As individuals committed to a world free from hunger - and to truly understand the importance of empowering grassroots women as change agents for a new future - we need to have a deeper appreciation and understanding of South Asia.

South Asia is home to one-half of the remaining chronic hunger on our planet. One-fifth of humanity lives in South Asia. 40% of its inhabitants live in conditions of chronic, persistent hunger.

In this unit, we will deepen our appreciation of the nations, communities, and lives of the people of the region. We'll gain a basic orientation the geography, history, politics and economy. We will look at general regional information and also focus on the two countries where The Hunger Project works - India and Bangladesh.

1. The Region in Brief
2. Historical Background (to 1947)
3. South Asian Culture, Language and Tradition
4. India Today
5. Bangladesh Today

South Asia is home to 1.3 billion people, who together comprise 1/5 of all humanity. 

The region has an ancient history and rich culture spanning back for 5000 years. The efforts of South Asian countries to develop democratic governance, progress economically, and address the issues of persistent poverty are critical to the global struggle of ending hunger.

South Asia is a somewhat imprecise term that usually refers to India and its surrounding countries: Bangladesh Pakistan Nepal Sri Lanka Bhutan Maldives and by some classifications, Afghanistan.

• Because of the predominance of India in terms of land mass and population in the region, South Asia is sometimes referred to as the Indian Sub-Continent.

• The nations of South Asia are more alike than they are different. Cultures and languages spill across national borders, most of which were created in the colonial era. As in many other parts of the world, the creation of new and "artificial" national identities has been the source of much conflict and violent upheaval. This complex struggle continues to shape South Asia’s political and economic landscape.

• Together, the seven countries of South Asia—India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Maldives—are members of SAARC—the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Through SAARC, its member countries are working together to identify solutions for their common problems.

• South Asia is one of world’s most populous regions, containing 1.3 billion people who comprise roughly 1/5 of all of humanity.

• Nearly 85% of the inhabitants of the region live in the two countries of India and Bangladesh.

• The population of the region is so large that the mere increase in population each year exceeds the total population of fifty smaller UN member countries.

• South Asia has a rich and ancient history of more than 5000 years. The cultural advances that have occurred in the region are at the foundation of many systems of thought and culture that exist in societies around the world today.

• South Asia is home to virtually all of the world's religions, nearly 700 distinct languages, and several thousand regional dialects.
  

• Despite widespread illiteracy, communal divisions, severe inequalities, and vestiges of its feudal past, South Asia is committed to the democratic process.

• India today is the world's largest democracy. Recently it has also been engaged in groundbreaking efforts to transform thousands of years of patriarchal tradition by decentralizing power to local bodies, and guaranteeing the participation of women.

• Throughout the region however, the emergence of democratic leadership has been beset by setbacks—including corruption, bouts of military rule, and people’s insurgencies.

• South Asian economies are a mixture of poverty and plenty, with advanced and productive economies coupled with persistent poverty.

• In many ways, South Asia has made real economic progress—Combined GNP has grown at an average annual rate of more than 5% during 1980-93, and per capita income has increased by nearly 3% each year. In India especially, agricultural productivity is among the world’s best, and the science and technology industry has burgeoned.

• As elsewhere in the world, economic progress does not always translate into real social progress in the lives of the people.

• Despite great achievements, statistical indicators show that South Asia is fast emerging as the poorest, most illiterate, most malnourished, and the least gender-sensitive region in the world.

• More than 500 million of its people live in poverty—themselves comprising 1/12 of the world’s population.

• The first group to invade India were the Aryans, who came from Central Asia in about 1500 BC. The Aryans brought with them strong cultural traditions that still remain in force today. They spoke and wrote in a language called Sanskrit. The Vedas, a collection of sacred writings written in Sanskrit and dating from about 1200 BC, contain considerable information on Indo-Aryan life and also depict the emergence of Hinduism.

• The Aryans are said to have introduced the Indus Valley people to the caste system and established the fundamental elements of what was to become Hinduism. The Aryans inhabited the northern regions for about 700 years, then moved further south and east when they developed iron tools and weapons. They eventually settled the Ganges Valley and built large kingdoms throughout much of northern India.

• The second great invasion into India occurred around 500 BC, when the Persian kings Cyrus and Darius, pushing their empire eastward, conquered the ever-prized Indus Valley. Compared to the Aryans, the Persian influence was marginal, perhaps because they were only able to occupy the region for a relatively brief period of about 150 years. The Persians were in turn conquered by the Greeks under Alexander the Great, in 326 BC.

• In the 5th century BC, Siddhartha Gautama founded the religion of Buddhism.

• As the overextended Hellenistic sphere declined, one of India's greatest dynasties emerged, the Maurya. Under the great king Asoka (268-31 BC), the Mauryan empire conquered nearly the entire subcontinent. His army shed so much blood that, after one battle, the repentant king gave up warfare forever and converted to Buddhism. Proving to be as tireless a missionary as he had been as conqueror, Asoka brought Buddhism to much of central Asia.

