Unprecedented advancements but increasing disparities
SOUTH ASIA: TACKLING SOCIAL EXCLUSION
Divides as between rich countries and poor countries as well as between the rich and the poor in individual countries have been widening and deepening
Also, within the small global rich class, there are differentiations and so are among the deprived people at large
SOUTH ASIA: TACKLING SOCIAL EXCLUSION
Social exclusion—dimensions and implications
SOUTH ASIA: TACKLING SOCIAL EXCLUSION
The socially excluded are so condemned due to systemic injustices which are even more entrenched in the wake of neo-liberal reforms and globalization
The excluded are not a homogeneous category. In fact, they are divided in many ‘societies’, depending on the level of deficits of their economic and social circumstances →
SOUTH ASIA: TACKLING SOCIAL EXCLUSION
They are also at the forefront of the adverse impact of natural disasters
Moreover, it is they who are particularly in harm’s way of HIV/ AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other deadly diseases
South Asia is prone to natural disasters (flood, cyclone, storm surge, tornado, drought); to worsen under climate change
Each such disaster creates sudden poverty involving significant numbers of people and causes many of the already poor to be further pauperized or become destitute →
SOUTH ASIA: TACKLING SOCIAL EXCLUSION
The MDG targets of halving the proportion poor and number hungry by 2015 compared to 1990 is sure to remain unfulfilled to a significant extent in South Asia →
SOUTH ASIA: TACKLING SOCIAL EXCLUSION
The following conditions in South Asia are prevalent mostly among the socially excluded or affect them the most
SOUTH ASIA: TACKLING SOCIAL EXCLUSION
SOUTH ASIA: TACKLING SOCIAL EXCLUSION
South Asian children also face other types of crisis including insecurity against preventable and curable diseases, trafficking, forced by poverty to join the labour force, turning into street urchins and eventually drifting into nets of armed social elements →
SOUTH ASIA: TACKLING SOCIAL EXCLUSION
Women of the socially excluded category suffer from low capability (in the absence of effective public education, health services, and training), little participation in tertiary education as well as in politics and decision-making positions in public or private sectors →
SOUTH ASIA: TACKLING SOCIAL EXCLUSION
Moreover, dowry requirements, torture at home, and trafficking are also prevent widely among women of the socially excluded category→
SOUTH ASIA: TACKLING SOCIAL EXCLUSION
In South Asia, governance generally remains less democratic and more extra-democratic
Moreover, politics of the countries of the region is generally confrontational →
SOUTH ASIA: TACKLING SOCIAL EXCLUSION
The kinds of politics and governance that prevail in the South Asian countries in fact abet and cause social exclusion
More so, because of adherence to principles and compulsions of neo-liberalism and globalization→
SOUTH ASIA: TACKLING SOCIAL EXCLUSION
Two specific examples:
SOUTH ASIA: TACKLING SOCIAL EXCLUSION
Finally, still on diagnosis in South Asia, let it be noted:
SOUTH ASIA: TACKLING SOCIAL EXCLUSION
Conceptual framework for way forward
SOUTH ASIA: TACKLING SOCIAL EXCLUSION
Focus on key concepts on which the framework is anchored:
