Indian subcontinent

1839-1900

While photography reached South Asia swiftly following the public announcement of Daguerre's process in 1839, surviving work from the first decade of the medium's public existence remains extremely scarce. Photography certainly received an initially enthusiastic response in the subcontinent: by the close of 1839 several long descriptive articles had appeared in the Indian newspapers and by early 1840 advertisements indicate that daguerreotype equipment was being imported into Calcutta. In March of that year Dr (later Sir) William Brooke O'Shaughnessy, an officer in the Bengal Medical Service who had previously been experimenting with photogenic drawing, exhibited a number of successful daguerreotype views of the city which excited considerable local interest. But in common with most of the work produced in the course of the 1840s, these images, the earliest documented photographs taken in India, are now apparently lost, and with the exception of the work of transient visitors such as Alphonse Itier (in 1844) and Baron Alexis de la Grange (in 1849), no sufficient body of material survives to enable us to make a definitive assessment of this early photographic activity. The few known commercial photographers who opened studios in the 1840s do not appear to have remained in business for any substantial time and it appears likely that irregular access to reliable chemicals, lack of local expertise, and a limited market, coupled with the difficulties of introducing the public to an unfamiliar medium, played a significant role in inhibiting photography's growth during its first decade in India.

If the surviving photographic corpus of the 1840s is meagre, the following decade presents a remarkable contrast. Spearheaded by amateurs who mastered the paper-negative processes adapted to tropical conditions, the 1850s saw an outstanding flowering of photographic achievement. Much of this work was focused on the architectural heritage of the subcontinent, a reflection both of the development of archaeology as a discipline and of the official sponsorship of the medium by the East India Company. In 1854 the company had issued a dispatch from London recommending the use of photography for the documentation of archaeological and architectural sites, and this encouragement led directly to the secondment of military officers such as Thomas Biggs (in 1855) and Linnaeus Tripe (in 1856) to photographic duties in western India and the Madras presidency respectively. Although these official initiatives were uncoordinated and were often abruptly terminated for financial reasons, they fostered the use of the medium among civil servants and military officers and resulted in the creation of a body of work which was to form the foundations of the photographic collections of the Archaeological Survey of India in succeeding decades. Among a number of distinguished amateurs from the military and civil services active in the 1850s, particular mention should be made of Dr John Murray of the Indian Medical Service, who produced an astonishingly assured range of views of the Mughal capitals of Delhi, Agra, and Fatehpur Sikri, and the army officer Robert Tytler and his wife Harriet, who, after a remarkably short apprenticeship (receiving tuition from both Murray and Felice Beato), produced over 500 large paper negative views of scenes connected with the Indian Rebellion of 1857-8 (see attached feature).

In addition to the East India Company's role in providing official backing and encouragement for photography, the establishment of amateur photographic societies also played a major role in fostering its development. The formation of societies in the three presidency capitals of Bombay (Mumbai), Calcutta, and Madras in the mid-1850s reflected a growing public interest in and familiarity with the medium, and such groups functioned as a forum for the exchange of technical expertise and discussion, defining the specifically Indian subject matter which photography was best placed to document. At the inaugural meeting of the Bombay Photographic Society in October 1854, the chairman, Captain Harry Barr, outlined a range of subjects open to the photographer, foremost among them the subcontinent's ‘magnificent scenery—its temples—palaces—shrines’, while the ‘varied costumes, characters and physiognomies of its millions of inhabitants’ were also a fitting subject for the photographer. Bombay was soon followed by the establishment of similar societies in Calcutta and Madras in 1856, and in a lecture delivered in Calcutta that year, the Revd Joseph Mullens formulated a similar if more extensive programme of activity for the Indian photographer. In addition to these topographical, archaeological, and anthropological subjects, he commended the use of the camera for the creation of a complete and systematic documentation of all areas of Indian life, including public works, medicine, criminal investigation, agricultural and industrial processes, and natural history. While celebrating photography's ability to capture the picturesque variety of India's varied population and the dramatic beauties of its landscapes, such comprehensive programmes situated the medium explicitly within a colonial context which was to stimulate the production of a good deal of work in this and the following decades. While a number of the suggested areas in which photography could function as a tool of administrative control (such as the photographing of convicts) were not followed up very vigorously, the creation of an extensive visual archive of ethnographical types was enthusiastically pursued with government backing. Perhaps the most important result was the publication, between 1868 and 1875, of the eight-volume work The People of India, produced under the editorship of India Office officials John Forbes Watson and John William Kaye. Containing some 500 photographic portraits of Indian racial and caste types, the work was ostensibly the result of Governor-General Lord Canning's photographic interests, and was intended to present a comprehensive scientific record of the racial variety of the subcontinent. The letterpress accompanying the portraits, however, makes it clear how far such purported objectivity was compromised by the circumstances of its production. Produced mainly by photographers employed in the military or administrative services of British India in the uneasy decade following the Mutiny, the work is as much a handbook for the identification of the politically trustworthy or suspect, as a contribution to scientific knowledge.

All three photographic societies maintained an active programme of exhibitions which both served to raise public awareness of photography and facilitated the rapid growth of a commercial market in the 1860s. If the rebellion of 1857-8 disrupted official programmes of archaeological documentation, it directed a new attention to India, which was satisfied to a degree by the arrival of commercial photographers such as Beato, whose documentation of the after-effects of the upheavals at Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur, and the other principal sites of military activity, sold well in both India and Europe. While Beato's attraction to India had been narrowly focused on these events, the late 1850s and early 1860s saw a major shift towards the establishment of commercial photography. Short-lived commercial studios had appeared in Calcutta as early as 1844, while the first professional calotypist, F. Schranzhofer, was briefly in practice in the same city in 1849. The work of Frederick Fiebig, a professional artist and lithographer in Calcutta in the 1840s who took up photography c. 1848, is a precursor of the growing primacy of photography over the other graphic media, and by the end of the 1850s a number of studios had been set up in the larger Indian cities. One of the earliest studios to remain in business over a number of years was that of James William Newland, who arrived in Calcutta in 1850, after a peripatetic existence as a daguerreotypist in South America, the Pacific, and Australia. Here he found a metropolis of sufficient size and wealth to support a permanent establishment which survived for a full decade, progressing from daguerreotype portraiture to the more adaptable wet- collodion process. By the time Samuel Bourne arrived in India in 1863, he was impressed not only by the healthy state of amateur photography, but also by the flourishing commercial scene, in a city whose wealth supported a growing body of professionals. Bourne's own success in India became an exemplar for the other major commercial firms who in the course of the 1860s and 1870s produced a body of work largely directed towards a European clientele, creating an image of India predicated on notions of the picturesque and the exotic which found a ready market among residents and visitors. Notwithstanding the limitations of this perspective, these two decades saw the production of work from a number of firms which is characterized by a freshness of response to the Indian scene and a technical virtuosity in representing it, but which in the closing decades of the century was to become ossified into the standardized and formulaic production of views.

