Taming the Anarchy

The chapter introduces the book that highlights various challenges and opportunities for water management and cooperation in South Asia. Taking into consideration the increasing urbanization and development in the region and related pressure on water resources, the various chapters investigate water conflictual and cooperative attitudes and gestures between countries and regions, analyse management trade-offs between nature, agriculture and urban uses, and look into water sustainable management and related policies. The chapter highlights the increasing importance of South Asia, alerts for the constraining impacts of water scarcity, and indicates challenges for improved sustainable water management. The chapter concludes with synopses of each part of the book and of the chapters that compose them.

Public management in South Asia has been influenced by the colonial past which has resulted in the domination of administrative systems by the bureaucrats. Bureaucracies remained firmly entrenched as powerful groups and performed both administrative and political functions. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka represent cases with similar backgrounds which opted for different political and economic systems after achieving independence. Consequently, a number of issues have emerged in public management in South Asia. These include debureaucratization of the policy process, complex relationship between specialists and generalists, integration of administrative structures, reconciliation of merit and equity, choice between professional and political patronage, revitalization of management, bridging the ever widening gap between the citizens and administrators, and the establishment of a sound ethical base of administration. The success of South Asian governments in dealing with these issues will determine, to a considerable extent, the dimensions and directions of change. While some of the issues will have to be addressed in the natural course of development, others will require a substantial degree of commitment from the governments as well as the societies.

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management in South Asia represents one of the most pressing urban governance challenges, shaped by rapid urbanization, institutional fragmentation, and weak integration of circular economy principles. This paper undertakes a decade-long systematic and bibliometric review (2015–2025) of 592 peer-reviewed studies retrieved from Scopus applying PRISMA guidelines. The bibliometric analysis demonstrates a steep rise in scholarly output, from fewer than 30 papers in 2015 to over 130 in 2024, with India and Bangladesh accounting for the majority of contributions, while smaller states such as Bhutan, Maldives, and Afghanistan remain underrepresented. Research is concentrated in engineering and environmental sciences, with keyword clusters shifting from traditional waste disposal and landfilling toward circular economy, recycling, and governance integration. Across the systematic evidence base, India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan generate over 80% of South Asia’s MSW yet recycle less than 25%, highlighting systemic deficiencies in policy coherence, financing, and informal sector recognition. This study contributes uniquely by benchmarking governance frameworks across eight South Asian countries, aligning technological and policy innovations with sustainability pathways, and advancing a regional roadmap for inclusive, circular, and resilient MSW governance.

Energy management in South Asia

South Asia, with its burgeoning population density and poverty on the one hand, and rapid urbanization and industrialization on the other, seems to be facing an impending water crisis. This crisis is not due to water shortage, but due to conflicts over water use at various levels. The governments in the region have neglected the knowledge base needed to research water systems management and deal with these conflicts. The paper stresses that only a transdisciplinary approach, including the engineering and medical sciences, along with social, political, and economic expertise, can help in poverty alleviation and development. Eventually, the paper traces the knowledge gaps in water systems management in South Asia and sets forth a research agenda based on the emergent paradigm of integrated water resources management.

Transboundary rivers are vital sources of freshwater globally, yet managing these shared waters poses significant challenges, including geopolitical tensions, unilateral water infrastructure development, and rising water demands. South Asia exemplifies these issues, with transboundary river treaties predominantly relying on quantitative/volumetric water-sharing frameworks for basin management and conflict resolution. This study critically examines key treaties, specifically the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) between India and Pakistan and the Ganga Water Treaty (GWT) between India and Bangladesh, highlighting their strengths, limitations, and post-treaty complexities through a quantitative water-sharing lens. The analysis shows that a narrow focus on ‘partitioning of river/flow’ (quantitative water-sharing) within these treaties frequently fails to address critical factors such as dry-season flow variability, climate-induced risks, ecological requirements, benefit-sharing opportunities and escalating water demands. These gaps contribute to mistrust, geopolitical tensions, and treaty unsustainability despite their relative success. The study underscores the need for a more comprehensive framework that integrates quantitative allocation with qualitative principles, including equitable and no-harm approaches to water-sharing and benefit-sharing. Lessons from the IWT and GWT offer valuable guidance for future negotiations on the Tista/Teesta River between India and Bangladesh, emphasizing cooperative, adaptive and resilient strategies for sustainably managing South Asia's critical transboundary water resources.

