacts of Neo-Liberalism on the Poor and Vulnerable People
33
moved out of some larger cities. The cities not the society or economy as a whole acquire a postindustrial character. Changes in technology have also changed the character of the production process and hence labour process in many sunrise industries. This involves, essentially, a drastic reduction in the work force particularly the organised work force. Key processes are mechanised, others are informalised and farmed out. Thus, there are a large number of informal workers, at times changing occupations and leading a precarious, insecure existence. Sometimes they are even classified as selfemployed or new-entrepreneurs. Their work often remains invisible and unrecognised, but in reality they seamlessly merge with the economy of organised, large-scale production. Similar is the case in many services and commercial activities. Employed salespersons are now replaced by contractual workers on a commission basis. The employers eliminate overhead costs, force the worker to cut into his/her own commission to attract more customers. This method is now praised as social marketing. In essence, these are mechanisms to keep the poor in continuous poverty. These new operations also need the poor to operate and hence perpetuate poverty through their work and remuneration conditions. The poor in the cities are no longer just new migrants. Poverty is constantly recreated within the toiling masses of the city. There is hardly any account of this poverty. No ameliorative measures reach these poor masses. There is, in addition, a demographic displacement even within the cities. As productive hubs are banished to the hinterland, the workers - formal and informal - are also forced to move there. The semi-urban or new urban areas housing such production hubs, hence, undergo in-migration. This adds to social tension and often leads to violence that helps the cause of the poor in no way. The above descriptions are indicative of a new form of accumulation popularly known as post-Fordist. It is now extremely flexible and through various mechanisms spreads its tentacles to exploit formal and informal workers in all sectors of the economy. It exploits those who are directly or indirectly employed and also those who appear to be selfemployed. The poor have become a necessity for this form of accumulation. In a globalising world, 34
the poverty of a large section makes these high rates of accumulation necessary for capitalism. The competitive advantage it can gain in the world market arises purely from this internal superexploitation. In the rural areas, there are outright dispossessions and displacements. Land is taken over from the farmers under one pretext or another. Compensation amounts, if any, are actually very rarely enough to establish a new life. The small land holder is pushed into the ranks of the poor and then has to find livelihood through various schemes of employment at minimum wages to create infrastructure for the very projects that displace him/her. Moreover, even a plot of land for the plot of land is an inadequate measure. It leaves many out of its ambit. Far more important is the fact that agricultural operations do not depend on plots of land but on a total territory that includes water sources, forests, flora and fauna and the whole ecosystem. This is not even recognised in most rehabilitation schemes. In effect, the processes in the rural areas lead to what can be best described as a new phase of primitive accumulation. If in the rural areas the process is very overt and visible, in urban areas it acquires somewhat different forms. The land under occupation of the toilers in India, through grandiose schemes such as Slum Rehabilitation or Redevelopment of Old Buildings - is converted into commercial property. Only a few families with middle level incomes can benefit from these schemes. The vast majority cannot afford to stay in the redeveloped building for various reasons. The tenements offered are small and rigid affording no flexibility of the slum space. They are also not suitable to carry out any occupations. The corpus fund donated by the developer dries out in a maximum of ten years and then the monthly costs of maintenance escalate to unaffordable levels. The result is that newer slums are created but now on the outskirts of the city or totally outside the limits of the city. The demographic shift is achieved apparently without coercive means. The entire mechanism, however, leads to a perpetuation and recreation of poverty. The mechanism that the poor adopt to face this situation is flexible survival. They continuously make new precarious adjustments and manage to survive without much help from the system. The
flexibility actually means uncertainty and insecurity. The occupations and livelihoods keep changing, the incomes keep changing, and work places keep changing. Survival is a daily struggle then at the most basic level. The poor over-exploit themselves in order to survive. There is no hope, even over generations, for these masses to rise out of poverty. In India, farmer suicides have become a national shame. There are many suicide cases almost daily in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. Some suicide cases have been reported from other states too, notably Punjab and Tamil Nadu. The notable fact is that these states are projected as developed states with significant industrialisation, new investment (including Foreign Direct Investment) and high urbanisation. The peasantry, specifically the poor, marginal and landless peasants have faced destitution and poverty since before independence from colonial rule. Then, it was due to the apparent backwardness of agriculture and agrarian society. The reference here was to the prevalence of premodern agricultural techniques, low productivity, fragmentation of land, lack of access to markets,
absence of irrigation and hence total dependence on rains and inability to cope with natural disasters. Other factors were the absence of effective land reforms, extra-economic oppression, servitude through caste system, stranglehold of moneylenders, repressive and oppressive social conditions and the absence of effective political representation. Periodic but regular famines then devastated vast areas and pushed the peasantry over the brink. Distress migrations were common. A large number of people had to annually leave their villages and migrate to urban or industrial centres in search of better livelihood. Some families would manage to retain some land and send one member to the nearby city or industrial settlement to take up a job and augment the family income. The present scenario has not changed and this has been illustrated in box 4.2. India experienced a period of about two decades that created the mirage of real rural development as a result of green revolution technology. It disappeared in the 1990s with the adoption of globalisation and neo-liberal principles. The crises of the peasantry and agriculture today are of a very different kind, with totally new mechanisms in play.
Box 4.2
Farm loan waiver schemes do not benefit distressed farmers in Andhra Pradesh
The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government of India allocated the lion's share of its INR 52 thousand crore farm loan waiver schemes to Andhra Pradesh five years ago. In Andhra Pradesh, around 7.7 million farmers cornered more than INR 11,000 crore, almost 21 per cent of the total farm loan waiver package. But as the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report reveals, a huge number of ineligible farmers were allowed waiver while many marginal and small farmers were denied the benefit and they continued to remain in a debt trap. CAG detected tampering with loan records, alteration in ledgers and changing records where non-agricultural loans were converted into agricultural loans. In one such instance, the auditor pointed out how the AP Grameen Bank in Ballikurava had altered land holdings of at least 17 loanees so as to alter their category and make them eligible for full waiver in the marginal farmer category. These irregularities were noticed not just in Andhra Pradesh but across several other states where a sample study was carried out by the auditor. In Andhra Pradesh, scrutiny of 3,200 loan accounts revealed that in at least 132 cases, ineligible benefits were allowed, highest among all states barring J&K where the sample study found ineligible benefits were allowed to 153 farmers. Close to 100 cases in Andhra Pradesh, the CAG found benefits extended to farmers on loans which were not disbursed in the first place (Times of India, 7 March 2013).
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Box 4.3
Increasing food insecurity: land grabbing/plotting for nonproductive purposes, a challenge to food security
In the absence of a national database on land grabbing and real estate activities that affects the access to public land, agricultural production and productivity, it is difficult to give an account of land grabbing in Nepal. However, some anecdotal cases suggest that there is massive-scale land grabbing taking place as a consequence of the neo-liberal economic architecture. For example, over the past two years, 13,050 hectares of land was sold by plotting for housing in Morang district alone. Similarly, about 1,500 hectares of land was sold in Jhapa district for plotting. Land plotting and selling business is not only taking place in districts in the Tarai region but also the Hills. The Community Self Reliance Centre (CSRC) reported that 1,200 hectares of agricultural land was put on sale in Arghakhanchi district for plotting. The Kantipur Daily of 14 April 2010 indicated that about 80 per cent of the remittance money coming into Nepal was being used to purchase land for the purposes of housing development. Similarly, the financial institutions have invested around NPR 11 billion in housing related land transactions (CSRC, 2012). The land put under such purposes no longer helps produce food items, thereby reducing the total food production of the country and increasing food price due to a shortage in its availability.
Usurpation of land by private parties or government agencies for infrastructural, industrial, Special Economic Zone or even residential purposes creates a new crop of landless peasants. The above are dramatic and massive occurrences that take place all at once. There are slow, subterranean processes also underway in the rural areas. Competition from more capitalised farms is rendering the smaller and more traditional farms non-competitive. Many farmers have sold off their land in the past two decades and moved away from agriculture. According to some scholars, analysts, and organisations the incidents add up to millions across India. From some places reverse tenancyhas also been reported given the rural social structure, this must lead over a period, to usurpation or forcible divestment of land. The peasantry is also denied access to natural resources like forests and water bodies. The subsidies have shrunk and prices of inputs from seeds and fertilisers to insecticides and preservatives have increased. The support prices are way below the market prices and often the costs of production. In effect, the margins are narrowing and turning at least small scale, labour driven, labour intensive agriculture into a losing proposition. This uproots people from traditional territories, livelihoods, and occupations. It is needless to say that though all peasants in specific areas are affected, the major 36
victims are Adivasis, Dalits and other minority groups. The poverty and destitution in the countryside is not confined to agriculture. Practitioners of other occupations dependent on and related to more or less traditional agriculture and sometimes to even commercial, somewhat modernised agriculture suffer when the farmer goes into crisis. Sometimes the plight of these artisans and other practitioners is gradual, and occurs because the industrial age has rendered their skills and products redundant. More often, it occurs because their patrons the middle and the small farmers are pushed out of the rural economy. The crisis of the peasantry is only partly through the economic problems of agricultural operations, particularly on a smaller scale. They are far more severe and sudden through displacement as land is taken over for various development projects. The land owning peasants can at least expect some compensation and some rehabilitation package, though they are often cheated out of these. The agricultural workers have no claims over compensation and/or rehabilitation. Disputed or fraudulent land ownership records also cheat many cultivating peasants out of the rehabilitation-compensation packages. A recent round of the National Sample Survey of India (a continuous exercise to monitor situations
Box 4.4
Debt devastates family's dreams in Nepal

In July of 2010, a woman tried to kill herself and her three children by jumping into a river. The three children- aged 11, 9 and 7- drowned after being thrown into the Bagmati River in the district of Rautahat, whereas the woman was rescued. She was abandoned by her husband, who had left to work in a Gulf country with the hope of paying back the family debt (http://southasia.onewor ld.net/news/rising-suicides-spur-mor talit y-among-nepaliwomen#.URw47_J1p-Y, downloaded on 21 December 2011). and data) reveals that the share of Dalits and Adivasis (together) in the GDP is 16.5 per cent while that of the Muslims is 11.2 per cent. This proportionately is significantly below their representation in the population. This occurs because these sections are forced into traditional occupations and have very limited access to the better paying, technologically advanced high paying occupations and employments. This occurs despite continuous growth in their literacy and educational levels. In short, the current structure and organisation of capital, with corporate globalisation as the most visible character, is responsible for the extension and intensification of poverty. Neo-Liberalism provides (shameless) theoretical justification for the various mechanisms adopted. Another feature of the rural or agricultural society in recent years is migration. The migration in search of employment and livelihood is in many cases by single men. The men leave their families behind in the villages. The women of the family then are forced to take care of the land, rear livestock and raise crops. Once this was only seen as a problem of deserted women, who were rendered destitute by the irresponsibility of men. The picture is perhaps far more complex. The migrant men hardly manage to find adequate work and income. The lives they lead are insecure, unstable and without any amenities. They get trapped far away from home; they can neither go back nor get their families to the cities. The result, in a way, is feminisation of marginal agriculture and feminisation of rural poverty (see box 4.4). This also seems to suit the system. It tries to create dreams of better lives and provides some superficially interesting avenues through micro-credits, tiny cooperatives, supplementary occupations and possible marketing facilities. The womens savings groups as they are called are strange mechanisms since they operate with those who have no capacity to save and are often made to cut down on their already paltry consumption. These institutions open up the market further, bringing the women into its fold and provide some support structure for the migrant men thus reducing any relief and welfare burden on the system, creating yet another avenue for accumulation. This feature has not yet been addressed adequately. The excessive use of resources of the planet, inducement of speculative business in commodity markets including food markets and many hosts of factors has aggravated the food crisis in South Asia, causing a rise in cases of malnutrition, hunger and even suicide. The food-price crisis is exposing the fragility of the global food system. With the deepening integration of agriculture, energy and financial markets in a resource-constrained world; the vulnerability has increased more so with the fast changes in global climate. Powerful multinational firms dominate the food markets. The bio-fuels expansion, particularly in the United States and Europe, is a major contributor to tight supplies of essential food and rise in prices. Price volatility and the continuous hike in prices remain a major problem for poor food-importing countries. There is strong evidence that financial speculation contribute to such a tendency. Studies show that the potential costs of speculation are huge. Even the food procurements do not enhance access to food among poor and vulnerable populations. The scale and pace of land grabs is becoming alarming, driven by financial speculation and land-banking by sovereign wealth funds in resource-constrained nations. The last two crises, in 2007-08 and 2011, led to food riots in many countries. Therefore the 37
Box 4.5
Suicide due to extreme poverty

In early 2012, a woman aged 25 committed suicide after killing her two children due to extreme poverty. According to Asianews, the family lived in a village of Bara district in Nepal. Even though the husband was working, his salary was not enough to meet the familys needs and the woman was not able to get an employment for several months. Afraid that her children may remain without food for a long period, she decided not to enrol her eldest son into school, not able to pay the monthly fee of about NPR 85. She became even more frustrated when the womens group in the village passed a decision asking all families to ensure the education of their children by sending them to school. Not able to cope with these pressures, the woman killed her two children and also took her own life. A similar case was reported in February 2010 when an entire family in Rukum district committed suicide, failing to pay for the medical care of their 27-year-old daughter suffering from epilepsy. (http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Nepal,-poverty-and-unemployment-push-thousands-of-peopleto-suicide-24295.html, downloaded on 21 Dec 2012)
end result is not just high food prices, but increased hunger, localised famines and widespread increase in deprivation. The figures 4.1 and 4.2 show the poverty trend in Nepal in the last 15 years in different geographic regions based on obsolete consumption definition. They show that in the Far-western Development
Region, despite reduction from 1995/96 to 2003/04, poverty had increased again in 2010/11. During this period, poverty had almost halved in the Mid-western Development Region. Similarly, poverty seems to be increasing in the mountain ecological zones in recent years as against the reduction in the Hills and Tarai (plain area) ecological zones (UNDP 2009; NLSS III 2010/2011).
Figure 4.1 Poverty trends by different geographic domains from 1995/96 to 2010/11; Nepal
Source: UNDP 2009; NLSS III 2010/2011 38 Crises,Vulnerability & Poverty in South Asia: Peoples' Struggles for Justice and Dignity
Poverty reduction was slower in rural areas than urban areas during 1995/96 to 2003/04 (see figure 4.1). In rural areas it reduced from 43 to 34 per cent while in the urban area it decelerated to 10 per cent from 22 per cent during the same period. However, during 2003/04 to 2010/11, urban poverty somewhat increased to 15.46 per cent. Urban poverty is higher in the cities of the Tarai at 22.04 per cent in 2010/11 according to the Nepal Living Standard Survey (NLSS, 2010/11). The higher rate of annual population growth, migration to cities and rising cost of living with no increased income
Mid-western, Far-western Tarai and Central Hills are the other pockets of high poverty incidences. Urban poverty seems highest in the Tarai region as pointed out above. The Tarai urban areas have the highest poverty rates at 22.04 per cent compared to Kathmandu (11.47 per cent) and Urban Hills (8.72 per cent) (see figure 4.2). The intensity of poverty can be gauged further by examining the distribution of population and the poor by geographic regions. Figure 4.3 shows that the Far-western and Mid-western Development
Figure 4.2 Proportion of people BPL on the basis of geographic domains; Nepal
Source: CBS, 2011 sources might have affected poverty adversely. The overall trend by development and ecological region indicates that despite the focus on regional planning aimed at reducing disparity in Nepal, the traditional disparity persisting in Far-western and Mid-western development regions has not changed. Similar is the case with the Mountains as compared to the Hills and the Tarai. The third Nepal Living Standard Survey (NLSS III) carried out in 2010/2011 (CBS, 2011) also gives a better picture of the trends in the 12 geographic domains. Compared to the previous analysis, it shows that the mountain districts of Nepal have higher levels of poverty (42.3 per cent), followed by the Rural Hills of the Far-western and Mid-western Development Regions (36.8 per cent). Rural areas of regions of Nepal have a higher proportion (or distribution) of poor people as compared to the population distribution. Similarly, the poverty rate is highest in the Far-western Development Region followed by the Mid-western Development Region, out of five development regions of the country. Poverty analysis from the district and Ilaka levels, gives a better picture on the severity of poverty in different areas of the country. The higher rates of poverty are persistent along the corridors of the Hills in Nepal from the west to east. Further, areas of the Far and Mid-western Tarai and Eastern Mountains are also affected by higher levels of poverty. When observed at the micro-level, the areas of higher poverty incidences are in the settlements inhabited by the Dalits, Janajatis, 39
Figure 4.3 Distribution of poor and total population by development regions; Nepal
Source: CBS, 2011 Tharus and other minority caste groups. Thus, in the course of intensive liberalisation, the vulnerability of the deprived has increased despite recent claims that the priority has shifted to inclusive development and positive discriminations. A case of the Surel Community of Dolakha, a hill district in Nepal is a vivid example of how deprived communities face food security problems. Reportedly, the Government has listed the Surel community as endangered. According to a study in 2012, this community is composed of only 293 members who live in Suri and Khara VDCs of Dolakha district. Most of the the Surel households have small pieces of land; each household having less than 3 ropani (0.15 hectare) for cultivation. Only six households have 10 ropani (0.50 hectare) each. Most of the land is pakho bari (unirrigated upland) which is not suitable for wet rice cultivation. They cultivate maize, wheat, millet and potatoes, the produce of which is merely sufficient to feed their family members for about three months of the year. The average family is composed of six members. Aside agriculture, a few families are also engaged in the traditional occupation of bamboo-craft production. It is found that only 12 households, having members from the old generation, are 40 engaged in making bamboo products for sale to supplement their household's food and other needs. Due to the lack of a market, they are not able to earn a good income from this sale either, only leading to the declination of this occupation. Box 4.6 further elucidates the plight of the Surel community in Nepal. Due to this and other similar reasons, it is found that most of the people migrate seasonally to India, Kathmandu and Charikot (the district headquarter of Dolakha district). Only females are left behind to work in the village. The case in box 4.6 is a lucid example of why access to land is so important for food security and poverty. Moreover, in Nepalese society, land is not only the main source of wealth and livelihood, but also a source of social security, status symbol and dignity. Thus, the situation in the periphery, particularly among the ethnic minorities is precarious, mainly because of isolation, chauvinism on part of the majority, and the process of inner colonisation. In many parts of Bangladesh, farmers and casual labourers living far off from the main roads have a comparatively poorer diet. They consume rice, seasonal vegetables and small quantities of meat
Box 4.6
Plight of poor and vulnerable food insecure people

Dilmaya Surel17 is a 52 year old widow, mother of three children. She doesnt have any other resources except low income from labour work. Indeed, she used to go to a neighbouring village for daily wage labour and get only Nepalese Rupees (NPR) 50 per day at the time of harvesting crops and cultivating land. She lost her husband five years ago. In the past, her sons worked and earned money to support their mother but now she finds it difficult to manage her family alone as the hands of her two sons got fractured. She owns a small land which is difficult to cultivate without the support of men. Most of the time, she has to suffer from food shortage. Her story is not isolated but almost similar to the lives of 8 other women in her community. Mangle Surel has six family members including Surel family suffering from food sovereignty four children. He has a small piece of terrace land from which he can produce food barely sufficient for three months. He does not have any other regular income source except farming and some occasional wage labour only enough to maintain his familys hand to mouth problems. Because of low income, he could not continue his children's education. Arjun Surel with six family members and Samser Surel with five, have even harsh problems related to food security. They have small pieces of land from which they can produce food stuff to meet their familys food requirements for one month. For the rest of the 11 months, they have to struggle and search for other work to earn an income. Both of them could not provide good education for their children because of poverty; instead of sending their children to school, they are compelled to take their children to work. Their wives work as daily wage labourers in the village and Arjun and Samser Surel go to India and Kathmandu for seasonal work. (Photo and story by FIAN Nepal, 2012)
and fish depending on income and availability. Usually the poor and the non-poor both consume chidol or nappi (dry fish paste). Jum (upland agriculture) does not require ploughing and hence farmers do not keep cattle. These families usually do not drink milk and do not use oil for cooking vegetables. Suffice it to say that food self-sufficiency or surplus at the macro (district) level does not necessarily imply that everybody will have access
17 The Surels are one of the minority ethnic groups of Nepal.
to it. At the micro (household) level, many people may remain underfed or even starve, as they have low purchasing power and cannot buy food from the market at all times. Malnutrition and food insecurity are serious public health problems throughout Bangladesh. Poor nutritional status is noted particularly among women of reproductive age who are vulnerable to nutritional deficits and micronutrient deficiencies. Nutrition directly affects the height and weight of
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Table 4.1 Food consumption by selected communities in the CHT of Bangladesh Consumption (number of days) Khagrachhari Food Chakma Poor Rice Flour Vegetables Meat Fresh fish Dry fish Milk Fruits 365 365 24 48 300 115 Non poor 365 365 48 84 365 200 Tangchangya Poor 365 365 22 77 8 8 120 24 200 Non poor 365 365 48 120 Bandarban Mro Poor 365 365 24 15 65 250 Bawm Marma Rangamati Pangkhua Chakma
Non Non Non Non Non Poor Poor Poor Poor poor poor poor poor Poor 365 365 45 14 97 285 365 365 10 12 300 85 365 365 125 145 365 200 300 356 365 36 48 300 365 356 365 12 24 365 48 365 365 365 36 36 300 365 365 365 60 48 300 365 365 365 36 48 300 365 365 365 48 60 300 365
Source: Focus Group Discussion in CHT, 12 September 2012 children. The prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting among children below the age of five is quite high in Bangladesh. The poor water and sanitation conditions compound the vulnerability of children to morbidity and mortality from diarrhoea and other preventable diseases.18 Unsafe child birth practice is another indicator of poor situation with respect to health, as well as gender. The situation is precarious in terms of child and infant mortality; Bangladesh is ranked in the lower end with regard to child delivery services and access to improved sanitation. Certain sections of the population are considered most vulnerable in terms of food and nutrition, those being: Female-headed households Marginal farmers and casual labourers with limited or no access to land Households with many children The elderly
Women are primarily responsible for food preparation vis-a-vis household food security. They engage in agriculture, mainly to produce food for their households. During the period of deficit, many women take just one meal a day. Gender dynamics clearly manifests in the fact that women and girls suffer first and most profoundly during prolonged food shortage. With the shrinking of farm area, women have to spend more time and energy scavenging for wild foods, which raises their calorie demand. Due to marriage at an early age, food shortages and micronutrient deficiencies have stark implications for nutrient-deficient adolescent mothers. Food security is dependent on womens equal access to land and natural resources. When women
18 Incidence of stunting greater than 40 per cent, combined with underweight prevalence higher than 30 per cent and wasting prevalence higher than 15 per cent are very high as indicated by WHO classifications.
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secure property rights and access finance, they have a better chance of ensuring their own food security. Women are left to carry the full burden of agricultural production, but often with no legal protection or right to property. The magnitude of vulnerabilities varies from household to household as determined by coping capacity. In general, the more affluent a household is, and in particular the more assets it possesses, the more resilient it is to disruption in livelihood from these shocks, seasonality and trends. People, of course, are not passive in the face of these risks, but the poorer the asset base of a household the more they have to forego potentially profitable but risky opportunities. The experience of one person on two different occasions is presented in box 4.7, which narrates how people can or cannot cope with particular situations. Food insecurity affects a sizeable proportion of the Afghan population. According to the National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (NRVA) 2007/2008, nearly a third (29 per cent) of the Afghan
population cannot meet its daily calorie requirement of 2,100 calories. The problem of calorie deficiency compounds in bad times for example, during the spring season, when an additional four per cent of the population becomes calorie deficient. Lower quality of diet is another key dimension of food insecurity in Afghanistan. Twenty per cent of the population consumes a diet that lacks adequate dietary diversity, implying a lower quality diet with relatively limited potential for micronutrient intake. Protein deficiency is also significant as 17 per cent of the population consumes less than the threshold of 50 grams of protein per day. Like calorie deficiency, protein deficiency and poor diet vary across seasons, affecting a much larger proportion of the population during the spring and summer seasons. Food insecurity is higher in rural areas. Food insecurity appears to be more pronounced in rural parts where about 80 per cent of the countrys population resides. Dietary diversity is also considerably lower in rural areas. Twenty-one per cent of the rural population is affected by poor dietary diversity compared to 14 per cent of their
Box 4.7 Narratives of disaster-affected people, Bangladesh
Coping with disaster

Mohammad Rafiq, Moheshkhali (Coxs Bazar) Survival My house was totally damaged by the cyclone. More than 100 trees, 102 chicken and 10 goats were killed. We took shelter in the upazila office. We stayed there for one night. When we came back home, there was nothing left. We then made a small shed using polythene sheet. We lived on relief. I rebuilt my house collecting materials from different sources. I borrowed some money. I started my shutki (dry fish) business again with the help of a mohajan (private money lender). Gradually, I could recover from the loss that I suffered in the cyclone. Again, I became rich Plight I had a stock of dry fish, worth 200,000 Bangladeshi Taka (BDT), in which a mohajan invested BDT 56,000. The rest I borrowed. The tornado ruined the total stock. I almost went mad because of this heavy loss. My house was blown away, and I got nothing of my house back. Our life was saved because we took shelter in the upazila office. The last cyclone made me a poor man again. I had to rebuild my house with help from the mohajan and relatives. Again I have started my dry fish business. Until now, I have not been able to recover from the loss.
Source: Mohiuddin, A. (2004). Living in the coast people and livelihoods. Dhaka, Bangladesh: Water Resources Planning Organisation, Ministry of Water Resources, Government of Bangladesh.
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urban counterparts. The only exception is protein deficiency which affects an equal proportion of population in both rural and urban parts of Afghanistan. Still, given the high percentage of rural population in Afghanistan, the absolute number of people affected by protein deficiency as well as other dimensions of poor food security is much larger in rural areas. In Afghanistan, food security outcomes are closely associated with terrain characteristics. The prevalence of food insecurity is generally higher in mountains and plateaus. People residing in mountainous regions experience much higher calorie and protein deficiency compared to those living in lowlands. Similarly, the population in the plateaus also experience higher food insecurity outcomes vis--vis their counterparts who live in the plains. The terrain characteristics affect food security outcomes by impacting access to markets, transportation costs and livelihood opportunities. The diversity of farming systems in Afghanistan, largely shaped by the geographic characteristics of the country has its further effect. These diverse farming systems have a direct bearing on household access to food. Highland mixed is the dominant farming system in the central mountains and foothills where principal sources of livelihoods are mixed farming (i.e. livestock, horticulture and cereal) and seasonal migration. Sparse (mountain) farming system in the northeast implies high dependence on livestock and the associated dairy products. The same is the case with sparse (arid) farming regions. In pastoral regions, livestock, irrigated cropping and migration are the principal sources of livelihoods. Another dimension that interacts with the altitudes and terrain type is the cropping intensity; with low lying regions, particularly those with better access to water, producing two crops in a year compared to altitudinous areas where shorter growing season permits only one major crop. Along with the continuous rise in international prices of food commodities that began to increase substantially in the fall of 2007, Afghanistan experienced several shocks that led to a disruption of its food supply network, causing prices to soar throughout the country. Due to drought and early snow melt, the 2008 wheat harvest of 1.5 million metric tons was the worst since the 2000 harvest. The price impact of the large shortfall in wheat 44
production was magnified by export bans in Pakistan and rising international food prices. In February 2008, the Afghan government eliminated import tariffs on wheat and wheat flour (tariffs had been set at 2.5 per cent), but due to export bans in Pakistan, Iran and Kazakhstan, there was little effect on prices. Between fall 2007 and summer 2008, the prices of domestic wheat and wheat flour increased by over 100 per cent. Total inflation was largely driven by the surge in food prices. As a result of the continuous rise in food prices, food insecurity and poor nutrition has affected a large part of the Afghan population. Afghanistan has one of the highest stunting rates in the world. More than half (54 per cent) of Afghan children under five are stunted (chronically malnourished) and over a third (34 per cent) are underweight. More than two-thirds (72 per cent) of children also suffer from iodine and iron deficiency. These poor nutritional outcomes are closely linked to poor access and utilisation of food in Afghanistan. High volatility in local production of staple food and the increasing and volatile food prices add to the challenge by reducing the populations ability to sustain a stable, adequate and good quality diet. There are many provinces where high prevalence of poverty (ranging from 60 to 80 per cent) has coincided with high levels of calorie deficiency (ranging from 50 to 80 per cent). This interrelatedness of poverty and food security is confirmed by the fact that more than two thirds of the poor (69 per cent) are food insecure in at least one of the three dimensionscalorie intake, protein intake or dietary diversity. In contrast, only 26 per cent of the non-poor experience some form of food insecurity. Further analysis of price effects on different types of households shows that there are large differences in the behavioural response of households to the rising wheat flour price based on their food security status (e.g., whether food secure or insecure). Afghanistan experience shows that better targeting is crucial in increasing the effectiveness of food security programmes. While poorer households do not cut back on calories, it is likely that they reduce dietary quality by making adjustments in their consumption patterns, for example, by increasing the consumption of staple food (e.g., wheat). Therefore, any effort to ensure adequate supply of staple food during the time of
Box 4.8
Implications of liberalisation in Sri Lanka