As an invention of Western technology introduced to the subcontinent from abroad, photography in India was inevitably dominated by European concerns. Notwithstanding this ascendancy, Indians had been involved with the medium from its early days. Evidence of the extent of Indian participation is clearly seen in the amateur societies, whose membership boasted a significant Indian component from their foundation. In Calcutta the distinguished scholar and antiquarian Rajendralal Mitra was an early society member and a practising photographer, while in Bombay Dr Bhau Dajee, founder of the Bhau Dajee Museum, was a council member from soon after the formation of the society. His brother Dr Narain Dajee was a regular contributor to the society's exhibitions and from the mid-1850s to the 1860s also practised as a commercial photographer in addition to his medical duties. Some impetus to the development of photographic skills among Indians can certainly be traced to the inclusion of photographic tuition at a number of educational establishments. Perhaps the most active of these was the school established at the Elphinstone College in Bombay in 1855, where classes consisting predominantly of Indian students were introduced to a wide range of photographic processes. Among the graduates of these classes was Hurrichund Chintamon, who thereafter established a successful studio in Bombay which survived until the 1880s. Similar initiatives were undertaken in Madras at the School of Industrial Arts, and here too the school acted as a conduit for the dissemination of photographic expertise among the Indian community. Photography was also seen as something of a fashionable pursuit among the ruling families of India. While the raja of Chamba's ownership of an expensive apparatus appeared to Bourne to be for display rather than for practical use, a number of princes, including the maharaja of Jaipur and various members of the ruling family of Tripura, were accomplished photographers. In addition, a number of rulers, among them the maharaja of Benares (Varanasi), if they felt no inclination to practise photography personally, employed state photographers to record their families and territorial possessions. While most Indian commercial photography appears to have been directed towards an indigenous clientele, a few professionals, most notably Lala Deen Dayal, spanned the divide between ruler and ruled to create a large and successful photographic enterprise which attracted the patronage of both British viceroys and Indian princes.

Photography had gained its first secure foothold in the Indian subcontinent through the dedication of amateurs who, whether in the course of their official duties or through enthusiasm for an artistic leisure pursuit, had created an impressive body of work by the end of the 1850s. It was on these foundations that the professional photographer built, producing a vast archive of images for a predominantly European market. For three decades, demand for such material maintained the position of the commercial photographer in what was still a demanding and difficult medium, particularly in the harsh Indian climate. As technological advances placed simplified photography within the grasp of all, the primacy of the professional was eroded. This development had been foreseen by Bourne as early as the 1870s, when he bemoaned the abandonment of high-quality large-format prints in favour of ‘small scraps fit only for the scrapbook’. Photographic manuals aimed specifically at the amateur in India had appeared as early as 1860, and intermittently thereafter, but the appearance in the mid-1890s of George Ewing's comprehensive amateur manual A Handbook of Photography for Amateurs in India (1895), which ran into several editions, signals the ending of an age of photographic experiment and achievement. John Falconer

1900-1947

Early 20th-century Indian photographic history reveals both continuity and new departures. Technological developments were to have a major impact on photography as a hobby in the new century. The invention of the hand-held Kodak box camera (1888) did away with the daunting paraphernalia associated with professional photography; heavy plate cameras gave way to roll-film cameras, and eventually to 35 mm ‘miniatures’. These advances freed photography from the confines of the studio, extended private and amateur practice, and facilitated a more democratic engagement of Indians with the medium.

As well as in the presidency towns of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras, a number of indigenously owned portrait studios sprang up after 1920 in cities like Lahore, Muree, Rawalpindi, Dacca, Chittagong, Khulna, Peshawar, Srinagar, and the capitals of princely states like Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Hyderabad. It is difficult to identify a specific ‘Indian look’ in these photographs, which continued to reflect existing colonial aesthetics. Instead it is worth noting the difference in their purpose. These portraits of individuals and families were different from the universalized ‘types’ taken in the past by colonial photographers to classify the country ethnographically. The confluence of non-realist forms of cinema in the 1920s with other forms of popular and visual culture like theatre and chromolithography contributed to more performative and fantastical forms of photography in smaller local studios. These used stylized backdrops and props as well as traditions of hand tinting and painting over photographs.

Official photography, with its agenda of surveillance, continued to focus on landscape, the army, and architecture. Major events covered were Lord Curzon's ceremonial durbar in 1902-3 and King George V's Delhi durbar in 1911. From 1902 onwards, historic sites were excavated by the Archaeological Survey of India. Photographs were used for purposes of verification (depicting sites ‘before’ and ‘after’ restoration) as well as for sale, marking links between heritage and tourism. Ethnographic photography survived through the work of anthropologists like W. H. R. Rivers and A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, as well as in the form of phototype postcards from 1899.

Calcutta and Bombay remained significant centres of photographic activity. Ambalal Patel and Oonwalla practised salon photography in Bombay. Shahpur N. Bhedwar became an international celebrity, winning awards in India and London. In Bengal, Maharaja Prodyot Coomar Tagore (1873-1942) was the first Indian to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society; Arya Kumar Chaudhuri (1887-1935) was the first to bag its ‘best award’ in 1913. Sukumar Sen wrote the first Bengali article on the aesthetics of photography in 1911. An invisible pioneer of modern Indian photography was an amateur, Umrao Singh Sher-Gil (1870-1954), who took informal pictures of his family and some striking self-portraits in Lahore, Simla, Paris, and Budapest. He also took autochromes and stereographs.

The first advertisements for zenana studios exclusively for women in purdah were seen at the turn of the century (Raja Deen Dayal's zenana studio in Secundrabad, 1896, and Sarojini Ghosh's Mahila Art Studio in Calcutta, 1898). Photography by women was still rare, but by the 1920s Annapurna Dutta (1894-1976) was running her own business in Calcutta. Several women practised amateur photography from the 1930s, including Manobina Roy (1919-2001), Debalina Mazumdar (b. 1919), Mira Chowdhuri (1905-94), and Indira De (1912-92) in Calcutta.

There were more Indians in the photographic societies of Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras. The 1930s saw the proliferation of exclusively Indian-run amateur societies and camera clubs (e.g. the Camera Pictorialists of Bombay, 1932; Madras Amateur Photographic Society, 1932; the United Provinces Amateur Photographic Association, 1937). The UP Amateur Photographic Association started by S. H. H. Razavi began the ‘postal portfolio’ movement (1940) to extend club membership all over the country.

The camera entered an era of candid photography. Local freelance photographers documented the freedom struggle (the civil disobedience movement, the salt satyagraha, and Gandhi's Dandi march in 1930) paving the way for news photography. There were demands for images of popular national leaders. Shambhu Shaha (1905-88) documented the streets of Calcutta from the early 1930s, while international photographers such as Margaret Bourke-White, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Cecil Beaton visited India during this time. Meanwhile, the Illustrated Weekly of India under Stanley Jepson was offering local Indian photographers possibilities for work. Homai Vyarwalla (b. 1913) was to become India's first female photojournalist. Her contemporary, Sunil Janah (b. 1918), became known for his striking images of the 1943 famine and Partition (1947), and for his documentation of the anthropologist Verrier Elwin's work with tribals in eastern India.

India since 1947

The pain of Partition as well as the euphoria of independence was evident in journalistic photographs of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s taken by photographers like Sunil Janah, N. Thiagarajan, Virendra Kumar, and Homai Vyarawalla, among others. Early freelance photographers, or those employed by agencies like the Press Information Bureau, captured images of national leaders, visits of dignitaries, and symbols of ‘modern’ India such as dams, ships, and atomic reactors. This optimism began to wane by the 1960s. The war with Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh (1971) led to an influx of refugees into India that was poignantly recorded by Raghu Rai and Kishor Parekh (1930-82). Rai was to become one of India's best-known photographers with a vast body of work spanning nearly four decades. His contemporary Raghubir Singh settled abroad and gained international recognition in colour photography.

Photojournalism has been one of the major impulses of ‘modern’ Indian photography, and most significant contemporary documentary photographers emerge from this tradition. This legacy, however, has often dictated certain stereotypical images of India and constrained formal experimentation. There are, of course, departures from this by contemporary practitioners who depict the coexistence of rural, exotic India with its urban, modern counterpart. One of the first to gain international recognition for her striking portraits of India's urban middle-and upper-class families was Dayanita Singh (b. 1961). Others representing this new generation of documentary photographers include Pablo Bartholomew (b. 1955), Sooni Taraporevala, Ketaki Sheth, Prashant Panjiar (b. 1957), Pramod Pushkarna, Ram Rahman (b. 1955), and Achinto (b. 1959).

