BPSE 144
INTRODUCTION TO SOUTH ASIA
IGNOU BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment
BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment July 2023 & January 2024
Assignment i
Q. 1. Define civil society. Discuss the important elements and role of civil society organisations in South Asia.
Ans. Civil societies are the organisations that are organised by individual persons who want to share interest, emotions values and purpose. They play an essential part in raising the social issues in the country.
These are private institutions that are linked with government in a way to address their issues with the movement.
It speaks a lot about the true spirit of organisation. They can be different from state to state and society to society.
There are different scholars and theories that define civil society in their own words such as:
- As per World Bank, civil society refers to a wide array of organisation such as community groups, non-government organisations, labour unions, charitable organisations, etc.
- As per Neerja Gopal Jayal, civil society include all such voluntary organisations of social interaction which are not controlled by the state.
- As per John Stuart Mill, civil society is a domain of social association which will check excess of the state.
Civil society have reformist elements and emerged in the form of social activism on issues like protection of right and awareness for implementation of rules and policies.
The important elements of civil society are:
- Freedom from profit making and administrative regulations.
- Constructive actions at grass root level.
- Ideas to bring a social change.
- Chances for professionals to join movement for noble cause.
Civil Societies and South Asia
South Asian regions are the developing nations and hence civil society plays a very crucial role in it.IGNOU BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment
Since last two decades the concept of civil society have a become popular in political, administrative, intellectual fields of South Asia. for instance non-profit groups in different nations like cooperation for Peace and Unity in Afghanistan, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, Goonj in India, Ability Bhutan Society in Bhutan and Citizens Movement for Peace and Democracy in Nepal.
There are many social issues that are prevalent in society which government of the country cannot look into it.
However, in such places civil society influence the Government to formulate public policy.
The Tragedy of Human Rights: A Case Study of Civil Resistance in Afghanistan
From Afghanistan, United States leave the country in 2021 and soon after their withdrawal Taliban took over the country’s powers.
Unfortunately, they started running the economic, social condition of the nation already and the most vulnerable sections are the women and children of the country.
To deal with the situations, civil societies playing an essential part as there are NGOs, women activist, journalists who started raising voice slogans and protest on the road about the human rights violation. IGNOU BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment
In this action many international states aid them and also India extended its hand for cooperation to grant visa to several civil members and other activist of the NGO. Therefore, civil societies are successful in making contact with Taliban forces and still in dialogue with them to establishment peace in the nation.
The Civil Society Alliance for Scaling up Nutrition: A Case Study of Pakistan Civil society in Pakistan working at the nation level called Civil society Alliance for Scaling up Nutrition (SUN-CSA).
This organisation came into existence in 2014 in Islamabad, Pakistan within aim:
(i) To promote food security in the country.
(ii) Review government policies related to food security in Pakistan.
(iii) To fulfil the goals of organisation with Global Sun movement so that its awareness can be spread to the citizens of the nation.
(iv) To the focus on food security for children and pregnant women who are at risk of malnutrition. Mass media like radio, newspaper, television were organized to bring the campaign to life. IGNOU BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment
Farm Bills and Agricultural Reforms: A Case Study of Farmers’ Protest in India Recently Government of India has introduced farm bills in 2020 which has led to the the protest and agitation across the nation by the farmers of Punjab and Haryana mainly.
There were numerous unions that played a role in protest and claim that it will affect the life of a common man.
Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) is a farmer organisation that took permission from the Haryana government for protest rallies in the states and on refusal to such permission the organisation does not abide by the Government orders and still continue the tractor protest in the country’s blocking the roadway and creating a chaos in the states of Punjab, Haryana and their neighbouring States
. Lastly the Government of India in November 2021 decided to repeal the three farm laws. here in this case civil society took note of successful farmers group in reversing the decision of the Government of India in favour of the farmers.
The Port City Economic Commission Bill: Rise of Labour Movement in Sri Lanka
Government of Sri Lanka proposed Sports City Economic Commission bill on building a port city by China in capital Colombo.
Many civil society groups, labour unions and opposition parties filed petition at Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in 2021 leading to dialogue that the port being built by the China will have an economic dependency on China and this will ruin the friendship between the two countries in future.
The port city was launched by the Chinese President during the state visit to the island nation in 2014. IGNOU BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment
Also, government of Sri Lanka convince the unions and civil societies that there is nothing wrong with the bill and it’s a foreign investment in the country.