The policies introduced following economic liberalisation in 1977 had a detrimental impact on the living conditions of the poor. These included higher prices for imported food products such as wheat flour and sugar following a depreciation in the Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR); removal of price controls on basic commodities such as rice, coconut oil and kerosene; shifting from universal to targeted subsidies on food; reduction in expenditure on education and health care as a percentage of gross domestic product; and slowdown in public sector wage increases despite rocketing inflation. One of the nostrums of neoliberal doctrine is that currencies should be competitive that is depreciated, to stimulate exports. The LKR has steadily lost value against all international currencies since the end of fixed exchange rates. As Sri Lanka is a net food importing country, the fall in value of the rupee has hit consumers badly, as commodities such as wheat flour, sugar and onions rose in price. The increase in cost of fuels, entirely imported, was experienced in every facet of life from food prices to transport costs to agriculture, industry and services. Also, where exports required inputs or intermediate goods that are not produced or available locally, the lower value of the rupee pushes up production costs, making the final product more expensive. Therefore, exporters in manufactured goods and especially in small and medium enterprises are also penalised. Some companies that had emerged after decolonisation were not able to survive. The reduction of protective tariff walls led to the influx of cheaper substitutes. The domestic handloom industry collapsed, while other cottage industries were also hit, and the majority of those employed in this sector are women. As price controls were lifted, prices increased by an average of 143 per cent between 1978 and 1984; the second highest rate of increase in Asia (after the Philippines) during that period, according to the International Monetary Fund. Universal subsidies on food were removed in 1980 and replaced by mean-tested food stamps. Food stamps were distributed to households on an annual income of less than LKR 3, 600. This cut-off point excluded half of the population, including large numbers who were income-poor and lacked access to food. This was done solely to reduce government expenditure on food subsidies, that fell from its previous level of 4-5 per cent of the GDP to under 2 per cent, from 1982 onwards. The rise in incomes across sectors in the same period was far below the level of increase in prices. The consequences were pervasive. The calorie consumption of the poorest, thirty per cent, of the population dropped precipitously; even as the food intake of the richest section grew exponentially. Similarly, income inequalities grew over the period considerably. The bottom 40 per cent of the population experienced a decrease in its share of income from 19.3 per cent in 1973 to 15.3 per cent in 1981-82. Sri Lanka had high levels of state expenditure on social welfare, such that in the 1970s, around 40 per cent of spending was in this sector 20 per cent on health and education and the remainder on the food subsidy programme. But by the late 1980s, social sector spending had halved from its high point in the early to mid-1970s. Mostly, it was because of the abolition of the food subsidy and its replacement by the targeted and therefore limited food stamp scheme. As the free education and health system was too politically sensitive to attack frontally, spending in these areas was reduced to about 16 per cent of the total expenditure. But interestingly, despite the rolling back of the state in the economic sphere including production, the state continued to be interventionist through regulatory and other policy interventions, being the agent of the market. (Documented by Balasingham Skanthakumar, Sri Lanka, 2013).
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crisis can address the problem only partly. Furthermore, high degree of micro-nutrient deficiency among children, particularly during the time of food crisis, is also a big problem. Given that poor nutrition and food insecurity affects a sizeable proportion of the Afghan population year-round but more so during bad times (e.g. lean months of spring season or during food price shocks), ensuring of food security considering nutritional deficiency is a major challenge to the reduction of vulnerability. In Sri Lanka, despite relatively low poverty, liberalisation has contributed to reduce the productive base of the economy and escalate vulnerability of the economy and people; an account is given in box 4.8. In the causal process, there are further spill-over effects or ramifications in the form of increased inequality and thereby added impact on vulnerability and poverty. The Gini coefficient, which measures income inequality, is shown below in figure 4.5. India's Gini coefficient is in the lower half of the chart, yet health and education measures suggest that the country suffers from wide disparities. In the richest 20 per cent of households, only five per cent of children are severely underweight, compared to 28 per cent in
the poorest 20 per cent- a wider gap than in countries which have higher Gini coefficients. In India's richest state, 99.8 per cent of the population has access to clean water, but only two per cent does in the poorest. The expanding middle class and urbanisation in South Asian countries also corresponds to the widening of income gap manifested in the growing unemployment, ruralurban migration and slum dwelling, where millions are deprived of the basic amenities of life. The other main reason to worry about the widening inequality is that it can threaten growth through social unrest. The value for Gini coefficient in Bangladesh was 0.259 in 1984 (see figure 4.5). Along with the overwhelming neo-liberal policies, the income gap widened, resulting in higher Gini at 0. 321 in 201019. The most visible impact of the neoliberal economic policies, was the increase in inequalities, exclusion and erosion in the income of individuals in Pakistan as well. The corporate greed for more profit and their taking advantage of the exploitative anti-labour policies further increased the human insecurity and poverty all over the world and Pakistan was no exception in such a scenario; the country had the worst case of 'poverty incidences' (Nadeem & Khan, 2009).
Figure 4.4 Countries of the world on Gini index
19 Source: http://www.index mundicom/facts/Bangladesh/gini-index
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The frequent calamities in Pakistan have exposed the vulnerability of the population living in rural areas. Most of the people live in rural areas and are associated with agriculture in one way or another. The agricultural workers who directly work on the fields as share croppers or wage earners are in fact the most hungry and vulnerable sections of the Pakistani society because of the defective land ownership system in Pakistan, owing to the absence of land reforms in the country. Big landlords hold the agricultural land in their possession either legally or illegally by using their political clouts and the peasants and agriculture workers do not receive an adequate remuneration for their labour. Under tenancy laws, share cropping is the most common pattern in the agriculture economy, under which the workers receive half of the share of the crop produced in a particular season after deduction of their 50 per cent contribution in input cost. But with the changes in agriculture patterns, the share cropping patterns have also changed and now in many areas the landlords are not providing half of the crop to the peasants, even after deducting the heavy input
costs. The peasants are offered one quarter share in many areas in Southern Sindh. It is a matter of the fact that in most of the cases, the entire family members in a household work day and night on a piece of land to grow a crop and at the time of harvesting, they are deprived of their legal share on one or the other pretexts by the landlords. This results in bonded labour. Workers have to take advances from the landlords to meet day-to-day expenses and the advance money is deducted at the time of crop yield calculations, but the farmers share from the yield is so meagre that they are often unable to pay their loans, which creates a vicious circle of debt bondage. The Supreme Court of Pakistan had outlawed bonded labour in a landmark decision on 18 September 1988, cancelling all existing bonded debts, and forbade lawsuits for the recovery of existing debts. Subsequently, the Bonded Labour (Abolition) System Act of 1992 and Rules of 1995 were formulated, but unfortunately bonded labour still prevails in many parts of Pakistan. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistans annual report 2011, the courts ordered the release of 3,407
Figure 4.5 Gini index in Bangladesh during 1984-2010
0.4
0.321 0.3 0.259 0.2
0.1
0.0 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2010
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bonded labourers from the confinements of the landlords in different parts of Sindh whereas the analyses of such cases indicates an increase in cases over the period. In the year 2010, police on the orders of the local courts raided the private places of confinements of the landlords and released as many as 2,294 workers from the illegal confinement of these peasants, most from low-caste Hindu backgrounds that included women and children. Although there is a Sindh Tenancy Act 1950, which determines the peasant-landlord relations, the Tenancy Acts in Sindh as well as similar laws in other provinces are now decades old and need changes, but no serious work has been done regarding their amendment. This indifferent attitude towards agricultural workers on part of the legislators, the majority of whom are landlord themselves, leads to further exploitation of the labourer by the private landlord and in many cases gives rise to bonded labour. Due to the exclusion of rights, the food insecurity in Pakistan is increasing. Out of 120 districts in Pakistan, only 40 are food secure while 80 (67 per cent) are food insecure (Khan et al, 2009). Within these food insecure districts, 38 (46 per cent) are extremely food insecure. The food security situation is worst (67.7 per cent) in the conflict-ridden Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Pakistan-Afghan border, followed by the Balochistan Province (61.2 per cent). Although it is difficult to develop conclusive empirical proof, the strong overlap of food insecurity and militancy provides considerable evidence of a potential nexus.20 In the upper house of the Parliament of Pakistan, it was reported, based on the National Nutrition Survey 2011 that around 58 per cent of the population is food insecure. Of the total affected population, 29.6 per cent are reported to have been suffering from hunger or severe hunger. It was added that 48.6 per cent of the population was
food insecure in 2009, out of which 22.4 per cent were extremely poor.21 More recent media reports reveal that the majority of the population in Pakistan are suffering from hunger because of the inaccessibility of food to more than one third of the population of Pakistan (MHHDC, 2011). In Pakistan, the overall agricultural growth is reducing because of declining crop yield and limited water availability. This has been due to the restricted crop diversification, unequal distribution of land, poor agricultural research and development, and declining credit availability, especially to small and subsistence farmers. The double-digit inflation over the years has aggravated the food insecurity problem. The Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre reports that in rural areas of Pakistan, those who derive their livelihoods from non-farm sources face food insecurity because of limited livelihood opportunities and dilapidated conditions of the public infrastructure including farm and market roads. The poor food security situation has exacerbated poverty, widened inequality and deteriorated human development. Similarly, inequality in income between the rich and poor has widened over the period of economic liberalisation in Sri Lanka. Presently, the richest 20 per cent of households account for 54.1 per cent of income share, whereas the poorest 20 per cent have only 4.5 per cent, and the middle 60 per cent have a lower combined income than the richest 20 per cent, of 41.4 per cent (CBSL, 2012). Considering its overall human development indicators, inequalities between women and men are high (UNDP, 2012). In Sri Lanka, with the lifting of price controls, prices increased by an average of 143 per cent between 1978 and 1984; the second highest rate of increase in Asia (after the Philippines) during that period according to the International Monetary Fund (Kelegama, 1986).
20 News: 58 pc of Pakistanis facing food insecurity; Dawn, October 17, 2012. 21 Ibid
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Box 4.9
Hunger stalks millions as food insecurity grows in Pakistan

Food insecurity, agencies say, is linked to prices rather than availability. Many people have simply no access to food because of their low income levels. Although Pakistan is producing sufficient food, and this year 24.2 million tons of wheat was produced - more than the requirement - food insecurity has increased, WFP spokesman Amjad Jamal told IRIN. Government pricing policies, with the wheat price going up by 131 per cent per 40kg bag have impacted 35 per cent of the population in urban areas and a wide range of consumers in rural areas, where 40 per cent of households depend on wages and salaries, 16 per cent on non-agricultural activities and five per cent on foreign remittances. All these groups have been severely hit by the price hike, he added. The Prime Minister said the reasons for the price increase were to encourage wheat cultivation so that the production target of 25 million tons could be met and food security for the country achieved. He said the move, by bringing Pakistani wheat prices into line with those in neighbouring countries, would help curb smuggling. Atta (wheat flour) cost less than PKR 15 (17 US cents) per kilogram three years ago. It now costs over PKR 30 (35 cents), Dilnoor Bibi, 40, a widow, told IRIN. She said that on her income of PKR 5,000 (USD 58.82) a month as a washerwoman, she is barely able to feed her three children, and doctors say her three-year-old, who is often sick, is severely underweight and needs more food which she cannot provide. Experts who work in the field see hunger everywhere. Men, women and children all suffer malnourishment but the impact on the health of women and children is most acute, Shahid Awan, a nutritional officer at the UN Childrens Fund, told IRIN. He said 95,000 severely malnourished children had been detected in the country, and that many women suffered anaemia and other deficiencies which also affected the health of children. The diarrhoea and other infections so many children suffer is just a symptom. The root-cause of the problem is acute malnutrition, and it is this we need to tackle urgently, he said. (Source: IRIN, August 5 2011 http://www.irinnews.org/printreport.aspx?reportid=93430)
Universal subsidies on food were removed in 1980 and replaced by mean-tested food stamps. Food stamps were distributed to households on an annual income of less than LKR 3, 600. This cut-off point excluded half of the population, including large numbers who were income-poor and lacked access to food. This was done solely to reduce government expenditure on food subsidies that fell from its previous level of 4-5 per cent of the GDP to under 2 per cent, from 1982 onwards (Jayawardena et al, 1987).
According to Lakshman & Samaratunge (2000), small farmers especially in paddy rice and other field crop production were adversely affected by market-oriented policies, and relatively little concern was shown by the Government towards them. The withdrawal of the fertiliser subsidy in 199022 was one reason, as it increased the cost of production. Also, the Bretton Woods institutions opposed price support mechanisms on the grounds that such a policy leads to marketdistortion. Hence, the Paddy Marketing Board (PMB), that was established to provide a
22 The subsidy was progressively re-introduced in 1995 following a spate of farmer suicides through high levels of indebtedness, and is a major plank of the current governments rural sector policy from 2005 onwards.
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guaranteed minimum price to producers, was under-resourced and storage and staffing was reduced. Preferential interest rates on loans to farmers were also curtailed, leading many to turn to loan-sharks driving them into destitution and in some cases, death. All these have adversely affected farmers. In the mid-1990s, one nutritional assessment claimed that over 300, 000 children under the age of five were stunted; over 200, 000 wasted; and over 500, 000 were underweight (Tudawe, 2001). As of 2000, the Department of Census and Statistics reported that 13.5 per cent of under-fives were stunted, 14 per cent were wasted, and 29 per cent
were underweight (Gunatilaka et al, 2009). At the same time, there are marked spatial disparities, as 46 per cent of estate children are underweight, in comparison with 31 per cent of rural children and 18 per cent of urban children; while 37 per cent of estate children are stunted as against 14.3 per cent of rural children and 8.3 per cent of urban children. A startling and frightening aspect of the current situation - post-liberalisation and globalisation in South Asia is not only its failure to eliminate poverty but more so the ways in which it creates poverty, embracing newer sections, and pushing people who had managed to just surface, back into the abyss of poverty.
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ECONOMIC GLOBALISATION AND GENDER JUSTICE
5. ECONOMIC GLOBALISATION AND GENDER JUSTICE

Globalisation is a process that leads to the augmenting of movement and integration of trade, capital and financial flows, technology, information dissemination and culture without the restriction of boundaries. It leads to the free movement of people from one corner of the globe to the other. Today, this concept has strong links to the worldwide dissemination of commodities and meanings associated with the international culture industry (films, television series, popular music and the hardware gadgets used to consume these art forms), all types of industrialised food and drink, fashion garments, cosmetics, cars, buildings and furniture, glossy magazines, and the advertisements for these commodities. Similarly, concepts and movements also transcend boundaries and are epitomised in local actions in the spheres of the environment, human rights, gender equality, peace and so forth. In terms of effects, globalisation promotes prosperity for a few through the plunder of resources, increased control of means of production, new and diversified opportunities to exploit and plunder at the expense of hardship and abject poverty of others. In the process, the most victimised are those who neither have the skills nor the resources to enhance their own capabilities. Experience shows that because of the withdrawal of the state from social responsibility and augmentation of exploitation of labour by the proprietor class, through deliberate attempts at augmenting the formalisation of the labour market, the majority of the South Asian population has become deprived and excluded. The absence of a strong social security system leads to the creation and perpetuation of multiple crises and suffering. Women face hostile environments and are repeatedly thrown back into the webs of poverty, vulnerability, and exclusion. The feminisation of agriculture has feminised rural poverty. The process and forces of globalisation are considered to be accentuating inequality and poverty and massively influencing women workers, who are employed as 52 either unpaid or underpaid workforce. As homemakers, the poor women have to shoulder the disproportionate burden of globalisation due to the commercialisation of daily livelihood needs such as drinking water, degradation of environment and health services, rise of food prices and privatised education by corporate driven globalisation.
5.1 Feminisation of poverty

An examination of the feminisation of poverty around the world is analysed in terms of the three contributing factors that have been underscored in the women-in-development and gender-anddevelopment literature: (1) the growth of femaleheaded households, (2) intra-household inequalities and bias against women and girls, and (3) neo-liberal economic policies, including structural adjustments and the post-socialist market transitions. In particular, the feminisation of poverty is intimately linked to the economic and social policy regime of a society, as well as to trends in womens employment, wages, and household headship. The growing visibility of womens poverty, as argued, is rooted in demographic trends, cultural patterns, and political economy. Intra-household inequalities are found to exacerbate the vulnerability of women and girls; the problem may be most severe in parts of South Asia, and may also vary among social groups. If poverty is to be seen as a denial of human rights, it should be recognised that the women among the poor suffer doubly from the denial of human rights first on account of gender inequality, and second on account of poverty (Moghadam, 2005). Increasing visibility of women in the formal sectors is accompanied by growing empowerment in terms of livelihood choices and social mobility, as well as increasing marginalisation in terms of wages and labour conditions. This is explicitly observed in the garment industry in South Asia such as in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Photo source: http://jpgmag.com
Women in the traditional role of men in Nepal due to the massive foreign labour migration In a predominant conservative society with a patriarchal mind-set, the shift of women in millions from the rural informal sector to the modern industrial sector in itself is a change in society. They live independently in city slums, deal with banks, directly handle financial transactions for their dayto-day needs, use modern gadgets like mobile phones and so forth. However, experiences reveal that they are being subjected to the most inhumane conditions for bare livelihood. Their situation in the garment industry is a vivid example of their plight. The Readymade garment (RMG) industry in Bangladesh recorded a phenomenal growth in less than three decades, mainly due to its competitive labour costs. Lower investment in safety measures also made its exports competitive but only at the cost of the lives of thousands of workers who died at the workplace in a decade. Successive governments had been lenient on the errant apparel factory owners for non-compliance in terms of minimum safety standards. The neglect faced by workers at the workplace often gets worse from bad despite the criticism it draws at home and abroad. Frequent factory accidents overshadow the sectors shining achievements. Bangladesh overtook India and Pakistan to become the third-biggest apparel exporter after China and Turkey in less than three decades. In 2012,
23 New Age, Dhaka, 28 April 2013.
Bangladeshs apparel exports grew to USD 20 billion from less than a billion 28 years back. The achievement has been blurred by two recent factory accidents that took place in a span of six months. The wages in the countrys RMG sector is the lowest in the region. The demand for Made in Bangladesh apparel grew in the recent past due to the rising labour costs in China, India, Pakistan and Vietnam. A skilled apparel worker in Bangladesh earns less than USD 40 a month, a third of what his or her colleagues get in India and China. The minimum wage in Vietnam is much higher than in Bangladesh. Apparel buyers on both sides of the Atlantic, increasingly looking for cheaper sources, have found Bangladesh an ideal alternative.23
5.2 Women's rights

Despite the continuous struggle of women for liberation from gender-based discriminations, the plight of women is continuing. Gender discrimination operates through various forms of exclusion and oppression like patriarchy, colonialism, caste, class, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual harassment, age, marital status etc. Moreover, increased poverty in the face of globalisation, expansion of war, militarism and the rise of various fundamentalisms are recreating and
Economic Globalisation and Gender Justice
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Box 5.1
Womens rights to land resources

Under the formal legal provision, women in Nepal can access land through inheritance, land purchase, leaseholds and government land allocations. The Interim Constitution states that daughters and sons have equal rights to inherit ancestral property, and the constitutional mandate of equality takes precedence over inconsistent traditions, custom, and practices. Roughly 8 per cent of all registered landholdings are in the name of women. Women hold about 5 per cent of the land in Nepal (Alden Wiley et al., 2008, cited in CSRC, 2012). Although the constitutional provisions are slowly getting through in urban centres, it has to go a long way for its effective implementation in the remote rural areas of the country, where the majority of the people live. Source: CSRC, 2012 reasserting traditional feudal and patriarchal social relations. The progress in the empowerment of women is highly inconsistent. The increased economic turmoil has exposed women to greater uncertainty. Although most South Asian countries have adopted the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and 1820 and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), increased unemployment, trafficking and violence against women are still major challenges. The economic and social support for the ageing population, especially older women, loom large. In addition to gross underrepresentation in the decision-making processes, they are continuously restricted from access to productive resources and social support systems. In Nepal, Article 13 of the Interim Constitution, 2007 states that all citizens are equal before the law with the proclamation that no one should be discriminated on the grounds of origin, religion, race, caste, tribe, gender, language or ideological conviction. In spite of this, women suffer from different types of violence, harassment, discrimination, exclusion, sexual assault and the like. This is a grim scenario from the standpoint of human rights violation. Nepal is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), CEDAW, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and other UN treaties and UN resolutions that hail protection and promotion of womens rights. Nepal has obligations under its Interim Constitution and international law to protect women from discrimination, including discrimination in employment. However, the political, economic and social structures of the country are deeply influenced by the patriarchal systems that systematically deny the rights of women. They are even denied the liberty to make decisions about their personal health and education and rights to natural resources, let alone the enjoyment of civil and political rights. Although the CA was the most inclusive elected body with 33 per cent women representatives, womens voices and participation are yet to be sufficiently reflected in the decision making processes. In Maldives, women have equal rights legally and also get equal opportunities and receive public services the same as men. But socially, women face a terrible fate. A study conducted in 2006 by the Government of Maldives, Ministry of Gender and Family showed that every 1 in 3 Maldivian women aged 15-45 years had experienced physical and/or sexual abuse at some point in their lives.24 Womens domestic tasks are also quite high as most households accommodate 8 persons at the age of 21 years. In the Maldivian islands, the women contribute to the household income through certain informal income-generating activities such as thatch weaving, sweeping the beaches of resorts,
24 http://minivannews.com/files/2010/10/Maldives-Study-on-Womens-Health-and-Life-Experiences-2007.pdf
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providing ornamental items for resort shops and handling small retail shops on their islands. However, a lot of the resorts prefer to import ornamental items that are made abroad for lower costs. Furthermore, several of the resorts prefer resident cleaners and sweepers, often foreign workers, instead of hiring nearby island women. When resorts opt for such choices, it often results in income loss for households and female populations.25 In Pakistan, the constitution guarantees the rights of the trade union to all workers. Article 37(c) says: the state shall secure the well-being of the people, irrespective of sex, caste, creed and race, by raising their standard of living, by preventing the concentration of wealth and means of production and distribution in the hands of a few to the detriment of general interest and by ensuring equitable adjustment of rights between employers and employees, and landlords and tenants; provide for all citizens, within the available resources of the country, facilities for work and adequate livelihood with reasonable rest and leisure; provide for all persons employed in the service of Pakistan or otherwise, social security by compulsory social insurance or other means; provide basic necessities of life, such as food, clothing, housing, education and medical relief for all such citizens, irrespective of sex, caste, creed or race, and those that are permanently or temporarily unable to earn their livelihood on account of infirmity, sickness or unemployment; reduce disparity in the income and earnings of individuals. But the reality is quite different. The Government of Pakistan has amended the Factories Act, 1934 through the Finance Bill of 2006. The labour rights are severely violated in the country which includes ban on labour inspections and no freedom of unionisation in many factories. The amendment impacted women participation in the workforce, comparatively higher in the textile/garment industry; in Pakistan the employer now has the right to force female workers to work after sunset or arrive at work before sunrise. Women have suffered greatly due to the prolonged
conflict in Pakistan; free movement being severely curtailed. Taliban insurgents have created an environment of harassment and economic and social exclusion. Besides terrorising the community, the militant Taliban have destroyed girls educational institutions, especially government schools and colleges in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province and Federal Tribal Areas to discourage girlseducation in order to impose their self-defined religious rule. Women are not allowed to shop at shopping centres if not accompanied by a male member of the family. Although girls are allowed to travel in rickshaws, the Taliban restricts their freedom by forcing them to wear a shuttlecock burka (veil), because they view other types of burkas as unsuitable for women. In Afghanistan, the government and parliament have been trying to confiscate the rights of women which have been included in the law of the country. A number of Afghan parliamentarians have branded the law on the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) as un-Islamic according to a press release issued by the Afghan Womens Network on 22 May 2013. The law on EVAW, which has been enacted through a decree of the President of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in 2009, is considered a major step forward in the legal protection of womens rights after the Afghan Constitution. The EVAW law, which aims at addressing the grave situation of violence against women and young girls in the country, is a joint achievement of Afghan women from civil society, parliament and government. The law criminalises child marriage, forced marriage, selling and buying of women for the purpose or under the pretext of marriage, baad (giving away a woman or girl to settle a dispute), forced self-immolation and 17 other acts of violence against women including rape and beating. Overall, several factors prevent women in realising their rights. Because of weak influence and voice, womens rights are often violated. The social environment and their revelations that prevent womens rights are given in box 5.2.
25 Seventh National Development Plan 2006-2010, Maldives http://minivannews.com/files/2010/10/Maldives-Study-on-Womens-Health-and-Life-Experiences-2007.pdf
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Box 5.2
Reasons for weak influence and voice of women

Social environment Mobility and security Revelations Dola is worried about her daughters security as she has now grown up. She often faces problems when she walks the streets in the evening. We have to go a long distance to see the flag, which is the only signal we see about the weather. I have to wear a burka many times to go and see the flag, as other male members of the family leave early in the morning for work and return late in the evening. Harabala works as a birth attendant. There is no medical facility around, so she has to tackle the situation by herself. Only a few families can afford to take the patient to town for better treatment. Saleha is a day labourer and works in a factory. The factory owner prefers to employ female workers as they work sincerely and can be paid less. They never go on strikes and are not involved in any political work. They can be hired and fired without notice. I have never been involved with any samity (committee). If I become a member, I have to deposit money every week. But where I will get money from? I am afraid of kistee (instalment). So I never take loans from any samity. If I need money, I take it from my sister-in-law. Hanufa gave birth to her first child when she was only 13. After the birth of her second child at 16, she became blind. The doctor said that the lack of vitamins, some other complications and possibly early marriage might be the reason for her blindness. Her husband had to take a loan for her medical treatment and she got back her eyesight. She is now convinced that early marriage may lead to complications and she will not allow it for her daughter. The owners only hire male labourers. According to popular belief, females are unwanted in the gher (modified rice fields with high, broad peripheral dikes). Nilima realised that by doing housework she could only manage food, and that it was not sufficient for all. She started working as a daily labourer. The attitude of the villagers was against such work by women. So she had to convince people by showing and proving that she can work as hard as men. Initially, she had to accept half of the wage a man would get. I had to pay 20,000 for the weddings of my two daughters. There is still a demand for more money, which I cannot afford. My eldest daughter is a divorcee. She has a son of 7-8 years. My younger daughters husband is demanding BDT 15,000 more. It is not possible for me to pay this amount. He is not taking back my daughter. She is 3-4 months pregnant. I do not know what will happen. Source: Field notes, Mohiuddin Ahmad, 2013
Norms of veil
Access to health service
Working condition
Rigid condition
Early marriage
Social attitude
Discrimination
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5.3 Violence against Women (VAW)

