SOUTH ASIA NEIGHBOURS ADVANCING REGIONAL INTEGRATION, COOPERATION & ENGAGEMENT IN SOUTH ASIA Mandakini Kaul and Nikita Singla, Editors © 2023 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, The World Bank 1818 H Street NW Washington, DC 20433 (USA) All rights reserved This work is a product of the staff of the World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The material in this work is subject to copyright. Because the World Bank encourages dissemination of its knowledge, this work may be reproduced, in whole or in part, for non commercial purposes as long as full attribution to this work is given. ADVANCING REGIONAL INTEGRATION, COOPERATION & ENGAGEMENT IN SOUTH ASIA Mandakini Kaul, Series Editor and Nikita Singla, Editor A key objective of the World Bank’s South Asia Regional Integration, Cooperation and Engagement (RICE) approach is broadening evidence-based communication and outreach activities that will help strengthen the case for RICE and generate domestic demand. The ‘Good Neighbours’ series showcases successful cross-border stories demonstrating regional cooperation to build support for regionalism in South Asia. Acknowledgments 6 Foreword 7 CONTENTS About the Contributors 8 1 Overview: The Good Neighbours of South Asia 11 Mandakini Kaul & Nikita Singla 2 Business across Borders: India-Nepal links thrive & grow 17 Sagar Prasai 3 Abiding by nature, not national borders: Institution building in the Himalayas 25 Aditya Valiathan Pillai 4 Medicating relations: Seeking healing within South Asia 35 Nitin Koshi 5 Small islands, big impact: Building climate resilience in the Indian Ocean through cross-border scientific collaboration 47 Nalaka Gunawardene 6 Breaking Taboos and Transforming Lives: India’s Pad Man to Sri Lanka’s Pad Women 57 Smriti Daniel 7 The Kartarpur Corridor: A corridor to peace in South Asia 65 Aurangzaib Khan 8 Himal: How a regional magazine transformed independent journalism in South Asia over 35 years 87 Nirvana Bhandary 9 Thinking Beyond Borders: South Asia’s budding economists unite since 2004 95 Oishee Kundu 10 Fine cotton & designer fashion: Connecting Pakistani exporters to Indian markets 99 Samavia Batool & Vaqar Ahmed 11 Harmonizing relations: Platforms for music in South Asia 101 Nitin Koshi Acknowledgments The editors, Mandakini Kaul and Nikita Singla, would like to thank Cécile Fruman, South Asia Director, Regional Integration and Engagement, World Bank for her valuable guidance and support throughout the process. We thank the external contributors for the close partnership in documenting the ten case studies of the Good Neighbours series - Aditya Valiathan Pillai, Auranzaib Khan, Nalaka Gunawardene, Nirvana Bhandary, Nitin Koshi, Oishee Kundu, Sagar Prasai, Samavia Batool, Smriti Daniel, and Vaqar Ahmed. We acknowledge all the counterparts who graciously made time for interviews and provided information during the writing of the case studies. These include officials at Charali Snakebite Management Center, Dabur Nepal, Fortis Healthcare, Foundation for Environment, Climate and Technology (FECT), Himal Southasian, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara, Reliance Spinning Mills, Seher, and Unilevel Nepal. We are grateful to the participants and organizers of the South Asia Economics Students’ Meet (SAESM), and to Amb. Nirupama Rao (former Foreign Secretary of India), Dr. Sanjib Kumar Sharma (a snakebite researcher and clinician who teaches at Nepal’s BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences), Jazaya Hassadeen, Renu Vij (who heads international sales for Fortis healthcare group), Sanjeev Bhargava (Founder of Seher), Yogesh Patel (who heads Fortis Healthcare’s internet-based sales operations) and fashion designers in Pakistan (who prefer anonymity) for sharing their key insights with us. We thank the World Bank’s South Asia External Communications team, especially Elena Karaban, Julie Ann Vorman and Pawan Bali, for their editorial support throughout the process. Namita Vij supported the team during the entire cycle of production. Finally, thanks are due to Martin Raiser and Cécile Fruman for writing the Foreword, and to the eminent South Asians – Dr. Abid Suleri, Ms. Kasturi Chellaraja Wilson, Amb. Maleeha Lodhi, Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai, Ms. Nandita Baruah, Amb. Nirupama Rao, Mr. Pema Gyamtsho, Dr. Rubana Huq, Mr. Sujeev Shakya and Dr. Swarnim Waglé - who shared their thoughts and introduced the case studies. 6 Foreword Nearly one-quarter of the world’s population resides Good Neighbours: Advancing Regional Integration, in South Asia, but only a small share may have ever Cooperation and Engagement in South Asia come across people from the neighboring countries showcases remarkable yet often-overlooked in the region. Bringing these diverse 1.9 billion instances of South Asians cohesively building individuals together is not easy. neighborly intra-regional relations. Each of these 10 case studies uniquely complements aspects of However, we remain optimistic. Around the world, the World Bank’s South Asia Regional Integration, regional integration efforts have made progress in Cooperation and Engagement (RICE) approach, recent decades, sometimes against the odds. African which aims to enable economic connectivity, countries have recently considerably liberalized trade reduce vulnerabilities and build resilience, and among each other and are realizing several cross- invest in human capital. This collection, written border investments. The Asian Pacific region has and edited by South Asians, makes a strong case signed a new regional trade agreement—Regional for drawing on the local sensibilities, linguistic Comprehensive Economic Partnership— amongst similarities, historical interrelations, and cultural 15 countries which account for about 30 percent connections that have long linked the region’s of the world’s population and 30 percent of global peoples in order to advance their shared gross domestic product. The European Union has aspirations, in a sustainable and socially inclusive strengthened its crisis response capacity in the face manner. of severe economic shocks. Neighbors, by themselves, are merely those who South Asia can seek inspiration in these examples. are near. Good neighbors, usually, are those that Once part of an integrated geographic, social, are endeared. Neighborly relations between South political, and economic entity, South Asians still have Asian countries offer an opportunity for collective many things in common even if political dialogue and prosperity, peace and stability, which would be economic integration remain challenging amongst in the interest of the rest of the world as well. This certain countries. Building on these commonalities publication is thus not just for South Asia. It is also for and enhancing engagement between South Asians all those outside the region who follow its progress is vital to build bonds, generate goodwill, and foster a and see the potential for a more integrated and strong sense of community—creating what we like to resilient #OneSouthAsia. call #OneSouthAsia. Martin Raiser Cécile Fruman Vice President, South Asia Region Director, Regional Integration, South Asia Region The World Bank The World Bank 7 About the Contributors Editors: Mandakini Kaul is the World Bank’s Regional Coordinator for South Asia Regional Integration and Engagement and is based in New Delhi. She works on issues of regional cooperation, economic connectivity, and engendered approaches in traditionally gender-blind sectors among countries in South Asia and with neighboring regions in Central Asia, East Asia and beyond. She leads high-level policy-influencing dialogue and knowledge platforms with government and non-government, and manages regional relationships with key counterparts in government, civil society, development agencies, private sector institutions and chambers of commerce, and think tanks. Most recently, she authored the World Bank’s Approach to South Asia Regional Integration, Cooperation, and Engagement and was co-author of the World Bank’s flagship report India Systematic Country Diagnostic. She read Economics at St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, and at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom. Nikita Singla is Associate Director at New Delhi-based Bureau of Research on Industry and Economic Fundamentals (BRIEF) and is Consultant, Regional Integration and Engagement, South Asia at the World Bank. She has also been a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies under the President of Azerbaijan based in Baku, and has worked with the French Agency for Development (AFD) in Sri Lanka. Her specialization and passion lie in regional cooperation, trade facilitation and logistics, economic integration and overseas development assistance in South Asia. Some of her recent publications include ‘Unilateral Decisions Bilateral Losses’ focusing on the fall-out post suspension of trade between India and Pakistan, and ‘National Time Release Study’ focusing on the annual assessment of cargo clearance at ports in India. She is an engineer from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and studied International Economic Policy at Sciences Po Paris. Case Study Authors: Aditya Valiathan Pillai is an associate fellow with the Initiative for Climate, Energy and Environment (ICEE) at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR). He writes about the politics and governance of climate change in India and South Asia. His current work focuses on building systems for climate adaptation in India across multiple areas of vulnerability. He also studies climate governance at the South Asian scale, with prior work spanning trans-boundary river governance, regional electricity trade arrangements, and grain trade. He previously worked on adaptation in South Asia’s three Himalayan trans-boundary river basins – the Indus, Ganga, and Brahmaputra – with a focus on institution-building as a programme officer at The Asia Foundation. Auranzaib Khan is a journalist and journalism trainer based in Peshawar, Pakistan. With 25 years of experience in research, active journalism, media training and development, he has worked with press 8 clubs and journalism schools in the region to strengthen newsroom practices through running practical journalism programmes. As a media trainer, he has trained hundreds of journalists all over Pakistan, with focus on the border regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan. Over the years, he has remained engaged with press clubs and journalists’ unions on issues of freedom of expression and safety in journalism. He has also researched and written extensively on media and human rights issues, moderated radio programmes, conferences and seminars all over the country. His stories have appeared in the Herald – a magazine dedicated to long-form, investigative reporting – and the English newspaper Dawn. Nalaka Gunawardene, trained as a science writer, is widely experienced as a journalist across print, broadcast and web outlets in Sri Lanka and internationally. Over the past 30 years, he has been a news reporter, feature writer, science editor, TV and radio host, foreign correspondent and national level columnist. After leaving active journalism, he collaborated with various development organizations, research institutes and the UN agencies as a communications specialist. Since 2010, he works as a freelance media and communications consultant, working on media development, journalist training and communication strategies for the development sector. Nirvana Bhandary is a freelance writer, interdisciplinary artist and digital activist based in Kathmandu. She is the founder of The Feminism Project Nepal - a writer’s collective and digital platform for feminist storytelling. Her work focuses primarily on feminism, sexuality and community mobilisation with young Nepali women. Nirvana’s written works include essays, articles and opinion editorials that explore themes of identity, gender, cultural relativism and conscious travel. Nitin Koshi is an economist and journalist by training, and a communicator by trade. He has been freelancing as a writer and editor for more than a decade, and is currently based in New Delhi. He has worked with The Economist Group, The Hindu Group, Himal Southasian, The India Today Group, The Indian Express Group and The Deccan Chronicle Group, among several other publications. Oishee Kundu is a researcher at Y Lab (Cardiff University) and is involved with the Innovative Future Services (Infuse) programme in the Cardiff Capital Region. Her research focusses on the possibilities and challenges of using public procurement for strategic purposes like innovation, sustainability, and social well-being. She studied economics at Delhi University and pursued her Masters in International Economic Policy at Sciences Po Paris. Her master’s thesis was awarded the 2017 Defence Economics Prize by the French Ministry of Defence. She completed her PhD at the University of Manchester in 2021 on the topic “Public procurement and innovation: is defence different?” She is also South Asia Economics Students’ Meet (SAESM) alumnus from 2014. Sagar Prasai is a free-lance consultant based in Kathmandu. He was formerly The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative in India. He has worked for UNDP as District Development Adviser for two years before pursuing Masters’ Degree in Urban Planning from University of Hawaii in USA and obtaining Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Degree in Regional Planning from University of Illinois in USA. 9 Samavia Batool is a former Senior Research Associate at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and is currently pursuing education in rural development from the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. She studied MSc in Economics from Quaid-e-Azam University, Pakistan. Smriti Daniel, in over a decade as an award-winning journalist, has followed her diverse interests across a number of subjects ranging from the arts to science and health reportage. Her long form pieces have explored the intersections of culture, politics, development and history. Smriti was a Falling Walls Science Journalism Fellow (2016), a Gabriel Garcia Márquez Cultural Journalism Fellow (2017) and a two-time winner of the Feature Writer of the Year Award from the Editors Guild of Sri Lanka. She has seen her work featured in Al Jazeera, Reuters, Motherboard, The Atlantic’s CityLab, and The Sunday Times. Vaqar Ahmed is a former civil servant and currently Joint Executive Director, Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI). He has been a part of the government’s Advisory Panel of Economists in 2008, Task Force on Private Sector Development in 2009, Working Group on Macroeconomic Framework for 10th Five Year Plan (2010-15) and Working Group on Social Sector Development for Vision 2025. He is also a visiting faculty member and researcher at different institutions, including University of Le Havre in France, National University of Ireland, Quaid-e-Azam University Islamabad and Pakistan Institute of Trade and Development. His research work focuses on inclusive growth, trade, public finance and sustainable development. He holds a PhD in economics. 10 Chapter - 1 Overview Mandakini Kaul and Nikita Singla Overview: Good Neighbours of South Asia – Mandakini Kaul and Nikita Singla 2023 Regional Cooperation in Regional cooperation in South Asia has several challenges but at the same time the possibilities South Asia are compelling. For example, World Bank research As development practitioners, we habitually analyze finds that trade between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the low levels of intra-regional cooperation in South and Nepal (BBIN countries) grew six-fold between Asia and highlight how trade, connectivity, and 2005 and 2019 and the unexploited potential is infrastructure within these countries are amongst massive with an estimated growth rate of 93 percent the lowest in the world. However, what we often for Bangladesh, 50 percent for India, and 76 percent overlook are the small but significant ways in which for Nepal.1 Similarly, the implementation of BBIN people of the region come together, usually with a Motor Vehicles Act and full transport integration great deal of innovation and fortitude and mostly between Bangladesh and India could potentially in the face of significant barriers. For instance, increase the national income in Bangladesh by hundreds of students convening at a one-of-its-kind around 17 percent, and for India by 8 percent2. South Asia meet, or a symphony orchestra that aims Based on detailed econometric models3, estimates at harmonizing a South Asian cultural dialogue, or suggest that annual intra-regional trade in goods an innovative social enterprise attempting to break in South Asia could be as much as USD 67 billion, taboos that are common to the region. almost three times the current trade value of USD 23 billion. Fostering an authorizing environment for regional integration and cooperation is a slow & incremental More than 250 million people in South Asia still live process. South Asian countries enjoy geographical without access to electricity–roughly a quarter of proximity, cultural similarity, common languages, the global unserved population.4 Power shortages and a shared history. Translating their individual and inefficiencies cost the region significantly– growth ambitions into tangible pan-regional around 4-7 percent of its total GDP.5 Regional gains requires momentum on the ground and cooperation can expand hydropower and clean a recognition that the regional can significantly energy capacity three-fold by 2040, from 64 GW contribute to and enhance the domestic. in 2015 to 170.2 GW in 20406 and the benefits of unrestricted cross-border electricity trade in South Conflict usually takes precedence over Asia between 2015–40 could be about USD 226 cooperation in public discourse and billion, that is USD 9 billion+ per year. This estimated examples of people to people connect, value benefit is even higher now.7 Unrestricted cross chain linkages, business connections, and border electricity trade has the potential to reduce trading partnerships tend to get overlooked. regional power sector carbon dioxide emissions by 12 8 percent, mainly from substitution of coal-based and cooperation that could be backed up with generation with hydro-based generation. 8 evidence & documented for posterity. Some stories led to dead ends while other were hard to verify; Trade and connectivity between the two largest ultimately, we were able to narrow down on ten countries of South Asia, India and Pakistan, has examples of successful South Asian cooperation. been for years an interplay between politics and During the course of curating these path breaking economics. Bilateral trade has immense potential initiatives, we met a range of stakeholders – some to spur development in both countries, despite supportive, many skeptical – and hopefully evoked a complex political economy landscape. Both some degree of conviction among them about economies are facing significant inflationary regionalism in South Asia. pressures. This has been exacerbated by the recent devastating monsoon rains in Pakistan, impacting An important part of our endeavor was to pursue mainly Sindh and Balochistan, and also fertile areas a collaborative approach by working with eminent of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Commodity experts from within the region to document these trade could be an important means to stabilize inspiring stories. This enabled us to establish crucial domestic market prices and restore employment partnerships with a diverse set of champions of for people in the border areas. However, even small regionalism - youth representatives, think tanks, beginnings like re-initiation of limited bilateral trade academics and journalists - to support the capacity solely depends on the political inclination of both and appetite for working on issues of regional the sides. cooperation in South Asia. Good Neighbours The Ten Case Studies A key objective of the World Bank’s South Asia The ten Good Neighbours stories that we present Regional Integration, Cooperation and Engagement are as diverse as the region they represent. We call (RICE) Approach is to generate domestic demand them case studies with the hope they will be studied, for a regional narrative through evidence-based understood, replicated and eventually scaled up communication and outreach. across the region. It is in this context that we envisaged the ‘Good 1. The first case study describes three “islands” Neighbours’ series – to showcase successful of success in cross-border business examples of cross-border cooperation that collaboration between India and Nepal and demonstrate that regionalism is possible and makes the case for the potential to scale-up even replicable in South Asia. All it requires Indian investments in Nepal, particularly in is some initiative and a whole lot of fortitude! the manufacturing sector. It argues that three pre-conditions appear to matter – first, a With this background in mind, we began an deliberate policy effort by both countries to arduous process of sifting through informal retain the openings created by liberal trade anecdotes, interviews, and documents to identify regimes of the 1990s, second, the ability to unique stories of cross-border engagement capture quality-driven consumers across the 13 border and, third, the ability to increase and 4. South Asia’s vulnerability to climate change leverage domestic market share to hedge -related disasters cannot be overstated. The against policy instability in international fourth case study elaborates a successful trade. collaboration that has involved climate researchers at the Foundation for Environment, 2. The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Climate and Technology (FECT), a non-profit Development (ICIMOD) is a unique regional research institute in Sri Lanka, working closely institution, based in Kathmandu that has on its with Maldivian scientists, environment officials, board eight Himalayan nations – Afghanistan, resource managers and educators for years. Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, The institute’s multi-disciplinary approach Nepal and Pakistan. It has managed not only brings together experts in meteorology, to function but grow in 35 years and lead a hydrology and oceanography to study massive network of research organizations climate-change trends and how these impact across these eight countries, coordinating and the northern Indian Ocean region covering Sri disseminating crucial scientific evidence on Lanka and Maldives, and, in some cases, all of the region’s vulnerabilities to climate change. South Asia. It’s experience highlights the importance of a distinctly apolitical outlook focused on 5. Taboos and myths around menstruation cross technological application and rational policy borders in South Asia. Some degree of period planning. poverty—a lack of access to sanitary products, menstrual hygiene education, toilets, hand 3. Our third case study covers cross-border washing facilities, and waste management—is medical cooperation in South Asia, focusing relatively common across South Asia. Women on the Charali snakebite treatment center that and girls in these countries occupy distinct provides critical and timely treatment against landscapes, eat different food, speak different a tropical disease that primarily bites at the languages, follow different faiths, and yet share health of South Asia’s rural populations, and common experiences when it comes to their Fortis Healthcare that uses its size, reach and periods. Our fifth case study tell the inspirational medical proficiency to provide quality care story of how an Indian social entrepreneur built to people across the region. These are by no one of the world’s first low-cost machines to means the only examples of cross-border produce sanitary towels, and how his simple medical cooperation in South Asia. Following invention inspired an ongoing partnership the COVID-19 outbreak, reciprocity between between India and Sri Lanka that will soon South Asian countries in providing health expand to Nepal and Afghanistan. assistance helped protect millions in the region, evincing how a readiness to go to one’s 6. Political wrangling often eclipses efforts neighbours in times of need and an inclination aimed at strengthening ties between India to take care of one another can build much and Pakistan, but little in recent times speaks camaraderie, trust and appreciation between to the triumph of goodwill between the two South Asians. countries like the opening of the Kartarpur 14 Corridor, a passage that connects India to one restrictions mean travelling a circuitous route of the holiest Sikh worship sites in Pakistan. Our for a neighboring country. sixth case study documents how the coming together of families, friends, acquaintances 9. Our ninth case study describes how clothing and even strangers via initiatives like the and apparel are more than just products Kartarpur Corridor illustrates how the region’s and fashion trade has the ability to bring peoples, if given a fair chance, time and neighbours together . Pakistan and northern opportunity, realize their shared cultures, India share similarities in cultural traditions, identities and histories that have survived time climate – and fashion tastes. The newspaper and division, and re-constitute their heritage headline ‘India goes nuts over Pakistani textile as South Asians. products’ during Pakistan’s first ever exhibition in New Delhi foreshadows the business 7. Our seventh case study explains how Himal, potential if market forces were allowed to a regional magazine has been playing an function unhindered. instrumental role in transforming independent journalism in South Asia for over 35 years. The 10. An orchestra requires cooperation, banding magazine strives to be a neutral, non-partisan together diverse instruments in harmonious voice of reason in a geographical region that unison, so that the whole is greater than the has seen numerous civil wars, colonization, sum of its parts. Our tenth case study describes neo-colonization and terrorism over the last the efforts of two path-breaking platforms, few decades. There is a strong ideological the South Asian Symphony Orchestra and base to the magazine that is not just about the South Asian Band Festival, in using music to articles they publish. What is most powerful is promote harmony and peace in the region. the ‘Southasian’ ethos and passion to promote the ‘Southasian’ identity. Regional cooperation is not a low-hanging fruit, and requires vision, innovation, and above all 8. The South Asia Economic Students Meet perseverance to bring together people, businesses, (SAESM) annually brings together nearly a nations. This is particularly relevant given the hundred South Asian economics students for polycrisis facing the world today which makes it one week to debate issues of regional economic imperative for us to work together by pooling in development. For most participants, it is their resources, ideas and effort. first exposure to regional cooperation and often leads to opportunities with peers for future These successful examples of cross border research collaboration. For many students, cooperation have the ability to renew our crossing the border is a first-hand lesson optimism in the spirit of #OneSouthAsia, about the challenges of regional cooperation and hopefully provide impetus to much - visas can be difficult to obtain and travel more by many more in the region. 15 ENDNOTES 1. https://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/what-will-it-take-connect-bangladesh-bhutan- india-nepal-bbin-sub-region 2. Herrera Dappe, Matias; Kunaka, Charles. 2021. Connecting to Thrive : Challenges and Opportunities of Transport Integration in Eastern South Asia. International Development in Focus;. Washington, DC: World Bank. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/34916 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO. 3. Kathuria, Sanjay. 2018. A Glass Half Full : The Promise of Regional Trade in South Asia. South Asia Development Forum;. Washington, DC: World Bank. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank. org/handle/10986/30246 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO. 4. Zhang, Fan. 2019. In the Dark: How Much Do Power Sector Distortions Cost South Asia? South Asia Development Forum. Washington, DC: World Bank. 5. Ibid. 6. Timilsina, Govinda R.; Toman, Michael; Karacsonyi, Jorge; Diego, Luca de Tena. 2015. How Much Could South Asia Benefit from Regional Electricity Cooperation and Trade?. World Bank. 7. Ibid. 8. Ibid. 16 Chapter - 2 Business across borders Sagar Prasai Policymaking in India tends to assume that the country’s sizeable consumption can propel enough growth and widespread prosperity. India’s market is undoubtedly large, but only accounts for about 4% of global GDP. Despite tremendous manufacturing capability across sectors, India’s integration into global value chains remains superficial. India’s abundance of human capital and raw material, provides a supportive and conducive setting for developing its manufacturing potential. Only large-scale investment in manufacturing can address the employment needs of the 12-15 million young people Ms. Nandita entering India’s job market each year. The government is providing Baruah production-linked incentives to spur domestic manufacturing in India Country traditional export-intensive sectors, like textiles, pharmaceuticals, Representative, The Asia automotive, steel and white goods, and in sectors of the future, like Foundation solar panels, telecommunications, advanced-cell batteries, food processing and electronics products. To attract investments and optimize economic returns from this initiative, product-based value-chain integration with neighboring countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka is important. This can deepen economic integration in the South Asian neighborhood, contribute to the region’s economic health, and minimize risks of social and political instability. This case study showcases a framework for such integration by highlighting successful business partnerships between India and Nepal, and identifying areas for further expansion. Business across borders: India-Nepal links thrive and grow – Sagar Prasai 2021 Economic integration in South Asia has moved at a Unilever Nepal and Dabur Nepal are multi-nationals very slow pace. Compared to other global regions, controlled by parent companies in India.1 Reliance South Asia lags with intraregional investments, Spinning Mills is a wholly Nepali-owned company connectivity infrastructure, and simpler digital that imports raw material from India, and exports procedures to help shipments cross borders. These finished products to India and other countries. costly non-tariff barriers are a key impediment to Reliance Spinning Mills and Dabur Nepal are among expanded trade among the eight nations of the Nepal’s top 10 annual exporters. Unilever Nepal region. recently turned its focus to the domestic market after years of significant exports to India. Still, there are islands of success in cross-border businesses that demonstrate the potential to scale up Indian investments in Nepal, especially in manufacturing. The experiences of two consumer Dabur Nepal - capitalizing on products companies, Dabur Nepal and Unilever liberal trade regimes Nepal, and yarn maker Reliance Spinning Mills have Dabur Nepal Private Limited (Dabur Nepal) was several things in common. First, they were attracted established in 1989 with majority ownership held by business-friendly policies that grew out of by a subsidiary of Dabur India Limited and 2.5 liberalized trade regimes in the 1990s. Second, the percent owned by a Nepali investor. In 1992, Dabur companies were able to capture quality-driven Nepal began operating with an annual turnover of buyers across the border. Lastly, management of Nepalese rupees (NRs) 5.3 million. By 2019, Dabur all three companies grew domestic market share Nepal’s annual turnover was NRs. 10 billion, 60 to hedge against policy instability in international percent from exports. trade. Dabur made its initial investment in Nepal The companies share other features. Each to process Himalayan medicinal herbs for has operated for more than two decades and personal care and health supplement products, demonstrated resilience amid a civil conflict in the including Ayurvedic medicines. In addition to early 2000s, years of unreliable electricity supplies, collecting herbs from the wild, the company built and a 2015 earthquake followed by civil unrest greenhouses to establish a bigger source of raw because of imposition of an economic blockade in material that allowed it to ramp up production Terai region that borders India. All three companies and begin exporting to India, which was in the have manufacturing plants in Terai. midst of liberalizing trade regulations. 