• After the demise of the Maurya dynasty, the regions it had conquered fragmented into a mosaic of kingdoms and smaller dynasties. The Greeks returned briefly in 150 BC and conquered the Punjab, and by this time Buddhism was becoming so influential that the Greek king Menander forsook the Hellenistic pantheon and became a Buddhist himself.

• The rule of the Maurya was followed by the Imperial Guptas dynasty, which conquered and consolidated the entire north. When the Guptas diminished, a long golden age of six thriving and separate kingdoms ensued, and at this time some of the most magnificent temples in India were constructed. It was a time of relative stability, and cultural developments progressed on all fronts for hundreds of years. In 712, with the arrival of the Muslim rulers, there was a major shift in progress and cultural development.

• Arab traders had visited the western coast since 712, but it wasn't until 1001 that the Muslim world began to make itself keenly felt. In that year, Arab armies swept down the Khyber pass and plundered the northwest region of India. Turkish kings ruled much of the region until 1397, when the Mongols invaded under Timur Lang (Tamerlane) and ravaged the entire region.

• India was fragmented after the brutal devastation left by Timur Lang in 1397. This would change in 1527, when Babar the Mughal (Persian for Mongol) monarch came into power. He was the first of the six emperors who would comprise the most influential of all the Muslim dynasties in India.

• One of the last of the Mughal emperors, Shah Jahan, left behind the colossal monuments of the Mughal empire, including the Taj Mahal (a symbol of his love for his wife Muntaz), the Pearl Mosque, the Royal Mosque, and the Red Fort.

• The tottering Mughal regime suffered a disastrous blow in 1739 when the Persian king Nadir Shah led an army into India and plundered Delhi. Among the loot seized by the invaders was the mammoth Koh-i-noor diamond and the fabulous Peacock Throne, of solid gold inlaid with precious stones.

• As the Mughal empire crumbled, the Europeans were beginning to display their own imperialism. The Portuguese had traded in Goa (located on the west coast of India) as early as 1510. In 1610, the British chased away a Portuguese naval squadron, and the East India Company created its own outpost, marking the beginning of a remarkable presence that would last over 300 years and eventually dominate the entire subcontinent. The East India Company gained control of all European trade in India by 1769.

• How the tiny island nation of England, thousands of miles away, came to administer a huge territory of 300 million people is one of history's great spectacles. A seemingly impossible task, it was done through a highly effective and organized system of divide and rule. Treaties and agreements were signed with stately princes, and the Company gradually increased its role in local affairs. The British helped build infrastructure and trained natives to strengthen its own military, though they claimed it was for India's own defense.

• In 1858, a rumor spread among Hindu soldiers that the British were greasing their bullets with the fat of cows and pigs, the former sacred animals to Hindus and the latter unclean animals to Muslims. Thus, a year-long rebellion against the British ensued, called the Sepoy mutiny. Although this mutiny was unsuccessful, it prompted the British government to revamp their strategy of divide and rule, and seize total control of their assets in India in 1858.

• As the 20th century dawned, movements grew in India demanding freedom.

• Tensions between Hindus and Muslims had also been developing over the years. The Muslims had always been a minority, and the prospect of an exclusively Hindu government made them wary of independence; they were as inclined to mistrust Hindu rule as they were to resist the Raj.

• In 1915, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi returned to India from South Africa, calling for unity between the two groups in an astonishing display of leadership that would eventually lead the country to independence.

• The profound impact Gandhi had on India and his ability to gain independence through a totally non-violent mass movement made him one of the most remarkable leaders the world has ever known. He led by example, wearing homespun clothes to weaken the British textile industry and orchestrating a march to the sea, called the famous Dandi/Salt march in 1930, where demonstrators proceeded to make their own salt in protest against the British monopoly. Indians gave him the name Mahatma, or Great Soul.

• Independence came at a great cost. While Gandhi was leading a largely non-violent movement for freedom, Mohammed Ali Jinnah was fronting a Muslim movement, through a group called the Muslim League. Jinnah advocated the partition of India into two separate states - majority Muslim and majority Hindu - and he was able to achieve his goal. When the British left, they created the separate states of Pakistan (which included East Pakistan, now Bangladesh). Violence erupted when stranded Muslims and Hindu minorities in the areas fled in opposite directions. Within a few weeks, half a million people had died in the course of the largest migration of human beings in world history. The aging Gandhi vowed to fast until the violence stopped, which it did when his health was seriously threatened. At the same time, the British returned and helped restore order.

• The flag of independent India was first raised at midnight, August 15, 1947.

• On January 30, 1948, just a few months after independence, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse.

South Asian society and culture is among the most ancient, diverse, and deeply rooted in the world. Many of the world’s great religions, traditions and truths were developed in the region, and have since become intrinsic parts of thought and culture in countries around the globe.

