South Asian Nations Research Articles

Spatiotemporal changes in Universal Thermal Climate Index over South Asia

The rising global temperatures have posed challenges to human survival and well-being in various regions worldwide. However, little is known about human thermal stress exposure changes among populations living in extreme poverty and struggling to meet their basic needs. This study aimed to investigate the spatial patterns of changes in human thermal stress levels in South Asia using the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). ERA5 HEAT data from 1979 to 2021 were analyzed using Sen's slope method and the Modified Mann-Kendall test to determine the changes in annual and seasonal thermal stress levels. The findings revealed that Bangladesh, located in the eastern part of South Asia, experiences the highest mean UTCI range (26 to 32 °C), while Afghanistan has the lowest among the South Asian nations. In contrast, the western part of South Asia, particularly the region bordering India and Pakistan, exhibits the highest daily maximum UTCI range (38 to 46 °C). Trend analysis indicated an increase in mean and maximum UTCI levels across the western part of South Asia, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, and northwest India, at 0.25 to 0.75 °C/decade. This increase was more widespread during the June–September (JAS) period than in other seasons. In many regions of the study area, moderate and high thermal stress days increased by 4 to 8 days per decade. As a result, 27.6% of the area shifted from an average comfortable temperature to moderate thermal stress and 18.7% from moderate to strong thermal stress during JAS.

Mukherjee, Souvik. 2022. Videogames in the Indian Subcontinent. Development, Culture(s) and Representations. Bloomsbury

AbstractThe book Videogames in the Indian Subcontinent. Development, Culture(s) and Representations is the first ever comprehensive presentation and discussion of material spanning over all nations of South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Discussed by the leading expert on the theme, it offers both an overview of as well as numerous detailed examples of both, historical and contemporary developments. Appropriately, this work also situates the regional characteristics in larger global contexts and cultural flows, and contemporary developments in historical contexts.

DOES FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT MATTER IN POVERTY REDUCTION? EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM SOUTH ASIAN ECONOMIES

This study looked at the possibility that South Asian countries’ financial prosperity may lessen poverty. The data presented in this research show that between 1990 and 2019, economic development directly led to a decline in poverty in South Asian nations. Remittances reduce poverty, but financial growth has a huge influence. The model result suggests that financial development strongly affects poverty reduction, regardless of the econometric methodology. The results demonstrated that whereas remittances increase poverty levels for men and women, economic development significantly reduces them. Poverty was decreased considerably by variables such as economic development, foreign direct investment and commercial openness. As a result of these expenditures, the South Asian population was shown to be more vulnerable to poverty. The South Asian population was more susceptible to poverty due to these outlays. The results also refute earlier research suggesting that rising poverty may result from financial instability.

Extensively Drug Resistance Enteric Fever in Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Salmonella enterica causes typhoid and paratyphoid fevers. Pakistan and other South Asian nations with little resources, including those with poor sanitation and hygiene, are particularly susceptible to enteric fever. Enteric fever is a disease which is extensively resistant to majority of antibiotics and these strains are rapidly spreading in Pakistan, raising concerns about the global failure of antibiotics. Study design: Descriptive cross-sectional study. Place and duration of study: Department of Pediatrics, CMH Quetta from 1st July 2022 to 31st December 2022. Methodology: A hospital based study in which history of fever for minimum of three days in the previous seven days, and blood test recommendation from a doctor were requirements for enrolment in the study. Individuals who had blood cultures that tested positive for enteric fever were enrolled. Results: Salmonella Typhi made up 52(94%) of the isolates and S. Para typhi made up 6%. 33(60%) of isolates were extensively drug-resistant (XDR), resistant to first-line antibiotics, fluoroquinolones, and third generation cephalosporin’s, and 8(15%) of isolates were extremely drug-resistant (MDR) to first-line antibiotics. Conclusion: In the current region of Pakistan, enteric fever is widespread. Over the course of the monitoring period, the incidence of typhoid fever has risen. With the advent of XDR typhoid, resistance to antimicrobial agents has also increased. Keywords: Enteric fever, Burden, Salmonella typhi, Typhoid fever

Disaggregated energy consumption, environment, and economic growth nexus of emerging South and East Asian Countries: An ARDL approach

AbstractThis study examines the nexus between disaggregated energy consumption (EC), CO2 emissions, and economic growth in emerging South and East Asian countries over the period of 1994 to 2019. The long‐run equilibrium relationship is determined by using the “Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model” and the “Generalized least square (GLS) technique.” The panel causality test developed by “Dumitrescu and Hurlin, 2012” determines the direction of causation between variables. Disaggregated EC and CO2 emissions positively affect economic growth in the research. The PMG estimate also validates the GLS findings, which produce the same results as the PMG estimation. To check the robustness, we also use FMOLS and DOLS estimators. The results confirm the feedback hypothesis for South and East Asian nations regarding energy uses, CO2 emissions, and economic growth. In contrast, there is unidirectional causality between industrial development and economic growth. These findings will help governments in South and East Asia craft effective energy policy regulations for their financial institutions.

