KARACHI: South Asia, with a 1.6 billion population more than half of which is poor, is expanding its standing security forces at a time when other nations are reducing theirs. The race for arms in the region increased its military expenditure by 150 per cent during the last two decades at the cost of growing poverty, which now forms 40pc of the world’s total poor, said a report launched on Wednesday.

The report, ‘Crises, Vulnerability and Poverty in South Asia — Peoples’ Struggles for Justice and Dignity’, compiled by the South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication, which launched it with the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) at the Karachi Press Club.

Retired justice Majida Razvi, chairperson of the Human Rights Commission, Sindh, Dr Riaz Shaikh of the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology and Zulfiqar Shah, joint director of Piler, spoke on the salient features of the report.

The 130-page report said both India and Pakistan enjoyed the ‘distinction’ of being among the eight largest armies in the world. India is fourth in this league, and Pakistan is eighth.

Referring to various international studies, the report said military spending in the world increased from $1,140 billion in 1992 to $1,625bn in 2011, while that of South Asia increased from $21bn to $53bn in the corresponding period.

During the past two decades, South Asia’s share in the world’s total military spending increased from 1.9pc to 3.3pc. The region’s defence expenditure in 2010 was 2.4pc of the GDP in comparison to 2pc in all developing countries. Within the region, the highest was in Afghanistan (3.7pc) followed by Sri Lanka (3.1pc) and India (2.7pc).

On the other hand, public expenditure on health and education in the region was 1.3pc and 3pc compared to 2.9pc and 3.9pc, respectively, for all developing countries.

Similarly, military expenditure as a proportion of the GDP in South Asia in 2012 was topped by Afghanistan again (3.8pc) followed by Pakistan (2.7pc) and India (2.5pc).

The shares of education, health and military expenses in relation to total expenditure and the GDP adumbrated interesting picture when examined. As a share of the GDP, the military expenditure is high in Sri Lanka at 3.25pc of the GDP in 2008-2011, followed by Pakistan at 3.23pc of the GDP in the same period.

The share of military expenditure in Afghanistan and India as share of the GDP is 2.86 and 2.69pc, respectively. The share of health expenditure in the GDP is meagre at 0.8pc in Pakistan and 1.2pc in India. The share of education in the GDP in these two countries is 2.7pc and 3.3pc, respectively.

“It is clear that the militarisation in some countries has augmented at the cost of services like health and education,” it said.

It added that mutual distrust in South Asia continued amid many intrastate disputes, often threatening the peace and impeding the prospects of regional cooperation.

It said the situation like discord and disharmony, separatist movements, civil strife and ethnic and religious conflicts were largely used as pretexts to divert resources away from urgent socio-economic needs.

“The widespread human deprivation contrasts sharply with large security forces, modern weapons and lavishly expanding military budgets in the region,” it said.

Referring to the Human Development Report of 2013, the report said in most South Asian countries, the score in terms of the human development index was very low. Of the 187 countries, Norway ranked first and Niger last. Although Sri Lanka and the Maldives were comparatively better, South Asia as a region was still ‘inhumane’ in terms of access to income, health and education which is essential for decent living as per international standards.A majority of the South Asian population is suffering from destitution, deprivation and misery. The latest multi-dimensional poverty estimates show that poverty continues to be very high in most South Asian countries. In terms of percentage, it is estimated at 57.8pc, 53.7pc, 49.4pc and 44.2pc for Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal, respectively.

The Maldives and Sri Lanka have low poverty levels at 5.2pc and 5.3pc, respectively. The same measurements also depict the intensity of deprivation in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal, hovering around 50pc. Likewise, poverty intensity is high in Bhutan at 43.9pc.

Despite the oppressive forms of political and economic systems existing in South Asian states, the report said, diverse forms of rights movements in the form of resistance struggles were increasing. “Peoples’ struggle against the ill forces of suppression, exploitation and marginalisation is becoming more and more purposeful, igniting the hope that these anti-people forces will soon be crippled.”

Of the eight countries, four fall in the category of the UN-defined least developed countries (LDCs), three of which are landlocked. The share of distribution of GDP among the South Asian countries indicated that there was a lack of symmetrical distribution, it said.

The report, speakers said, featured the voices of people against injustice and indignity caused by the crisis-led vulnerability and poverty across the subcontinent and suggested sustainable alternatives.

The broad ramifications and impacts of the economic crisis on vulnerability and poverty had been analysed with its impacts on various socio-economic groups. An assessment on the effect of globalisation on female workers in particular had been made within which the relation between the macroeconomic and labour policies and globalisation was debated. Other important analyses in the report concern the ongoing social movements in South Asia and the impact of the acts of resistance against the effects of neo-liberal-led policies and programmes.

Recommendations

The report also presents possible alternative development paradigms based on the emerging trend across South Asia of the peoples’ movements for restoration of the right to life and dignity.

The report recommended reversal of the trickle-down or top-down approach of the dominant paradigm that perpetuates the exploitation of the deprived and downtrodden through grabbing of resources, opportunities and benefits.

It also asked for a change in the systemic problem linked to a state system driven by ‘anti-people’ legal, regulatory and related institutional setups.

It called to ensure the rights of women and deprived communities and advocated the need of comprehensive economic policies in which growth and productive employment could go in tandem. It asked to prioritize the dismantling of market captured practices, encourage community and cooperative-based production at the grassroots level, universal social security system, cooperation among neighbours instead of conflict and building alliances of people with common problems across the region.

Besides giving an overview about socio-economic development in each member country, the report has discussed the broad policy regimes in each state, impacts of neo-liberalism on the poor and vulnerable people, economic globalisation and gender justice and threats to democracy.