SAAR countries and rural development

Dr. Rajeev Kumar,
M.S.W., (TISS, Mumbai) M.Phil., (CIP, Ranchi),
UGC-JRF., Ph.D., (IIT Kharagpur)
1/25/2021
Dr. Rajeev Kumar 1

 The South Asian Association for Regional
Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental
organization and geopolitical union of nations in South Asia.
 Its member state
include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal,
the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
 SAARC comprises 3% of the world's area, 21% of the
world's population and 3.8% (US$2.9 trillion) of the global
economy, as of 2015.
 SAARC was founded in Dhaka on 8 December 1985.
 Its secretariat is based in Kathmandu, Nepal.
 The organization promotes development of economic
and regional integration. It launched the South Asian Free
Trade Area in 2006.
 SAARC maintains permanent diplomatic relations at
the United Nations as an observer and has developed links
with multilateral entities, including the European Union.
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 In the era of globalization, formation of regional groupings is
the first step towards global integration.
 Regional groupings are, most commonly, based upon the
principles of a shared histories, geographical contiguity, core
competencies, advantages associated with economy of scale
 The concept of SAARC as a political and economic cooperation in
south Asia was first envisaged by Bangladeshi President Late Zia-
Ur-Rahman in 1980
 SAARC came into being in 1985 with Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as founding members.
 Afghanistan joined SAARC later in 2007.
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 Myanmar is currently an observer state and officially wrote to
the SAARC Secretariat seeking full membership of SAARC in
May 2008.
 . India and Bangladesh are the only two countries which have
a land and maritime border with Myanmar and none of the
other countries in SAARC have any substantial cooperation
with Myanmar
 3. The country does not have strong ties with South Asia and
is more oriented towards Southeast Asia, where it is a
member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN)
 But these aside, Myanmar can play a key role in connecting
South Asia and Southeast Asia. Today, the country does not
have any major contentious issue with any of the SAARC
members except with Bangladesh about the Rohingya issue.
Also, India’s relations with Myanmar have been rapidly
growing over the past decade.
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 Prime Minister Narendra Modi is
especially keen on improving India’s
lukewarm relations with China and
Myanmar can be a channel through
which he does that. Such a connection
to Myanmar, Southeast Asia, and
China would be a boon to India’s much
neglected Northeast region. So India,
besides being the country with the
biggest leverage within SAARC is also
the only country which will gain
substantially from Myanmar’s inclusion.
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 One of the reason why Myanmar is
not a part of SAARC is the
contentious issue with Bangladesh.
The Rohingyas' issue has been a
major issue between the two
countries since the birth of
Bangladesh in 1971 and still
remains unresolved. Other reason
is that Myanmar has been absent
from most of the regional
government's outlook but also from
public imagination so long.
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 This is a political
association, and Myanmar
does not fit in the group
politically.
 One can certainly argue
that geographically it
makes some sense for
Myanmar to be part of
SAARC, but SAARC is not
a geographic entity, but a
political one.
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China isn't part
of SAARC because
it isn't a part of south Asia.
More precisely China
isn't part of Indian sub-
continent.
As we can see all countries
in SAARC are part of
Indian sub-continent, which
has a separate identity
from rest of Asia.
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In 1983 ,the international conference held by Indian Minister
of External Affairs P.V Narasimha Rao in NEW Delhi, the
foreign ministers of inner seven countries adopted the
Declaration on SAARC and formally launched the Integrated
Plan of Action(POA) initially in five areas of cooperation
Namely
1. Agriculture
2. Rural Development
3. Telecommunication
4. Meteorology and
5. Health and Population Activities
 The SAARC Secretariat was established on 16 January 1987
and was inaugurated by late King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah
of Nepal.
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 Though Afghanistan had expressed its desire to join
the grouping since 1985 - when SAARC came into
existence with seven members - Bangladesh, Bhutan,
India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka –
 political instability and civil war kept it isolated.
 It had been under Soviet invasion since 1979 which
ended with civil war that made room for ultra hardliner
Islamist govt that ruined the country
 followed by US attack which forced country in chaos
and instability.
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 Afghanistan began reflecting sign of normalcy somewhere from 2003.
