An Introduction to South Asia Pakistan
Dec 18, 2015
An Introduction to South Asia Pakistan
Nepal
Pakistan
Maldives
Arunchal Pradesh, India
Sagamartha (Mt Everest), Nepal
Kabul, Afghanistan
Kathmandu, Nepal
Bangladesh
Goa, India in monsoon
Bangladesh
Pakistan
Pakistan, NW Frontier
Bhutan
Kandahar, Afghanistan
Nepal
Maldives
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Kerala, India
Rajastan, India
Tamil Nadu, India
Bhutan
Population Density
South Asia has the second largest population of any region in the world.
It has the fastest growing population in the world.
Compare pop. densities: India 819 per sq mi
China 338 per sq mi
U.S. 75 per sq mi
The population density is greatest along the fertile Plains and Coastal regions.
% Arable Land
Pop. Density/km
GDP PPP % Literate Life Exp. Poverty Rate
India 49% 392 $2,800 61% 70 yrs 25%
Pakistan 24% 199 $2,600 50% 65 yrs 24%
Nepal 16% 226 $1,700 49% 65 yrs 31%
Bangladesh 55% 1165 $1,500 43% 60 yrs 45%
Comparative Statistics for Selected Countries in South Asia
Poverty is a tremendous problem in South Asia
Consider these indicators of poverty for the countries of South Asia
Demographics in South Asia
•Mumbai- 16 million•Kolkatta- 13 million•Delhi- 13 million•Dhaka- 13 million
70% of South Asians live in rural areas, in villages, yet South Asia has some of the world’s largest cities:
Reasons for migration to cities:
•Higher salaries
•Business opportunities
•Anonymity and individualism
•Rise in caste status
•Agricultural modernization (reduces rural incomes and
jobs)
•Population pressures
•Refugees of drought or flooding
India’s natural increase rate: 1.5% (2009 est)China’s natural increase rate: 0.6%
More than one-third of India’s population is under the age of 15 years old.
India’s population is expected to exceed China’s by 2020.
Srinigar, Kashmir, Indian side photo: Zaid Abraham
Kashmir: A Regional and Global Contested Space
• 3 Wars Between Pakistan and India in 50 years, 2 over Kashmir
•Most militarized space in the world
•80,000 dead over this conflict
•A regional problem gone global
Borat Lake, Gilgit, Pakistan-Controlled Kashmir photo: Ali Ahmed
Colonial History of the Region
Indian independence in 1947
Partition
Creation of Pakistan (East and West)
Problem of the Princely States
Religious Geography
There are many different world and local religions practiced in South Asia.
Notice where Islam is practiced.
In India there are 1600 languages spoken.
REGION Buddhist Hindu Muslim Other
Kashmir Valley
- 4% 95% -
Jammu - 66% 30% 4%
Ladakh 50% - 46% 3%
REGION Buddhist Hindu Muslim Other
Northern Areas
- - 99% -
Azad Jammu and Kashmir
- - 99% -
Religious Groups in India-Controlled Kashmir
Religious Groups in Pakistan-Controlled Kashmir
Source: BBC World News, Pakistani and Indian Census Data
Map: BBC World News
1947-8 India and Pakistan War in Kashmir results in present division of 5 regions- 2 regions in Pakistan, 3 in India
1965 2nd Indo-Pakistani War
1971 3rd Indo-Pakistani War, and creation of Bangladesh
1972 Simla Agreement establishes Line of Contol (LoC)
Soldiers at Shakti nuclear test site, India, 1998
How Kashmir grew to a larger regional issue, and eventually a global issue: 1989 Kashmir Insurgency
1998 India and Pakistan hold nuclear weapons tests
Sept 11 2001 and The Brink of War at LoC
2003 Cease Fire at the LoC
Photo: Punit Paranjpe/Reuters
Mumbai Bombings, Nov 26, 2008163 people die from terrorist bombingsA Kashmir Connection?
Lashkar,Regional Historyand Islamist Militarism
Taj Mahal Hotel
Each year India adds 18 million people.
To accommodate this, each year India would have to add:
•127,000 new village schools
•373,000 new teachers (at 50 students per teacher)
•2.5 million new homes (with 7 people per home)
•4 million new jobs
•180 million new bushels of grain and vegetables
India began its population programs in 1952.
mid-1960s: they opened camps for mass insertions of IUDs.
1970s: “Vasectomy camps” 10 million men were coerced into sterilized by vasectomies during the “Emergency Drive” for family planning in the 1970s.
Backlash against family planning and distrust of gov’t
1998: the Indian government abandoned targets for sterilizations and contraception. Focus on education.
South Asia has been trying to reduce births since 1952.
Family planning poster from India
“Why only a boy?”
family planning poster from India
How is it that population continues to boom even with declines in fertility?
•Significant part of population is in early reproductive years
•Poor, rural, uneducated people see children as their only source of wealth.
•Because there is little access to healthcare, infant mortality rates are high (67/1,000 live births).
•View sons as more beneficial than daughters.
“May you be the mother of one hundred sons.”
2001:
India: 933 females for 1,000 males in India.U.S.: 1038 females for 1,000 males.
The Social Problems of Caste and Gender
• Caste
• Purdah: Practice of concealing women from eyes of non-family men, especially during their reproductive years.
Bride Price: money and gifts paid to bride’s family at marriage
Dowry: money and gifts paid to groom’s family at marriage
• Bride Burning and Female Infanticide
• Education and Status of Women