Significance of social media on woman education and justice: A review from South Asian context

The initial purpose of this study was to review the impact of social media on women's education as well as education and justice in South Asian countries. Social media is actively contributing to the advancement of women's education and justice. It has made education more accessible and convenient, and it has brought people from all over the world together to support the oppressed in the pursuit of justice. This is the first time an investigation using secondary sources of information in the research area, such as South Asian nations, has ever been looked at in relation to that specific research issue. Better access to social media, efficiency, ensuring justice, better and higher-quality education, and modernization are all improved by this review. This study also makes a contribution by highlighting the value and favorable perceptions of social media in justice and education, as well as social awareness. Limitations exist, and future research should focus on quantitative strategies that benefit stakeholders.

Do banking sector development, economic growth, and clean energy consumption scale up green finance investment for a sustainable environment in South Asia: evidence for newly developed RALS co-integration

Concern about climate change is spreading around the globe. The urge to comprehend the environmental effects and take action is sharply rising. Regarding this, the banking industry has a great chance to offer a solution in terms of green financial solutions and can meet the needs of carbon-conscious organizations to combat and defend our planet. Therefore, in light of this, according to the greatest understanding of the authors, this is the first study to investigate the role of banking sector development, economic growth, and clean energy consumption in scaling up green finance investment in South Asian nations, taking carbon emissions, foreign direct investment, remittances, inflation, and trade openness as control variables. This study uses a novel residual augmented least squares-Engle and Granger (RALS-EG) co-integration to test the long-term link and the quantile autoregressive distributed lag (QARDL) econometric approach to extract the association across the quantiles (q0.05-q0.95) for the period 2000-2020. The outcomes of QARDL show that banking sector development, economic growth, clean energy, carbon emissions, foreign direct investment, remittances, and trade openness play a positive role in attracting green finance in the long term. However, only inflation has a negative influence on scaling up finance in South Asian nations. Therefore, the concerned authorities (government, central banks, environmentalists, and policymakers) are urged to implement green finance policies and strategies as suggested and recommended by the results of this study.

Diverse Uses of Multi-Purpose Cyclone Shelters In India

India employs a strategy to reduce the probability of tropical cyclones and ready for them through placing Multi-Purpose Cyclone Shelters across its coastline. These shelters are meant to safeguard vulnerable populations throughout storms and to function as school, community halls, etc. while not really in use. This describes in detail purpose of these multi-use cyclone shelters, which also include providing safe shelter for inhabitants of cyclone-affected areas in addition to individuals who are unable evacuate for a wide range of reasons, such like infrastructure problems. In India as well as other south Asian nations, like that as Bangladesh, a vulnerable region is evacuated by transferring at-risk populace into built specifically outdoor structures called as "cyclone shelters." This is frequently discovered in or adjacent to one's neighbourhood, though sometimes they may be a significant distance away. In short, it was initially created in Bangladesh, then adopted in India, and now we'll take a closer look at Odisha, which now has constructed these cyclone shelters for cyclone mitigation. A primary goal of the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project is to make sure that each and every home within 10 kilometres of the coastline has accessibility to a cyclone shelter that is no more than 2.5 kilometres away, and that total number of cyclone shelters matches to the area's in need of accommodation. The thought of a "horizontal evacuation" is hardly a possibility for nations with huge populations, inadequate road infrastructure, and lacking transportation services. Instead, it is considered essential to relocate to specifically constructed cyclone shelters located within the neighbourhood. The decision maker sees the particular strategy much more interesting since it takes less time for clearance or to finish an evacuation. In these circumstances, approval is essential because evacuation decisions are often postponed. Construction of the cyclone shelters was a wise move because it is entangled with other aspects, including the accuracy of meteorological forecasts, public willingness to cooperate with mandatory evacuations inside the lack of weather warnings, dissatisfaction in the event of a non-strike, etc.

Effects of Fiscal Policy on Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from South Asian Countries

This study aims to find the effects of fiscal policy variables on economic growth in South Asian nations based on panel data of 21 years from 2001 to 2021.The study adopted descriptive and causal relationship research design. In this study, the correlation matrix is used to describe the relationship between variables, and the hausman test is applied to select the fixed and random effect models. The results revealed that gross capital formation and public debt had significant and positive effect on economic growth in South Asian countries. Tax revenue was found to have significant but negative effect on economic growth while government expenditure was found to have insignificant and positive effect on economic growth. The study therefore concludes that fiscal policy has significant relationship with economic growth in South Asian Countries. Additionally, efforts should be made while implementing fiscal reforms that focuses public expenditure to a manageable and specified economic sectors.

