Seven proposals

Imagine a new Southasia, where borders are transformed into bridges and bonding, where all children go to school, where no one goes to bed hungry, where the human rights of minorities are respected, where there is prosperity and peace, where people are able to rise above the narrow walls and interests to share a common destiny. Let us imagine a new Southasia, one that can transform itself and the world. Let us imagine the immense possibilities of a Southasia where the autonomy and sovereignty of each country will be respected, even as we seek to mould common futures based on shared commitment, interest, culture and a passion to transform our challenges into opportunities, our poverty into prosperity and our deeply entrenched mistrusts into a sense of trust and mutual respect.

Sceptics can call all of this a romantic dream. But dreams can also be the beginning of a new dawn. In a growing climate of cynicism, young people should not lose the ability to dream about a new Southasia. Dreams, after all, can dare to challenge the constraints of past and present alike. Right now, we need new dreams to heal the wounds that haunt us. While a South Asian Federation may be a fantasy, it is important to work towards creating enabling conditions for such processes among the peoples and governments of the region. It is important to unleash our positive potential on a social and political agenda. The enabling environment for this will come first from the free movement of people, beginning with provisions for visas on arrival in all countries. Here are seven policy options towards paving the way for a new Southasia.

A Southasian People's Parliament: It is indeed possible to conceive of a Southasian People's Parliament, where there would be a sense of equal grounding for the big and small countries of the region, and where all sections of the people can be represented. This process can evolve over a period of five to ten years, though it is possible now to make a modest beginning, for which initial lessons can be taken from the European Parliament and African Union. The People's Parliament would be tasked with discussing key issues confronting the region, in order to come out with common policy frameworks and solutions on social and economic issues.

A Southasian Education Fund: The key to unleashing the region's potential lies in univeralisation of education, and joint investment in higher education, science and technology. This would enable the emergence of an educated middle class across Southasia. The presence of an educated, enlightened and liberal middle class is crucial to the sustenance and growth of democracy and economic development in the region, to serve the mass of the people. India can play a role in initiating this Fund, as well as in helping to establish institutions of excellence for science, technology and management throughout the region.

A Southasian Framework for Climate-Change Management and Disaster Mitigation: The issues of climate change and natural disaster in the region are inevitably set to have impacts across the borders. Environmental dislocation and natural disasters do not respect national frontiers, and hence there is a need for a region-wide fund and mechanism to address the causes and consequences of environmental crisis and natural disaster.

A Southasia Poverty-Eradication Programme: Poverty is one of the crucial stumbling blocks for peace and regional cooperation in Southasia. A joint fund, joint framework and joint effort to address issues of poverty through a shared policy framework and approach could indeed bring positive dividends for peace and prosperity in the region. As long as our countries have entrenched poverty, inequality and injustice, we will not be able to move towards a vision of a peaceful, prosperous and peoples' Southasia.

A Southasian Charter on Human Rights: This sorely needed Charter would help to develop a framework to protect the rights of minorities in each of the region's countries, and also to ensure the creation of a framework for realising the economic, social and cultural rights of the people.

A Southasian Economic-Management Framework: This could include a mutually reinforcing trade framework, a shared framework for fiscal policy, a possible Southasian currency and a joint framework for supporting the economic growth of each country through developing knowledge, technology and an optimal market.

Finally, a Southasia Charter on the Right to Food would support small-scale agriculture as well as oversee a regional buffer stock of food, in order to address potential food crises.

The idea of such institutions for a new Southasia will have to be discussed and debated and dreamt about among all peoples of the region. However, it is imperative for India in particular to bring about a paradigm shift in its approach in the surrounding region, to transform itself from a hegemonic and arrogant power to an enabling and supporting one that can treat all of its neighbouring countries as equals in letter and spirit. We need to make a new tryst with destiny in Southasia.

~ John Samuel is Asia Director for ActionAid.