A striking feature of Indian contemporary photography is its diversity of genres. Commercial photography (fashion, industrial, and advertising) is represented by a wide range of photographers such as Prabhuda Dasgupta, Swapan Parekh (b. 1966), Rajesh Vora (b. 1954), Ashok Salien, Meenal Aggarwal, Farokh Chothia, Rafique Syed, Atul Kasbekar, and Sheena Sippy. Rajesh and Naresh Bedi have largely dominated wildlife photography. Significant also is the work of installation artists such as Sheba Chhachi (b. 1958) and, later (2001), Vivan Sunderam (b. 1943), who has digitally reworked the photographs taken by his grandfather Umrao Singh Sher-Gil. Other traditions of popular photography, such as studio and street photography, amateur and domestic photography, cinema stills and postcards, persist.

— Sabeena Gadihoke

Featured article: Lucknow photography and the Indian Rebellion.

Bibliography

• Embree, A., and Worswick, C., The Last Empire: Photography in British India (1976).
• Thomas, G., The History of Photography in India 1840-1980 (1981).
• Ghosh, S., Chhobi Tola (1988).
• Pinney, C., Camera Indica (1997).
• Dehejiya, V., et al., India through the Lens: Photography 1840-1911 (2000).
• Falconer, J., India: Pioneering Photographers 1850-1900 (2002).
• Pelizzari, M. A. (ed.), Traces of India: Photography, Architecture and the Politics of Representation 1850-1900 (2003)

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Writing about education in South Asian region means writing about one-fourth of the world's population. South Asia comprises seven contiguous countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The region is geographically knit together and is homogenous in terms of sociocultural, political, historical, economic, and educational factors. The people of this area are heirs to a heritage of common culture and civilization steeped in history. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, however, it is one of the most backward regions of the world, both educationally and economically. It is the poorest region economically in the world, with an average per capita income of about US$350. Most of the countries in the region rank fairly poorly in terms of the human development index, a crude summary statistic of development compiled by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). All the countries of the region, except Sri Lanka, are classified as low human development countries.

This is a historically rich region, with one of the most ancient civilizations of the world. The ancient scriptures associated with the region placed education and knowledge on a high pedestal, regarding it as the most important treasure one could have. Even in the early twenty-first century, many in the region value education very highly. Some of these countries were once very rich, industrially advanced, and materially prosperous. "The fame of their wealth earned for this region the appellation of the 'gorgeous East,' and inspired the quest which led to the discovery of the New World and created the preconditions for the Industrial Revolution in Europe" (Huq, p. 5). The countries of the region, except for Nepal and Bhutan, experienced various short and long phases of colonial rule and became independent in the middle of the twentieth century. The devastating colonial impact can be noted on the development of education in the region. The long colonial rule uprooted the beautiful tree in the undivided India and transformed an advanced intermediate society of India into an illiterate society, besides converting it into a raw material appendage on the economic front.

At the start of the twenty-first century, with the exception of Sri Lanka, South Asia is one of the most backward regions of the world in terms of educational development. The region has been described as "the poorest region," "the most illiterate region," "the least gender-sensitive region," and "the region with the highest human deprivation" (Haq and Haq 1997, pp. 2 - 3). It has emerged as an "anti-education society in the midst of a pro-education Asian culture" (Haq and Haq 1998, p. 42). In sheer numbers, the South Asian subcontinent poses the most serious challenges in education: nearly half the adult illiterates of the world live in the subcontinent, the rate of participation in schooling is low, and the quality of education is poor.

Education Development After Independence

The importance of education is increasingly realized by every nation in the region. The human investment revolution in economic thought initiated by Theodore Schultz in an address to the American Economic Association had its own impact on public policy regarding educational development. The critical role of education in social, economic, and political development - as a means of development as well as a measure of development - is widely recognized. As a result, there has been an education explosion during the second half the twentieth century in most developing countries. Countries in the South Asian region also experienced an explosion in the number of people attending school. Between 1950 and 1997, enrollments in schools in South Asia increased sixfold, from 44 million to 262 million. The total teaching staff increased from 1.4 million to 7.2 million during this period. Enrollment ratios increased from 20 percent (net) in 1960 to 52 percent (gross) in 2000. (Gross enrollment ratios refer to the total enrollments as a proportion of the relevant age group population, while net enrollment ratio refers to enrollment in the relevant age group as a proportion of the population of the relevant age group.) The rate of adult illiteracy declined from 72 percent in 1960 to 46 percent in 2000 (see Table 1). These are no mean achievements, given the poor economic conditions of the newly independent countries of the region and their high rates of population growth.

Along with quantitative progress, however, the education system in the several countries of the region is characterized by conspicuous failures on many fronts. While the rate of illiteracy has decreased, the number of adult illiterates increased from 299 million in 1970 to 429 million in 2000, and the current adult illiteracy rate is quite high. Adult literacy campaigns - an important strategy adopted by the South Asian countries to improve literacy rates - have not met with great success. Sixty percent of the adults in Nepal and Bangladesh, and about 55 percent in Pakistan and Bhutan, are illiterate (see Table 2). Further, a large majority of the literate population have had little more than primary education, and very few have gone on to higher education institutions. For example, only 7 percent of adults age twenty-five and older in India have graduated from postsecondary institutions; the corresponding figure is 2.5 percent in Pakistan; 1.1 percent in Sri Lanka; and 0.6 percent in Nepal. About 50 million children in the primary-school age group were estimated to be out of school in 1995.

As of 2001, the gross enrollment ratio in primary education in the region as a whole was impressive (about 95%). But this is only the gross enrollment ratio. The net enrollment ratio in Pakistan, for example, was only 49 percent in 2001. Universal primary education is still a distant dream for many countries in the region, except for Sri Lanka and Maldives (see Table 3). Similarly, though the number of teachers has increased at all levels, the pace of growth has not kept up with the increase in enrollments. According to the latest statistics available, the number of pupils per teacher in primary schools is as high as fifty-nine in Bangladesh, forty-nine in Pakistan, and forty-eight in India - and the situation has worsened in many countries over the years. The situation is similar in terms of internal efficiency in primary education, as measured by rates of survival of children in school (the converse of dropout rates) and promotion rates.

Dropout and repetition rates are also high. In fact, the completion rates in primary education in South Asia are the lowest in the world. Quality of education, reflected in levels of achievement of children in primary schools, has been found to be unsatisfactory in several countries of the region. The regional, social, and economic inequalities that are a glaring feature of the societies of South Asia are reflected in the education systems, with the poor and socially backward areas suffering a severe degree of exclusion from education. In addition to religious and cultural prejudices, gender prejudices are also strong, keeping girls out of schools.

Enrollment ratios in secondary and higher education are also low in South Asia compared to many other regions of the world. Many countries in South Asia (e.g., India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) have emphasized vocational training in their secondary education plans, but have not succeeded. As Mahbub ul Haq and Khadija Haq have estimated, barely 1.5 percent of the enrollments in secondary education in South Asia were enrolled in vocational programs in the early 1990s, compared to six times that level in East Asia and fifteen times that level in Latin America. Secondary education has failed to provide any job-relevant skills, and as a result has served only as a transitory phase toward higher education and is not viable terminal level of education in these nations. In addition, gender disparities in secondary education are the largest in the world.

It is felt by some that higher education has expanded too fast in South Asian countries. Acute unemployment rates among the educated and high rates of emigration to the West are cited as testifying to this phenomenon. But higher education is, in fact, very much restricted in South Asia. Higher education is practically nonexistent in Maldives and Bhutan, and barely 3 percent of the relevant population is enrolled in higher education in Pakistan - with 4 percent enrollment in Bangladesh, 5 percent in Sri Lanka and Nepal, and 7 percent in India (see Table4). This is in sharp contrast to most economically advanced countries, where the enrollment ratio is generally above 20 percent. Additionally, all South Asian countries compare very poorly with countries in East Asia, Latin America, and many other areas of the world with respect to scientific and technical manpower.

