© T. M. Whitmore

Last Time

•Green revolution & its impacts

© T. M. Whitmore

Today

•Green revolution & its impacts (continued)

•Cattle

•Natural Resources & Industry

•Development

•Cultural Complexity

© T. M. Whitmore

Green Revolution Successes

•Improved productivity

•Lower prices for main grain crops

•Lower rates of extensification

•Lower proportions of hunger and lower absolute numbers

© T. M. Whitmore

•With the technology itself Chemical pollutionSoil damageUneven geographic and crop-

specific impacts•General problems

Impacts on large and small holdersGenetic lossPetroleum dependence (fertilizer)Dependence on irrigationDoes not “solve” the food problem

Green Revolution Problems

© T. M. Whitmore

Agriculture III

•Cattle — Sacred in Hindu India: > 200 million headTraction/powerDung Milk

© John Wiley & Sons

N India –”Persian” wheel irrigation© 2005 The Great Mirror

© Pearson Education – Prentice Hall

N India – dung curing for fuel© 2005 The Great Mirror

© Michel Guntern

© T. M. Whitmore

Natural Resources & Industry

•India dominant for resources and industry

•Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan new centers for low-tech assembly (maquiladora type labor)

•Indian natural resources: iron; coallittle petroleum

© T. M. Whitmore

Industry & Economic Development

•Industrial development & British colonial legacy

•New “back office” and hi-tech developments

•Maquiladora-type, export led developments

•Micro-development

© T. M. Whitmore

Locales of industrial development

•Pakistan: Lahlore•Bangladesh: Dhaka•India

Old colonial citiesMumbai/Bombay; Delhi – light industry & finance

Calcutta & W Bengal – heavy industry

New “Silicon plateau” Bangalore-Madras

© T. M. Whitmore

Development

•Poverty throughout the regionMalnutrition extremeGrowing middle class esp in India Rapid economic growth but spatially very uneven

• Social development issuesStatus of women in S Asian societies

Source: FAO

Number of malnourished children, 1993, 2010, and 2020

Source: IFPRI IMPACT simulations.

© T. M. Whitmore

Cultural issues: unity out of diversity

•3 major religions

•> 20 major languages

•5 major countries

•But the boundaries of these do not always coincide!

© T. M. Whitmore

Languages

•In India there are 16 official languages covering ~ 75% of pop (and hundreds in total) and Pakistan is similarIndicPersianDravidianEnglish

© T. M. Whitmore

Religion traditions: Hindu

•Emerged in India about 3,000 years ago

•No single text, but hundreds of scriptures called Vedas

•Complex & diverse beliefs with multiple gods in lots of local guises (Brahma the creator; Vishnu the preserver; and Shiva the destroyer)

© T. M. Whitmore

Religion traditions: Hindu II

•Connected with a society of multiple (hierarchal) social roles each with multiple levels or castes (Braman priests; warrior; merchant; laborers; etc.)

•Dominant over most of India and Nepal as well

© T. M. Whitmore

Religion traditions: Buddhist

•Prince Siddhartha’s (the Buddha, c 500 BCE) search for enlightenment thru meditation & rejection of earthly desires

•Indian in origin but more important outside India all over SE Asia (but dominant in Sri Lanka and Bhutan)

© T. M. Whitmore

Religion traditions: Islam

•Arrives in S Asia in the 700s

•Spatial expansion to cover all Pakistan, Bangladesh, and most of N. India (except south) by 1700 stopped by Hindu resistance just as

Brits establish colonial presence

•Population majority MuslimPakistanBangladesh

1700

© T. M. Whitmore

Cultural complexity I

1. Muslim Pakistan and nearby Hindu India —common Punjabi language

2. Muslim Bangladesh and nearby Hindu India — common Bengali language

3. Mostly Hindu Jammu in Pakistan and Mostly Muslim Kashmir in India

1

2

3

3

© T. M. Whitmore

Cultural complexity II1. Muslim Pakistan and Bangladesh

separated in space by India (and in language)

2. Mostly Hindu India religion binds — very many languages separate

3. Muslim Pakistan religion binds — very many languages separate

4. Muslim Bangladesh both religion and language tie

5. Sri Lanka: Tamil Hindus & Singhalese Buddhists