Posted by Mariam on
Thu, 05/06/2008
When the South Asia Development Marketplace for innovative ideas to tackle stigma and discrimination relating to HIV/AIDS was launched in November 2007 by the HIV/AIDS Group in the South Asia Region of the World Bank and its partners, civil society groups across South Asia sent in almost a thousand proposals.
People fear HIV/AIDS because of the association with sex, drugs, illness, and death. In South Asia, the epidemic is driven largely by high risk practices – buying and selling sex, injecting drugs, and unprotected sex among men having sex with men. This compounds the fear and stigma around HIV/AIDS, as sex workers, injecting drug users, and men having sex with men are already stigmatized.
Not only in South Asia, but around the globe, efforts to prevent new HIV infections and allowing people with HIV/AIDS to live without the burden of social exclusion are severely hampered by the persistence of stigma. One study in India shows that 36% percent of students, faculty and technical staff of the public health services felt it would be better if HIV-positive individuals killed themselves and believed that infected people deserved their fate; 34% would not associate with people with AIDS; 42% believed that those with HIV should be quarantined; and, 31% favored barring infected students from college classes (Ambati, Ambati & Rao, 1997).
Posted by Shanta on
Wed, 13/02/2008
In discussing how to end poverty in South Asia, we often get so caught up in the statistics and policy discussions that we forget that we are talking about the lives of real people. But a magnificent photography exhibit by my colleague Michael Foley displayed in the hall outside my office, serves as a constant reminder of whom we are working for.
Posted by Shanta on
Mon, 04/02/2008
 How is the quest to end poverty in South Asia going? Parts of the subcontinent, such as the Maldives, the Western Province of Sri Lanka or some Indian states have already “eliminated” abject poverty (in the sense of having poverty rates below 10 percent). Other parts of South Asia such as Afghanistan or northern Sri Lanka are so mired in violent and escalating conflict that ending poverty seems a remote dream; providing basic security seems much more important.
The reality is that South Asia is a heterogeneous region. The per capita income of the richest part is ten times that of the poorest part (see Table). Sustained economic growth and increasing globalization is propelling several Indian states, Bhutan, Maldives, and parts of Sri Lanka into middle-income environments.
Posted by Shanta on
Wed, 30/01/2008
South Asian countries have been experiencing macroeconomic problems during the past year: inflation in Sri Lanka is over 17 percent, in Bangladesh 11 percent; Pakistan’s current account deficit is at 5 percent of GDP; the Maldives’ fiscal deficit is likely to be about 12 percent of GDP; and the Indian economy showed signs of overheating in mid-2007, with inflation rising above 6 percent. Although the rate has come down since then, capital flows remain buoyant, posing challenges for macroeconomic management. India’s trade deficit is forecast to be 8 percent of GDP.
Meanwhile, the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the U.S. is threatening to lead to a global credit crunch and a recession in the country. Will these global developments exacerbate South Asia’s macroeconomic problems and reduce its chances of ending poverty in a generation?
The short answer is “No.”
Posted by Shanta on
Mon, 28/01/2008
 An interview I gave to a Sri Lankan paper, where I pointed to the lack of an evidence-based policy debate on economic issues in Sri Lanka, seemed to have struck a chord. An economist friend wrote, "When we speak out we are labeled as ‘terrorists.’" The head of a Colombo-based think-tank, the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA), wrote "Your comments on the lack of an evidence-based economic debate in Sri Lanka is hitting our email networks and websites, and is something we’ve been discussing for sometime within CEPA, in the wider context of development and poverty eradication. Accordingly we decided to shift the focus of the year’s Annual Symposium on Poverty Research, and to organise it around "Communicating Research, Influencing Change". Recently, I was reminded of this episode when I saw in a Sri Lankan newspaper the picture on the left with the caption:
Which way the economy…?
