social and economic vulnerabilities of South Asia
The regions of south East Asia are standing amidst other countries in the road to development so are their violent conflicts or extreme tensions that happen to be unfavorable to the development that is so desired. The population of these regions namely: India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Nepal happen to fall a prey to different vulnerabilities like:
Economic
Social
Ecological
Before the various vulnerabilities are analyzed, it is important to not overlook the various forms that vulnerability can take. Vulnerable population might include:
Child workers
Unemployed adults (particularly at older ages, without access to a system of social protection)
A rigorous study of the age structure tells us that the population of older people in South Asia remains limited whereas in India, the level is pretty much high and their economic security is set to become a crucial issue in the coming years since they are largely dependent on the younger generation.
Economic and Social vulnerability
If looked at the vulnerabilities that confront the population sheltering in South East Asia, the social and economic factors of the same happen to coexist.
Regions of India, which dominates the entire region (South East Asia) with a population of more than two thirds of the region’s population, still provide cover to traditional believes that result to neglect of the girl child. There is still a strong discrimination against girl babies that is strongly visible in sex specific abortion practices. In regions like Punjab and Haryana which join the list of India’s most developed states, the discrimination in gender was such that the sex ratio aged 0-6 reached 130 boys for 100 girls and even higher in some districts. Level of education of women is high in Punjab despite of which female foetuses in this region are aborted in large numbers. The only argument that stands for this increased disparity is that of the prevalence of traditional beliefs that provide for a boy baby preference over a girl baby. Traditional beliefs that label the duties of every girl as to be dealt only with household chores and therefore providing no increment in family revenue. Efforts by the government to condemn the practice of sex-selective abortion with the help of medical instruments and practitioners who tell couples the sex of an unborn child were initiated but the results didn’t witness apparent success.
The poorest populations are also exposed to the problem of urban housing which is clearly seen in the spontaneous and shanty settlements that grow on the city outskirts. The estimations of the UN-habitat have it that over 230 million people had lived in the shanty towns in South Asia in 2001.
Ecological vulnerability
The ecology also plays an important role in the living condition or patterns of the population. For instance the higher the density of population the more the victims of natural disasters. Bangladesh is one country that has been fully exposed to ecological hazards and has over the years been hit by various calamities including a tropical cyclone.
Substantial proportions of the population of India, the Maldives or Sri Lanka have been victims of rising water levels. Over the years there has been an increase in the pressure on land which has thereby led to increased settlements in coastal zones, barely above sea level.
The tsunami of December 2004 was particularly disastrous in Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the Maldives etc which had large population living in the coasts at sea level. The number of casualties and injured persons were on an awful and increasing toll.
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