South Asian society

South Asia is one of the richest regions of the world on two accounts; it is home to a variety of the world’s richest and most prominent cultures and is also a region abundant in natural resources and human capital. The region includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka amongst other countries, each of whom have very unique and dynamic cultures and histories. However, a key feature in all South Asian cultures is religion; faith is an imperative fabric of the social as well as political fabric of all the countries recognized as belonging to this region. Other aspects of South Asian cultures that make them stand out are the rich plethora of colors that are seen in every aspect such as traditional clothing and festivities; the Hindu festival of Diwali, most commonly practiced in India is, quite literally, a celebration of colors. South Asian food is also very distinguishable and is recognized the world over as being very original and full of flavor; from the delicacy ‘Lamprais’ to the Pakistani nation’s favorite dish of ‘Biryani’.

Over the past few decades South Asia’s economic growth and development have also boomed. The region includes one of the world’s fast growing economies i.e. India which is, along with China, Brazil and Russia, part of the ‘Big Four’ economies recognized as the four countries to have shown the highest rate of economic growth over recent decades. However, while literacy in some countries, such as Sri Lanka (which boasts a literacy rate of higher than 90%), is commendable, in most of the region the quality of education is abysmal with the majority of the population, in countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan, having no or little access to any education.

Poverty is also a major issue in South Asia which, instead of being successfully eradicated, has grown exponentially: the number of people in South Asia living on less than $1.25 a day increased from 549 million in 1981 to 595 million in 2005 and this number has continued to increase over the past five years. Millions of people are living in squalid living conditions with no access to proper nourishment and health care. I believe that there are two reasons for the poverty epidemic of the region: firstly, the economic growth in most of the region has been spurred greatly by the presence of multi-nationals and firms from developed countries investing in the region. This investment however is in terms of the manufacturing of labour-intensive consumer durables which employs cheap unskilled laborers at the lowest possible wage rates which are not even enough for the earner to gain access to basic necessities. Workers in Nike’s factories in Thailand are paid less than fifty cents per t-shirt… t-shirts which are then sold in Nike’s stores for over $50. Such economic growth, while appearing impressive when presented statistical data, does nothing to elevate poverty on the micro-level. Secondly, the countries of South Asia spend appallingly low portions of their government spending on social welfare; most government spending is squandered in the Defense budgets of these states or is used to sustain the corrupt bureaucratic institutions present in most of these countries and thus little is spent on the education, health and other aspects of the well-being of the masses.

However, South Asia holds the capacity to successful conquer its setbacks; it is a region which has already fought off many impediments from a plethora of natural disasters to numerous autocratic ruling regimes. If the region learns to sustain itself by coming together and taking advantage of the many natural and human resources it holds it could gradually but steadily rise as the world’s most thriving and developed region.