 India long wanted to bring Afghanistan in the bloc as a recognition that
Afghanistan is closer, geographically, historically and culturally, to the Indian
sub-continent than any other region
 but geopolitics was at play.
 Islamabad backing was aimed at making Kabul's trade policy becoming
Pakistan-centric and rebuilding the influence it once had in Afghanistan.
 Nepal and Bangladesh were opposing it due to fear of cut in their pie
of development assistance and increase in India's balance of power in
regional body.
 Despite initial reluctance and internal debates, Afghanistan joined SAARC
as its eighth member state in April 2007.
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 It was win-win situation for both the member countries
and Afghanistan.
 Its membership could mean a major energy gain for
the bloc,
 Though South Asia's energy needs are growing
exponentially,
 there is little energy trade within the region or with
energy-rich Central and West Asia.
 Afghanistan could become the key transit for energy,
providing a route for imports of hydropower from
Central Asia and gas from Central Asia and Iran.
 Recent TAPI pipeline is example of this.
 Besides this, regional trade can result in a booster for
the association.
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 Afghanistan is a landlocked and
mountainous county which is located
in the Southern part of Asia.
 The area of country is approximately
650,000 km2.
 The country is called hearth of Asia,
as well as the center of commercial
and economic activities because of
its strategic location in the region.
 It is the connecting point of many
countries.
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 The three endless decades of civil war, revolution
and instability have deeply affected the people of
Afghanistan in terms of social development and
economic growth.
 For example, social and economic infrastructures
have been decimated, many schools were
destroyed and the education system as a whole in
Afghanistan was devastated.
 Thus, most of population is illiterate.
 In addition, the majority of Afghan rural citizens live
in 2 mountainous terrain and meandering valleys
which cause limit access to educational
opportunities that are more abundant the major
cities.
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Rural Afghanistan is blessed with
renewable energy resources, including
hydro, solar, wind and biomass.
However, a lack of modern forms of energy
generation means these resources are
wasted.
This restricts local enterprises, limits
delivery of public services and forces
people to use harmful fuels for heating and
cooking at home
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 Afghanistan’s economy is basically agriculture and livestock.
 Most of populations (approximately 80%) are directly or
indirectly involved in crop cultivation and animal husbandry,
 which are the main sources of earning income for them.
Unfortunately, many opportunities were lost in the country
such as; utilization of local resources, and linking the rural
areas to urban areas.
 These opportunities are lost due to lack of basic infrastructure
facilities, unexpected natural events (torrents), and lack of
linkage and noncooperation or integration between
government and different ethnic groups.
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 After a long time instability, the Government of Afghanistan
has begun to address these problems and has begun
conducted many programs designed to address a variety of
needs.
 Thus, the new government has been motivated to find
financial resources in order to invest in important sectors.
 One of these programs is the National Solidarity Program
(NSP) of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development
(MRRD)
 which has been responsible for the building of thousands of
kilometers of roads in various communities for all 34 provinces
of the country since it was first established in mid 2003.
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 After a long time of war, in 2002 the situation of Afghanistan
has been changed
 and it was a starting point which has awakened Afghan
society at that time many international societies and
international organizations began to invest in Afghan society.
 Many developed countries allocated funds and assisted the
government of Afghanistan and local communities to
reconstruct and renovate the country.
 As a result, enormous amounts of financial resources have
been flowing into the country to fund the projects in different
fields therefore;
 the new government has focused on managing and planning
some initiatives in the rural areas of Afghanistan.
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 Agriculture is the mainstay of
economy of Pakistan as about 67
per cent of our population is
associated directly and indirectly
with this sector.
 Agriculture has a big share of 21.5
per cent in the GDP and this sector
employs 45 per cent of the
country’s labour force.
 It also contributes in the growth of
other key sectors of economy.
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 According to the United Nations Human Development Report,
Pakistan’s human development indicators fall significantly below of
those of countries with comparable levels of per-capita income.
 Pakistan also has a high infant mortality rate (88 per 1000).
 The unemployment rate is much higher in Pakistan as compared to
that of other developing countries.
 According to the census of 1998, the percentage of unemployed
population was 19.68 per cent, which is much higher than the
previous census report and surely it has risen furiously in preceding
years.