19 India’s 1992 export-import policy dropped a Trade Agreement (SAFTA) to promote intraregional requirement for a license to trade most goods, trade. However, Bangladesh imposes a prohibitive except for a short list of specific items. India and tariff of 105 percent on imported juices to protect Nepal amended their trade agreement to reduce domestic juice makers. to 50 percent the requirement for domestic content in goods and to allow certification of content by a At home in Nepal, the company faces unstable designated Nepal institution. trade and tax policies. In 2018, Nepal doubled to 30 percent its import duty on sugar, a key ingredient All three actions – scrapping import licenses in for Real Juice. Nepal later introduced an import India, reducing domestic content requirements, quota on sugar to limit cheaper foreign shipments. and making it easier to certify domestic content Such restrictions tend to create shortfalls, - opened the doors for Nepal manufacturers to hoarding, and prices that affect company profit target India’s big market. margins or export competitiveness. Dabur Nepal moved quickly to capitalize on the policy changes with its personal care and health products. A new opportunity came when Dabur Unilever Nepal - leveraging noticed Indian consumers were shifting from domestic market to hedge carbonated, sugary drinks to healthier alternatives with natural fruit juices. In 1996, Dabur Nepal for changes in the trade launched a juice plant in Nepal, then one of the regulations largest in South Asia with a capacity of 6,000 liters Unilever Nepal (UNL) began in 1992 with a per hour. Two decades later, the company’s juice manufacturing unit in Makwanpur and an initial brand, with 30 variants, accounted for one-fifth of investment of NRs. 70.37 million.3 Eighty percent of Dabur’s total revenue2 and the company added UNL equity is held by Hindustan Unilever Limited, production in India and Sri Lanka. Today, Dabur 5 percent is held by a private holding company, Nepal supplies India’s northern markets and its and remaining 15 percent of shares are traded on sales volume is so significant in Nepal that Real the Nepal Stock Exchange. UNL, like Dabur Nepal, Juice is often listed by name in the nation’s top 10 took advantage of liberalized trade policies in the export items. The company buys raw materials for 1990s to build its business. Although the company juices from Israel, Holland, China, and India, and at one point exported about 40 percent of its buys packaging materials from India, Thailand, products to India, UNL today is focused on Nepal’s and Singapore. domestic market. While favorable trade policies helped Dabur Nepal That shift – the ability to target the domestic in the 1990s, other trade issues limit or disrupt market when changes in international trade how companies do business in South Asia. For rules make it harder to export – is a big factor example, Dabur Nepal would like to sell its popular in UNL’s success in Nepal. juice products to consumers in neighboring countries, such as fast-growing Bangladesh. Both UNL sells consumer products for home care, Bangladesh and Nepal signed the South Asian Free personal care, food, and refreshments. In Nepal, it 20 produces 35 products that include Lifebuoy soap, Nepal’s withdrawal of quota-free exports and Sunsilk shampoo, Lux soap, Fair & Lovely face changes in import tariffs on certain raw materials. cream, and Ariel and Surf laundry detergents. Raw materials for the products are imported from India, The shift in focus – from exports to domestic sales Japan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and China. In 2018, – required two big changes. UNL re-engineered its UNL’s total revenue from operations was NRs. 4.87 value chain to add supplies from a large number billion with a net profit of NRs. 999 million and 10 4 of small- and medium-scale manufacturers in percent annual growth. UNL directly employs 243 Nepal. The company then created an extensive people and claims to provide indirect employment domestic distribution network to promote to an estimated 20,000 across its value chain . 5 its products. Despite poor infrastructure and connectivity, UNL mobilized a network of distributors, Nepal’s growing consumer market has helped sub-stockists, carrying and forwarding agents, UNL offset unstable trade and industrial policies. wholesalers, retailers, logistics experts, and women Companies planning export-oriented production entrepreneurs to penetrate the market. Today, facilities typically look for stable tariffs, low trade UNL products are available nationwide, including costs, and efficient infrastructure. Nepal has remote districts such as Humla, Kalikot and struggled to provide these to prospective foreign Jajarkot.6 The company uses marketing tools and investors. UNL started with commercial production community engagement programs with retailers of Wheel washing powder and began exporting and distributors to build consumer brand loyalty. its products in 1995, mainly to India. At its peak, UNL’s exports accounted for 42 percent of annual Nepal’s growing middle-class market has caught turnover. However, exports began declining in the eye of other companies with well-known the early 2000s and stopped in 2005-06 due to brands. Britannia Industries, an Indian food 21 company, is among several companies that plan for trade, investment, and technology transfers. to enter Nepal with joint-venture production Reliance, unlike Dabur Nepal and UNL, does facilities . This model of investment and production 7 not have Indian investments because during remains attractive as long as Nepal’s domestic mid-1990s, interest rates in India were significantly demand expands and India-Nepal trade higher than in Nepal. arrangements continue to improve. Reliance produces up to 80 metric tons of yarn UNL faces significant challenges from counterfeit daily in various blends of acrylic, polyester, and products and rising labor costs. Nepal’s weak viscose.9 It imports nearly all raw materials from enforcement of intellectual property rights has several countries, including India, and exports encouraged a proliferation of look-alike and about 90 percent of its finished products, including fake products carrying the labels of well-known shipments to India. Unlike Dabur Nepal or UNL, consumer products. Loopholes in Nepal’s trademark Reliance lacks a significant domestic market. The and registration rules have been brought up in import-dependent spinning mill in Nepal is able to trade talks. Counterfeit products result in lost export yarn to India, beating the price and quality sales for companies and lost tax revenue for the of well-established competitors in India. government. Another crucial factor is Nepal’s higher wage rates and the adoption of progressive Reliance’s unique niche comes from its labor laws during the past five years. The wage rate capital- intensive, quality-focused production increase is largely a result of labor scarcity created facility. It has invested approximately NRs. 30 billion by approximately two million workers from Nepal over more than two decades to maintain state-of- who migrated to East Asia and the Gulf. A 2017 labor the-art equipment, creating a high barrier to entry law raised the minimum wage and made workers for potential competitors. Reliance holds less than eligible for bonuses under certain conditions. While 1 percent of India’s vast market, generating more these changes raised workers’ household income, than USD 60 million in annual export earnings – a they also made Nepali production costs less welcome contribution to reducing Nepal’s nearly attractive for some companies. USD 8 billion annual trade deficit with India. By obtaining raw materials from a half-dozen countries – and exporting goods to seven or Reliance Spinning Mills - eight countries – Reliance has the flexibility capturing quality driven to negotiate low prices for raw materials and export its goods to countries with content rules consumers across borders that make value-added re-entries possible. Reliance Spinning Mills Ltd. is a Nepali-owned 8 enterprise that makes synthetic yarns for weaving, In that sense, Reliance is not dependent on any knitting, and textiles. Reliance is controlled by the single nation’s import rules and tariff structure Golyan Group and the MS Group. The company and can survive without a significant domestic was established in 1996 with an initial investment market to hedge the risks. of NRs. 1.5 billion when Nepal opened its doors 22 Reliance has not been able to enter other significant The foreign direct investment and equity South Asian markets such as Bangladesh, the investment rush that started to enter India in world’s second largest exporter of ready-made a significant way beginning mid-2000s was garments. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, attracted by India’s growing domestic demand Bangladesh exported about USD 32.9 billion worth 10 and consumer market. Nepal’s size and stage of garments annually. But Reliance is unable to sell of growth are vastly smaller. But as the Unilever yarns to those garment-makers because of high Nepal case shows, Nepal’s domestic consumption transport costs. Landlocked Nepal is separated has reached a stage where the nation can from Bangladesh by a narrow strip of Indian land offer nominal risk hedging for manufacturing known as the “Chicken’s Neck” and Bangladesh has companies that are willing to cultivate internal not opened a land route for imports of Nepali yarn demand. The real opportunity in Nepal, however, through the Phulbari-Banglabandh highway route. lies in manufacturing goods for shipment to If that route was available, it would cost around nearby India. 2-2.5 US cents per kilogram to ship yarn from Nepal to Bangladesh. But only a sea route is now available, Two of the three companies examined see costing a much higher 15 US cents per kilogram that Bangladesh as an emerging opportunity, which makes shipments unaffordable. means even a modestly functional economic integration of the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) sub-region could attract more regional What can we learn from joint-ventures. A stronger and active BBIN would also be a more efficient vehicle for those countries these cases? to egotiate trade terms. All are signatories to the The experiences of the three companies indicate South Asia Free Trade Agreement but Bangladesh, that the trade, transit, and investment policies of India, and Nepal still conduct bilateral trade Nepal and India operate at an acceptable level negotiations on virtually a product-to-product of functionality, although they could be improved. basis. Both countries are addressing nontariff barriers by increasing investments in regional connectivity It is normal for developing countries in South and border infrastructure, reforming customs Asia to be sensitive to potential external threats procedures, and addressing road congestion. In to domestic industries. But as threats change that sense, there are no visible structural constraints over time, so do policy responses – resulting in that should inhibit wider and deeper business business casualties or discouraging investments collaborations between Nepal and India. As the along the way. The challenges and successes Dabur Nepal case shows, there is an early-bird of Dabur Nepal, Unilever Nepal, and Reliance advantage in positioning a company to exploit Spinning Mills show why it is important to keep anticipated reforms and the market may respond international trade and investment policies as to these signals faster now than two decades ago. stable as possible, for as long as possible. 23 ENDNOTES 1. Although Dabur Nepal’s investment comes from Dabur International and not Dabur India. Unilever Nepal’s ultimate parent is the British-Dutch conglomerate, Unilever plc, the world’s largest producer of soap. 2. https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/dabur-profit-jumps-17-116042800857_1.html 3. Gautam, 2017, New Business Age: 25 Years of Unilever Nepal: Charting New Heights in FMCG. Available from: www.newbusinessage.com [18 June 2019] 4. Unilever Nepal Limited, 2018, UNL- Twenty Fifth Annual Report & Accounts, 16 July 2017-16 July 2018. Available from: www.hul.co.in [20 June 2019]. 5. https://www.hul.co.in/about/introduction-to-unilever-nepal-limited/ 6. Gautam, 2017, New Business Age: 25 Years of Unilever Nepal: Charting New Heights in FMCG. Available from: www.newbusinessage.com [18 June 2019] 7. http://britannia.co.in/about-us/overview 8. Bears no relation to similarly named companies in India. 9. Golyan Group: Corporate Profile 10. Textile Today, Jan 2019: Bangladesh’s apparel export trend of 2018. Available from: https://www. textiletoday.com.bd/bangladeshs-apparel-export-trend-2018/ [ 23 June 2019]  Picture credits: The World Bank Images 24 Chapter - 3 Abiding by nature, not national borders Aditya Valiathan Pillai Biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan (HKH) region are not confined within the borders of each country here. Both their causes and effects are transboundary in nature. The need to address environmental issues, such as air pollution, sporadic rainfall, floods and heat waves, is common across this region and growing urgently. While all the countries in the region are taking concerted actions to address these issues, there is an urgent need to adopt cross-border approaches to help comprehensively tackle these issues. Having spent many years pushing for the HKH mountains to be Mr. Pema recognized as a unique ecosystem that demands urgent global Gyamtsho attention, I have learnt that creating regional institutions and Director General, mandates that suit HKH countries’ collective requirements is crucial. International Centre for Regionally coordinated planning and development, as fostered Integrated Mountain by the work undertaken by the International Centre for Integrated Development (ICIMOD) Mountain Development (ICIMOD), has been wonderfully highlighted by this case study aptly titled ‘Abiding by nature, not national borders: Institution building in the Himalayas’. Institutions like ICIMOD can contribute towards enabling HKH countries to protect their fragile mountain ecosystems and put forth a unified voice when seeking global financial and technical support to enhance the resilience of the region. ICIMOD strives hard to show how despite relations between HKH countries often being as delicate and fragile as their ecosystems, promoting informed and collective action can go a long way towards ensuring that future generations are not deprived of the rich cultural and biological heritage that the region offers. Abiding by nature, not national borders: Institution building in the Himalayas – Aditya Valiathan Pillai 2021 Mountains are hard to govern. National boundaries of a large network of researchers across the rarely reflect mountain geography and carve region, coordinating and disseminating scientific mountains into ecologically and socially incomplete evidence on the region’s dire vulnerabilities to sections. Mountain ecosystems, glaciers, rivers and climate change. communities are deeply intertwined, bearing all the complexity of systems that have evolved over The Himalayas, which include some of the highest millennia. Understanding this complexity and then peaks on earth, have an outsized influence on governing it is an especially challenging task. In the South Asia and beyond. The Himalayas indirectly Himalayas, the borders that divide the mountains support about 1.9 billion people through rivers are hard and sometimes militarized, and states that culminate in the East China Sea in the east, have traditionally been only been mildly interested and the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan in the west. But in cooperating on cross-border issues, such as relatively little scientific data is yet available melting glaciers because of global warming, river about the impact of warming temperatures and basin governance, and disasters. the implications for ecosystems, societies, politics, and even borders in the region. Regionally owned institutions attempt to bridge these jurisdictional divides. The International Centre This case study is based on 11 interviews with for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), ICIMOD’s leadership and senior staff, and a former based in Kathmandu, does this by presenting a Indian environment minister. Interviews were unified picture of natural systems that evolved supplemented by reviews of ICIMOD’s annual independently of the modern nation-state. In doing reports, independent five-year reviews, academic so, ICIMOD attempts to force state machineries papers, and program reports. to adopt a higher vantage point and think about problems and solutions as though borders do not exist. This project is difficult because states are naturally inclined to act to preserve their interests. Foundations ICIMOD was conceived in a movement that ICIMOD is a unique regional institution; on its recognized mountains present a unique set of board sit eight Himalayan nations – Afghanistan, governance challenges. Social changes driven by Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, industrialization, urbanization, and globalization, and Pakistan. It has managed not only to function were, and still are, damaging mountain but grow in the 35 years since it was founded environments. Erik P. Eckholm, writing in Science despite the somewhat precarious relationships in 1975 describes the mood at the meeting where between countries on its board. It is the face ICIMOD was conceived: 27 “An unusual meeting was convened in Munich, one each from Bhutan, China, India, and Pakistan) Germany, in December 1974. Any organizing along with the three founding donors and UNESCO. principle, any common thread among the In 1991, after several years of organizing and participants, would have eluded an outsider. setting up the institution, the board overhauled its The group included biologists, anthropologists, structure in an important balancing step, giving foresters, ecologists, economists, geographers, each country one seat and allocating an equal businessmen, and civil servants, and they number of board seats to scientists. had travelled to Munich from Europe, North and South America, Africa, and Asia. What Initially, ICIMOD carved a niche for itself with drew this disparate group together was small programs that focused on sustainable a shared concern for a problem that has development in mountain areas, from rural scarcely been recognized as one deserving energy to off-farm jobs. In 1995, the institution attention in its own right: the deterioration of reoriented itself to urge member nations mountain environments in the poor countries.” to collaborate on difficult transboundary – Erik P. Eckholm environmental issues. The regional cooperation program attracted new donors that year and Participants discussed the need to create has been an important reason for European and institutions to promote ecologically sound mountain Australian financial support since. development. In the years that followed, UNESCO and the governments of Switzerland and Germany ICIMOD’s explicit regional orientation has been put forward financial resources, and the eight a useful political channel for incremental Himalayan nations endorsed the concept at a cooperation. Between 2009 and 2011, during UNESCO general conference. In 1983, ICIMOD was Jairam Ramesh’s tenure as India’s environment established in Kathmandu as an intergovernmental minister, ICIMOD was part of a fledgling and organization. From the start, ICIMOD said its role was unfulfilled period of environmental multilateralism. to assist, collect, review, and coordinate mountain For example, in climate negotiations then, India research produced by institutions in member signaled a willingness to adopt a more proactive countries. Its mandate was designed to prompt emissions mitigation policy and to engage with regional cooperation by sustaining scientific multilateral platforms such as ICIMOD, a change collaboration between member countries. from Delhi’s traditional preference for a bilateral approach. India agreed to a program to restore and protect the Mt. Kailash region – a remote A unified lens for a fragmented area revered by Hindus, Buddhists, and other religions – that required China, India, and Nepal mountain range to agree on national program plans. Ramesh said ICIMOD’s board has a key role in carrying out he saw this as a small but useful first step toward the institution’s mission to stimulate regional better environmental cooperation between India collaboration amid national interests. At its and China. India increased its annual support inception, the board had uneven representation to ICIMOD, pledging USD 500,000 over 2009-11 from member countries (three from Nepal, and compared to its total contribution of USD 1 million 28 from 1983 to 2006. ICIMOD’s expertise in glaciology was seen as an asset to Indian institutions such Institutional trial and error as the National Institute of Himalayan Glaciology ICIMOD’s budget grew by an average 7 percent in Dehra Dun and the G.B. Pant Institute of annually in real terms during the three decades Himalayan Environment and Development in from 1986 to 2015.1 Its average growth masks Almora. Of specific interest was ICIMOD’s research relative stagnation in the first two decades followed on mapping Himalayan glacial lakes, large natural by a decade of remarkable growth. Its growth reservoirs of water contained by depleting glaciers since 2006 has been shaped by two factors: a that pose a significant downstream threat. strategic re-orientation toward regional relevance – especially in climate change – and an overhaul of The transboundary landscape program has grown institutional practices. in recent years to cover some of the most politically and ecologically sensitive parts of the region and ICIMOD regional member countries contributed world. Bringing China, India, and Nepal together only 4 percent of average annual income over to protect the Mt. Kailash region, ICIMOD runs a three decades from 1986 to 2015. Their contributions program in the border regions of Afghanistan, fluctuated, sometimes drastically from one year China, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, at the intersection to the next. European aid provided stable funding of the Karakoram, Pamir, and Wakhan ranges. Less that represented 42 percent of annual income sensitive is a program that brings Bangladesh, during the period. The remainder, about 54 percent India, and Nepal together for the Kanchenjunga of annual income, came from a large and diverse zone. These programs aim to find a balance among basket of smaller donors that funded individual developmental needs, delicate ecosystems, and projects or contributed directly to one of ICIMOD’s climate change pressures. They involve, to varying larger programs. In the decade leading up to 2015, degrees, generating more information about more than 30 donors, such as the World Bank, the these areas, creating systems for governments Asian Development Bank, European Union, and the to exchange information, and building local United States, were program contributors. capacity to manage the landscape. ICIMOD’s work generating governmental sanction for these Reliance on donors instead of stable, interest- efforts was a significant political achievement. generating financial assets affects an institution’s As ICIMOD’s website notes, its approach “implies form and priorities. Scarce resources must be coordination and cooperation among all devoted to fundraising, which requires building those responsible for an area, regardless of relationships with donors, establishing public jurisdiction, as defined by ecosystems rather than credibility, communicating results, and ensuring administrative boundaries.” The vision of abiding sound management. Most importantly, a reliance by nature rather than national borders is hard to on donor funding requires an institution to execute in a region with relatively few examples of demonstrate relevance through impactful agenda functioning cooperation, and little trust. However, setting and consistently high-quality research. the seeds of regional cooperation planted in ICIMOD’s apolitical projects may eventually help ICIMOD stopped growing in the decade between support broader changes when environmental 1996 and 2005. Its annual funds had peaked in 1999 crises in the Himalayas become harder to ignore. at USD 6 million, a milestone that took six years 29 to surpass. An independent five-year review of professional staff within ICIMOD and also within the organization in 2006 found ICIMOD had not the strategic partners is a key factor in ICIMOD’s done enough to make itself relevant to member success.” The report found the organization had countries. The review said ICIMOD’s ‘institutional adopted “a well-structured and organized approach positioning was unclear,’ member states were to operational management with progressive ‘unaware of its strengths and impacts,’ and its work practices.” However, the 2016 review said ICIMOD rarely translated into policy. A regional focus was needed to improve communication with member sometimes missing in its programs and ICIMOD countries and to align its programs with national risked overstretching itself by moving beyond needs, echoing a previous review. The report the Himalayas and beginning work in places like cautioned that recent growth might come at the Sri Lanka. The review painted a relatively dire cost of coherence in regional programs. Indeed, picture, saying that “all donors interviewed (…) about 60 percent of ICIMOD’s income in 2006-15 said the time has now come for regional member came from splintered funding tied to projects countries to take more ownership through financial while only one-third came from core funding. By commitments. Some had questions about the comparison, in the prior decade, core funding impact ICIMOD was having (…).” The review report and project finance were nearly equal. Short-term asked ICIMOD to prioritize regional interests, project finance can be difficult to manage because develop deeper links with governments, and adopt each grant has separate transaction costs and a more forward-looking strategy. expectations. The impermanence of such funding creates uncertainty, often curtailing long-term vision. The 2006 review also identified internal challenges. ICIMOD’s management was based on command- ICIMOD’s restructuring of internal machinery served and-control principles rather than confidence in an important strategic change. Its quest to be the staff. Its governance was choked by a long list more regionally relevant led to a focus on climate of committees, administrative procedures, and change in the Himalayas. In 2014-15, its four largest clearance requirements. ICIMOD was having a programs, by expenditure, were on transboundary challenging time retaining its most talented staff landscapes, regional climate adaptation, the beyond their three-year contracts. The review Himalayan cryosphere and atmosphere, and called for an internal overhaul. It directed leaders transboundary rivers. These programs designated to recruit core staff by offering better incentives climate change as a focal point and together and job security that was not tied to fluctuations totaled nearly one-third of ICIMOD’s spending. in project funding. The collective effect of these institutional changes is In the years since that 2006 report, ICIMOD has a remarkable increase in funding since the plateau turned the tide through staff trainings, a of the late 1990s and early 2000s. ICIMOD’s average restructuring of administrative functions, and efforts growth rate was 12 percent from 2006 to 2015, to ensure longer tenure. Staff were organized in adjusted for inflation. By comparison, its inflation- larger interdisciplinary teams with multiple, more adjusted growth was 0.5 percent for the decade stable lines of funding. An independent five-year from 1996-2005. ICIMOD’s increasing relevance as review in 2016 indicated the efforts paid off. It noted a front-line research platform for climate change that “the ability to attract and retain experienced was a particularly crucial factor in its growth. 