"As per the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), accepted by all South Asian States, women have the rights to the highest attainable standard of physical, mental and reproductive health. Such rights have a direct relation to the women's rights to life and liberty" (Raghuram, 2012: 26). Nevertheless, women are treated as second class citizens almost all over the world. There is significant gender discrimination between the girl and boy child. Generally, girls do not enjoy child rights. Social norms and values are led by the patriarchal system, which does not allow them to enjoy human rights and instead are left to suffer discrimination based on education, health, exposure, employment opportunity and control
over resources. They are used as objects and have to forever depend on their fathers, husbands, and sons. Women need special care regarding reproductive health but they still have no control over their reproductive rights. They are compelled to work in extremely hazardous conditions and mostly recieve unequal wages. It is burdensome to have to incorporate basic household work with work outside. This causes serious health problems with no easy access to treatment. The privatisation of the health system is further aggravating the situation by making it difficult for poor women to get access to health care. Other chief concerns related to the vulnerability of women are societys control over sexuality and forced human trafficking, to which women are most vulnerable.
Box 5.3
Symbol of resistance against VAW

The news of a gun attack on young MalalaYousufzai, who has become a symbol of resistance in Swat to the Talibans obscurant agenda, has been met with revulsion in Pakistan and abroad. The 14-yearold, a crusader for girls education and an outspoken critic of the Taliban, had been receiving threats from the latter, and in that respect the attack, claimed by the Taliban, came as no surprise even though Malalas family reportedly did not think that the Taliban would target her. However, it must be borne in mind that the militants targets have over the years become extremely blurred; and apart from state and military installations they have bombed hospitals, marketplaces, mosques and bazaars, killing or maiming thousands of civilians in the process. Besides, they routinely issue warnings to people not to support groups working on community welfare projects. With such a regressive thought process, their violent rejection of anything that stands for democracy, secularism, in fact basic freedom itself, is only to be expected. In keeping with their hidebound ideology, they have atomised 2,000 schools almost all of them catering to girls education, to which Malala, since the time the Taliban ordered the school her father ran to be closed down, is inextricably linked. The attack on Malala was the third of such incidences in Swat in recent months. In the earlier two crimes, the Taliban had targeted a hotel owner and the chief of the hotel owners association. The 2009 army operation against Mullah Fazlullah and his men by all accounts was a success story: the militants have been chased into nearby Afghan provinces from where they carry out attacks inside Pakistan a reminder that their defeat has not been complete. Since their flight though, Swat has been largely peaceful; domestic tourism has returned, while welfare works have picked up. This turnaround in the situation has been due mostly to the efforts of the people of Swat who suffered under the Taliban, seeing their livelihoods ruined and their traditional way of life disturbed, besides witnessing the groups barbarity on almost a daily basis. However, there is still no room for complacency, and even sporadic targeted attacks could indicate the presence of a support base for the Taliban in the area. Better intelligence-gathering then is needed to thwart the designs of those who are waiting to once more snuff out the dreams of thousands like Malala. (Documented by Shujauddin Qureshi and Zeenia Shaukat, 2013) Economic Globalisation and Gender Justice
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Box 5.4
Demand for justice and security for women

Beaten and raped by six men on a moving bus in Delhi on 16 December 2012, the 23-year-old student died from injuries, her plight shaking the conscience of many urban middle class Indians who consider gender rights to be as important as poverty eradication. India's politicians, seen as out of touch with the aspirations of the urban middle class, have been caught off-guard by the protests. For the first time, they head into national elections due by May 2014 with women's rights as an issue. Even so, the issue is unlikely to be the defining one. Massive rural vote banks have been untouched by demands for gender equality and the fury across India's cities may fade, just as unprecedented protests in New Delhi over corruption did 16 months ago. "Rural populations in this country are more concerned about basics such as development," said Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research, a Delhi-based gender rights think-tank. "I thought we lived in the world's biggest democracy where our voices counted and meant something. Politicians need to see that we need more than bijli, sadak, paani (power supply, roads, water)," said Joshi, 21, a student of social sciences at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University. Sexual violence against women is largely patriarchal in India and is widespread, say gender rights activists. Crimes such as rape, dowry murders, acid attacks, honour killings, child marriages and human trafficking are common. But the savagery of this crime - where the victim was raped for an hour and tortured with an iron rod which did serious damage to her internal organs - has stirred national debate and put gender issues on the political agenda. Prosecutors are expected to seek a death sentence for the adults. "The girl's assault and death were the lancing of wounds that have festered for years. The government's initial response to the attack drew criticism. It angered protesters by trying to throttle the largely peaceful Women marching with placards to mourn the death of a gang rape demonstrations by imposing emergency victim in New Delhi, India policing laws, barricading roads and closing down underground train stations. And it was a week before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made a statement, in which he appealed for calm and promised to create a safer environment for women. Analysts said the slow and bumbling response from the elite illustrated how India's politicians are out of touch with the demands of the country's urban youth. "Whatever the trigger, one thing is absolutely clear: India's political class has been left bewildered by the street protests involving large numbers of mostly apolitical and leaderless individuals," wrote political pundit Swapan Dasgupta in the Times of India on Sunday. But gender rights are unlikely to make a significant dent in India's elections. Similar street protests in August 2011 over corruption fizzled due to the inability of organisers to maintain public pressure and keep the media interested. Despite gender-sensitive laws being in place for decades, including those outlawing practices such as dowries and child marriage, they have been poorly implemented largely due to a lack of political will, activists say. Many of India's legislators are elderly men who rely on the support of the rural masses, where deep-rooted patriarchal attitudes mean blame is often first assigned to the victims of sex attacks. There are more than one million female politicians in village councils. Yet only 11 per cent of seats in India's lower and upper houses of parliament are held by women, ranking it 110th out of 145 countries, below less developed nations such as Niger and Pakistan, says the Inter-
Photo source: http://www.cp24.com
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Parliamentary Union, a Geneva-based union of national parliaments. For almost 18 years, moves to give women greater power at the national and state level through the Women's Reservation Bill, which would guarantee 33 per cent of seats to women at those levels, have been blocked by male legislators. Gender rights activists also point out that political parties have allowed male legislators who themselves face rape charges and other crimes against women to represent them. Six serving state legislators have been charged with rape, while 36 others including two national parliamentarians have faced charges of sexual harassment, molestation or assault on a woman before holding an assembly seat, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms, a Delhi-based think-tank (Source: Reuter 01 January 2013).
The major causes of VAW are inequality, discrimination between the girl and boy child from before the time of birth, gender-biased laws and policies, economic deprivation, no control over sexuality, globalisation, neo-liberalism and the increasing trend of consumerism. A recent case of women violence in draconian form in India is given in the box 5.4. In Bangladesh, since 1995, the police headquarter has been collecting data on violence against women from its upazila and district offices. Such
data, even if incomplete, is available nationally and is a result of interactions with women's organisations such as Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association (BNWLA), Naripokkho and Bangladesh Mahila Parishad (BMP) for the followup and monitoring of cases. Countrywide violence for dowry, abduction and rape is increasing significantly. Violence against women, or gender terrorism as one may describe it, takes many forms and a typology of such unwanted behaviour would include many forms including acid throwing. It may
Figure 5.1 Victims of acid throwing in Bangladesh
Source: Acid Survivors Foundation, Bangladesh, Annual Report 2011
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correspond to a feminist agenda and perspective and it seems right that major focus should be on the analysis of a crime mainly perpetrated by men on women. Findings of a survey conducted on acid survivors show that most of the victims (70 per cent) are women and almost all perpetrators are men. The reason for acid throwing may not have a direct correlation with the reproductive role of women; but women are easy prey because of their low status in society. Acid throwing incidents can arise over land disputes (usually between males) as well as domestic disputes. But in most cases, men are the perpetrators and women are the victims. This phenomenon is indicative of a society where women are helpless and are more prone to violence of all sorts. The prevalence of some male victims does not necessarily contest this hypothesis. Despite a declining trend in acid attacks since 2002, still more women are subject to acid violence than men (see figure 5.1). Between January-April 2012, 584 incidents of violence against women were recorded. Among these, the highest proportions of incidents were of rape (38 per cent, followed by dowry-related violence, other forms of sexual harassment/stalking and acid throwing (see figure 5.2). Acid attacks still occur though recorded incidents of other forms of violence are much greater in number. Figure 5.2 Different forms of VAW in Bangladesh
Nepal. Two instances are presented below: the first one in the form of slavery and second in the form of impurity. The feudal families and society in the farwest and midwest districts of Nepal practice the Kamalari slave custom. This is a system under which a girl from a Kamaiya (bonded labourer) family serves as domestic help in the landlords home. Traditionally, this practice enabled people without land or work to get loans from landowners, allowing them to sustain a minimum livelihood. In exchange of this, they would have to live and work on the landowner's land as quasi-slaves. Exorbitant interest rates were charged and the whole family would be forced to work as slave labourers for years and even generations, bonded by indebtedness to the landowner and by unequal social relations that force one to sell labour in order to pay back the money borrowed. Poor parents who lived as bonded labourers would give away their young daughters, usually around the age of 6-7 years, as servants to rich landowners. Girls sold in this virtual form of slavery are known as Kamalari. Usually, this is for the money that the girls' work is worth, enough to feed her family. In its modern form, girls and young women are sold by their parents into indentured servitude under contract for the period of a year to richer, highercaste buyers, generally from outside their villages. This system exists particularly in western Nepal and affects especially the Tharu and Dalit people. Although this is technically employment, the United Nations classifies the conditions as undoubted slavery. Families that employ Kamalaris often claim that they love those girls like their own daughters but the reality is completely different. Kamalaris suffer discrimination and are highly vulnerable to gender-based violence. They are discriminated even in terms of basic needs like food, clothing and shelter. They eat in separate utensils and live away from their family; they are given spaces in a corner of the kitchen or small spaces for sleeping and living. They work every day with no medical attention. These girls are often not paid or under paid, have mobility restrictions, are deprived of schooling, work all day for almost 1618 hours, and are often beaten and subjected to physical torture. Often they are raped and have to deal with pregnancy, forced abortion and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). They are bonded to
Source: Odhikar, Human Rights Monitoring Report, Dhaka, April 2012 In Nepal, women violence is equally rampant. The patriarchal social system and traditional culture have birthed the worst forms of women violence in 60
Box 5.5
Kamalari practice in Nepal: custom of enslaving girls

Thaganu Chaudhari, a resident of Sonpur VDC-9 of Dang district, worked as a domestic helper in the house of Saphatulla Manihar Audhi in a nearby village. She had been working in different houses. She started working in Audhis house on the condition that she would be sent to school on scholarship. There was a school near Audhis house. Audhi, who is in his 50s, lived alone in his house. As a peripatetic trader, he was out of the house most of the time. Thaganus parents had hoped that their daughter would get fatherly love from Audhi on account of his maturity and his business taking him out of the house frequently. In fact, they had even hoped that she would get better treatment at Audhis than she did at home as he was a wealthy person. But their high expectations proved utterly misplaced. Audhi started proposing sexual intercourse to 13-year-old Thaganu after a few days of her working in his house. After repeated rejections from Thaganu, he raped her. Consequently, she gave birth to a baby on 1 December 2004. In Tharu society menstruation does not draw much attention, as it would in other societies. To add to that, Thaganu did not even know what menstruation really was. So, only three to four months after the intercourse, she realised from others that she was pregnant. According to Thaganu, her master forced her to have intercourse with him regularly. In the beginning, even Thaganus parents refused to believe that Audhi, who himself had grandchildren, would commit such misdeed. Later, when Thaganu told them her ordeal herself they had to believe her. But even after knowing about her suffering, neither her parents nor her elder brother sought any legal recourse against Audhi. Even after perpetrating such a horrible crime, Audhi continued to roam freely in the village. No one dared to raise a finger against him. When a case was filed against him at the District Police Office by the local NGO called Friends of Helpless Children, Audhi had already absconded. The possibility of nabbing Audhi failed, as he was an Indian citizen. Source: Sancharika Feature Service, February 2005, volume 8, issue 2
Box 5.6
Chhaupadi- a stark denial of womens rights

Women are subjected to a system of isolated confinement during menstruation and child delivery period in several parts of Western Nepal. This is known as the chhaupadi practice. During the fiveseven days of menstruation and first 11-15 days of child-delivery, women have to stay in a hut or cowshed and survive on limited amenities. During this period, they are considered impure or unclean, and are not allowed to touch anybody, eat nutritious and healthy food items (e.g., milk products, meat and pulses) or stay in the main house. The place where they are kept during their period is generally dark, unsafe, away from the main house, and dirty. According to one survey, nearly 19 per cent of women between the ages of 15-49 years are made to practice this during the seven days of menstruation and first 11 days of child-birth. Fifty-two per cent of the women in the mountainous region of the Mid-western Development Region and 50 per cent in the hilly region of the Far-western Development Region face extreme discrimination during menstruation (The Kantipur Daily, 2013). Even though the practice of chhaupadi was outlawed by the Supreme Court of Nepal some five years back, it is still being observed by several households in the region (Haviland, 2009). (Documented by Sarba Raj Khadka, Nepal, 2013) Economic Globalisation and Gender Justice 61
live a life without dignity due to the torture and abuse from the host family and neighbours. In most cases, the families of the girls are bound by deep financial constraints. So even if they manage to escape slavery or are rescued, due to the lack of resources and education, they have very little chance of getting a job or career and are ultimately forced back into slavery.
Several NGOs and INGOs as well as the government have made collective efforts to abolish this inhumane practice. Different education support programmes for young girls and incomegenerating skills training and opportunities are provided for better livelihood. However, such efforts seem to be futile when the rescued Kamalaris are going back to slavery in order to earn a living. Studies show that though the government
Box 5.7
India: propagating discrimination through the taxation system?

As per the 66th round of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), Most women around the world, and in India, work. However, they are not considered as workers. The value of unpaid household work performed by women throughout India is upwards by USD 612.8 billion per year, depending on the economic value assigned to the tasks women perform daily. Currently, close to 44 per cent of women in both urban and rural India, are unpaid family workers as compared to about 14 per cent of men. This immediately puts a question mark on current taxation and other financial policies, where there is no consideration given to such cases of labour. The gender aspect of the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) under the Hindu law also reflects that women are not recognised as independent owners of assets, whereas the large proportion of women who are actually contributing to the economy are subjected more to indirect taxes and are denied benefits. Within the law's subclause, it is mentioned that the karta (or the male head of the family) files income tax returns for both men and women in the family, emphasising the unequal structure of the law. Thus, social norms in India ensure that working women do not get a politically, financially or statistically equal status as men. For women who are contributing to the economy unremunerated, i.e., via the domestic sphere, Professor Jayati Ghosh has argued for creating expenditure strategies that can reduce unpaid labour and that [the] purpose of the taxation policies should be to reduce unpaid work rather than recognise it and celebrate. Thus, the emphasis should be on providing additional institutional support which enables women to take up paid labour, rather than the executive undertaking the complex task of assigning monetary value to myriad roles played by women. Further, this process itself is likely to be unsatisfactory, given the systemic exclusion and inadequate representation of womens voices within the governing system. Professor Ghoshs idea seems to be in close conformity with the French practice wherein the socialist government in France has been reserving big budgets, even in a recessionary time, for women to be assisted to be part of the work force, shoulder to shoulder with men. Thus, there are global practices which can be suitably modified and adopted. Hence, the need for a paradigm shift in taxation structure is apparent. An elimination of such institutionalised discriminatory practises is the next organic step. Sources: Anubha Shukla Dont evaluate, rather reduce womens unpaid work: Jayati Ghosh, OneWorld South Asia Natasha Choudhary, Ashutosh Tripathy, Womens Economic Contribution through Their Unpaid Work: the Case of India, http://www.healthbridge.ca/HB-%20ESAF%20ER.pdf
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had a budget of nearly USD 2.3 million for the education and vocational training of freed Kamalari girls in 2011, most of the funds remained unspent. In 2009, the government had a budget of nearly USD 1.6 million for 7,000 girls but not even USD 150,000 was spent.
While the neo-liberal paradigm is considered antiworking class, it appears to have further exacerbated the traditional forms of discrimination against women. Womens contribution to the economy, through their household work, is yet to be considered a component of the GDP. Further, womens almost single-handed contribution to the care economy- reproducing, cooking, cleaning, bearing and caring for the child, caring for other family members- is largely ignored. It is thus, unsurprising that while 67 per cent of the worlds work is done by women only 10 per cent of global income is earned by women and a mere 1 per cent of global property is owned by women.26 Even when women are employed outside their homes, there is lesser adherence to social security norms, greater violation of labour laws in terms of wages, pressure to work overtime, higher rates of discontinuity from work, lesser bargaining power and more employment in the informal sector. The care economy and other contributions of womens labour, if included in the GDP, is likely to double the national income without still highlighting and acknowledging womens contributions. However, structural and systemic exclusion of womens voices has meant that such contributions remain unaccounted for and unrecognised, therefore rendering them all the more easy for further exploitation. In fact, it remains ignored at the primary stage, i.e., during all policy level discussions in the several ministries when budget outlays and labour law reforms are being discussed. Women will continue to fill the gaps of all basic labour needs both in the domestic and public spheres as long as the following provisions are not introduced by the state: equal access to
Source: SAAPE Secretariat
5.4 Care economy- womens unrecognised economic contributions and labour burden
Nepalese rural women weaving tapari (plate made of green leaves) schooling, employment opportunities, social welfare systems for the care of children not yet in school, maternity and paternity leave, care of the elderly, and free health care for the poor. If women were gainfully employed in the work force, care provisioning would be more equally borne by both men and women; this would work well if the state intervened and took the responsibility of creating institutional support systems, and made these available to workers across all labour situations. A newer approach to this issue as recently discussed in India, has been through an analysis of the domestic taxation system on the parameters of gender discrimination, described in box 5.7.
5.5 Economic empowerment of women

Countries all over the globe have realised their liability towards facilitating economic empowerment of women, in formal as well as informal sectors and have taken several steps towards achieving this goal. The following section highlights the steps taken forward and inadequacies therein by some South Asian countries towards materialising the economic empowerment of women. An economy can grow faster and develop equitably only when each and every individual of the society
26Investing in Women, Solving the Poverty Puzzle, http://www.womenfightpoverty.org/docs/WorldPovertyDay2007_FactsAndFigures.pdf, visited on June 20, 2013.
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has equal access to opportunities and resources according to his/her capacity. This helps citizens acquire just and equitable economic empowerment. Economic empowerment would mean the ability to think beyond immediate daily survival and to exercise greater control over both resources and life choices.27 For example, it enables households to make their own decisions around making investments in health and education, and taking risks in order to increase their income for better livelihoods. With economic empowerment comes the strengthening of the vulnerable groups participation in the decision making process. Economic empowerment of women is a comparatively new phenomenon, as until recently, women were confined to household chores which were never counted in the economy of nations. Hence, with the initiation of this idea of economic empowerment of women, the first step is to facilitate access to work outside the household and create enough opportunities for them. To increase their economic opportunities, women need access to more and better jobs, a business climate that supports them in starting and doing business, a financial sector that gives them access to financial services tailored to their needs, and greater livelihood security in times of emergencies such as natural disasters, food and fuel crises.28 This is especially true for women living in rural areas and vulnerable environments. According to provisions of the constitution, laws and policies of most South Asian countries, equality among individuals with different sexual orientation is accounted for. However, in practice, women are discriminated as second-grade citizens compared to male counterparts. Some positive discrimination that most states have taken towards promoting womens economic empowerment are the reservation of a certain percentage of seats in the public service such as in Nepal and India, availing special privileges for production credit and institutional loan facilities. However, most of these policies and mechanisms are yet to be effectively implemented. For example, in terms of the issue of the economic empowerment of women, little progress has been made, with the majority
confined to less productive sectors of the economy. Womens contributions to the national economy are often not counted by the national accounting system. Women are very much engaged in the informal sector of the economy. The informal sector in South Asia comprises of all unorganised industrial and craft works, and various other informal services, which mainly cover the following sectors: Workers in enterprises Economic activities of self-employed families agriculture, livestock, services and family businesses Wage workers outside the enterprise structure daily wage contract or long-time contract or work contract Factory associated home-based workers, etc.
The largest is non-wage family work mainly in agriculture followed by self-employed nonagricultural production and services. In general, the poor and vulnerable families are engaged in the informal sector of the economy. Even in the informal sector, men are engaged in high paying activities whereas women are only involved in low paying activities. So income gap based on gender is naturally high in the informal sectors compared to that in the formal sectors. As women are a significant component of the informal sector, they are impacted in different ways and proportions. The adverse impacts include: Increasing job loss Deteriorating micro enterprises and cottage industries owing to the unhealthy competition with outside products and thus eviction of women workers from these enterprises (women constitute the larger share of such enterprises or industries). Hardships caused by increased male migration Increasing home-based character of work Loss of traditional social protection caused by declining joint family system
27http://www.gsdrc.org/go/topic-guides/empowerment-and-accountability/social-and-economic-empowerment 28http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/focus_areas/focus_gender_and_poverty/women_s_ec onomicempowerment/
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Increased sexual exploitation of women workers, even of girl children, facilitated by the porous border and lack of effective border regulation of women trafficking Increased health problems such as HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) as women are forced into prostitution for survival when they lose employment. Male counterparts who do not find livelihood alternatives at the local level go for seasonal work in urban centres. When they return, they bring HIV/AIDS and transmit the virus to their wives. The women thus suffer due to economic hardship that prompted their husbands to travel to foreign lands and catch deadly infections knowingly or unknowingly.
differences in education and other factors, additionally indicating the barriers to entry into the formal sector. Moreover, the states themselves sometimes violate the rights of mobility and employment of women. The case of Nepal on the restriction of women migration abroad is interesting to note, presented below in box 5.8. Truly, there are numerous social security and protection programmes in place in South Asia. They consist of cash transfers that include unconditional and conditional cash transfers and social care services programmes for vulnerable groups. Civil service pensions, private pensions and health insurance in the formal sector are not new. Moreover, there have been new attempts to introduce minor micro-insurance and other social security related programmes in the informal sector. However, on the whole, parallel moves towards withdrawal of labour rights previously granted, including dismantling or banning workers unions in the organised sectors amidst infomalisation of labour market, the social protection and security of the informal workers is very weak or non-existent. An index developed by the Asian Development Bank to assess coverage and quality of social protection corroborates this (ADB, 2007). The Social Protection Index (SPI) derived by combining the values of four Summary Social Protection Indicators (SSPIs) viz., social protection expenditure, social protection coverage, social protection distribution and social protection impact, indicates that in some South Asian countries the situation is much worse
In South Asia, the total number of labour force is more than 600 million with an annual growth rate of 2.3 per cent. More than 100 million youth have newly entered the labour market. On the other hand, the informalisation of the labour market is very high amidst underemployment predominated by self-employment without wage. The share of the informal sector in employment ranges from 70 per cent in Pakistan to 80 per cent in Bangladesh, 90 per cent in India and 94 per cent in Nepal. With this, not only is the wage difference between the skilled and unskilled widening in an unprecedented way but there is also an increased threat of displacement of the unskilled in which women and the deprived become the biggest sufferers. For instance, in India average wages in the formal sector is reported to be 2 to 3 times higher in the informal sector even after taking into account the
Box 5.8
Womens right to migration for work grossly violated

The Nepalese cabinet approved a ban on women under the age of 30 from travelling to Gulf countries for work as of 9 August 2012. The ban was a response to several news reports on abuse of Nepalese domestic workers, including long work hours, physical or sexual abuse and unpaid wages. This recent move came two years after Nepal lifted a 12-year ban on women working in Middle Eastern countries. Nepal is right to be concerned about its migrant domestic workers, but imposing a ban on women under 30 from travelling to the Gulf does not solve the problem and discriminates against young women, said Nisha Varia, senior womens rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. A better strategy would be to crack down on abusive recruitment practices, ensure that women migrate with an enforceable contract in hand, and equip embassies to respond quickly to complaints of abuse (HRW, 2012). Economic Globalisation and Gender Justice 65
(see table 5.1). The study found that despite the universal approach of some of the schemes, coverage rates for the key social protection groups the unemployed, the underemployed, the elderly, the sick, the poor, people living with disability and children with special needs vary widely; within all
groups, women are the most affected. The index ranges from as low as 0.07 in Pakistan to albeit high, at 0.47 in Sri Lanka. Studies also show that out of the total government revenue the actual social security contribution is 0.32 per cent in India and 1.33 per cent in Sri Lanka.
Table 5.1 SPI ranking of South Asian economies Country Sri Lanka India Bangladesh Maldives Nepal Bhutan Pakistan Ranking 0.47 0.46 0.33 0.28 0.19 0.17 0.07
Source: ADB, 2007 (http://www.adb.org/Documents/Reports/Consultant/39261-REG/39261-02-REGTACR.pdf )
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GROWING MILITARISATION AND THREATS TO DEMOCRACY
6. GROWING MILITARISATION AND THREATS TO DEMOCRACY