While the region as a whole is educationally backward, there are one or two important exceptions. In terms of numbers, India has one of the largest education systems in the world - its student population exceeds the total population of some of the countries of the world. This, however, does not place India ahead of others in educational development. While India could build the third largest reservoir of scientific and technical manpower in the world, this was found to inadequate to meet the challenges of growth in the rapidly globalizing and competitive world.

Sri Lanka and the tiny Maldives are far ahead of other countries in the region in literacy and basic education. More than 90 percent of the population in these two countries is literate. Basic education is nearly universal and enrollment ratios in secondary education are high, although Maldives does not have any higher education institution.

The problems of dropouts and grade repetition are also not so important in Sri Lanka as in other countries. With its emphasis on school education, Sri Lanka could improve the level of human development, as measured by the human development index, but it still continues to be economically backward. However, internal civil war and political unrest have had a serious adverse impact on educational development in Sri Lanka.

One of the important factors responsible for the unsatisfactory development of education in the region is the low level of public investment in education. The present levels of public investment in education in South Asia have been found to be of the lowest order, even less than those in sub-Saharan Africa. For instance, Bangladesh invested 2.2 percent of its gross national product (GNP) in education between 1995 and 1997 (the corresponding investment during this period was 2.7 percent in Pakistan; and3.2 percent in Nepal and India). It is only in the relatively rich country of Maldives that the proportion is reasonably high (6.4 percent). As a proportion of the total government expenditure, education receives a small portion in countries like Bhutan and Pakistan (see Table 5). Particularly during the 1990s, after economic reform policies were introduced, public expenditures on education decreased - not only in relative proportions but also in absolute total and per student amounts - in real prices and sometimes even in nominal prices. In addition, political instability and the compulsion to allocate substantial resources for defense and internal security have also constrained India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh in raising their levels of spending on education.

Though sound finances are not a sufficient condition for educational development, they are a critically necessary condition for development. For instance, high historical investments made in education helped Sri Lanka march ahead of others in literacy and school education. Education systems in most countries of the region are starved of scarce financial resources. A low level of economic development is generally believed to be the reason for a low level of public investment, but that is not necessarily true. With political and social will, some relatively poor societies could spend more on education than some relatively rich economies, even in South Asia.

Recent Policies and Approaches

Most countries of South Asia have recognized the vital role of education and the need to accord high priority to education in development efforts, and they have begun paying serious attention to education - particularly to basic education - as a part of the global program of Education for All (EFA). Several strategies have been adopted, some of which are not necessarily sound, and many of which are controversial. Along with strengthening formal schools with increased levels of physical and human infrastructure facilities (in India, for example, where a national program of improvement in school infrastructure on a massive scale was launched in 1986), all the countries in the region also place undue emphasis on nonformal education for universalizing basic education. Though started with good intentions, nonformal education is favored by the educational planners in the region primarily due to its low cost. It is also cheap in quality, however, with poor physical infrastructure facilities, inadequately trained teachers, and inadequate teaching and learning material. As a result, it did not take off well. Further, no links exist between nonformal and formal education, and the graduates of nonformal education often tend to relapse back into educational poverty.

Effective compulsory basic education is still nonexistent in many countries of the region. Efforts to promulgate compulsory education laws have only recently been initiated in Sri Lanka, and India. However, even if enacted, such laws will not necessarily provide free education. Families incur huge expenditures in acquiring even basic education for their children, both in terms of payments to school and the cost of other necessary expenditures, such as for books, uniforms, and transportation. The high cost of schooling incurred by families is an important factor constraining the participation of the poor in schooling.

Decentralization has been regarded as "the key to improvement in education in South Asia" (Haq and Haq 1998, p. 82). Decentralization has become an important issue not only in large countries such as India and Pakistan, but also in relatively small countries like Nepal. Many responsibilities of schooling are being decentralized to the local level. The mechanisms envisaged would not only increase the role of local bodies, but would also ensure an increased level of participation by local communities. As a corollary to all this, however, it is feared that the role of the central government and of provincial governments may get minimized.

Private education is another important issue of concern, particularly in postprimary education. Though private education is not a new phenomenon in South Asia, public policies only recently began favoring the rapid growth of private schools. Along with private education, public policies are also being formulated for improved mechanisms of cost recovery in education. This will be accomplished through the introduction or increase of fees in schools, as well as through various efforts of mobilization of nongovernmental resources. These measures are advocated not only because resources are scarce, but also because it is believed that they can improve the efficiency of the school system. However, according to some, the effects of such measures on equity may be very serious - not only on the education system but also on the society at large.

Given the scarcity of domestic resources, almost all the countries in the region have resorted to international aid for education, particularly since the World Conference on Education for All was held in Jomtien, Thailand, in 1990. While this has relaxed the constraints on resources to some extent, it has also led to an increased level of donor dependency, with every new educational program being dependent upon international aid. In addition, public policies are affected, as aid from some international organizations comes with severe policy conditions attached. On the whole, international aid for basic education has been increasing in South Asian countries, though positive and sustainable effects of this aid on educational development have yet to be noted.

One of the unintended effects of Education for All and an increased emphasis on basic education has been the neglect of secondary and higher education. While concentrating their efforts on EFA, countries in South Asia tend to ignore secondary and higher education altogether, based on the presumption that EFA goals could be realized only at the cost of growth of secondary and higher education. Therefore, public resources and policy initiatives have primarily been confined to basic education and adult literacy. This may lead to serious imbalances in the development of education, causing irreparable damage to secondary and higher education. Some countries, such as Sri Lanka and India, have already realized, with the rapid expansion of primary education, the need to expand secondary education. Further, these nations realize that higher education is not only important for economic growth and development, but also that quality higher education is important if these societies are to succeed in an increasingly globalized world.

Conclusion

The present education system in South Asia is marked by low access; poor quality and low standards; gender, social, and economic inequities; and low levels of public investment. The region is caught "in a vicious circle of low enrollment, low levels of literacy, low levels of educated labor force, lower rates of economic growth, and lower levels of living" (Tilak 2001, p. 233). The low level of educational development in South Asia has constrained "the immediate potential for human resource led development," and it has also "stunted the future prospects for rapid human development in the region" (Haq and Haq 1998, p. 34). Some countries have realized the importance of education and taken several new policy initiatives, but not all of these initiatives are necessarily conducive for the development of sustainable education systems of high quality. The most important factors responsible for the poor education status of South Asian countries are the lack of political commitment to education and the lack social will to exert pressures on the political elite. Political activism is completely lacking, though social will is slowly being built, providing a ray of hope for the betterment of education in South Asia.

Bibliography

Basu, Aparna. 1972. Essays in the History of Indian Education. Delhi, India: Concept.

Dharmpal. 1983. The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century. Delhi, India: Biblia Implex.

DRÈZE, Jean, and Amartya Sen, eds. 1997 Indian Development: Selected Regional Perspectives. Delhi, India: Oxford University Press.

Haq, Mahbub ul, and Haq, Khadija. 1997. Human Development in South Asia. Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press.

Haq, Mahbub ul, and Haq, Khadija. 1998. Human Development in South Asia: The Education Challenge. Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press.

Huq, Muhammad Shamsul. 1965. Education and Development Strategy in South and Southeast Asia. Honolulu, HI: East-West Center.

Schultz, Theodore W. 1961. "Investment in Human Capital." American Economic Review 51 (1):1 - 17.

Tilak, Jandhyala B. G. 1988. Educational Finances in South Asia. Nagoya, Japan: United Nations Centre for Regional Development.

Tilak, Jandhyala B. G. 1994. Education for Development in Asia. New Delhi, India: Sage Publications.

Tilak, Jandhyala B. G. 2000. Education for All in South and West Asia: A Decade After Jomtien: An Assessment. New Delhi, India: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization/South and West Asia Regional Technical Advisory Group.