30 An aerial view of the melting Siachen glacier. Photo from the World Bank Images The inevitability of climate change ICIMOD was founded in 1983 to create avenues for glaciers. The glaciers sustain billions of people ecologically sound development in the Himalayas. across Asia with water supplies and unleash In the decades since, climate change has massive flooding when large lakes formed by transformed how the world sees mountains. The melted glaciers break through natural dams. Himalayas, which include the 10 highest mountain Glaciers attained public prominence after the peaks on Earth, are particularly vulnerable because 2007 publication of a now-discredited prediction they warm faster than other regions. A substantial that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035 portion of our understanding of Himalayan in the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate vulnerability comes from ICIMOD and its partner Change’s Fourth Assessment Report.2 That report institutions. was also influential because it formally confirmed the Himalayas as a “knowledge gap for adaptation” A crucial climate question for the region, and and said a large number of potentially hazardous for ICIMOD, is the future of retreating Himalayan glacial lakes “far exceed the capacity of countries 31 in the region to manage such risks.” The report was the ambitious target of +1.5 °C, volume losses of important in narrowing ICIMOD’s focus on climate more than one-third are projected for extended change. HKH glaciers, with more than half of glacier ice lost in the eastern Himalaya” by 2080-2100. The report Glaciers have been part of ICIMOD’s work since at states that “the most negative scenarios in the least 1999. Its early work was the first to document Eastern Himalaya point towards a near-total loss that Nepal had more than 3,500 glaciers and a of glaciers.” surprisingly large number of glacial lakes – more than 2,300, of which 20 were potentially dangerous. ICIMOD’s report was styled after the UN The study was pioneering because of the paucity Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s of data on the Himalayas. Analyzing glacier melt Assessment Reports, with contributions from and threats from unstable glacial lakes requires 210 authors, 20 review editors, and 125 external meticulous inventorying, categorizing, and reviewers. It collected and synthesized data about monitoring of glaciers. The information is crucial several mountain themes, from glaciology and to seven downstream countries and countless basin hydrology to the governance implications vulnerable communities. of mountain change. A key achievement is that the report was put together by authors from the Between 1999 and 2005, incremental progress Himalayan region, with cooperation and financial was made with assessments of Bhutan, Pakistan, backing of ICIMOD’s member countries. The report and part of the Indian Himalayas. It was not fulfilled ICIMOD’s organizational objectives: to act until 2018 that all Himalayan glaciers were fully as a platform for regional research, to stimulate mapped from Tajikistan’s Amu Darya basin in member country cooperation and information the west to Myanmar’s Irrawaddy basin in the exchange, to see the mountains as an undivided east. That study, conducted by ICIMOD and the natural system, and to clarify the climate Chinese Academy of Sciences, used satellite vulnerabilities of the region. data to capture the state of these glaciers from 2003 to 2007. Previous efforts to isolate glaciers The 2019 assessment was also part of ICIMOD’s in time were less reliable because of the varying broader strategy to publish more research in top timeframes of data sources. ICIMOD’s study is a peer-reviewed journals, initiated in 2012. This was a baseline for future research on glacial floods and major shift. Since its inception, ICIMOD had acted as climate change-induced glacial shrinking. a documentation center for knowledge produced elsewhere and had generally showcased its own But how fast are Himalayan glaciers disappearing? work in self-published reports. In the first year of That central question was not answered until the new strategy, ICIMOD set a target of producing recently. ICIMOD’s 2019 synthesis of knowledge 15 peer-reviewed articles but published more than about the Himalayas made international headlines twice that number. In 2006, ICIMOD published work as a landmark report for its alarming conclusions. in only a dozen journals that were unknown to a The report, The Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment: general audience. A decade later, in 2016, ICIMOD Mountains, Climate Change, Sustainability and staff published work in 67 mostly well-recognized People, says, “Even if warming can be limited to journals. In recent years, ICIMOD researchers have 32 published articles in Science and Climate, and had Two elements of ICIMOD’s growth are worth a notable cover story in Nature Climate Change. wnoting. First, its ability to redefine and While ICIMOD’s academic output ranges from communicate its political salience to diverse governance to conservation, a sizable portion is regional constituencies. ICIMOD began as an effort core climate research related to the cryosphere to organize and communicate knowledge to a and atmosphere. ICIMOD’s management sees the global network of scientific institutions. Over time, academic shift as a key reason for its financial it has been useful to governments of the region stability, with over USD 130 million of assured funding and the global scientific community in clarifying for the current five-year cycle. Such publications the state of Himalayan glaciers. It has also tried to bring ICIMOD international credibility and help it execute smaller programs of value to vulnerable attract talented researchers. mountain communities, which can generate good will if communicated to governments correctly. The strategic embrace of climate change Today, the institution is part of several member may also increase ICIMOD’s value to member countries’ environmental policy processes and has countries. Rigorous assessments of climate taken on features of a regional public good. vulnerability can be used as diplomatic tools in global climate negotiations. They In the Himalayas – where national interests are could act as the empirical foundation from often seen as contradictory to regional interests which member countries make claims – regional institutions are forced to devote for greater mitigation ambition from considerable effort to making their case. ICIMOD’s developed countries and reinforce demands story demonstrates useful methods of achieving for financial and technological transfers. this objective: proactive engagement with political constituencies; efforts at reputation building through research to earn a place in like-minded global and regional networks; and hiring recognized Conclusion subject experts to carry the institutional flag. These In 1983, ICIMOD was born into a world that was just efforts are still a work in progress at ICIMOD, but beginning to recognize unsustainable patterns in they seem to be producing results. mountain development. It has matured in the age of climate change. In the process, the institution The second element is ICIMOD’s institutional checks transformed itself from a regional mountain and balances. It has ridden a wave of growing documentation center into a platform for the public interest in mountain fragility and climate co-production of crucial climate knowledge. ICIMOD change because of its internal mechanisms for survived a trough in the late 1990s by restructuring course correction. A series of five-year reviews itself internally and more firmly aligning itself with by independent panels have improved ICIMOD the climate agenda, and in the process, the global performance because review recommendations, research agenda and regional interests. Its role once accepted, must be executed by board and as an apolitical platform for regional mountain management. ICIMOD benefits from other annual collaboration and research gives it access and biannual reviews with board involvement, unavailable to most other institutions. and measures for public transparency. 33 We might be at the cusp of a proliferation in interconnected South Asia, some of these climate-focused institutions as global funding institutions will have to be regional in their for the issue increases and domestic concern mandate. This case study might be useful to grows. To tackle the many dangers of climate them, and other institutions hoping to improve change in an ecologically and hydrologically prospects for regional cooperation. ENDNOTES 1. All data sourced from ICIMOD annual reports available at http://lib.icimod.org. Calculated in 2019 dollars. 2. The IPCC’s Assessment Reports are periodic compilations of the current state of knowledge on the causes, effects and responses to climate change. They are generally regarded as definitive and are put together by leading experts in various fields of study on climate change.  Picture Credits: The World Bank Images 34 Chapter - 4 Medicating relations Nitin Koshi South Asia has one of the highest disease burdens in the world, and swathes of remote, lagging regions with healthcare that is unaffordable, inaccessible and ill equipped. For tens of thousands of people, a trip to a neighboring South Asian country that has the requisite facilities often proves to be the easiest recourse. Such cross-border travel fosters people-to- people cohesion while being socio-economically viable. This case study explores how greater awareness regarding India’s medical hubs, and critical access to timely treatment Dr. Swarnim in rural Nepal have fostered medical tourism along and across Waglé borders to save lives. It also points to the need to invest in Chair, Institute for Integrated reducing the region’s shortages in medical human capital, Development Studies (IIDS); and for frugal innovations in medical treatment. Broadening Former Vice-Chair, National the medical travel industry in South Asia can go a long way Planning Commission, Government of Nepal, and in enhancing mutual understanding and fruitful areas of Chief Economic Advisor, UNDP regional cooperation. Asia-Pacific Medicating relations: Seeking healing within South Asia – Nitin Koshi 2022 Every day thousands arrive from across South Asia well as its public and private health facilities. The to seek treatment in India’s medical hubs. Many Charali snakebite treatment center and Fortis of them take flight from a dearth of remedies, Healthcare provide a glimpse into some of the long public-healthcare queues, and high-priced ways in which more than 1.9 billion South Asians operations at private hospitals. For a number of use the region’s healthcare systems, while these South Asians, eyes regain sight in Madurai, highlighting how robust relations between South smiles are brightened in Hyderabad, appearances Asian countries can offer a good prognosis for the are altered in Mumbai, limbs are replaced in health of the region’s peoples. Kolkata, holistic wellness is embraced in Trivandrum, and broken hearts are fixed in and around Delhi. Affordability, perception of care quality, proximity, Charali snakebite treatment connectivity, and the comfort of similarities in center: Biting down on a rural culture, food and language largely determine medical travel destinations in South Asia. Precisely South Asian disease gauging the extent of such intra-regional travel is In the late 1990s, Nepal’s army set up a field difficult, as the purpose of cross-border movement hospital to treat snakebites, at its barracks on the is often undocumented, the large numbers of outskirts of Charali forest, in the country’s Koshi diaspora members receiving medical care in the Province. The medical facility is near the Mechi region are mostly unquantified, and differences river, which snakes along stretches of the porous arise in what is considered health tourism. India-Nepal border. The government of India, which receives most of Armed with little more than vials of antivenom, in the medical tourists from South Asia, reckons that 20003, the handful of doctors, paramedics, and 63% of the 697,357 individuals who arrived in the other staff at the facility attended to more than country on medical visas in 2019 came from within 1 629 snakebite victims; 66 of these patients had the region, notably, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. received venomous bites from serpents and the Although global travel declined following the facility saved the lives of 62 of them. By 2003, the COVID-19 outbreak, nearly 72% of the 323,748 people field hospital in Charali had been scaled up into that arrived in India on medical visas in 2021 came 2 a more permanent brick-and-mortar structure, from South Asian countries. known locally as the Sarpadansha Upchar Kendra Byabasthapan tatha Sanchalan Samiti. Healthcare has certainly become more footloose in South Asia over the last few decades, but Word of the hospital spread. Indians and Nepalis accessibility and quality of care varies widely traveling between border-straddling towns and between the region’s rural and urban areas as villages, to shop, work, and meet family and 37 friends, would tell local acquaintances of this rare “The faster a victim of snake envenomation recourse for snakebite victims in their neck of the (poisoning by snakebite) is treated, the better. woods. This drew more people to the medical People die if they don’t get treatment. One hour is facility, from across Koshi Province, and the the golden time, after a snakebite, to save the victim. neighbouring Indian states of Bihar, West Bengal As more time passes, paralysis and breathlessness and Sikkim. increases. Therefore, it is particularly important that the snakebite treatment center is in the border Snakebites are rife in the largely rural areas near the zone,” says Dr. Sharma. border, but options for medical treatment remain few and far between. Superstition, unawareness, Most snake envenomation deaths occur before and modest financial resources deter locals from the victim reaches suitable medical facilities. seeking medical treatment against snakebites. To bypass this roadblock, in the early 2000s a Limited transport connectivity, accessibility, and volunteer network of motorcyclists got into gear mobility are further hindrances. Hospitals and health in eastern Nepal. They started bringing snakebite centers here are often staffed with doctors and victims, sandwiched between the two-wheeler’s paramedics that lack the training required to treat driver and a pillion rider, who would hold the victim snakebites, having studied medicine in major steady during the journey to the treatment facility cities, where such incidents are infrequent. in Charali. From remote villages and often via trails Moreover, these medical facilities seldom stock that are unpassable for four-wheelers, day and antivenom. It is in short supply globally. night, more began to arrive at the center. In the absence of viable medical treatment for “Motorcycles are the quickest mode of transport snakebites, locals usually seek remedies from in these areas. We had initially gathered details the snake charmers, faith-based healers, and on motorcycle owners from the local district traditional-healing proponents that abound vehicle registration office. We requested these around the border. Many of these practitioners motorcyclists to help out, issued them volunteer appear to have cures, as non-venomous serpents cards from the Nepal Red Cross Society, and even account for most snakebite incidents, and bites by provided for fuel costs. We put up lists of these venomous snakes do not always inject venom into volunteers and their phone numbers in schools the victim. and community areas. If someone was bitten (by a snake), their family or friends would inform Seeking to limit local reliance on such practitioners, a volunteer, who would bring the patient to the in the early 2000s, Dr. Sanjib Kumar Sharma, a center. Many of the volunteers would actually snakebite researcher and clinician who teaches at get angry and refuse (the offered fuel-cost Nepal’s BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, and reimbursements), saying that it was their duty to a few of his associates began to trace and train assist their neighbours,” recounts Dr. Sharma, who these individuals. The practitioners were taught to helped put together the motorcycle-volunteer spot symptoms of venomous snakebites, provide program in Nepal. first aid to victims and send them immediately to the nearest snakebite treatment facility — notably, This community-driven initiative considerably the one in Charali. reduced the death and debilitation caused by 38 snake envenomation in eastern Nepal. Its success to accurately assess symptoms and provide even led to similar efforts being implemented due care. across the border, bringing several snakebite victims from eastern India to be treated at the The center’s electricity supply is backed up by a facility in Charali. By and by, border guards became 1.5-kilowatt solar-power system4, installed in 2017 accustomed to the passage of snakebite victims with the assistance of Nepal’s government, the UN from India. They started to prioritize processing and the Global Environmental Facility, a multilateral requests for the victim’s transit, saving the latter’s fund for the environment held in trusteeship by time. the World Bank. The system ensures that snake antivenom is continuously refrigerated, and fans, “Even following the closure of official checkpoints lights, and nebulizers are kept operational. along the India-Nepal border, owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, snakebite victims were Nepal’s health ministry procures snake antivenom allowed to travel to Charali,” says Dr. Sharma. In from manufacturers in India, at about USD 10 a vial, 2021, the facility received up to 1,600 snakebite and stocks the facility at no charge. An envenomed victims, of which about 10% arrived from India. patient is administered prolonged doses of “After all, borders are manmade, humanity is not,” antivenom at the center, consuming 16 vials on he remarks. average, although dosage can range from 2-140 vials5. The antivenom is administered for free at the The Charali snakebite treatment center is jointly center, but patients may pay up to a few thousand run, round the clock, by Nepal’s army, government, Nepali rupees for intravenous saline drips, and other and locals. It has 25 beds, a few mechanical medicines and supplements. The center depends ventilators and an intensive care unit. Maintaining on these payments and local charity to sustain its ventilators here is difficult as technical expertise operations but discounts or waives off charges if is lacking nearby, but simpler methods are the patient cannot afford them. increasingly being used to provide respiratory assistance, such as bag-mask ventilation, in As yet, snake antivenom is the mainstay medicine which a bag is manually inflated and used to fill against serpent envenomation. It is made by the patient’s lungs with air. capturing snakes and repeatedly milking their fangs for venom, which is then injected into large, Images of various serpents are displayed on the robust animals such as horses, who generate center’s walls. These are used to help snakebite antibodies that are collected by drawing their blood victims identify their attacker’s species, as in order to purify and isolate the active ingredients treatment varies accordingly. The center’s staff needed to produce the antiserum. communicates with patients in Nepali, and a smattering of Bengali, Hindi and Maithili – This raises concerns over the welfare of these languages which are widely spoken along the snakes and horses, and regarding the antiserum’s border — that they have picked up over the animal antibodies, which can harm a human years. Linguistic familiarity helps the staff when immune system. Furthermore, as venom reassuring worried patients and their attendants, composition varies between and within serpent and while gleaning information from them in order species, the snake antivenom manufactured in 39 Motorcycle Ambulance Service India, which supplies most of South Asia, does not materials to promote public awareness, help effectively neutralize all the venoms produced by accurately diagnose snakebite cases, and provide the region’s diverse ophidian fauna. training and advice on treating snakebite victims. Establishing venom-collection centers in South Asia’s rural and agricultural communities areas rich in snake biodiversity, as around the benefit from the natural pest control that India-Nepal border, can facilitate the production snakes provide, but are particularly likely to face of antivenoms that are more suitable to counter conflicts with the latter, especially during the local incidents of envenomation, says Dr. Sharma. monsoons (June-September), when rains flush Government support for such initiatives, as well several serpents out of their homes and into as to replace animal-derived antivenoms by human habitats in search of warmth, shelter, developing affordable alternatives that would nourishment and mates. “Snakes are farmers’ be safe and effective against several venom friends. If they aren’t around, there will probably compositions, can go a long way towards not be any rice to eat,” observes Dr. Sharma. The preventing or reversing most of the venomous Charali snakebite treatment center helps raise effects of snake bites. awareness, encouraging local farmers, cattle herders, woodcutters, and other workers to wear Knowledge-sharing collaborations play a notable rubber boots and gloves, and use proper lighting role too. The Snakebite Interest Group , a WhatsApp 6 to reduce the risk of snakebites. group that was started in 2015, has helped staff at the Charali snakebite treatment center to The World Health Organization states that half connect with doctors, herpetologists, paramedics, of the estimated 5.4 million people that are researchers, social workers, and others from India, bitten by snakes each year are envenomed.7 This Nepal, and Sri Lanka. Group members regularly envenomation annually kills nearly 138,000 people exchange ideas, share research findings and and maims a further 414,000 of them. Researchers 40 reckon that each year snake envenomation kills During that year, about 26% of the foreign tourists 58,000 of the 1.4 million people that are bitten by arriving in India were from South Asian nations.10 snakes in India8, and 1,000 of the 20,000 individuals Most of these 660,405 South Asian travelers bitten by snakes in Nepal . The real numbers are 9 came by road from Bangladesh, and flew in from likely to be higher, as many snakebite victims never Sri Lanka. Several sought care, placing their hope reach medical facilities, and India and Nepal, do not in India’s growing medical talent, healthcare always require government officials or police to be infrastructure and innovativeness in providing notified of snake envenomation deaths. affordable treatment. The Charali snakebite treatment center — which At the time, India’s government had started actively has administered to more than 17,000 people courting international patients in order to tap the since 2003 — caters to only a small share of the country’s potential as a medical tourism destination. snakebite incidents that occur in India and Nepal, Having already eased regulations, in 2000, on foreign but its ability to prevent nearly all the death and investment in local hospitals, it launched tourism impairment caused by snake envenomation in its campaigns, such as ‘Incredible India’ two years vicinity has made it indispensable to communities later, via which the country was marketed as a living on either side of the India-Nepal border. Its unique destination that offered a mix of innovative success has led to more such facilities being set medical technology and ancient holistic therapies, up; as of June 2022, Nepal had 84 snakebite like ayurveda and yoga. Furthermore, in 2003, the treatment centers, of which 29 facilities were near government began issuing medical tourist visas. the India-Nepal border. Fortis Healthcare embarked on rapidly expanding The Charali snakebite treatment center its operations in Indian cities in 2003-07, setting exemplifies how South Asia’s governments, up another hospital, acquiring rights to eight armed forces, doctors, paramedics, more, and operating and maintaining two others. herpetologists, academics, researchers, By early 2007, it had 17 satellite facilities as businesses, and others can come together well, including an acquired cardiac diagnostic to help save the lives of the region’s peoples, center in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital city.11 and its snakes, too. It shows that even amid adversity in the remotest areas of the region, As private healthcare took off across India, more often, all you need are good neighbours. medical tourists began to arrive in the country. Apart from high-spending Western countries, Fortis Healthcare aimed to draw medical tourists Fortis Healthcare: Scaling from South Asia — especially Afghanistan and Bangladesh — the Middle East and Africa. According medical care in the region to Renu Vij, who heads international sales for the In February 1996, Fortis Healthcare was healthcare group, in fiscal year 2008 (April 1, 2007 – incorporated, initially as Rancare, in India to set March 31, 2008), it received a few thousand foreign up and run a chain of hospitals. In June 2001, patients, who contributed nearly INR 36 crore commercial operations commenced at its first (nearly USD 9 million) to its revenue — about 6.5% facility, in the Indian state of Punjab. of its domestic turnover12. 41 Fortis Healthcare continued to grow. By early 2012, 3.3 million of India’s international tourists — nearly it had a wide domestic network — of 68 hospitals, 31% of its visitors — were from other South Asian and a number of specialty and diagnostics countries. About 13% of these South Asians came on facilities, that treated thousands of international medical visas, although several that entered India patients — and overseas operations that extended on other visas also received medical treatment. to 15 hospitals and several specialty and diagnostic centers, in Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Australia, New Fortis Healthcare is still turning around its Zealand, Canada, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore commercial operations, but it retains a focus on and the United Arab Emirates. 13 the lucrative business of providing medical care to the increasing number of South Asians and Swift expansion secured the company’s presence other foreign tourists coming to India. In FY20 its as the second-largest domestic hospital chain, international inpatients contributed revenues of after Apollo Hospitals, but its steroidal growth INR 398 crore (USD 56.1 million), despite COVID- overseas led to an unhealthy debt, which, 19-related restrictions affecting the inflow of reportedly , reached INR 7,000 crore (nearly 14 patients in the last quarter of the fiscal year. USD 1.3 billion) in September 2012. During the Its domestic facilities treated more than 15,000 next two years, Fortis Healthcare sold most of international inpatients18 in FY20, of which nearly its international assets and several non-core 2,700 arrived from neighbouring South Asian domestic facilities, reducing its debt significantly. 15 countries; Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bhutan accounted for about 45%, 34%, 10% and 6%, Despite its financial ills, Fortis Healthcare extended respectively, of these South Asian inpatients, while its outreach in South Asia. In 2015, under the Indian less than 100 each came from Pakistan, Maldives, government’s five-year financial assistance and Sri Lanka. program with the Afghan Red Crescent Society , 16 the healthcare chain agreed to treat Afghan The healthcare chain was not immune to the children suffering from congenital heart disease COVID-19-induced travel slump, but it strove at concessional rates. Following a series of major to provide international patients with life- earthquakes in Nepal in April-May 2015, a Fortis saving treatment that was unavailable in their Healthcare team of 25 doctors, paramedics, nurses respective countries of residence. In early 2021, and other support staff undertook relief efforts with Hajara Paiker19, a homemaker from Kabul who the help of the Nepal army, in remote areas of the had been diagnosed with short bowel syndrome country’s districts of Lalitpur, Mustang, Nuwakot and — a condition in which prior loss of one’s small Sindhupalchok, providing medical treatment and intestine deters absorption of essential nutrients aid to more than 5,000 earthquake victims. 17 — was airlifted to one of its hospitals in Bengaluru, the capital of India’s Karnataka state. For three Amid leadership and ownership changes over months, Paiker was given nutrients intravenously the next few years, Fortis Healthcare began to while the hospital sought to find her a suitable streamline its organizational structure and nurse small-intestine donor. In July 2021, a donor was itself back to health. Meanwhile, the number of finally identified and, soon thereafter, Paiker foreigners traveling to India shot up. In 2019, about received an organ transplant at the hospital. 42 “Now she can eat, drink and walk,” said an upbeat Like most other domestic hospital chains, Fortis Gulam , Paiker’s husband, after her surgery. “They 20 Healthcare treats only a modest share of India’s (the nurses, dieticians and physiotherapists) South Asian medical tourists, although this would come in every day for their work and generates it sizeable revenue. The rest of these responsibility (to take care of Paiker at the hospital). travelers seek out care at the numerous smaller It gave a kind of confidence to me and my wife. We facilities and specialty clinics that constitute much got hope that everything was getting better day of the country’s vast and fragmented system of by day,” adds Gulam. private healthcare providers. Connectivity and cultural similarities often decide where medical Helping address the disparity in treatment tourists go in India, while cost concerns and the availability and accessibility in South Asia, in nature of treatment required determine their recent years, Fortis Healthcare has organized choice between healthcare providers. “New Delhi observership programs that have enabled and Mumbai are popular destinations. Kolkata hundreds of overseas candidates, including and Bengaluru are also frequently visited by several from Afghanistan and Bangladesh, to patients from Bangladesh — they go all across learn from its doctors and enhance healthcare the country — while many from Sri Lanka and in their respective countries of residence. Maldives are drawn to Chennai and Bengaluru,” notes Yogesh Patel, who heads Fortis Healthcare’s Candidates visit its domestic hospitals, over 2-6 internet-based sales operations. weeks, in order to take part in medical lectures and discussions, observe hospital workflows and The distribution of Fortis Healthcare’s domestic treatment protocols, and understand how new hospitals, across nines states and the union technologies are being integrated into medical territory of Delhi, make them widely accessible. activities. Post-graduates are even trained in Accreditations for most of its facilities by reputed special medical procedures and techniques, and international and domestic agencies that assess methods used by tertiary medical care systems. healthcare programs help assuage medical Similar programs have been organized by other tourists’ concerns regarding care quality and domestic healthcare chains as well. safety. Favorable reviews by the healthcare chain’s South Asian patients further boost its reputation As of end-March 2022 , Fortis Healthcare’s 21 across the region. “Every aspect of being treated network comprised of 26 hospitals and more at the liver unit has been fantastic,” says Tareeq than 426 diagnostics centers, including two in Naseer Ranjha23, a Pakistani biology teacher, who Nepal. In FY22 international patients, reportedly22, underwent a liver transplant at a Fortis Healthcare contributed about 10% of its total revenue, hospital in New Delhi following recommendations amounting to nearly INR 572 crore (USD 77 million). by the healthcare chain’s former patients from During that fiscal year, its domestic hospitals Pakistan. treated more than 8,000 international inpatients, of which about 1,250 of its inpatients arrived from Several provisions are made by Fortis Healthcare neighbouring South Asian countries, notably — and other domestic healthcare chains — to Bangladesh, Nepal and Afghanistan. ease the experience of foreign medical tourists at 43 domestic facilities and to ensure that their stay medical tourism destination via its new Heal in India in India is comfortable. Notably, the healthcare initiative24 — and improving its ability to address chain assists them in applying for visas to India their ailments. Fortis Healthcare highlights how and officially registering their arrival in the country; leveraging scale and modern medical capabilities organizes their local conveyance; procures mobile can be a shot in the arm to efforts to improve the phones and domestic SIM cards for them; and availability, accessibility and affordability of quality arranges currency exchange and interpretation treatment in the region. It enhances healthcare for services. Most of its facilities have plush lounge South Asians, and fortifies relations between them areas, quiet meditation rooms, and a team solely as well. to help international patients and their attendants apply for visa extensions, book suitable external lodging and enroll for local sightseeing tours, among other things. Conclusion The Charali snakebite treatment center and Fortis Some South Asian medical tourists team their Healthcare are by no means the only examples treatment in India with convalescent vacations at of cross-border medical cooperation in South pristine local locations. Others opt to visit historic Asia. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, reciprocity sites and shrines in the country, such as the Taj between South Asian countries in providing health Mahal. Nearly all seek to make the most of the assistance helped protect millions in the region. opportunity to immerse themselves in local culture and hospitality, and broaden their understanding Other endeavors have gone a long way too. of the heritage that they share with their South In 2015, Apollo Hospitals and the Pakistan-based Asian neighbours. Their travel to India helps Dr. Ziauddin Hospital launched an initiative, called several in the country, including tour operators, air the Peace Clinic, under which they set up a liver carriers, insurance companies, hoteliers, residence ward at the latter’s facility, assessed patients’ proprietors, restaurateurs, interpreters and taxi transplant needs and referred them to India for drivers, to earn a living while learning of how other the procedure, when necessary. Meanwhile, the South Asians live. facilities and outreach programs run by the Nepal- based Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology have Fortis Healthcare aims to keep its commercial enabled thousands of people residing across the operations, and its patients, healthy. The healthcare Himalayas to regain their eyesight. chain plans to increase the operational bed capacity at its existing domestic facilities, expand Nevertheless, the tenacity of the Charali snakebite its local network of hospitals, and strengthen and treatment center in providing critical and timely broaden its medical offerings across therapies. treatment against a tropical disease that primarily These moves will serve as the arteries of its growth, bites at the health of South Asia’s rural populations, boosting its capacity to cater to India’s medical and of Fortis Healthcare — and other domestic tourists from other South Asian countries — whose healthcare chains — to use size, reach and medical inflow is set to increase as India’s government proficiency to provide quality care to the region’s renews efforts to promote India as an economical peoples make these undertakings highly notable. 44 The Charali snakebite treatment center and Fortis trust and appreciation between South Asians. They Healthcare evince how a readiness to go to one’s demonstrate that caring for one’s neighbours is neighbours in times of need and an inclination to vital to healthy South Asian relations and, often, just take care of one another builds much camaraderie, what the doctor ordered. ENDNOTES 1. Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. 2021. India Tourism Statistics 2020. https://tourism.gov.in/sites/ default/files/2021-05/INDIA TOURISM STATISTICS 2020.pdf. 2. Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. 2022. India Tourism Statistics 2022. https://tourism.gov.in/ sites/default/files/2022-09/India Tourism Statistics 2022 %28English%29_0.pdf. 3. Sharma, Sanjib Kumar, Basudha Khanal, Parash Pokhrel, Ajmal Khana, and Shekhar Koirala. 2003. “Snakebite-reappraisal of the situation in Eastern Nepal.” Toxicon 41 (3): 285-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/ S0041-0101(02)00289-1. 4. UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). 2017. Renewable Energy for Rural Livelihood Annual Progress Report 2017. https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/migration/np/UNDP_ NP-RERL-APR-2017.pdf. 5. WHO (World Health Organization). 2016. Guidelines for the management of Snakebites, 2nd edition. New Delhi: WHO. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/searo/india/health-topic-pdf/who-guidance- on-management-of-snakebites.pdf?sfvrsn=5528d0cf_2. 6. For more information on the Snakebite Interest Group, see the associated Snakebite Healing and Education website at http://www.she-india.org/tag/snakebiteinterestgroup. 7. For more information on snakebite envenoming and treatment by snake antivenoms, see the fact sheet provided on the World Health Organization website at https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/ detail/snakebite-envenoming. 8. WHO (World Health Organization). “Study estimates more than one million Indians died from snakebite envenoming over past two decades.” July 10, 2020. https://www.who.int/news/item/10-07-2020-study- estimates-more-than-one-million-indians-died-from-snakebite-envenoming-over-past-two- decades. 9. Epidemiology and Disease Control Division, Department of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Population, Government of Nepal. 2019. National Guidelines for Snakebite Management in Nepal. 10. Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. 2004. India Tourism Statistics - 2003. https://tourism.gov.in/ sites/default/files/2020-04/FTAIS2003.pdf. 11. Fortis Healthcare Limited. 2007. Fortis Healthcare Limited Annual Report 2006-07. https://www.bseindia. com/HIS_ANN_RPT/HISTANNR/2007/FORTIS_HEALTHCARE_LTD-532843-MARCH-2007.PDF. 12. Fortis Healthcare Limited. 2008. Fortis Healthcare Limited Annual Report 2007-08. https://www.bseindia. com/HIS_ANN_RPT/HISTANNR/2008/FORTIS_HEALTHCARE_LTD-532843-MARCH-2008.PDF. 45 13. Fortis Healthcare Limited. 2012. Fortis Healthcare Limited Annual Report 2011-12. https://www.bseindia. com/bseplus/AnnualReport/532843/5328430312.pdf. 14. https://www.apnnews.com/icra-upgrades-fortis-healthcares-credit-rating-to-highest-a1-category/. 15. Fortis Healthcare Limited. 2012. Fortis Healthcare Limited Annual Report 2014-15. https://www.bseindia. com/bseplus/AnnualReport/532843/5328430315.pdf. 16. Embassy of India, Kabul, Afghanistan. “India’s annual assistance of US1 million to the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) for the treatment of Afghan children suffering from Congenital Heart Disease.” August 29, 2016. https://eoi.gov.in/eoisearch/MyPrint.php?5359?000/0001. 17. Fortis Healthcare Limited. “Fortis Medics Successfully Treat Over 5000 Quake Victims in Nepal.” May 22, 2015 https://www.prnewswire.com/in/news-releases/fortis-medics-successfully-treat-over-5000- quake-victims-in-nepal-504687871.html. 18. Data pertaining to Fortis Healthcare Limited’s international inpatients was obtained via interviews of personnel in the healthcare chain’s sales team. Information regarding Fortis Healthcare Limited’s inflow of international outpatients was not readily available but these numbers are likely to be substantial. 19. https://www.theweek.in/news/health/2021/07/18/afghan-woman-gets-new-small-intestine-with- transplant-in-bengaluru-hospital.html. 20. Fortis Bangalore. “27 YO Afghan Woman Finally Eats And Drink Normally After 7 Months | High-Risk Bowel Transplant |” YouTube Video, 4:33. July 22, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0auw5EOTDyA 21. Fortis Healthcare Limited. 2022. Fortis Healthcare Limited Annual Report 2021-22. https://s3.ap- southeast-1.amazonaws.com/s3.fortishealthcare.com/FHL-+Annual+Report+2022.pdf. 22. https://www.outlookindia.com/international/medical-tourism-back-on-course-after-covid-lull- experts-news-211605. 23. QED Communications. “Fortis Story Pakistani patients” YouTube Video, 6:42. May 19, 2015. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=yKTWKGHrGcM. 24. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. 2022. “Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Health Minister addresses roundtable conference with senior IFS Officers on Building Brand India.” Press Release 1824665, May 12, 2022. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1824665.  Picture credits: Dr. Sanjib Kumar Sharma 46 Chapter - 5 Small islands, big impact Nalaka Gunawardene Cyclones, droughts, floods and heat waves, among other climate-related disasters, have intensified across South Asia over the past two decades, affecting more than 750 million people. The changing climate could worsen living conditions for up to 800 million South Asians, notably some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable populations, who inhabit many of the region’s climate hotspots. Climate change, naturally, knows no boundaries. But neither should South Asia’s approach to reducing vulnerabilities and building resilience across the region. Technical expertise plays an essential role in devising an approach towards adapting to and Ms. Kasturi mitigating climate change, but specific skills can be hard to find Chellaraja within a single country. Wilson This case study calls attention to the collaborative efforts of the Group Chief Executive Foundation for Environment, Climate and Technology, a non-profit Officer, Hemas foundation that has brought scientists, government officials, Holdings PLC resource managers and educators from Maldives and Sri Lanka to jointly build climate resilience in these neighboring island nations, which are faced with the threat of sea-level rise, by enhancing the gathering and public dissemination of climate-related information, improving domestic water-supply management, contributing to the knowledge base for disaster risk reduction and strengthening local technical capacity. Small islands, big impact: Building climate resilience in the Indian Ocean through cross-border scientific collaboration – Nalaka Gunawardene 2022 More than 80 percent of Maldives, an archipelago living the steady onset of this reality”. He explained, of about 1,200 coral islands in the Indian Ocean, is “Just this past month, I was travelling within the less than one meter above sea level. According 1 Maldives. Of the six islands I visited, all of them to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate were experiencing severe erosion. This is just one Change (IPCC) , global sea levels could rise by 2 example of how our people are having to live with about 50 centimeters by 2100 even if the emission the harsh realities of climate change. Our islands of planet-warming greenhouse gases are reduced are slowly being inundated by the sea, one by one.” in line with the upper end of combined pledges under the Paris Agreement, a legally-binding While drawing global attention to Maldives’ treaty on climate change between nearly all the plight, the country’s leaders have been pursuing world’s countries. For Maldives, the world’s lowest- strategies to adapt to and mitigate climate change, lying country, this high vulnerability to climate and building local capacity to do so, at diplomatic, change could be devastating. technical, and community levels. Maldives has been raising the alarm about this existential threat for decades. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Maldives’ president from November 1978 A foundation for collaboration to November 2008, first highlighted the concern Technical expertise is needed to study and at the UN General Assembly in 1987. He was understand the atmospheric and oceanographic instrumental in drawing global attention to it. processes that shape Maldives. As only a limited pool of suitable experts exists among the++ His successor, Mohamed Nasheed, took climate 557,000-odd inhabitants – including at least advocacy to new depths. Notably, in October 145,000 migrant workers — of these equatorial 2009 , Nasheed held a meeting with Maldives’ 3 islands, successive Maldivian governments have vice-president and 11 cabinet ministers underwater, encouraged international research collaborations. where they signed a resolution calling for global cuts in carbon emissions. One such collaboration has involved climate researchers at the Foundation for Environment, In November 2021 , Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, 4 Climate and Technology (FECT)5, a non-profit Maldives’ president since November 2018, told the research institute in neighbouring Sri Lanka, which 26 th UN climate change conference (commonly has worked closely with Maldivian scientists, referred to as COP 26) that his people “are already environment officials, resource managers, and 49 educators for years. The institute’s multi-disciplinary Maldives’ Ministry of Health since 2003-04, studying approach brings together experts in meteorology, the health impacts of climate change. He developed hydrology, and oceanography to study climate- work plans, for the short term (1-3 years) and the change trends and how these affect the northern longer term (5-10 years), to enhance climate Indian Ocean region covering Sri Lanka and research pertaining to Maldives. In mid-2009, Maldives, and in some cases, all of South Asia. these plans were presented to Mohamed Aslam, a geographer and oceanographer who was Maldives’ The FECT grew out of a project under which a Minister of Housing, Transport and Environment group of Sri Lankan researchers, since 2000, had at the time. Based on these plans, Aslam sought been gathering and studying seasonal climate out help in building the Maldivian government’s data pertaining to Sri Lanka’s Mahaweli river basin technical capacity in climate policymaking and in order to help manage the river’s water resources. negotiations. Soon, a government department was In December 2003, they incorporated the institute set up to formulate policies and standards in order in Sri Lanka, seeking to ensure long-term continuity to address challenges posed by climate change. in recording climate data, and to foster research in environmental and climate science, and related Similar to a weekly Sri Lanka-focused climate technology. bulletin that the FECT has been providing since 2008, in 2011, Dr. Zubair and Dr. Zahid, who at the time Since its inception, the FECT has pursued was the Deputy Director-General of Climatology at collaborative research to provide reliable scientific the MMS, introduced a monthly climate bulletin for information that is useful across many sectors, Maldives. It focuses on enhancing public awareness such as agriculture, water resources, and fisheries. regarding trends in the climate, such as changes in Their data and analyses are routinely shared with rainfall and ocean temperatures, the far-reaching multiple stakeholders and made available through implications of these changes, and strategies to several websites. 6 adapt accordingly. This knowledge is incredibly useful in Maldives, where nature- and ocean-based In late 2008, Maldives’ government sought inputs tourism generates close to a quarter of the gross from experts at Columbia University in the United domestic product (GDP), and where fisheries, which States, on how to enhance the archipelago nation’s plays a key role in domestic food and nutrition climate research capabilities. The University’s Earth security and still supports many local livelihoods, Institute, which was keen on research partnerships accounts for more than 4 percent of GDP.7 with small island developing states, nominated Dr. Lareef Zubair, a researcher from Sri Lanka at The bulletins are disseminated through email to the Earth Institute and the FECT’s co-founder and hundreds of undergraduates, teachers, researchers, principal scientist, as its focal point. government officials, environmental activists, and others, most of whom are in Maldives. These Dr. Zubair is an engineer and physicist who works bulletins are made available online at https://www. across disciplines such as meteorology and climate.mv/bulletin/, and corresponding highlights hydrology, had been occasionally engaging with and links are shared through social media, primarily the Maldives Meteorological Service (MMS) and via Facebook and Twitter. 50 Small countries, diverse climates according to a profile8 of the climate risks faced by the country that was published by the World Collaboration between FECT members from Sri Bank and Asian Development Bank in 2021. The Lanka, and scientists and other experts from report states that future projections are “clouded Maldives has enriched their knowledge and work, by the inability of current climate models to as well as broadened understanding of the climate simulate changes over very small island states”. processes that shape both countries. “Single This is a limitation that is being addressed through country climate research tends to be too insular,” collaborations between FECT members from Sri says Dr. Zubair. “We cannot properly study the Lanka and experts from Maldives. climate patterns in Sri Lanka and its surrounding oceans without extending this to a wider part of the Climate models apply mathematical equations northern Indian Ocean.” to simulate the interactions and processes that govern the Earth’s climate system, including the He adds, “In fact, in climatic terms, the Maldives atmosphere, oceans, ice, and land. They are is a bigger country than Sri Lanka! Although the based on widely-recognized principles of physics, Maldives has a very small land area (of 300 square chemistry, and biology, and use a three-dimensional kilometers, compared to Sri Lanka’s 65,610 square grid to map the Earth. kilometers), the Maldives has a greater diversity in climate. This makes the archipelago a globally As natural climate systems are complex, modelling interesting location from which to engage in them requires significant computing power. Each climate research.” cell that constitutes the grid of a global climate model (GCM), thus, typically spans 250 kilometers Maldives experiences an equatorial monsoonal horizontally, although some models use cells climate, which is warm and humid throughout the with a horizontal resolution of 100 kilometers or 20 year, with seasonal fluctuations in temperature kilometers. Even at the 20-kilometers resolution, and rainfall due to the South Asian monsoon climate models still miss almost all of Maldives’ (June-September). islands, the largest of which, Gan, is only 7.8 kilometers long. “Climate mechanisms change drastically from north to south (in Maldives), with the northern “Global or even Asian regional climate models islands displaying a climate similar to India and are not immediately useable in the Maldives, and southernmost islands showing a climate as in the we have to gather enough data from different Southern Hemisphere,” says Dr. Zubair. The tropics points in the archipelago to downscale the results affect the climate a great deal, even more than skillfully for this very small but dispersed group of the polar regions. However, relatively limited islands,” explains Dr. Zubair. climate data collection and analysis is being done on the tropics, compared to research on the To bridge gaps between measurements of temperate and polar regions. global and local climate patterns, GCMs can be downscaled, which involves modifying these Maldives has already experienced warming trends, complex models with calculations that account with an increase of 0.8°C between 1978 and 2018, for the impact of local features, such as water 51 bodies and vegetation. This may be done by This information is, notably, used to improve the nesting a higher-resolution local climate model accuracy of rainfall and weather predictions, and into a GCM, thereby enabling data generated by supports local communities in managing the risks the GCM to be fed into the local model in order of water shortages and floods. to simulate local climate conditions with greater finesse. Actual measurements of the historical relationship of the climate over a specific area are also used to correct some biases in GCMs. As Managing freshwater five Maldivian islands have historical data going Collaboration with the FECT has helped Maldives back 25-70 years, this can be used to interpret in managing its water supply. Despite being predictions made based on these global models. surrounded by oceans, Maldives has a limited supply of freshwater. The country has no rivers “We divided the Maldives into three regions used or streams, and surface freshwater is limited to a by geographers — northern, central and southern. few small wetlands and freshwater lakes. Most of IRI (International Research Institute for Climate and its freshwater is found in basal aquifers, a body Society, of Columbia University) scientists helped of groundwater that floats on a body of saltwater by ensuring that there was at least one grid cell underground. (pertaining to each of these regions) represented in the global models used for predictions. We then As sea levels rise and coastal erosion intensifies, customized a seasonal climate prediction tool saltwater is intruding into these aquifers, as well and a climate monitoring tool that offered higher as wetlands and freshwater ponds on some of resolution data for these small islands. We looked Maldives’ islands. This reduces the freshwater at the historical data and did some analyses to available locally. understand long-term trends,” Dr. Zubair recalls. The problem is worsened by islanders extracting In 2008-13, Dr. Zubair worked with the MMS to groundwater for domestic purposes and, in some develop web-based tools for analyzing historical cases, indiscriminately disposing sewage and other changes in the climate, and to monitor current waste that can contaminate groundwater aquifers data in order to make near-term predictions. Some by seeping through the soil. tools that the FECT had developed in Sri Lanka were adapted for this purpose. If Maldives’ usable groundwater depletes faster than the inundation of its coasts from the rising An automated weather station each was seas, some islands may be unlivable within a few deployed by the FECT on two islands in Maldives’ years to decades. Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll: Fares-Maathoda in 2017 and Thinadhdhoo in 2018. In addition, the FECT had For several years, FECT researchers from Sri Lanka set up 12 such weathers stations in Sri Lanka as of and Maldives have been conducting hydro-climatic end-2021. Collectively, these facilities have helped analyses to understand how climate change streamline the gathering and public dissemination, impacts the management of water resources in via websites and social media, of climate data Maldives. In 2013, an FECT study on drought and pertaining to the two neighbouring countries. water scarcity was done in Greater Malé — which 52 comprises Maldives’ more-developed islands of Malé, Hulhumalé, Hulhulé and Villimalé — by Disaster risk reduction tabulating water sources and usage patterns in the Another key area for FECT collaboration in Maldives area. Later, from 2015, water-scarcity assessments has been in disaster risk reduction (DRR). According were done by the FECT for several other islands that to a DRR status report10 published by the UN in July have either resorts or local housing. The research 2019, small-scale and recurrent hazards, such as has led to technical publications and improved increased rainfall, cyclonic winds, storm surges, the quality of data available to make short-term saltwater intrusion, and coastal floods, have been climate predictions, helping optimally manage the causing damages and losses on an on-going country’s finite water resources. basis in Maldives. Through environmental case studies and Scientists from Maldives have been contributing monitoring systems, the FECT has developed a tool to the knowledge base and policy analysis for for water budgeting — a way of accounting for the DRR in the country, including through tie-ups amount of water flowing in and out of a natural with the FECT. The contributions of the FECT water system — to support decision making on have resulted in joint research with the MMS and each of Maldives’ 187 islands that are inhabited partnerships with Maldives’ environment ministry by locals. In addition, in 2018, a tool for monitoring and National Disaster Management Centre, which drought, using satellite data, was customized for was established by Maldives’ government after a Maldives’ needs by the FECT, and an instrument tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004. to measure soil moisture was installed at the MMS head office, in Hulhulé island, to support studies on “Climate change projections tell us to expect wetter water budgeting. conditions for most parts of South Asia. However, in recent decades, there has been an increasing When patterns of rainfall, humidity and tendency for droughts in Sri Lanka and in northern temperature change, this affects the numbers Maldives, as well as in East Africa. The credibility of of mosquitoes that are in a locality, and their these climate projections is thus in question,” says breeding periods and tendency to bite repeatedly. Dr. Zubair. As dengue is an endemic disease in Maldives, where each year outbreaks peak in June-July and To reconcile differences between global climate December-January , Sri Lankan and Maldivian 9 projections and locally-experienced realities, scientists collaborated in 2016 to conduct dengue researchers in Sri Lanka and Maldives, including risk assessments. This study, across Maldivian two junior scientists at the FECT and one at the islands that are inhabited by citizens, was to be Maldives National University (MNU), started repeated periodically but that has not happened working with a collaborator based at the Earth yet as the country’s government, via the Health Institute. Under this cross-border research effort, Protection Agency, has prioritized controlling the which ran from September 2014 to October 2017, domestic COVID-19 outbreak since 2020. they evaluated regional climate mechanisms, the 53 decadal change in the climate, and the drivers of FECT–Maldives shares the same vision and this change, such as sea surface temperatures. mission of its counterpart in Sri Lanka: to be a repository of scientific expertise related to The FECT and its research partners, the Earth the climate and environment, and a driver Institute and the MNU, found a link between of further research and development. It has decadal change in rainfall and sea surface also been able to share several lessons from temperatures. They verified satellite estimates of its local activities, notably regarding the rainfall over Maldives through direct observations modelling of water budgets on islands and and measurements. The research indicated that coastal strips, with its Sri Lankan counterpart. the IPCC’s projections for Maldives and Sri Lanka had underestimated temperature rises and did By design, FECT–Maldives remains a small not capture declines in rainfall in northern and entity, relying on development partnerships and central Maldives. It enabled new insights into collaborative research within the country and how El Niño — a climate pattern that leads to an internationally. Staff on FECT projects in Sri Lanka unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern and Maldives gain experience as researchers, tropical Pacific Ocean – affects ocean current in using specialized tools, such as geographical circulation in the Indian Ocean. The phenomenon, information systems, and in undertaking climate in turn, caused reduced rainfall in years in which analysis and water resources management. El Niño occurred. Aishath Afaaf, secretary of FECT–Maldives, says, “FECT–Maldives is now doing monthly rainfall data Building expertise and analysis. Very few people in the Maldives collect such primary data. We have also started assessing institutions air pollution in Malé and other neighbouring islands. In addition to undertaking research and We have set up a weather station in southern generating scientific data to support decision Maldives, and another one on Hulhulé island.” making, the FECT has been building technical capacity and research institutions in Sri Lanka Besides such capacity building, the FECT has and Maldives. “Both in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, been promoting science, technology, engineering public institutions were keener on short (seasonal) and mathematics (STEM) education through an to medium term climate variability patterns. There interdisciplinary and applied approach in schools was less interest on what could happen on longer in Maldives. There is limited exposure to scientists (30-year) time horizons,” says Dr. Zubair. and technologists for students at most schools in Maldives’ remote islands. Since 2017, the FECT and This was the reason for formally setting up a few Maldivian and international partners have the Foundation for Environment, Climate and provided middle and high school students in Gaafu Technology–Maldives (FECT–Maldives) in August Dhaalu Atoll access to instrumentation used for 2018. The Maldivian non-governmental organization measuring weather conditions, air and water culminated from a decade’s worth of engagement quality, and soil moisture and temperature; to between the Sri Lanka-based FECT, and Maldivian information and communications technology researchers and government officials. systems; and to data obtained from prior projects, 54 undertaken by the FECT and these partners, on Young professionals like Afaaf form an integral water resources, drought and various hazards. part of her nation’s — and region’s — struggle Students and their educators have been instructed against climate impacts. The FECT’s educational on how to use these assets, and an internet-based tie-ups with the MNU and the University of portal has been created to provide them access Peradeniya enables many such Sri Lankans and to resources of the FECT and its partners. The FECT Maldivians to enhance their knowledge and skills, aims to extend its provision of STEM education to and link up with each other for cross-border schools in Malé and also in Sri Lanka. collaborations. It helps them develop a deeper understanding of the similarities in the difficulties In Maldives and Sri Lanka, the FECT has also neighbouring South Asian countries face in enhanced formal learning at the higher education adapting to and mitigating climate change, and level. Since 2010, it has assisted in putting encourages them to tackle common problems together a Masters in Development Practice through cohesive action. (MDP) program at the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka. The MDP program prepares students to “We believe that building resilience of the entire identify and address challenges to sustainable community is necessary,” said Aminath Shauna, development, and has a notable focus on climate Maldives’ Minister of Environment, Climate Change change in South Asia. The FECT has contributed to and Technology, in an interview11 in late 2021 while the MDP program through curriculum development, highlighting that the Maldives government’s providing research support, supporting qualified approach to coping with the challenges posed Maldivians in enrolling for the program, and by climate change is a holistic one. “We are a securing placements for Maldivian students very small country and our greenhouse gases are pursuing the MDP degree. negligible, as is our contribution to climate change. But we want to show that if the Maldives can do Afaaf, of FECT–Maldives, was selected to pursue it, why can’t the rest of the world? We are not here an MDP degree at University of Peradeniya in 2015. to tell a story that we’re just victims. We are also While doing so, she took part in Maldives-focused willing to lead by example,” she added. FECT projects, on climate monitoring, and water security and climate. The FECT exemplifies how cross-border collaborations that foster knowledge The MDP program has had a huge impact on her and resource sharing between scientists, career, says Afaaf. “I was working in the development researchers, educators, governments, NGOs, sector since the 2004 tsunami, focusing on issues private companies, citizens, and others can like migrant workers, disaster risk reduction and help South Asian island nations adapt to and gender. The MDP (program) gave me new clarity mitigate climate change. It highlights that on social and policy aspects.As a result, I have just as climate change knows no boundaries, become more passionate inmy work,” she adds. neither should South Asia’s approach to tackling this challenge to the region’s prosperity. 