The Centre’s annual reports on economic and social policy issues in South Asia are widely acclaimed by governments, civil society, and the media, both in the region and throughout the world:

Human Development in South Asia 1997:

Described as ‘an eye-opener to policy-makers’, the 1997 Report amasses a wealth of shocking evidence which indicates that South Asia is emerging as the world’s most deprived region. The Report provides a comprehensive assessment of the challenge of development faced by South Asian countries, and examines why the region has failed to match the development accomplishments of other Asian countries.
 
The Report proposes a concrete fifteen-year plan of action to enable all SAARC countries to provide universal primary education, basic health care for all, safe drinking water for the entire population, adequate nutrition for malnourished children, family planning services for at least 80 percent of married couples, and access to credit facilities for the poor.

The Report also assembles a wealth of statistical material on all aspects of human development in South Asia, compiled from a diverse breadth of sources.

Human Development in South Asia 1998:
The Education Challenge

The 1998 Report (The Education Challenge) focuses on the critical role of education in accelerating human progress in South Asia. The Report stresses that despite the fact that South Asia has emerged as the illiteracy capital the world, universal primary education for all is not a utopian vision but an achievable reality.

Alongside detailed strategies for raising the quantity and quality of primary education, closing gender gaps, providing a better teaching force, and creating relevant technical skills for expanding domestic and global markets, the Report presents a concrete plan of action for providing universal primary education within the next five years at a recurrent cost of an additional 0.3 percent of the combined GNP of South Asia. The strategies required for mobilizing political support, as well as adequate financial resources, for such a plan are also examined in depth. The Report also contains extensive and authoritative data on education and human development in South Asia inan easy-to-read, comparative format.

Human Development in South Asia 1999:
The Crisis of Governance

South Asia is facing a crisis of governance, which if left unchecked could halt the region’s democratic progress, and the economic and social well being of its teeming masses. South Asia, containing nearly one-fourth of humanity, is characterized by governments that represent the poor but aid the rich; taxation that is insufficient and regressive, and expenditures that are misdirected and ineffective. In addition millions of dollars are transferred each year out of the region through corruption. South Asia today features societies that assert the rights of some but perpetuate the exclusion of others.

Human Development in South Asia 1999 (The Crisis of Governance) analyses governance issues from the perspective of political, economic, social and civic dimensions, provides an in-depth analysis of the phenomenon of corruption, and advocates a concrete and realistic reform agenda necessary for promoting ‘humane governance’ in the region. In this regard, the report introduces a whole new index that ranks countries based on their performance in the spheres of economic, political and civic governance.

South Asia’s challenge is to build national coalitions supporting policy reforms that seek to: redistribute power through devolution and greater participation in decision making, improve the transparency and responsiveness of formal governing institutions, encourage greater civic participation, limit wasteful spending, reduce internal violence and corruption, stop electoral fraud and criminalization of politics, empower local governments and people’s organizations, and mobilize adequate resources for meeting basic human needs.

The Report contains extensive and authoritative data on governance and human development in South Asia, presented in an easy-to-read, comparative format. The conclusions of the report are further strengthened by the inclusion of a South Asia wide Citizen’s Survey. Despite their limited nature, the results of the survey enhance the overall message of the report by presenting the opinions of the masses in South Asia.
 

Human Development in South Asia 2000: 
The Gender Question   (Click for an overview)

Human Development in South Asia 2001: 
Globalisation and Human Development   (Click for an overview)

Human Development in South Asia 2002: 
Agriculture and Rural Development   (Click for an overview)

Human Development in South Asia 2003: 
The Employment Challenge   (Click for an overview)