Tilak, Jandhyala B. G. 2001. "Education and Development: Lessons from Asian Experience." Indian Social Science Review 3 (2):219 - 66.

United Nations Development Program. 2001. Human Development Report. New York: Oxford University Press.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 1969;1999. Statistical Yearbook. Paris: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

— JANDHYALA B. G. TILAK

South Asia
Countries	7 to 10 (see text)
Territories	0, 1, or 2 (see text)
GDP (Nominal)	$1.854 trillion (2009)
GDP per capita (Nominal)	$1,079 (2009)
Languages	Assamese/Asomiya, Balochi, Bangla, Bodo, Burmese, Dari,[1] Dhivehi, Dogri, Dzongkha, English, Persian, Gujarati, Hindi, Hindko, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Kurdish, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Manipuri, Nepali, Oriya, Pahari, Pashto, Persian, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Sinhala, Siraiki, Tamil, Telugu, Tibetan, Urdu, and others
Time Zones	UTC +6:30 (Burma) to UTC +3:30 (Iran)
Largest Cities	Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bangalore, Chittagong, Chennai, Cochin, Colombo, Delhi, Dhaka, Faisalabad, Hyderabad, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Jaipur, Kabul, Kanpur, Karachi, Kathmandu, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Lahore, Lhasa, Lucknow, Malé, Mashhad, Mumbai, Patna, Peshawar, Pune, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Sukkur, Surat, Tehran, Thimpu, Thiruvanathapuram, Visakhapatnam and Yangon

South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities (see below), also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east. Topographically, it is dominated by the Indian Plate, which rises above sea level as the Indian subcontinent south of the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush. South Asia is surrounded (clockwise, from west) by Western Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Asia, Southeastern Asia and the Indian Ocean.

According to the United Nations geographical region classification,^[2] Southern Asia comprises the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. By other definitions and interpretations (see below), Burma and Tibet are also sometimes included in the region of South Asia. South Asia is home to well over one fifth of the world's population, making it both the most populous and most densely populated geographical region in the world.^[3] The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation is an economic cooperation organization in the region.

Contents 1 Definitions 1.1 Indian subcontinent 1.2 Definition by South Asian Studies programs 2 Geography 3 History 4 Territory and region data 4.1 Core countries 4.2 Countries and territories from extended definitions 4.3 Regional groups of countries 5 Demographics 5.1 Ethnic groups 5.2 Languages 5.3 Religions 5.4 Genetics 6 Economy 7 Governance 8 Health and nutrition 9 See also 10 Notes and references 11 External links

Definitions

Various definitions of South Asia.

Along with a number of core countries, South Asia differs in inclusion by different clubbing of countries, though essentially it mostly encompasses countries that were part of the former British Empire in the region,^[4] including the current territories of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh at the core, but also including Sri Lanka, Burma and Sikkim (now a state of India).^[5] The Aden Colony, British Somaliland and Singapore, though administered at various times under the Raj have not been proposed as any part of South Asia.^[6]

The Raj also encompassed the 562 protected princely states that were not directly ruled by the Raj,^[7] some of which joined the Union of India (including Hyderabad State, Kingdom of Mysore, Baroda, Gwalior and a part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir), while some joined the Dominion of Pakistan (including Bahawalpur, Kalat, Khayrpur, Swat and parts of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir ).^[8][9] Sikkim joined India in 1975.^[10] One part of Jammu and Kashmir became a part of China.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), a contiguous block of countries, started in with seven countries — Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka — when it was established in 1985, but was extended to include Afghanistan as an eighth member in 2006.^[11][12] The World Bank grouping includes only the original seven members of SAARC, and leaves Afghanistan out.^[13] This bloc of countries include three independent countries that were not under the British rule - Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan. The South Asia Free Trade Agreement endorsed by SAARC has been signed by the seven original members of the organization, though it has a special provision for the Maldives.^[14]

The United Nations Population Information Network (POPIN) includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Burma, India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as part of South Asia, while Maldives, in view of its characteristics, was admitted as a member country of the Pacific POPIN subregional network in principle.^[15] The British Indian Ocean Territory is connected to the region by a publication of Jane's for security considerations.^[16] The United Nations scheme of sub-regions include all eight members of the SAARC as part of Southern Asia, along with Iran,^[17] while the Hirschmann-Herfindahl Index of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific for the region includes only the original seven signatories of SAARC.^[18]

A lack of coherent definition for South Asia has resulted in not only a lack of academic studies, but also in a lack interest for such studies.^[19] Identification with a South Asian identity was also found to be significantly low among respondents in a two-year survey across Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.^[20]

See also: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and South Asian Economic Union

Indian subcontinent

Main article: Indian subcontinent

The "Indian subcontinent" is a semantic term referring to the large, self-contained landmass which covers most of South Asia.

The term "Indian subcontinent" refers to a large, self-contained landmass which is geographically separated from the rest of the Asian continent.^[21] Due to similar scope, the terms "South Asia" and "Indian subcontinent" are used by some academics interchangeably.^{[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]} Due to political sensitivities, some prefer to use the terms "South Asian Subcontinent",^[31] the "Indo-Pak Subcontinent",^[32] or simply "South Asia"^[33] or "the Subcontinent" over the term "Indian subcontinent".

According to some academics, the term "South Asia" is in more common use in Europe and North America, rather than the terms "Subcontinent" or the "Indian Subcontinent".^[34][35] Indologist Ronald B. Inden argues that the usage of the term "South Asia" is getting more widespread since it clearly distinguishes the region from East Asia.^[36] However, this opinion is not shared by all.^[37]

By dictionary entries, the term subcontinent signifies "having a certain geographical or political independence" from the rest of the continent,^[38] or "a vast and more or less self-contained subdivision of a continent."^[39] It may be noted that geophysically the Yarlung Tsangpo River river in Tibet is situated at the outside of the border of the Subcontinental structure, while the Pamir Mountains in Tajikistan are situated inside that border.^[40]

According to one clubbing of countries, it includes most parts of South Asia, including those on the continental crust (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan), an island country on the continental shelf (Sri Lanka), and an island country rising above the oceanic crust (the Maldives).^[41] Another clubbing includes only Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, the mainstay of the British Raj, as the Subcontinent.^[42]

This version also includes the disputed territory of Aksai Chin, which, according to India, was part of British Indian princely state Jammu and Kashmir, but is currently administered as a part of Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang. A booklet published by the United States Department of State in 1959 includes Afghanistan, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), India, Nepal, and Pakistan as part of the "Subcontinent of South Asia".^[43] When the term Indian Subcontinent is used to mean South Asia, the islands countries of Sri Lanka and the Maldives are sometimes not included,^[44] while Tibet and Nepal are included^[45] and excluded^[46] intermittently, depending on the context.

Definition by South Asian Studies programs

See also: Indology

When the Centre of South Asian Studies at the University of Cambridge established in 1964, it was primarily responsible for promoting within the University the study of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Himalayan Kingdoms (Nepal, Bhutan, and Sikkim^[47]), and Burma (now officially Myanmar). But, over the years it has also extended its activities to include Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, the Philippines and Hong Kong.^[48] The Centers for South Asian Studies at both University of Michigan and University of Virginia include Tibet along with seven members of SAARC in their research programs, but leave the Maldives out.^[49][50]

The South Asian Studies Program of Rutgers University and the University of California, Berkeley Center for South Asia Studies do the same without leaving out the Maldives,^[51][52] while the South Asian Studies Program of Brandeis University defines the region as comprising "India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and in certain contexts Afghanistan, Burma, Maldives and Tibet".^[53] The similar program of Columbia University also includes Tibet, but leaves out both Afghanistan and the Maldives.^[54]

Geography

See also: Geography of India, Geography of Pakistan, Geography of Bangladesh, Geography of Bhutan, Geography of Sri Lanka, and Geography of Nepal

United Nations geoscheme for Asia:

  North Asia

  Central Asia

  Western Asia

  South Asia

  East Asia

  Southeast Asia

Natural vegetation zones of South Asia, loosely based on a Grolier map^[55]

While South Asia had never been a coherent geopolitical region, it has a distinct geographical identity.^[56] The boundaries of South Asia vary based on how the region is defined. South Asia's northern, eastern, and western boundaries vary based on definitions used, while the Indian Ocean is the southern periphery.