55 ENDNOTES 1. Voiland, Adam. “Preparing for Rising Seas of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the in the Maldives.” February 19, 2020. https:// collective scientific national academy of the earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/148158/ United States. preparing-for-rising-seas-in-the-maldives/. 6. Key domains include: http://www.climate.lk/ 2. Cooley, S., D. Schoeman, L. Bopp, P. Boyd, S. and https://disaster.lk/. Donner, D.Y. Ghebrehiwet, S.-I. Ito, W. Kiessling, 7. Ministry of Fisheries Marine Resources and P. Martinetto, E. Ojea, M.-F. Racault, B. Rost, Agriculture of the Republic of Maldives, Food and M. Skern-Mauritzen, 2022: Ocean and and Agriculture Organization of the United Coastal Ecosystems and their Services. In: Nations. 2019. National Fisheries and Agricultural Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, Policy 2019-2029. https://www.gov.mv/dv/ and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working files/national-fisheries-and-agricultural- Group II to the Sixth Assessment Report of the policy-2019-2029.pdf/. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [H.-O. Pörtner, D.C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E.S. 8. The World Bank Group and the Asian Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, Development. 2021. Climate Risk S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, B. Country Profile: Maldives (2021). https:// Rama (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, climateknowledgeportal.worldbank.org/sites/ Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, pp. default/files/2021-08/15649-WB_Maldives 379-550, doi:10.1017/9781009325844.005. Country Profile-WEB.pdf/. 3. The President’s Office, Republic of Maldives. 9. For more information on dengue-related “Maldives holds world’s first underwater Cabinet research carried out via collaborations meeting.” Press Release 2009-778, October between the FECT, FECT–Maldives and Small 17, 2009. https://presidency.gov.mv/Press/ Island Research Centre, a local partner, and Article/633/. supported by the US National Academy of Sciences, see their website to promote science, 4. The President’s Office, Republic of Maldives. technology, engineering and mathematics “Remarks by His Excellency Ibrahim Mohamed (STEM) education in Maldives at https://stem. Solih, President of the Republic of Maldives at climate.mv/index.php/dengue/. the 26th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) to the United Nations Framework 10. United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Reduction. 2019. Disaster Risk Reduction held in Glasgow, Scotland.” Press Release in Republic of Maldives: Status Report SA/RIMS/2021/45, November 1, 2009. https:// 2019. https://www.preventionweb.net/ presidency.gov.mv/Press/Article/25643/. files/68254_682304maldivesdrmstatusreport. pdf/. 5. The FECT’s work in Maldives has been supported by the Maldives Ministry of Environment, Climate 11. Behsudi, Adam. 2021. “No Higher Ground.” Change and Technology, a grant from the IMF Finance & Development 58 (3): 36-37. MacArthur Foundation, a US-based philanthropic https://www.imf.org/Publications/fandd/ organization, to Columbia University, and three issues/2021/09/maldives-climate-change- grants from the Partnerships for Enhanced aminath-shauna-trenches/. Engagement in Research (PEER), which is  Picture Credits: World Economic Forum administered by the U.S. National Academies 56 Chapter - 6 Breaking Taboos and Transforming Lives Smriti Daniel While some countries are talking about period-tech, many in South Asia still rely on reusable cloth to manage their menstrual cycle. The stigma and taboos that surround menstruation have long affected the health, security and prospects of millions of girls and women, especially in rural areas. Girls are known to miss school over their periods because of the lack of facilities at school. This is primarily because of a lack of access to inexpensive menstrual products and to adequate facilities for menstrual-hygiene management. While I have encountered many individuals and organizations that have done excellent Ms. Naina Lal work to improve awareness, hygiene and sanitation locally, there Kidwai are probably only a few initiatives that have demonstrated the potential to be scaled up or recreated across the region. Chairperson, Rothschild India This case study brings to the fore one such endeavor that shows Chairperson, India how, in recent years, South Asians have empowered women Sanitation Coalition in India and Sri Lanka to run women-led community-based businesses that are scalable and replicable, and make effective, affordable and biodegradable sanitary pads, which can be sold for a small profit. It highlights the role that innovation, entrepreneurship and cooperation can play in nurturing a robust South Asian neighborhood, where women can take control of their own menstrual health and flourish. Breaking taboos and transforming lives: India’s Pad Man to Sri Lanka’s Pad Women – Smriti Daniel 2021 In South Asia, taboos and myths around An entrepreneur from India tackled the problem menstruation ignore geographical, social, linguistic by designing low-cost machinery to produce and political borders. Women and girls in these sanitary pads and jobs for women. The invention countries occupy very distinct landscapes, eat of Arunachalam Muruganantham – known as different food, speak different languages, follow Muruga – has inspired a partnership between different faiths, and yet share many experiences India and Sri Lanka that is expected to expand to when it comes to their periods. Nepal and Afghanistan. The initiative empowers women in poor, remote areas to take charge of For starters, whether you are a girl growing up in their own menstrual health and earn an income. the shadows of the Himalayas or by the bustling As of 2019, small manufacturing sites have been ports of Colombo, whether you are a teenager or established in some 5,300 locations across 27 a mother of two, you have likely been told that countries, with the number set to grow. your periods are some how impure. In Sri Lanka, the subject is rarely discussed and 66 percent It is an extraordinary movement that began with of girls were unaware of menstruation until their 1 one man, his wife, and a pile of rags. first period. Nearly half 2 of married women in northern India do not share a bedroom with their husband while menstruating. And Nepal’s poorest communities still practice chhaupadi — a tradition India’s ‘menstrual man’ banishing women and girls to live in unheated mud entrepreneur huts during their periods. The son of two weavers, Muruga was born in Coim batore, in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. After The shame and secrecy surrounding menstruation his father died in an accident, Muruga dropped has a cumulative impact on women’s education, out of school to support his family with a series of job prospects, home life, and overall health. An jobs as a farm laborer, welder, and machine tool estimated one-third of girls in South Asia miss operator – jobs requiring mechanical know-how school during their periods because they do not 3 and versatility. have access to sanitary pads, toilets, or hand washing facilities. Menstruation pads available Muruga met and married his wife, Shanthi, in 1998. in stores are expensive luxuries for many women, Theirs was a conventional marriage until Muruga and the plastic components in most commercially realized Shanthi was hiding something from him: made products make them difficult to dispose of she was collecting rags to use instead of sanitary properly. napkins. Muruga was confused and then worried. 59 The rags seemed less than hygienic — “I wouldn’t left him. “I started the research for my wife, and even use it to clean my scooter,” Muruga recalled after 18 months she left me,” he said. Even his — and Shanthi was uncomfortable talking because elderly mother moved out of his house after she of the social stigma around menstruation. saw Muruga closely examining used sanitary pads in the backyard. Eventually, the entire village Muruga decided to buy Shanthi menstrual pads turned against him. Convinced that Muruga was but was shocked by the price. He calculated that possessed by an evil spirit, they prepared to chain each lightweight pad was made with just 10 grams him to a tree so a local soothsayer could heal of cotton, then worth about 10 paise, but sold for him. Muruga escaped by promising that he would 4 Indian rupees (INR) – 40 times the cost of raw leave the village. materials. Muruga felt certain he could figure out a way to make cheaper, effective sanitary pads. Though profoundly shaken, Muruga wasn’t ready to call it quits after investing so much time testing Muruga first turned to Shanthi to test his and refining his invention. He had learned that experimental pads but was frustrated by having pure cotton was ineffective and the key absorption to wait a month in-between trials. He needed more component in sanitary pads is cellulose, made from volunteers. However, few women were interested the bark of pinewood and other trees. However, in helping and even his sisters turned him down. expensive, large factory machines were typically Muruga eventually decided he would test the needed to produce cellulose. pads on himself. He filled a rubber football with animal blood from a local butcher and added It took Muruga four years to create alternative tools an anti-coagulant to keep it from clotting. He and equipment that were simple, affordable, and attached the football to his waist and connected suitable for rural areas. He designed a sanitary it to a tube that led to his underwear. The device pad that could be made in four simple steps. First, slowly leaked blood into his makeshift sanitary cellulose sheets were inserted into a machine pads, allowing him to measure absorption rates as similar to a kitchen grinder to break down the he moved throughout the day. The experience was fibers until they were light and fluffy. Next, another revelatory. machine pressed the fluff into rectangular cakes, forming the core of a pad. The cakes were wrapped “That makes me bow down to any in non-woven cloth and disinfected with ultraviolet woman in front of me to give full respect... light. And lastly, a plastic rectangle was added to Those five days I’ll never forget – the the back to protect the sticky side of the pad. The messy days, the lousy days, that wetness. simple manufacturing process could be taught to My God, it’s unbelievable.” –Muruga anyone in an hour. The machines he designed cost about INR 75,000 for a basic version that created Muruga’s pads didn’t always work, leaving his jobs for 10 women and produced 200 pads a day. pants stained with blood. He washed his clothes at a community well, and some assumed the blood Muruga had realized his vision: an effective, stains were from a sexually transmitted disease. affordable, and environmentally friendly sanitary Suspicious neighbours ostracized him while others napkin that rural women could make and sell for thought Muruga had lost his mind. Then Shanthi a source of income. He showed his invention 60 to faculty at the Indian Institute of Technology raw material for a cost. (The latter process has in Madras and they entered it in a national been somewhat complicated by the pandemic, as competition for innovation. Out of 943 entries, additional requirements and constraints around Muruga’s machine came first. Pratibha Patil, then exports have come into play.) Muruga’s approach the President of India, handed him his award. has its critics and many have since attempted to Overnight, Muruga was famous. improve on it. Over 18 months, Muruga built 250 machines to At home, things also changed as his community make pads and took them to poor, underdeveloped learned more about his innovation. Muruga’s states in Northern India. Women there face difficult neighbours welcomed him back. And Shanthi conditions, often walking miles each day to fetch reached out to him, proud of his work to help poor, water. rural women. Today, she speaks about menstrual hygiene to women across the country and is no “My inner conscience said if I can crack it in longer embarrassed to talk about periods. Bihar, a very tough nut to crack, I can make it anywhere.” –Muruga Encouraging poor women to make pads was Ending period poverty at times difficult because of menstrual taboos in Sri Lanka but Muruga found supporters among NGOs and In a dark hall in Kitulwatte, a neighborhood in the community-based organizations for women. Sri Lankan city of Colombo, M. Kamala was among Over time, the machines spread to 27 of India’s 29 a group of women who giggled awkwardly as the states. In each location, women run the business movie, “Pad Man,” flickered to life on the TV in front and choose their own brand name. As his fame of them. grew, Muruga became something of a legend. He spoke at the prestigious Indian Institutes Kamala watched as Akshay Kumar, the actor of Management and was the subject of a 2013 playing Muruga in “Pad Man,” struggled with documentary, “Menstrual Man.” He gave a TED talk a design for an affordable pad. “It was funny,” that has been viewed more than 1.6 million times. she remembers, “but I could see he was doing And in 2018, his story was made into a Bollywood it to make his wife happy.” The group of women film, “Pad Man.” watched the film as part of their training to use Muruga’s technology to launch a menstrual pad As interest soared in his designs, Muruga business in Sri Lanka. Kamala said the evening remained committed to the vision that started helped her understand why the Indian inventor him on his journey. He refused to sell his patents to made it available to women who lived in a different corporations, determined to keep the technology country but had much in common with his wife. accessible to poor communities. Accordingly, he provided the blueprints of the machines for free For Jazaya Hassadeen, the evening program was to community-based businesses where women the result of a yearlong campaign to persuade made the pads and sold them for a small profit. Muruga to share his technology with Sri Lankan His organization would continue to provide the women. Hassadeen, treasurer for the SAARC 61 Chamber Women Entrepreneurs Council, read ready to run a pilot. Because Muruga made the about Muruga in a book and wanted to replicate design of his machine freely available, the council the pad-making business for poor women in Sri was able to build its own equipment with local Lanka. It took months to convince him that the metalworkers. The group timed the launch for the council had the right intentions and should be his same day that the Bollywood movie, “Pad Man,” first expansion outside India. premiered. Before agreeing to a partnership, Muruga asked In January 2019, the Kithulwatte plant opened Hassadeen to visit a manufacturing site to see its doors. Fifteen women, including Kamala, how the technology worked. She remembers learned the manufacturing process from trainers walking into a women’s shelter in Delhi, and seeing with Muruga’s organization in India. The women a young physically challenged girl using her feet decided to sell their pads under the brand name, to operate the machine – clear evidence that the Sinidu, which means soft in Sinhala. Sales have technology could empower women as well as steadily increased for Sinidu packets, each provide affordable menstrual pads. The SAARC containing 10 pads. “Today, there is a lot of demand,” team gathered data showing some 63 percent of said Rifka, one of the early trainees, who earns Sri Lankan households with a menstruating female a steady income from selling about 100 packets bought sanitary pads but nearly 40 percent of the a month, each for 75 Sri Lankan rupees (LKR). A households purchased the product only once or packet costs LKR 60 to make and Rifka keeps the twice a year. Many of the households said they profit. The LKR 75 sales price is much lower than could not afford to buy menstrual pads regularly a similar package of commercially-made pads because of the high cost. that command between LKR 130 and LKR 470, including taxes. The SAARC team decided to sponsor a project for manufacturing sites, or production centers, in Sri Customers said they were pleased that the Sinidu Lanka. “We could see that there was a common pads are easy to wear and rarely result in rashes interest for women across the region,” said Rifa or discomfort. Rifka is eager to tell potential Mustapha, then Council Chairperson for the customers how the pads are made and their SAARC team, adding the process would nurture benefits. “Without fear, I can recommend these pads entrepreneurial skills and empower the women to women because I make them myself,” she said. involved. Some customers are motivated by other factors – such as having water available only three hours a “Each production center could come up day from a community well. Washing bloodstained with their own plan. They could run it for clothing in public is embarrassing so women rush just three or four hours, or increase their through the process and hide the items instead of labor force and produce more, depending drying them out in the sun, she said. on what they chose.” – Rifa Mustapha Kamala also sells about 100 packets a month, The SAARC group arranged imports of raw mostly to teachers at her son’s school, the local materials, which incurred heavy taxes, and church, and neighbours. “And because it is cheap, equipment and several months later they were women are able to use pads for their whole period,” 62 she said. Another plus is that used Sinidu pads do Prison officials approved the project and the pads not need special waste management and can produced are distributed to inmates, who formerly be thrown out with household food waste. That is received only three sanitary napkins per person not the case with most commercially-made pads because of the prison’s tight budget. “Women containing non-biodegradable plastics. were trying to get relatives to bring them napkins or stealing each other’s napkins. For the authorities, Garbage disposal is a serious challenge our machines were really a godsend,” Hassadeen throughout South Asia. In 2017, Sri Lanka’s said. Meethotamulla garbage dump collapsed during the night, triggering a landslide that buried nearby Jani Perera, a member of the SAARC group, houses and killed 32. Before the collapse, the donated funds to have local metalworkers build 21-acre garbage dump was more than 150 feet pad-making machines. Kamala went to the tall, according to some estimates. Hassadeen said prison and trained 10 women. In total, the women the accident showed why waste management had 45 days of training and mentorship, resulting must be improved. “When we visited the site, the in production of about 80 pads a day. “These are women were talking to us and one of the things women that have been put aside by society, and they said is that even after two or three years, the I was glad I could help them,” Kamala said. “It is sanitary napkins in the dump had stayed intact,” about giving women, wherever they are, some she said. The community-made pads, however, dignity.” When the women leave prison, they have are completely biodegradable except for one strip marketable skills to earn a living. The women are of plastic that can be pulled off and separately also likely to be ambassadors for Sinidu within disposed. their own communities. The prison supplies commissioner, Chandana Ekanayake, said he was impressed with the results. Transforming women’s lives “This production, we are planning to Kamala said being an employee of Sinidu has send all over Sri Lanka’s prisons... This is a changed her life in significant ways. The young sustainable project." – Chandana Ekanayake mother can count on her income to pay for her son’s medical needs and her financial independence Women trainers such as Kamala can have a has made her more confident. “Before I used to substantial impact on other women who are stay at home only,” she says, “but now I feel like I searching for livelihoods. “It’s good that we have can do anything.” Kamala’s confidence was put women as trainers,” says Deepa Edirisinghe, a to the test when the SAARC team identified her municipal councilor in Colombo. As a city official, as a potential trainer of other women. Even more Edirisinghe has visited the neighborhood where challenging was the location for Kamala’s course Kamala and the other Sindhu employees live — Colombo’s Welikada Prison, where more than 300 and sees enormous potential for women women are confined. The SAARC team proposed entrepreneurs. “The women are interested in that the prison sponsor a manufacturing site where self-employment,” she said. “All we think about women inmates could make menstrual pads and is teaching them how to make garments and sell learn business skills. food, but this is an option we haven’t explored.” 63 Younger women, in particular, are more open to The SAARC team members believe that the unconventional jobs like those offered by Sinidu, model that has worked so well in India and Sri she said. Lanka will gain traction across South Asia. “The strength of this approach is that it is community- In the early days of the pandemic, when Sri based,” and driven by women, Mustapha said. Lanka’s case count was low, the factory remained “We have seen such a change in their lives.” operational providing a much needed source of The pad manufacturing sites create jobs, income to the women. Unfortunately, as cases teach women business skills, and give women soared in the latter half of 2020, health authorities confidence. And the environmentally friendly asked them to halt work. With the vaccine roll-out product improves the quality of life – and now underway, Hassadeen says they will open their opportunities – for poor women. doors again as soon as it is safe to do so. The Sinidu employees, who began with so little, The SAARC Chamber Women Entrepreneurs have been empowered by their manufacturing Council wants to expand the pad-making jobs, says Hassadeen. The work gives women technology to other communities in Sri Lanka and from poor communities a greater measure of to Nepal, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan where freedom from taboos that have held them back women face similar challenges. Mustapha said for decades. Kamala’s journey from a woman conversations are in the preliminary stages. The at home without independence or work, to a SAARC team envisions building more machines confident ambassador for Sinidu, is an example in Sri Lanka then shipping the equipment to of how entrepreneurial ventures change lives. interested communities that could then contact “This girl was sitting at home looking after her Muruga’s organization directly to obtain the raw physically challenged child, but today she is an material made of cellulose. (The recipe to make international trainer, getting ready to board a the cellulose remains a closely guarded secret.) plane to Nepal!” Hassadeen said with a smile. Their first stop will be Nepal, where the local SAARC chapter has shown a great deal of interest. ENDNOTES 1. https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/WA_MHM_SNAPSHOT_SRILANKA.pdf 2. https://qz.com/india/252419/the-full-extent-of-what-urban-india-believes-about-menstruation-is- extraordinary/] 3. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-women-health/third-of-girls-in-south-asia-miss-school- during-periods-study-idUSKCN1IN00F  Picture Credits: Smriti Daniel 64 Chapter - 7 The Kartarpur Corridor Aurangzaib Khan 65 From the magnificent Badshahi Mosque and the Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan, to the Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan, the Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan and the Sixty Dome Mosque in Bangladesh; from the sacred Lumbini area in Nepal and the Taj Mahal in India, to the ruins of Sigiriya in Sri Lanka and the Baa Atoll biosphere reserve in Maldives, the richness and diversity of South Asia’s heritage is evident and shared across the region. Preserving the cultures, faiths, languages, scripts, arts, literature, music, dances and philosophies, among other things, of this ancient and varied Ambassador neighbourhood is essential to understand how our lives have been Maleeha Lodhi shaped by this heritage. Former Pakistan’s This case study tells of the steadfast efforts of citizens, diaspora, Representative to the and governments of Pakistan and India that led to the opening of a United Nations and Pakistan’s Ambassador to transport corridor connecting India’s Sikhs, past the border, to one of the United States their holiest worship sites in Pakistan. It also points to how such efforts raise prospects for faith tourism between South Asian countries and encourage peaceful coexistence between neighbours. The Kartarpur Corridor: A corridor to peace in South Asia – Aurangzaib Khan 2022 Little in recent history speaks to the triumph the last 18 years2 of his life at Kartarpur, where of goodwill between the two countries like the he established Sikhism’s first langarkhana opening of the Kartarpur Corridor, a passage that (house of alms), which drew people from across connects India to one of the holiest worship sites Punjab. The original structure of Gurdwara Sri in Pakistan for Sikhs — a community of about 30 Kartarpur Sahib was also built in the 16th century3. million people who constitute the world's fifth- largest religion. The initiative is a step towards Local Hindus and Muslims considered Guru Nanak going beyond borders that have disconnected as one of their own and built mausoleums to his people in the region for more than seven decades, memory at Kartarpur after he passed away in and, in good faith, pursuing peaceful relations. 15394. In time, the remains of the old commune and mausoleums were washed away by the shifting course of Ravi river, one of the five rivers that flows through the Punjab terrain, which was A passage of faith partitioned into territories of India and Pakistan The cross-border passage runs between Dera in 1947. The gurdwara, as it exists today, on the Baba Nanak, a town in the district of Gurdaspur banks of the Ravi river, was built in the 1920s in the Indian state of Punjab, and Kartarpur, a on the foundations of the original structure town in Narowal district of Pakistan’s Punjab during the reign of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of province. It allows Indian Sikhs, who are a Patiala, an erstwhile princely state that governed dominant community in India’s Punjab state, Kartarpur.5 to travel from Dera Baba Nanak — where a few prominent gurdwaras (Sikh temples) have been Until recently, nothing existed around Gurdwara built, such as Gurdwara Sri Darbar Sahib, Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib but for the fields that Sri Chola Sahib and Gurdwara Tahli Sahib — and Guru Nanak used to irrigate from a well in the go about 4.5 kilometers beyond the India-Pakistan compound of his dera (dwelling). The gurdwara border to arrive at Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib complex, as it exists today, is a wide expanse of in Pakistan. white marble. At its heart stands the gurdwara building, which has a large central dome Sikhism originated and spread from the Punjab surrounded by smaller ones. The sound of prayers region. Guru Nanak, the founder and first of ten and devotional music stream through its many teachers of the Sikh faith, established the town of windows and doorways, drifting over the marble Kartarpur — the site of the first Sikh commune — in flooring of the complex. “We would come here 1504 during his many travels. Guru Nanak spent 1 often as children and, as late as a few years ago, 67 freely enter the darbar (the gurdwara’s hall) or of India and Pakistan in 1947 was inherent in walk around in the fields,” said Ilyas Sadiq, a driver the act of gazing across the Ravi river at the from Pakistan’s Narowal district, who often brings gurdwara in Kartarpur. This has abated with the visitors to the holy site. opening of the Kartarpur Corridor in November 2019. “Coming here feels like a daydream,” said A view from afar Dr. Pushpal Singh, a pilgrim from Amritsar, a city Over the last few decades, most Sikhs who longed in the Indian state of Punjab during a visit to to visit this sacred place could only gaze at it Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib. “For so long, we have from afar across the border in India. Instability in only seen the gurudwara through binoculars,” he relations between India and Pakistan had often added, while wishing for more such corridors that restricted travel through the border crossing that could provide access to other historically- connects their respective villages of Attari and significant gurdwaras and heritage sites in Wagah, and enables pilgrims and visitors from Pakistan. These Sikh heritage sites include the India to reach Lahore, a city in Pakistan’s Punjab birthplace of Guru Nanak at Nankana Sahib, a province, from where a 125-kilometer-long journey district in Pakistan’s Punjab province that was could be made to reach Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur named after him, and Gurdwara Panja Sahib Sahib. The opening of the Kartarpur Corridor which is believed to have an imprint of Guru Nanak’s reduced the distance of the entire journey to just hand in Attock district of the same province. 