scholarly journals Introduction: Institutions and economic development in South Asia

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
pp. 1657-1667
Author(s):  
ATIYAB SULTAN ◽  
DAVID WASHBROOK
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Institutional Theory ◽  
Institutional Change ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Development Discourse ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Policy Failures

The ‘weak’ and ‘flawed’ nature of South Asian institutions has become axiomatic in development discourse, with the persistence of this view outweighed only by its lack of concreteness. The fascination with institutions is noteworthy precisely because the most fundamental questions about them are still under debate: there is little agreement on the definition of institutions beyond generic statements, let alone an established consensus on which institutions engender development. Instead institutionalist explanations float far and wide, netting the blame for various policy failures, with a striking lack of critical inspection. This special issue is an attempt to bring together various perspectives on institutional change and economic development in South Asia in an attempt to problematize the very concept of institutions and their perceived role in fostering economic development. The geographical focus on South Asia furthers a central aim of this collection: to emphasize the contextual nature of institutions. This translates into a need for disaggregating secular institutional theory into its precise constraints and implications for particular spaces, moments, and contexts.

scholarly journals Introduction: Historicizing Sayyid-ness: Social Status and Muslim Identity in South Asia

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-393
Author(s):  
LAURENCE GAUTIER ◽  
JULIEN LEVESQUE
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Historical Change ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
Anthropological Literature

AbstractThe introduction to the special issue provides a framework to think about the changing conceptions of Sayyid-ness in various historical contexts in South Asia. First, we review some of the sociological and anthropological literature on caste among South Asian Muslims, to argue for a contextualised and historicised study of Muslim social stratification in Muslims’ own terms. Second, we throw light on the fact that Sayyid-ness, far from being a transhistorical fact, may be conceptualised differently in different socio-political and historical contexts. For instance, Sayyid pedigree was at times downplayed in favour of a more encompassing Ashraf identity in order to project the idea of a single Muslim community. Far from projecting an essentialising image of Sayyid-ness, by focusing on historical change, the articles in this collection de-naturalise Sayyids’ and Ashraf's social superiority as a ‘well-understood and accepted fact’. They further shift attention from the debate on ‘Muslim caste’, often marred by Hindu-centric assumptions, to focus instead on social dynamics among South Asian Muslims ‘in their own terms’. In so doing, these studies highlight the importance of the local, while pointing to possible comparisons with Muslim groups outside South Asia.

Managing the refugee crises in South Asia: The role of SAARC

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-219
Author(s):  
Zahid Shahab Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Complex Issue ◽  
History Of

South Asia is home to roughly three million refugees and their long-term presence brings enormous challenges. South Asia’s history of colonialism, low economic development, and intra- and inter-state conflicts have contributed to the large-scale refugee movement and the lack of capacity to address the problem. This article examines the history, current activity and potential for regional cooperation in South Asia to address the issue. The article focuses particularly on the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the structure and culture of the organization and the likelihood of it addressing the politically complex issue of forced migration.

scholarly journals Impact of Eco-Efficient Energy on Sustainable Development in South Asia: Empirical Estimations

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Praveen Saldanha ◽  
G. S. Premakumara
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Total Energy ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Green Energy ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Green Growth

Energy is a prerequisite for all production processes and development. However, eco-efficient, sustainable green energy is essential for sustainable development and green growth. The commitments to produce renewable, clean and green energy have compelled all countries, by the International Agreements and Treaties on energy, environmental protection and sustainable growth. In this background, the present work tried to examine the efforts made by South Asian countries in order to produce eco-efficient, sustainable, clean energy and its interactions with economic development. The present study has used secondary time series data on green energy parameters and parameters related to economic development. The econometric techniques such as stationarity, impact models have been used for examination and analysis of data. It has been found from the analysis that energy intensity has been significantly increased in South Asia along with economic development. However, the production of green energy is not commensurate with its expected rate. Moreover, the shares of both renewable energy and renewable electricity in total energy have been declined over the period of time. This is a negative sign of sustainable development and green growth. Hence, there is a need to restructure the energy policy by South Asian countries according to the needs of sustainable development and green growth. Accordingly, consumption, transmission, process, etc., should be made mandatory to use green energy in their total energy consumption. Pigouvian principle of taxing on increasing social cost and subsidization for increasing social benefits is more appropriate for South Asian policies and strategies for eco efficient green energy and green growth.