 Maximum unemployment is being seen in Baluchistan i.e. 33.48 per
cent of its total population.
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 Poverty has dire consequences troubling the society.
 A large number of deaths are due to higher poverty rate in Pakistan
as well as in the whole world.
 One thirds of the world population dies due to poverty.
 Basic health facilities in our country are not available to the poor.
 Education is also affected by higher poverty rates in our country.
 The rural areas of our country do not have schools for girls and even
for boys in some areas.
 Education discrimination is very common in the rural areas, which
also cause hurdle in development of rural areas.
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 According to any definition of growth and
development, Pakistan falls among the developing
countries in the third cadre.
 A lot of programmes and different projects have
been executed but the result of all these efforts is
very much less than the resources utilized.
 The first programme to uplift the living standards of
rural masses was, Village agricultural industrial
development programme (V-AID Programme).
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 In 1959, the system of Basic Democracies was introduced.
 It was aimed at decentralization of the governmental administration
and to widen the scope for people’s participation in development
activities.
 Many other different schemes started under its umbrella like the
system of execution of development plans through four tiers:
(a) rural works programme,
(b) Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan (ADBP),
(c) Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC),
(d) Comilla experiment. All these programmes could achieve only
negligible success for the rural development.
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 Common causes of failure of these experiments
were:
 loose and uncoordinated institutional framework;
 lack of mutual understanding and collaboration
within the nation-building departments
 and with the departments of rural development;
 absence of efforts to help evolve rural leadership
from the grass roots upward;
 lack of proper supervision, follow-up, research and
evaluation of projects.
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 Bangladesh, since her birth, witnessed ceaseless
experimentation with varied rural development
approaches.
 In the initial years after independence a number of
voluntary and public agencies worked to build up
the war-torn economy and society primarily in the
form of relief and rehabilitation work.
 In 1972, the government activated the Integrated
Rural Development Programme (IRDP) to replicate
and expand the Comilla Model in other parts of the
country.
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 The Comilla Models of Rural Development are
widely known in the development world.
 This model evolved out of a series of experimental
or pilot projects designed and conducted by the
Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development
(BARD).
 The models were the outcome of a search for
innovation in rural development in a low-income
and densely populated agrarian society.
 The academy decided to introduce pilot projects
within a few months of its inception in May 1959.
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 It was a rural development programme launched
in 1959 by the Pakistan Academy for Rural
Development.
 It was founded by Akhter Hameed Khan, the
Cooperative pioneer who was responsible for
developing and launching the programme.
 It was Khan's reply to the failure of Village
Agricultural and Industrial Development (VAID)
programme, launched in 1953 in East and
West Pakistan with technical assistance from the
US government.
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 Decentralization and coordinated rural
administration
 Organizing the farm and non-farm population
through a new system of rural co-operatives
 Co-operative processing and marketing
Poultry and cattle development
 Agricultural mechanization and irrigation
 Building rural infrastructures though local level
planning
 Rural education
 Women’s development
 Family planning
 Health and nutrition and so on
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 It has replaced the old colonial approach – ‘development
through officers’.
 It has solved some critical problems like low agricultural
productivity, food deficit, rural unemployment etc.
 Innovative methods
– (a) the farmers can be organized for
production,
(b) investment can be made in rural area,
(c) leadership can be developed in rural areas,
(d) large scale adoption of technological innovations can take place in
rural communities,
(e) the rural people and government can work as partners, and
(f) a bottom-up planning can be
introduced.
The models have evolved a combination of training knowledge-
communications systems
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For various reasons the Comilla Model was unable
to achieve its goal. It had particular troubles with
government relations and efforts to build strong
cooperative institutions. According to Dr Khan:…
in actual practice, the four programs suffered
from-
• Distortion
• Mismanagement
• Corruption and
• Subversion.
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 The programs do not aim at any radical change in the
structure of the govt. authority or land tenure in rural
areas.
 It is no where near the goal of sufficient capital
accumulation for achieving financial self-reliance.
 The programs have not brought any significant direct
benefits to the landless and near landless.
 The benefits of technology diffusion have largely gone
up the large landholders.
 Comilla cooperatives are dominated by better-off
farmers, they are also the bigger defaulters.
