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Although the topic of corruption in South Asia has attracted a great deal of attention, extant research on individual-level factors is sparse. With this background, this paper examines the effect of selected individual-level determinants on South Asian people's justifiability of corruption. For analysis, the paper uses the World Value Survey (WVS) dataset and carries out its own survey as well. Using multinomial logistic regression (MLR) and binomial logistic regression (BLR) as a robustness check, this paper identifies that variables of age, education, religiosity, and individualism/collectivism have significant effects on respondents' corruption justifiability in South Asia. In addition, the paper performs additional analyses independently using two surveys utilized in the main analysis as a single dataset to report the main differences between them. In conclusion, this paper proposes a region-specific suggestion for South Asian governments and policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Tobacco use, in both smoking and smokeless forms, is highly prevalent among South Asian adults. The aims of the study were twofold: (1) describe patterns of SLT and combustible tobacco product use in four South Asian countries stratified by country and sex, and (2) assess the relationships between SLT and smoking intensity, smoking quit attempts, and smoking cessation among South Asian men. Methods: Data were obtained from South Asia Biobank Study, collected between 2018 and 2022 from 148,944 men and women aged 18 years and above, living in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, or Sri Lanka. Mixed effects multivariable logistic and linear regression were used to quantify the associations of SLT use with quit attempt, cessation, and intensity. Results: Among the four South Asian countries, Bangladesh has the highest rates of current smoking (39.9% for male, 0.4% for female) and current SLT use (24.7% for male and 23.4% for female). Among male adults, ever SLT use was associated with a higher odds of smoking cessation in Bangladesh (OR, 2.88; 95% CI, 2.65, 3.13), India (OR, 2.02; 95% CI, 1.63, 2.50), and Sri Lanka (OR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.14, 1.62). Ever SLT use and current SLT use was associated with lower smoking intensity in all countries. Conclusions: In this large population-based study of South Asian adults, rates of smoking and SLT use vary widely by country and gender. Men who use SLT products are more likely to abstain from smoking compared with those who do not. What this paper adds?: • Tobacco use remains a leading risk factor of chronic disease in South Asia. Smokeless tobacco use is particularly popular in this region, even among adult women. Evidence on smokeless tobacco use and smoking cessation are inconclusive and may be dependent on specific cultural and historical factors. • Contemporaneous data on smokeless and combustible tobacco use patterns in South Asia are limited. Little is known whether SLT use is associated with smoking cessation in South Asia where the vast majority of the world's SLT users reside. • This study provided information on patterns of SLT use and smoking in four South Asia countries using a large population-based sample of 148,944 adults collected between 2018 and 2022. We observed that SLT use was associated with higher smoking cessation and lower smoking intensity among men. Strengthening SLT product regulation may have important population health implications with the changing tobacco use landscape in South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study claims that without having a proper understanding about colonization--a traumatic event in the history, the whole talk of developing independent and alter narrative seems to have no sense at all. In this context, the present study contends that the trauma of colonialism, for it has not been properly understood, continues to remain part of the collective consciousness of the South Asian people. A possibility for the emergence of a different truth resides in the present time wherein past is accessible in the shape of "phenomenon" only. From the phenomenological perspective, as propounded by Edmund Husserl, and the standpoints of contemporary trauma theory presented by Cathy Carruth, this paper aims at establishing that meaning emerges only when trauma of any traumatic event reappears itself. Trauma, when it appears in the South Asian Drama, like the plays of Girish Karnad, becomes a vehicle of differential truth about the objective event i.e. colonialism. Since Karnad is a post-colonial writer, the trauma of colonialism as a part of collective consciousness makes him write plays like Hayavadana in which all the characters are taken from Indian myths, and all of them are shown suffering due to some kind of traumatic event in their past. This study concludes that these mythical characters of this play are very significant in developing the understanding about the sense of incompleteness that colonization has imparted in the minds of the people of South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large inflows of foreign money into a country can appreciate its domestic currency, which can adversely affect its current account balance. South Asian countries receive a significant amount of foreign currency as remittances. In this paper, we examine the Dutch disease effect of remittances in five South Asian countries, namely Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka using panel data from 1975 to 2014. Panel cointegration test provides evidence of the long-run relationship between remittances and the real exchange rate. The Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares Method (FMOLS) is used to estimate the impact of remittances on real exchange rates. The findings suggest that remittances do appreciate the real exchange rate in South Asia. Pesaran, Shin, and Smith ([1999]. Pooled Mean Group Estimation of Dynamic Heterogeneous Panels. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 94, 621–634) Pool Mean Group (PMG) estimation technique is used to check the robustness of the findings. The PMG test results confirm the findings from the FMOLS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Asia's success at reducing poverty does not imply that the topic has become passé. Poverty rates are by now low, but this is because poverty lines are low as well. And the assessment of living standards and their dynamics are blurred by measurement and interpretation challenges. This paper relies mostly on South Asian examples to highlight four tensions: poorer versus richer households, rural versus urban locations, monetary versus non‐monetary dimensions of wellbeing, and household characteristics versus context. The discussion is conducted against the backdrop of the two analytical approaches with South Asian roots that have shaped the debate for decades. This review leads to three main recommendations: household survey data has to be exploited in a more thorough manner, data that is increasingly available from other sources needs to be incorporated more systematically in the analysis, and the multiple dimensions of wellbeing should be better integrated in a common framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper claims that the South Asian Drama reflects on the traumatic event in objective history to reveal those truths which may develop