South Asia Investor Review

India lost 6.8 million salaried jobs and 3.5 million entrepreneurs in November alone. Many among the unemployed can no longer afford to buy food, causing a significant spike in hunger. The country's economy is finding it hard to recover from  COVID waves  and lockdowns, according to data from multiple sources. At the same time, t he Indian government has reported an 8.4% jump in  economic growth  in the July-to-September period compared with a contraction of 7.4% for the same period a year earlier.   This raises the following questions: Has India had jobless growth? Or its GDP figures are  fudged ? If the Indian economy fails to deliver for the common man, will Prime Minister Narendra Modi step up his anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim rhetoric to maintain his popularity among Hindus? Labor Participation Rate in India. Source: CMIE Unemployment Crisis: India lost 6.8 million salaried jobs and its labor participation rate (LPR) slipped from 40.41% to  4...

An overwhelming 81% majority of Pakistanis are satisfied with Federal Government performance in responding to coronavirus pandemic, way up from 61% who expressed satisfaction in March, according to a recent Gallup Pakistan survey. These numbers reflect Pakistan's much flatter disease curve compared with most other  nations, including highly developed  ones, that have seen a rapid rise in Covid-19 cases and deaths. The federal government has also launched an $8 billion stimulus program to deal with the economic impact of COVID19 on small businesses and the poor daily wage earners. Meanwhile,  the nation's central bank has significantly cut interest rates from double digits down to single digit. Bilal Gilani of  Gallup Pakistan tweeted  his reaction to the poll result in the following words: "These are very unusual numbers ! But not without parallels from around the world. Crisis brings good in govt and ppls expectations set changes!" The unprecedented crisis...

Guest Post by Dost_Mittar A simple solution to a disgusting problem "The toilet is a part of the history of human hygiene which is critical chapter in the growth of civilization." [ Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak ] Anyone who has seen the blockbuster film “Slumdog Millionaire” would remember one scene above all others. I am referring, of course, to the “potty scene” where the young Jamal is shown relieving himself in an open pit. The scene caused a lot of adverse reaction in India as unrepresentative of true India. But according to a joint study conducted by the World Health Organization and UNICEF, 665 million Indians, or nearly two-thirds of them defecate in the open. I am not sure if these 665 included people using indoor toilets without plumbing; if it did not, then the number of Indians defecating in an unhygienic manner is even greater. I love traveling by train when I am in India and have many enchanting childhood memories of such travel. But one of the less enchanting memory...