8.8 kilometers by linking Dera Baba Nanak and the Someday, Dr. Singh hopes to visit these sites too. gurdwara in Kartarpur. India’s government has set up a dedicated Most Sikhs, as well as other visitors, living in website (https://prakashpurb550.mha.gov.in/kpr/) Pakistan or flying into the country, travel inland via which visitors from the country can register to by road or rail to reach Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur travel through the Kartarpur Corridor to Gurdwara Sahib and other local holy sites. Until the opening Sri Kartarpur Sahib. Once registered, applicants of the Kartarpur Corridor, which enabled Sikh are emailed a bar-coded slip authorizing their pilgrims from India to travel visa-free to the travel to solely visit the gurdwara’s premises. They gurdwara all year round, visits were limited embark on the journey in the morning and return to important annual events such as the birth the same day. At present, up to 5,000 pilgrims can anniversary of Guru Nanak and baisakhi, the Sikh travel daily (although exceptions may be made new year. Not everyone could afford to travel, and for public holidays or in case of exigencies) via prospects for cross-border visits also seemed this transport corridor, by foot or bus, using valid uncertain under the geopolitical landscape. For Indian passports or Overseas Citizenship of India years, many would come to Dera Baba Nanak to cards. Each visitor using the Kartarpur Corridor only step onto a platform and use binoculars to must pay a service charge of USD 20 to Pakistani have a darshan (viewing) of the gurudwara. The authorities. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, the spiritual longing of the Sikh community for the Kartarpur Corridor was closed in March 2020 and heritage that they lost in the wake of the partition reopened in November 20216, only allowing travel by fully vaccinated pilgrims from India. 68 Year Number of people that traveled Fall of a wall via the Kartarpur Corridor The passage connecting India and Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib was an aspirational project, 2019-20 62,786 decades in the making. Following the partition of Pilgrims movement closed due to India and Pakistan, their respective governments 2020-21 COVID-19 put treaties and protocols in place to formally 2021-22 31,869 manage shrines that had been vacated by those 2022-23 50,584 migrating between the two newly-formed nations, and to enable pilgrim visits between the two Source: Land Ports Authority of India, under the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India countries. Timeline of events Protocol constituting Memorandum of an Agreement between Understanding on Agreement between the Government of Cultural Cooperation the Governments of the Republic of India between Indian India and Pakistan and the Government Council for Cultural Kartarpur regarding Security of the Islamic Republic Relations and Pakistan Corridor and Rights of of Pakistan on Visit to National Council of the commences Minorities signed. Religious Shrines signed. Arts signed. operations. April 1950 September 1974 September 2012 November 2019 May 1955 December 1988 November 2018 Pant–Mirza Cultural Cooperation Foundation stones Agreement to Agreement between laid in India and Prevent Border the Government of the Pakistan for the Incidents and Republic of India and Kartarpur Corridor. Protect Places of the Government of the Worship signed. Islamic Republic of Pakistan signed. 69 In April 1950, the Agreement between the General Pervez Musharraf, who ruled Pakistan as Governments of India and Pakistan regarding chief executive in October 1999-November 2002 Security and Rights of Minorities was signed. Under and then as president until 2008, reportedly9, this, a framework was created to uphold minority approved a plan to construct a 1.5 km corridor but rights, notably, giving refugees from India and this project was not realized. Still, the possibility Pakistan the right to cross the countries’ shared of opening a corridor to the gurdwara remained borders in order to repossess or dispose of their under discussion between leaders from the two property. In May 1955, the two governments inked countries.10 Third-country initiatives played a part the Pant–Mirza Agreement to Prevent Border too; in 2010, the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy, Incidents and Protect Places of Worship, building a US-based organization that focuses on conflict on prior pacts to protect and preserve certain prevention and peacebuilding, prepared a places of worship, and to liberalize and facilitate feasibility study 11 for establishing the Kartarpur cross-border visits to shrines. In September 1974, Corridor, and urged foreign ministers of India and the governments of Pakistan and India signed Pakistan to initiate confidence-building measures a bilateral protocol on visits to religious shrines, that would help establish a ‘peace corridor’ agreeing to facilitate visits to certain religious between two of the holiest Sikh religious sites. In shrines in each other’s country. In December 1988, September 2012, a Memorandum of Understanding they signed the Cultural Cooperation Agreement, on Cultural Cooperation was signed by the seeking to promote bilateral cultural exchanges respective foreign secretaries of the two countries, and cooperation in the fields of arts, archeology, seeking to enhance bilateral relations in art and education, mass media and sports. culture. Since the 1990s7, Sikh heritage and holy sites in Cordial relations between a cricketer-turned- Pakistan had started drawing droves of pilgrims. politician from either side of the border — Imran Local religious leaders of sizable congregations, Khan, then Pakistan’s prime minister, and Navjot and gurdwaras, community groups and families Singh Sidhu, then minister of local government, of the South Asian diaspora regularly organized and tourism and cultural affairs of the Indian tours to many of these shrines on important dates state of Punjab — helped spur efforts towards in the Sikh calendar. In April 1999, the Pakistan Sikh opening the Kartarpur Corridor. In November 2018, Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee was set up foundation stones were laid in India and Pakistan by Pakistan’s government to control and manage for the corridor. In 2019, the quiet, sedate Kartarpur local Sikh heritage sites. village had started changing, in a direction that suggested hope and peace within the region itself. Popular narratives on how the Kartarpur Corridor Kartarpur’s bucolic calm was disrupted by the noise project came to fruition often cite a visit in of builders turning the place from a rural outback February 1999 by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was into an international tourist spot. India’s prime minister back then, via a bus from New Delhi, India's capital city, to Lahore, where he The Kartarpur Corridor was made operational discussed establishing the corridor with Nawaz in time to celebrate Guru Nanak’s 550th birth Sharif, his Pakistani counterpart at the time. 8 anniversary, on November 12, 2019. Narendra Modi, 70 India’s prime minister, said that the opening of government to agree to the restoration of the corridor was akin to the “fall of the Berlin Wall”, Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib, and to contribute and signified a “mending (of ties), uniting and Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 750,000 (USD 15,151) co-existing.” 12 Ahead of the inauguration of the towards the project. In November 1999, the Guru corridor, Khan said that the “road to prosperity of Nanak Shrine Fellowship presented a check of (the) region and (the) bright future of our coming Canadian Dollars (CAD) 20,000 (USD 13,423) for generation lies in peace.” 13 repairing the gurdwara at Kartarpur to Pakistan’s Evacuee Trust Property Board, a government body António Guterres, the Secretary-General of that administers properties left behind by Hindus the United Nations, called the Kartarpur Corridor and Sikhs who migrated to India after partition. a “corridor of hope” and referred to Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib as “the best symbol” for Such efforts helped draw the attention of Pakistani peace and interfaith harmony, following his visit authorities towards restoring and preserving to the gurdwara in February 2020. 14 several local shrines and holy sites. However, other Sikh heritage sites, either unknown or undocumented, have remained largely neglected. Following the commencement of construction A community effort activities for the Kartarpur Corridor, in June The Sikh diaspora, and officials and citizens of 2019, several UK-based Sikhs and organizations India and Pakistan worked steadfastly for associated with them collectively pledged to decades to reconstruct and preserve Gurdwara invest British Pounds (GBP) 500 million15 (USD 641 Sri Kartarpur Sahib and other sites significant to million) to renovate and modernize gurdwaras in Sikhs. The Sikh community's efforts helped build Pakistan, and promote religious tourism projects the popular will needed to open the Kartarpur here. They also established the Guru Nanak Global Corridor as well. Sewa Trust to work globally towards restoring Sikh heritage sites. Following a visit to Kartarpur in the early 1990s, Dr. Gurcharanjit Singh Attariwala, a Canada-based Since 2010, Dr. Dalvir Singh Pannu, a Sikh dentist ophthalmologist, put together a working group based in the United States, and his field team in to raise funds to restore Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Pakistan, have created a digital repository of more Sahib, and established the Guru Nanak Shrine than 270 Sikh heritage sites that are located in the Fellowship to mobilize Sikh diaspora to work latter country. In 2019, Dr. Pannu commemorated towards ensuring greater access and preservation the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak by of historical Sikh sites in Pakistan. In the late 1990s, publishing The Sikh Heritage: Beyond Borders16, a Dr. Attariwala and Lieutenant General (Retired) book on Sikh heritage sites in Pakistan. Separately Jahandad Khan, a retired general in the Pakistan in 2014, Amardeep Singh, a Singapore-based Sikh army and former governor of the country’s of Indian descent who was on the board of a Sindh province — who had become friends while software company back then, began documenting collaborating on setting up an eye hospital in Sikh heritage sites in Pakistan, and published Pakistan — were able to persuade Pakistan’s details on his findings from 126 cities and villages 71 in that country via two books, Lost Heritage: The to have visited; the Hindu temple at Terri in Sikh Legacy in Pakistan and The Quest Continues, 17 Karak; and the Jain temples in Sindh — and you Lost Heritage: The Sikh Legacy in Pakistan. Such 18 can imagine the potential for goodwill, welfare efforts to document details of Pakistan’s Sikh and interfaith harmony that the country has,” heritage have created records for posterity and says Haroon Sarab Diyal, a well-known activist given many, especially those who may not be able based in the city of Peshawar in Pakistan. to physically visit associated locations, an opportunity to digitally explore these religiously Similarly, India’s rich religious diversity and significant sites. heritage has long attracted tourists to the country, including several from Pakistan. For instance, the desire to pay respects at the Ajmer Faith tourism beyond Sharif Dargah — the tomb of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, a saint of the Sufi tradition of Islam — which Kartarpur is in the Indian state of Rajasthan, even drew visits In South Asia, faith and cultural identities often from former Pakistan leaders, including General go beyond borders due to the shared history and Mohammad Zia-ul Haq, General Musharraf and heritage of the region’s peoples. Here, cross-border Benazir Bhutto. Often, the pilgrimages provided an religious and cultural tourism can help generate opportunity for meetings and discussions between revenue and curb unemployment, while building political leaders of India and Pakistan; in April 2012, confidence and promoting peace between South when Asif Ali Zardari, who was Pakistan’s president Asian nations. at the time, visited the Ajmer Sharif Dargah, Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister back then, “Imagine Pakistan, rich with architectural and took the opportunity to host Zardari in New Delhi for cultural heritage that is holy not only to Sikhs but lunch, during which they were able to touch upon other religions (as well) — from the Buddhists ‘issues of mutual interest’.19 remains of the Gandhara civilization (800 BCE–500 CE) in the north to the Shiva-lingam (a To Diyal, who manages Faith Tourism International, physical representation of Shiva, a Hindu god) in an organization that arranges visits to historical and Manshera along the Silk Road (a network of trade religious heritage sites in Pakistan, there is more routes, including some via Pakistan, that used to faith tourism than just political ice-breaking. to connect the Far East with the Middle East and “Inherent to such an activity is the potential for Europe); the Indus valley civilization (3300–1300 generating trade and economic activity,” he says. BCE) to remains of the Vedic civilization (1500–500 “Tourists that visit the caravanserai (a roadside BCE) in its wake; Barikot’s past as a fortress for inn designed to welcome travelling merchants and Alexander’s army (the forces of Alexander III the their caravans) of Gorkatri in Peshawar, with its Great, who ruled the ancient Greek kingdom ancient Kanishka stupa (a Buddhist temple built of Macedonia, that traveled through Pakistan in 101-200 CE) and the Gorakhnath Temple (a Hindu in 327–325 BCE) and the Greek worshippers of temple built in 1851 CE), always lose themselves Dionysus (a Greek god); the site at Sirkap that in the old city streets and end up buying gems, Thomas the Apostle (a Christian saint), is believed carpets, brass and copperware at Quissa Khwani 72 (which, in Pashto, refers to a market of storytellers) rites, the spiritual calm exuded by Gurdwara Sri and the best available honey from farms around Kartarpur Sahib may draw observers to consider the city. Those who visit Swat (a district of Pakistan’s the operationalization of the Kartarpur Corridor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province) for pilgrimage to as a harbinger of peace between India and Buddhist sites want local shawls, gems, jewelry and Pakistan. Although the opening of the passage dry fruit to take home. As a result, local economy has not initiated a new peace process between prospers and people get employed,” adds Diyal. the two neighbouring countries, this step towards enhancing bilateral ties highlights how enabling In recent years, openness to faith tourism in South Asians to share in their richly intertwined Pakistan has grown. In November 2021 , an 20 cultural history can go a long way towards international delegation of pilgrims arrived at the overcoming mistrust and hostility. temple and shrine of Sri Paramhans Ji Maharaj, a Hindu saint and philanthropist, following According to Diyal, faith tourism can strongly extensive repairs at the site in the village of Terri, incentivize peaceful coexistence, allowing people which is in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunhwa province. to see each other — and governments — as Many from Pakistan’s Hindu community joined the caretakers of their spiritual legacy and heritage. delegation, which included pilgrims from India, “There could be no greater incentive for peace the United States, Spain, Australia, Singapore because one cannot wish harm upon a land that is and the United Kingdom, during their trip. The sacred to you, and (upon) a people that hold keys pilgrims witnessed the traditional hospitality of to, and are caretakers of, your mosques, shrines, local Pashtuns, an ethnic group, who opened churches, temples and gurdwaras,” he says. In time, up their hujras (guest rooms) for the pilgrims to he adds, opportunities to visit religious sites allow take shelter, and took responsibility for the latter’s people to learn more about each other and build security, as according to Pashtun custom. “The trust by keeping communication open through times markets near the temple were seen buzzing of tension. with tourists, and the children from the Hindu contingent were photographed playing cricket Strengthening cultural cooperation in with the local kids," reported one newspaper. 21 South Asia could pay immense dividends, Meanwhile, in Lahore’s Anarkali bazaar, one of South but such exchanges between India and Asia’s oldest surviving markets, the historically- Pakistan remain rare. This makes facilitating significant Jain Mandir was reopened in mid-2022 , 22 faith tourism, such as via the Kartarpur after extensive reconstruction, and is likely to draw Corridor and other initiatives that enable pilgrims and tourists from all over the world. pilgrims to visit holy and heritage sites in the region, assume greater significance. Faith tourism, by itself, is no panacea for the A corridor of trust tensions that have marred relations between Surrounded by a sprawling white-marble building India and Pakistan over the years, but projects like complex that is often dotted with turbaned men, the Kartarpur Corridor are confidence-building women and children serenely performing sacred measures (CBMs) that once started, may not 73 be easily scuttled by political altercations, given if political wrangling threatens to undermine the religious sentiment associated with holy bilateral CBMs. sites. For pilgrims, the Kartarpur Corridor is not a political issue but a spiritual one, of access to Guru The coming together of families, friends, Nanak’s gurdwara at Kartarpur and, hopefully, to acquaintances and even strangers via initiatives other gurdwaras and heritage sites in Pakistan like the Kartarpur Corridor perhaps best illustrates in the near future. For this cross-border linkage to how the region’s peoples often learn of the serve as a corridor of trust, or a bridge of peace, palimpsest of shared cultures, identities and concomitant efforts are needed to build on its histories that have survived time and division, and example and ensure progress towards peace. constitute their heritage as South Asians. During a recent visit to Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib, a Sikh pilgrim from Amritsar sat with two men from Gujranwala, a city in Pakistan’s Punjab province. Guru Nanak’s legacy project They were young and had never met before, but Individuals and governments struggled for their grandfathers had, and they shared with each decades to pave a way to open the Kartarpur other stories of how their families once lived on Corridor and, in the process, created a hopeful these lands together. allegory to the struggle for peace between Pakistan and India. Their sustained efforts demonstrate Another Sikh pilgrim reverentially touched his that despite peace often being elusive and fragile, hand to a threshold in the gurdwara in Kartarpur a semblance of neighbourly harmony can be before taking that touch to his brow and said, “we achieved, given a fair chance, time and opportunity. came here because Baba (Guru Nanak) called upon us.” The Kartarpur Corridor brings together on a matter of faith two countries that were partitioned Guru Nanak’s teachings call upon on the basis of faith. Moreover, this project, which people to give peace a chance. Now is subject to the political situation between India it is for South Asia to heed the call. and Pakistan, also holds hope for reconciliation 74 ENDNOTES 1. http://tehelka.com/no-border-for-pilgrims/. 10. h t t p s : / / t h e d i p l o m a t . c o m / 2 0 1 1 / 0 8 / bridging-the-sikh-divide/. 2. Bainiwal, Tejpaul Singh. October 29, 2020 “Religious and Political Dimensions of the 11. For an overview of the Kartarpur Peace Kartarpur Corridor: Exploring the Global Corridor study undertaken by the Institute Politics Behind the Lost Heritage of the Darbar for Multi-track Diplomacy, see the institute’s Sahib.” Religions 2020 11 (11): 51-70. https://doi. website at https://imtdsite.wordpress.com/ org/10.3390/rel11110560/. programs/india-pakistan-peace-corridor/. 3. h t t p s : / / w w w . c n t r a v e l l e r . i n / s t o r y / 12. NDTV. ““Like Fall Of Berlin Wall”: PM On Kartarpur kartarpur-sahib-gurudwara-the-history- Corridor, Ayodhya Verdict.” YouTube Video, geography-and-mythology-amritsar/. 1:13. November 9, 2019. https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=E-ogRhtZmbs. 4. Singh, Harbans, ed. 1992. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism. Patiala, Punjab: Punjabi University. 13. Prime Minister’s Office (@PakPMO). 2019. “Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI‘s 5. h t t p s : / / w w w . t r i b u n e i n d i a . c o m / n e w s / special message for Sikh Community on archive/punjab/patiala-royal-got-historic- the inauguration of Kartarpur Corridor gurdwara-rebuilt-in-1920s-690543/. #PakistanOpensKartarpur” Twitter, November 6. Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of 9, 2019, 12:34 p.m. https://twitter.com/PakPMO/ India. 2021.“Government of India under status/1193061821210669056/. Leadership of Prime Minister, Shri Narendra 14. UN (United Nations). “Pakistan-India crossing Modi, Has Decided to Resume Operations is a ‘Corridor of Hope’, UN chief says, wraps of the Shri Kartarpur Sahib Corridor from 17 th up visit with call for interfaith dialogue.” November, 2021, Keeping in View Improved February 18, 2020. https://news.un.org/en/ Covid-19 Situation.” Press Release 1772262, story/2020/02/1057621/. November 16, 2021. https://www.pib.gov.in/ PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1772262/. 15. https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/483612- sikh-tycoon-announces-500-million-fund- 7. Singh, Gurharpal. 2020. “The control of for-pakistan-gurdwaras/. sacred spaces: Sikh shrines in Pakistan from the partition to the Kartarpur corridor.” 16. Pannu, Dalvir Singh. 2019. The Sikh Heritage: Sikh Formations, 16:3, 209-226, DOI: Beyond Borders. San Jose: Pannu Dental Group. 10.1080/17448727.2019.1593305. 17. Singh, Amardeep. 2016. Lost Heritage: The 8. https://theprint.in/india/kartarpur-corridor- Sikh Legacy in Pakistan. New Delhi: Himalayan opens-today-a-timeline/318236/. Books. 9. h t t p s : / / t h e w i r e . i n / d i p l o m a c y / 18. Singh, Amardeep. 2017. The Quest Continues, explainer-kartarpur-history-diplomacy- Lost Heritage. The Sikh Legacy in Pakistan. New india-pakistan/. Delhi: Himalayan Books. 75 19. https://www.deccanherald.com/content/ 22. https://www.balochistanvoices.com/2022 239736/zardari-singh-meeting-lunch- /07/better-late-than-never-jain-temple- sunday.html/. restored-and-opened-for-public-after- three-decades/. 20. https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/913618 -historic-yatra/.  Picture Credits: Nikita Singla 21. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/ hindus-from-india-us-uae-pray-at-100- year-old-temple-in-pakistan-357281/. 76 Chapter - 8 Himal Nirvana Bhandary As a contributor to Himal, and former Chair and board member of the Nepal-based South Asia Trust, its publisher, I have had the privilege of journeying with this magazine. Himal took a trail no other publication has traveled by, when it decided to let its focus traverse from the Himalayas to the rest of South Asia. Since then, Himal has grown as a platform for voices from all South Asian countries that seek to tell the region and the world at large about this unique neighborhood. Thought leaders across South Asia have been connected with Himal in some way or the other. This case study showcases how the platform has striven to build Mr. Sujeev regional solidarity, by promoting the idea of a ‘Southasian’ identity Shakya that embraces the commonalities and the diversity of South Asians. Founder Chair, Nepal Himal’s ‘Southasian’ idea is one whose time has definitely come Economic Forum especially when regional connectivity – people to people, digital and multi-modal transport will be the future of economic growth. This case study brings to the fore the path that the publication has taken via its usage of a wide range of literary, creative and journalistic formats that continue to help it cover the region with imagination, incisiveness, rigor and depth. Himal: How a regional magazine transformed independent journalism in South Asia over 35 years – Nirvana Bhandary 2022 Himal came into publication in May 1987. The Himal takes pride in fostering discourse that goes magazine was founded by Kanak Mani Dixit, beyond the mainstream, in terms of the issues a Nepali writer, journalist, and civil rights and covered and voices amplified by the magazine, democracy activist who worked back then at the putting forth the perspectives of peoples that do United Nations in the city of New York, in the United not often find expression in other media. It aims States. It was inspired by magazines such as The to define, nurture, and magnify the common voice New Yorker and The Atlantic, and initially focused of South Asian countries. The publication, which is on the Himalayas and its peoples. free to access online, does not identify as a news website, but as a platform for in-depth South Dixit returned from New York to Kathmandu, Asia-focused political and social commentary Nepal’s capital city — where he had spent many and reportage. It seeks to ensure that its coverage early years — subsequently, continuing to develop of South Asia is not overlayed by nationalism, Himal. He believes that the publication could only and does not identify its contributors by their have come into development in Nepal, as he felt nationality. Over the years, Himal has featured that the country had more press freedom at the the writings of renowned thinkers from across the time than others in the region. “Being based in region, including Ramchandra Guha, an Indian Nepal helped us gain the foothold to do what we historian, Afsan Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi were trying to do,” says Dixit. journalist, Pervez Hoodbhoy, a Pakistani nuclear physicist, Mushfiq Mohamed, a Maldivian lawyer In March 1996, Himal’s coverage was expanded and human-rights activist, Manjushree Thapa, a to focus on all of South Asia, home to one-fourth Kathmandu-born novelist, Ali Latifi, an Afghanistan- of the world’s population. The publication, which based journalist, and Jayadeva Uyangoda, a Sri soon also started going by the name of Himal Lankan political scientist. Southasian, became South Asia’s first regional magazine. “An important part of Himal’s activity is to be a meeting point for various kinds of perspectives, “The first three decades — from the 1980s, 1990s concerns and expertise. One way we do that is and 2000s — there was a lot of South Asian by being an open platform for contributors from activism, but it happened without a concept or across the region and the world, where anyone an ontology. So even though we said South Asia, can send ideas, pitches, or submissions for we didn’t feel ‘Southasian’. We remained Indians, consideration. We find this in itself opens a lot Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Nepalis when we of space for discussions and exchanges,” says met in South Asian conclaves,” says Dixit. Shubhanga Pandey, who has been Himal’s 79 editor-in-chief since 2020, having been associated “If the idea of ‘Southasia’ is to gain traction, it with the magazine since December 2013. has to move into the political understanding of a larger mass of people. That can only happen by Pandey first encountered Himal slightly earlier as being present in the languages of ‘Southasia’. Right a reader, while he was studying astrophysics at now, ‘Southasia’ as a term remains an English- Williams College in the state of Massachusetts, in language concept, and that is not good enough. the United States. “What gripped me as a reader It has to move into the vernacular of ‘Southasia’,” was the editing of the magazine: the quality of believes Dixit. the prose, the complete absence of jargon, the commitment to clarity, and the occasional wit Himal is an English-language publication. Although and levity — all of these made me an admirer and only a small share of South Asians can read and regular reader of Himal.” converse in English — and thus gather insight from Himal — the language is common to all eight of the region’s countries and is popular amongst its diaspora as well. Discourse in English widens An ideology of ‘Southasia’ the span of Himal’s communication but limits the Himal has made the interesting decision depth of its reach in South Asia, where the usage to write South Asia as one word, citing of local languages, such as Bengali, Dari, Divehi, that this stylistic choice “seeks to restore Dzongkha, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, some of the historical unity of our Marathi, Meitei, Nepali, Odia, Pashto, Punjabi, Saraiki, common living space, without wishing any Sindhi, Sinhala, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu, can be violence on the existing nation states.” essential to connect with the majority of the region's peoples. When asked what effect translating the The magazine strives to be a neutral, non-partisan magazine’s content into local languages could voice of reason in a geographical region that have, Dixit responded, “‘Southasia’ becomes real has seen numerous civil wars, colonization, when local languages pick up the idea, whether neo-colonization, and terrorism over the last few that is Nepali or Sinhala or Bangla. They will take it decades. There is a strong ideological base to the up only when it makes economic sense, or for social magazine that is not just about the articles they upliftment.” publish. What is most powerful is the ‘Southasian’ ethos and passion to promote the ‘Southasian’ identity. A cartography of ‘Southasia’ “You cannot just have your interpersonal and In 1998, the magazine commissioned Subhas Rai, national-state identity. You need a ‘Southasian’ a Nepali artist, to make its Right-Side-Up Map, identity. Cultural comfort, economic prosperity, which playfully portrays a traditional map of South and social justice requires this third element to Asia that has been rotated so that Maldives and the conceptualization of our space in what we call Sri Lanka appear on top, and the rest of the region ‘Southasia’,” says Dixit. The ‘Southasian’ identity is toward the opposite end. Through this map, Himal not a romantic notion, but a social justice project, seeks to creatively reconceptualize regionalism in according to him. South Asia to focus more on the local inhabitants. 