Environmental innovations, energy innovations, governance, and environmental sustainability: Evidence from South and Southeast Asian countries

At the 26th Conference of Parties (COP26), the world economies have re-pledged to collectively attain the global objective of ensuring environmental sustainability, especially by adopting credible initiatives that can address the environmental problems experienced worldwide. Accordingly, this study aims to assess how environment- and energy-related technological innovations contribute to the establishment of this objective across South and Southeast Asia, Notably, this study proposes a new composite environmental sustainability index using environmental data from different dimensions. Further, considering data from 1996 to 2019, the results derived from the econometric analyses confirm that environmental innovation is effective in facilitating environmental sustainability only in the context of Southeast Asian countries while energy innovation is effective in doing the same for both South and Southeast Asian countries. Besides, for both cases, good governance is evidenced to directly promote environmental sustainability and also indirectly facilitate it by jointly reducing the environmental problems along with environmental and energy-related technological innovations. Moreover, greater urbanization and more involvement in economic globalization-related activities are observed to inhibit the prospects of establishing environmental sustainability in the concerned South and Southeast Asian nations. Furthermore, the results certify that compared with the South Asia the prospects of achieving environmental sustainability are relatively higher across Southeast Asia. Based on these critically important findings, a couple of policy-level suggestions are provided.

SARS-CoV-2 infection alters the gut microbiome in diabetes patients: A cross-sectional study from Bangladesh.

Populations of different South Asian nations including Bangladesh reportedly have a high risk of developing diabetes in recent years. This study aimed to investigate the differences in the gut microbiome of COVID-19 positive participants with or without T2DM compared with healthy control subjects. Microbiome data of thirty participants with T2DM were compared with twenty-two age-, sex-, and BMI-matched individuals. Clinical features were recorded while fecal samples were collected aseptically from the participants. Amplicon-based (16S rRNA) metagenome analyses were employed to explore the dysbiosis of gut microbiota and its correlation with genomic and functional features in COVID-19 patients with or without T2DM. Comparing the detected bacterial genera across the sample groups, 98 unique genera were identified, of which nine genera had unique association with COVID-19 T2DM patients. Among different bacterial groups, Shigella (25.0%), Bacteroides (23.45%), and Megamonas (15.90%) had higher mean relative abundances in COVID-19 patients with T2DM. An elevated gut microbiota dysbiosis in T2DM patients with COVID-19 was observed while some metabolic functional changes correlated with bidirectional microbiome dysbiosis between diabetes and non-diabetes humans gut. These results further highlight the possible association of COVID-19 infection that might be linked with alteration of gut microbiome among T2DM patients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Nexus Between Urbanization, Industrialization, Natural Resources Rent, and Anthropogenic Carbon Emissions in South Asia: CS-ARDL Approach

Rapid population growth and economic expansion affect environmental sustainability by raising emissions from increased urbanization, industrialization, and energy consumption in South Asia. Therefore, the current research aims to scrutinize the dynamic impacts of urbanization, industrialization, and energy consumption on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in five South Asian countries (Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) under the umbrella of the famous stochastic regression for impact for technology, population, and asset on environmental condition (STIRPAT) model. This research employed the second-generation unit root and cointegration tests by applying the data from 1972 to 2021 to investigate the existence of slope heterogeneity (SH) and cross-sectional dependence (CSD) problem. After checking CSD, SH, unit root, and cointegration tests, the research utilized cross-sectional autoregressive distributive lag (CS-ARDL) as a baseline model and augmented mean group (AMG), mean group (MG), and common correlated effects mean group (CCEMG) as a robustness check. The evidence shows that the economic boom, urbanization, and industrialization increase CO2 emissions. CO2 emissions in South Asian nations have been reduced due to population growth, natural resources rent, and electrification. All estimators point to urbanization’s negative effects, being far more severe than any other environmental impact. Conversely, natural resource rent prevents environmental degradation more effectively than electricity. Therefore, it is recommended that South Asian economies adopt consistent, sustainable economic policies to reap the benefits of industrialization, urbanization, and increased electricity use. The findings are generally consistent with the policy implications.

