Trends and Traditions in South Asia

7/31/2019 Trends and Traditions in South Asia

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Trends and Traditions

in South AsiaCan There be National Sociology?


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


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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 20years.

The high growth is increasingly concentrated in someregions - the leading regions, while poverty is concentratedin other regions - the lagging regions.

While South Asia navigated the financial crisis better thanmost 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 under-utilized spatial features of the region: geography,transportation, mobility, and scale economies.


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Some Statistics of Core Countries

CountryArea(km)

Population(2009)

density(/km)

GDP(nominal)

(2009)

per capita(2009)

Capital CurrencyGovernme

ntOfficial

languages

Bangladesh

147,570162,221,0

001,099

$100,002million

$551 Dhaka Taka

Parliamentarydemocracy

Bengali

Bhutan 38,394 697,000 18 $1,269million

$1,832 Thimphu Ngultrum,Indianrupee

Constitutionalmonarchy

Dzongkha

India 3,287,2401,210,193

,422382[

$1,537,966 million

$1,271 New DelhiIndianrupee

Federalrepublic,Parliamentarydemocracy

22 officiallanguages

Maldives 298 396,33 1,330 $1,357million

$4,388 Mal Rufiyaa Republic Dhivehi

Nepal 147,18129,331,00

0200

$12,615million

$427Kathmandu

Nepaleserupee

Democratic Republic

Nepali

Pakistan 796,095170,608,0

00225

$174,866million

$1023 IslamabadPakistanirupee

IslamicRepublic

Urdu, English

Sri Lanka 65,610

20,238,00

0 309

$53,241

million $5,300

SriJayaward

enapura-Kotte

Sri

Lankanrupee

Democratic

SocialistRepublic

Sinhala, T

amilSource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Asia


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Countries as a Regional Group

- SAARCO The South Asian Association for

Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an

organization of South Asian nationsO Founded in December 1985

O Its seven founding members areBangladesh, Bhutan, India,

the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and SriLanka.

O Afghanistan joined the organization in2005


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South Asia as a unit during

reformsIn many ways, the 1990s was a decade ofreforms in South Asia. These included:

O enhancing macroeconomic stability by

improving revenues through tax reforms andcurbing of fiscal deficits, strengthening theindependence

O improving the environment for private sectordevelopment

O revitalizing the banking sectorO reversing the highly protective trade policies

of the past


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GeographyO 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 evokingnational sociology would be detrimental tothe health of the region as a whole.


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EconomyO South Asia is the poorest region on the

earth after Sub-Saharan Africa.

O Sri Lanka has the highest GDP percapita in the region ($5300), while Nepalhas the lowest ($427). India is the largesteconomy.

O

But still they exist as a unit forwarding theobjective of SAARC of contributing tomutual trust, understanding andappreciation of one another's problems.


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Objectives of SAARCThe 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; andO to cooperate with international and regional organisations with

similar aims and purposes.


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Ethnic Groups among different

South Asian CountriesAfghanistan Muslim (99%), other (1%)

BangladeshMuslim (90%), Hindu (9%), Christian (.5%), Buddhist (.5%), Believersin tribal faiths (0.1%)

Bhutan Buddhist (75%), Hindu (25%)

BurmaTheravada Buddhist (89%), Muslim (4%), Christian (4%) (Baptist 3%,Roman Catholic 1%), Animist (1%), others (including Hinduism) (2%)

IndiaHindu (80.5%), Muslim (13.4%), Christian (2.3%), Sikh (1.9%),Buddhist (0.8%), Jain (0.4%), Others (0.6%)

MaldivesSunni Muslim (100%) (One must be a Sunni Muslim to be a citizen onthe Maldives[)

Nepal Hindu (80.6%), Buddhist (10.7%), Muslim (4.2%), Kirat (3.6%)

Pakistan Muslim (96.28%), Hindu (1.85%), Christian (1.59%), Ahmadi (0.22%)

Sri LankaTheravada Buddhist (70.42%), Hindu (10.89%), Muslim (8.78%),Catholic (7.77%), Other Christian (1.96%), Other (0.13%)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Afghanistanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Bangladeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Bhutanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Burmahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_Maldiveshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Nepalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirat_(Religion)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Pakistanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmadihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Sri_Lankahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Sri_Lankahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Sri_Lankahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmadihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Pakistanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirat_(Religion)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Nepalhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_Maldiveshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Burmahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Bhutanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Bangladeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Afghanistan


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O With a notable exception of Maldives, youcan see from the table in the previous

slide that the countries in the regionbelieves in unity in diversity.

O While some countries have Muslims haveas their majority other countries haveBuddhists or Hindus as their majority.

Ethnic Groups among different

South Asian Countries


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Thank You

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Trends and Traditions in South Asia