Much of the region comprises a peninsula in south-central Asia, rather resembling a diamond which is delineated by the Himalayas on the north, the Hindu Kush in the west, and the Arakanese in the east,^[57] and which extends southward into the Indian Ocean with the Arabian Sea to the southwest and the Bay of Bengal to the southeast.^[21][58]

Per the UN, the wider subregion's northern frontier is the Himalayas and southerly post-Soviet states of Central Asia (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, bordering northern Afghanistan and Iran), its western boundary is the westerly border of Iran (with Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkey, and Iraq), and its eastern boundary is the westerly border of Burma (with India and Bangladesh).

Most of this region is a subcontinent resting on the Indian Plate (the northerly portion of the Indo-Australian Plate) separated from the rest of the Eurasian Plate. It was once a small continent before colliding with the Eurasian Plate about 50-55 million years ago and giving birth to the Himalayan range and the Tibetan plateau. It is the peninsular region south of the Himalayas and Kuen Lun mountain ranges and east of the Indus River and the Iranian Plateau, extending southward into the Indian Ocean between the Arabian Sea (to the southwest) and the Bay of Bengal (to the southeast).

The region is home to an astounding variety of geographical features, such as glaciers, rainforests, valleys, deserts, and grasslands that are typical of much larger continents. It is surrounded by three water bodies — the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. The climate of this vast region varies considerably from area to area from tropical monsoon in the south to temperate in the north. The variety is influenced by not only the altitude, but also by factors such as proximity to the sea coast and the seasonal impact of the monsoons.

Southern parts are mostly hot in summers and receive rain during monsoon period(s). The northern belt of Indo-Gangetic plains also is hot in summer, but cooler in winter. The mountainous north is colder and receives snowfall at higher altitudes of Himalyan ranges.

As the Himalayas block the north-Asian bitter cold winds, the temperatures are considerably moderate in the plains down below. For most part, the climate of the region is called the Monsoon climate, which keeps the region humid during summer and dry during winter, and favors the cultivation of jute, tea, rice, and various vegetables in this region.

History

Further information: History of South Asia

Map of South Asia illustrating stability and historical permanency of the regional cultural frontiers and areas.

The remote pre-history of South Asia culminates in the Indus Valley Civilization, which is followed by the legends of ancient Vedic period and the sketchy references to the rise and fall of Mahajanapadas - the precursors of regional kingdoms and later ancient empires - ending in the historical accounts of medieval empires and the arrival of European traders who later became the rulers.

Almost all South Asian countries were under direct or indirect European Colonial subjugation at some point. Much of modern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Burma were gradually occupied by Great Britain - starting from 1757, reaching their zenith in 1857 and ruling till 1947. Nepal and Bhutan were to some extent protectorates of Great Britain until after World War II. In the millennia long history of South Asia, this European occupation period is rather short, but its proximity to the present and its lasting impact on the region make it prominent.

The network of means of transportation and communication as well as banking and training of requisite workforce, and also the existing rail, post, telegraph, and education facilities have evolved out of the base established in the colonial era, often called the British Raj. As an aftermath of World War II, most of the region gained independence from Europe by the late 1940s.

Since 1947, most South Asian countries have achieved tremendous progress in all spheres.^{[citation needed]} Most notable achievements are in the fields of education; industry; health care; information technology and other services based on its applications; research in the fields of cutting edge sciences and technologies; defence related self-reliance projects; international/global trade and business enterprises and outsourcing of human resources. Areas of difficulty remain, however, including religious extremism, high levels of corruption, disagreements on political boundaries, and inequitable distribution of wealth.

Territory and region data

2009 referenced population figures except where noted.

Core countries

With the core seven countries, the area covers about 4.48 million km² (1.7 million mi²), which is 10% of the Asian continent or 2.4% of the world's land surface area.^[59][60][61] They account for about 34% of Asia's population (or over 16.5% of the world's population) and are home to a vast array of peoples.^[59][60][61]

country	Area (km²)	Population(2009)	density (/km²)	GDP(nominal) (2009)	per capita (2009)	Capital	Currency	Government	Official languages	Coat of Arms
Bangladesh	147,570	162,221,000[62]	1,099	$100,002 million	$551	Dhaka	Taka	Parliamentary democracy	Bengali
Bhutan	38,394	697,000[62]	18	$1,269 million	$1,832	Thimphu	Ngultrum, Indian rupee	Constitutional monarchy	Dzongkha
India	3,287,240	1,210,193,422[63]	382[63]	$1,537,966 million[64]	$1,271	New Delhi	Indian rupee	Federal republic, Parliamentary democracy	Hindi, English
Maldives	298	396,334[62]	1,330	$1,357 million	$4,388	Malé	Rufiyaa	Republic	Dhivehi
Nepal	147,181	29,331,000[62]	200	$12,615 million	$427	Kathmandu	Nepalese rupee	Democratic Republic	Nepali
Pakistan	796,095	170,608,000[62]	225	$174,866 million	$1023	Islamabad	Pakistani rupee	Islamic Republic	Urdu, English[65]
Sri Lanka	65,610	20,238,000[62]	309	$53,241 million	$5,300	Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte	Sri Lankan rupee	Democratic Socialist Republic	Sinhala, Tamil

Countries and territories from extended definitions

country or region	Area (km²)	Population (2009)	density (per km²)	GDP(nominal) (2009)	per capita (2009)	Capital	Currency	Government	Official languages	Coat of Arms
Afghanistan	652,230	28,150,000[66]	52	$14,044 million	$486	Kabul	Afghan afghani	Islamic republic	Dari (Persian), Pashto
British Indian Ocean Territory	60	3,500	59	N/A	N/A	Diego Garcia	US Dollar	British Overseas Territory	English
Burma	676,578	48,137,141[62][67]	71	$27,553 million	$459	Yangon	Myanma kyat	Military Junta	Burmese; Jingpho, Shan, Karen, Mon, (Spoken in Burma's Autonomous States.)
Iran	1,648,195	70,495,782 (2006 Census)[68][69]	40	$330,461 million	$4,459	Tehran	Iranian rial	Islamic republic	Persian, Constitutional status for regional languages[70]
PRC - Tibet Autonomous Region	1,228,400	2,740,000	2	$6,458 million	$2,357	Lhasa	Chinese yuan	Autonomous region of China	Tibetan, Mandarin Chinese

Regional groups of countries

Name of country/region, with flag	Area (km²)	Population*	Population density (per km²)	Capital or Secretariat	Currency	Countries included	Official languages	Coat of Arms
Core Definition (above) of South Asia	4,482,388	1,596,000,000	400.1	N/A	N/A	Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka	N/A	N/A
UN subregion of South Asia	6,778,083	1,702,000,000	270.77	N/A	N/A	Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Iran, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka	N/A	N/A
SAARC	4,637,469	1,626,000,000	350.6	Kathmandu	N/A	Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka	None

Demographics

Ethnic groups

Main article: South Asian ethnic groups

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Map of South Asia in native languages.

South Asia, which consists of the nations of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, is ethnically diverse, with more than 2,000 ethnic entities with populations ranging from hundreds of millions to small tribal groups. South Asia has been invaded and settled by many ethnic groups over the centuries - including various Dravidian, Indo-Aryan and Iranian groups - and amalgamation of Dravidian, Indo-Aryan and native societies has produced composite cultures with many common traditions and beliefs. But, the traditions of different ethnic groups in South Asia have diverged throughout earlier times, sometimes giving rise to strong local traditions such as the distinct South Indian culture.

