7/27/2019 South Asian Renaissance by Zulfiqar Shah
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myrepublica.com
South Asian RenaissanceLAND ISSUES IN SOUTH ASIA
Unlike in the rest of the world, land is the common and most
important factor behind modern state building, political
culturesocioeconomic development and transformation, urbanization
and ethnic conflicts in South Asian countries.
Shared climate, water and natural resources along with broader
ethnic similarities are not the only bonds among the
people of this region; it is primarily land, and thereby economy
and culture, that shapes the universality of South Asia. The
division is only in the governance and security, which
necessitates borders.
The landmass in the region is the sign of its richness, with
4.77 million square kilometers o f land o ffering 2.62 million
squar
kilometers for agriculture. Out of the total land in South Asia,
39 percent land is arable, 11 percent comprises permanent
pastures and 17 percent is forest and wood land, according to
World Bank and FAO studies.
Political dynamics of land are embodied in the political
economy; however with two major factors across the regionthe
unjust land utilization and management, pushing 500 million
rural people into the web of vulnerability; and 60 percent
human mass depending on land related livelihood. Nepa l and
Bhutans 90 percent, Bangladeshs 71.9 percent, India and
Pakistans 70 percent and Sri Lankas 37 percent population is
rural and their livelihood, directly or indirectly, is
associated
with land. Agriculture contributes 25 percent to the GDP of the
region.
Keeping 28 percent urban mass of the region in the background,
which will double up over the next decade, it can be seen
that the region and its countries a re undergoing a mass ive
transformation in human history that was only witnessed befo
during the renaissance era in Europe. The socio-economic
transformation always carries with it a degree of political
turmoil
breakthroughs in fields of science, arts and literature and a
lways culminates into new social contracts, though a fter many
conflicts.
Will the region and countrywide gradua l transformations be in
unison across the board? Will there be new social contracts
in individual countries or will a collective w ill and identity
of the region emerge as we ll? And finally, will this trans
formation
be able to address crucial questions including inter-state
conflicts, national ques tions w ithin the federations, class
dynamics, manmade religious antagonism and finally, the
collective niche for a universal view of South Asia?
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