Trends and Traditions in South Asia

Can There be National Sociology?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thu mb/b/b9/South_asia.jpg/200px-South_asia.jpg

Some Features of South Asia

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is a regional cooperation organization in the region. South Asia has experienced a long period of robust economic growth, averaging 6% a year over the past 20 years. The high growth is increasingly concentrated in some regions - the leading regions, while poverty is concentrated in other regions - the lagging regions. While South Asia navigated the financial crisis better than most regions, the region suffered the worst in terms of trade deterioration during previous food and fuel crises. South Asia has the potential to accelerate growth and reduce poverty, if the region could exploit four underutilized spatial features of the region: geography, transportation, mobility, and scale economies.

Some Statistics of Core Countries

Country Area (km) Population (2009) density (/km) GDP(nomi per capita nal) (2009) (2009) Capital Currency Governme Official nt languages Banglade sh 162,221,0 147,570 00 $100,002 1,099 million $1,269 million Parliamen tary $551 Dhaka Taka democrac y Ngultrum, Constituti $1,832 Thimphu Indian onal rupee monarchy Federal republic, Indian Parliamen $1,271 New Delhi rupee tary democrac y $4,388 Mal $427 Rufiyaa Republic Bengali

Bhutan

38,394

697,000

18

Dzongkha

India

3,287,240

1,210,193 ,422

382[

$1,537,96 6 million

22 official languages

Maldives Nepal Pakistan

298 147,181 796,095

396,33 29,331,00 0 170,608,0 00 20,238,00 0

1,330 200 225

$1,357 million $12,615 million $174,866 million $53,241 million

Dhivehi

Kathmand Nepalese Democrati Nepali u rupee c Republic

Sri Lanka

65,610

309

Pakistani Islamic Urdu, Eng rupee Republic lish Sri Democrati Sri Jayaward c Sinhala, T $5,300 Lankan enapuraSocialist amil rupee Kotte Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asia Republic $1023 Islamabad

Countries as a Regional Group - SAARC

O The South Asian Association for

Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an organization of South Asian nations O Founded in December 1985 O Its seven founding members are Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. O Afghanistan joined the organization in 2005

South Asia as a unit during reforms

In many ways, the 1990s was a decade of reforms in South Asia. These included: O enhancing macroeconomic stability by improving revenues through tax reforms and curbing of fiscal deficits, strengthening the independence O improving the environment for private sector development O revitalizing the banking sector O reversing the highly protective trade policies of the past

Geography
O India has an area of 32 lakh square

kilometers while Maldives has an area of just 298 square kilometers. O As a region, the countries are so much enmeshed with each other that evoking national sociology would be detrimental to the health of the region as a whole.

Economy
O South Asia is the poorest region on the

earth after Sub-Saharan Africa. O Sri Lanka has the highest GDP per capita in the region ($5300), while Nepal has the lowest ($427). India is the largest economy. O But still they exist as a unit forwarding the objective of SAARC of contributing to mutual trust, understanding and appreciation of one another's problems.

Objectives of SAARC
The objectives of the Association as defined in the Charter are: O to promote the welfare of the people of South Asia and to improve their quality of life; O to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region and to provide all individuals the opportunity to live in dignity and to realize their full potential; O to promote and strengthen collective self-reliance among the countries of South Asia; O to contribute to mutual trust, understanding and appreciation of one another's problems; O to promote active collaboration and mutual assistance in the economic, social, cultural, technical and scientific fields; O to strengthen cooperation with other developing countries; O to strengthen cooperation among themselves in international forums on matters of common interest; and O to cooperate with international and regional organisations with similar aims and purposes.

Ethnic Groups among different South Asian Countries

Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan Burma India Maldives Nepal Pakistan Sri Lanka Muslim (99%), other (1%) Muslim (90%), Hindu (9%), Christian (.5%), Buddhist (.5%), Believers in tribal faiths (0.1%) Buddhist (75%), Hindu (25%) Theravada Buddhist (89%), Muslim (4%), Christian (4%) (Baptist 3%, Roman Catholic 1%), Animist (1%), others (including Hinduism) (2%) Hindu (80.5%), Muslim (13.4%), Christian (2.3%), Sikh (1.9%), Buddhist (0.8%), Jain (0.4%), Others (0.6%) Sunni Muslim (100%) (One must be a Sunni Muslim to be a citizen on the Maldives[) Hindu (80.6%), Buddhist (10.7%), Muslim (4.2%), Kirat (3.6%) Muslim (96.28%), Hindu (1.85%), Christian (1.59%), Ahmadi (0.22%) Theravada Buddhist (70.42%), Hindu (10.89%), Muslim (8.78%), Catholic (7.77%), Other Christian (1.96%), Other (0.13%)

Ethnic Groups among different South Asian Countries

O With a notable exception of Maldives, you

can see from the table in the previous slide that the countries in the region believes in unity in diversity. O While some countries have Muslims have as their majority other countries have Buddhists or Hindus as their majority.

Thank You