6.1 Militarisation vs democratisation: a general concern
Military expenditure is expanding in the world as well as in the South Asian region. This is occurring in direct contrast to peoples aspirations of improving their living conditions and promoting peaceful coexistence by way of exercising democracy. The poor and hungry are compelled to pay for arms and ammunitions that are often used against them in the name of maintaining law and order. Politics of fragmentation epitomised through nationalist rhetoric has constructed the notion of national security, while human security in terms of creating decent living conditions free from hunger, poverty, discrimination and disempowerment are either grossly ignored or sparsely attended. Exaggerated show up or display of weapons of mass destruction in the runoff of national day celebrations and rallies in South Asian capitals clearly reveals the general outlook of the political establishments of our part of the world. Moreover, deliberate attempts to augment military expenses have intensified along with the deepening of economic and social crisis threatening the preexisting rules of the game and pre-dominant class and social relations. Such unnecessarily increased expenses have been met largely by withdrawing or diverting the resources from social and economic services. This, more dangerously, is endangering the possibility of enjoying limited democracy by consolidating the autocratic tendencies, with added adverse effects on the people. There are some unique characteristics that indicate why militarisation has received prominence over democratisation among the ruling establishments in South Asian countries. In South Asia, mutual suspicion and distrust continues as many inter and intrastate disputes are yet to be resolved which often threaten peace and impede the prospects of
29www.sipri.org/databases/milex
regional cooperation. There are perennial disputes that continue to fuel hostility which, in turn, give birth to ancillary conflicts leading to escalation in military expenses. South Asian countries also suffer from the problems of internal discord and disharmony, dissident and separatist movements, civil strife, and ethnic and religious conflicts. Many of these problems emanated as a result of the failure of governments to institutionalise democracy and deliver economic and social benefits to the people, so as to eradicate poverty and underdevelopment. But these situations are largely used as pretexts to divert resources away from urgent socio-economic needs to security expenses, posing problems to democracy and sustainable peace. The widespread human deprivation contrasts sharply with large security forces, modern weapons and lavishly expanding military budgets in the region. South Asia is expanding its standing security forces at a time when other nations are reducing theirs. Both India and Pakistan enjoy the distinction of possessing one of the eighth largest armies in the world. India is fourth in this league, while Pakistan is eighth in rank. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI, 2012), military spending in the world increased from USD 1,140 billion in 1992 to USD 1,625 billion in 2011, while that of South Asia increased from USD 21 billion to USD 53 billion in the corresponding period. During the last two decades, South Asias share in the worlds total military spending has increased from 1.9 per cent to 3.3 per cent.29 Defence expenditure in South Asia in 2010 was 2.4 per cent of the GDP in comparison to 2.0 per cent in all developing countries. Within the region, the highest was in Afghanistan (3.7 per cent) followed by Sri Lanka (3.1 per cent) and India (2.7 per cent). On the other hand, public expenditure on health
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Rally in connection with the Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) 2012 in Rajasthan, India and education in the region has been 1.3 per cent and 3.0 per cent, compared to 2.9 per cent and 3.9 per cent, respectively for all developing countries (MHHDC, 2012) (see figures 6.1 and 6.2). Similarly, the military expenditure as a proportion of the GDP in South Asia in 2012 was topped by Afghanistan again (3.8 per cent) followed by Pakistan (2.7 per cent) and India (2.5 per cent), respectively (see table 6.2 and figure 6.3).30 When the share of education, health and military expenses in relation to total expenditure and the GDP is examined, an interesting picture emerges (see table 6.1 and 6.2). As a share of the GDP, the
Figure 6.1 Trend of military expenditure of selected regions and the world
30 SIPRI Military Expenditure Database available at http://www.sipri.org/research/armaments/milex/milex_database, downloaded on 21 May 2013)
Growing Militarisation and Threats to Democracy
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Photo source: http://demilitarize.org
Figure 6.2 Increasing trend of military spending in South Asia
Table 6.1 Expenditure scenario of South Asian countries over a period Expenditure category Total expenditure of government (% of GDP) Share of education as a percentage of GDP** Health expenditure, public (% of GDP) * Military expenditure (% GDP) * 2001-2007 2008-2011 2001-2007 2008-2011 2001-2007 2008-2011 2001-2007 2008-2011 1.7 0.9 1.89 2.86 Afgha- Bangla MalBhutan India nistan -desh dives 18.1 21.8 14.1 15.3 2.4 2.3 1.2 1.1 1.22 1.25 38.8 37.8 6.5 4.5 4.4 4.5 0.00 0.00 27.4 28.4 3.3 3.3 1.1 1.2 2.70 2.69 35.1 43.2 5.8 4.4 4.5 4.4 0.00 0.00 Nepal Pakistan 14.0 18.0 3.4 4.4 1.5 1.8 1.59 1.55 18.1 20.4 2.3 2.7 0.7 0.8 4.00 3.23 2.1 1.8 1.5 3.17 3.25 Sri Lanka 24.1 22.9
Source: IMF data bank & World Bank data bank, 2012 * Data for some countries are not available for some years ** Data available only for some years and average rate is calculated on the basis of available data
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Table 6.2 Military expenditure by country as a percentage of the GDP, 2010-2012 Country Afghanistan Bangladesh India Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka Cumulative military expenditure of South Asian countries (billion USD) 2010 3.7 1.2 2.7 1.4 2.6 3.1 58.8 2011 4.7 1.3 2.6 1.2 2.7 2.9 59.7 2012 3.8 1.1 2.5 NA 2.7 2.4 58.2
Source: SIPRI Military Expenditure Database available at (http://www.sipri.org/research/armaments/milex/milex_database, downloaded on 21 May 2013) Figure 6.3 Military expenditure of South Asian countries (as a per cent of the GDP)
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military expenditure is high in Sri Lanka at 3.25 per cent of the GDP in 2008-2011. This is followed by Pakistan at 3.23 per cent of the GDP in the same period. The share of military expenditure in Afghanistan and India as a share of the GDP is 2.86 and 2.69 per cent, respectively. On the other hand, the share of health expenditure in the GDP is meagre at 0.8 in Pakistan and 1.2 per cent in India. The share of education in the GDP in these two countries is 2.7 and 3.3 per cent, respectively. Thus, it is clear that the militarisation in some countries has augmented at the cost of services like health and education.
army out of the 19,602 verified by the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) in 2006. As of now, the country is in the process of organising elections for the second CA so that the constitution making process could be put back in track as per the expectations of the people. At the national level, the political process indulges in macro-level political activities while the problems and expectations of the people at the grassroots remain unaddressed, keeping the people waiting long for the political, social and economic stability they fought for. The election of the local government bodies have been in limbo for nearly 15 years now and is not the priority of the national level government any longer. Cashing in on this kind of situation, there are different localised groups, most of them in armed outfits, appearing in local areas, posing a constant threat to the peace and security situation, time and again. After the long duration of a monarchical, centralised unitary system of government, Nepal is trying to systematise and institutionalise its entry into the republican set up of government that commenced on 28 May 2008. As such, the national priorities of the state are now different than those of the previous one. Nepal had a budget allocation of NPR 18,051,000,000 (USD 207,482,759) in 2009/2010 fiscal year for military purposes. It occupied 6.7 per cent of the total budget of NPR 259,689,106,000 (MoF, 2010). The military budget was about NPR 6 billion in 2002 (see figure 6.4). Compared to 2002, the military allocation had increased by three folds in 2009/2010. In terms of realising the peace process, the government has recently created an additional General Directorate to absorb the selected 1,444 ex-combatants as well as two-thirds of the excombatants size from other security organs making a total strength of above 4,000 personnel. This also has implications on the military budget allocation of the country. The creation of an additional unit was mandatory for the logical conclusion of the ongoing peace process. The Nepal Armys democratisation, action plans for this effort and its proper implementation has not been in effect yet. The mandate on the size of the Nepalese army, the democratic structure of the army, and ensuring the inclusive principles within the structure of the army has not yet been properly
6.2 Societies in post-conflict situations

In South Asia, there are some countries and societies that have undergone active political and social conflicts of different scales that have traumatised societies and people disproportionately. Now, these countries and societies are in the process of recovery, reconciliation and rehabilitation. The three countries that are currently in post-conflict sociopolitical settlement and rehabilitation are Nepal, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
Nepal
Nepal was under active socio-political conflict for a decade from 1996 to 2006. It entered into a postconflict reconstruction, reconciliation and rehabilitation phase after the signing of a ten-point Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the government and the then rebellion CPN-M in November 2006. The post-conflict settlement was initiated along with the general elections for the first CA in April 2008. Alongside, the peace process was also initiated by managing the ex-combatants into different categories - integration into national security forces or rehabilitation in the society through financial support and educational opportunities. Due to vast differences among the major political forces, the CA constituted for two years, but could not come out with a new constitution even though the tenure of the CA was extended for two additional years. Therefore, the first CA expired in May 2012 amidst a lot of chaos. However, the peace process related to managing ex-combatants concluded recently in April 2013, integrating 1,444 ex-combatants into the national 72
Figure 6.4 Military expenditure trend in Nepal (NPR)
Source: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/nepal/military-expenditure-current-lcu-wb-data.html, downloaded on 17 January 2013. exercised. Both processes - the integration of former combatants and the democratisation of Nepal Army- as mentioned in the Interim Constitution, can be seen as part of the broader security sector reform (SSR). Also, this may be seen as the demilitarisation of the Nepalese society. Still, many armed groups are mushrooming in different parts of the country (mainly the Tarai and Eastern hill districts). Nepal's experience also clearly shows that for durable peace, structural problems in the form of exclusion and deprivation have to be addressed rather than seeking military solutions in an absolute way. provinces. Almost 6,400 acres of private lands in the Jaffna peninsula are to be lawfully grabbed by the military, having previously been designated as High Security Zones (HSZ) during war-time. Likewise, thousands of kilometres of coastal waters are still off-limits to fisher folk. The militarisation of state and society in post-war Sri Lanka is illustrated by two trends: the national budgetary allocations to the security forces and the encroachment of the military into civilian life. Since the war ended, the share of the national budget devoted to the military has been increasing and not decreasing. In 2013, the allocation to the Ministry of Defence and Urban Development is nearly LKR 290 billion; under 5 per cent (or LKR 4.8 billion) of which is for the subject of urban development, whereas over 95 per cent is for the combined army, air-force, navy, police and civil defence force. In comparison, only LKR 159 billion is allocated for health and education combined; and a mere LKR 1.5 billion for poverty reduction. The second trend is the creeping militarisation of the state administration and the economy. In the Northern and Eastern regions, the provincial governors are former high-ranking military personnel directly appointed by the President and who exercise executive powers far in excess of their Growing Militarisation and Threats to Democracy 73
Sri Lanka
In 1983, when the war began, the size of the military was numbered 30,000 and thirty years later, and after the war has ended, it is estimated to be around 300,000. It should be recalled that the total size of the public sector workforce in Sri Lanka is 1,000,000 (one million). Thus almost 1 out of every 4 state employees in Sri Lanka is a member of the security forces. There is also heavy concentration of the military in the conflict-affected Northern and Eastern
constitutional mandate. Local military commanders in those regions are active in civilian administration ranging from resettlement and rehabilitation activities to the functioning of schools, hospitals and places of worship; undermining the authority of state officials. Although national identity cards are issued by central government authorities, fisher folk in those provinces are issued separate identity cards by the Sri Lanka Navy without which they are not allowed to practise their profession. Meanwhile, the Secretariat for Non-Governmental Organisations, a state agency with which NGOs are obliged to register for official authorisation of their activities, was removed from the Social Services Ministry and absorbed into the Defence Ministry for increased surveillance of the third sector. The annexation of urban development by the Defence Ministry31 following the end of the war could be viewed as an attempt to rationalise the size and cost of maintaining the armed forces, now redeployed in non-combatant roles such as urban beautification schemes (that is, the clearance of informal settlements of the poor and ethnic minorities from Colombo); and the shock and awe tactic of positioning uniformed men carrying arms and in combat vehicles at development sites, to discourage active resistance from those forcibly evicted or deprived of their livelihoods. Wherever the state is engaged in development projects such as in construction and the renovation and even maintenance of buildings and facilities ranging from an international cricket stadium to luxury shopping precincts and public parks, it is military and not civilian labour that is used. The wage-labour of military personnel is entirely financed out of public funds, and these work opportunities in masonry, carpentry, landscape design, as caretakers etc. are unavailable to civilians. The military is also directly involved in economic activities such as agricultural cultivation (rice, vegetables and fruits); direct sale of produce (that is dumping of the surplus in local markets especially in the North and East, but also in Colombo during the 2011/2012 food price crisis). The military is visible in petty-trade and the operation of food outlets along the main arterial roads in the Northern province. Several commercial tourist ventures including hotels, passenger transport, and
31 http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20111017_03
recreational activities (for e.g. whale-watching) have been initiated, fostering patron-client relations between the regime and senior military officers who are transitioning into entrepreneurs, with ample scope for personal enrichment. Militarisation is a continuing process, deepening wherever it has taken root and expanding to new terrains. The education sector has not been spared. State university entrants are now required to follow a three-week leadership training programme conducted by the military and within military camps. State school principals now undergo military training and are inducted into the national cadet corps as brevet colonels, enabling them to use that title and sport an appropriate uniform. In schools of the North and East, uniformed military personnel are employed to teach the Sinhala language to Tamil-speaking children.
Afghanistan
The withdrawal of the USSR Army in February 1989 put Afghanistan into a prolonged civil war in which the Jihadi groups fought with each other to take control of the areas and to establish their rule. Taliban, with both military and financial support from Pakistani intelligence agencies took over most of the areas and ultimately captured the capital, Kabul in September 1996 and declared the country the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Taliban rule, recognised only by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and UAE, continued until October 2001, when the US-led Allied Forces overthrew the Taliban government in order to arrest Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, who was hiding in Afghanistan under the patronage of the Taliban. Afghanistan is the worst victim of civil war. Even though power was seized from the Taliban by the occupying forces under the leadership of the USA, the fight against the Taliban has not subsided much. Although the occupying forces are gradually withdrawing, the uncertainty continues with a bigger threat of suffering by the Afghan people. The government is mainly relying on both military and civilian aid. Total military and civilian aid in 2010/11 was USD 15.7 billion - about the same as the GDP, reflecting sharp increases since 2005. Foreign aid disbursements (both security-related and civilian) were equivalent to nearly 100 per cent of the GDP in 2010/11. Foreign aid has been on the
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rise since 2002, growing from USD 404 million in 2002/03 to more than USD 15.7 billion in 2010/11.32 Aid typically translates into demand for domestic services and construction through local procurement of goods and services by donor and military agencies. Spending on Afghanistan does not equal spending in Afghanistan. The cumulative expenditure of the USA on the Afghanistan mission is estimated to be as high as USD 444 billion.33 The US Department of Defence alone appropriated USD 118.6 billion in 2011. The sheer size of US spending on Afghanistan has led many to assume that military withdrawal will have a very negative impact on the economy. However, military spending by the United States (as well as other countries) finances the salaries of military personnel, investments in weapons, equipment and systems, sustenance, logistics and research of international forces, and operations contracted and paid for outside the country. Although it indirectly benefits Afghanistans economy by supporting security, the direct positive impact on poorer households appears to be limited. The impact of its withdrawal is, therefore, likely to be muted. Afghan experience shows that military solution is not the answer.
violent military coup. Since then, the country has witnessed open and hidden military rule, time and again. The elected governments since 1991 administer affairs keeping in mind that they should not antagonise the military too much. The presence of military officials in various tiers of the civil service is increasingly visible. Although the military budget in terms of percentage of the GDP has not changed much over the years, the military is acquiring hardware which is conventionally used in offensive wars. Bangladesh is home to many ethnicities. There has never been an honest and accurate count of these ethnic groups in the population census. The number of ethnicities ranges from 26 to 45 in different literature and their main concentration had been in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) - a region named by the British colonialists when they occupied it in 1860. Currently, it accounts for nine per cent of the area and one per cent of the population of Bangladesh (about 1.7 million as per the population census of 2011). For many years, the CHT had remained a specially administered area inhabited by people belonging to 15 ethnic communities, where Bangalees were about three per cent of the population during the partition of the region in 1947. The social fabric of the CHT has largely been distorted and demolished by planned settlement of Bangalees, mainly landless families from coastal districts, by the military regimes in late 1970s and early 1980s. This has changed the ethnic composition of the CHT and the Bangalees have outnumbered the locals in many places. Indigenous communities in the CHT are now less than 50 per cent of the population. The political struggle for autonomy of the CHT spearheaded by the Parbatyo Chattagram Jana Samhati Samity (PCJSS), which was founded in 1973, had transformed into armed insurgency along with the growing military presence of the state. In the 1980s, about sixty thousand people, mostly belonging to the Chakma ethnicity, were forced to take refuge in India. On 2 December 1997, the Chittagong Hill Tracts Treaty was signed between the PCJSS and the Government of Bangladesh after years of peace
6.3 Societies in conflict situations

While some countries and societies of the region have reportedly entered the post-conflict reconciliation and rehabilitation phase as discussed above, there are still some countries and societies in South Asia which serve as active playgrounds for continuing conflict in different forms and scale. No serious assessment of the underlying causes and genuine settlement plans are yet worked out either at national or other levels for resolving these conflicts. Brief discussions based on the cases of some selected communities that are under the vicious spiral of conflicts are presented hereunder.
Bangladesh: Ethnic strife in the Chittagong Hill Tracts

The military in Bangladesh had emerged as a major contender of political power in the mid-1970s after the elected government was overthrown through a
32 Afghanistan in Transition: Looking Beyond 2014 Volume 2: Main Report, The World Bank, May 2012. 33 Ibid
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talks and ended two decades of civil war. The treaty recognises the CHT as a tribal inhabited region, its traditional governance system and the role of its chiefs, and it provides building blocks for indigenous autonomy. After signing of the treaty, activists of PCJSS surrendered weapons and were given general amnesty and the refugees returned to their homes from Indian shelters, finding that many of their homes, lands and orchards had been occupied by the Bangalee settlers. The CHT is one of the poverty pockets in Bangladesh, characterised by isolation, poor infrastructural facilities and social exclusion. Rich in natural resources and potentials, the CHT has remained underdeveloped for decades. The treaty mentions full and unreserved allegiance in Bangladeshs state sovereignty and territorial integrity in Bangladeshs CHT region under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, the National Committee on the CHT, on behalf of the government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, and PCJSS, on behalf of the inhabitants of the CHT, reached an agreement to uphold the political, social, cultural, educational and economic rights of all the people of the CHT region, to expedite socio-economic development process and to preserve the respective rights of all citizens of Bangladesh and their development.34 According to the treaty Both the sides recognised the need for protecting the characteristics and attaining overall development of the region considering the CHT as a tribal inhabited region. Both the parties have decided to formulate, change, amend and incorporate concerned acts, regulations and practices as soon as possible in keeping with the consensus and responsibility expressed in different sections of the agreement. An implementation committee will be formed to monitor the implementation process of the agreement.35
disposal of the Hill District Councils. But the spirit of local governance remains elusive as the leaders of the Hill District Council as well as that of the CHT Regional Council, are still being nominated by the government and hence their accountability lies with the ruling regimes. In fact the CHT administration has become an extended arm of the national political-bureaucratic oligarchy.
Conflict in a post-colonial society: the Indian spectrum

India is preoccupied with the quelling of conflicts in various states. The so-called backward states are more vulnerable than the so-called forward states. Kashmir is known to be a backward state where violent conflict is frequent. Class conflict is also mounting in Kashmir. More recently, terrorist activities have occurred and intensified. India's ambition to be a military power in the world, border disputes with countries like Pakistan and China, and increased tension with Pakistan amidst continued trust deficit are the major factors contributing to the massively escalating military expenses in India every year. Now, a major chunk of resources are spent on maintaining law and order and internal security. Independence from colonial rule has not necessarily meant peace and happiness. Once the outsiders were removed from the political spectrum, internal conflicts surfaced and escalated because of the inability to handle them with prudence. This is manifested in a host of conflicts in India, of varying nature, where military means are applied to deal with issues of political nature. The Northeast region of India comprising eight states and surrounded by four countries is a setting for multitude of conflicts that undermine India as a functioning democracy. Reasons for conflicts are wide ranging, from separatist movement to intercommunity and inter-ethnic strife. On one side of the conflicts there are armed insurgencies and on the other there are atrocities committed by the state in the name of law and order. Thus, a problem of a largely political nature is being dealt with in a militaristic way that only complicates the situation further. This phenomenon, often in violent forms,
The implementation of the accord has remained very slow and incomplete. Of late, most of the government departments had been put under the
34 The Daily Star, Dhaka, 3 December 1997. 35 Daily Sun, Dhaka, 8 August 2012.
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has not only affected the integrity of the Indian state, but also the life of the people in the region, contributing to their marginalisation and alienation. The Northeast region has about 40 million people who vary in language, race, tribe, caste, religion and regional heritage. The clubbing of all these states under the tag of the northeast has tended to have a homogenising effect with its own implications for policy formulations and implementation; not to mention local aversion to such a construct. The AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Power Act) for instance, shows the inability and reluctance of successive governments to solve the conflict with adequate political measures. The AFSPA was passed in 18 August 1958 as a short-term measure to allow deployment of the army to counter an armed separatist movement in the Naga Hills. It has been in place for over six decades and has been extended to the entire region. Instead of resolving the problem, this led to the escalation of conflict by bringing it on a military level. Violation of human rights has led to the radicalisation and militarisation of the region and has weakened the support base for a political solution.36 Here, it is important to draw attention to the case of Irom Sharmila, a human rights activist, who has been on a hunger strike for more than a decade, protesting against atrocities of the security forces in Manipur. In the Northwest, Kashmir faces a similar situation. The conflict remains unresolved for over six decades, fuelling the conventional and nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan and is a bone of contention, not only between these countries, but also for the rest of South Asia. According to conservative estimates, at least 40,000 people have been killed since the Insurgency began in 1989. There is one soldier for every 10 Kashmiris in the valley and daily life is a nightmare for the ordinary Kashmiri.37 While India claims Kashmir as its integral part, Pakistan considers it as a disputed territory and many Kashmiris do not believe that the 1947 accession is final.
democratic institutionalisation. Frequent military interventions, overt and covert, has not allowed democratic institutions to grow. It took nine years to draft the first constitution, only to be abrogated within two years, and it took 23 years to hold the first ever general elections on the basis of universal franchise, though the elected representatives were not allowed by the military-dominated oligarchy to form a government and frame a constitution. The country had to pay heavily as one part of it was forced to choose its own way to constitute a separate state, Bangladesh. Since then, constitutionalism has remained one of the central issues in Pakistan. Though Pakistan has a federal system of governance with a bi-cameral legislature, the federative structure has not been allowed to take root. As a result, inter-province conflict is explicit and the worst example is Balochistan, which accuses the central government of massive deprivation. Military interventions in Balochistan took place on several occasions in the name of national integrity to resolve an issue of a purely political nature. This has aggravated the situation further. Pakistan is faced with numerous problems of a similar nature. It is facing a nationalist movement in Balochistan together with fundamentalism, ethnic and sectarian conflict. In recent years, an unprecedented rise in terrorism in most big cities has emerged as a major threat. But instead of resolving issues through democratisation, it was done through military dictatorship, which has had a cumulative impact on the state. The condition in Pakistan is deteriorating despite the restoration of democracy a few years back. The Afghan insurgency has badly affected Pakistans law and order as most areas in Pakistan were targeted by militant Taliban, who were mostly driven into Pakistani tribal areas after US occupation. But a large number of Afghan refugees were already living in the refugee camp, having taken shelter in Pakistan during the Afghanistan civil war. The local supporters of Taliban in Swat, Waziristan and other tribal areas provided material support and shelter to these terrorist outfits. The
Pakistan
Since its establishment in August 1947, the Pakistani state has remained fragile in terms of
36Heimerdinger, Philipp and Chonzom, Tshering. Conflict in Northeast India: Issues, Causes and Concern Briefing Paper. http://www.in.boell.org/web/52-259.html 37 The mass graves of Kashmir. http://www.kashmirlibrary.org/
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Al-Qaeda-Taliban insurgents with the support of local religious extremist groups like Jamat-eDawah, Lashkar-e-Jangvi, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Tahirk-e-Taliban Pakistan carried out violent activities inside the Pakistani territory to establish a Taliban-style Islamic rule in Pakistan. The religious fanatics have created law and order problems in the Malakand division of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province, demanding Shariat rule in the valley. They killed innocent people for defying their orders, even dress codes, and tortured women for defying their narrow-minded life style that kept women under veil, and did not allow girls to get education and discouraged womens participation in economic activities. Taliban insurgents have bombarded the educational institutions, especially, girls schools and threatened the peace activists in the areas. The Pakistani government launched two military operations against insurgent Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Swat valley (Malakand division) in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province and South Waziristan in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) in 200910. These spells of the Army operations put a heavy burden on the national budget outlay as the governments had to divert most of its budget allocations to military expenditures. The government also cut the development budget. The Taliban militants continued their violent activities in other areas of Pakistan as they were driven out of Swat and took shelter in Waziristan area. They continued their violent activities in Pakistan through bomb blasts at public places as well as through suicide bomb attacks in public rallies. Negligence to certain areas in development, denial of rights to certain groups at the state-level, dictatorial attitude of the rulers, bureaucracy and prolonged military rule are factors connected to militarisation. The deep-rooted tribal system in many areas in which tribal elites run a parallel judicial system and refuse to give rights to general masses has also perpetuated the chaos. A vivid example of this is Balochistan, where the government and military have been violating human rights for the longest period. Enforced disappearances, allegedly by the state security agencies and the dumping of dead bodies of disappeared victims are reported in the media every other day. The killing of journalists for reporting extra-judicial disappearances and 78
murders and state agencies atrocities have created a widespread sense of insecurity in Balochistan. Target killings of the political workers by opponent groups with the support of the establishment and prolonged military operation in Balochistan have put the province in anarchy. The target killing of the Shia Hazara community and the Punjabi settlers in the province also speaks volumes of the governments criminal apathy towards protecting its own citizens despite the deployment of the controversial Frontier Corps (FC) forces in the province. Military governments have launched a number of Army operations to crush the voice for political and economic rights of Balochs in the past. It is not just human rights abuses. The state has denied autonomy, royalties on natural resources like minerals, and natural gas to Balochistan. Balochistan is one of Pakistans poorest regions although it has vast natural resources. Baloch separatists allege that the central government of Pakistan is systematically suppressing development in Balochistan to keep the Balochs weaker. The province of Balochistan occupies 44 per cent of Pakistans land mass but with inverse population. It has two third of the countrys strategic coastline; it has large deposits of coal, copper, lead, gold and other minerals. Balochistan has been supplying 35 per cent of the natural gas to the whole country but consumes only 3.5 per cent within the region. It contributes PKR 85 billion through revenues, however, Balochistan gets around PKR 7 billion from the federal government. Out of the 13 most underfed districts of Pakistan (ranking in the HDI), 10 are in Balochistan. Although it was always the poorest, poverty has deepened to the extent that rural poverty increased from 21 per cent in 1999 to 57 per cent in 2011. Only 49 per cent males and 14 per cent females are literate, 59 per cent of children are out of school, of which 87 per cent are poor children from rural areas. It has the highest maternal and child mortality rates.
Bhutan: from conflict to ethnic cleansing

The crisis in Bhutan took a serious turn with the state policy of ethnic cleansing of people of the Nepalese community, who had been living in the country for generations. They had been denied all forms of civil rights, not only citizenship, but also the right to live in Bhutan. This led to large-scale
eviction and involuntary migration and many of them have spent years in refugee camps, located mainly in eastern Nepal. This unmasks the ugly face of the state-sponsored theory of the Gross National Happiness (GNH) that glorifies development with social cohesion of the majority ethnic community at the cost of disfranchising a sizable minority community. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) on 26 April 2013
marked a major milestone in the resettlement of refugees from Bhutan in Nepal, with 100,000 people having been referred for resettlement to third countries since 2007 and almost 80,000 refugees already resettled in different first world countries. The USA has settled the largest number of people, 66,134; followed by Canada, 5,376; Australia, 4,190; New Zealand, 747; Denmark, 746; Norway, 546; the Netherlands, 326; and the UK, 317.38 This is viewed as forced diaspora, a creation of the international community that ignores the issue of justice in Bhutan.
Bhutanese refugees at Goldhap refugee camp in Jhapa, Nepal
38 http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2013/apr/apr26/news11.php
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Photo by: SAAPE Secretariat
Campaign material for the Demilitarisation, Democratisation and Social Justice Campaign 80
RESISTANCE MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH ASIA AGAINST NEO-LIBERALISM
7. RESISTANCE MOVEMENTS IN SOUTH ASIA AGAINST NEO-LIBERALISM

Resistance movements by the people are viewed as a force against neo-liberal globalisation. Capitalism suppresses the generation of transformation and creative change in society. It usually promotes homogeneity through consumer goods and services, which subsequently alienates people from enjoying justice in societies. Social movements emerged as a resistance to the negative impact of neo-liberal globalisation. Social movements are collective reactions towards social change and they involve the mobilisation of groups of individuals with perceived common interests of the past, present and future, who hold other actors responsible for the current state of affairs and seek to support or oppose the same (Diani & Porta, 2006). The direction of the current wave of social movements in South Asia is against existing structures of inequality and oppression that is promoted by the neo-liberal economic order. It has pushed the vast majority of people (women, peasant, workers, Dalits, and other marginalised or minority groups) into further destitution. These movements have in common the goal to restore the rights lost as a cause of dominant political, economic and cultural structures. The movements have revealed the inequalities and injustices of societies, and made persistent efforts to address the issues of rights, dignities, identities, emotions and collective interests of people. As a collective effort, social movements in South Asia are arising as a result of the relationship of conflict between existing economic and political structures and those bound by it. This relates to the logic of social movements argued by Diani and Porta (2006) that those subjected are connected to one another through informal contacts and share a distinct collective identity. In South Asia, a number of informal networks and platforms exist among the people of a particular movement, who build relationships with one another and exchange solidarity and support to strengthen their 82 movements. This exchange of solidarity and support is used to challenge the current dominant structures and practices. This also relates to the arguments made by Touraine (1981) that social change is possible only through networking and functional relationship building among social actors. Mohanty describes that social movements aim to establish a 'creative society' by unveiling contradictions through the upsurge of participation and action against existing structures in society. This involves active protests against the lack of democracy and inclusiveness with the motive to assert peoples rights and democratise the system. Essentially, social movements have two roles to play- the first being the exposure of the multitude inequalities in society caused by the dominant political and economic structures and second, the positive transformation of those injustices (Mohanty, 1998). The sections below present the nature and type of social movements in South Asian countries that expose the inequalities caused by the neo-liberal policies adopted by South Asian states and efforts by social movements for the positive transformation of injustices.
7.1 Social movements for food sovereignty and right to food