• South Asia is home to many of the world's religions, including Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism and Baha'i.

• India has a predominantly Hindu population. 80% of the population are Hindu, 14% Muslim, 2.4% Christian, 2% Sikh, .7% Buddhist, and .5% Jain.

• Bangladesh has a predominantly Muslim population. 83% of the population are Muslim, 16% are Hindu, and a small minority are Buddhist, Christian or other.

• With roughly 140 million people, India's "minority" Muslim population is the second largest population of Muslims in the world, after Indonesia.

• In India and Bangladesh, the Hindu and Muslim traditions have far-reaching effects on everyday life for the people.

• Hinduism is the oldest living religion on earth.

• Hindus believe in only one formless and all-pervading entity. This entity takes the form of three gods, Brahma (The Creator), Vishnu (The Caretaker), and Shiva (The Destroyer of all Evil).

• The Hindu way of life is based in the desire to free one's self from worldly bondage and to obtain a better next life through proper karma (actions) in the present life.

• The Vedas are the original scriptures of Hinduism on which the Hindu way of life is based. These scriptures promote the ethical way of life, which Hindus call Dharma. Unlike other religions, Hinduism is not based on any one sacred writing, but rather on many sacred books which support the basic thoughts of the Vedas.

• Two great Hindu epics are the Ramayana, and the Mahabharata, which includes the celebrated Bhagvad Gita.

• The Caste System is one of the least understood but most far-reaching attributes of Hinduism in terms of effects on societal relationships.

• The Caste System is a system of social division that has been part of Indian society for centuries. It divides people into 4 hierarchical social classes which dictate their occupations and duties in society: Brahmin (Educated Elite), Kshatriya (Warriors), Vaishyas (Merchant Community), and the Shudras (Working Class).

• Caste is based in the Hindu teachings of karma and reincarnation, which dictate that the people are reborn into a better or worse life (higher or lower caste) based on their actions in the present life. Caste divisions are immutable throughout a person's life, since they are seen as a divine consequence of past action.

• Over the years, 3000 sub-castes have developed, with a group of people – the untouchables often considered below, and outside of the caste system. The untouchables have customarily performed the lowest tasks in Indian society, such as cleaning the streets.

• Women are considered even lower than the lowest caste male.

• Traditional ways of life severely limit the participation of women in society. Traditions such as dowry and child marriage continue to be widespread in Indian society, even though by law they are illegal. Women are also secluded in the home, and prevented from actively participating in their community.

• Muslims believe in one god, Allah, whose message to the world was revealed through his final prophet, Muhammad. This message is recorded in the Qu’ran, Islam’s sacred text.

• The Arabic word 'Islam' means submission to God. Through this submission, Muslims - believers in Islam - find peace with God, peace within themselves, peace with the creations of God, and commitment to His guidance.

• Islam makes no division between the secular and the sacred.

• One-fifth of the world's population are Muslim.

• Because Islam merges the secular with the sacred, it permeates many aspects of life for its adherents in South Asia.

• In the Muslim world, there is an important distinction. Some countries, such as Pakistan, are "Islamic Republics" - countries where religious courts have official power. Others are "Muslim" countries such as Bangladesh, where government is secular but guided by respect for the principles of Islam.

• There is another important distinction between tradition and religion. Traditional discrimination against women is a "pre-Islamic" part of Arabic culture, and is not supported by the Qu'ran. In fact, the Prophet's wife was a successful business woman, and the Qu'ran's message of equality of all people stands in stark contrast to pre-Islamic Arabic traditions.

• Some conservatives believe in severely limiting women's participation in society. Women are often secluded in the home, must cover themselves from head to toe if they do leave the home, and are often prohibited from participation in community affairs.
  

South Asia is a region of rich linguistic heritage and great diversity. There are almost 700 distinct languages in the region, and several thousand regional dialects.

• While Hindi is India’s recognized official language, there are fifteen national languages recognized by the Indian Constitution, which are extensively spoken in over 1600 dialects.

• Hindi is the predominant language in the north. It bears little relation to the Dravidian languages of the south. In the south, very few people speak Hindi.

• The state boundaries of India were drawn up along linguistic lines.

• Besides Hindi and English, the other popular languages are Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Oriya, Telugu and Urdu.

• Bangla, or Bengali, is the national language of Bangladesh, and is currently the seventh most extensively spoken language in the world.

• The language is richly poetic, and ideal for expressing the finest nuances of thought and feelings.

• A recent scholar observed, "The Bengali love affair with their language…produces emotional experiences seldom found in other parts of the world."

• The Bangla Language Movement during 1948-52 demanded the designation of Bengali as its state language when it was then East Pakistan. The Language Movement was an inspiring force for Bangladesh’s struggle for independence.