Tuesday, 11 December 2007
"Which way is Sri Lanka’s economy heading; up, down or out of the window?" seems to be the question raised by World Bank Country Director in Sri Lanka Naoko Ishii to member of the Economic Council Dr. Saman Kelegama after the launch of his book ‘WTO and South Asia’ on Friday. Pic D. Banduwardena
Posted by Shanta on
Mon, 31/12/2007
Posted by Shanta on
Wed, 14/11/2007
We received a number of comments on this blog post. Feel free to continue posting your comments and questions for my discussion tomorrow (November 15th) with young people about ending poverty in South Asia. Participants will be from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and the United States. You can watch the live discussions here via webcast. What: Let's End Poverty in South Asia - live webcast discussion
When: November 15th, 2007
Time: US:7:00am, Eastern time; GMT:12:00
Posted by Shanta on
Sat, 03/11/2007
At a recent seminar at Ramjas College of Delhi University, a student asked, “What can I do to help end poverty in South Asia?” Questions like this, and the experience of teaching a course on South Asian Development at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute have inspired me to engage more with students on a discussion about ending poverty in South Asia. On November 15th, I will be making a presentation from Bangladesh and students from other countries in the region will be connected via video conference. Anybody else can follow the discussion as it happens on this blog. South Asia can eliminate poverty in a generation. To achieve this goal, we need to accelerate and sustain economic growth, make it more inclusive, strengthen human development and improve governance. A daunting task—but it can be done. This goal is particularly important for young people, since this is the South Asia they will inherit and leave to their children. What do you think? Can young people play a role in making this dream a reality? And what should we be doing differently? I encourage visitors of this blog to post comments and questions before November 15th. We will address them together on that day.
Posted by Shanta on
Fri, 21/09/2007
This has been an exciting week. I didn't expect that the blog would generate so much interest--from all parts of the world. The comments range from people saying that a blog dedicated to end poverty in South Asia is definitely needed to others questioning whether this is just orthodox economic prescriptions to still others wondering whether there is any analysis behind the "homilies" presented in the Sri Lanka post (there is--see my reply). The common thread is that everybody wants to engage in a debate on how to end poverty in the subcontinent. I appreciated people sharing their own experience and knowledge--such as the retired forester from Andhra Pradesh who confirmed that, in his village, the veterinarian also treated humans because the doctor was rarely there. One old friend said, "Your blog is like a conversation with you". Another said I looked good with a bucket of water on my head. Finally, several people sent me suggestions for future blog posts. I particularly like the one from a Maldivian friend who, after pointing out that there was no reference to the Maldives in the blog so far, suggested a post on "How to explain the importance of macroeconomic stability to a politician." Have a good weekend.
Posted by Shanta on
Thu, 20/09/2007
Since the late 1970s, Sri Lanka has been liberalizing its economy. The fact that the wealthiest province, the Western Province, grew rapidly while the rest of the country stagnated, and Sri Lanka now has the highest inequality in South Asia, confirms the worst suspicions of the anti-globalizers: economic liberalization causes the rich to get richer, and the poor poorer. In fact, the opposite is true. The reason the Western Province grew so fast is that it benefited the most from economic reforms. Trade liberalization and industrial de-regulation led to a boom in manufactured exports such as garments and electronics. These factories were concentrated in the Western Province, which halved its poverty rate. Meanwhile, the rest of the country is heavily dependent on agriculture, which has seen very little growth. The reason is that there has been very little reform in agriculture. Owing to land regulations, farmers in Sri Lanka are forced to grow paddy, even though they can earn much more from growing fruits and vegetables. Fertilizer and other subsidies are also geared towards paddy farmers. Attempts to reform land regulations, or transform subsidies to across-the-board support for any crop, have been unsuccessful. In short, Sri Lanka is a textbook case of how globalization works. Where there is liberalization, the economy booms; where there is no reform, the economy stagnates.
Posted by Shanta on
Sat, 15/09/2007
Thanks to the economic reforms of the 1970s and 1980s, Sri Lanka's GDP grew by 5 percent a year during the 1990s. Yet the poverty rate fell by only 3 percentage points in that 10-year period. Does this mean that growth makes the rich richer and the poor poorer? No. Most of Sri Lanka's growth was concentrated in the Western Province, which grew at 6.2 percent a year, and cut its poverty rate in half. The rest of the country grew at only 2.3 percent a year; poverty in many provinces actually increased. Furthermore, the increase in inequality was the smallest in the Western Province, and the largest in Uva, one of the provinces with sluggish growth and rising poverty. In short, growth in Sri Lanka is pro-poor.
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Mariam Claeson
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