South Asia is experiencing a youth bulge in the second quarter of the twenty-first century. In countries such as India, Pakistan and Afghanistan the young people constitute more than 60 % of the total population. The young people consist of 63 % of the total population in Afghanistan, 64% in Pakistan, 65% in India 28% in Bangladesh, 23%, in Sri Lanka, 45 % in Nepal, 40 %, in Bhutan and 37% in Maldives. Most of the South Asians live in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. This makes South Asia primarily a home of the young people. Young people of the region have some diverse particular social, economic and cultural needs. The South Asian societies have to ensure the fulfillment of these needs of their young people in order to remain stable and peaceful.
South Asia is a modestly urbanized society with many cultural habits and attitudes of the pre-modern times. Today India is only 35% urban, Pakistan 43%, Bangladesh 41 %, Maldives 42%, Afghanistan26%, Bhutan 44%, Nepal 27 % and Sri Lanka is only 20%, urban. This means that the majority of the young people of South Asia live in the villages and small towns. South Asian rural life is conservative, rustic and restrictive. Young people are often not happy in such societies.
Most of the rural South Asia is also poor and illiterate. 20 million school age children in Pakistan do not go to schools. In countries such as Afghanistan, the education system has virtually collapsed due to years of wars and conflicts. Education in rural India is barely struggling and in Nepal it has suffered serious setbacks due to conservatism of the ruling elite and a decade of civil war. Sri Lanka is an educated country with a literacy rate of 92.5%. At 98%, Maldives has the best South Asian literacy rate. India is 75 %. literate, Bangladesh 77%, Bhutan 73 %, Nepal 72 %, Pakistan 62 %, and Afghanistan 37%.
There is a direct relationship between empowerment, enfranchisement and education in societies around the world. Illiteracy means disenfranchisement and perpetual relegation to the lowest strata of the society. Widespread illiteracy among the youth and incidence of high poverty go hand in hand in South Asia. An uneducated and impoverished youth have to contend with a large number of challenges and difficulties. They often do not know how to organize and struggle for their social, political and economic rights. They are superstitious and prone to fall under the spell of any populist demagogue or political extremists who might walk them up a garden path. This has often happened, in varying degrees, to many young people in countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
Children of the impoverished and illiterate societies are often very vulnerable to a diverse array of challenges and deprivations. Most of South Asian children experience some kind of deprivation and poverty through much of their lives. Child malnutrition is very common in Afghanistan, Pakistan, parts of India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Many of them do not get access to sufficient health and hygiene services. Diseases and epidemics are a recurring part of their lives. Opportunities for entertainment, good sports activities, personal improvement and proper growth are limited for a large number of South Asian children.
As adults these children do not have sufficient economic security. Poor education and poor health means they have limited economic prospects in life. Underdevelopment has a young face across much of South Asia. Widespread anxiety, depression and a general nervousness leads to drug abuse among many of them. Countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan experience widespread drug abuse among its young people.
The female child and young person is more vulnerable and insecure than the male person in South Asia. In societies where the sexual behavior and conduct of the women is associated with a family’s honor sexual freedoms are limited. Women often do not have much choice in selecting their partners. If they are from the lower strata of the society the often run the risk of sexual abuse by much older men. Rape is a fact of life for a large number of poor young women and girls in South Asia. Incidence of female illiteracy and unemployment are disturbingly high. In countries such as Afghanistan and large parts of Pakistan women are restricted to the confines of their homes. The female headed family where there are no male members left to look after the rest, situations become very dire and difficult in these countries.
Even a cursory look at the human and social indicators in South Asia suggests that the children and young people of the region are not living a good life. They are illiterate, deprived and poor. Societies in the region have to make some robust and concerted efforts to improve the living standards of their children and young people who constitute the largest segment of their populations.