The People’s Movement in the Struggle for Democracy: A Case Study of Nepal
The people’s movement by civil society started due to the dissolvement of house of representatives by the Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli in December 2020. The civil society termed this action as unconstitutional and hurt the spirit of democracy.
Citizens all over the city protests with ‘people mass movement against regression’, the students started performing Havan in front of college to bring good sense to PM Oli and the protest had been continued and gained momentum and therefore the civil society called this decision as expression of their public opinion, votes and it would continue across the nation.
Labour Mobility and Security: A Study of Bangladesh Civil Society for Migrants
A civil society name ‘Bangladesh Civil Society for Migrants’ (BCSM) established in 2016 to deal with the challenges of migrant workers facing the issue of not getting proper access to health care system, lack of insurance benefits and no job security.
They addressed the issue and demand for the rights of migrants from the Government of Bangladesh. IGNOU BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment
Recent incident of a death of a young Bangladeshi female domestic worker in Saudi Arabia has taken a momentum across the nation.
The organisation asks for the recruiting agencies and government officials accountable who are illegally send a young girl to Saudi Arabia where she was brutally tortured before she was killed.
The Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit of Bangladesh said the current concept of irregular migration criminalises the workers. Hence, civil society plays a crucial role in Bangladesh also.
Llivelihood Security and Economic Empowerment: A Study of SABAH Bhutan
The SAARC Business Association of Home based workers (SABAH) formed in 2010 as a part of project of strengthening livelihood initiatives of home based worker in the SAARC region.
The main objective of the association is to promote social welfare of home based workers in the country and widening the scope of income generation by securing livelihood through chronic empowerment, liberty and fraternity.
Often, some artists and senior representatives of public institutions join the civil society and participate in their tools arts program that help people of their country to organise workshops with the support from government.
Rights of Employees Campaign in Maldives
The Tourism Employees Association of Maldives is a self help its organisation that established in 2008 by young activist of Maldives.
This association works towards the protection of the rights of employees in tourism industries like wages of the workers, salary is on time harassment at workplace, no form of biasness that create awareness among the workforce regarding labour rights. IGNOU BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment
Also there are many reports on recruitment issues in the tourism industry and there was gender biasness while recruiting especially sales and marketing sector.
The association is providing legal aid and assistance to the workers in the nation.
Q. 2. What are the challenges for South Asian countries to achieve human development? Explain.
Ans. There are multiple obstacles for the countries in South Asian region to achieve Human Development at the desired level. They are:
- Suffering from the poverty and inequality which is beyond income inequality. Due to poverty there is no access of proper food and shelter to a number of population. Due to this there is lack of education opportunities which leads to lack of employment opportunities to the people.
. There is in insignificant management of water resources and sanitation in the country. Maximum population in South Asian region are living in unhygienic environment and conserve drinking water.
. There is any discrimination against women which is a major factor that restrains the human development in the nation. There are regions that are practicing trafficking of girls and women from one city to another.
Improving the status of women and girls in the nation by protecting them against discrimination based on gender, religion or cast providing them proper education and guiding them about the laws that plays an important role in their life.
Women has become a necessity that protects them from being discriminated or trafficked by the people.IGNOU BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment
. Education is still seemed very far by many women in the country. There is a huge difference between male literacy rate and female literacy rate in the countries of South Asian region.
Maldives is the only exception that have female surpassing males in school enrollment. Government should make policies on education in the region that provides a skillful employees to the future companies.
Lack of healthcare facility is a major drawback that hampers the growth of human development.
Pre and post-natal healthcare facilities that should mandatory be provided to the mother and the child should be provided by the skillful health personal.
The lack of the skilled health personnel leads to high infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate in the South Asian region.
Therefore, Sri Lanka and Maldives tour incredible performance in this sector in terms of human development.
Hence, these are the obstacles that South Asian region is facing in achieving their Human Development goal. IGNOU BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment
Human Development is not only about economic status of the nation it covers all the political, social and economic status of the citizens of its nation.
Education, healthcare facilities, safe drinking water, security for women have become a major concern for the SAARC countries to work upon to take a good spot in the Human Development Index with other nations.
Assignment i
Q. 1. What is the issue of Lipulekh? Elaborate.
Ans. Lipulekh is a small piece of strip of land of 35 square between India and Neptal kilometre. Both India and Nepal claimbing the stretch on the land area of Kalapani as a part of their territory.
Nepal claims Lipulekh, Limpiyadhura and Kalapani area near the tri-junction with China as its own and issued a new political map earlier to justify its claim.
