South Asia consists of the following countries and territories:
Bangladesh
Bhutan
India
Maldives
Nepal
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Some academic and/or cultural institutions from the United States and the United Kingdom also classify the following countries and territories as South Asian:
Afghanistan,Myanmar,Tibet and Iran.
http://www.mapsofworld.com/...
http://www.south-asia.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
https://www.cia.gov/...
Why South asia matters:
Civilisation:
The oldest (or rather one among the oldest cultures) are from this region. Indus valley civilisation is still one of the most researched about civilisation of the past.
Population:
This region is one of the most densely populated regions of the world with more than 1.5 Billion people of the total worlds population.
Culture:
The temples of South India,cultural artecrafts,mogul architecture,buddhist structures,ancient sangam literature and innumerable examples of the past rich culture in this region are definitely one of the most interesting things that you can read about.
Religion:
This region is the birth place of many religions like Hinduism,Buddhism,Sikhism Jainism and "to an extent" ISLAM too.
Most of the diversely populated countries live in this region...
And ,
This region is also in the news for Terrorism,war torn countries,unrest, week political leaderships,corruption, Monarchy,Maoist,Parallel governments and nuclear powers.Not to forget the huge IT force,technically skilled labour,the family values,yoga,simple and honest people,the smile with which you would be welcomed in their home and served whether they are filthy rich or the poor....
South asia in short is a must read to anyone interested in knowing about humanity,culture,history and world affairs...and "its a must be, atleast once in our lifetime" place.
I will focus of history of this and will try to evaluate the reasons for the present conditions in the countries of this region. And we will also focus on one controversial issue everyday.
Today's controversial issue:
BIOT- BRITISH INDIAN OCEAN TERRITORY OR CHAGOS ISLANDS:
This is a group of islands situated in Indian Ocean,about 500 km (300 miles) due south of the Maldives, its nearest neighbour, 1600 km (1000 miles) southwest of India, half way between Tanzania and Java.
Officially part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, the Chagos were home to the Chagossians for more than a century and a half until the United Kingdom and the United States expelled them in the 1960s in order to allow the US to build a military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands. The deal was sanctioned by the then British Secretary of State for Defence, Denis Healey.
From wikipedia:
The archipelago's first inhabitants arrived in the 18th century. These were the lepers of Ile de France (Mauritius) who were brought there in the second half of the 1700s. Soon after, a plan was drawn up by the French to settle the Chagos and make them profitable. Workers for a massive French project to establish coconut plantations and produce oil were sent from Ile de France (Mauritius) and settled in some of the largest islands. Consequently, in some maps of the time the Chagos are known as the "Oil Islands". Most of these workers were of African origin, but it is likely that there were also a few South Indians among them. The supervisors of the plantations were probably Frenchmen and the workers were probably little more than slaves, but very little has been recorded about conditions on the islands during that time.
By the mid-20th century the oil plantations had largely failed, but the original workers and their families had settled some of the largest islands and survived there. The islanders were known as the Ilois (one French Creole word for "islanders") and they numbered almost 2,000. They were of mixed African and South Asian descent and lived very simple, spartan lives in their isolated archipelago. Few remains of their culture have been left, except for the ruins of a few dwellings and a stone church that can still be seen in Diego Garcia.
Suddenly, between 1967 and 1971, the entire population was forcibly removed from the islands and relocated to Mauritius to make way for a joint United States-United Kingdom military base on Diego Garcia. Apparently, the displaced people received an initial funding of some £650,000 for their rehousing from the British Government, but individual islanders saw little of those funds and ended up living in a slum in Mauritius. After negotiations in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Government agreed to pay a further £4 million to the Chagossians. The Government says the total sums paid to the Chagossians amounts to £14.5 million in today's prices. Attempts by the Chagossians to secure additional compensation to this were dismissed by the High Court and Court of Appeal in 2003 and 2004
The imperial powers,
Brought the people from their colonial countries forcefully then made them grow oil,cotton which failed. This people then somehow managed to eke out a living in the islands but
the British and also USA forced or chased them out to build a military base.You know where are the people now?
SLUMS!
compensation: the people who initially belonged to this islands knew nothing except agriculture and fishing.No matter wat you give as compensation it wont help them.
4 million compensation for 2000 people?
Do we have to build military bases chasing out poor people like those in chagos islands?
Tommorrows :
Issue: Kashmir.
General: Indus valley civilisation.
Request,
Pls give ur suggestions and also pls do tell me if want me to write about any particular issue/region/language/culture/civilisation or anything related to south asia.