Tone and Stroke

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard K. Wolf
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Folk Music ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Rural Regions ◽  
Wind Instrument ◽  
Musical Knowledge ◽  
Definition Of

This chapter examines the importance of tone and stroke melody in the rhythmic patterns of South Asian drumming traditions. Many musicians and listeners in South Asia are interested in the relation of what they consider classical music to what they consider folk music. Some emphasize the distinction when wishing to make a point about what constitutes true musical knowledge (usually knowledge associated with the “classical”). This chapter explores the practice of naming and defining drum patterns based on the author's fieldwork in a number of cities, towns, and rural regions in India and Pakistan. It also discusses the role of melody and rhythm in the definition of patterns by looking at examples of (tone-) melodies accompanied by drums, such as functionally specific genres that combine wind-instrument melodies with drum patterns. The chapter highlights the complex ways in which tone and stroke melodies may vie for primacy within a genre or across different items in the drum repertoire.

scholarly journals Special Issue Isna ‘Ashari and Isma‘ili Shi‘ism: from South Asia to the Indian Ocean

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-351
Author(s):  
Justin Jones ◽  
Ali Usman Qasmi
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Political Science ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Political Context ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
The Indian Ocean ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries

Isna ‘Ashari and Isma‘ili Shi‘ism: from South Asia to the Indian Ocean, edited by Dr Justin Jones of Oxford University and Dr Ali Usman Qasmi of the Lahore University of Management Sciences, is our fifth special issue in recent years. Its articles, by scholars from a range of disciplines - history, religious studies, anthropology, political science - explore the historical and contemporary dynamics of various South Asian Shi’i communities living in, and moving between, places that border the Indian Ocean. Indeed, taken en masse, they demonstrate the enduring vitality of these communities, whose members have responded in a range of ways to the opportunities and challenges of the complex religious, social and political context of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Women’s Collectives and Social Transformations in South Asia: Negotiations, Navigations and Self-making

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-315
Author(s):  
Lipika Kamra ◽  
Debarati Sen
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
International Development ◽  
South Asian ◽  
State Policy ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Women's Lives ◽  
Development Workers ◽  
Development Discourses

This introduction to the special issue lays out the importance of studying women’s collectives in South Asia. We argue in this issue that it is particularly important to examine collectives in this moment because transformations in South Asian women’s lives are increasingly described in individual terms in state policy and international development discourses. The emphasis on individual empowerment alone, however, effaces the subtle negotiations that women carry out with state actors, development workers, families, the market and their communities through collectives. The articles in the special issue examine how women’s participation in collectives and collective spaces enables them to imagine transformations in their lives. We also discuss the limitations of collectives-led transformation.

Editorial — Environmental Assessment in South Asia: Underrepresented in the International Academic Literature?

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (02) ◽  
pp. 1601002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Urmila Jha-Thakur
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Environmental Assessment ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Related Research ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Emerging Trends ◽  
The World ◽  
Introductory Paper ◽  
Country Specific

Welcome to this special Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM) issue on environmental assessment (EA) research in South Asia, which besides this introductory paper includes seven papers contributing to a wider understanding of EA-related practices in the South Asian Region (SAR). Some of the papers are country-specific while others provide useful overviews of a region and/or parts of a region. The collection of papers is a result of a targeted call to researchers taking a special interest on EA issues within SAR. This special issue is timely considering the challenges and rapid growth this part of the world is currently facing. Furthermore, there is a perception that EA-related research in the region is less reported in the academic literature than others. Although this special issue cannot claim to represent all countries in South Asia, it is a step towards narrowing this perceived gap in the literature and in reporting on the emerging trends of EA within the region. It is hoped that this initiative will encourage further SAR EA-related research and publications in the future.

Preface to Sukatha Adhiveshn 2020

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Regional Development ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Appropriate Technology ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Technology Innovations

Sukatha Adhiveshn; Sukatha meaning happy stories is a special issue Adhiveshn (conference) with the intention to highlight South Asian Appropriate Technology Innovations in different fields of technology. In the post pandemic era we in south Asia need to decouple from reliance on western innovations but foster regionally developed sustainable innovations. Every year a different area of technology specialty will be themed. The flagship publication of the themed conference is Sukatha Adhiveshn with the aim to be the platform of information dissemination on regional appropriate technology innovations, a platform to serve as a hub for regional innovators to tell their stories of innovations serving the rural communities of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The contributions published in Sukatha Adhiveshn will highlight innovations that has the potential to uplift the population of the region and contribute to the regional development of South Asia.

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