The concerns related to food security have been debated since long in Nepal. The concept of food sovereignty is yet to be formalised at international forums but in Nepal, there are several farmers groups, civil society organisations and communities advocating for food sovereignty. In Nepal, people most affected are the poor, Dalits, women, ethnic minorities, people living in remote rural areas and urban slums, wage labourers, the disabled, and senior citizens. The minor citizens within these groups are also insecure from the point of view of food and nutrition security. Parallel movements linked to food security have also been
Box 7.1
Struggle against maize crop failure in Nepal

In 2010, farmers in the districts of Bara, Sarlahi, Rautahat and Parsa of Nepal had faced serious problems of maize crop failure due to the sowing of GM/hybrid seeds imported from India. The farmers were motivated to use GM seeds for bumper harvest and also took undue benefit of the absence of proper regulatory mechanism. When the corncobs failed to bear grains, they suffered a huge loss. Then the farmers associations and civil society organisations, working on the issues of right to food, launched a series of agitations demanding compensation for the loss and also against the possible infiltration by transnational seed companies selling GM seeds, planting materials and chemicals. This battle was won in favour of the victimised farmers. The government had allocated NPR 200 million to compensate the affected farmers. Source: www.ekantipur.com mobilised. An example is the struggle against maize crop failure in Nepal, detailed in box 7.1. The right to food movement in India is vibrant (see box 7.2). In India, the movement derives from liberal interpretations of Article 21 which provides for right to life and livelihood, and also from Article 4739 of the Indian Constitution. Thus, the Indian right to food campaign, can be quoted as one of the best examples of success in the form of social movements in the neo-liberal set up.40 It is the culmination of the concerted efforts of the most rigorous organisations and civil society activists in India. With a series of interim orders, in the nature of continuing mandamus, the court
Box 7.2
Food sovereignty in India

The issue of right to food was raised before the Supreme Court as early as 1989 in the case of Kishen Patnaik v. State of Orissa,41 however, it was only in 2001 that the right was formalised with the initiatives of the right to food campaign which filed the case of PUCL v. Union of India.42 The right to food campaign began with a writ petition submitted to the Supreme Court in April 2001 by People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Rajasthan. It is an informal network of organisations and individuals committed to the realisation of the right to food in India. The case filed in court: This case, filed in 2001, is handled by an advisory group consisting of a few members from the PUCL, Human Rights Law Network (HRLN), former support group of the Right to Food Campaign and other active individuals in the campaign. Already, 382 affidavits have been submitted by the petitioners and respondents, 55 interim applications have been filed, and 44 interim orders have been issued.43 Some of the important interim orders passed by the Court are provided below- (Contd. to next page)
39 It obligates the state to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health. 40Summary of the National Food Security Bill 2013, (revised version, as tabled in Parliament, 22 March 2013), http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/archive/01404/Summary_of_the_Nat_1404267a.pdf 41 Air 1989 SC 677. 42 Writ Petition [Civil] No. 196 of 2001. 43 SUPREME COURT ORDERS ON THE RIGHT TO FOOD: A TOOL FOR ACTION, Yamini Jaishankar And Jean Drze On Behalf Of The Secretariat Of The Right To Food Campaign, For The Second National Convention On The Right To Food And Work (Kolkata, 2820 November 2005).
Resistance Movements in South Asia against Neo-Liberalism
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(Contd. from previous page) Access to information: The Gram Sabhas have been empowered to monitor the implementation of the various schemes. Identification of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families: State Governments have been directed to complete the identification of BPL families, issuing of cards and commencement of distribution of 25 kg grain per family per month (later increased to 35 Kg). Accessibility of ration shops and regular supply of grain: On several occasions, the Supreme Court directed the government to ensure that all ration shops open regularly. Accountability of Public Distribution System (PDS) dealers: Orders related to the Public Distribution System also apply to Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), since AAY is a component of the PDS. Mid-day meal: The State Governments directed to implement the Mid-Day Meal Scheme. Integrated Child Development Scheme: The State Governments directed to implement the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) in full. Implementation of other related schemes such as National Pension Schemes, National Family Benefit Scheme, National Maternity Benefit Scheme, Annapurna Scheme, Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana, and The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
National Food Security Bill On 2nd September 2013, the Indian Parliament approved the Food Security Bill. While it hads been touted as proof of the governments will to strengthen the rights given by the Apex Court, most CSOs, experts and specialists disagree.44 The provisions of the bill seem to water down the concrete rights that the SC has granted. Some of the glaring flaws are detailed below.45 The Bill is not universal in its application and reaches out to limited sections of the population through its classification of APL and BPL population under the terminology of priority, general and excluded. 46 No specific criteria have been laid down for the identification of households under particular categories. Vulnerable groups such as single mothers, differently-abled people and senior citizens are not extended enhanced support. While the Bill deals with hunger, it is divorced from nutrition. For instance the definition of food grains excludes pulses, a rich source of protein.47 It includes cash transfers wherein the government can transfer amounts for purchasing food. Concerns regarding the depletion in the value of money, diversion of funds by individuals, difficulties in operating accounts and scope of corruption, have been expressed vehemently. 48 Provision of food is laid down but crucial aspects like production, procurement and distribution are not detailed which has caused fear among the farmers.
44 Report of the Expert Committee on National Food Security Bill, http://agritech.tnau.ac.in/pdf/rep_NFSB.pdf 45 Rajesh Sinha, Food Security Bill faces criticism from experts and campaigners,http://portal.thebengalpost.com/index.php/index/newsdetails/Food-Security-Bill-faces-criticismfrom-experts-and-campaigners-373361161361290390. 46 Udit Misra, The Good and Bad of the Food Security Bill, http://forbesindia.com/article/special/the-good-and-bad-of-the-food-security-bill/35135/1. 47 Ujjwal Kumar and Bipul Chatterjee, The National Food Security Bill, 2011 Right to Entitlement to Food and Nutrition,http://www.parfore.in/pdf/Bill_BlowupThe_National_Food_Security_Bill_2011_Right_to_Entitlement_to_Food_and_Nutrition.pdf. 48 The promises and perils of the Food Security Bill, http://www.achrweb.org/ihrrq/issue1/food.html.
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made food grains available to the populace. The governments attempt to undo the rights extended through a seemingly robust exercise of law making, displays the convoluted means in which the State operates. This case still goes far in showing the impact grassroots organisations can have when they operate through constitutional mechanism and when the judiciary supplement those efforts. The Sri Lankan civil society movements on right to food were launched with the demand on asserting and claiming rights to land, water and seeds. Land is becoming scarce and has become the most important and debated issue in Sri Lanka, even prior to the end of the war in 2009. Problems concern the deterioration of the quality of agricultural lands, encroaching forests for agricultural and residential requirements, soil and water pollution due to agricultural and industrial activities, difficulties with land titles, displacement from natural hazards, war and climate change effects, wildlife versus human habitations, posttsunami and post-war development and reconstruction projects, and land acquisitions by MNCs and even the military and government. These result from and get aggravated by the failure
of policy frameworks, collapse of transparency and accountability in institutional arrangements especially among duty-bearers, discrediting by the government of civil society organisations, lack of awareness of legislations and of the development projects by affected people, and inadequacy of people-centred participatory planning processes. These are just some of the long and interrelated land and water resource related problems. An equally long and interconnected list of effects are attributable to these land grabbing problems, foremost of which are decreased food production and livelihood security, increased hunger, starvation and malnutrition, and decreased immunity from illness especially communicable diseases. Environmental destruction and loss of integrity of the natural ecosystem are consequences not to be underestimated. The Sri Lankan civil society led by National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO) has been mobilising people to assert their rights to land, water and seed. A Peoples Tribunal (PT) was organised to hear a number of specific cases of displacement that had occurred as a result of various developmental
Box 7.3
Cases of land acquisition and displacement of people in Sri Lanka

Kalpitiya Tourism Zone Fourteen islands in Kalpitiya, an area of 1400 hectares of land, have been set apart as tourism zone and are being sold to private industrialists. Two villages have already been leased out for 99 years to private hoteliers, preventing the access of fishermen to the sea and also displacing them from their habitation. Invitation for tender has been issued for another five villages. The specific case brought before the tribunal was that of Mrs. Faseeha Saleema Khan who is the wife of an invalid husband, and a mother of eight children. The landed property that was given to her by her husband was illegally occupied by the Divisional Secretary of Kalpitiya and handed over to the coastal conservation department. She complained to the police and the Human Rights Commission. They advised her to seek legal redress but the judicial system was lethargic in bringing her justice. This is an instance of illegal occupation taking place with the collaboration of the political higher ups and the bureaucracy, with no legitimate legal recourse. Panama Tourism Zone A sea plane landing site has been proposed in the Panama Lagoon. The first village settlement in Panama Shathrawela established in the 1960s, was taken over for a Special Task Force Training Camp and subsequently transferred to a hotel group. (Contd. to next page)
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(Contd. from previous page) Likewise, three villages in the region Ragamwela, Ulpassa and Egodayaya - were taken over for a naval station but later they were given over to hoteliers. Now, a bridge is proposed to be built across Panama Lagoon connecting the hotels and the sea plane landing sites. This will displace almost 350 fisher households and 1200 farming families from their livelihood. Negombo Tourism Zone The Negombo Lagoon is an ecologically sensitive aqua-system of rich biodiversity on which about 3500 strong fisher families depend on for their livelihood. As part of tourism development, the Government of Sri Lanka initiated a project of building a sea plane landing station in the lagoon and associated infrastructure development for tourism industry without any consultation with the fishing community and any environmental impact assessment. A massive mobilisation of the fishing community, especially the women, was successful in putting the proposed project on hold. Polonnaruwa Tourism Zone Associated with tourism development, four sea plane landing stations have been proposed in four tanks in Polonnaruwa District Parakrama Samudraya, Giritale, Minneriya and Kanthale. More than 100,000 hectares of land has been nourished and irrigated by the waters of these tanks. The livelihood of 40,000 families, who survive by farming on this land, is being threatened by tourism development. Besides, people in the seven villages around Parakrama Samudraya live off fishing. The livelihood of about 1000 fisher families will therefore also be affected by this development. Colombo Urban Development Project Mrs. M.P. Sunitha shared her story and of 72 others who are resisting eviction by the railway authorities from the rail line connecting Kellani Valley with Avissawella. This is part of the urban development and beautification programme by which 66,000 families are expected to be evicted. These families have built houses and become a community there for the last four decades with house numbers, electricity, public water supply, names on the voters list, and other prescriptive rights. They live by daily wages and take up odd jobs in the city and cannot afford to buy land or houses. They petitioned to the Human Rights Commission about this unilateral eviction from what has been their home over four decades. The commission directed the government to provide them with houses or adequate compensation. However, the government has failed to meet this directive and the people continue to live in the imminent threat of eviction. The community is putting up stiff resistance. Already, peoples disatisfaction has been registered in the recently concluded Colombo municipal council elections in which the ruling party was defeated.
activities in Sri Lanka. Examples of land acquisitions due to tourism and development projects culled out from the Peoples Tribunals are given in box 7.3.
Fisher folks' rights movements in Pakistan

Fisher folks in Pakistan have long suffered the consequences of artificial diversions such as dams. The obstruction to the natural flow of water in the Indus River caused by dams has led to the barring of water in agricultural lands and endangered 86
many species of fish. In March 2010, fisher folks organised a 300km march starting from Kharochan, Indus Delta advocating the restoration of the Indus River and the rehabilitation of Indus Delta. Dams affect the ecology and flora and fauna, causing a disturbance in livelihood of downstream communities. Fisher folk have realised the significance of rivers in their lives and the costs of ignoring its ecological value. This has resulted in the mobilisation of fisher folks and rallies for the permanent ban on the construction of dams, and
the decommissioning of existing ones. Moreover, the aim is to spread awareness about issues such as the prevention of water pollution and contamination of freshwater lakes. Livelihood around the Indus Delta has been tough with people facing major economic, environmental and social challenges. Prior to this movement, fisher folks in Pakistan had carried out a successful movement against rangers who had occupied lakes in Badin. The Pakistan Fisher folk Forum (PFF), one of the members of SAAPE, is a leading body in the protection of around 4 million fisher folks in Pakistan. By restoring their historical ownership of right to water resources, the PFF seeks to address the socio-economic and political rights of the indigenous fisher folks communities. It is also concerned with other issues regarding the struggle of the fisher folks movement such as sustainable fisheries policy, depletion of natural resources in the sea, release and subsequent rehabilitation of detained fisher folks in Pakistani and Indian jails, restoration of Indus Delta, and awareness regarding rights. Through organisations like these and efforts of the fisher folk themselves, there has been steady progress in the fisher folks movement and the struggle to maintain political momentum still continues.
Over the last five decades, towns all over South Asia are swelling and fertile agricultural land is rapidly being transformed into non-agricultural land. Thus, land grabbing is becoming one of the prime causes of hunger and poverty, challenging food security in the region. At present, the commercialisation of land and increasing interest from the private sector, government and Multinational and Transnational Companies (MNCs/TNCs), has resulted in land grabbing, displacing thousands of peasants in many South Asian countries (FSNSA, 2011). This is because capitalism continues its efforts to maintain hegemony over natural resources, biodiversity and the local markets in the name of globalisation, democratisation and liberalisation processes and extends its tentacles through the veil of the World Bank, ADB, IMF, WTO and MNCs. Peasants in the region have been exploited, discriminated and even tortured by the feudal landlords in the villages and MNCs, private sectors and state within and outside the village. Along with the misery of the peasant and small farm holders, land grabbing has emerged as the biggest threat challenging their farm land, farming occupation and source of livelihood. Real estates (domestic) both in the form of registered company or non-registered entity (individual and family organised in informal ways) have been engaged in land grabbing, considering land as a business entity to grab speculative benefits from. A number of groups including the cadres of political parties are found to be engaged in land businesses. Similarly, the migration of youth, common in all countries has resulted in absentee ownership, barren land and the feminisation of agriculture. The different forms of land grabbing in South Asia is listed below; Land grabbing from MNCs and TNCs especially in the cases of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka Land grabbing in the name of conflict, both by rebels and the state (conflict-affected area e.g. Afghanistan, Kashmir) The landless people who live as squatters, or Sukumbasi, with the support of various political parties and mass movements are grabbing land in countries like Nepal. These people usually occupy land near the highway, urban slum, 87
7.2 Peasant movements against land grabbing

More than 60 per cent people in South Asia depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Three of every four poor people in these countries live in rural areas and almost 40 per cent of the total population is poor. Agriculture continues to be a fundamental instrument for sustainable development and poverty reduction in these countries. The agriculture sector accounts for about 23 per cent of the GDP in the region, dominated by small-holder farmers (ANPFa, 2009 & 2011). As land is a form of private property, due to neoliberal policies and increasing pressure from urbanisation and industrialisation, land-sale market is active in both rural and urban areas, but the bulk of sales transactions happen in urban land. Land values have been rising. Land pooling and land plotting is a new economic as well as social phenomenon and a new business in urban areas.
Photo source:http://sappk.files.wordpress.com
movement urges the government to take immediate and effective steps to stop land grabbing that has accelerated in recent years in the name of SEZ, industrialisation, development of tourist resorts, establishment of military base and so on. In particular, the movement denounces large-scale land grabbing through preferential acquisitions or concessions that violate human rights, that are not based on (a) prior and informed consent of affected land users (b) transparent contracts and processes (c) a thorough assessment of social, environmental and economic impacts including their effects on women and (d) democratic planning with meaningful participation. Proponents of the movement demand a ban on the conversion of agricultural land to non-food production land and instead push for the implementation of genuine, people-led land, agrarian, pasture and fisheries reforms, including protection of forest lands and common property resources. The movement also urges the government to ensure the promotion of gender responsive policies at all levels, including participation, inheritance, equal wages and peasant womens control over land and other productive resources. In India, on 22 August 2012, farmers union leaders and organisations working for the right to food and food sovereignty in India along with a representative from the Agriculture Department and a government representative of Andhra Pradesh, submitted a letter to the Prime Minister of India, requesting a response to and protection of the interests of farmers through seed price regulation. The Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee (PKRC), a focal organisation of the Food Sovereignty Campaign Group of SAAPE has constantly been mobilising peasants against land grabbing. A large number of fishermen, farmers and herdsmen have been resisting land grabbing with the demands for the right to safe water, indigenous seeds and land for food sovereignty. They urge the policy-makers to avoid introducing genetically modified (GM) seeds, which threatens human health. The focal organisations of SAAPE in Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are campaigning for food sovereignty and against land grabbing and have
Farmers assemble to protest against land transfer to multinationals for corporate farming in Lahore, Pakistan forests or public land. In reality, these people may not be landless. The grabbing of private and state land by the military (Pakistan, Sri Lanka) Land grabbing in the borders where the army of one country crosses its boundary Urbanisation and commercial pressure on land (land pooling, plotting and business) The state encroaching land for the sake of mining, conservation areas (buffer) and very recently, in the name of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) A large amount of farm land encroached and taken away fo the sake of building universities, hospitals and sports centres Land grabbing is also common in the name of tourism. Thousands of fisher folks from the coastal areas of India, Sri Lanka and Maldives are severely impacted due to land grabbing for the sake of tourism development.
The member organisations of SAAPE have been facilitating the anti-land grabbing movements in South Asia. In India, SAAPE members have been launching movements entitled "All India Peoples Campaign against Land Grabbing and have come with up with the Kolkata Declaration that looks into the demands and vision for future actions. The 88
been mobilising thousands of people around these issues. An instance of movement against land grabbing in Bangladesh is provided in the box 7.4.
power. One of the noteworthy examples of the resistance against nuclear power in India is mentioned below:"People of Idinthakarai have been struggling continuously against the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) in a peaceful and nonviolent manner for almost a quarter century and for almost 450 days in a more recent concerted campaign under the banner of Peoples Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE). They have been asking in
7.3 Peoples resistance against the militarisation and violation of human rights
People of South Asia have been struggling continuously against militarisation and nuclear
Box 7.4
Peoples resistance against Phulbari Coal Mine- a form of land grabbing in Bangladesh
The Phulbari mining project involves an open-pit coal mine in Northwest Bangladesh and the construction of at least one 500-MW power plant. At peak production, about eight million tons of coal would be transported by rail and barges to an offshore reloading facility located in Akram Point. An additional four million tons would be exported to India via railway, and the remaining three million tons would be used for domestic energy consumption. The Phulbari mining is now at a critical juncture. The project was stalled, in the planning phase, when emergency rule was imposed in Bangladesh in January 2007. However, following the national elections in December 2008, a new administration actively reconsidered open-pit mining of the nation's coal and the Phulbari project's financier, Global Coal Management Resources plc (GCM) resumed aggressive efforts to push the project forward.
Photo source: http://newint.org
The grassroots resistance responding to the Phulbari project has been met with egregious consequences. In August 2006, the Bangladesh Rifles, a paramilitary force, opened fire on the 50,000 local people who were conducting a peaceful protest in Phulbari. Three people were killed, including a 14-year-old boy, and as many as 200 people were wounded. Local communities, national Bangladeshi NGOs, and international advocacy organisations have taken up the call, Ban Open Pit Mining in Phulbari! The Phulbari coal mine would destroy 14,660 acres (around 23 sq. miles) of land, 80 per cent of which is fertile farmland. It would physically displace as many as 220,000 people, mostly farming and indigenous households. This uprooting and resettlement of entire villages is being planned in one of the world's most densely populated countries. Project plans clearly state that the agricultural land and other vital resources that affected households rely on would not be replaced. In short, the lives and livelihoods of tens of thousands of people would be irrevocably disrupted by a mining operation that would transform productive farmers into landless people with no clear prospects for other livelihoods or employment. (Contd. to next page) Resistance Movements in South Asia against Neo-Liberalism
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(Contd. from previous page) The chronology of events has been as follows: 7 May 2012: Police attack and beat demonstrators calling on the government of Bangladesh to halt the Phulbari Coal Mine and pursue renewable energy, injuring 15 people. 10 May 2012: Global Coal Management Resources (GCM), the London-based company backing the Phulbari Coal project, redoubles its efforts to force the project forward, despite call by the UN for an immediate halt to the project. Activist groups fear renewed violence, as new propaganda leaflets & posters are distributed to sow confusion and mistrust within threatened communities. 26 August 2012: Thousands of people join the Phulbari Day rally commemorating the three people who were shot dead and hundreds injured on this day in 2006, when paramilitary troops fired on some 70,000 people protesting the open-pit mine in Phulbari. Leaders of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports announced plans for tougher action if the government failed to implement by 31 December the six-point Phulbari agreement, which includes a national ban on open-pit mining and the expulsion of Asia Energy, GCM's subsidiary, from Bangladesh. 9 November 2012: National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports calls on government to ban open-pit mining & implement agreement to expel GCM from Bangladesh. Promises tougher action if government fails to act by 28 November. 13 November 2012: Thousands of people march in Phulbari demanding withdrawal of an order from the Home Ministry instructing local administrations & law enforcement agencies to assist Asia Energy, GCM's subsidiary, to conduct surveys of coal deposits in Phulbari. 23 November 2012: Thousands of people break police barricades to demonstrate in Phulbari, defying government ban on public gatherings, and the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports announces a daylong general strike in Phulbari for Saturday, 24 November. 24 November 2012: Several thousand people break through police barricades and take to the streets in Phulbari to defy government ban on public gatherings. The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports calls for an indefinite general strike until the government withdraws order calling for cooperation with Asia Energy and implements six-point 2006 agreement that bans open-pit mining in Bangladesh and calls for Asia Energy to be expelled from the country. 25 November 2012: Two-day general strike is lifted after district official reportedly agrees to withdraw the office of Asia Energy in Phulbari by 31 December and implement the six-point Phulbari agreement calling for the permanent expulsion of the company and a ban on open-pit mining. On 29 November 2012, the government decided not to proceed with the controversial open-pit method under the tenure of the current administration, due to the need for further study of impacts.49 vain for the basic information about the project such as the Site Evaluation Report (SER), Safety Analysis Report (SAR), Emergency Preparedness Plan (EPP), the performance report of VodoVodyanoi Energetichesky Reactor (VVER-1000/412), and the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) on Liability and so forth. Instead of getting the above information, they were slapped with dangerous cases (like sedition, waging war on the state etc.), malicious accusations (that they were foreign funded and instigated), imprisonment, curfew and prohibitory orders, intimidation campaigns, home searches, physical attacks on their persons and properties, police atrocities and other high-handed behaviours of the State."
49International Accountability Project, Oakland, CA USA 94612.accountabilityproject.org/article.php?id=128?
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Irom Chanu Sharmila has attracted the world's attention with her fight against militarisation inIndia, presented in box 7.5.
Asia (discussed in chapter V). This section deals with some of the most prominent women rights movements in South Asia.
7.4 Womens rights movements in South Asia

Women have been one of the most oppressed sections and marginalised social groups in South
Voices from a girl for equal rights of women to education

A girl student from Pakistan, Malala Yousufzai, fought for the rights of girls education (detail is
Box 7.5
Irom Chanu Sharmila's struggle against militarisation

Irom Chanu Sharmila from Manipur, India is a woman with grit and unceasing determination. Having been on a fast for more than a decade, she continues to protest against the draconian AFSPA, 1958. The Act gives sweeping powers with complete immunity to the Armed Forces, which has translated into many cases of rape, death and forced disappearance. Sharmilas struggle was triggered by the Malom massacre of 2 November 2000 in which 10 people were killed by security forces on the outskirts of Imphal. Only a day after she began fasting, the police charged her with attempt to suicide under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code and put her in jail.50 She is kept in a hospital in Imphal and is force-fed. In 2006, she commenced her fast unto death. AFSPAs provisions Enacted in 1958 on an experimental basis for six months as a measure against terrorist groups in the Northeast, it was applied first in Nagaland, in 1980 in Manipur, later in Jammu and Kashmir and over the decades in more areas of the Northeast.51 Passed when the Naga movement for independence had just taken off, AFSPA is a bare law with just six sections. The most damning are those in the fourth and sixth sections: the former enables security forces to fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing of death in situations where laws are being violated. The latter says no criminal prosecution will lie against any person who has taken action under this act. In 54 years, not a single army, or paramilitary officer or soldier has been prosecuted for murder, rape, destruction of property (including the burning of villages in the 1960s in Nagaland and Mizoram).52 The army has insisted that revoking it would create safe zones for militants to group. However, in itself, AFSPA is no deterrence to the growth of militancy. In Manipur, in the years that AFSPA was in full effect, outfits ballooned from around 20 to 40 groups.53 In 2004, the state erupted in protests against the rape and murder of 32-year-old Manorama, which led to nude protests by women outside the Kangla Fort in Imphal, where Assam Rifles were stationed. Their cries of Indian Army, Rape Us reverberated all across the globe. The outburst translated into AFSPA being partially withdrawn from some districts. There is absolutely no evidence to show that militancy has spiked in those districts in AFSPAs absence. (Contd. to next page)
50 Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 20, 1, (2013):147-151 51 Walter Fernandes, AFSPA: Who rules India?, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/afspa-who-rules-india/article4407851.ece 52 SanjoyHazarika An abomination called AFSPA, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/afspa-who-rulesindia/article4407851.ece 53Shoma Chaudhary, The political leadership must force the army to confront its AFSPA bogey, http://tehelka.com/the-politicalleadership-must-force-the-army-to-confront-its-afspa-bogey/
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(Contd. from previous page) Public protest for removal of AFSPA In November 2004, following unprecedented public protest in Manipur against the abovementioned cases of rape and murder, the Government of India set up a special committee chaired by retired justice Reddy of the Supreme Court with the mandate to review the Act. The committees report, which was filed in 2005, has never been officially published. However it recommended that the continuation of the present Act, with or without amendments does not arise, the Act is too sketchy, too bald and quite inadequate in several particulars.54 In 2007, another committee headed by Veerappa Moily recommended removal of AFSPA from civil areas.55 In 2012, the Supreme Court, intervening in a case where the Central Bureau of Investigation was seeking to prosecute army officers accused of murdering five villagers in Jammu & Kashmir declared clearly that AFSPAs protection was limited to acts conducted in the line of duty. Even the Justice Verma Committee, formed after the brutal gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old on 16 December 2012, recommended that the military men accused of sexual assault should be tried under normal law and not be protected by the law that guarantees immunity.56 International Pressure for removal of AFSPA The public pressure has attracted international attention towards the AFSPA. On 23 March 2009, the UN asked India to repeal the AFSPA, an act that they considered to be contrary to Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The UN Commissioner on Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay termed the law a dated and colonial-era law that breaches contemporary international human rights standards. The United Nations also questioned the constitutionality of the AFSPA under Indian law. On 1 May 2013, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Rashida Manjoo, noted that The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act (AFSPA) have mostly resulted in impunity for human rights violations broadly, according to information received. The law protects the armed forces from effective prosecution in non-military courts for human rights violations committed against civilian women among others, and it allows for the overriding of due process rights and recommended that The implementation of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, the Public Safety Act and the National Security Act, and the Armed Forces (Jammu & Kashmir) Special Powers Act should be repealed (HRC, SR Summary Executions), as it perpetuates impunity (HRC), and is widely used against Human Rights Defenders (SR HRD).57 On 31 March 2012, Christof Heyns, the UN's Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, again called on India to repeal the AFSPA saying, A law such as AFSPA has no role to play in a democracy and should be scrapped. The repeal of this law will not only bring domestic law more in line with international standards, but also send out a powerful message that instead of a military approach the government is committed to respect the right to life of all people of the country.58
54Civil Society Groups Make Jeevan Reddy Committee Report Public, http://www.pudr.org/?q=content/civil-society-groups-makejeevan-reddy-committee-report-public 55 Repeal AFSPA Now, http://napm-india.org/sites/default/files/AFSPA%20Signature%20Campaign%20Letter%20En.pdf 56Sanjoy Hazarika An abomination called AFSPA, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/an-abomination-calledafspa/article4404804.ece 57Special Rapporteur on Violence against women, its causes and consequences finalises country mission to India, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=13282&LangID=E 58 Press Statement - Country Mission to India ChristofHeyns, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions 19 - 30 March 2012, http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=12029&LangID=E
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A rally organised by womens rights activists during the 16 days of activism against gender based violence in Kathmandu, Nepal given in chapter 5) by writing diaries for the BBC Urdu service that the Taliban considered as a big threat. The 14-year-old girl shot to fame when she was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize for her dairy-writing using the pseudonym, Gul Makai. On her nomination, the Pakistani government and provincial governments alike responded by honouring her with awards. The Sindhi government went ahead to nominate a government girls secondary school in Karachi in her name. However, Malalas contribution to society was not appreciated by Taliban fundamentalists and on 9 October 2012 she was shot while returning home from her school in Swat. She and her two other girl peers were wounded in the targeted attack, the responsibility for which the Taliban took later. The brave Malala become an icon of the womens rights movement in South Asia. She has been highly praised for her bravery not only in South Asia, but also around the world. Her campaign is not an individual effort; it has transformed into a collective social movement for the emancipation of girls and women in South Asia. A case of another girl who challenged the culture of violence is given in box 7.6.
Women's political rights