The people living in the upper reaches of Pithoragarh district such as Bhotiyas have been using Lipulekh pass for trade purposes with Tibet and continued to use it even after the political changes in the region such as after India became independent from the British and Tibet came under the Chinese control.
India’s claim on the Lipulekh territory is based on the Survey of India map published in 1879 in which Kalapani is shown as its territory.
India claims Kalapani as a part of Uttarakhand district wherein Nepal claims it as a district of Dharchula. IGNOU BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment
Nepal claims that the entire region from Lipu Gad the tributary of Kali river up to the source of Kali river in the east of Lipulekh pass is Nepal’s territory.
In 2014, India and China had identified Lipulekh pass as an additional border personnel-meeting point between the Indian army and the People’s Liberation Army.
They agreed to expand border trade at Lipulekh during PM Narendra Modi’s visit to China. Nepal raised an objection to the agreement emphasizing that it was a disputed territory.
Q. 2. Explain the armed conflicts in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.
Ans. Armed Conflicts in Afghanistan: Afghanistan has a long history of invasion and armed conflicts in the country, geo- political location and global political security, environment and interference of Pakistan are major factors in this state frequently.
Also, the country is nicknamed as “Graveyard of Empires” as there are no successive empire established in the state.
Groups that are of religious extremists’ ideology had remained constant feature of Afghanistan since 1979.IGNOU BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment
(i) Soviet invasion started in 1979 and ended 1989.
(ii) After 1989 Taliban came into power following a protracted civil war in 1996.
(iii) 9 September, 2001, the war of terror started when the Taliban government refused to handover Al-Qaeda who was responsible for 9/11 terrorist attacks in US.
(iv) Had a long armed conflicts with US NATO forces. That ended in August 2021 after 19 years 10 months since the incident occurred.
(v) Reports there were about 1.76 lakh people were killed in Afghanistan during this arm conflict.
Sri Lanka: This region has faced some serious harm armed conflicts from 1983 to 2009 between Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). LTTE is the prime armed group that is involved in the conflict.
They fought against the Sinhala majority of Sri Lankan Government with an object to create an independent Tamil state that is Tamil Eelam.
LTTE to attain its objective become a deadliest terrorist organisation and carry out the suicide attacks on the civilians. They are also responsible for killing former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
After continuous war the Sri Lankan military defeated LTTE in 2009 bringing the civil war to an and. this war approximately killed 40,000 people during this period and is one of the serious global criticism for violating human rights and committing war crimes attacks.
Q. 3. Critically examine the role of Pakistan in South Asian security.
Ans. China’s rise as a global power and its pursuit of space technologies have increased India’s insecurity. IGNOU BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment
To address the challenge of China (and benefit from the technological revolution), India has invested heavily in the space sector.
Its space program benefits from indigenous innovations and international cooperation. However, its military achievements in the space domain have aggravated Pakistan’s sense of insecurity.
Pakistan’s financial and technological limitations have forced it to look toward China to mitigate the Indian threat and maintain the balance of power in South Asia.
In addition to great power competition in the region, these perceptions of security and insecurity and states’ efforts to maximize their security are likely to exacerbate competition and negatively affect the prospects of mediation.
Crisis stability comes into play when striking first is not the preferable choice. Crisis stability is important in the South Asian context where India and Pakistan often confront each other on the military front.
There were also concerns of potential political unrest in Pakistan following the 2010 flood, particularly with regard to Taliban and other extremist Islamist groups making inroads with the population through disaster-relief efforts.
Any such triggers that might lead to instability could threaten the overall security environment in the region, particularly in such countries where the existing political regimes are already weak.
There is no question that South Asia is a complex region, dominated by difficult relationships and confronted with serious challenges of both the traditional and nontraditional varieties. IGNOU BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment
The recent upsurge in tensions between India and Pakistan- the two countries that have historically limited the effectiveness of regional institutions in South Asia-would seem to dampen prospects for successful efforts in that direction, whether within the SAARC framework or outside of it, particularly if such efforts require the participation of both countries.
Assignment iii
Q. 1. Radical perspectives of civil society.
Ans. Radical school of thought in 1970s-1980s deemed the role of civil society as central to establishing a democratic state.
The civil society, in the late 20th century Europe, claimed a radical role towards bringing about a political Civil Society in South Asia transformation by replacing the authoritarian state by a democratic order.
It was characterized more as an opposition force challenging the communist regime of the Soviet bloc in Central-Eastern Europe.
The relevance of radical civil society theorised in the works of Kuron (Poland) and Kurad (Hungary) became debatable due to internal difficulties in the aftermath of the successful implantation of liberal democracy post 1989 post-communism.
