February 14, 2002
Globalisation may be the present day mantra. But its fallout, at least on the South Asian region, has not been entirely salutary, according to the Human Development in South Asia 2001 report brought out by the Islamabad-based Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre.
The theme of this report, brought out annually by the Centre, is Globalisation and Human Development. Among the several ‘‘messages'' the report has come up with for the region are: ‘‘...during the globalisation phase about half-a-billion people in South Asia have experienced a decline in their incomes.'' Pointing out that the benefits of globalisation have remained ‘‘limited to a small minority of educated urban population'', the report notes that in South Asia, ‘‘income inequality has increased''.
Noting that the globalisation process in the region has focused on integrating markets without ensuring that movement of labour also becomes freer, the report says this has also led to a situation wherein ‘‘the balancesheet of gainers and losers in the globalisation process shows the uneven burden borne by the poor within and among nations.'' Taking account of the widening income inequalities during the period of globalisation, the report states bluntly, ‘‘The number of people in poverty has increased...The poor are being marginalised.''
Stating that South Asia, ‘‘home of the largest number of poor people in the world (515 million) did not make much progress towards poverty reduction as a result of globalisation'', the report says on the educational front too the region did not fare well. Even on the health front, South Asian countries saw expenditure falling to levels lower than those in the pre-globalisation period, says the report.
With the majority of the world's poor concentrated in this region, the report says all countries here have been implementing poverty alleviation programmes financed mainly by the state. Here again, globalisation seems to have had a negative impact, the report points out, with ‘‘the resource allocations to these programmes declining, reducing their effectiveness''. According to the report, ‘‘ Most South Asian countries failed to maintain a balance between economic and social development policies during globalisation.''
It isn't only the poor who have not reaped the benefits of globalisation in this region. Even in terms of overall growth rates, South Asian countries don't really seem to have achieved much according to the report.
Bangladesh and Nepal recorded modest growth rates, while Sri Lanka actually saw it faltering during the second half of the 1990s, says the report. Pakistan saw its growth rate declining, while India managed to achieve a growth rate of six per cent, the report observes.
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