• The greatest mythological literature of ancient India can be found in its long epic religious poems, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

• The earliest available specimen of Bengali literature is about a thousand years old. During the period 1200 to 1800 AD, Bangladeshi literature developed considerably with the patronage of the Muslim rulers. Chandi Das and Daulat Kazi are two of the famous poets of this period.

• Recent Indian literature has flourished in its many state languages. Well-known Indian authors have received international acclaim, such as Booker Prize winners V.S. Naipaul and Arundhati Roy.

• Perhaps the most prolific and well respected writer and poet from the region is Rabindranath Tagore, a native of West Bengal who was the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize for literature. Tagore's works are treasured by people in the region and around the world, and he holds the distinction of having written the national anthems of both India and Bangladesh.

• The art, music, sculpture and architecture of South Asia attest to the age and resilience of the culture.

• Much of South Asian art is religious in its themes and developments, and its appreciation requires at least some background knowledge of the region's many faiths.

• Classical dance and music, religious architecture, painting, and sculpture, inspire people around the world with their beauty and creativity.

The Hunger Project works in India and Bangladesh, home to 85% of the people of South Asia.

India is a nation of extraordinary diversity and contrasts: wealth and poverty, ancient traditions and cutting-edge technology, fervent nationalism alongside deep and divisive loyalties to caste, religion, ethnic background and language.

It would be impossible to comprehend the "whole" of India. These next few pages will allow you to get some appreciation for the major social and economic forces that shape India today.

• Population: India has the world’s second largest population - with over one billion people – and will most likely surpass China in the next 25 to 50 years.

• Diversity: India has hundreds of languages and distinct local histories and traditions. Different states have different languages, and the level of economic and social development between North and South is dramatic.

• Democracy: India is the world’s largest democracy, and is tremendously proud of having sustained democracy throughout its 52 years of independence.

• Self-sufficiency: In the fields of agriculture and industry, self-sufficiency is more evident in India than in any other South Asian country. India grows its own food and manufactures its own telephones, automobiles, communication satellites, computers, copiers, and other products.

• Economic reform: India was an ardent supporter of the socialist road of economic development until free-market reforms began in 1991. It still has many state-owned industries, and the debate between free-market and government protection of industry continues.

• Human development: Despite public declarations in support of uplifting the poor, India invests far less in its grassroots people than other regions. Investments in education are predominantly for the urban elite rather than for the rural masses. India spends only 40% of its education budget for primary education, in contrast to 70% in East Asia.

India is situated at the heart of South Asia, and geographically dominates the region. With a population of 1 billion, India's people comprise 1/6 of all of humanity.

• India's population reached 1 billion on August 15, 1999—the 52^nd anniversary of its independence. Its population has nearly tripled since independence.

• India's land mass is slightly more than 1/3 the size of the United States.

• Its population density--or people per square kilometer/mile--is one of the highest in the world.

• The annual population growth rate of India's population is 1.9%. Based on current population, this is a growth rate of 19 million people per year.

• India is currently the second most populous country after China. If current trends continue, it will surpass China in total population in the next quarter to half century.

• Many of India's states have a greater population than most developing countries. One of India’s states, Uttar Pradesh, with over 150 million people, has a population higher than Russia, the world’s sixth most populous country.
  

• India today is an extraordinary mixture of people of different ethnicities, religions, and languages. Migrations of people stretching back over 5000 years brought with them diverse cultures that India has both assimilated and refined as its own.

• 73%--or roughly 3/4--of the country’s population live in rural areas.

• 64% of the total labor force works in agriculture.

• India’s women contribute between 55-80 % of the total farm labor.

• The extreme contrast between urban and rural India has led to the observation by some experts that there are "two Indias": one of wealth and splendor, and another of grinding poverty and chronic hunger.

• India has the largest middle class in the world, estimated at 300 million.

• Yet, the vast majority of its people live in rural villages, where resources are scarce and the way of life is in many ways consistent with that of agrarian societies of hundreds of years past.

India is a geographically diverse country, which comprises nearly 3/4 of the land mass of the entire South Asian region. Worldwide, it is ranked second in arable land and land that is irrigated.

• India is situated at the heart of South Asia, bordered by Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, as well as by China. Its coastline stretches for 7,000 kms, where it is surrounded by the waters of the Arabian Sea on the West, the Bay of Bengal on the East, and the Indian Ocean on the South.

• India is divided into 25 states and 7 centrally administered union territories. 

• Topographically, India is diverse. Northern India contains the snow-bound peaks and deep valleys of the Himalayas, while South of the plains, the land rises up into a triangular-shaped plateau known as the Deccan.

• The plateau is bordered by the Eastern and Western ghats, ranges of hills which run parallel to India's eastern and western coasts and separate the fertile coastal strips from the interior.

• India's climate varies greatly, from arid deserts to cool highlands.

• It has three main seasons - hot, wet, and cool.

