Analyze the major historical, economic, social and physiographical factors that hindered social and economic development in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. In other words, why have these countries suffered from underdevelopment?

Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan The second largest country in South Asia is Pakistan, which has volatile country in every sense of the world. Pakistan’s economy is growing. Its agricultural sector exports rice to other countries. Also, the manufacturing sector is expanding. Although these are hopeful signs, Pakistan has many issues that hinder making improvements in the lives of its people. First, Pakistan, predominantly a Muslim country, is locked in a costly rivalry with India, which has Hindu majority. (It is important to note that Pakistan too has conflict between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims – the two main branches of Islam.) As you recall, Pakistan came to being after Britain’s relinquishing its control over the Indian subcontinent. In 1949, the subcontinent was partitioned into Pakistan and India. Thereafter, two nations really did not behave as neighbors in the true sense of the world. Pakistan considers India a threat and, actually, they are locked in a territorial dispute over Kashmir. This rivalry and animosity has sparked a nuclear arms race and Pakistan, despite it economic underdevelopment, is a nuclear power. Pakistan has other threats, namely, Islamic fundamentalists who object to Pakistan’s support of the American-led war of terror. The United States has recruited Pakistan’s help in its war in Afghanistan, which has led to infusion of American aid to

Pakistan. However, supporters of Taliban, Al Qaeda, and other radical Islamic elements object to this relationship and has been conducting terror campaign against the government.

Pakistan, has many socio-economic issues to grapple with. To begin with, Pakistan’s economy is growing but not fast enough to noticeably improve the lives of Pakistanis. Its main revenue source remains the exports of rice, cotton textile goods and some industrial products. However, most Pakistanis are engaged in subsistence farming. (Like other third world countries, Pakistan has a significant “informal economy” such as street barbering, as shown in the left.) Also, Pakistan has to deal with its explosive population increases. Pakistan’s doubling time is 33 years,

which means, at the present rate of population increase, there will be another Pakistan in 2038. Interestingly, this Islamic country also suffers from massive heroine addiction among its people. According to a United Nations estimate, there are about 1.5 million heroin addicts. According to a New York Times report, “Addicts are everywhere and nowhere, easy to overlook from a car but impossible to miss on foot. They are huddled on the sidewalk, under the bridge, behind the truck, against the fence, along the prime begging space beside the shrine.” Why so high a heroine addiction? Pakistan is located next to Afghanistan, which is a major heroine producing country. Also, some addicts argue that the Koran prohibits intoxicants such as liquor but not narcotics.

Here is how one geographer notes of centrifugal forces in Pakistan: “The major problems are between the Sindis, who are the region’s indigenous inhabitants, and the Mohjirs, the Muslim refugees from India who settled in the region and city after independence and partition in 1947. There are also clashes between Sindis and Biharis, Urdu-speaking migrants from Bihar state [near Bangladesh, which was part of Pakistan until its independence.]” Also, as de Blij writes, Pakistan’s “democratically elected governments have repeatedly squandered their opportunities, only to be overthrown by military coups.” Political instability is one of the reasons why despite American assistance, literacy rate is low, healthcare poor, and national institutions remain weak. (By the way, like India, Pakistanis still enjoy one of the legacies of the British imperialism in the region -- Cricket.)

Bangladesh, on the eastern side of India, is another underdeveloped country in South Asia. Bangladesh, which used be part of Pakistan until 1971, ranks as one of the world’s poorest economies with GNP per capita of $2,090. Bangladesh is better known for its endless series of natural disasters such as hurricane and flooding. As recorded in our textbook, “during the twentieth century, eight of the ten deadliest natural disasters in the entire world struck this single country.” Why the recurrence of these natural disasters? Here is

why: “For millennia, the drenching monsoon rains have eroded and transported huge quantities of sediment from the Himalayan slopes to the Bay of Bengals by the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, gradually building this low-lying and fertile deltaic environment. [W]ith recent population growth…people moved into the delta swamps to transform them into rice fields. While this agricultural activity has supported the large Bangladesh populations, it exacerbated the area’s natural hazards.” Unless government can build massive anti-flood system, Bangladesh will continue

to suffer from natural hazards that devastate the lives of many in that country. (Above is an image of Bangladesh after a cyclone, or hurricane.) Sri Lanka, an island nation to the east of India is better poised to seek economic development and social modernization. Sri Lanka has a strong commercial farming economy, including tea plantations (right). However, Sri Lanka has been struggling with conflict between Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority. The latter is waging a violent campaign for independence, which invites counteroffensive from the government forces. So, as our textbook writes, once promising Sri Lanka is “paying dearly” for its inability to end the internal conflict.

Nepal and Bhutan are two remaining states in South Asia. Although culturally rich, and physiographically magnificent, symbolized by Himalayas (left), Nepal is identified by our textbook as a “failed state.” It is economically poor, and as with other states in the region, plagued by internal conflict. The government is waging a costly battle against the Maoist anti-government insurgents. Bhutan, a small kingdom, is a country better known for its isolation. It is resource rich and attractive to foreign tourists. Compared to other South Asian countries, it is a relatively peace country in the region that has so much issues to deal with. Let us move further west to Southwest Asia.