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A blog to promote dialog on development in South Asia

About us

About us

This blog is maintained by the South Asia Region of the World Bank Group. Its goal is to exchange ideas on how to end poverty in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

Water Resources

Gambling on a Sinking Nation

Submitted by Benjamin Crow on Thu, 11/19/2009 - 17:23

The Republic of Maldives is the smallest country in all of Asia. It consists of 1,190 islands in 20 atolls spread picturesquely over 900 km in the Indian Ocean. Of these, 199 islands are inhabited and have a population of slightly over 300,000 people. The highest point of land is 2 meters or about 6 feet above sea level. Rising seas caused by global warming will simply overrun the islands, and the Maldives will cease to exist.

Mohamed Nasheed has been President of the Maldives for just over a year. During his tenure, he has been very outspoken about raising awareness of the potential disaster facing his country and his people if the world does not wake up – and wake up quickly – to the looming dangers of climate change. At the Summit on Climate Change convened by the United Nations in September 2009, President Nasheed pleaded with the world community that “…if things go as business as usual, we will not live; we will die. Our country will not exist.”

24 Hours in the Life of Some Horizontal Learners

Submitted by Mark Ellery on Tue, 10/13/2009 - 09:12

Co-authored with Santanu Lahiri

In the face of families whose relatives have just died of arsenic poisoning advocating for institutional reform can seem a touch inane.

On the flip side, an urgent response to provide clean water or some relief to those affected is often neither sustainable nor scalable.

During a visit to Chapai Nawabganj we discovered that the Horizontal Learning Program enables rapid response - without undermining a sound policy position.

While visiting Meherpur municipality in Bangladesh last week, we learnt that 15 people had recently died in the nearby Amjhupi Union Parishad (UP) from arsenicosis. In a village meeting with the District Commissioner and UP Chairman we discovered that the citizens were drinking from both wells marked green (safe) as well as red (unsafe) because they were not confident that either of these sources had been correctly marked.

We were overwhelmed with the need for an immediate response but aware that any top-down solution could at best be partial. However, because of the Horizontal Learning Program (initiated by Union Parishads, facilitated by the Government of Bangladesh and supported by development partners) we were aware that local solutions to this problem had been developed by other Union Parishads.

At around 11 pm that night, it was resolved that a three member team from Amjhupi Union Parishad would join us to visit the nearby Ranihati Union Parishad of the neighboring Chapai Nawabganj Upazila (sub-district) to see how they had solved this problem. The solution was surprisingly simple, low cost and comprehensive.

World Bank Provides Four Loans Worth Over $4.3 Billion to India

Submitted by Joe Qian on Wed, 09/23/2009 - 14:49

The World Bank approved four loans worth $4.345 billion dollars yesterday, which is the second largest volume of lending to a single country in a year.

The goal of the four projects is to contribute to improving India's infrastructure and help bolster the country's response to the global economic and financial crisis and lay the foundations for stronger growth in the future.

The financial package consists of:

-Banking Sector Support: $2 billion
-Support for India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited: $1.195 billion
-The Fifth Power Sector Support Project: $1 billion
-The Andhra Pradesh Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project: $150 million

For more information and to watch an interview with India's Country Director Roberto Zagha, please check out the feature story.

Thirsting for Social Change: Women, Agriculture, and a Stream of Opportunity

Submitted by Brittney Davidson on Fri, 07/31/2009 - 14:55

The cows were judging me. The unforgiving Indian summer sun was beating down on the crop field where I stood, and though I desperately wanted to listen the soft-spoken villager who was explaining the trials and accomplishments of his agriculturally centered village, my attention was pulled to the cattle several meters away. Perhaps I was dehydrated, perhaps a little woozy, but I am not proud to say that I could have sworn those grazing beasts were eyeing me, watching me wither under the intense gaze of the mid-afternoon sun. “Weakling,” They seemed to say.

And perhaps I was.

From my brief time spent in this rural, South Indian village, I had seen people deal with far more than the uncomfortable heat. These villagers like many throughout the rural areas of South Asia, worked long and tedious hours in their fields. Heat was not simply a discomfort, but could mean less water, less grass to feed the cattle, fewer crops, and, as a result, the inability to sustain spending on education, healthcare, and sanitation.

South Asian Enigma: Why has high economic growth not reduced malnutrition?

Submitted by Sadiq Ahmed on Thu, 02/12/2009 - 11:05

South Asia has the highest rates of malnutrition and the largest numbers of undernourished children in the world! Poverty is often the underlying cause of child malnutrition, and while South Asia has recently experienced impressive economic growth and reduced poverty, this has not translated into improved nutrition. The region fares worse than any other developing region including Sub-Saharan Africa (45% vs. 28%, respectively).

The Silver Lining

Submitted by Shanta Devarajan on Fri, 04/04/2008 - 13:27

In late February of every year, I get ready to be disappointed by the budget speech of the Indian Finance Minister. The reason is that, despite ample evidence that there are serious problems with the productivity of public spending in health, education and other areas, the budget speech always announces an increase in spending on these sectors, with little attempt—if any—at making that spending more efficient at reaching poor people.

Water, climate change, and the poor

Submitted by Praful Patel on Tue, 03/04/2008 - 09:27

Four hundred million people--if it were a country, it would be the third largest in the world--rely on the Ganges River and its tributaries for their livelihood.    Six thousand rivers provide a perennial source of irrigation and power to one of the world’s most densely populated and poorest areas.  The Himalayas, “the water tower of the Ganges,” provide 45 percent of the annual flow.  These facts represent the potential payoffs to the populations of Bangladesh, India and Nepal as well as the threat that climate change poses to poor and already &lt