• The hot season begins in February, and by April the heat and humidity is almost unbearable.

• India is ranked second in the world in terms of total arable land, as well as land that is irrigated.

• 54.7% of India's land area is arable land.

• 2.4% of the land is used for permanent crops.

• 32% of cropland is irrigated.

• There are 424 people per sq. km of arable land, or .17 hectares per capita.

• India has held regular and freely contested elections since it gained independence in 1947. Given its great variety of religious and ethnic groups, a secular, democratic system is both a natural choice and a substantial challenge.

• Because of the immensity of its population, the election process is itself a tremendous undertaking.

• The Indian registered voter base is 620 million, and the voter turnout is approximately 65%. The number of people this represents is equivalent to 1/10 of the world's population.

• The number of election officials overseeing the process is 4.5 million--roughly the population of Ireland. Ballot boxes and election officials are sometimes transported by camel or elephant to the remotest rural areas.

• Because nearly 50% of India's population is illiterate, ballots are printed with party symbols as well as candidate's names.

• India’s success in sustaining democratic governance despite variety of potential impediments makes it an immense source of pride for India’s people. Democracy is thought by some to be India’s most significant achievement.

• Despite the persistence of corruption at all levels, polls in India show that 2/3 of its people have confidence in the political system, a figure as low as 25% in other parts of South Asia.

• One of the most exciting developments in India’s democracy in recent years has been the focus on decentralization, and development of leadership in its rural areas.

• While India has a proud record of functioning democracy, this has not always empowered people at the grassroots level.

• In 1993, the 73^rd and 74^th Amendments to the Constitution gave formal power to local government bodies, the panchayati raj, which have responsibility for all issues of social and economic development in the villages.

• The panchayats echo Gandhi’s vision of village self-government as "a complete republic independent of its neighbors for its own vital wants… Here there is perfect democracy based upon individual freedom."

• The 1993 amendments provide for reservations for low castes, and 1/3 of seats in local government for women, meaning that they put significant power in the hands of local people for perhaps the first time in 5000 years of Indian history.

• In addition to a vibrant democracy, India has a strong tradition of non-governmental and voluntary action.

• An estimated 25,000 indigenous Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) operate in India.

• India also has a strong tradition of community-based people's organizations.

• By one estimate, the Indian state of Tamil Nadu alone has 25,000 registered grassroots organizations.

• Community-based organizations and traditional self-help groups, which are regaining popularity, are a way for people to pool their labor, obtain credit, buy goods, and develop sustainable agriculture.

India has an impressive record of committed leadership at the highest levels. Key figures since India’s independence are renowned and celebrated worldwide.

• Perhaps the most internationally celebrated Indian is Mahatma Gandhi, whose message of passive resistance and a non-violent approach to the struggle for independence has inspired people worldwide. Gandhi’s message of equality for women and the untouchables put him at the forefront of movements towards true social justice in Indian society.

• I have that implicit faith in my mission that, if it succeeds - as it will succeed, it is bound to succeed - history will record it as a movement designed to knit all people in the world together, not as hostile to one another but as parts of one whole.
  
  --Gandhi's writing in his Harijan newspaper, 1934

• Jawaharlal Nehru is the nationalist leader and statesman who served as the first prime minister of independent India. Nehru was deeply involved in carrying out India’s five year plans for social and economic development, and for pursuing peaceful relations with all nations. His essays and writings are highly respected around the world.
• Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge...At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long surpressed, finds utterance.
  
  -Jawaharlal Nehru
  Claiming Independence from British
  Midnight of August 14, 1947

• One of the most celebrated figures in fighting against the rigid structures of the caste system was Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. He himself was a low-caste man who became a scholar and leading fighter for low-caste people. He has been described as the architect of the Indian constitution, and he is revered among India's low-caste people.

• It is a pity how few Britishers are aware of it and how fewer are prepared to discharge it. British rule in India owes its very existence to the help rendered by the untouchables.

--B.R. Ambedkar, 1946, to British Cabinet Minister

• Like its neighbors in South Asia, India has a tradition of women’s leadership at the highest levels of society.

• Indira Gandhi, daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, was one of the most charismatic leaders of the 60s and 70s, and was the first woman to provide leadership for such a great number of people when she served as India’s prime minister.

• Despite the presence of women such as Indira Gandhi in the highest seats of power, the current political, social and economic status of women in many areas in India remains dismal.

• Rajiv Gandhi became India's sixth, and youngest prime minister when his mother, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated in October 1984.

• During his years as prime minister, Gandhi pioneered people-centered approaches to address the issues of poverty and hunger, and took new initiatives in literacy, education and culture.

• Rajiv Gandhi originally proposed strengthening local self-government and reservation for women. This was realized in the 73rd and 74th Amendments, introduced in 1992, one year after he was killed in a terrorist bombing.