An empirical investigation of financial development and ecological footprint in South Asia: Bridging the EKC and pollution haven hypotheses

This research explores the dynamic relationships between ecological footprint, economic performance, financial development, energy usage, and foreign direct investment (FDI) in South Asian economies utilizing the panel data from 1971 to 2018. In panel data analysis, conventional methods generally ignore the issues of cross-sectional dependency and the heterogenous nature of cross-sectional units. The other concern with the existing research is that most of the studies ignore the significance of ecological footprint while evaluating financial development and FDI as sources of environmental changes. The long-term relationship among the indicators is tested utilizing the Westerlund cointegration test. The findings support both environmental Kuznets curve and pollution haven hypotheses for South Asian economies. Besides, the empirical findings suggest that financial development increases environmental conservation while energy usage substantially disrupts the environment of the selected south Asian nations. Additionally, the heterogeneous causality analysis reveals the causal relationships between the variables. Thus, overall results recommend that the South Asian economies need to boost economic growth without compromising the environment, decrease fossil fuel usage, enhance financial sector growth and incentivize environmentally friendly FDI to conserve the environment in the region.

Spatiotemporal changes in population exposure to heat stress in South Asia

Rising temperatures and alteration of other meteorological parameters in the Indian monsoon region have exposed billions of populations in densely populated South Asia to extreme heat. This study employed high-resolution ERA5 reanalysis data for assessing spatiotemporal changes in outdoor WBGT over South Asia for the period 1979‒2021. The area affected and the population exposed to different heat levels were also estimated using LandScan population datasets. The results revealed an increase in the annual average daily mean WBGT by 0.1‒0.5°C/decade while the monsoon and pre-monsoon mean WBGT by 0.1‒0.7°C/decade over most of South Asia. The large increase in WBGT caused a rise in areas exposed to extreme heat by 56% and 66% during monsoon and pre-monsoon, respectively. Consequently, 17 million more people have been exposed to excessive heat each year. The study also revealed an increase in extremely hot days by more than six days/decade over a major part of the study area. These findings and accompanying maps can be useful to future efforts to lessen the likelihood of heat-related illness in South Asian nations, where temperature extremes have grown rapidly in recent years.

Agronomic Zn Biofortification of Cereal Crops a Sustainable Way to Ensuring Nutritional Security: A Review

Nutritional deficits in humans and animals constitute a hidden epidemic in many impoverished areas across the world. The staple foods of developing South Asian and African nations, such as rice, wheat, and maize, are poor in micronutrients. In recent past, a lack of food diversification i.e., cereal-based crops low in minerals, is another danger to nutritional quality and security. Because of the inherently low-level accumulation of nutrients in cereal crops, they are the primary target for bio-fortification among all crops. Among different micronutrients, zinc (Zn) is an important micronutrient that plays a vital role in a variety of physiological functions, and its scarcity will result in lower crop yields and productivity. Agronomic practices like application of fertilizers in soil, nutri-priming, foliar spray etc. enhance the availability and uptake of Zn in crops. As a result, the growth and development, quality parameters and yield attributes of crop enhanced significantly. Therefore, agronomic biofortification of Zn in cereal crop is utmost important to achieve nutritional quality and food security. Furthermore, biofortification boosted the crop productivity to alleviate hidden hunger, in addition to quality aspects, proving to be a sustainable and cost-effective strategy. With soil and foliar fertiliser applications, including amendments, the agronomic interventions boost the Zn concentration in cereal crops. In this review the importance of agronomic Zn biofortification as a procedure to improve cereal yield and as an agricultural solution to solve nutritional quality and food security challenges is discussed.

Causality analysis of the impacts of petroleum use, economic growth, and technological innovation on carbon emissions in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has traditionally relied on fossil fuels for meeting its energy demand whereby this South Asian nation has not been able to safeguard its environment from greenhouse gas emission-related adversities. Moreover, by ratifying several international environmental agreements, especially the Paris Accord and the Sustainable Development Goals, the government of Bangladesh has expressed its solidarity in abating greenhouse gas emissions through the deployment of relevant environmental policies. Hence, this study assesses the impacts of petroleum consumption, economic growth, and technological innovation on carbon emissions in Bangladesh using quarterly frequency data from 1972Q1 to 2020Q4. Overall, apart from confirming the cointegrating relationships among the variables, the regression findings reveal that higher petroleum consumption and economic growth stimulate environmental degradation by boosting carbon dioxide emissions while technological innovation reinstates environmental well-being by curbing the emission figures. Additionally, technological innovation is seen to moderate the relationship between petroleum consumption and carbon emissions by jointly reducing the emission with petroleum consumption. Lastly, the causality analysis shows that petroleum consumption, economic growth, and technological innovation causally influence carbon emissions. Based on these key findings, it is recommended that Bangladesh mitigates its petroleum dependency, blends environmental objectives into economic growth policies, and develops its technological stock.