Thus, the focus shifted to liberal civil society with a participatory approach.
Q. 2. Democratisation of Nepal.
Ans. Democratisation is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction.
Nepal’s democratic evolution has also been described by many as one step forward two steps back. IGNOU BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment
When Nepal signalled democracy for the first time in 1951, it was crushed by King Mahendra and the country suffered for three decades. Phases of democratisation shows that:
. Nepal was a Hindu kingdom in the past and became a constitutional monarchy in the modern times.
- The king reserved full control over the government and was aided by the army. This restricted spread of democracy in Nepal which was in opposition to popular demand by the Nepalese people and the political parties.
. During 1990, a strong pro-democracy movement enforced the King to accept the demand for a new democratic constitution.
. Democratic governments however have been short and troubled in Nepal because of the spread of Maoist insurgency during the nineties.
.The King abolished the parliament in 2002 which resulted in the end of the limited democracy in Nepal.IGNOU BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment
The country saw massive prodemocracy protests in April 2006, which forced the King to restore the House of Representatives.
. Nepal became a democratic republic by abolishing the monarchy in 2008 and adopted a new constitution in 2015.
After the restoration of democracy, just as power was transferred to political parties, Nepal started to see the advent of rent- seeking tendencies.
By the time the country became a federal republic, patron-client relationship emerged strongly, corruption became the new cottage industry where politicians and cadres started to go to any extent to exploit state resources.
In the mobilization of the rural poor and their issues, perhaps the Maoists have played the most significant role. No political party or movement has mobilized the rural people more than the Maoists.
The mobilization of hitherto largely neglected people is a contribution toward democratisation and hence the Maoists have played an important role.
Q. 3. Hydro politics.
Ans. Importance of water resources varies from state to state and society to society. The water issues are prevalent between the states or interstates that lead to the disputes and hostile situations affecting the social, political, and diplomatic relations between the nation or the states.
There are some factors that contribute to water disputes or threats such as increased demand of water due to increasing population, depletion and degradation of the environment due to industrialisation and uneven distribution of water resources.
South Asia being one of the populous nations has witnessed a growing water challenges and common national security that constrains a stable supply of water in our country. however it cannot be water has several state relations and South Asia since the colonial period in Southeast Asian region such as in Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh.
South Asian region has further several bilateral water treaties since 1920. For the first time in 1920, there is a bilateral water treaty signed of Sarada Treaty with Nepal.
South Asia is a ‘hydro-political security complex’ in which regions having multiple bilateral and regional agendas and treaties among thems.
However, water has no boundaries and due to this there is no permanent settlement of water relations between the nations.
The flow of water in the rivers determined by seasonal variations and uses and can lead to the water dispute in the region.
There are nations in South Asia that are dependent on the river waters for their workings and well-being of the nation such as Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Q. 4. Political structure of Bhutan.
Ans. Recently, there is a change in political system of Bhutan that is from absolute monarchy to the constitutional monarchy which means the importance to the constitution has been given to the Bhutan government.
The King Jigme Singye Wang chuck transferred most of its power to administrative powers of to the Council of Cabinets and allowed the impeachment of king by 2/3rd of majority of the national assembly.
Bhutan is one of the last countries in South Asian region to introduce television to the people. IGNOU BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment
According to the king, television is a critical step of modernization in the country as a major contributor country is gross national happiness but also want it that misuse of the renewed technology could erode the traditional foot and his values.
A new Constitution was established in early 2005 and follow the first national parliamentary election in December 2007 and March 2008.
Presently the crowned king is the Jigme Khesar namgyel Wangchuck who was crowned on 6
Q. 5. Farmers protest in India.
ANS. 6 November, 2008. Ans. Recently Government of India has introduced farm bills in 2020 which has led to the the protest and agitation across the nation by the farmers of Punjab and Haryana mainly.
There were numerous unions that played a role in protest and claim that it will affect the life of a common man.IGNOU BPSE 144 Solved Free Assignment
Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) is a farmer organisation that took permission from the Haryana government for protest rallies in the states and on refusal to such permission the organisation does not abide by the Government orders and still continue the tractor protest in the country’s blocking the roadway and creating a chaos in the states of Punjab, Haryana and their neighbouring States.
Lastly the Government of India in November 2021 decided to repeal the three farm laws. here in this case civil society took note of successful farmers group in reversing the decision of the Government of India in favour of the farmers.
IGNOU BPSE 141 Solved Free Assignment 2023-24