• Atal Bihari Vajpayee is the current Prime Minister of India. He has represented both his own Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the National Democratic Alliance, a coalition of political parties.

• Vajpayee has expressed a commitment to a forward-looking economy, improved relations with Pakistan, and the upliftment of women and lower castes.

• He has stated that his vision of India is of "an India free of hunger and fear, an India free of illiteracy and want."

• Kocheril Raman Narayanan became India's President in 1997, after a diverse career in academia, journalism, and Foreign Service.

• Narayanan is the first lower caste person to serve as President of India.

The Indian economy is a complex mix of high-level growth and industrial and agricultural productivity, coupled with a struggling rural economy of families barely subsisting below the poverty line.

• The Indian economy has made remarkable progress since independence. In 1947, India hardly had any industries. Some say India was unable to even manufacture a paper clip.

• India today is the 10^th largest industrial power in the world.

• The southern city of Bangalore is known as India's "Silicon Valley." India is the world's second largest exporter of computer software.

• Agricultural production has increased from 55 million tons in 1950-1 to more than 200 million tons today.

• India is the world's number one producers of commodities such as tea, pulses, jute, fruit, spices, and cattle. It is second in the world in irrigated and arable land, in rice, wheat, vegetable, and milk production.

• After years of socialist economic policy, India took steps in 1991 to liberalize its economy and to promote free trade.

• Its highly competitive private sector accounts for over 75% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, and is increasingly appealing to investors.

• The visible economic progress and growing wealth in India’s urban areas often overshadows the persistent hunger and poverty of rural India.

• Although poverty rates have declined by 18 percentage points since 1970, more than 40% of the population is currently estimated to be living in poverty.

• While India's agricultural production is among the highest in the world, many rural people—India’s farmers—have insufficient purchasing power and access to nutritious, appropriate food.

• India is home to the world’s third largest educated population in science and technology.

• The middle class has grown to such an extent that it now exceeds the population of the USA or the European Union.

• In rural India, village people make significant contributions to the rural economy, despite severely limited opportunities.

• Village industries such as fish farming, vegetable gardens, and handicrafts are income-generating activities for many rural people.

• In villages across the country, rural women in particular have banded together in cooperative organizations to make money for their families.

Shortly after its independence in 1971, there were many experts who felt that Bangladesh was a nation without a future. Prominent experts called Bangladesh "a basket case." Because of its rapid population growth, its tiny land area, its meager resources and its frequent natural disasters, many people predicted that Bangladesh would be hopelessly trapped in a permanent series of famines by the 1980s or 1990s.

The reality is very different. Bangladesh has survived and progressed. In seeking to overcome the challenges of extreme poverty and its environment, it has achieved breakthroughs that are being applied in other nations.

• Population Growth: International reports praise the dramatic progress Bangladesh has made in the past decade: it has doubled the rate of contraceptive use and has reduced the average family size from seven children to three. Today, most Bangladeshi women say they want only two or three children.

• Food Production: Bangladesh has now almost achieved food self-sufficiency, and has begun to export rice.

• Democracy: In the past decade, and despite continued conflicts and instability, Bangladesh has established and maintained a multi-party democracy, from the national level to the local level.

• Private Sector: Bangladesh's rapidly growing private sector is attracting more and more foreign investment. A garment industry has sprung up in the past decade, which now provides jobs to more than one million Bangladeshis, primarily women.

• Health: Oral rehydration therapy—a simple home cure for diarrhea that is saving the lives of millions of young children—was invented in Bangladesh, and has been taught to virtually every woman in the country.

• Microcredit: The people of Bangladesh have proved to the world, through Prof. Muhammad Yunus's pioneering Grameen Bank, that you can invest in the poor - that poor women have the highest loan repayment rate in the world, and are some of its most creative entrepreneurs.

• Education: Working together, UNICEF and a major Bangladeshi organization, BRAC, have created a breakthrough in lowering the cost and improving the quality of education through a village-based approach.

Bangladesh is primarily a country of villages, with one of the highest population densities in the world. The agricultural way of life is characteristic of life for the majority of its people.

• The population of Bangladesh is 128.1 million.

• Bangladesh has one of the highest population densities in the world. Its 128.1 million inhabitants—as many people as ½ of the United States population—live in a land mass approximately the same size as England and Wales, or of the US state of Wisconsin.

•  If the entire global population moved into the territory of the United States, even then the United States would not have as many people per square foot of land as Bangladesh.

• The annual population growth rate of Bangladesh's population is 1.8% per year. Based on current population, this is a growth rate of 2.3 million people per year.

• Bangladesh today is an ethnically homogenous society, with 98% of its people of Bengali descent. This ethnic homogeneity means that Bangladesh experiences few of the ethnic conflicts that dominate life elsewhere in South Asia.

• The villages of Bangladesh are home to 100 million people, 80% of the country's population.

• Conservative estimates place the number of villages at over 70,000.