SAAPE's gender justice campaign group advanced the movements for political rights of women in South Asia realising the fact that without their representation in decision-making in the political process, it is not likely that their rights will be ensured. The womens movement in Nepal saw some progress when a mandatory provision was made in the Constitution for the 33 per cent representation of women in the CA (2008-2011). Womens involvement in the Second People's Movement (Jana Andolan II) had been a milestone and compelled the legislature to include the provision of 33 per cent women in the elections. The womens movement in Nepal is struggling for proportionate representation of women in all mechanisms of the state (local and national government) including in leadership positions of political parties. The movement has impacted the political parties, and many have now amended their constitution to increase women representatives in their parties. Thirty-three per cent representation in leadership is, however, still a far-off goal. The gap between the policy and practices is huge and many commitments remain 93
Photo source: ANWA Nepal
Box 7.6
Young girl challenging culture of violence

A 16-year-old girl decided to challenge the culture of violence which was reinforcing and strengthening the oppression of women. Eight years on, Gulalai Ismail, now a poised 24-year-old, is running two programmes of work one on gender empowerment and the other on peace building from her home in Peshawar, where she grew up. Brought to London by Peace Direct, Ismail was talking to youngsters about her work. "I set up Aware Girls when I was 16 because all around me I saw girls being treated differently to boys. My girl cousin was 15 when her marriage was arranged to someone twice her age; she couldn't finish her education while my boy cousins were [doing so]." This was considered normal. Girls have internalised all this discrimination a woman who suffers violence but doesn't say anything is much admired in the village as a role model. A good woman submits to her husband or father. "Aware Girls raised awareness of equal status. We did training that women have human rights, and taught leadership skills and how to negotiate within their families and with their parents to get education and to have control over their own lives." Ismail is well aware of how the position of women has deteriorated over the course of her life. "Peshawar used to be very progressive, but after "Talibanisation" it became much more conservative and life is more difficult for my younger sister than it was for me. Just going out to the market is difficult because of the sexual harassment." That kind of harassment makes organising training for young women particularly difficult. Ismail and her staff have to strive very hard with communities in the villages where they work to build trust that if daughters attend the training they will be safe. Parents worry that their daughters will be "westernised" and forget their "cultural values". For a recent training course on political leadership to help boost the participation of women in politics, Aware Girls had to organise 20 local community meetings to identify the 30 girls who eventually went on the course. Working in remote rural areas requires considerable patience and time, but Ismail is not interested in the easier option of working only in urban areas. It was the gender work that came first, but Ismail soon realised the close relationship between gender and peace. "In training, a woman told the story of how her 12-year-old son was taken away to Afghanistan by the militants, and 10 months later he was dead. That made me think that we must stop these young people joining the militants." The result was the Seeds of Peace network, which Ismail set up last year and which has trained 25 young people. They, in turn, will train another 20, to slowly expand a network across 10 districts of the province. She believes each person can reach 500 young people to promote tolerance and challenge extremism. "They identify young people in the community who might be vulnerable to militants and they organise study circles to discuss the causes and consequences of conflict and the history of Talibanisation. We talk about tolerance for people of other faiths," says Ismail. Almost every aspect of children's upbringing is affected by extremism. Even the school textbooks urge children to be ready for jihad, say Ismail, and all around are songs and films that glorify war, martyrdom and violence. "Seeds of Peace aim to give another perspective by getting people to think about human rights. Peace is not just the absence of war, it is about respect and tolerance and women have an important role in educating their children." Ismail is well aware that her work challenges the Taliban's power, and that brings dangers. She is also aware that there are huge political issues involved in the radicalisation of the region where she lives, but believes that a grassroots community challenge to a culture of extremist intolerance is also a crucial part of the search for peace. Both high-level political negotiation and community participation are required in conflict resolution. (Documented by Shujauddin Qureshi and Zeenia Shaukat, 2013) 94 Crises,Vulnerability & Poverty in South Asia: Peoples' Struggles for Justice and Dignity
General strike by Indian central trade unions in February 2013 with a 10-point demand including measures to contain price rise, employment generation, strict enforcement of labour laws and universal social security for organised and unorganised workers unimplemented. Shobha Raghuram (2012) in a report highlights the chronic problems of womens political rights in the Asia Pacific region, equally relevant to South Asia. "Despite large number of women's movements struggling for womens rights, their presence in the political sphere of elected governments remains bleak. Women in the Asia Pacific region at the most local levels have asked traditional questions such as "what does it mean to have political equality and to have political rights?" Everybody has the vote but so few exercises it in terms of the long term nature of citizen participation. The vote determines the political fate of the society and yet there are several determinations and there are several reasons for societies deciding on the levels of inequality they are willing to accept. The figure of 33% (India) as a minimum for reservations will appear as arbitrary as any other figures, unless, one is willing to settle for full equality 50%. The democratization of policy making has itself not become a reality (Raghuram, 2012, p. 27)". The argument above has implications on the current wave of womens movements in South Asia, in that; it requires an even more vibrant and stronger-willed outlook to make women participation meaningful in the politics of the policy-making process.
7.5 Struggle for freedom from slavery and slavery-like situations

South Asia is a region where diverse forms of exploitation and oppression exist. In some countries in South Asia, such as Nepal and India, bonded labour still exists and is a form of extreme oppression. But the victims themselves are now fighting against the draconian social system, demanding equal rights for life and dignity. The Haliya rights movement in Nepal is explained in box 7.7.
7.6 Labour rights movements

Trade unions in South Asia are active in protecting the rights of labourers. Nepal's trade unions in the leadership of the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT) have fought a prolonged 95
Photo source: http://www.industriall-union.org
Box 7.7
The Haliya rights movement in Nepal

The Haliya pratha is an agrarian bonded labour system. Haliyas or bonded labourers are people who take loan from landlords (money lenders) at exorbitant interest rates. While they must pay back the principal, along with their family members they are required to pay in labour and services against the interests. They remain ploughmen and their family bonded labourers until the loan is repaid, which is a difficult situation to escape from. This kind of practice is found in 9 districts of the Far-western part of Nepal. Nine per cent of bonded labourers are from the Dalit community according to the records of different surveys. This group also faces caste based discrimination. According to a study carried out by Rastriya Dalit Network (RDN), approximately 60,000 people are Haliyas or bonded labourers in Nepal, of which 96 per cent are landless (Bhattachan et al, 2009). Major discriminatory practices on the Haliya are untouchability, unequal resource allocation and distribution and lack of social and cultural identity. As a response to the exploitative forms of the social system, the issue of Haliya rights was raised in Ganshpur VDC of Dadeldhura district by the people themselves, facilitated by Rastriya Dalit Network (RDN) Nepal, a network of Dalit organisations. The discussion particularly concentrated on the daily wages of the Haliya and their right to equal wages. The Haliya also discussed the issue with their landlords. Various other human rights organisations supported the Haliya rights movement and brought the issues to the national level. RDN Nepal organised the first national level Haliya conference in Dadeldhura in 2005 and formed their own people organisations in forms of Haliya rights forums at both national and district levels. It also mobilised Untouchability Crime Watch Centres (UCWCs) to provide legal support and law suit to the Haliya, A rally organised by the Haliya demanding rights and justice which had been formed in 9 districts of the Farwestern region. After linking the local level issues to districts and regions, RDN Nepal moved its strategy to discuss with policy makers in Kathmandu. Two writs have been registered in the Supreme Court against this system. The court finally decided in favour of the Haliya. As an outcome of the Haliya rights movement, a number of rights provisions for the Haliya were included in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement 2006 and Interim Constitution 2007. The Government of Nepal declared the emancipation of the Haliya on 6 September 2008. Soon after the declaration, a task force was formed to help the Government of Nepal with its in-depth analysis on issues, problems and possible measures for their rehabilitation. Along with this, the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction also gathered and updated statistics on the Haliya. Rehabilitation of Freed Haliya and Haliya Rehabilitation and Monitoring Committee have been formed at national and district levels for their further verification and certification. However, the implementation part of the governments commitments is very slow and needs more pressure from the Haliya themselves, which they can accomplish by garnering support from other civil society and human rights organisations. (Documented by Rastriya Dalit Network- RDN, 2013)
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Box 7.8
Trade union movement to increase minimum wage

The Garment and Fashion Workers Union (GAFWU) organises workers at the factory level, but also in the communities the city slums and villages where the women workers come from. The garment factory workers in Greater Chennai are mostly women, and the shop floor is visibly dominated by women. As opposed to the garment industry in UP and Haryana, the garment industry in the south, i.e., Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is comprised of 80 per cent women. Though the union organises both men and women, GAFWU leadership comprises of all women. Unionising in factories is a tough task, and though women form the majority, their level of exposure to political and trade unions is small, and the few men who do have the capacity to lead the factory level organisations are systematically isolated by company HR departments. GAFWU has endeavoured to increase the minimum wage of garment workers from its inception. It is one of the basic demands of every worker who has become a member of the union and who approach it to resolve problems. Workers do not have clarity on their wages, as though the total wage may be shown to be the minimum wage, the wage slip may show something as Dearness Allowance (DA) or House Rent Allowance (HRA) or something else. Workers have always felt that they do not get an increment, in most cases workers have very little understanding of their wage, and they are told by managers and supervisors that DA is the same as increment. When the GAFWU met the Deputy Commissioner of Labour in early 2010 to seek revision of the minimum wages, more than 30 employers had obtained interim stay orders in Court on GO 74 due to which wages were not being revised. Many of these cases were filed after the notification was confirmed between 2004 and 2006. It is important to note that a period of one year was given for raising objections as the preliminary notification is dated 22.12.2003 and the GO dated 12.12.2004. For more than four years, the government took no steps to pursue the legal case. Following the union's meeting, the committee submitted a petition dated 7 April 2010 to the Commissioner of Labour, calling attention to this situation and urging the government to take immediate measures to ensure the interim stay is lifted. The employers had filed petitions on the following grounds: Procedural issues in fixing wages by the advisory committee, seeking objections from the public. Existing agreements between Manufacturing associations in Tiripur and workers under Section 12 (3) of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947 where wages stipulated were lesser than minimum wages. Much of the work was being carried out on piece rate basis in which case the wages are usually above the minimum wages. The industry is export oriented and thus greatly affected by globalisation. Interim stay orders were in effect for earlier GO (D) No. 40 revising wages for the industry in January 1994
In 2010, GAFWU impleaded in the case and sought dismissal of the petitions seeking the stay order on grounds that non-payment of minimum wages is a violation of the fundamental rights, more particularly Article 23, guaranteed under the Constitution. On 19 September 2011, Justice T. Raja of High Court of Madras dismissed the employers petitions thereby vacating the interim stay on the notification. Thereafter, in their petition to the Minister of Labour and the Commissioner of Labour dated 18 October 2011, GAFWU reiterated that since the petitions were dismissed, the minimum wages must be once again revised in accordance with the Act, keeping in mind the guidelines of the 15th Labour Conference. (Adapted from GAFWU/NTUI, 2012. Petition before the National Tribunal on Living Wage for Garment Workers by Garment and Fashion Workers' Union, GAFWU, Chennai) Resistance Movements in South Asia against Neo-Liberalism 97
Box 7.9
Struggle of Bhutanese refugees

The genesis of the Bhutanese movement for democracy and human rights emanated from the discriminatory policy of the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGoB) led by the then 4th King Jigme Singye Wangchuk, directed at the southern Nepali-speaking Bhutanese population. The crux of the problem was the arbitrary denial of nationality and citizenship to Nepali-speaking Bhutanese, who had been living in Bhutan for generations. The countrys first citizenship act (Bhutanese Citizenship Act-1958) existed as the final proof of nationality. A large section of the population was victimised as a result of the enactment of The Bhutanese Citizenship Act in 1977 and 1985. The citizenship act 1985 was implemented in 1988/1989 under the pretext of detecting illegal immigrants but the exercise was carried out with the ill intention of de-franchising as many Southern Bhutanese as possible and not really detecting illegal immigrants per se. In the process, the census team excluded the Southern Bhutanese. The teams were given exclusive power to confiscate citizenship cards and other documents of individuals who failed to produce the document of proof of 1958 residency and those dated prior or after were not accepted. Unable to produce the said documents in time, the Southern Bhutanese were declared nonBhutanese at the whims of the census team and ordered to leave the country within a stipulated time. Individulas who did not comply were evicted forcibly by the police and army force. The eviction was speeded up in thousands after peaceful demonstrations were held in six districts in Southern Bhutan, mainly inhabited by Nepali-speaking Bhutanese, in demand of human rights and democracy in September/October 1990. The demonstrations were most propitious in the light of the preposterous intentions and actions of the RGoB, clearly demonstrated by the letter of the then Dy. Home Minister Dago Tshering of 17 August 1990 stating, any Bhutanese leaving the country to assist and help anti-nationals shall no longer be considered a Bhutanese citizen. It must also be made clear that such peoples family members living under same household will also be held fully responsible and forfeit their citizenship. It was very convenient to expedite the systematic ethnic cleansing of Southern Bhutanese, as all three pillars of Executive, Judiciary and Legislature were and are overwhelmingly dominated by the Drukpas (Northern Bhutanese), as in the case of the Russian pogrom of Jews. Six districts were declared 'disturbed areas' and the Royal Bhutan Army was deployed, who carried out wanton plunder, rape, torture, arrest, harassment and at gun point, intimidated people at night to sign the socalled Voluntary Migration Form (VMF) in the Dzongkha language, unknown to the Southern Bhutanese. The apathetic stand of the Government of India towards the desperate refugees, loading them in trucks and buses and dumping them into the Indo-Nepal border instead of providing shelter as the country of first asylum and as an immediate neighbour to Bhutan, further boosted the RGoBs ruthless actions. Thus the Bhutanese arrived in Nepal for shelter and security and have stayed there as refugees for over a decade. The first 324 Bhutanese refugees trickled into Nepal in early 1991 followed by hundreds and thousands of other men, women, and children reaching a record of 10,000 in a day. The refugees were inflicted with malaria, malnutrition, and psychological and physical exhaustion. The government of Nepal provided shelter and allocated camp sites and the UNHCR came in to provide other humanitarian assistance. The refugees built shanty huts cramped on the bank of Maidhar river. Life was desperate and difficult at Maidhar owing to the lack of support and survival on meagre alms. The situation was dismal at Maidhar with the deaths of 48 children in a day because of inadequate medical facilities, nutrition, and hunger. The Human Rights Organisation of Bhutan (HUROB) was the only organisation that offered to take care of the refugees crossing the Bhutan border and arriving in hordes, mentally traumatised by atrocities such as rape, torture, death, imprisonment, harassment, estrangement from family members, and leaving behind property worth millions. The most painful thing must have been to be uprooted inhumanly from ones own country after having lived there for generations. The HUROB played a crucial role by establishing seven camps and rehabilitating the refugees in the two districts of Jhapa and Morang in the eastern-most part of Nepal and looking over its administration until it was handed over to the UNHCR in February 1993. Following this, HUROB concentrated its activities on the regional and international campaign and advocacy of the refugee issue and human rights violation in Bhutan. It campaigned for the release of political and human rights activists imprisoned in various jails in Bhutan, held without trial and
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incommunicado. Human rights awareness programmes were carried out in refugee camps and testimonies of their experiences were documented. Later, many political parties, human rights and social organisations were formed with their own agendas and strategies. At times, this created confusion and misunderstanding among the different organisations and sometimes even among refugees. In an endeavour to resolve the fostering problem through non-violence and by rapprochement and national reconciliation, independently or together with likeminded organisations, several programmes were launched in the camps as well as outside. Numerous peace marches, Satyagrah and voluntary repatriation with slogans like Repatriation for national reconciliation, India give us way and help resolve the problem, were mobilised but these attempts were thwarted by the Indian government at the Indo-Nepal border, even resorting to opening fire and killing a few marchers, arresting and forcing them to return to the camps. The Bhutan government in connivance with the India government sent back the refugees to the camps in Nepal. The Nepal government made the mistake of agreeing with the Bhutan government to categorise the refugees into four categories which became a contentious issue. The Nepal government was unable to persuade the Bhutan government to take back the Bhutanese despite 15 rounds of bilateral talks and verification of refugees by the Joint Verification Team (JVT) of Bhutan and Nepal. Even under the strictest censor of the Bhutan government team, it was discovered that 75 per cent of the refugees were Bhutanese; a fact previously denied by the Bhutan government, who had declared them all non-nationals. Fearing the repercussions, the Bhutan government came up with the ploy of unacceptable conditions on repatriation and thus thwarted the repatriation in 2003. Since then, either the bilateral talks are abandoned or never resumed. Because of the weak diplomacy in Nepal and perennial political imbroglio and the absence of clear refugee policy on Bhutanese refugees and in general, the Nepal government had to succumb to international pressure for third country resettlement of Bhutanese refugees against the wishes of the majority of the refugees. The eight core countries for Bhutanese refugees, the USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Norway started resettlement in their respective countries in 2008 and so far about 80,000 out of 1,10,000 have been resettled, the highest being in the USA, which has agreed to resettle 60,000 and more. There is no doubt that resettlement has helped refugees, especially the youth, to find a new home, life, comfort and future. However, these gestures have absolved all the atrocities meted out to the refugees and has provided a clean chit to systematic ethnic cleansing and encouraged the perpetual suppression and oppression of the remaining Southern Bhutanese, who are now a minority. There are about 80,000 Southern Bhutanese who are neither Bhutanese nor refugees and virtually stateless. They are not allowed to mend the land left by the relatives even as inherited properties; these are allocated to the Northern Bhutanese. They are deprived of government opportunities, barred from voting rights, and have to produce Security Clearance from the police, which is denied to them as relatives of refugees. Although resettlement has brought happiness to some people, it has made others unhappy, such as the Southern Bhutanese still living in Bhutan, as the refugees rights to return to Bhutan is impeded. The good gesture of resettlement also set the precedent that the powerful can do anything to voiceless and powerless minorities. The International community, especially the eight core countries resettling Bhutanese refugees, instead of pressurising the Bhutan government, has given the 4th King Jigme Singye Wangchuk and his cliques the privilege to inflict inhumane actions based on racial prejudice on Nepali-speaking Southern Bhutanese. A few Bhutanese leaders have attempted to oppose resettlement but with little outcome. The Bhutanese movement is in doldrums as the stakeholders for resettlement such as the UNHCR sees resettlement as the only option and has ignored the refugees demands for repatriation. There is fear that resettlement will completely jeopardise the Bhutanese movement for democracy, human rights, right of return of the Bhutanese refugees and rights and justice of the Southern Bhutanese who are still living in Bhutan. Now, a larger concern is how to sustain the movement against the odds and keep it alive so that the Bhutanese refugees continue to fight till the international community fully understands and realises their pain and agony, and justice finally prevails. (Documented by SB Subba- Chairman, Human Rights Organisation of Bhutan, 2013)
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battle for the social security of workers. The result of the constant perusal of the workers rights in Nepal is that the government has introduced the Social Security Fund where workers deposit one per cent of their salaries and employers deposit 20 per cent of wage/salaries (GEFONT, 2012). However, constant pressure from workers is necessary to put this provision into practice. Moreover, the trade unions of Nepal have been constantly lobbying for at least 10 per cent workers representation in the decision making bodies in all state mechanisms including the parliament. In India, the National Trade Union of India (NTUI) is campaigning for the compliance of the employer and government for minimum wage all over the
country in many sectors of factories and industries. The garment workers movements to increase minimum wage at Greater Chennai, India is noteworthy; an account is given below in box 7.8.
7.7 Refugee rights movements

South Asian countries have been hit by the phenomenon of millions of people becoming both internal and external refugees. Violations of rights to citizenship, right to life and dignity and rights to repatriation have been rampant. The Bhutanese refugees issue in Nepal has been one of the most enduring cases in South Asia. The struggle of Bhutanese refugees for their rights is illustrated in box 7.9.
"Eradication of abject poverty is the utmost necessity to affirm social justice and lasting peace"
-South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication
100 Crises,Vulnerability & Poverty in South Asia: Peoples' Struggles for Justice and Dignity
UNVEILING ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT PARADIGM
8. UNVEILING ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT PARADIGM

This chapter draws on the previous chapters discussed in this report and builds on the alternative paradigm discussed in the poverty report of SAAPE 2010. This means that the discussion below does not stand independent, rather it is strongly linked to the knowledge already built on by SAAPE in the poverty report of previous years. The South Asian experience suggests that there is a need of advancing an alternative paradigm to the neo-liberalism led global capitalism, which has now converted into financial oligarchy. Today, oligarchy manifested in the form of transnational corporations is the heightened means of exploiting the working class amidst intensification in multiple crises in the system. Such a system, protracted in the name of majority rule is attempting to expand its sphere of influence by weakening the propeople movements (SAAPE, 2010). It is disheartening to note that many of those progressive forces who used to proclaim themselves as vanguards of the downtrodden have now become staunch supporters of the neoliberalism led economic regime, serving the interest of oligarchy, directly or indirectly. As a result, many revolutions or changes have largely become hollow. This underlines the fact that minor reforms here and there will not be sufficient or are bound to fail, because the economic regime has established and consolidated the very bases accentuated by a process of integration into the global economy. This is a lesson that has to be kept in mind while advocating for the need of an alternative development paradigm for South Asia. In other words, transcending neo-liberalism will require changes in the superstructure and economic base, simultaneously. The focus has to be on systemic change grounded on political and economic systems through which an alternative system of accumulation by actual development of productive forces can be enhanced and consolidated. It, thus, will require a systematic dismantling of the material basis of neo-liberalism, initially through a set of pro-poor and democratic economic policy initiatives. It will support a shift to a model of development that can generate more equal distributions of income, wealth, power, and higher levels of material welfare (SAAPE, 2010). This should be the fundamental condition for genuine democracy. Grounded on such a premise, a broad feature of an alternative development paradigm and required changes at the institutional and policy-making level followed by the role of grassroots social movements in South Asia for contributing to that process is presented below: 8.1 The reversing of the trickle-down or topdown approach of the dominant paradigm that perpetuates the exploitation of the deprived and downtrodden through grabbing of resources, opportunities and benefits is a must. It is necessary that the entire development discourse begins from the below, in which the people are made the means and ends of the paradigm. This, in turn, requires that both policy and institutional conditions are created in a way that contribute to the unleashing of productive forces through maximum utilisation of human, physical, financial and natural resources under people's purview and ownership. For this, not only does a system of powerful local government have to be in place, but also conditions that promote vibrant people's organisations in different fronts. This front would work as the vanguard of societal change and transformation, leading to the abolition of the roots of deprivation and impoverishment. The bottom-up paradigm should ensure that transparency, accountability and democratic governance are an integral part of the process of strengthening peoples democratic ownership at the grassroots. The root of the problem is systemic and is linked to a state system driven by anti-people legal, regulatory and related institutional
8.2
setups. This needs to be changed or the scope of enforcing an alternative paradigm will be limited. Therefore, the introduction of various people-centric progressive provisions in the constitution should be regarded essential and recognised as one of the major ingredients of the new paradigm. Moreover, issues of land rights, food sovereignty, shelter, education, health and work rights should form the cornerstone of such a paradigm and the provision of these components in new constitutional reforms should be advocated for. Here, the process of implementation is key and is linked to the legal, institutional and structural arrangements. These are the areas where major opposition or conspiracy to block the reform and changes take place through alliance between the ruling establishment and domestic and international neo-liberal forces. Therefore, an alternative paradigm envisages a continuous people's movement at different levels as a strategic tool for generating pressure for changes. It can be done through contributions towards transforming the status quo to a more progressive and democratic system and not corporate interests, which are rapidly seizing state influence and directing state policies away from the people. 8.3 While guaranteeing the universal rights in the areas noted above, it is necessary that the rights of women and other deprived communities are ensured. It is to be done in a way that abolishes all types of discriminations and establishes proportional/fair/equal representation in political, state, economic and social institutions. Today, by diverting attention in the name of democratic rights, it is argued that those who are accumulating through whatever means believe they are exercising their economic right which is considered a part of ones democratic right. As such, there is a deliberate attempt towards keeping aside the burning issue of ensuring minimum property right to all including equal rights to men and women. This needs exposition in all communities that are affected by privatisation dispossessing the poor.
8.4
One of the key ingredients of the alternative paradigm is that it discards ongoing macroeconomic policy settings or framework which are grounded in neo-liberalism. Instead, it advocates the need of comprehensive economic policies that could lead to an enhanced productive capacity of the economy in which growth and productive employment of the work force could go in tandem. The earlier dominant policy regime focussed on growth with the assurance of the trickle-down effect. Right to land assets, equitable access to social, physical and financial resources are parts of it. For the same reason, structural and institutional reforms are the building blocks of the alternative paradigm. As such, it lays emphasis on making them development oriented and inclusive instead of fiscal and monetary policies, limiting to economic stabilisation as a major instrument of imposing anti-poor policy. A reversal or policy-shift is essential for enhancing domestic ownership in policy making. Today, progressive taxation and exclusion of the poor from tax incidence is out of the agenda of the fiscal policy. This must be corrected. For enhancing more equitable social relations, broad based but progressive tax system accompanied by more effective affirmative programmes should be an integral part of the alternative paradigm. This is a real challenge today and hence more concerted efforts are needed for effective and wider movements at the grassroots, national, regional and international levels. It is required for creating conditions which compel the replacement of neo-liberalism regime by alternative paradigm which also enhances self-reliance of South Asian economies. While pushing the alternative paradigm, it is essential to prioritise the dismantling of market captured practices through effective regulatory and anti-monopoly or oligarchic rules, among others. The speculative business activities that encourage bubbles and eventually leads to an evaporated productive system that endangers the livelihood and well-being of the people, must be checked. This also demands that forces that are at the power epicentre and who exploit people in the name of democracy must be exposed. A Unveiling Alternative Development Paradigm 103
8.5
transparent and accountable system that advocates for better delivery and efficiency in resource allocation is key. This is essential in order to contain the rampant corruption and unethical practices encouraged by the crony capitalist system through the misuse of axis to authority/power. A countervailing institutional mechanism from the centre to the grassroots as a part of the civil society movement against crony capitalism should be considered one of the major ingredients of the alternative paradigm. Depending on the nature of the public services, people's participatory approach from the grassroots could be a better alternative for equity and sustainability. 8.6 At the grassroots level, community and cooperative-based production, services and organisations form the important ingredients of an alternative paradigm. Their importance has been heightened in South Asia. In the name of value chain production, exchange, distribution or supply and trade linked networking of transnational corporation has reached the grassroots. There is danger of increase in practices of capturing local land, mining and other resources together with intensification in the exploitation of workers in general and women worker in particular. For the creation and augmentation of the economic base of an economy as a part of consolidating more equitable production and social relations or nullifying the top down inequality enhancing adverse relations, the role of community-based organisations and cooperatives is paramount. Some success stories of such civil society initiated movements in South Asia also corroborate this. In a crisis prone world bound by globalisation, the vulnerability of the poor, women and other working class has massively increased in South Asia. The informalisation of the labour market has aggravated the problem amidst dismantling of the limited social security programmes including various targeted subsidy and other programmes. This has
made survival and livelihood very difficult. Therefore, apart from certain rights provisioned in the constitution, a comprehensive universal social security system is crucial. It has to target the workers in the informal sector in general and women workers in particular along with provisions for pensions for senior citizens, single women, the disabled and other vulnerable/deprived sections of the society. 8.8 The increased militarisation and continued rivalry among some South Asian countries is a major cause of instability and conflict in the region. Instead of enhancing mutual trust for resolving issues and promoting cooperation; interventions and high-handedness is challenging sovereignty of other countries leading to various obstructions to mutual selfhelp and cooperation. It is well known that the deepening of democracy and militarisation cannot go in tandem. Therefore, denouncing militarisation and campaigning for mutual trust and cooperation among the South Asian countries should be an implicit part of the alternative paradigm for South Asia. Promoting durable peace, social harmony and prosperity of the people of South Asia should be the motto of such a paradigm. An alliance-building of people with common problems is the most powerful alternative that can challenge the iniquitous power relations. It is required urgently that we invest in alliances that bring social transformations, which last and which profoundly affects people as individuals and as members of their communities. Social and existential problems do not deserve instrumentalist and technical solutions. Building durable and sustainable alliances while working through rights and dignity issues guarantee their realisation for millions left outside of development rights and entitlements. Strong alliances of social movements and people's platforms in South Asia present rays of hope that bring countervailing power from people, thus returning power to the people at every turn.59
8.9
8.7
59 For more details, please see Raghuram (2012).
Figure 8.1
An alternative development paradigm for South Asia
Unveiling Alternative Development Paradigm 105
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ANNEXES
Annex 1:
SAAPE Milestones
South Asian Civil Society Conference, Manesar, India (27-29 September 2000)
Civil society actors from South Asia and their European compatriots came together in Manesar in September 2000 with the vision to collectively fight against poverty and injustice in the South Asian region. The factor that brought these actors together was the recognition that the experiences and expertise of civil society organisations including NGOs in macroeconomic and political frameworks could help in effectively addressing the poverty and injustices common to the region. The meeting resulted in the formation of the South Asia Civil Society Network (SACSN) and the adoption of Manesar Declaration. The declaration recognised that the economic policies of globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation promoted by the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and the non-participatory development model followed by the South Asian States, was the major reason for the growing poverty and deprivation in the region. The participants of the meeting resolved that only a rightsbased approach to social development would help in eradicating poverty and ensuring the dignity of the poor, marginalised and deprived people of South Asia. facilitate the process for establishing suitable mechanisms to ensure peoples genuine participation in the decision making processes at all levels to contribute towards poverty eradication.
First General Assembly, Colombo, Sri Lanka (14-16 June 2003)