 Over the longer period real wages to the rural areas
have declined.
 There has been breakdown in the organisation
discipline and so on.
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 Although Comilla Model fails to achieve its
goal for many reasons,
 it paves the way of rural development in our
country.
 Many non-government organizations like
Grameen Bank, BRAC had been initiated by
following the footprint of this model of
development.
 Both Gos and NGOs should come forward to
utilize this model for the development of our
rural areas
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 BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) based in Bangladesh,
is currently (June 2009) the world's largest non-governmental development
organization.
 Established by Fazle Hasan Abed in 1972 soon after the liberation of
Bangladesh,
 BRAC is currently present in all 64 districts of Bangladesh, with over 7
million micro-finance group members, 37,500 non-formal primary schools
and more than 70,000 health volunteers.
 BRAC is the largest NGO by number of staff employing over 120,000
people, the majority of whom are women.
 BRAC operates various programs such as those in microfinance and
education in over nine countries across Asia and Africa, reaching more than
110 million people.
 The organization is 80% self-funded through a number of commercial
enterprises that include a dairy and food project and a chain of retail
handicraft stores called ‘Aarong.’ BRAC maintains offices in 14 countries
throughout the world, including BRAC USA and BRAC UK. BRAC is a few
years into their initiative to operate in ten African countries in the next ten
years.
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 The origin of Grameen Bank can be traced back to
1976
 when Professor Muhammad Yunus, Head of the
Rural Economics Program at the University of
Chittagong, launched an action research project to
examine the possibility of designing a credit
delivery system to provide banking services
targeted at the rural poor.
 The Grameen Bank Project (Grameen means
“rural” or “village” in Bangla language) came into
operation with the following objectives:
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 extend banking facilities to poor men and women;
 eliminate the exploitation of the poor by money lenders;
 create opportunities for self-employment for the vast multitude
of unemployed people in rural Bangladesh;
 bring the disadvantaged, mostly the women from the poorest
households, within the fold of an organizational format which
they can understand and manage by themselves;
 And reverse the age-old vicious circle of “low income, low
saving & low investment”, into virtuous circle of “low income,
injection of credit, investment, more income, more savings,
more investment, more income”.
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 The action research demonstrated its strength in Jobra (a village adjacent to
Chittagong University)
 and some of the neighboring villages during 1976-1979. With the
sponsorship of the central bank of the country and support of the
nationalized commercial banks,
 the project was extended to Tangail district (a district north of Dhaka, the
capital city of Bangladesh) in 1979.
 With the success in Tangail, the project was extended to several other
districts in the country.
 In October 1983, the Grameen Bank Project was transformed into an
independent bank by government legislation.
 Today Grameen Bank is owned by the rural poor whom it serves. Borrowers
of the Bank own 90% of its shares, while the remaining 10% is owned by the
government.
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Tribhuvan Village Development Program
 The first systematic and deliberate effort at rural development was
made in 1952 with the inception of this program.
 It was multifaceted program embracing almost every aspect of the
village community needs such as education, input supply for
agriculture, drinking water, preventive health services, agricultural
extension, cottage industry and co-operative development.
 The first Five Year Plan(1956-61) put a significant emphasis on this
program.
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 This program came into existence with the
introduction of the partyless political system of
Panchayat.
 Under this program, Panchayat Development
Workers were required to work with the Village
Panchayats and to help them in plan formulation
and program implementation.
 Panchayat Development Land Tax was also
introduced in 1966 to enable the local institutions
to generate resources for rural development.
 Under this, the village Panchayats were
empowered to raise the land tax within its
jurisdiction and retain a proportion of it for village
development.
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Multipurpose development program
It was financially supported by Swiss
government. It was launched in 1958 by
Swiss Association for Technical
Support(SATA) in Jiri of Dolkha district.
it was not given continuity since it was not
part of the whole plan of the country.
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 Small Farmer Development Program
 It was first launched in 1973 with the support
of FAO/UNDP. It was launched as pilot program
until 1975/76.
 Its main objective was to bring the small farmers
into the mainstream of development.
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Integrated Rural Development program
 It came into existence in the mid-1970s.