• 65% of the total labor force works in agriculture.

• Women comprise 45%—nearly half—of the farming population.

Bangladesh is a subtropical country, with an abundance of water. While it suffers from disastrous floods, the country is graced with lush and fertile land.

• Bangladesh is surrounded to the west, northwest and east by India, and shares a southeastern border with Burma. Its coastline stretches for 580 km.

• Administratively, the country is divided into 64 districts, with four main divisions: Dhaka (the capital), Chittagong, Khulna, and Rajshahi.

• Topographically, Bangladesh is essentially flat, and dominated by the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and lesser Meghna rivers

• Very little of the country is more than 40 feet above sea level.

• Bangladesh is the largest delta in the world.

• The abundance of water in Bangladesh is both a blessing and a curse. While it provides rich alluvial materials, it is often the cause of devastating floods and disasters.

• Bangladesh's climate is subtropical and tropical.

• Bangladesh has three main seasons, the monsoon or 'wet' season, the cold season, and the hot season.

• During the hot season, between June and September, the humidity is 90-95%, making many parts of the country almost unbearable to live in until the monsoon breaks.

• Humidity remains high year round.

• Bangladesh is affected roughly 16 times a decade by tropical cyclones which wreak havoc on coastal plains and villages.

• Bangladesh is inherently fertile.

• 65% of Bangladesh's land area is arable land.

• 2.5% of the land is used for permanent crops.

• Roughly 40% of the cropland is irrigated.

• There are 1,161 people per sq. km of arable land, or .07 hectares per capita.

• When India gained independence from Great Britain in 1947, the sub-continent was divided into the two separate nations of India and Pakistan, based on religious majority. The new state of Pakistan was divided into two non-contiguous regions: the Muslim-majority districts of western British India, plus the section of Bengal which is today Bangladesh.

• Relations between West and East Pakistan were tense and politically unstable for more than two decades following independence. In the Bangla Language Movement from 1948-1952, Bangladeshis demanded the designation of Bengali as its state language.

• Frictions between West and East Pakistan culminated in a 1971 army crackdown against the East Pakistan dissident movement, eventually leading to full scale war.

• The dissident movement was led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, "the father of the nation," whose Awami League (AL) Party had won 167 seats out of 313 National Assembly seats on a platform of greater autonomy for the eastern province.

• In late 1971, India intervened on the side of East Pakistan, and Pakistan soon surrendered. On 16 December, 1971, the nation of Bangladesh was born.

• The Bangladeshi political system is officially a constitutionally defined secular socialist democracy.

• It has a single chamber parliament which is elected under a universal adult franchise.

• There are 300 seats for elected members, with 30 of these reserved for women.

• Bangladesh’s struggle for peaceful self-leadership was not complete at independence.

• Periods of democratic rule have been interrupted by coups, martial law, and states of emergency.

• Hartals - or general strikes - are frequently called by the opposition political party, and completely shut down business, transportation, and education when they are declared.

• Local representative government is not well developed in many rural areas, but holds great potential. The local government, or Union Parishads, hold elections for their chair and membership. Each Union Parishad covers between 15 to 20 villages, encompassing around 25,000 people. In many cases, the Union Parishads have been unable to challenge the domination of central government, and are not democratically accountable. Yet the decentralization of democracy provides an opportunity for people to gain more direct control over development.

• Executive power in Bangladesh is vested in the Prime Minister. The constitution provides for a President who is indirectly elected by parliament.

• Like other countries in South Asia, Bangladesh has a tradition of women holding high office. Currently, both the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the head of Bangladesh’s opposition party Khaleda Zia, are women.

Civil society initiatives are deeply rooted in Bangladesh, with NGOs—Non-Governmental Organizations—reaching nearly 78% of the country's villages. Community initiatives that mobilize local people in economic and self-help activities are critical for progress in rural areas.

• Civil society is among the strongest in all of South Asia in Bangladesh.

• After liberation, a climate of chaos and famine existed in the country. As a result, NGOs became major, perhaps dominant actors in national development, making Bangladesh home to some of the largest NGOs in the world.

• It is estimated that there are 19,000 NGOs in Bangladesh, covering over 78% of the villages and 24 million people in the country (approximately one-fifth of the population.)

• As elsewhere in South Asia, community-based people's organizations are strongly rooted in Bangladesh.

• Bangladesh has 20,000 local people's groups that receive local and central government financial support, as well as many more that do not.

• Many community organizations engage in traditional self-help economic activities.

• BRAC—Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, is an NGO with deep roots in Bangladesh society. It began as a relief and rehabilitation effort in February 1972.

• BRAC is widely regarded as the pioneer in "scaling up"—in going beyond the traditional "pilot projects" of NGOs to handle large scale national projects.

• Proshika—Proshika is a nationwide NGO that has been actively engaged in formal and non-formal education and skills training to the rural poor.