"Power, Politics and Poverty in South Asia" The first General Assembly of SAAPE was held in Colombo in June 2003 with the theme "Power, Politics and Poverty in South Asia." The purpose of the assembly was to analyse and flesh out the politics and power involved in creating and perpetuating poverty in South Asia; to formalise the SAAPE alliance and to strategise about how SAAPE could better facilitate the work of its member organisations in eradicating poverty and injustices in the region. The meeting also aimed to provide a space for sharing experiences by various social struggles and mass movements represented by the SAAPE membership, and to formulate constructive steps forward. The Colombo Declaration reiterated the Manesar Declaration and reaffirmed the power of peoples in the South Asian region to regain control to abolish both poverty, and the politics that creates this condition. The assembly established respective Country Focal Organisations at the Assembly.
South Asia Civil Society Network (SACSN) Meeting on Poverty Eradication, Kathmandu, Nepal (20-21 December 2001)
As a follow-up to the Manesar consultation, the SACSN met in Kathmandu in December 2001 with the theme of Fighting unitedly against poverty, hunger and injustice. The Kathmandu meeting led to an agreement on the need for an alliance which subsequently led to the creation of the South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE). SAAPE, since then, is firmly based with the vision of creating a society free from poverty, hunger and injustices so as to strengthen peoples democracy and their empowerment. Since its establishment, the mission of SAAPE has been to
Second General Assembly, Kathmandu, Nepal (2-3 July 2006)

"Struggles for Grassroots Democracy: A South Asian Civil Society Perspective" The real challenge in most countries in South Asia is to improve the process of governance in such a way that public policy fundamentally protects the general publics interests rather than being a hostage to vested interests, keeping the vast majority of the poor and marginalised deprived of access to political decision-
making, natural resource use and human development. Increased commitment to democracy and justice are, therefore, prerequisites for the South Asian countries in order to achieve their development goals. It was in this context, the second General Assembly of SAAPE was held in Kathmandu in July 2006 with the theme "Struggles for Grassroots Democracy: A South Asian Civil Society Perspective. Given the continuous failure of the IFIs policies in eradicating poverty and development, the participants of the Assembly called to delegitimise the IFIs and international capital for their self-proclaimed right to set agendas for poverty eradication and development. The participants took note of the regions food price crisis and the severity it could bring to the millions of South Asians and therein, committed to work towards realising food sovereignty and food security for the people of the region and work towards creating a supportive policy framework promoting eco-agriculture, opposing genetically modified (GM) food, and promoting peasant alliances for ensuring food sovereignty. The assembly established a Core Committee to provide overall political guidance to SAAPE work, comprising of 15 Members: 5 from each of the regional thematic groups, 8 from each of the countries, 1 representing European partner Eurostep and 1 representing the Secretariat.
Third General Assembly, Kathmandu, Nepal (8-9 August 2009)

Global Financial Crisis and Implications in South Asia The global financial crisis that began in 2007 is in fact symptomatic of the broader failures of neo-liberalism and casino-financed capital system. Its impact in South Asia could be felt in terms of food price crisis, fuel crisis and financial crisis. Therefore, the third General Assembly held in Kathmandu in August 2000 with the theme Global Financial Crisis and Implications in South Asia recognised that the neo-liberal economic policies has not only led to the loss of millions of jobs and intensification of poverty in South Asia but has also deprived the South Asian population their rights to life and self-determination. The assembly therefore, called the South Asian governments and the international community to recognise and support the development alternatives initiated by grassroots communities that incorporates the principles of gender justice, ecological sustainability and participatory democracy. It is only under this development paradigm that the basic rights of all citizens in the region will be fulfilled.
Fourth General Assembly, Kathmandu, Nepal (18-19 December 2012)

Peoples Struggles for Poverty Eradication: Towards a New Development Agenda in South Asia The fourth General Assembly held in Kathmandu in December 2012 recognised the failure of the dominant development paradigm to safeguard the needs and interests of the people of South Asia. The urgent need to address the market centric neo-liberal policies that constitute the paradigm was discussed. The assembly felt that the policies promoted have worked against the vulnerable people of the region, ignoring facets of development such as peoples participation, ownership, inclusion and the interests of women and minority groups. The lack of democracy in most of these nations has led to massive violations of the rights to food, shelter, energy, information, education and health. Thus, the overarching theme of the assembly was the need to formulate an alternative development paradigm to replace the existing repressive one.
SAAPE Structural Change:

From Country Groups to Thematic Groups to Campaign Groups
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of SAAPE organised in Kathmandu in June 2004 established 5 Regional Thematic Groups Gender Justice; Food Sovereignty; Labour Rights; Peace and Demilitarisation, and Just and Democratic Governance. This change was a departure from the country-focussed working structure of country focal organisations towards a regional-focussed SAAPE platform. The Core Committee meeting held in Kathmandu in July 2011 decided to change the working modality from the five regional thematic groups to campaign groups and subsequently three campaign groups were formed - Women Rights; Food Sovereignty and Demilitarisation, Democratisation and Social Justice.
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Annex 2:
Manesar Declaration, 2000

Adopted by South Asian Civil Society Conference 27-29 September 2000, Manesar, Haryana, India The Hivos India Regional Office had taken the lead in the organisation of a Eurostep South Asia Consultation on Poverty Eradication and Quality of Aid held in Manesar, Hariyana, India from September 27 to 29, 2000. Of the 57 participants, 45 were selected representatives of civil societies in the South NGO representatives, activists and lobbying organisations from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. Twelve representatives from the European Commission and Delegation were also present. The Eurostep South Asian Consultation recommendations noted the need to focus on South Asias population living below the poverty line, the need for independent NGOs and social movements to play a lead role in pressurising governments and donors to give serious attention to countering poverty, and the need for further alliance building and networking between Asian and European NGOs to raise impact at various levels. During a meeting in Haryana, India, representatives comprising journalists, academics, NGOs and other Civil Society actors from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and India, together with representatives from European NGOs within Eurostep drew the following conclusions and recommendations. The process of development is inherently political and if it is inequitable and nonparticipatory, it can actually create poverty. The objective of eradicating poverty can only be achieved through struggle in which people living in poverty are empowered to take control of their own lives and resources. People living in poverty, the majority of whom are women, are best able to identify the structural obstacles that perpetuate and accentuate poverty. In consequence, they are also best placed to set the agenda, to address these obstacles and to define solutions that can eradicate poverty. The definition and framework of the Poverty Reduction Strategy as defined by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cannot eradicate poverty. On the contrary, the policies and practices of the Breton Woods institutions as they are currently modelled, accentuate poverty. Current forms of globalisation based on unfettered liberalisation accentuate global inequalities both between countries and within countries. On the other hand, global alliances can actually contribute to the eradication of poverty. It is clear that a rights based approach to social development, which recognises the multifaceted nature of poverty, is central to its eradication. The rights-based approach can also ensure that the dignity of people living in poverty is recognised. The struggle to eradicate poverty calls for partnerships and alliances based on shared values and principles, together with mutuality of concerns. Past development policy and practice, which emphasised technocratic approaches, have disempowered people living in poverty by depoliticising their struggles.
Therefore the participants from South Asia and Europe will work together towards: Promoting a multi-dimensional, democratic and comprehensive dialogue. Work towards linking constituencies in the North and South to develop common strategies, particularly with regard to the adverse affects of structural adjustment. Promoting viable development alternatives based on people's own knowledge and innovations. Defending people's livelihoods, including the
guarding and nurturing of biodiversity, community resources and their own knowledge systems. Promoting the development and strengthening the capacities of civil society organisations to create political and economic democracy. Working towards identifying common strategies that address food security concerns including reforms of current policies, such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Agreement on Agriculture of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Raising awareness of human rights violations and promoting the evolution of civil societies in countries where civil society is non-existent.
should not be diverted to the private sector. Establish mechanisms for a social audit in all projects that it supports, and to make a commitment to adequately address any negative consequences that are identified. Work to ensure that global trade and investment regulations allow national governments to regulate and control their economics in ways that protect the rights of its entire people. Use its political and economic influence to make structures of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (more) democratic. Mobilise its member states to agree not to sell military arms to countries of South Asia. The European Union should explicitly mainstream gender in the development cooperation agreements that it negotiates with South Asian and other countries. Strive towards the promotion and preservation of a multi-polar world in which there is a respect for democratic principles and space.
We call upon the European Union to: Develop new pro-poor development strategies, independent of IMF/World Bank models, in consultation with representatives of civil society and peoples' organisations. Develop its country strategy papers in proper consultation with organisations of civil society, ensuring that the voices of people living in poverty are heard and reflected in the formulation of the strategies and agendas of poverty alleviation/eradication programs. In addition, a regional strategy for South Asia should be established. Develop suitable mechanisms for consultative processes, including a right to information that takes onto account traditional forms of civil society. In this context, the use of new information technology, the media (inclusive of community and alternative forms) and public hearing in project impact areas should be incorporated. Give increased emphasis to providing relevant support to peoples' initiatives for poverty eradication. Ensure that in its budget allocations there is an increased reflection of the proportion of people living in poverty within South Asia. In addition, emphasis should be given to financing important social sectors. Scarce Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) resources -
We call upon the state and governments in South Asia to: Enhance and strengthen their commitments to social sectors and in particular to ensure that the basic needs of all people are met. Ensure that the rights of citizens to life, liberty, human dignity and livelihoods are protected and promoted, particularly those of the marginalised and minorities. Ensure that the policies and practices of the state and its institutions are carried out in a transparent, effective and accountable way, free of corruption. South Asian governments in collaboration with the EU countries should take initiatives to stop market driven corruption. Reject structural adjustment models defined by the World Bank and the IMF. In addition, the governments in South Asia should not bind themselves to the WTO's agreement on agriculture. Annexes 111
Reduce expenditures on defence to provide further resources for health, education, agriculture and other programs that address the needs of people living in poverty. Actively work together and support networks and alliances on crosscutting areas of concern such as trafficking of women, water, refugees, citizenship, violence, ecology and disasters. Ensure that their plans emerge from a consultative process that specifically involves the marginalised. Gender concerns should be emphasised in all such development plans.
Help promote and establish a global alliance to establish a permanent, independent, social audit commission on the policy and practices of the WTO. Provide information and analysis of the development policy and practices of the European Union.
We call on Civil Society in South Asia to: Work towards setting up regional alliances and supporting existing ones, to work on strategies to effectively change and combat the harmful economic policies of globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation which cause increasing poverty in the region. Develop strategies, which create space for people's initiatives and support their struggles, recognising the specific and different contexts of marginalised groups. Develop common strategies that make governments, states and local authorities accountable and responsive to people's needs. Establish dialogue collectively and individually with EU representatives. Set up a "People for Peace" structure in the region, to influence governments to reduce defence expenditure and work towards peace in the region. Work for the establishment of a social audit in all projects supported by the EU and to press for the EU to adequately address any negative consequences that are identified.
We call on Eurostep and its members to: Work towards the establishment of mechanisms of dialogue between civil societies constituencies in Europe and South Asia and between South Asian civil society and EU institutions. Promote alternative development models drawn from people's experiences and knowledge with a view to their mainstreaming within EU development policies and practices. Support South Asian networks and alliances on crosscutting areas of concern such as trafficking of women, water, refugees, citizenship, violence, ecology and disasters. Work towards deepening and broadening global alliances that can effectively project the concerns and voices of people living in poverty and promote pro-poor solutions. Work together in partnership to build capacity and support for effective policy interventions at the local, national and global level based on a pro-poor agenda. -
Secretariat is based in Kathmandu at Rural Reconstruction Nepal.
Annex 3:
"Eradication of abject poverty is the utmost necessity to affirm social justice and lasting peace" -South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE)
Statement of Concern; Statement of Purpose*

(Press statement declared on 5th January 2002 in Kathmandu)
On the occasion of the 11th Summit of South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC) in Kathmandu, Nepal from 4 to 6 January 2002, the members of the South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE) call upon the Heads of States or Governments gathered here to renew their commitments for promoting the welfare of the people of South Asia, particularly the excluded, the poor, the marginalised, and all those who do not have access to basic health care, basic education, shelter and fundamental rights. The tasks of eradicating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, unemployment, tackling environmental degradation and food insecurity need to be jointly addressed. As members of social movements and organisations working for the development through empowerment of the people living in poverty, we urge SAARC members to implement the commitments of their governments and bring at a regional level increased serious and meaningful cooperation for eradicating poverty and eliminating social injustice. In this context, we share with you our statement of concern and purpose as follows; Senior development workers, social movement leaders, leading academics and concerned citizens from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka came together to discuss critical issues of poverty eradication, to strategise about ways to create more just societies within the region, and to plan for serious regional cooperation. This meeting was held in Kathmandu, Nepal, and was a follow-up to the earlier South Asian Civil Society Conference held in September 2000 at Manesar, Haryana, India. The Kathmandu meeting resolved to establish a regional Alliance for collective work on poverty eradication. This statement was adopted as the basis for future action together in the newly formed South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication. The Alliance members share the views that governments of the region have a responsibility to ensure that all of their citizens have basic human rights to life and livelihood. The State collects taxes from the people, and has a direct responsibility to provide affordable quality education, health services, food security, etc. The State should not only confine its role to regulating the freedom of the marketplace; nor should the state abdicate its role by handing over the responsibility for providing social services to the private sectors, NGOs and other civil society actors. The state, with honesty, sincerity, economy, and simplicity must play its rightful and historical role in the countries of the region. In addition, the members reject the dominant development thinking which dictates that the best way to get the best life for the largest number of people is to promote a globalised world economy marked by "free trade", liberalisation and privatisation. In the region of South Asia, we know that this approach to development causes hardship and misery to many people living in our region. We believe that Alternative Development Approaches will better serve the people of South Asia. We commit ourselves supporting to discover, define, and disseminate these approaches, evolved through listening to, learning from and working with the people of our countries. Members of the Alliance will continue to work with people living in poverty, urging their national governments to review and implement their
* Founding Statement by the South Asian participants attending the "South Asia Civil Society Network Meeting on Poverty Eradication" held in Kathmandu, Nepal on December 20-21, 2001
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commitments to the eradication of all forms of poverty which result in marginalisation. At the same time, members of the Alliance feel that some of the major problems faced by people living in conditions of poverty are particularly accentuated by globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation. These cannot be solved in isolation from other countries in the region. The members of the Alliance from various civil society organisations have agreed to build and strengthen alliances around common issues. Alliance members underscore the grave crises that mark the entire region growing numbers of people living in conditions of extreme poverty, skewed development policies leading to large scale displacements of poor people, mass migration increasing the fragility of rural based populations, particularly landless labourers and poor peasants, the escalating violence faced by women living in abject poverty, the declining social sector expenditures by governments, the increasing costs of militarisation, the acute distress of large masses of people neglected by unresponsive governments implementing distorted agenda of development priorities, severely endangered food security aggravated by multinational companies acquiring patent rights over our bio-diversity, the dismantling of government food security systems in the name of privatisation, forced and exploited labour, escalating communalism and fundamentalism which are undermining the people's struggles to address the root causes of poverty, the people's right to information not being uniformly available in the region,
social conflict within countries resulting from state and other systemic suppression over people. People raise their voices about real problems, and the State does not listen to them, resulting in frustration, and violence in society, governments not addressing the structural causes of poverty, escalating numbers of refugees in the region, and extremely high national debt as a result of international financial institutional borrowing, etc.
Members of the alliance call on governments in all countries of the region to implement genuine agrarian reforms, to put in place mechanisms to ensure profitable prices for all peasants and to initiate rural development policies which would provide further food securities to those living in poverty and deprivation. Members of the Alliance call for the governments of the region to protect the People's Rights over natural resources- land, water, forest, minerals, shrubs and herbs. The bio-diversity of the region must be protected for local people. To address the problems of landless labourers and poor peasants, the Alliance Members call for a campaign against the use of every kind of forced and bonded labour, and at the same time, for a campaign for Minimum Wages to all informal sector workers, especially agriculture labourers - both men and women. Women living in poverty in all the countries of the region are facing high degrees of exploitation, both in terms of denial of their rights as citizens, their exclusion from political participation, and also in terms of property rights. Trafficking in women and children has increased and it is alarming to note the lack of sensitiveness to this issue. Forced violence against women even extends to "honour killings", "dowry deaths", and female foeticides in the region, leading to alarming decline in female to male sex ratio. Governments must act to protect and empower vulnerable women. Active steps must be taken to stop these practices.
Various religious and social factors and an overall situation of patriarchy prevent women's participation, decision making and equal rights, including access and control over property and resources. These can only be addressed through legal reform, and changes in resource allocation. Also, when there are more opportunities and space for women to improve their situations, women themselves will act. Governments should take effective and efficient actions to implement all International Conventions and Covenants ratified by them, such as CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women) to protect and promote the fundamental rights of women. Attention of governments is also drawn to the need to eradicate child labour and to provide compulsory free basic education. Likewise, concrete actions need to be taken to materialise the vision of signed International Conventions such as CRC (Convention on the Rights of the Child). Debt payments are a crippling feature of the economies of the region. They are a result of the pressures of Globalised Economic Policies, and are one of the causes of continuing poverty. Members call for the immediate and unconditional Cancellation of Debt in the countries of South Asia, and governments are urged to divert the resources that would be used for debt payment, to women and children's health, education, socio-economic empowerment, drinking water, and subsidies for farm inputs and food security. In order to address the plight of refugees, negotiations are needed to facilitate repatriation, refugees returning to their countries with dignity and honour, without fear of persecution. Further, the repatriation of refugees is important in addressing the impoverishment that results for the citizens of the countries in the region that house refugees. Alliance members urge governments to address in a timely planned way the fundamental causes of social conflicts with multiple strategies involving local people so that such conflicts can be prevented from escalating into violence. The South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication and its members are committed to undertake the
following roles and responsibilities: monitor national governments in their performance to implement their commitments, resist anti-poor policies, be they economic, social, political or environmental, encourage regional development cooperation amongst the governments of the region, as well as amongst non-state actors, develop strategies which create space for people's initiatives and support people's struggles for reinstating social justice, recognising the specific and different contexts of marginalised groups,
- facilitate alliances in the region and support existing networks, to work on strategies that could effectively change and combat the harmful economic policies of corporate globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation which cause increasing poverty in the region, develop common strategies that make governments, states, and local authorities accountable and responsive to people's needs and aspirations, establish regional dialogue with the European Union, and other international bodies and networks, both state and civil society ones that can be seen as allies in the struggle to control and change strong international actors who are causing impoverishment in the region - indeed, in the world, set up a "People for Peace" initiative in the region to work towards peace in the region. This will include influencing governments to reduce defence expenditures, and incorporate "Community Media" for communicating and informing about technology, success stories of differing communities and people's initiatives within the region.
The times call for joint resistance to external interventions that harm equitable distribution of resources within countries. All development policies, plans and budget exercises need a Annexes 115
people's audit so that the planning process may be owned by the people living in the areas. Civil and political rights essentially fortify people's access to economic, social and cultural rights. Social justice is under siege and people's organisations have indeed shown success in realising constitutional rights, as a result of their field and policy interventions. South-South and South-North exchanges and alliances strengthen social actions, and are
necessary in these complex economic and social times. Therefore, the members of the Alliance present in Kathmandu invite all like-minded social development organisations and movements in South Asia to join, and propose a system of affiliation for supporters living outside the region. "Let us join hands to unitedly fight against poverty, hunger and social injustice" December 21, 2001 Kathmandu, Nepal
Annex 4:
Colombo Declaration, 2003

SAAPE statement from 1st meeting of the General Assembly, Colombo, Sri Lanka
The First General Assembly of SAAPE met in Colombo from 14 to 16 June 2003. Representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka focal organisations, independent social movement activists, mass organisations, academics, non-government organisations and members from civil society organisations in Europe were present. After two days of deliberation, the following Statement was adopted: South Asia, both as individual countries and together as a region, has a claim to a history of adopting their own ways of development. There has been 500 years of reversal of the development process since Vasco de Gama attempted to discover India 500 years ago. The damage caused during the last 55 years of the Bretton Woods institutions has been far greater than the damage of the 450 years before that. Not just to the economy, but to cultures and the way of thinking of the people. In our countries the natural resources and wealth of nature have been completely destroyed. Some of the ancient traditional practices still remain with the people. So the struggle for us today is the second struggle for independence to recover the right to utilise the resources and traditions that we have. We are painfully aware of the fact that more than half of the world's poor live in South Asia. Colonial rule in this part of the world had already ruined our economy and pushed our people into abject poverty. Our people rose in rebellion and through the multiple paths of resistance we gained our freedom and got rid of colonialism and its rapacious plunder of our resources and our wealth. Following national independence our governments made many promises, which were not honoured - yet there was increased employment, the establishment of public sector industries and some attempt at the introduction of basic services by the state. The immediate postindependence societies, guided by the euphoria of freedom, were committed to social goals and freeing the people from poverty. Above all a system of Constitutional governance was introduced in many countries of the region. Ever since the new wave of Globalisation began these gains have been quickly eroded. No time was lost in imposing upon us the new dogmatism of Neo-liberalism. We were told that the panacea for all our ills was Structural Adjustment through the route of market fundamentalism as prescribed by the Washington Consensus. Our governments surrendered before the architects of the global economic restructuring plan and invited imperialism again as if it were different from the earlier spell of colonialism. Though direct foreign rule is not physically seen, Transnational Corporations have invaded and influenced every corner of our market to extract profits for imperialism once again. Trade was initiated as a means of exchange and not for greed, profit and accumulation. It has for a long time served to achieve progress for human kind but when we look at the reality today, we now see trade leading to destruction. Impoverishment, deprivation, job losses, marginalisation, pauperisation and de-proletarianisation have returned to our lands. Millions are displaced, deprived of their access to natural resources and livelihood opportunities and thrown on to the urban streets, slums and unemployment with diminishing state aided welfare support, thereby exacerbating their misery. We take note of the indignities imposed on the Dalits for centuries and the displacement of tribals from their ancestral habitats and we draw attention to growing poverty, powerlessness and the denial of rights of women leading in some cases even to the commodification of their bodies and body parts and the accompanying increase in social violence. This is true also of religious and ethnic minorities, indigenous minorities, and of urban and rural workers.
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The Colombo meeting of SAAPE has demanded that development plans be developed by the people themselves and budgets decided by people living in poverty. We have had enough from the mergers of internal and external profit driven forces. We know how government borrowings benefit the donors and elites, leaving the recipients poorer than before; how free trade facilitates super profits for the TNCs; how liberalisation reopens our market once again for another round of rapacious plunder as happened during colonialism; how Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) result in biopiracy; and how privatisation leads to jobless growth and deprivation of basic needs. Women and children are specifically affected by the denial of their right to basic health and educational facilities, and employment. We now demand that the destinies of our countries be with the people themselves. They should now decide what is in their best interest. We are aware that imperialism never gave up its colonies voluntarily--neither will they give up their neo-colonial empire because people ask them to do so. We therefore need to prepare our second liberation struggle. This time we must make sure that the architects and agents of imperialism and globalisation are ousted lock, stock and barrel. For this to happen the poor must take the lead--they need to understand the true nature of neocolonialism. We must expose and delegitimise the path laid down for us by the Bretton Woods institutions--we must expose their true character and the perfidy of their modus operandi. We must expose their lies, deeds and actions through public trial. We must let them hear the judgement of our people and through the peaceful and non-violent path mobilise the ravished millions to achieve our second independence. For this to be possible SAAPE must get down to unrelenting serious political work. We have to build pro-poor alliances at the local, national, regional and international levels. There are hundreds of initiatives going on in distant corners of our land: these must be brought together, they must all be linked and relinked, all energies and all efforts must be channelised. It is not enough to remain at the micro level. We must obtain the richness of the micro experience and feed it into wider sectoral processes, we must encourage debate and discussions among ourselves, we must shed all
sectarianism and those negations that have already destroyed many mainstream political parties, we must have the openness, the humility and the courage to learn from the best that is going on in any corner of our region. We must bring these experiences to the wider level, share our sectoral insights and knowledge so often generated through long years of struggle and tenacious praxis, and come together at the inter-sectoral level in order to ask the more basic questions related to the root causes of all our misery and poverty. It is our considered opinion that SAAPE must become such a platform at the South Asia level. We already have the material basis for doing so. We are moving forward with amazing rapidity and everyday produces new fascinating experiences of solidarity and convergence. We are greatly encouraged by the unique and valuable links we have already established with people (civil society organisations) from other countries throughout the world. * The SAAPE initiative has been unique in many ways. It is the first South Asian Alliance to focus primarily on the question of poverty in our region, even as the rulers of this part of the world shed crocodile tears for the poor when they get together in SAARC. We even have reason to believe that some big countries of this region are keen to avoid SAARC holding meetings. We witness them being postponed again and again. We consider this to be a very disturbing tendency--especially when we are aware of so much communal and ethnic disturbance causing death, disturbance, and destabilisation in our region. In this context we are determined to create a peoples SAARC and carry forward the potential of working together for our common good. SAAPE is also unique since it has from the very days of its inception been looking for like-minded partners in the North and is heartened to have found allies from the civil society of the North, some of whom have taken a pioneering lead to build concrete linkages with the South and proactively cooperated with SAAPE to raise fundamental issues of common concern in many fora within the European Union including the European Commission as well as the European Parliament. We are happy that many of these friends are with us in this First General Assembly of
SAAPE and are signatories to this Colombo statement. We do feel that the conditions for carrying forward our constructive and creative work in the mode of "ahimsa and satyagraha" have arrived in our region once again. During the last freedom struggle they divided us, drew boundaries across our lands and sold arms to our governments to fight each other, but during the coming freedom struggle we will not be fooled again. We must be prepared with clear plans. We are proud to take note of our South Asian identity. Whenever we meet across artificial borders that divide us we are reminded of our deep cultural and civilisational commonness. We not only cherish this oneness but also see in it great opportunities for our people to lead a more peaceful and prosperous life if only the arms race and militarisation in our region are brought to an end. What we need is pro-people forms of governance in which local self government is given its due place of primacy and importance and all national governments that are anti-people--be they military, monarchical or authoritarian are replaced by more people friendly institutions of governance at all
levels. It is only the ruling elite and their agents who search for differences and seek so many artificial ways and means to introduce and perpetuate strife among our people. We the people of this region will draw from the richness of our plurality and build on our rich cultural, religious and spiritual heritage so as to come together against all those who foster communalism, fundamentalism, ethnic strife, armed struggle and non-peaceful means. We must prepare for the next struggle for national liberation and this time it must be under the leadership of those who have been deprived of their basic human rights and their genuine allies. The political economy that generates wealth for the few and poverty and powerlessness for millions needs to be restructured by the millions into a political economy that honours labour and creates wealth and well-being for all. The Colombo Statement reiterated the Manesar Declaration and reaffirmed the power of people in the South Asia region to regain control to abolish both poverty, and the politics that creates this condition.
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Annex 5:
Kathmandu Declaration, 2006