80 “The nation-states are locked into our minds than 100 stories in 2021. The non-profit magazine through the medium of maps. The sharp boundaries operates through grants as well as membership remind us repeatedly of individual countries rather plans, which allow readers to financially support than the historical continuum in which there was Himal’s journalism. such intimate mixing. So, how could we tweak the map to say what we wanted to say?” asks Dixit. The magazine has transformed and evolved significantly in the last 35 years, particularly with “There has always been an easy syncretism the development of technology, which has amongst the people of ‘Southasia’. That is what enabled the utilization of different formats of is being lost gradually, within the countries and multimedia content in order to reach a wider between the countries. We need to keep the older audience globally. Dixit sees this evolution as ethos alive and nurture it for the day that we all something that happened naturally, as Himal’s realize that the nation states should remain, but the team listened and responded to the changing boundaries should become progressively softer,” landscape of modern-day journalism. believes Dixit. The first two print issues of Himal’s magazine were published in a monthly format. Thereafter, in 1987-95, the publication produced 38 print issues Publishing in ‘Southasia’ as a bi-monthly magazine. As Himal expanded South Asian countries have dozens of local its coverage to all of South Asia, it continued to magazines and newspapers that cover politics and experiment with form, establishing a web presence culture, in English and local languages, however, in 1998, and printing 139 monthly editions and 16 the focus of these publications is often on country- bi-monthly issues of the magazine in 1996-2011. specific issues or layered with a nationalist lens. The publication took a hiatus from bringing out There is minimal journalistic or literary interaction its print magazine in 2012, reportedly1, due to between these countries, bar for Himal. financial constraints, but continued to offer new content through its website. In January 2013, Himal “Given the rigorous editing and production process relaunched its print magazine, putting out 15 that Himal articles go through, it has become a editions as a quarterly publication before go-to resource for journalists and researchers — suspending operations in November 2016. in the region as well as outside — to get in-depth understanding and credible analyses of the The Nepal-based South Asia Trust, Himal’s region,” says Pandey. publisher at the time, cited difficulties in obtaining work permits for non-Nepali editorial staff, and Himal publishes a wide range of literary, creative bureaucratic delays in approving grants and in and journalistic formats — from reportage and processing payments for international contributors, long-form essays to opinion editorials, photo as reasons behind its decision to discontinue the essays, fiction and memoir. Over the years, the magazine’s publication. number of stories, both fiction and non-fiction, annually published by the magazine has increased, Despite the setback, the team at Himal persisted from approximately 30 stories in 1988 to more with its vision and relaunched the publication in 81 a digital-only format in April 2018 from its new feature podcasts of Himal’s editors discussing headquarters in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital city, regional affairs. amid press freedom improvements in the island country. Himal has since been published by Himal Since 2009, social media has made Himal more Southasian (Guarantee) Limited, a not-for-profit accessible. As at mid-2022, the publication’s holding company that has a South Asian board Twitter account had more than 13,700 followers, of directors. and its Facebook and Instagram pages had about 28,000 and 1,600 followers, respectively. Regarding freedom of expression in South Asia, Pandey believes, “Journalism, which should be Having expanded its internet and social-media distinguished from the media industry, is in a poor presence over the years, Himal, reportedly2, reaches economic shape around the world. This is arguably tens of thousands of readers each week, nearly much worse in ‘Southasia’, because there are very half of whom are in cities outside South Asia. few institutional protections in the region that allow Dixit, reportedly3, sees Himal as South Asia’s “best one to practice serious journalism outside the known and least read magazine”. Indeed, the confines of the mass media market.” publication’s reach is sizeable, but in South Asia, where more than 1.9 billion people reside, the “Our move to Colombo means that now Himal potential to further expand readership remains has travelled the distance of South Asia, from substantial. Gaps in digital literacy, a lack of data the northern edge to the southern edge. So, and device affordability for the poor, and a dearth psychologically to me, that is a fine evolution of of relevant content and applications, are partly where Himal should be based,” says Dixit. responsible for 61% of the people living within the range of a telecommunications network in From 2018, Himal started regularly producing South Asia not using the internet, and thus not various digital audio programs, including being able to read digital-only publications such podcasts, interviews, group discussions and as Himal. As this digital divide narrows, internet- author-narrated literature that have been made based translation and language-learning available on digital-media platforms, such services, such as those offered by Google and as SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and DuoLingo — although far from perfect at present YouTube, and have gained popularity among — hold hope for increasingly bridging language hundreds of listeners across the world. In March barriers in South Asia, and bringing Himal’s content 2020, following the COVID-19 outbreak, Himal and ideology to the masses. launched Southasiasphere, a newsletter providing brief updates and analysis on developments in Himal’s core team, as of mid-2022, comprised of South Asia, that is published on its website and a chief editor, deputy editor, senior assistant editor, dispatched via e-mail. The first ten issues of the engagement editor, multimedia editor, researcher newsletter, which included a mix of text, illustrations and fact checker, and finance and administration and photographs, were produced every fortnight. manager. Dixit, who is Himal’s founding editor, Since then, 18 editions of Southasiasphere have seven founding advisors and six contributing been published, in July 2020-June 2022, that editors are involved with the publication to a lesser 82 capacity. Most of Himal’s team is of South Asian magazine not for some national, or nationalist, origin; more importantly, they all are imbued by a perspective,” adds Pandey. ‘Southasian’ sensibility. “Anyone who is part of Himal’s editorial team has the great privilege of helping shape what this Articulating ‘Southasian’ platform for cross-border, non-nationalist and issues independent conversation looks like. As the Articles published by Himal delve into chief editor of the magazine, what I enjoy most is details that are often glossed over by being able to freely engage with amazing writers, other publications. Many of them present journalists, scholars and activists,” says Pandey. multi-layered perspectives on how historical events in South Asia have shaped “What Himal does is provide a sense of intellectual contemporary thinking on subjects of comfort to scattered individuals around national and cross-border relevance. ‘Southasia’ and the world that there is a magazine with a decidedly open-hearted, liberal focus Himal has documented historical trajectories in where you are not responding to day-to-day social, economic and political issues of South Asian politics. There is a place for intellectual freedom,” countries for decades, creating a valuable archive says Dixit. of knowledge about the region along its way. In its very first issue, the magazine published an article4 Himal has redefined the ‘Southasian’ identity to by Dixit that detailed the worsening environmental a depth unlike any entity or organization before. degradation in the Kathmandu valley. As the crisis However, when it comes to facilitating regional has gradually intensified, Himal has continued to cooperation, Dixit sees the role of the magazine provide a repository of information on how this has as minimal. “We are a journalistic product, and affected Kathmandu, which now has one of the we are careful to remain that. Himal is more so highest levels of air pollution in South Asia. a magazine that tries to develop an intellectual sensibility about being ‘Southasian’ and Writings in the magazine often delve into details appreciating the idea of ‘Southasia’,” says Dixit. and critiques of social and political issues of South Asia that may not find space in other “We feel that our motto of non-nationalist, publications, offering a literary home to several independent journalism is an important way unorthodox thinkers. An article 5 by Himal’s of building regional solidarity. This is important editors, published in May 1997, highlights India’s because by not narrowing our vantage point to influence on public understanding of South Asia how various governments, states or nationalities owing to its sheer size and distinctiveness on think, we keep our journalism critical and geographical maps — an outlook that, in part, transparent. This is reflected even in the choice explains Himal’s stylistic choice to reverse its of words. You will, for example, rarely see the map of ‘Southasia’ in its imagery and motifs — phrase ‘our country’ or ‘our politicians’ in a Himal but also expresses optimism in how, beyond article, purely because most readers come to our the activities of the South Asian Association 83 for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), an in the region amid the growing popularity of intergovernmental body of the eight South Asian online-dating apps, such as Tinder and Bumble, in nations, civil societies, activists, and businesses, India and Pakistan. among others, in the region had begun to network across existing borders and show interest in Himal has often sought to detail the diversity regional cooperation. in South Asian ethnicities and shed light on how they live their day-to-day lives. An essay9 written In March 2014, Himal published an analysis6 by for Himal in May 2008 by Awadesh Coomar Shanthie D’Souza, an Indian researcher, that Sinha, an Indian anthropologist and sociologist, explores how a greater emphasis on intra-regional draws parallels between three ethnic South Asian trade, transit and energy linkages, between communities, in Nepal, Bhutan and India, that India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, could yield have faced neglect, discrimination and exploitation huge economic benefits for all three countries. for decades, and suggests ways in which to It underscores Afghanistan’s ability to achieve uplift these groups and promote neighbourly economic development by better integrating into co-existence. the SAARC economic zone. Himal has continuously espoused commonalities “While it can be difficult to directly track policy or between South Asians, even in the languages that political impact of journalism, what is clear is that they share. In 2021-22, the magazine published Himal Southasian has been an essential resource Dialectical10, a series of seven articles written by for both advocates of policy, and, sometimes, those Abhishek Avtans, an Indian linguist, that explore involved in designing policies. This is one reason several intricacies, connections, and historical why it has been extensively cited in academic and linkages of the languages of South Asia. In an policy literatures, and is also frequently present article11 about Braille — a system of letters and in university curriculum,” says Pandey. numbers, which are represented by raised bumps, that blind people use to read and write through Along with reportage on regional politics, trade touch — Avtans explains how Bharati Braille was and environmental concerns, Himal provides first approved for use in India in 1951, and later significant coverage on the ever-evolving social adapted for various South Asian languages, such and cultural practices of the region. A Himal as Sinhala in Sri Lanka, Nepali in Nepal and Bengali article from December 2015, by Paavan Mathema, 7 in Bangladesh. a Nepali journalist, details how brass bands have increasingly replaced groups playing traditional Ahead of its time when it came to covering lesbian, music at weddings in Nepal, and highlights the gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and influence of Bollywood, the Hindi film industry, in asexual (LGBTQIA+) issues, in December 2015, reshaping functions at these weddings. Another Himal published a photo essay12 by Sunil Gupta, Himal piece8, published in December 2020, by Sehyr a photographer and activist of Indian descent, Mirza, a Pakistan-based journalist and creative documenting the lives of gay men in New Delhi, writer, delves into the modernization of antiquated India’s capital city, well before the Indian Supreme attitudes and expectations of relationships Court decriminalized same-sex acts in 2018. The 84 publication’s inclusive and socially progressive A magazine of and for outlook has encouraged members of the LGBTQIA+ community to share their stories ‘Southasia’ anonymously and given grassroots activists an Himal is not the only publication to focus on international platform to write and raise awareness South Asia. Since 2010, The Third Pole, a London- about these issues. headquartered digital platform, has been publishing free-to-access news and analysis, in Himal has also helped voice the struggles of Hindi, Nepali, Urdu, Bengali, English and Russian, South Asian women. In January 2019, Himal about the Third Pole, an area spanning the Hindu published a commentary 13 by Hafsa Khawaja, Kush-Himalayan region and the Tibetan Plateau, a Pakistani academic in politics and history, on that has ice fields containing the largest freshwater how the #MeToo movement, which encourages reserves outside the regions surrounding the North women globally to speak out on sexual harassment Pole and South Pole, and where ten major Asian and abuse, did not truly take off in Pakistan, river systems arise. Other publications have strived largely attributing this to the taboo and to cater to other South Asian niches. Initiatives such ostracization in the country around disclosing as The Juggernaut, a New York-headquartered sexual assault, and the shortcomings of existing subscription-based digital publication launched legal provisions in ensuring that victims of in February 2019, target the South Asian diaspora — workplace harassment gain justice. In February the world's largest — by focusing on South Asians 2020, Himal published another commentary , 14 in its business, politics, science, technology, lifestyle, by Subha Wijesiriwardena, a Colombo-based culture and sports coverage. feminist activist, which outlined how the #MeToo movement made its way to South Asia, While several South Asia-focused publications and focused on how this was contextualized in exist, Himal’s long-standing endeavor to tell Sri Lanka, where many women refrained from in-depth and nuanced stories that inform exposing perpetrators publicly but chose to stand South Asians, and others, of important but often together in solidarity and create spaces to offer less-discussed aspects of the region, and to each other support. promote a ‘Southasian’ identity that focuses on local inhabitants, has helped peoples from South In March 2022, a Himal report by Namrata Raju, 15 Asian countries deepen their understanding of an Indian specialist in labor rights and migration, their shared heritage and fostered closer ties detailed how the COVID-19 pandemic further between many of them, making this publication increased the marginalization of female South a notable case study in nurturing neighbourly Asian laborers in the Arab Gulf. Through its relations in the region. publication of Raju’s interviews with some of these women, Himal was able to give a platform for “Himal represents not just an organization run them to share, with complete autonomy and by a group of people in Colombo, but also a protection of identity, their harrowing experiences. three-decade-long network of well-wishers and 85 professionals, who constitute an important aspect being kept within individual nation states. Himal’s of regional civil cooperation and dialogue,” says idea of ‘Southasia’ is devolution into further units Pandey. within the nation states so that there is more local and provincial government, and less of a When asked what he envisioned for the future central, powerful state.” of the magazine, Dixit responded, “Himal would like to feel, rather than only conjecturing that we “This is a region of penumbras; there is no have made a difference. To see that the practical black and white. The greys define the region,” ideas that we have evolved can benefit a fourth says Dixit. of the world’s population, which, right now, is ENDNOTES 1. https://scroll.in/article/971159/this-magazine-is-building-a-new-revenue-model-based-on- solidarity-in-south-asia-and-beyond/. 2. https://today.williams.edu/stories/at-the-helm-of-himal-southasian/. 3. https://scroll.in/article/971159/this-magazine-is-building-a-new-revenue-model-based-on- solidarity-in-south-asia-and-beyond. 4. https://www.himalmag.com/the-valley-chokes-pollution-in-kathmandu/. 5. https://www.himalmag.com/saarc-starts-to-get-serious/. 6. https://www.himalmag.com/back-to-southasia/. 7. https://www.himalmag.com/the-wedding-march-band-nepal-music/. 8. https://www.himalmag.com/love-in-the-time-of-lockdown-pakistan-the-pandemic-isssue-2020/. 9. https://www.himalmag.com/lhotshampa-madhesi-nepamul-the-deprived-of-bhutan-nepal- and-india/. 10. https://www.himalmag.com/category/dialectical/. 11. https://www.himalmag.com/seeing-with-fingertips-braille-southasia-dialectical-2022/. 12. https://www.himalmag.com/queering-delhi-photo-essay-lgbt-section-377-sunil-gupta/. 13. https://www.himalmag.com/pakistan-me-too-mai-bhi-feminism-hafsa-khawaja-2019/. 14. https://www.himalmag.com/remaking-metoo-in-sri-lanka-2020/. 15. https://www.himalmag.com/graded-invisibility-southasian-women-migrant-workers- arab-gulf-2022/.  Picture Credits: Himal SouthAsia Archives 86 Chapter - 9 Thinking Beyond Borders Oishee Kundu While South Asian history is plagued by political debates, the minds of the youth can be particularly helpful in bridging differences. Most South Asian economies currently remain challenged with high global inflation. For years, we have spoken about intra-regional trade accounting for barely 5% of South Asia’s total trade, and yet nothing has changed. The South Asian Economics Students’ Meet (SAESM) offers a new and unique South Asian approach towards framing a combined economic dialogue for the next decade. Therefore, there couldn’t be a better time to highlight SAESM and bring it to the forefront of Dr. Rubana Huq discussions on the region. Young minds meeting and approaching Managing Director, each other through academic discourse will perhaps be the finest Mohammadi Group, solution to the lack of cohesion in South Asia. Bangladesh Moreover, it is not just about academic meetings that will Vice Chancellor, Asian University for Women connect these young scholars, but also about their stumbling upon bureaucratic blocks during their journeys and overcoming these difficulties. SAESM should not and will not just be about new economics at play. Rather, it will continue to be about the hikes, the casual conversations over tea and reaching out to others who are similar yet separated by borders. Thinking Beyond Borders: South Asia’s budding economists unite since 2004 – Oishee Kundu 2021 Each year, nearly a hundred South Asian economics that we can accomplish with more cooperation,” students gather to share research papers, listen she said. to lectures by distinguished scholars, and debate the finer points of economic theories. For many, the South Asia Economic Students Meet (SAESM) is their first experience of regional cooperation in The journey since 2004 an area with a long history of political divisions. At the heart of the SAESM story is a group of dedicated academics in different colleges across SAESM is a notable example of how people-to- South Asia, investing their time and skills to people contact can change hearts and minds. organize and lead the conferences year after year. The annual conference focuses on regional The idea of an economics students meet to build economic development issues. More importantly, cross-border friendships began in 2004 when it encourages conversations, friendships, and trust Dr. Deb Kusum Das of Delhi University’s Ramjas among students from the region. College visited Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan. Back at Ramjas College, Students who attend the event are seen as his students in the Economics Society club were future leaders who can help influence regional excited about creating a regional platform. The cooperation and peace initiatives in South Asia. grassroots initiative quickly drew support from Prof. SAESM is loosely based on Europe’s successful Turab Hussain of Lahore University of Management student exchanges after World War II to rebuild Sciences, followed by professors and students institutions and national relationships. The annual at the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh and the SAESM conference invites economics students to University of Colombo in Sri Lanka. exchange ideas on regional trade and economic growth that can reduce poverty. Such discussions The first SAESM was held in 2004, hosted by are important for South Asia, which is home to Ramjas College. Ninety-four students from India, 36 percent of the world’s poor and half of all Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka attended. malnourished children. “Bright smiles, lots of energy, and plenty of good will” is how the Times of India described the For Ritwika Sen of India, SAESM was a life- proceedings in an article on 4 February 2004. changing event. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate Since then, the conference has been held every in Illinois, USA, and participated in SAESM in 2011 year in different South Asian countries. In 2005, as a student of St. Stephen’s College. “SAESM was SAESM was held in Pakistan at Lahore University of essentially the first time that I met like-minded Management Sciences. In 2007, Nepal’s Tribhuvan peers from across South Asia. It helped to broaden University joined the event and the World Bank my outlook on the region and the amazing things began supporting SAESM. In 2011, the event 89 widened to include Bhutan’s Royal Thimpu representative at the event. Polite greetings College followed in 2013 by Afghanistan’s Kabul rapidly blossom into enthusiastic exclamations University. SAESM has survived domestic tensions, of shared ancestry ( “my grandmother came border skirmishes, and cancelled SAARC summits, from Sylhet!”) and common tastes (“I love kottu and also managed to build a good reputation roti too!”). Fans of Bollywood are quick to begin a for itself within the economics circuit in South Asia. 1 game of antakshari with the musically-inclined forming strategic international partnerships to Overall, the idea behind SAESM seems to be make a winning team. The next morning, at the born out of two motivations. The first motivation official inauguration, everyone stands for the is to promote people-to-people contact, national anthems of all participating nations. It despite not-so-favorable political discourses. is a very moving display of mutual respect and The second motivation is to improve the state of understanding. economics education in the region and use the knowledge from the subject in service towards During the week-long SAESM, speakers lead regional growth, development, and cooperation. panel discussions on topical economic issues. Over the years, the quality of research papers Firsthand experiences of crossing the border also and presentations has steadily improved, gives the participants a concrete idea of the attracting top students throughout South Asia. challenges to regional cooperation in the region. Judges choose a best paper for each of the Unlike much of the world, visas can be difficult competition’s annual subthemes and the best to obtain for certain nationalities in South Asia. overall paper wins the Sen-Haq Award. ‘Budding Some students have had to book circuitous routes Economist’- an economics quiz competition- through other countries because of sudden is the more gladiatorial event. Participants go coolness in their home country’s relationship with through a written test and quiz to qualify for a the country hosting SAESM. For example, in 2014, final round where their mettle is tested on an the delegation of Pakistani students had to fly individual basis in a publicly-held panel interview through Dubai and Nepal to reach the conference that is as interesting to watch as it is to participate in Bhutan due to non-issuance of visas from India. in. The last person standing is crowned the SAESM thus not only becomes an opportunity for ‘Budding Economist of South Asia’ and this marks improving theoretical knowledge on regional the end of the conference. cooperation, but also contributes to practical understanding of the status quo. Dr. Selim Raihan, Professor of Economics at the University of Dhaka and Executive Director of the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling, a key mentor of the SAESM initiative from Bangladesh, First impressions to said SAESM is about much more than prizes. lasting legacy The real benefit is for students “to see someone from another country in South Asia,”2 something SAESM unofficially begins with an ice-breaker unimaginable a generation ago, and still out of in the evening when all teams have arrived and reach for millions in South Asia today. The most is usually organized by the World Bank dramatic demonstrations of such meetings are 90 made by students from India and Pakistan who at SAESM has helped me a lot in my professional are surprised that the people on the other side are life.” human beings just like them. The conference, with its paper presentation Students are also able to identify opportunities sessions and keynote lectures and panels over with peers for future research collaborations, a three days, is also a great opportunity to learn crucial step for those planning post-graduate about new topics and methods of doing research. study in economics at home or abroad. For many, Tshering Wangdi, a SAESM alumnus from Bhutan the SAESM experience shapes their future research says, “SAESM has helped me to not only gain interests and professional choices. knowledge of people representing different nations, but also enhance my skills in economics Trade economist Nishant Khanal said he attended and statistics.” SAESM as a student from Nepal. After graduation, he worked on a regional trade promotion network SAESM has proved to be a great networking project with a German development agency opportunity for its participants, but it goes even and participated in the South Asia Economic further to cement that friendship through a two- Summit. “Recently, I worked as South Asia program day retreat which is held at the end of the manager at Students for Liberty with more than 100 conference. The retreat organizes activities giving volunteers from South Asia. The network which I built students a cultural, geographical, and social 91 snapshot of the host country. For example, the 2014 council focuses on the coordination of all activities SAESM in Bhutan included hiking to a monastery among different countries and expanding the perched 10,000 feet high in the Himalayas. The network beyond the annual conferences, it has six-hour hike gave students plenty of time to argue, also created a rotating secretariat. Dhaka-based debate, and challenge each others’ ideas while South Asian Network on Economic Modeling was developing trust. chosen to be the first host. On the last evening of SAESM 2014, all the Country coordinators are discussing ways to participants sang “we shall overcome,” to join expand the organization, possibly by sponsoring their voices together. What began as a sweet research projects, publishing high-quality papers and soulful rendition of the same melody in in a journal, and holding week-long classes in English, Hindi, Bengali, and Urdu ultimately swelled advanced research techniques. There is potential into an energetic and enthusiastic chorus with a for expansion by collaborating with entities such fast beat, because everyone was buoyed by hope as the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling and the meaning held by the words of that song. in Bangladesh; the South Asia Watch on Trade, Students express surprise when they discover how Economics and Environment network in Nepal; much they have in common. and research centers on South Asian issues at the London School of Economics, University of Nearly a thousand students have participated California - Berkeley, and Sciences Po in Paris. in SAESM since it began. Some of the early Many SAESM alumni from the past 15 years are now participants now have established careers as well-placed to help an expansion. economists, academics, journalists, and other professionals exercising considerable influence SAESM faces some critical challenges in the in policy making of their respective countries. coming years, one of which relates to establishing Cyril Almeida, 2004 alumnus of SAESM, is a senior formal institutions to manage the event. Each journalist in Pakistan who served as the assistant conference takes enormous resources to organize, editor for Dawn - Pakistan’s oldest and most especially in a region where bilateral tensions are widely read English-language newspaper. After high and government institutionsdo not reliably graduating from Lahore University of Management grant visa applications. Some thought has been Sciences, he studied jurisprudence as a Rhodes given to organizing future conferences in neutral Scholar at Oxford. He was named the International locations outside South Asia just to avoid logistical Press Institute’s 2019 World Press Freedom Hero. nightmares, and while the proposal may be sensible, the boost to the local economy from hosting a large-scale event and other benefits of internationalization will be lost to South Asia. What’s next? SAESM is evolving into a formal institution with There are issues related to participation as well. more transparency and accountability. In 2016, it Critics say several South Asian countries send formed a governing council with plans to enlist students from a limited set of universities, whose academics and experts from outside the SAESM student bodies may not fairly represent the network to provide advice and support. As the nation’s population. SAESM could be a more 92 effective platform for regional peace building It is not an exaggeration to say that SAESM by adding more universities as partners. Greater changes the participants. If regional publicity about the annual event could generate cooperation seemed inconceivable or hadn’t more interest and improve accessibility to the crossed their minds before, the memories forum. of conference and the retreat serve as a constant reminder of the possibility. Overall, SAESM has managed to grow simply on the hard work of the country coordinators and the “SAESM alumni are future ambassadors of their enthusiasm and trust of students, without having countries and of the idea of South Asia." – Sanjay a permanent office or an address. Kathuria, former lead economist and coordinator, South Asia Regional Integration, The World Bank. There is little doubt that SAESM has helped create better economists who are aware of Ebadulrahman Hashemi, former Research Subject regional development. Participants warmly Matter Expert with Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs recount their experiences and their Facebook and a recent graduate in policy economics from pages show deep interests in transboundary Massachusetts, USA, attended the conference as issues and cultural practices. Many former an economics student from Afghanistan in 2018. students say they pay close attention to elections, The week of conversations with other students communal violence, and natural disasters that from the region permanently changed the way he affect neighboring countries. views himself, Hashemi said. “SAESM transitioned me from an Afghan to a South Asian.” ENDNOTES 1. In prestigious universities of South Asia, one of the indicators of success for an economics major is to get selected to represent their country at SAESM. Only 11 percent of students in India who apply are selected to attend SAESM. 