AS-4100Lesson 20

Regional Study:

South Asia

Lt Col Wayne Doherty13 Oct 09

2

Overview• - LLAB 3 up/3 down• - Consider the Unified Command Plan Map • - Student Presentations• - Remaining Material on South Asia• - EXERCISE• - AF Topics of Your Choice

– * Money Management Suggestions for 2d Lts– * What Else is on Your Minds?

South Asia

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Combatant Commands

• Two Regional Combatant Commands

• United States Central Command - USCENTCOM (HQ: MacDill AFB, in Tampa, FL)

• United States Pacific Command - USPACOM (HQ: Camp H. M. Smith, in Honolulu, HI)

South AsiaSouth Asia

                                 

South Asia

• Politics and Government • Economics and

Environmental Issues• Culture and Society• World Affairs/US

Interests

Student Presentations

South Asian Culture and Religion

• South Asia is home to hundreds of ethnic groups and languages• Leads to natural segregation• India alone has 112 languages

with more than 10,000 speakers

• 33 of these languages have over 100,000 speakers

• The link between ethnicity and regionalism in most South Asian states is important

• For example• Each of Pakistan's major

ethnic groups is regionally based (Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushtun,

Baloch)

South Asian Culture and Religion

• South Asia's caste system, one of the world's oldest surviving forms of social stratification

• South Asian society was initially divided into 4 castes• Brahmins (bra-min) (priests and teachers)• Kshatriyas (ke-shat-te)(warriors and rulers)• Vaishyas (vai-sha)(farmers, merchants, and traders)• Sudras (laborers and servants)

• Candalas were forerunners of the fifth caste also referred to as “untouchables”

South Asian Culture and Religion

• Governments across the region have outlawed the caste system and initiated many affirmative action efforts, similar to the affirmative action efforts found in the United States

Kocheril Raman NarayananFormer Indian President—member of Dalit caste

South Asian Culture and Religion

• In the United States, family life generally centers on the nuclear group-the mother, father, brothers, and sisters

• In much of South Asia, family life is centered on the extended clan, with

several generations including uncles, aunts, and cousins living together in the same, adjoining, or nearby dwellings

South Asian Culture and Religion

• Family honor is extremely important. • The elderly are respected and cared for. • South Asian parents almost always arrange

the marriages of their children, with caste, ethnicity, and class considerations playing prominent roles.

• Marriages exist more as a relationship between families than as a love connection between two individuals.

South Asian Culture and Religion

• Males dominate family life throughout the region• Women have influence in family

affairs, but men head the household, expecting respect and obedience

• Several countries in the region follow the Islamic practice of purdah (purda), the traditional seclusion or veiling of women

South Asian Culture and Religion

• Women in much of South Asia face significant harassment, discrimination, and even slavery • Often, they are considered inferior and

a family liability• Women often are denied education,

access to health care, and jobs outside the home.

• They sometimes are thrown out of the house if they do not bear children

• Violence against women is common

South Asian Culture and Religion

• Female infanticide• Selective abortions• 74 million “missing women”

Some things are changing for the better

South Asian Culture and Religion

• Today, parliamentary and local government seats are reserved for women across much of the region, and other legal provisions have been enacted

• Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have all had female prime ministers

Indira GandhiIndia

Benazir Bhutto Pakistan

• While castes, family and gender are important,religion also plays a key role in the region

South Asian Culture and Religion

• The region is the birthplace of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, and many tribal beliefs.

• Religions born elsewhere, including Islam, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Judaism, have also taken root in South Asia

"In religion, all other countries are paupers. India is the only millionaire." Mark Twain

South Asian Culture and Religion

• Hinduism and Islam are by far the region's two most influential religions• Some 63% of South Asians practice

Hinduism, itself a collection of various philosophical traditions

• Another 30% practice Islam• Buddhism is the dominant religion in

Sri Lanka and Bhutan

Brahma

South Asian Culture and Religion

Economic and Social Issues

• Good News• Since the 1940s, millions have been lifted out of

poverty• Life expectancy in the area has almost doubled• India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka have taken

significant steps toward slowing their population growth

• Female literacy in India has gone from 9 percent to 58 percent

• Bad News• 1/3 of South Asia's 1.4 billion inhabitants live below

the international poverty line of $1 a day• 3/4 live on less than $2 a day• Roughly 300 million are undernourished, including

half the region's children under five• 2/3 don’t have access to adequate sanitation facilities,

the worst showing for any region• South Asia has the world's highest illiteracy rates• The average South Asian lives only 63 years, less than

the average age of the inhabitant of any world region except sub-Saharan Africa.

Economic and Social Issues

• Agriculture has been the primary economic activity in South Asia for centuries. • Today, some 60% of the region's workers

are engaged in agriculture, down from roughly 69% in 1980

Economic and Social Issues

• India is the “back office to the world”• Over 50% of the world's Fortune 500

companies, including General Electric, American Express, and Dell Computers, outsource IT operations to India, where they have found that the labor is cheap, errors are few, and productivity is high

• Even with all of this growth and investment, the regional economy is still overwhelmed by the size of the population

Economic and Social Issues

Health and Environment

• Many of South Asia’s most pressing health problems are directly attributable to the area’s huge population • Half the size of the United States, the region has five

times as many people, almost a quarter of the world's population

• India 1947 -- 350 million • India 2005 -- 1 billion+

• Tens of millions of South Asians lack access to basic health services. The prevalence and spread of diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS spark intense concern

• Huge population also drives many environmental problems

• South Asia also has enormous environmental problems. • A massive cloud of air pollution hovers over

large parts of the region sickening people, altering the climate, and damaging crops

• Population pressures, politics, and bureaucratic mismanagement strain water supplies, often already heavily polluted and breeding grounds for disease

Health and Environment

Politics and Government

• No single form of government predominates in South Asia

• The region's eight states include:• 2 established democracies

(India and Sri Lanka)• 1 struggling democracy (Bangladesh)• 2 authoritarian states (the Maldives and

Pakistan)• 2 monarchies (Bhutan and Nepal)• 1 elected-but-foreign-backed government

struggling to control its own territory (Afghanistan).

EXERCISE

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Current Issues

• Discussion Items:• Coping with Disaster: The US and Indian air forces will train together during the

next installment of the Cope India exercise that begins on Thursday and runs through Oct. 24 at Air Force Station Agra in Uttar Predesh, India. This year's activities will focus on airlift to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster-relief support. More than 150 USAF airmen, along with one C-17, three C-130Hs, and one C-130J, will travel to India to train with their Indian counterparts. "Exercises like Cope India strengthen solid military-to-military relationships with our air forces in the region," said Raymond Bundschuh, lead planner for the exercise with 13th Air Force at Hickam AFB, Hawaii.

• Spooling Up in Afghanistan: Link to article - http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2009/October%202009/1009afghanistan.aspx

• Enduring Airlift: Link to article - http://www.airforce-magazine.com/MagazineArchive/Pages/2009/October%202009/1009airlift.aspx

• Your Questions???

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Summary• - LLAB 3 up/3 down• - Consider the Unified Command Plan Map • - Student Presentations• - Remaining Material on South Asia• - EXERCISE• - AF Topics of Your Choice

– * Money Management Suggestions for 2d Lts– * What Else is on Your Minds?

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Next Class

• No Class Meeting Next Week!

• For 27 Oct 09 Class Meeting:– - EXAM 1 is Due by 1800L– - Officer Force Development CBT– - Air, Space and Cyberspace Power Functions– - Air and Space Expeditionary Force

                                 

Questions?