South Asia

Soon after independence from British rule, the South Asia region seemed to have a much better prospect than many other parts of the Third World; the prospects soon dimmed, however, as South Asia crawled while east and southeast Asia galloped away. But a large part of the region seems finally to have turned a corner and is looking forward to a much better future – in terms of growth, poverty reduction and human development. This paper describes and explains this story in terms of economic strategies and political economy of the region and also looks ahead to identify the major challenges that remain – focussing on Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.