Adopted during the 2nd General Assembly of SAAPE (2-3 July 2006) The Kathmandu Declaration was adopted during the second General Assembly of SAAPE, that took place on 2-3 July 2006 on the theme, Struggles for Grassroots Democracy: South Asian, Civil Society Perspective. WE, THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE SOUTH ASIA ALLIANCE FOR POVERTY ERADICATION (SAAPE), meeting in Kathmandu, Nepal, July 2-3, 2006, felt the energy, excitement and anticipation of the people of Nepal, at this historic and precarious point in their history Nepals recent Jana Aandolan II (peoples movement) for Lokatantra (democracy). Over the two days of meetings, we, the members of SAAPE and observers a widely representative group of civil society organisations and movements from the eight countries of South Asia, and from Europe learned from each other, and from the experiences of the Nepal Jana Aandolan, and pledged their solidarity to establish a real and lasting democracy in Nepal. We are committed to the Eradication of Poverty in the Region, and reaffirm the Manesar Declaration adopted in 2000, and the Kathmandu Declaration adopted in 2002. We are inspired by the principles that the courageous people of Nepal have articulated as the foundation principles for a New Nepal. We have also increased our understanding of the difficulties and possibilities in poverty eradication, as a result of sharing the work and conditions in our countries. SAAPE is becoming a platform for a large number of like-minded organisations, movements and persons in the region, who have come together to eradicate poverty and to strengthen grassroots democracy. SAAPE is a socio-political force to work for change and to work with different groups of people in attempts to unite to achieve different goals that are important in the overall struggle to eradicate poverty and protect grassroots democracy. With this understanding, we declare that we will eradicate poverty in South Asia Realising that poverty and hunger in the region is not natural, but something created and perpetuated by the Global powers of plunder and exploitation, working in collaboration with the elitist regimes in our own countries; we commit ourselves to fight these forces until we take control over our lives, our natural resources, and the right to plan and decide on the use of such resources. We commit ourselves to facilitate the mobilisation of the millions of poor and their organisations to complete the process of the de-legitimisation of the Global financial powers such as the International Financial Institutes (IFIs), and international capital in their self-proclaimed right to set agendas for poverty eradication and development. Realising that Growth alone is not the remedy for Poverty, neither in rural nor urban areas, neither in the agriculture nor in the industrial sector, and knowing that logically those claim responsible for poverty (e.g., WB, IMF and WTO) cannot tell us how to solve the problems of Poverty their solutions so far have only led to the aggravation of poverty all across the region (hundreds of thousands of farmer suicides in India, pauperisation of the peasantry, promotion of the corporate farming model, loss of jobs and labour opportunities); and therefore, we need to struggle with farmers and labourers for establishing and strengthening grassroots democracy, and against labour policies that are exploitative. Realising that a large number of children are engaged in labour work in the region markets exploit them in the pretext of poverty; we declare that SAAPE will fight against child labour and fight for their right to education. We declare that we will work towards realising food sovereignty and food security for the people of the region, and struggle to create a supportive policy framework promoting Eco-Agriculture, opposing
GM food, and promoting peasant alliances for ensuring food sovereignty. Realising that the forces that/who benefit from the poor remaining poor, are strong, powerful and wellconnected, we commit ourselves to a more powerful struggle against the root causes of poverty in the South Asian region. We declare we will not rest peacefully, even if intermediate victories have been won, but will continue to struggle together, as a Regional Alliance, solving problems as we go, until Poverty is eradicated from all of the South Asian countries. Anti-poverty work is often done by people who work on behalf of others, and people living in poverty themselves are often involved as targets or beneficiaries. We know that there is great strength and ability in the men, women and children living in conditions of hunger and poverty, and we declare that we are committed to all inclusive and participative, including poor men and women, excluded castes and indigenous communities, integrally and strategically in the decision-making and work of SAAPE. Realising that Peace in the region still eludes us civil strife in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan; growing state repression in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan; and continuing repression in Bhutan -we declare that the members of SAAPE will support each other in the struggles for peace. The problems are many Bhutanese refugees feel unable to return to their homes in Bhutan, state repression in India in Gujarat and other states by religious fundamentalist political groups, and the use of military power by the South Asian governments to suppress movements and struggles of indigenous citizens for their political and economic rights. The people want peace and democracy in the region; national and international governments in many cases do not. SAAPE will work with the people in reinstating peace and democracy. Realising that the continuing Indo-Pakistani conflict over Kashmir is a serious obstacle to both peace and grassroots democracy in the region, and realising that the enormous defence budgets of both countries deprive the poor of their countries of needed health, education, food security, etc., we declare that SAAPE will do everything possible to
mobilise its members, along with others in the region working for peace and justice for the Kashmiri people, to pressure the two governments to resolve the conflict in accordance with the wishes and needs of the Kashmiri people. Realising that poor governance, the absence of free and fair elections, and violence of the rule of law undermines genuine democracy in the region, we declare that SAAPE will work through its members by advocacy and public awareness, to bring about true democracy and democratic processes in the countries of the region. Monitoring and reforming the education systems will form part of this public awareness SAAPE will work on education policies, and ensure qualitative and progressive education so that democracy can be sustainable. Realising that in the region, where patriarchal customs and practices continue, we declare that SAAPE will make sure that women have equal participation as members of decision-making bodies and that the poverty of women will be a constant concern and focus. Women must form at least 50 per cent of all bodies that work within SAAPE. Women bring real strength to struggles for social justice and human rights, they are tenacious, fearless, and in their lives, used to solving problems. They have experienced suppression, and given a chance to participate, are creative, courageous and effective partners in the struggles against poverty and injustices in the region. Realising that in the region, fundamental religious sentiments and revivalism mingled with politics, have caused deprivation, poverty, destitution, agony and atrocities, and having seen the impact and effect of the rise of earthquake in Pakistan and Kashmir), response is quick and effective, if a situation is dealt with urgency under the disguise of 'disaster'. For example, the response to the great disaster Tsunami showed how the world would/could respond to poverty and hunger if they are seen and declared as such emergencies. This Declaration of the members of SAAPE, made in solidarity, is adopted by the 130 members from eight countries of South Asia along with our European partners assembled in Kathmandu, Nepal, on 3r day of July 2006.
Annexes 121
Annex 6:

Adopted by 3rd General Assembly (2009) of SAAPE
We the citizens of South Asia, representatives of civil societies from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, met in the Third General Assembly of the South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication in Kathmandu from 8 to 9 August 2009. This Declaration represents the collective will of the members present to work against neo-liberalism. We embrace sustainable development for the definitive eradication of poverty and the betterment of the lives of all people in the region, particularly those living in poverty and without rights, those suffering injustice and the effects of conflict and discrimination. We call on all governments of the region, and the international community as a whole to unreservedly ensure the universal right of all to life, shelter, social security and livelihood. All the hard won rights must be preserved and built upon. We demand that all governments of the region recognize the global failure of the neo-liberal model to bring equitable development to all. The global economic crisis is symptomatic of the broader failures of commoditisation of the world's resources and exploitation of nature. While we recognise the threat of climate change the solution does not lie in either displacing people from the forest and land, or in international carbon trade. The International Financial Institutions have accentuated land grab and displacement of forest and rural communities, loss of traditional livelihoods and a sharp increase in hunger and farmer suicides. We demand a reversal of neo-liberal economic policies and the restoration of public management and ownership. The restructuring of South Asian economies has led to the loss of millions of jobs and rampant poverty and intensification of poverty in both urban and rural communities. Elitist growth-led economic strategies have reduced possibilities for overall livelihood concerns in economic policy. Neo-liberal policies have led to an attack on democratic struggles including the use of anti-terror laws against people's movements. The states cannot claim impunity since these are in violation of international human rights law. In view of the crushing debt burden there must be cancellation of debt by the IFIs and Northern lenders. South Asian governments must not borrow any more funds from the IFIs. Therefore, we commit here to redoubling our efforts as a united South Asian community to act in solidarity with people's movements in the region- Dalits, indigenous peoples, labour (including migrant workers), fisherfolk, women, peasants, refugees, minorities, displaced peoples, and all other excluded peoples. The access of youth to secure futures must be ensured. Travel within South Asia should be visa free. Our solidarity extends to people and movements worldwide. We demand governments to recognise and support the emerging diverse development alternatives initiated by communities that have successfully incorporated principles of gender justice, ecological sustainability and participatory democracy. Adequate resources must be allocated to implement these alternatives on a national and regional scale. The state must respect, protect and fulfil the basic legal, social and economic rights of all citizens, including food sovereignty. This will require increased prioritisation of financial resources to this end. The people of South Asia are witness to the increased militarism and militarisation in the region, and the heightened arms race and trade, while poverty and destitution, civilian deaths, and insecurity are on the rise. There is a need for a collective action by South Asian states to combat extremism and to significantly reduce military expenditures. South Asia should be declared a nuclear-weapons free zone. Security in the region can only be achieved by just and sustainable social and economic development. All disputes between South Asian countries should be resolved by transparent negotiations. The people of South Asia deserve clean and people-friendly governments. We resolve to struggle against all forces that create poverty, conflict and violence. Our governments must fulfil their constitutional obligations to secure peace and social justice. 9 August 2009
Annex 7:

Adopted by 4th General Assembly of SAAPE, 18-19 December 2012
We the members of the Fourth General Assembly, of SAAPE, having met at Kathmandu, Nepal from 18-20, December, 2012, do hereby, unanimously adopt this declaration. We have assembled at this fourth General Assembly as South Asians drawn from Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Maldives and Nepal and taken note of the emerging situation in our respective countries and in South Asia. We are deeply disturbed at the all-round degradation in the quality of life that the majority of South Asians are experiencing in their respective countries. We witness increasing deprivations in the human, cultural, economic, social and political spheres of our people. The average South Asian loves to live in peace and harmony with her neighbours both within and beyond the borders that artificially divide us. When South Asians meet in each others country, there is so much of joy, happiness and fraternity, irrespective of religion, language, colour of skin or political affiliation. Yet there is so much of violence, cruelty, murder, rape, arson and looting, when extraneous thinking is injected into the locality, the class room, the market place or the place of worship. The story of Malala bears symbolic witness to what we have stated above. This little girl of Swat region in Pakistan decided that it was her birth right to go to school, but to our utter dismay, certain fundamental forces shot at her and tried to kill her. But this brave could not be killed, in spite of a bullet even in her head. She not only survived but she inspires us with her determination to live as an educated girl against the propaganda of fundamentalists. We, especially, on behalf of all south Asian Girl children rejoice that she has recovered and is alive and smiling. Malala has upheld the right of girl children to attend school in exercise of her fundamental right to education and it is Taliban that is put to shame for this criminal act against an innocent but determined girl child of Pakistan. We wish to adopt her as the daughter of South Asia and call upon all Governments, educational institutions and all child friendly organisations in our region to introduce scholarships for girl children's education by collecting donations in her name from all citizens of South Asia. Henceforth all school books should have a lesson in their text books explaining the story of Malala and explain how and why she fought for the right to education for all girl children. Simultaneously we take note of the tragic reality in all South Asian countries where millions of children go to bed hungry and grow up in acute malnutrition resulting in stunting and underweight, thus affecting their ability to grow up, study and become good citizens. This is happening after more than two decades of neoliberal growth in all countries of South Asia. The story of hunger, unemployment, disease, illiteracy, homelessness, child labour, gender inequality, discrimination and deprivation, especially against the excluded social groups of our region is writ large in every corner of South Asia. It is considered opinion and our lived experience that ever since the invasion of neoliberalism into our lands this condition of all round human misery stands further accentuated by the day. Unfortunately, our leaders, who represent the elite of South Asia are united in importing this economic model which has spread inequality, human deprivation and erosion of the quality of life of the millions. We must remember that this importation of the economic policies is primarily meant to help the crisis ridden western world of their own problems. This model is inspired by the 'Washington Consensus' (created by the united action of the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO and the treasury of the USA) has been imposed on us either through the Structural Adjustment Programme or the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and not through the democratic consensus of our people. Indeed democracy has also been a casualty in South Asia. There are continuing obstacles to our progress along democratic lines. Recent events in different
Annexes 123
parts of South Asia, however, witness the rise of democratic struggles. The People, the Bar Associations, the Judiciary, the constitution making process, the media and above all civil society has been fighting relentlessly for advancing and consolidating democratic rights. Unfortunately there are attacks and setbacks in our endeavour and most recently these threats have come from fundamentalists of different religious origin and even from the ruling circles of the elite as we have witnessed in Sri Lanka. At the same time we renew our pledge to Peace and we remain committed to the peaceful path of struggle. We call upon all people's movements and all forms of protest and mobilisation in south Asia to shun the path of armed insurrection. There are too many instances where innocent people are the victims of cross fire and it is time for us to learn that the rich traditions of peace and non-violence, in the world and in our region alone must inspire and guide us in our struggle for a new world- even if it is against imperialism aided and abetted by the local elite for their own aggrandisement. We therefore pledge ourselves in favour of a secular, democratic, humanist order free from discrimination, denial of dignity, and artificial boundaries that impede our travel and our friendships, especially at a people to people level. We want a society that guarantees us all Human rights, especially that which is contained in the international Bill of Rights. We want a people friendly Rule of Law based political order which is guaranteed by a constitutional arrangement in which sovereignty rests entirely with the people, with the right to recall corrupt officials along with machinery that can put such usurpers of power behind the bars, after due process of law. We call upon all our friends in Civil Society and in people friendly political processes to wake up to the needs and aspirations of ordinary people and to strive for a new world order and to make efforts for the same in South Asia. Let us prepare well for the Peoples' SAARC and use the coming opportunity to ascertain the will of the widest sections of civil society and move forward to defeat the forces of fundamentalism, elite rule, exploitation, discrimination based on gender or social group and end all evil within the South Asia. It is important that SAAPE help to appraise the situation of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal. International community has not been able to
significantly contribute to ease this pending problem. There has been no sign of immediate repatriation of the refugees by the Nepal government. Migration across borders and its impact on receiving states such as the issues in North-East India are foreign related issues as it shares borders with four foreign countries. There are major problems resulting from this cross border linkages. Infiltration from Bangladesh has brought about various problems to ethnic communities who are struggling for their rights and ownership to resources. Hence, land grabbing has a completely different meaning for ethnic people. There should be an emergency strategy of SAAPE so as to have a focal point to take immediate actions which will help us to stand up as South Asia, against tragic incidents such as the case of Malala. A Peoples Coalition has to be formed and perhaps it can be linked with the Special Team about to be formed for Afghanistan. Trade Measures should have a Look East policy. We should critically look at on trade policies being implemented in South Asia by World Bank, IMF etc. to have peoples views on the impact on these policies. Rights to Minorities and No to Majoritarianism, full citizenship with all entitlements to minorities. There have been cases of cross border inceptions where migrants have not been treated well even within legal framework. States have clear doctrines and secretarisation of migration for the interest of national sovereignty and security. There are bilateral and trilateral interests, political pressure and diplomatic protocol to be maintained. In this connection, civil societies should work together to develop a mechanism to work in terms of protecting people who are crossing the border. Peoples' SAARC and Official SAARC relationship has to be linked and maintained so that the two bodies do not work in isolation. India must not give military aid to South Asia. It is the responsibility of the Indian civil society to break this and show the attitude that Indian politicians are to blame not the Indians in general. Land and natural resource grab in South Asia is the serious issue that has led to the alienation of people from their rights to live and rights to livelihoods. The land grabbing process must be stopped urgently.
Annex 8:
South Asia at a Glance

Afghanistan
Official name Nationality Capital Area (square kilometre) Population Population growth rate (rate of natural increase) Population density (persons per square kilometre) Life expectancy at birth (years) Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100,000 live births-2008) Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) Religion Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Afghan Kabul 647,500 33.4 million 2.8% 51 Female: 49 1400 129 Sunni Muslim 80%, Shia Muslim 19%, other 1% Afghan Persian or Dari (official) 50%, Pashto (official) 35%, Turkic languages (primarily Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, and other 4% 34 provinces January 2004 President Hamid Karzai (both chief of state and head of government) Bicameral Parliament House of Elders: 102 seats & House of People: 249 seats Male: 48
Languages
Administrative divisions Constitution Executive branch
Legislative branch
Annexes 125
Bangladesh
Official name Nationality Capital Area (square kilometre) Population Population growth rate (rate of natural increase) Peoples Republic of Bangladesh Bangladeshi Dhaka 147,570 152.9 million 1.6
Population density (persons per square kilometre) 1062 Life expectancy at birth (years) Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100,000 live births2008) Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) Religion Languages Administrative divisions Constitution Executive branch Legislative branch Female: 69 Male: 68 340 43 Muslim 89.5%, Hindu 9.6% and other 0.9% Bangla, Chakma, Magh, English 7 divisions 4 November 1972; suspended following coup of 24 March 1982; restored 10 November 1986 President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Unicameral National Parliament (Jatiya Sangsad) : 300 seats
Bhutan
Official name Nationality Capital Area (square kilometre) Population Population growth rate (rate of natural increase) Population density (persons per square kilometre) Life expectancy at birth (years) Kingdom of Bhutan Bhutanese Thimpu 38,394 0.7 million 1.3% 15 Female: 69 Male: 68
Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100,000 live births2008) Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) Religion Languages Administrative divisions Constitution Executive branch Legislative branch
200 47 Lamaistic Buddhist 75%, Indian- and Nepaleseinfluenced Hinduism 25% Dzongkha (official), Lhotsam (Nepali), English, Gurung, Assamese 20 districts 18 July 2008 (ratified) King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay Bicameral Parliament National Council: 25 seats & National Assembly: 47 seats
India
Official name Nationality Capital Area (square kilometre) Population Population growth rate (rate of natural increase) Population density (persons per square kilometre) Life expectancy at birth (years) Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100,000 live births2008) Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) Religion Republic of India Indian New Delhi 3,287,590 1259.7 million 1.5% 383 Female: 67 Male: 64 230 47 Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census) Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Maithili and other 28 states and 7 union territories 15th August 1947 President Pranab Mukherjee & Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Bicameral Parliament Council of States: 250 members & Peoples Assembly: 545 seats Annexes 127
Languages Administrative divisions Constitution Executive branch
Legislative branch
Maldives
Official name Nationality Capital Area (square kilometre) Population Population growth rate (rate of natural increase) Population density (persons per square kilometre) Life expectancy at birth (years) Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100,000 live births2008) Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) Religion Languages Administrative divisions Constitution Executive branch Legislative branch Republic of Maldives Maldivian Male 298 0.3 million 1.9% 1,110 Female: 74 Male: 73 37 11 Sunni Muslim Maldivian Dhivehi, English spoken by most government officials 7 provinces and 1 municipality 7 August 2008 (ratified) President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Maniku (both chief of state and head of government) Unicameral Parliament or People's Majlis (77 seats)
Nepal
Official name Nationality Capital Area (square kilometre) Population Population growth rate (average annual growth rate) Population density (persons per square kilometre) Life expectancy at birth (years) Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100,000 live births2008) Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal Nepalese Kathmandu 147,181 26.6 million (2011 Census) 1.4% 181 Female: 69 Male: 68 380 46
Religion
Hinduism 81.3%, Buddhism 9%, Islam 4.4%, Kirat 3.1% and other 2.2% Nepali 44.6%, Maithili 11.7%, Bhojpuri 6%, Tharu 5.8%, Tamang 5.1%, Newar 3.2%, Bajjika 3%, Magar 3%, Doteli 3%, Urdu 2.6% and other 12% 5 Development regions, 14 Zones, 75 Districts 15 January 2007 (interim Constitution); note - in April 2008, the Constituent Assembly (CA) was elected as an interim parliament to draft and promulgate a new constitution by May 2010; the deadline was extended four times, mostly recently until May 2012 when the CA was dissolved without completing a new constitution President Ram Baran Yadav & Chairman of the Interim Council of Ministers for Elections Khil Raj Regmi Unicameral Constituent Assembly was dissolved in May 2012. Currently Nepal is in the process of holding a new CA election.
Languages Administrative divisions
Constitution
Executive branch
Legislative branch
Pakistan
Official name Nationality Capital Area (square kilometre) Population Population growth rate (rate of natural increase) Population density (persons per square kilometre) Life expectancy at birth (years) Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100,000 live births2008) Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) Religion Islamic Republic of Pakistan Pakistani Islamabad 796,095 180.4 million 2.1% 227 Female: 66 Male: 64 260 68 Muslim (official) 96.4% (Sunni 85-90%, Shia 1015%), other (includes Christian and Hindu) 3.6% Punjabi 48%, Sindhi 12%, Siraiki 10%, Pashtu 8%, Urdu (official) 8%, Balochi 3%, Hindko 2%, Brahui 1%, English, Burushaski, and other 8% 4 provinces, 1 territory and 1 capital territory
Languages Administrative divisions
Annexes 129
Constitution
12th April 1973; suspended many times; restored on 15 December 2007; last amended 28 February 2012 President Asif Ali Zardari & Prime Minister Nawaj Sharif Bicameral Parliament Senate: 104 seats & National Assembly: 342 seats
Executive branch Legislative branch
Sri Lanka
Official name Nationality Capital Area (square kilometre) Population Population growth rate (rate of natural increase) Population density (persons per square kilometre) Life expectancy at birth (years) Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100,000 live births2008) Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) Religion Languages Administrative divisions Constitution Executive branch Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Colombo 65,610 21.2 1.2 323 Female: 78 Male: 72 39 12 Buddhism 70.19%; Hinduism 12.61%; Christianity 7.45%; Islam 9.71% Sinhala (official) 74%, Tamil (national language) 18%, other 8% 9 provinces adopted 16 August 1978, certified 31 August 1978; amended many times President Mahinda Percy Rajapaksa (both chief of state and head of government) & Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne Unicameral Parliament: National Assembly: 225 seats
Legislative branch
Sources: - Central Bureau of Statistics. 2012. National Population and Housing Census 2011 (National Report). Kathmandu, Nepal: Government of Nepal, National Planning Secretariat, Central Bureau of Statistics. - CIA. The World Factbook. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ - Government of Sri Lanka. www.gov.lk/web/ - Population Reference Bureau. 2012. 2012 World Population Data Sheet. - UNFPA. 2012. State of World Population. UNFPA. 130 Crises,Vulnerability & Poverty in South Asia: Peoples' Struggles for Justice and Dignity

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CRISES, VULNERABILITY & POVERTY IN SOUTH ASIA

Peoples Struggles for Justice and Dignity

South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication (SAAPE)

Netra Prasad Timsina (PhD) Co-ordinator

1.1 Growth, equity and HDI

Photo by: Mohiuddin Ahmed (Bangladesh)

Population (in million), mid-2012

Share of population in South Asia (in %)

GDP (in USD), 2011

Per capita GDP

PPP per capita GDP (USD)

GDP growth rate, 2003-2007

GDP growth rate, 2008-2012

Inequality adjusted HDI

% of people who are MPI poor

Population below poverty at PPP USD 1.25 a day, 2000-2009

National poverty line 2000-2009

Infant mortality rate (IMR)

Under-five mortality rate (U5MR)

Life expectancy at birth

Percentage of population access to improved water source

Percentage of population access to improved sanitation

Source: UNDP and UNESCAP, online database

Figure 1.1 HDI ranking of South Asian countries

1.2 Problems of low economic growth and HDI

Local/ Grassroots Level

1.3 Crisis in capitalism and harsh anti-working class conspiracies

1.4 Peoples resistance for change

Photo: Manoocher Deghati/IRIN, Source: www.irinnews.org

Global and Regional Level

Country Level Responses

STATES & SOCIETIES IN SOUTH ASIA

2. STATES & SOCIETIES IN SOUTH ASIA*

Photo source: http://zoom.mediafax.ro

An evacuated family in Nassaji camp, east of Kabul, Afghanistan

Photo: Shehzad Noorani, Source: Flickr.com

Photo source: www.wikipedia.org

Poto source: www.asiasociety.org

7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maldives, downloaded on 27 April 2013.

Photo source: www.demotix.com

Photo source: SAAPE Secretariat

Photo source: www.voiceforrighttofood.blogspot.com

2.8 Sri Lanka

States and Societies in South Asia

Campaign poster for the Food Sovereignty Campaign

BROAD POLICY REGIMES

3. BROAD POLICY REGIMES

3.1 Failure of building domestic capacity

Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy, Source: www.thehindu.com

Broad Policy Regimes

3.2 Collusion between global and local capitalist forces

3.3 Peoples' resistance

3.4 Transmission mechanisms of neo-liberal policies

Broad Policy Regimes

Examples of liberal policies: Sri Lanka

Broad Policy Regimes

Figure 3.1 Neo-Liberal policies, transmission mechanisms and ramifications

Neo-Liberal policies, transmission mechanisms and ramifications

Tight fiscal/monetary policies/strong austerities Financial Capitalism

Intensity of trade liberalisation and open up enforced

Open up/financialisation/financial flows through quantitative easing among others

Micro level integration with transnational circuit through value/supply chain

Cuts spending- employ/ high interest rate

Deindustrialisation and overflow of external goods