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Central Idea

• The last few years have ushered in a harsh new reality where crises are the norm rather than the exception. Pandemics, economic slumps and extreme weather events were once tail-end risks, but all three have hit South Asia in rapid succession since 2020.  To strengthen resilience and protect the well-being of future generations, governments across South Asia need to take urgent policy action and invest in human capital.

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South Asia Overview

• Countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
• Population: The region has a total population of over 1.8 billion people, making it the most populous region in the world.
• Geography: South Asia has a diverse geography, with mountain ranges such as the Himalayas and Hindu Kush, major rivers like the Ganges, Indus, and Brahmaputra, and coastal areas along the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, and Indian Ocean.
• Economy: India is the largest economy in the region, accounting for more than 70% of the region’s total GDP. Agriculture is a major employer in most countries, with rice and wheat being staple crops. The manufacturing sector is also a significant contributor to the region’s economy, with textiles, garments, and leather products being major exports
• Climate: The climate of South Asia is varied, with the monsoon season bringing heavy rainfall to much of the region and causing flooding in some areas. The region’s geography and size also result in varying climate patterns. In general, the region experiences hot and humid summers and mild winters.
• Climate Change Risks: Climate change poses significant risks to the region, with some areas, such as the Maldives, at risk of sea level rise. Other risks include increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events, such as floods and droughts. The region is also vulnerable to the impacts of climate change on health, including increased incidence of heat-related illness and infectious diseases.
• Biodiversity and Environmental Threats:
• South Asia is home to several biodiversity hotspots, such as the Western Ghats in India and the Eastern Himalayas.
• However, the region faces significant environmental threats, such as deforestation, air and water pollution, and climate change.
• Deforestation is a major problem in the region, with logging and land use change leading to habitat destruction and loss of biodiversity.

An underutilized asset of South Asia: Analysis

• South Asia’s people are its biggest asset but remain wastefully underutilized:
• With nearly half its population under the age of 24 and over one million young people set to enter the labour force every month until 2030, the region could reap an enviably high demographic dividend.
• Stunting one of the significant challenges: South Asia is also home to over one third of the world’s stunted children. And a child born in the region today can, by the age of 18, expect to attain only 48% of their full productive potential.
• Governments spending on Health and education: South Asian governments on average spend just 1% of GDP on health and 2.5% on education. In comparison, the global average is 5.9% on health and 3.7% on education.
• COVID-19 pandemic, a blow to regions human capital: The COVID-19 pandemic, which pushed an additional 35 million people across South Asia into extreme poverty, dealt an unprecedented blow to the region’s human capital. Among its most woeful impacts is a rise in learning poverty, or the inability to read and understand a simple text by age 10. Ineffective remote instruction, during the pandemic increased South Asia’s learning poverty from 60% to 78%.
• The poorest and most vulnerable people fell further behind: For example, in Bangladesh, the poorest students lost 50% more in terms of learning than the richest students. Several countries still show little to no signs of recovery, and South Asia’s students could lose up to 14.4% of their future earnings.

Interventions that can make a difference

• Affordable education: Recent evidence suggests that even simple and low-cost education programmes can lead to sizable gains in skills.
• For instance:
• In Bangladesh attending a year of additional pre-school through two-hour sessions significantly improved literacy, numeracy, and social-development scores.
• In Tamil Nadu, six months of extra remedial classes after school helped students catch up on about two-thirds of lost learning linked to 18 months of school closures.
• In Nepal, government teachers ran a phone tutoring programme that helped increase students’ foundational numeracy by 30%.
• Robust systems for crisis management: The need for countries to have robust systems in place to support individuals and families during times of crisis. Such systems, which can include social safety nets, health care, and education programs, can help to mitigate the impact of crises like the pandemic, protect vulnerable populations, and promote resilience. By investing in these systems before a crisis strikes, countries can better prepare themselves to respond to the challenges that may arise.
• Use data and technology: Effective systems are needed to respond to crises quickly and maintain vital services like healthcare and education. Coordination across sectors is important. Data and technology play a crucial role in the delivery of services, human development systems should ensure they are effectively used.

World Bank study: Interdependence of health, education and skills for human development

• A new World Bank study, Collapse and Recovery: how COVID eroded human capital and what to do about it, analyses the pandemic’s impacts on young people, stresses the multi-dimensional and complementary nature of human development.
• The health, education, and skills people acquire at various stages of their lives, build and depend on each other.
• To be effective, human development systems must recognise and exploit these overlapping connections. In other words, they should be agile, resilient and adaptive.

Conclusion

• The road ahead for South Asia is rocky. The next crisis may be just around the corner. A robust human development system would not only mitigate the damage but also help ensure lives and livelihoods are protected. It could provide the resilience South Asia needs to prosper in an increasingly volatile world. While the outlook is grim, it is important to remember that well-designed and implemented interventions can make a difference if governments act fast.

Mains question

Q. South Asia possesses remarkable human capital, but it remains underutilized and has been further impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Discuss and suggest what can be done to address the issues?

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