Agriculture in South Asia is largely dependent on rainfall, where about two-thirds of the cultivable lands lack irrigation facilities. In recent years, increasing frequency and severity of droughts have had a severe impact on rainfed agriculture and livelihood of millions of farmers in the region. There are numerous drought adaptation and mitigation options available for rainfed agriculture. A seed bank is one of those options that can play an important role in minimizing the effect of droughts on crop production. This paper assesses the need for seed banks in rainfed/partially irrigated areas of South Asia for the purpose of drought risk management. The need for additional seeds of the main crops or suitable alternative crops for re-sowing/planting after drought-induced losses of the main crop was assessed by using long-term gridded rainfall data and crop information. Results show that very limited rainfed areas in South Asia require additional seeds of main or alternative crops for drought risk management once in five to seven years’ drought return period. About 90 percent of such areas in South Asia may require additional seeds for drought risk management once in 10 years or more. The timing and severity of droughts during cropping season and cost/benefits of seed bank maintenance play a major role in choosing additional seeds for the main crops and/or alternate crops for maintenance in the large seed banks. This study shows that, despite the large investment requirement, maintenance of large seed banks for drought risks management is economically viable for the limited areas in South Asia.

South Asia represents the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Topographically, it is dominated by the Indian Plate, which rises above sea level as Nepal and northern parts of India situated south of the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush. South Asia is bounded on the south by the Indian Ocean and on land by West Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. South Asia covers about 5.1 million km2, which is 11.51% of the Asian continent or 3.4% of the world’s land surface area. The region is home to about 39.5% of Asia’s population and over 24% of the world’s population, making it both the most populous and the most densely populated geographical region in the world. The important rivers of South Asia are Ganges, Indus and Brahmaputra. These rivers have contributed to the rise and prosperity of some of the earliest civilizations in history and today are the source of livelihood for millions. The South Asian river basins, most of which have their source in the Himalayas, support rich ecosystems and irrigate millions of hectares of fields, thereby supporting some of the highest population densities in the world.

The article reviews the state of M&E in South Asia, and makes a case for building capacity in the field, without which the discipline will remain underdeveloped, and accountability for government spending not improve. We suggest that almost none of the South Asian countries have yet managed to develop an M&E ‘system’, though all have mechanisms in place. The article discusses the MIS and evaluation systems, tools in use by governments in South Asia, budgets for evaluation, and the role of civil society organizations. It highlights two cases in South Asia (India and Sri Lanka) where the concept of Performance Management has gathered momentum, even though outcome budgeting has barely taken off in any country of the sub-region. It examines plans for improving implementation of evaluation, but finds many areas suffering from capacity weaknesses. The article closes by recommending ways to address the capacity weaknesses.

Water Academy for Youth (WAY) is Global Water Partnership’s (GWP’s) flagship Youth Programmes launched by aiming to promote leadership, mentorship, fellowships/internships, networking, and intergenerational dialogues among regional youth. The South Asia edition of the programme was coordinated by GWP South Asia (GWP SAS) held in an online format for a duration of 9 weeks between 26th September and 30th November 2022. The programme was facilitated in close collaboration with Waterlution, Water Science Policy, and GWP Southeast Asia. Young professionals and experts were also connected to decision makers, practitioners, and senior water leaders for mentorship, inter-generational dialogues, to network and act on SDG implementation focused on riverscapes and riverine ecosystems in South Asia. At the end of the programme, participants joined ‘Youth and Young Water Professionals Platform (YYPP),’ a body that functions as a pool of knowledgeable youth working to support improved water management in South Asia. This resource book is a public recognition of the commitment of the cohort of WAY programme members from across South Asia, highlights youth contributions towards water action, and supports the dissemination of findings. Furthermore, it validates the value of creating youth opportunities to empower them as agents of change while sharing knowledge and experiences related to water in their respective countries