Psychological Effects of Covid-19 Care; A Qualitative Study of Health Care Workers in Punjab Pakistan

The pandemic has caused severe psychological distress among Healthcare Workers. They were readily exposed to extreme workloads and physical and emotional turbulence throughout the pandemic which impacted them on both professional and personal fronts. Objectives: To explore the adverse impacts of Covid-19 on the mental health of the Healthcare Workers while delving into the relationship between occupational stress, communal norms, and mental health outcomes. Methods: It utilizes content gathered through observation and in-depth interviews of the frontline Healthcare Workers (n=32) that included doctors (n=14), nurses (n=12), and domestic staff (n=6) working in three COVID-19 treatment centers made in three major cities of Punjab, Pakistan, (Lahore, Faisalabad, and Sialkot) during Covid-19. Results: The results were divided into two themes followed by their sub-themes based on the results gathered through data collection tools. The themes were analyzed using the transactional model of stress and coping. The results reveal that the psychological distress faced by HCWs is directly related to occupational stress such as extreme workload/demand, while other challenges include fighting the community-imposed stigmas against the pandemic and social isolation. Conclusions: Psychological distress is a raising concern; current evidence reveals that low- and moderate-income communities, particularly in South Asian nations, have little or no understanding of workplace stress and its repercussions. Therefore, this study investigated Healthcare Workers’ perspectives on mental health concerning the pandemic.

En Route for the Accomplishment of SDG-7 in South Asian Countries: A Retrospective Study

With one-fifth of the world’s population, South Asian nations are home to 37 percent of the world’s poor and 50 percent of the world’s hungry children. This region experiences enormous development and infrastructure challenges. The paper investigates the progress of South Asian countries on Sustainable Development Goal-7, which is associated with access to modern energy to all. The present research also highlights significant issues and challenges behind the slow progress of South Asian countries on SDG-7. This study indicates that Bhutan and India are top-performing countries; however, Pakistan and Afghanistan are lower-performing countries on SDG-7 among all other South Asian countries. It has also been observed that South Asian countries have a narrow focus on renewable energy. South Asian nations will address their energy shortages issue and save a lot of money by using renewable energy instead of importing hydrocarbons. South Asian nations must diversify their main energy consumption patterns to achieve SDG-7. They may address their energy concerns at the policy, economic, technological, and information levels and boost cross-border energy commerce.

Moving towards a sustainable environment: do disaggregated energy consumption, natural resources, financial development and economic globalization really matter?

ABSTRACT The quality of the environment has become one of the primary objectives of South Asian governments. The majority of South Asian nations are susceptible to the negative effects of climate change, so it is crucial to identify factors that can contribute to environmental sustainability in the region. As a result of globalization, South Asian economies have attracted the attention of developed economies due to their abundance of mineral resources. This study fills a gap in the body of literature by analyzing the impact of economic globalization, financial development, natural resource availability, and disaggregated energy consumption on the environmental sustainability of South Asian nations from 1990 to 2020, taking into account economic growth, trade openness, and urbanization. This study employs a cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lags (CS-ARDL) estimator for short-run and long-run estimation, which accounts for slope parameter variability and country-specific dependencies. The results show that 1% increase in natural resource abundance and economic globalization improve the environmental quality in South Asian nations by 1.987% and 0.158% respectively. Furthermore, increasing the amount of renewable energy in total energy consumption minimizes CO2 emissions by 0.295% for every 1% change in renewable energy consumption. By contrast, 1% change in trade openness, financial development, urbanization, non-renewable energy consumption, and economic growth have a negative impact on the environment by 0.178%, 0.182%, 1.131%, 0.352% and 0.854% respectively. There is a unidirectional connection between natural resources and economic globalization that creates trade openness. For sustainable development goals, this study delivers new practical evidence and policy suggestions.

Does External Debt Affect Economic Growth: Evidence from South Asian Countries

Time series econometric methods are frequently used in studies examining how external debt affects economic growth. For the period of 1980-2020, this study creates a panel dataset of five South Asian nations and examines the link between external debt and economic growth. The findings of Cross-sectionally Augmented Panel Unit Root Test by Pesaran's (2007) confirms that all variables are integrated in order I (1). To understand the error correction mechanism that determines the short-run dynamic nature of external debt and economic growth, the study uses the Cross-Sectional Dependence Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) technique. A significant negative association between external debt and economic growth is found to exist in South Asia both in the long run and in the short run. Since rising foreign debt is associated with slower economic growth, the study recommends that South Asian nations should promote domestic savings and investment to lessen their reliance on external debt.