Other ethnic groups, successively streaming in later mainly from Central Asia and Iran, e.g. Sakas, Kushans, Huns etc. influenced pre-existing South Asian cultures. Among the last of these new arrivals were the Arabs followed by the Turks, the Pashtuns and the Moghuls. However, Arab influence remained relatively limited in comparison to that of the Turks, Pashtuns and Moghuls, who brought in much cultural influence and contributed to the birth of Urdu, a syncretic language of combined Indo-Persian heritage, which is widely spoken today. Ethnic Englishmen and other Britons are now practically absent after their two centuries long colonial presence, although they have left an imprint of western culture in the elite society.

Languages

See also: Languages of South Asia

The largest spoken language in this region is now Hindustānī, its speakers numbering almost 422 million;^[71] the second largest spoken language is Bengali, with about 210 million speakers.^[72] Urdu is also a major language spoken in the subcontinent, especially in Pakistan and India, and is similar linguistically to Hindi; Hindi and Urdu together make up Hindustānī. Hindi is spoken in some states of India, and is similar linguistically to Urdu. Many people are not aware of the fact that most of the Indians speak local languages and are not familiar with Hindi. Other languages of this region fall into a few major linguistic groups: the Dravidian languages and the Indo-Aryan languages, a sub-branch of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages.

The other great sub-branch of Indo-Iranian, the Iranian languages, also have significant minority representation in South Asia, with Pashtu and Baluchi being widely spoken along the northwestern fringes of the region, in modern-day Pakistan. Many Tibeto-Burman ethnic groups, who are speakers of their language-group, are found in northeast India, Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan. Other small groups, speaking Austro-Asiatic languages, are also present in South Asia. English is another language which dominates South Asia, especially as a medium of advanced education and government administration.

Most of South Asia writes using various abugidas of Brāhmī origin while languages such as Urdu, Pashto, and Sindhi use derivatives of the Perso-Arabic script. Not all languages in South Asia follow this strict dichotomy though. For example, Kashmiri is written in both the Perso-Arabic script and in the Devanagari script. The same can be said for Punjabi, which is written in both Shahmukhi and Gurmukhī. Dhivehi is written in a script called Tāna that shows characteristics of both the Arabic alphabet and of an abugida.

Religions

Further information: Religion in Bangladesh, Religion in Bhutan, Religion in India, Religion in Nepal, Religion in Pakistan, and Religion in Sri Lanka

In South Asia Hinduism and Islam and in some of its countries Buddhism are the dominant religions. Other Indian religions and Christianity are practiced by significant number of people.

Historically, fusion of Indo-Aryan Vedic religion with native South Asian non-Vedic Shramana traditions and other Dravidian and local tribal beliefs gave rise to the ancient religions of Hinduism and Jainism. As a consequence, these two religions share many similar cultural practices, festivals and traditions.

Arabs brought the Abrahamic religion of Islam to South Asia, first in the present day Kerala and the Maldive Islands and later in Sindh, Balochistan and much of Punjab. Subsequently, Muslim Turks/Pashtuns/Moghuls furthered it not only among the Punjabi and Kashmiri people but also throughout the Indo-Gangetic plains and farther east, and deep south up to the Deccan.

Afghanistan[1]	Muslim (99%), other (1%)
Bangladesh[73]	Muslim (90%), Hindu (9%), Christian (.5%), Buddhist (.5%), Believers in tribal faiths (0.1%)
British Indian Ocean Territory[74]	Christian (45.55%), Hindu (38.55%), Muslim (9.25%), Non-Religious (6.50%), Atheist (0.10%), Other (0.05%)
Bhutan[75]	Buddhist (75%), Hindu (25%)
Burma[76]	Theravada Buddhist (89%), Muslim (4%), Christian (4%) (Baptist 3%, Roman Catholic 1%), Animist (1%), others (including Hinduism) (2%)
India[77][78]	Hindu (80.5%), Muslim (13.4%), Christian (2.3%), Sikh (1.9%), Buddhist (0.8%), Jain (0.4%), Others (0.6%)
Iran[79]	Shi'a Muslim (89%), Sunni Muslim (9%), Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, and Baha'i (2%)
Maldives[80]	Sunni Muslim (100%) (One must be a Sunni Muslim to be a citizen on the Maldives[81][82])
Nepal[83]	Hindu (80.6%), Buddhist (10.7%), Muslim (4.2%), Kirat (3.6%)
Pakistan[84]	Muslim (96.28%), Hindu (1.85%), Christian (1.59%), Ahmadi (0.22%)
Sri Lanka[85]	Theravada Buddhist (70.42%), Hindu (10.89%), Muslim (8.78%), Catholic (7.77%), Other Christian (1.96%), Other (0.13%)

Genetics

See also: Y-DNA haplogroups in South Asian populations

Economy

Further information: Economy of Bangladesh, Economy of India, Economy of Nepal, Economy of Pakistan, and Economy of Sri Lanka

South Asia is the poorest region on the earth after Sub-Saharan Africa. Three South Asian nations — Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal — are characterized as least developed country. Poverty is commonly spread within this region. According to the poverty data of World Bank, more than 40% of the population in the region lived on less than the International Poverty Line of $1.25 per day in 2005, compared to 50% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa.^[86] There are 421 million poor people by Multidimensional Poverty Index standards in eight Indian states alone - Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal - while there are 410 million in the 26 poorest African countries combined.^[87]

Sri Lanka has the highest GDP per capita in the region, while Nepal has the lowest. India is the largest economy in the region (US$ 1.54 trillion) and makes up almost 82% of the South Asian economy; it is the world's 10th largest in nominal terms and 4th largest by purchasing power adjusted exchange rates. Pakistan has the next largest economy and the 5th highest GDP per capita in the region,^[88] followed by Bangladesh. If Iran is counted, it will become the second largest in terms of region and the economy . According to a World Bank report in 2007, South Asia is the least integrated region in the world; trade between South Asian states is only 2% of the region's combined GDP, compared to 20% in East Asia. The Economist has blamed this on Indian neglect of its neighbors.^[89]

Governance

India is the dominant political power in the region.^[90] It is contributed by the fact that it is by far the largest country in the covering around three-fourths the land area of the subcontinent.^[91] It also has the largest population of around three times the combined population of the 6 other countries in the subcontinent.^[92] India is also the most populous democracy in the world^[93] and is a nuclear power.

The second largest country in the subcontinent area-wise and population-wise is Pakistan and has traditionally maintained the balance of power in the region due to its strategic relationships with nearby Arab states^[94] and neighboring China.^[95] Pakistan is the 6th^[96] most populous country in the world and is also a nuclear power. Bangladesh is the third largest populous country in the region and identified, along with Pakistan, as Next Eleven. As of 31 March 2011, the largest contributor to UN peacekeeping operations is Bangladesh. Pakistan & India catch 2nd & 3rd place respectively, according to the number of troops.

Diplomacy among the countries of South Asia has been mainly driven by populist politics, with the center stage taken by India-Pakistan conflict ever since their independence in 1947, and then the creation of Bangladesh under tense circumstances in 1971. While the elite rulers of Pakistan chose the USA led bloc during the cold war era, India formed the Non-Aligned Movement.

The political situation in Sri Lanka has been dominated by a increasingly assertive Sinhalese nationalism, and the emergence of a Tamil separatist movement under LTTE, which was suppressed recently. Burma's politics is dominated by a military Junta, which has sidelined the democratic forces led by Aung San Suu Kyi.