The lack of understanding management of corporate and financial innovation management in South Asia raises the fear of the declining effects of new technologies. Therefore, it is of practical interest to compare the estimates of the impact of ownership concentration in different innovation-intensive industries to minimize the agency problem among managers and shareholders. The paper provides an econometric analysis using panel regression of model testing on companies from technologically sophisticated industries, such as the Heavy and Light Industry, Information Technology (IT), and Consumer Staples from South Asia in different life cycles stages from 2015 to 2020. The South Asian market is volatile and receptive to innovations, but R&D capacity in some countries remains low. The paper provides a better understanding of the relationship between the concentration of different forms of ownership and the intensity of innovation, using industryspecifics and life cycle stages. It’s known that institutional investors are still interested in developing new digital marketing channels by competing with industry “disruptors” due to the lack of necessary strength in the IT industry along with barriers to cross-border investment. The paper confirms a linear and inverted U-shaped relationship between different forms of ownership structure and innovation activity. The results allow focusing on industrial and cultural differences to avoid agency and resource conflicts for majority shareholders of the company to build effective corporate governance, achieving strategic goals and minimizing the risks of improper management decisions in R&D.

Snake bite is one of the most neglected public health issues in poor rural communities living in the tropics. Because of serious misreporting, the true worldwide burden of snake bite is not known. South Asia is the world's most heavily affected region, due to its high population density, widespread agricultural activities, numerous venomous snake species and lack of functional snake bite control programs. Despite increasing knowledge of snake venoms' composition and mode of action, good understanding of clinical features of envenoming and sufficient production of antivenom by Indian manufacturers, snake bite management remains unsatisfactory in this region. Field diagnostic tests for snake species identification do not exist and treatment mainly relies on the administration of antivenoms that do not cover all of the important venomous snakes of the region. Care-givers need better training and supervision, and national guidelines should be fed by evidence-based data generated by well-designed research studies. Poorly informed rural populations often apply inappropriate first-aid measures and vital time is lost before the victim is transported to a treatment centre, where cost of treatment can constitute an additional hurdle. The deficiency of snake bite management in South Asia is multi-causal and requires joint collaborative efforts from researchers, antivenom manufacturers, policy makers, public health authorities and international funders.

Watershed management in South Asia: A synoptic review

Background: Globally, the number of people living with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) has increased by four-folds since 1980. South Asia houses one-fifth of the world’s population living with diabetes and it was the 8th leading cause of deaths in 2013 for South Asians. Aim: To review and discuss the context of diabetes in South Asia with a particular focus on a) contributing factors and impact; b) national health policies around non-communicable diseases in the region and; c) to offer recommendations for prevention and management of diabetes. Method: We assessed relevant publications using PubMed, Scopus and OvidSP. Similarly, the World health Organization (WHO) and relevant ministries of each South Asian country were searched for reports and policy documents. Results: Emerging evidence supports that the prevalence of diabetes (ranges from 3.3% in Nepal up to 8.7% in India) in South Asia follows the global trend over the past decades. Urban populations in the region demonstrate a higher prevalence of diabetes although is also a public health concern for rural areas. Changes in the pattern and types of diet along with increasingly sedentary lifestyles are major causes for diabetes. Overall agenda of health promotion to prevent diabetes has not yet been established in the region and majority of the countries in the region are inadequately prepared for the therapeutic services for diabetes. Conclusion: The early onset of the diabetes, longevity of morbidity and early mortality may have a significant impact on people's health expenditure and health system as well as on the region's demographic composition. There is an urgent need to reduce the diabetes prevalence in the region through evidence-based interventions ranging from prevention and early detection to appropriate treatment and care. We suggest that a multi-sectorial collaboration across all stakeholders is necessary to raise awareness about diabetes, its prevention, treatment and care in the region.

The Economic Costs of Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes Mellitus, and Associated Complications in South Asia: A Systematic Review