It aimed at bringing about rural
development by making a simultaneous
effort to develop all sectors such as
education, health, agriculture, drinking
water, etc.
It was more effective than previous
programs though it was not successful
completely.
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 A decade of Maoist insurgency from 1996 to 2006 killed
17,000 people and hindered economic activity.
 Yet during the conflict GDP growth fluctuated within a similar
range to before and after.
 Infrastructure was destroyed, but there wasn't much in the first
place and - thanks to public cooporation - much of it has been
rebuilt twice-over.
 The quality of village schools and health posts was as
wretched before the war began as it is now, almost a decade
since it ended.
 Nepal suffered conflict, but many Asian countries that have
developed more successfully have suffered worse.
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Write a summary of given article
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Which are top three countries in the world
with high HDI?
Among SAARC countries
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 Sri Lanka is an early achiever in the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) of universal
 primary school enrolment, gender parity in school
enrolment, under-five mortality,
 universal provision of reproductive health services,
tuberculosis prevalence and death rates, and
sanitation.
 Poverty was significantly reduced in the urban and
rural sectors between 1990
 and 2006.
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 The government increased expenditure on health and education and
initiated other programs to increase consumption and self-employment
among the poor.
 The old food stamps scheme was replaced by the Janasaviya (Self-Help)
Programme, a targeted income transfer program. Credit facilities were
provided through the World Bank–funded Janasaviya Trust.
 The government also sought to bridge the development gap between the
urban and rural areas by providing incentives for industries to locate in
areas.
 Following a change of government in 1995, the Janasaviya Programme was
replaced by the Samurdhi (Prosperity) Programme, consisting of a small
rural infrastructure component and a large income transfer component, and
a series of pro-poor credit schemes including the Grameen-type Samurdhi
Bank scheme.
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 Recently, the government recognized that there are many correlates
of poverty, which require an integrated development policy.
 The current policy framework is encapsulated in Mahinda Chintana
(President Mahinda’s Vision), a 10-year development plan.
 Its mission is to develop regionally dispersed urban growth centers
and small and medium-sized townships, and to integrate them with
well-serviced rural hinterlands, as well as with domestic and
international markets, through provincial and rural access roads,
highways, railways, and ports.
 Under the Mahinda Chintana, industrial export zones, techno parks,
and industrial estates will be established on a build–operate–transfer
or build–operate–own basis.
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 Food and nutrition are serious issues in the conflict-affected
areas.
 A major problem with human development in the conflict-
affected areas is caused by the loss of identity documentation
such as birth certificates and national identity cards, which
severely constrains the mobility and security of (Internally
displaced persons) IDPs.
 Restoration of livelihoods for IDPs depends mainly on the
prospects of resettlement, which may be more difficult for
those who lost their identification documentation.
 The government has recently adopted a coordinated approach
to deal with rehabilitation and development in conflict-affected
areas.
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 The system was successful in generating a vast volume of investible
funds and providing members with secure savings instruments and a
reliable source consumption and other small loans.
 The Samurdhi Bank system, however, has fared better, even though
it too remains vulnerable to political capture.
 The system appears to reach large numbers of the poor excluded by
other programs.
 If successfully insulated from capture, the system has the potential to
be more sustainable than most other microfinance programs,
 as it is not donor dependent and is based entirely on members’
savings for capital
 As an income transfer program, the Samurdhi Programme has
serious weaknesses: inefficient targeting, minimal impact, and high
administrative costs.
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 In the early 1980s, the Maldives was one of the world’s 20
poorest countries, with a population of 156,000.
 In 2012, with a population of more than 300,000, it is a middle-
income country with a per capita income of over $6,300.
 The country has impressive improvements in health and
education with a life expectancy of 74.8 and a literacy rate
98.4%.
 However, the country faces challenges in environmental
sustainability, policy uncertainty and service delivery.
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 The Maldives, a chain of 26 coral atolls to India’s southwest, is one
of the smallest countries in Asia and the Pacific by population and
land area.
 The country has to a great extent met these serious geographical
challenges by developing its many islands into high-end tourist
resorts.