Health and nutrition

There are 421 million MPI-poor people in eight Indian states alone - Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal - while there are 410 million in the 26 poorest African countries combined.^[87] Roughly 42 percent of all Indian children under age 5 suffer from malnutrition.^[97]

According to the World Bank, 70% of the South Asian population and about 75% of South Asia's poor live in rural areas and most rely on agriculture for their livelihood.^[98] According to the Global Hunger Index, South Asia has one of the highest child malnutrition rates in the world.^[99] In a latest report published by UNICEF in 2008 on global hunger shows that the actual number of child deaths was around 2.1 million.^[100] As of 2008 India is ranked 66th on the global hunger index.^{[citation needed]}

The 2006 report stated that "the low status of women in South Asian countries and their lack of nutritional knowledge are important determinants of high prevalence of underweight children in the region". Corruption and the lack of initiative on the part of the government has been one of the major problems associated with nutrition in India. Illiteracy in villages has been found to be one of the major issues that need more government attention. The report mentioned that, although there has been a reduction in malnutrition due to the Green Revolution in South Asia, there is concern that South Asia has "inadequate feeding and caring practices for young children".^[101]

See also

	Geography portal
	Asia portal
	South Asia portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: South Asia

• Greater India
• Indian subcontinent
• Indology
• South Asia Disaster Report (book)
• South Asian cuisine

Notes and references

1. ^ ^{a b} "Afghanistan". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. December 13, 2007. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/af.html#People. 
2. ^ United Nations geoscheme
3. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Bertram Hughes Farmer, An Introduction to South Asia, pages 1, Routledge, 1993, ISBN 0-415-05695-0
5. ^ Arthur Berriedale Keith, A Constitutional History of India: 1600-1935, pages 440-444, Methuen & Co, 1936
6. ^ United Nations, Yearbook of the United Nations, pages 297, Office of Public Information, 1947, United Nations
7. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica: A New Survey of Universal Knowledge (volume 4), pages 177, Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 1947
8. ^ Ian Copland, The Princes of India in the Endgame of Empire: 1917-1947, pages 263, Cambridge University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-521-89436-0
9. ^ Ben Cahoon. "Pakistan Princely States". Worldstatesmen.org. http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Pakistan_princes.html. Retrieved 2010-08-23. 
10. ^ "History of Sikkim". Department of Information and Public Relations, Government of Sikkim. 2005-09-29. Archived from the original on 2006-07-01. http://web.archive.org/web/20060701112525/http://sikkimipr.org/GENERAL/HISTORY/history_of_sikkim.htm. Retrieved 2006-10-12. 
11. ^ Sarkar, Sudeshna (16 May 2007). "SAARC: Afghanistan comes in from the cold". Current Affairs - Security Watch. Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich. http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?ots591=4888CAA0-B3DB-1461-98B9-E20E7B9C13D4&lng=en&id=53216. Retrieved 6 April 2011. 
12. ^ "South Asian Organisation for Regional Cooperation (official website)". SAARC Secretariat, Kathmandu, Nepal.. http://www.saarc-sec.org/. Retrieved 6 April 2011. 
13. ^ South Asia: Data, Projects and Research, The World Bank
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57. ^ Chapman, Graham P. & Baker, Kathleen M., eds. The changing geography of Asia. (ISBN 0-203-03862-2) New York: Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002; p. 10: "This greater India is well defined in terms of topography; it is the Indian sub-continent, hemmed in by the Himalayas on the north, the Hindu Khush in the west and the Arakanese in the east."
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59. ^ ^{a b} Desai, Praful B. 2002. Cancer control efforts in the Indian subcontinent. Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology. 32 (Supplement 1): S13-S16. "The Indian subcontinent in South Asia occupies 2.4% of the world land mass and is home to 16.5% of the world population...."
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67. ^ Burma hasn't had a census in a many decades, figures are mostly guesswork.
68. ^ Statistical Centre of Iran^{[dead link]}
69. ^ Iran's Census 2006 count figures are higher than 2009 Census Bureau estimated figures, despite 2006 Census reporting that half its citizens are under 25, therefore considered more accurate.
70. ^ ICL - Iran - Constitution^{[dead link]}
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External links

• World Bank, South Asia Region
• BBC News South Asia
• Birding in South Asia
• South Asian Awareness Network Conference Website
• Digital South Asia Library
• South Asia Environment Portal

v d e Regions of the World Africa Northern Middle East Sub-Saharan Central Southern Western Eastern Oceania Australasia Australia Zealandia Melanesia Micronesia Polynesia America North Northern Middle Central Caribbean South Southern Northern Western Anglo Latin Polar Regions Arctic Antarctic Asia Central Eastern Northeastern Northern Southeastern Mainland Maritime Southern Indian subcontinent Western Middle East Oceans World Arctic Atlantic Indian Pacific Southern Europe Central Eastern Northern Southeastern Middle East Southern Western Seas List of seas Related Continents of the world List of seas Physical Earth

v d e Geography of South Asia Mountains and Plateaus Himalayas · Western Ghats · Eastern Ghats · Aravalli Range · The Nilgiris · Vindhya Range · Satpura Range · Garo Hills · Shivalik Hills · Mahabharat Range  · Khasi Hills · Annamalai Hills · Cardamom Hills · Sulaiman Mountains · Toba Kakar Range · Karakoram · Hindu Kush · Chittagong Hill Tracts · Deccan Plateau · Thar Desert · Makran · Chota Nagpur · Naga Hills · Mysore Plateau · Ladakh Plateau  · Gandhamardan Hills Lowlands and Islands Indo-Gangetic plain · Indus River Delta · Ganges Basin · Ganges Delta · Terai · Atolls of Maldives · Coromandel Coast · Konkan · Lakshadweep · Andaman and Nicobar Islands · Sundarbans · Greater Rann of Kutch · Little Rann of Kutch · Protected areas in Tamil Nadu Countries India · Pakistan · Nepal · Bhutan · Sri Lanka · Bangladesh · The Maldives

v d e Countries and territories of South Asia Countries Bangladesh · Bhutan · India · Maldives · Nepal · Pakistan · Sri Lanka Sometimes included Afghanistan · Burma · British Indian Ocean Territory · Iran · Tibet

v d e Languages of South Asia Main articles Languages of India (list by number of speakers - scheduled) · Languages of Pakistan · Languages of Bangladesh · Languages of Nepal · Languages of Sri Lanka Contemporary languages Austronesian: Sri Lanka Malay • Dravidian: Brahui · Jeseri · Kannada · Malayalam · Tamil · Telugu · Tulu • Indo-Aryan: Angika · Assamese · Bhojpuri · Bengali · Dhivehi · Dogri · Gujarati · Hindi · Hindko · Kashmiri · Konkani · Kumaoni  · Magahi · Mahal · Maithili · Marathi · Nepali · Oriya · Punjabi · Saraiki · Sindhi · Sinhala · Urdu • Iranian: Balochi · Pashto · Persian · Wakhi • Isolates: Great Andamanese · Burushaski · Nihali · Kusunda • Mon-Khmer: Khasi · Nicobarese • Munda: Ho · Korku · Mundari · Santali · Sora • Ongan: Önge · Jarawa • Tibeto-Burman: Ao · Bodo · Garo · Meitei · Mizo · Nepal Bhasa · Sikkimese · Tenyidie · Tibetan · Tripuri • European influence: English (India · Pakistan · Sri Lanka) · French · Portuguese Scripts Indus · Brahmi • Brahmic family: Devanagari · Sinhala · Telugu · Tamil · Tulu · Gurmukhi · Assamese and Bengali · Ranjana · Oriya · Malayalam · Kannada · Gujarati • Arabic: Arwi · Nasta'liq · Shahmukhi • Arabi Malayalam Language activism Hela Havula · Bengali Language Movement · Sanskrit revival · Pure Tamil movement · Nepal Bhasa movement · Madras anti-Hindi agitation of 1965 · Urdu movement

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