• Bangladesh is the birthplace of the micro-credit movement, spearheaded by Prof. Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank.

• Grameen has become an internationally reputed bank for the poor, whose techniques have been duplicated around the world.

• Grameen is lauded for its effort to provide credit in particular to poor women, whose traditional responsibility for all areas of social development make them key players in the struggle to eliminate poverty.

Bangladesh is primarily an agricultural country, with a growing industrial sector. The vast majority of its inhabitants are farmers, although few of them have actual ownership over the land that they farm. Throughout the 1980s, Bangladesh became highly dependent on foreign aid, although this brought little real change in the lives of its people.

• At the time of independence, Bangladesh pursued a socialist economic policy.

• By 1977, all nationalized institutions were returned to their former owners, but this resulted in little substantial economic progress.

• Between 60% and 75% of Bangladesh’s population are landless.

• Bangladesh's GNP per capita is $360.

• Despite its low GNP per capita, Bangladesh has done better in areas of human and social advancement than many other countries with similar income.

• Bangladesh is essentially an agricultural country.

• The vast majority of Bangladesh’s inhabitants—almost 80%—live in its rural areas, and 65% of its labor force are involved in farming, particularly for food.

• Agriculture contributes 24% to Bangladesh's GDP. This does not include the unmeasured contributions of women farmers.

• Nearly half of the Bangladeshi farming force is comprised of women, who play a major role in various aspects of food and rice production, and in nearly all aspects of food processing.

• Because of the severely restrictive life that women lead in conservative villages, they often carry out processing activities from within the confines of their homes, and without appropriate tools and technology.

• Bangladesh has worked to build up its industrial base.

• Although small, the industrial sector contributes significantly to Bangladesh’s exports, providing employment and a market for cash crops.

• Industry contributes 27% of Bangladesh's GDP.

• The partition of British India and the emergence of India and Pakistan in 1947 severely disrupted a colonial economic system, in which East Bengal was a producer of jute and rice.

• Principal exports include jute products—mainly burlap sacking and carpet backing.

• Since the early 1980s, production of ready-made garments for the US and other markets has grown rapidly.

• Since independence in 1971, Bangladesh has received more than $22 billion in grant aid and loan commitments from foreign donors, which includes the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the UN Development Program, the United States, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and a number of West European countries.

• Despite steady increases in external aid over the years, it has brought little real improvement in the lives of rural people.

• Much of this aid has been spent on heavily capitalized infrastructure projects, which does not draw on the skills and knowledge of people themselves.

Although the region of South Asia has a common heritage, it suffers from long-standing and sometimes violent political and religious conflicts. These conflicts dominate international news coverage of the region.

The recent introduction of nuclear weapons in the region has dramatically increased news coverage of these conflicts.

• The religious and ethnic diversity in South Asia has given rise to often violent community conflicts, whose effects have been felt across the nations of the region.

• One of the most well known recent communal conflicts involves the site of the Muslim Babri Mosque in India. When Hindu fundamentalists in India claimed that this site was the birthplace of the Hindu god, Ram, they released an outbreak of violence between Hindus and Muslims, that extended to these populations in Bangladesh.

• The creation of Independent nations in South Asia brought with it divergent claims to the territory they believe is rightfully theirs.

• The Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir has been the site of tremendous conflict and violence between India and Pakistan, who have fought two wars over the area since they gained independence from Great Britain in1947.

• The scale of the conflict has increased dramatically with the potential of nuclear weapons playing a part in the struggle.

• In his recent trip to South Asia, US President Clinton met with leaders in India and Pakistan to try to diffuse tensions around this issue.

• Entitlement to the waters of the Ganges River is a long-running area of dispute between India and Bangladesh. India currently controls water distribution from the Ganges to Bangladesh via the Farraka Barrages, which it constructed for that purpose.

• Mutually beneficial use of water resources is a key issue in the region, where flood management, irrigation, river basin development and the generation of hydro-power are critical to its countries.

Congratulations on completing the first unit of The Hunger Project's online briefing program on South Asia. This unit was designed to build a foundation for the challenging work in the months to come, and the launching of The Hunger Project's new South Asia Initiative.   

• Most remaining hunger — 50% of world's hunger is in South Asia.

• Most populous region — 1.3 billion people, one-fifth of humanity.

• Densely populated, and growing fast — India will be world's most populous country by 2025.

• Rural lifestyle — nearly 3/4 of people live in rural areas.

• India and Bangladesh — 85 percent of the region's people live in these two countries.

• Ancient history — 5000 years of tradition and cultural continuity.

• Cultural advances — have enriched the whole world.

• Seven distinct nations — with common cultural, political, and economic characteristics.

• National conflicts — territorial, ethnic and religious.

• Highly stratified societies — women are lowest on the social scale.

• Commitment to democracy — India is the world's largest.

• Dual economy — industrial growth, world's largest middle class, and persistent poverty.