 Strong growth in the tourism sector, with support from fisheries and
tourism-related activities, enabled the Maldives to transition from
least-developed to middle-income status by 2011
 In spite of a number of adverse internal and external factors, its
growth performance has been strong, averaging 7.4% during 1986–
2014. Real gross domestic product per capita, at $6,154 in 2014, is
the highest in South Asia.
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 The government has achieved universal access to
basic education by rapidly expanding primary-level
enrollment, and has continued to improve
education quality.
 But access to good quality secondary, tertiary, and
vocational education remains limited across the
atolls.
 The Maldives Monetary Authority has already
introduced major reforms in the finance sector,
including the establishment of the Credit
Information Bureau.
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Maldives, as well as other small island
economies, faces unique challenges in
achieving and sustaining economic growth
and addressing inequalities.
Because of its vulnerability to economic
and climatic shocks
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Strength
 Good environment and rich marine
resources •
Vibrant tourism industry •
Relatively high gross domestic product per
capita
and low poverty incidence •
Good track record on most Millennium
Development Goals •
Good English language skills
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Weakness
 Narrow economic base
 Income inequalities and poor access to basic social services for many
scattered atolls
 Dispersed population
 • Limited sources of revenue
 • Lack of adequate human resources
 • Weak institutions
 • Large and unsustainable size of the government
 • Heavily subsidized social services
 • Lack of physical and social infrastructure
 • Highly import dependent
 • Regional inequalities and inequities
 • Lack of employment opportunities (youth unemployment and heavy
reliance on expatriate labor)
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Diversification and development of local
industries
• Potential for renewable energy
• Development of uninhabited islands for
tourism or other economic activities
• Development of the services sector by
linking more closely with tourism
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Vulnerability to climate change and natural
disasters
• Vulnerability to external shocks (oil price
hike, global financial crisis)
• Political instability
• High and unsustainable debt
 • Increasing social problems (drug
addiction, crimes)
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 Bhutan has been an important exporter of
hydroelectricity to India.
 Between 1997 and 2002, electricity sales to India
contributed to approximately 45% of the country’s
gross national revenue.
 This has translated, and will continue to translate,
into better quality of life for the population,
including access to basic services, improved
health and education, and industrial and
commercial developments.
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 Hydropower has become the backbone of Bhutan’s economy.
 Bhutan’s per capita GDP has become one of the highest in
South Asia. This was US$2,580 in 2015 (equivalent to 20% of
the world average), compared to US$1,615 in 2006.
 The annual GDP growth estimated for Bhutan for 2016 is
6.4%, from 3.6% in 2013. This would not have been possible
without rapid growth in industry and services, much of which
has resulted from the availability of electricity.
 At present, Bhutan is the only country in South Asia that
generates more electricity than its national needs.
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 Bhutan is the last standing Buddhist Kingdom in the
World and, until recently, has preserved much of their
culture
 since the 17th century by avoiding globalization and
staying isolated from the world.
 Bhutan only allows a certain number of foreigners into
the country each year, and the two hundred dollars a
day that must be paid by every traveler is a deterrent
for many.
 Internet, television, and western dress were banned
from the country up until ten years ago.
 But over the past ten years globalization has begun to
change in Bhutan, but things remain perfectly
balanced.
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 Bhutan is the only country in the world that has a ‘GNH.’
 You may think GNH is just another statistically based term with
no real life application, but it refers to “Gross National
Happiness.”
 The process of measuring GNH began when Bhutan opened
up to globalization.
 It measures people’s quality of life, and makes sure that
“material and spiritual development happen together.”
 Bhutan has done an amazing job of finding this balance.
 Bhutan has continually been ranked as the happiest country in
all of Asia,
 and the eighth Happiest Country in the world according to
Business Week.
 In 2007, Bhutan had the second fastest growing GDP in the
world, at the same time as maintaining their environment and
cultural identity.
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 Gross National Happiness (also known by the
acronym: GNH) is a developing philosophy as well as
an "index" which is used to measure the collective
happiness in any specific nation.
 The concept was first mentioned in the Constitution of
Bhutan, which was enacted on 18 July, 2008
 However, the term itself, 'Gross National Happiness',
was previously coined in 1979 during an interview
at Bombay airport when the then king of Bhutan, Jigme
Singye Wangchuck, said "We do not believe in Gross
National Product. Gross National Happiness is more
important
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