2. ‘Reflecting on SAESM 2018’ (SANEM, 6 February 2018)  Picture credits: Nikita Singla 93 94 Chapter - 10 Fine cotton & designer fashion Samavia Batool & Vaqar Ahmed 95 South Asia lags behind other regional blocs in terms of connectivity, infrastructure and intra-regional investments. Its annual intra-regional trade is currently valued at about one-fifth of its estimated potential. Yet, as this case study demonstrates through the successes of businesses in Pakistan and India in nurturing apparel trade between the two neighbours, there is significant scope for expanding exchanges and increasing investments between countries in the region. Fostering cross-border trade associations that actively pursue collaborative business dialogue, and regularly organizing intra- Dr. Abid Suleri regional trade fairs and exhibitions can help connect South Asia’s Executive Director, designers, manufacturers, exporters, distributors and retailers, among Sustainable Development others. Easing import duties and visa requirements, facilitating Policy Institute, Pakistan business-to-business meetings, and enabling seamless e-commerce between the region’s countries can help too. Such switches offer many riches to the future that South Asia stitches. They encourage creating and developing value chains in other commercial fields as well. This case study showcases how trade exchanges can bring the region’s economies together, but, more importantly, it also weaves in a narrative of South Asia’s diverse tapestry of aesthetics, values and traditions being elegantly entwined together by threads of mutual appreciation, which can fashion future people-to-people co-operation that brings this neighborhood together. Fine cotton & designer fashion: Connecting Pakistani exporters to Indian markets – Samavia Batool & Vaqar Ahmed 2021 The news story headline, ‘India goes nuts over to carry the latest styles in their suitcases during Pakistani textile products,’ captures the excitement 1 trips home. In fashion, buyers and sellers only focus of Indian customers in 2012 when given direct on rich fabrics, elegant designs, and innovative access to Pakistani apparel at a trade exhibition in styles, irrespective of country and region. New Delhi. Pakistan's famous lawn cotton became a quick hit with Indian women who scooped up apparel made with original patterns, fresh designs and soft quality. Pakistani fashion is a natural fit in Indian wardrobes The successful trade show marked a brief but The Lifestyle Pakistan trade show that debuted important softening in Pakistan-India trade in 2012 produced unambiguous evidence of relations. It was soon followed by shipments the potential for garment imports and exports. of Pakistani fabrics and designer garments to Pakistani designers saw an opportunity to use Indian cities. Between 2012 and 2015, chambers fashion to promote cultural harmony. Indian shops of commerce and textile ministries on both sides were eager to respond to the pent-up customer of the border organized trade fairs at least twice demand for Pakistani products. After the exhibition, a year to connect fashion designers, clothing a multi-label fashion store, Pakistan’s Fashion manufacturers, exporters, distributors, and retailers. Design Council or PFDC, opened a franchise in New Pakistan and northern India share similarities Delhi as part of the shop, Rubaaiyat, by Mini Bindra in cultural traditions, norms, and climate – and of Bindra Ventures. fashion tastes. Hence, the trade relationship is a natural one. “We did not even have to do marketing for our products. I remember the time when Despite soaring demand, Pakistani exports of the tag ‘made in Pakistan’ was enough clothing to India became increasingly difficult for our products to sell like hot cakes.” as import duties increased and business visas – an apparel exporter from Pakistan2. became harder to obtain. Trade fairs are now held in third countries such as Turkey and Dubai As the trade relationship flourished, PFDC offered to keep a connection between Pakistani exporters display space in its Lahore and Karachi shops to and Indian importers alive. the Fashion Design Council of India, a not-for-profit organization promoting the fashion design industry Some Pakistani designers use online channels in India. In 2014, India-based Rubaaiyat launched and courier services to cater to individual Indian its own store in Lahore. Even before the exhibition, customers. Others count on the Indian diaspora Pakistan’s exports of clothing to India were on the 97 rise. For a decade beginning in 2005, apparel The fashion industry stitched up more sales as shipments rose annually by more than 20 percent, part of a broader shift in relations between the according to fashion industry experts. Major two countries. In 2012, India and Pakistan agreed Pakistani fashion brands rushed to claim space to ease strict visa requirements, especially for in the Indian market. Smaller suppliers in Pakistan small businesses, religious pilgrims, and tourists. selling replicas of high-end lawn brands also The change meant Pakistani businesses could get began to establish their mark in Indian apparel a multiple entry visa for one year that would allow market. Trade fairs and other events gave them to visit up to 10 Indian cities. During this time, Pakistani exporters direct access to Indian apparel the India-Pakistan Joint Business Council and the distributors. Pakistan India Business Council were established to promote trade and people-to-people contact. The fashion trade was made possible with the Academia, think tanks, and civil society groups active support of Indian High Commission in advocated investment cooperation and peace Islamabad and consulates in both countries. in the region. The momentum led to business Pakistani apparel businesses were able to expand dialogues in Islamabad and throughout Pakistan operations to New Delhi and designers were about creating and developing value chains, and granted 6-month visas to directly manage their collaborating in energy and water sectors, among sales in India, though most of these visas were other things. A 2008 initiative created the successful city-specific and restricted marketing activities South Asia Economic Summit, co-hosted by a planned for other Indian cities. Trade officials group of think tanks. The annual meeting continues on both sides facilitated business-to-business today and rotates among South Asian cities, giving meetings, and a memorandum of understanding businesses of all kinds and policy makers a venue between business associations in India and to discuss regional economic cooperation. Pakistan. The access provided to some businesses under the South Asian Association for Regional Fashion proved to be two-way street. As Pakistani Cooperation (SAARC) visa exemption regime was exporters expanded shipments, they made also helpful. frequent trips to India and developed links with distributors. Those distributors began exporting Bollywood stars were photographed wearing traditional Indian garments such as sarees made Pakistani designer labels, increasing demand for from six yards of fabric, Rajasthani dresses, and the apparel on both sides of the border. “Leading ankle-length lehengas to Pakistan’s Punjab and Bollywood actresses were contracted to promote Sindh provinces. Experts see much more trade our products across borders and it used to be potential between the two nations, especially in a race, even in the domestic market, as soon items such as shalwar kameez (trousers with a as our lawn collection was launched. I mean, long tunic) and richly embroidered bridal wear. who wouldn’t want to wear a design advertised by Karina Kapoor?” said a Pakistani exporter “There is a huge demand for Indian lehengas of fashion knock-offs. Television also boosted in Pakistan, especially during the wedding consumer demand. In 2014, India’s Zee Zindagi TV season. We had a two-way relationship channel began broadcasting Pakistani dramas with our distributors in India. We used that became a showcase for fashion trends. to send them Pakistani clothes and, in 98 turn, they used to sell us Indian clothes.” crossing near Lahore at Wagah, Pakistan. Attari, – a Pakistani exporter India, lies on the other side of the border and is about 25 kilometers from Amritsar. Apparel exporters say Many of the Pakistani exports were produced by the effective tariff (including para-tariffs) at that women-owned businesses. India’s demand for location is a steep 21 percent, leading to apparel Pakistan-made apparel opened new opportunities trade via informal routes. for existing companies, and attracted women entrepreneurs in urban centers of Pakistan.3 Even In 2016, visa rules were further tightened that today, most members of the Islamabad Women made it even more difficult for Pakistani exporters Chamber of Commerce and Industry identify and Indian distributors to meet. apparel exports as either their sole or secondary business. “The last shipment I sent to India was back in 2015. The last three consignments were a total loss to me as I had to pay more in taxes and Cutting a new pattern for tariffs than the cost of the products exported.” – former exporter in Lahore. garment sales The period from 2009 to 2015 witnessed an Pakistan Clothing and Textile exports (million USD) increase in direct export of cotton suits 14,115 15,000 12,085 12,917 80 (Harmonized System code – 620412) from 61.1 10,932 57.5 60 Pakistan to India that peaked in 2015 at USD 10,000 47.4 247,800 from USD 4,100 in 2009. Since the India- 40 5,000 26.9 Pakistan trade ban in 2019, the supply of these 20 Pakistan-made garments was once again 0 0 2005 2010 2015 2018 re-routed via Dubai; India imported USD 68,100 of Pakistan's exports to the world Pakistan's exports to India cotton suits via the United Arab Emirates in 2019, jumping significantly from USD 3,600 in 20184. Source: UNCOMTRADE database (2019) Since 2015, clothing exports from Pakistan to The Indian diaspora has become an ambassador India have declined significantly despite strong for Pakistani fashion. Pakistan pavilions at trade consumer demand. fairs mostly organized in the United Arab Emirates, Britain, and Turkey are filled with Indian retailers, The political vagaries of India-Pakistan relations importers, and even individuals willing to buy in along with a number of tariff and non-tariff bulk to obtain Pakistani apparel. barriers restrict access to the Indian market. For example, some Pakistani shipments have customs The diaspora is also serving as a delivery service clearance delays of up to 45 days. A delay adds for Pakistani garments. Small exporters send casual costs and means seasonal garments – such as shalwar kameez dresses, unstitched lawn suits, lightweight Pakistani lawn – fail to reach the final formal wear, and hand-embroidered dresses to market on time. The main trade route for Pakistani India in the suitcases of Indian nationals returning shipments to India has been through the border home for a visit. Some exporters use social media 99 such as Facebook to accept orders 5. Indian Clothing and apparel are more than just products. customers flock to Facebook pages like ‘Pakistani Pakistan and India share a rich cultural history and Suits’ , ‘Pakistani Designer Suits’ , ‘Designer Lawn 6 7 many people in both countries use their wardrobe Suits, among others to browse the latest Pakistani 8 to reflect historic values and traditions. Political fashions. Indian customers also use major online tensions and trade barriers have not stopped stores such as Flipkart, Amazon, and Jabong whose Pakistani products from entering India, and vice vendors offer international delivery for clothing versa. Fashion designers and entrepreneurs have orders, often at a lower price than Dubai shops. turned to e-commerce, informal trade, and sales Pakistani businesses that sell products through through third countries to meet consumer demand, foreign online stores could reduce their costs if though to a limited extent. Pakistan adopted more and better online payment gateways and consumer protections.9 “I am a regular buyer of Pakistani clothes in India and one of the chief attractions Despite the setback, exporters hope bilateral towards the Pakistan textile is their quality relations will eventually improve and result in lower but given cold relations between the two tariffs for apparel exports and lower import taxes in neighboring countries, Pakistani dresses have India. Demand for Pakistani apparel in the Indian now become prized possessions of an Indian market remains encouraging. wardrobe.” – Fashion enthusiast in Delhi. ENDNOTES 1. https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/04/15/india-goes-nuts-over-pakistani-textile-products/. 2. Given the sensitive bilateral relationship between India and Pakistan, most of the interviewees spoke on the condition of anonymity. 3. Yaseen, Fayyaz and Vaqar Ahmed (2016) Trade Winds of Change – Women Entrepreneurs on the Rise in South Asia: Background Country Study for Pakistan. United Nations Development Programme. 4. Singla, Nikita. Arora, Priya. China Pakistan FTA-2: A New Regional Hub for Cotton Garments in the Offing. Outlook. 2020. https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/news-analysis-china-pakistan-fta-2-a- new-regional-hub-for-cotton-garments-in-the-offing/348942. 5. Richardson, Mark; Tsui, Josephine; Nazir, Ahad; Ahmed, Vaqar. 2017. Activist to Entrepreneur: The Role of Social Enterprise in Supporting Women’s Empowerment in Pakistan. Sustainable Development Policy Institute. http://hdl.handle.net/11540/7848. 6. https://www.facebook.com/PakistaniSuits/ 7. https://www.facebook.com/designerpakistanisuits.foryouandme/ 8. https://www.facebook.com/brandedlawnshop/ 9. Ahmed Qadir and Vaqar Ahmed (2019) E-commerce regulations in Pakistan. Trade Insight Vol. 15, No. 1-2, 2019.  Picture credits: The World Bank Images 100 Chapter - 1 1 Harmonizing relations Nitin Koshi 101 South Asia, as has been said before, is a geographical integer. Even today, local sensibilities and linguistic similarities transcend national borders. There is no better example than the regional popularity of music composed in languages and melodies that are native to South Asia. Social media and video-sharing websites make this music accessible beyond borders, including to the South Asian diaspora spread across the world, enabling the music to resonate in the hearts of all. We need to address the challenges posed by the limited availability of funding, training, infrastructure and facilities that are needed to nurture the region’s budding musical talent, Ambassador in order to enable music to foster harmonious relations between Nirupama Rao South Asians. Former Foreign Secretary This case study gives centre stage to the efforts of two platforms, of India the South Asian Symphony Orchestra — which I co-founded — and the South Asian Bands Festival, that have each brought talented South Asian musicians together to perform in melodious unison, and that have used music for promoting co-operation in the region. In an orchestra or a band, members must make a concerted effort to function as a well-coordinated unit, listening to each other and understanding the purpose of creating harmony. And, as this case study points out, so too must all the peoples of South Asia in their pursuit of peace and wellbeing. Harmonizing relations: Platforms for music in South Asia – Nitin Koshi 2021 Radios, speakers, smartphones and television South Asian Symphony sets across the South Asian neighbourhood crackle with tunes from Bollywood, the Hindi film industry. Orchestra: A baton for Coke Studio Pakistan, a television program, strikes cooperation a chord with millions of viewers through live studio A symphony orchestra comprising South Asian performances that meld contemporary Western, musicians was conceived of in 2013 by Nirupama Sufi, bhangra and classical music from the region. Rao, a former foreign secretary of India, in Across South Asia, people go about their day-to- conversation with Viswa Subbaraman, an day lives with a folk or film song on their lips, American orchestra conductor of Indian origin. distinctive to their native language. Well-versed in diplomacy — having even served as India's ambassador to China and Sri Lanka — South Asian music, despite its diversity in styles and music as well, Rao envisioned a South Asian and instruments, intrinsically connects its people. orchestra that could be a unique platform for But being a musician in the region is not easy, dialogue, cultural synergy and understanding especially for artistes outside the film industry. among youth in the region. Many of them face similar challenges: limited funding, lack of public exposure, and a dearth Following a few years largely in academia, in of training, infrastructure and facilities. Others February 2018, Rao began fine-tuning her musical experience social or political pressure, such as a vision by helping bring eight musicians from India ban on musical instruments in Afghanistan while and two of the South Asian diaspora — including under Taliban rule in the late 1990s. Subbaraman — in concert with the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka. Their performance, titled Still, over the last few years, there have emerged Music Beyond Borders, in Colombo, marked the more musicians making a living by playing island nation’s 70th anniversary of independence. non-film music; more venues in South Asian cities Five months later, Rao and her husband, Sudhakar showcasing live music; and more live-music Rao, a former chief secretary of India’s Karnataka festivals—providing local talent a stage to perform. state, registered the South Asian Symphony The South Asian Symphony Orchestra (SASO) and Foundation1 in Bengaluru, Karnataka’s capital South Asian Bands Festival provide platforms that city. This laid the groundwork to establish SASO. In give ear to talented musicians from the region August 2018, the foundation organized a five-day while helping bridge political divisions and build music workshop in Ooty, a hill town in India's Tamil understanding within South Asia. Nadu state, where instructors from India and 103 Sri Lanka guided a dozen young musicians from Many of these artistes rendered performances via Afghanistan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The vibrant recordings for selection as logistical & infrastructure musical and cultural interplay at the workshop constraints limited in-person auditions. The moved the foundation to finally start putting foundation had difficulties obtaining visas for together a South Asian orchestra that would some of the selected musicians. A group of Afghan perform eight months later. musicians faced flight cancellations, transit delays and soaring ticket prices after the Pakistan After a week of relentlessly rehearsing side-by- government closed its airspace for flights to and side, an ensemble of more than 70 musicians with from India in 2019. familial roots in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka debuted “Putting so many new people together in a as SASO on April 26, 2019 in Mumbai, India's room and creating a team from all over South commercial hub. The performance, titled Chiragh: Asia has been a fascinating experience… It is A Concert Beyond Borders, was an eclectic mix also really interesting in the breaks to see them of South Asian and Western classical music. It interact with each other and ask each other featured indigenous instruments, such as the questions about where they are from, how they timpani, matka, tumbaknari, rubab, santoor and play, the type of technique they use, and what tanbur, alongside traditional orchestral sections. their instrument is – all the standard things The concert commemorated the lives lost in terror we do as musicians. You soon begin to realize attacks that took place five days earlier across Sri that it doesn’t matter where you come from. Lanka. Simply being a musician gives you a common language and basically a common nationality Rao is confident that strengthening music of music” – Viswa Subbaraman, conductor of education in South Asia can be instrumental to the orchestra's inaugural concert. help "promote democratic values and reject terrorism and extremism.” SASO teaches its Nivanthi Karunaratne, a U.S.-based horn player of members to listen, not just to sounds but each Sri Lankan heritage, points out that the orchestra other as well. Understanding, inclusiveness and helps bridge communication barriers. Recalling cohesion builds between these musicians as SASO's debut performance, Karunaratne says, they rehearse together, in pursuit of a shared “One of the Afghan musicians came up to me after goal – harmony. On achieving this aspiration, the the concert, chattering away, and hugged me orchestra — like South Asia — can be greater than tightly. Her smile conveyed everything our lack of a the sum of its parts. mutual language couldn’t.” Assembling the orchestra took considerable effort. SASO’s inaugural concert was not financed by The foundation invited musicians to audition for governments, but by Indian donors and corporate the orchestra based on recommendations, and sponsors, making it a unique initiative of, by and for by scouring ensembles and music institutions, in the people. Cross-border investment could build South Asia and abroad. the foundation’s finances, while increasing the interest of India’s neighbours in the orchestra. 104 The foundation seeks to nurture promising young the form of a songbook that will comprise 30 musicians of South Asia by organizing music folk and popular pieces, arranged for orchestral workshops, master classes and lectures. It intends performance. It commissioned wo orchestral to take SASO across South Asian cities, and works, Bhadke3 and Hamsafar: A Journey through the rest of the world as well, thereby providing South Asia4, that were performed by SASO at its orchestra members valuable experience in debut, alongside compositions by Beethoven, public performance. The orchestra offers a rare Bizet, Brahms, Mozart, and Puccini, among opportunity for musicians that often remain others. Bhadke is a rearrangement by Kamala marginalized in local communities, especially Sankaram, an Indian-American composer, in Afghanistan, Bhutan and Nepal. This includes of Shola jo bhadke , a classic Bollywood song. some students of the Afghanistan National Meanwhile, Hamsafar : A Journey through South Institute of Music (ANIM), which aims to improve 2 Asia is an arrangement of eight popular songs gender equality in music training in Afghanistan from the region, by Lauren Braithwaite, a British and has nearly 60 percent of its students coming conductor teaching at ANIM. The commissioning from economically-disadvantaged families. of more such orchestral works could help South A dozen students of ANIM, which receives some Asian composers flourish, while helping preserve support from the World Bank, played at SASO's the region’s musical heritage. inaugural performance. Since its debut, the orchestra has performed in Bengaluru to The symphony of peace amongst people is perhaps commemorate the 150 th anniversary of Mahatma impossible to ever complete, but SASO plans to Gandhi’s birth. continue playing to this tune, exemplifying what can be achieved via harmonious co-existence Over time, the foundation plans to build a between South Asians. repertoire of indigenous South Asian music, in 105 South Asian Bands Festival: aesthetics, beliefs, cultures, languages, thoughts and music,” Bhargava added. All aboard the regional bandwagon A second music festival of South Asian bands, planned for November 2008, was postponed in In April 2007, the eight member nations of the the wake of terror attacks in Mumbai during that South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation month. The festival eventually took place in February (SAARC) launched an initiative 5 to promote 2009, but did not include a band from Pakistan regional unity through cultural interaction. A few amid strained India-Pakistan ties. The event was months later, the first SAARC cultural festival renamed the South Asian Bands Festival and was launched. It showcased South Asia's diverse relocated to Purana Qila, an imposing stone fort art, apparel, food, handicrafts, textiles, folklore, founded by the Mughal emperor Humayun in the theatre and even music — a three-day outdoor 16th century in New Delhi. This was the first rock SAARC Bands Festival was organized by the Indian concert held at the fort, which until then had only Council for Cultural Relations, an autonomous hosted classical dance and theatre performances. body under the Indian government, India’s Ministry of External Affairs, and Seher, a cultural Pakistani musicians returned for the next South organization. Asian Bands Festival, in December 2009. Hereon, the event was held annually and its line-up was “The government had asked us to make expanded beyond musicians from each South SAARC more popular among the general Asian nation; a band from a SAARC observer public, especially youth. The idea was country, namely Myanmar, South Korea, and to bring people closer, so that they France, was included every year from 2010 to 2014. could connect with their South Asian The audience also grew. Organizers estimate neighbours and take in the spirit of SAARC” the festival drew more than 10,000 concertgoers –Sanjeev Bhargava, the founder of Seher. in 2014. Despite this popularity, the festival of South Asian bands has not been held since then “Music, dance and art had long been the amid a lack of political will and scarce funding. preserve of the elite. Shows were accessible Festivalgoers, however, did fill the grounds of only to a select few in restrictive venues. Cultural Purana Qila for the Association of Southeast Asian events need to be within easy reach, free and for Nations (ASEAN)-India Music Festival in 2017. More the masses,” reasoned Bhargava. The organizers than 20,000 people attended the three-day event, lined up bands from each South Asian nation and where they heard bands from India and the 10 had them perform at Central Park, in the heart of member nations of ASEAN. Although the musical New Delhi, India's capital city. They estimate about instruments and amplifiers are now silent at 3,000 people gathered here as inherently South Purana Qila, the good music and goodwill created Asian sounds blended with traditional and Western at the festival of South Asian bands assures styles of music. “Watching musicians from eight that efforts to restart this annual event would countries play, the audience began to identify receive resounding support from audiences and with them. The audience saw the similarities in musicians. 106 Listening, watching and interacting with bands festival, “What can be more beautiful than Indian from other countries gave these audiences and bands and Pakistani bands playing on the same musicians a sense of the hopes, beliefs, frustrations stage?” and aspirations shared across South Asia, thus making the festival a rich cultural experience. Resuming the annual South Asian Bands Festival Camaraderie developed among musicians at can go a long way towards building regional the festivals. Many of these artistes joined in with understanding and social cohesion, especially other bands as they performed. Some friendships among the performers and spectators. Similar even led to later musical collaborations. Each regional music events could be organized even festival brought a hundred or so musicians on the in other South Asian countries with funding from same stage, giving several of them their first various sources, including corporate sponsors and opportunity to perform abroad. For others, the multilateral organizations. Holding a festival at festival marked their first time in front of a large one of the region’s many heritage sites would also audience. “Our trip to India is very important. It is an draw global attention, generate tourism, and experience and a turning point in our professional ensure the site lives on as part of the contemporary career. The SAARC event has given us the exposure cultural heritage of all South Asians. and opportunity to share our music with the rest of the region,” said Siddique Sohrab of the Afghanistan-based Aryan Band after performing at the 2007 festival. The Aryan Band played again Conclusion at the February 2009 festival, relishing the rare SASO and the South Asian Bands Festival are by no international platform for Afghan musicians. Some means the only platforms for music from the region. festival musicians also performed at the presidential Amid the technology-driven surge in smartphone palace in New Delhi and local venues during their usage, the key to South Asian hearts may just be visit to India. hidden in their music playlists, driving many to tap digital-media platforms and audio-streaming Many musicians featured at past festivals voiced services. Other endeavors go a long way too: the messages of peace and unity, and embodied the Border Movements Residency, a fellowship program, spirit of regional co-operation at these events. takes South Asian musicians each year to Berlin, “If we can be musical ambassadors for our country Germany's capital city, to network, produce music and spread the message of peace, joy and and perform for up to 3 months; and DesiHipHop, hope, that is what we actually aim for. Music cuts a US-based digital-media company, offers artist through all barriers,” said Soundarie David Rodrigo management, record-label operations, and music- of Soul Sounds, an all-women choir from Sri based applications, to propel South Asian hip hop Lanka, after they performed at the February 2009 beyond co-option into film. However, the focus of festival. “We need to have this more often, in every SASO and the South Asian Bands Festival towards SAARC country,” said Faisal Kapadia of Strings, bringing South Asian musicians to perform on a now-defunct Pakistani band, after performing at the same stage makes these initiatives highly the first festival, in 2007. Another member of Strings, noteworthy. Bilal Maqsood, rhetorically asked at the 2009 107 South Asia's rich and varied traditions of music platforms for music can protect these traditions are deeply rooted in the diverse lives of its people. from neglect while helping the South Asian The region's music mirrors its society, tells stories, community connect, and, in time to come, sway expresses emotion, shares ideas and acts as a them to the beat of the same drum. form of historic record. Promoting regional ENDNOTES 1. https://symphonyofsouthasia.org/ 2. https://www.anim-music.org/about-us 3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVsDFEtcgwE 4. https://symphonyofsouthasia.org/articles/listeners-corner/ 5. https://saarcculture.org/saarc-cultural-centremandate/  Picture Credits: Seher 108 SOUTH ASIA