an understanding that can help people of South Asia to come out of the trauma of colonialism. The understanding of the traumatic event becomes possible when trauma reappears 'belatedly' through literary language. Through the lens of Trauma Theory propounded by Cathy Caruth, this research maintains that the primary task of literature being produced in the post-colonial context is to engage with and reflect on the past to develop understanding about the traumatic event, revealing the hidden or unknown dimensions which have been unspeakable otherwise. Drawing on the philosophies of phenomenology, trauma theory and post-structuralism, I intend to establish that by engaging with the phenomenon of the actual traumatic event through theater, it becomes possible to explore the inaccessible meaning or truth. This meaning becomes accessible only for the present and not for good. It is a product of present consciousness. A dramatist writing in the post-colonial context feels committed to writing about these themes because the subjectivity of South Asians is traumatized due to the colonial past. The existence of the phantoms of the past can be witnessed in the shape of contemporary realities such as the biased curriculum, the dearth of intellectual endeavors, misrepresentation of history, and the politics of religious identities and double consciousness. In the present post-colonial context, a mere representation of these issues cannot be of any use to de-traumatize the people of South Asia. This study analyses that Shahid Nadeem's play Aik Thi Nani does not simply highlight or represent the consequences of the traumatic event rather their texts seem to engage with the belated appearance of the trauma of colonization. Therefore, in the works of my primary dramatist, trauma is not dealt with as a clinical malady but a cultural trope which works as a vehicle of truth about the traumatic event in the past. This research concluded that the trauma of colonialism as a cultural trope is part of the individual and collective memory of the South Asian people and the solution lies in engaging with the past rather than eradicating it out of our lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The investigation reported in this paper intended to explore the research on knowledge management in higher educational institutions in South Asian countries. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify, select and retrieve relevant scholarly literature, by following a detailed protocol and a systematic data extraction strategy. The findings of the study showed that limited research on knowledge management in the context of higher educational institutions was conducted in both theoretical aspects and practical implementations, denoting an imperative to conduct more research in this area. The findings also disclosed that multiple factors affect the knowledge management practices among primary higher educational institution agents: faculty, administrative staff, and information professionals. As the result of the analysis of the literature review findings, a conceptual framework is proposed, which is expected to provide a good foundation for future research as well as pave the way towards more successful knowledge management implementations in the higher educational institutions in South Asia and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Banks in the South Asian region are the fulcrum of economic growth and development as they provide means to development credit and working capital, trade and infrastructure finance and are seen as custodians of the trust in the financial system. This paper aims to study the nature of banking sector linkages for the region. Design/methodology/approach: The dependence structure between deposits and lending rates individually for the banks of the South Asian countries are studied using time invariant and time varying family of copula functions. The degree of connectedness is further studied by Diebold and Yilmaz methodology. Findings: Results indicate poor levels of banking integration in the region as the dependence parameter for both deposits and lending rates was around 0 for the sample countries, thereby confirming poor banking sector integration in the region. Practical implications: Policymakers of the region are interested in the co-movements of the interest rates to understand the cross-sector risk management and any systemic risk pressures for the regional economies. Corporates in these countries are scouting out for competitive borrowing rates to lower their cost of capital. Social implications: Rationale for examining the banking sector linkages is that the South Asian countries are at different stages of economic growth and development and this region in particular is the fastest growing region in the world and has largely increased its trade integration with the world albeit having lowest levels of intra-regional trade integration. Originality/value: This is a first of a kind of studies to examine the banking sector linkages in South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst South Asia presents substantive market potential with large, dense populations and significant growth in gross domestic product (GDP), the growth in air transport (freight and passenger) has been much less than in the developed world and very different across countries in this region. This paper examines the determinants of air transport demand in South Asian countries over 43 years (1973–2015) using fixed effects models as well as a three-step error correction mechanism (ECM) approach. The results suggest that per capita income, foreign direct investment (FDI), flight frequency and jet fuel price play a vital role in determining air passenger demand in these low-income countries. Income, FDI, industrialisation and jet fuel price are further found to be significant factors that influence air freight demand in South Asian countries. Moreover, short run and long run equilibrium relationships among the variables were investigated, and our findings suggest a long-run equilibrium relationship with a lag of five years in the air passenger model and a lag of three years in the air freight model. However, only the air passenger model reports a short-run impact from independent variables to air passenger demand, and no short-run relationship is found between our set of independent variables and air freight demand. • Econometric and ECM models applied to aviation in South Asia. • Short-run for passenger and long-run equilibriums for both air passenger and freight. • Income impacts over proportionally on air passenger transport in low-income context. • FDI, frequency, oil price and industrialisation also determine air passenger transport in South Asia (five year lag). • Income, FDI and oil price determine air freight growth in South Asia (three year lag). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Collecting skeletal measurements from medical imaging databases remains a tedious task, limiting the research utility of biobank‐level data. Here we present an automated phenotyping pipeline for obtaining skeletal measurements from DXA scans and compare its performance to manually collected measurements. Materials and Methods: A pipeline that extends the Advanced Normalization Tools (ANTs) framework was developed on 341 whole‐body DXA scans of UK Biobank South Asian participants. A set of 10 measurements throughout the skeleton was automatically obtained via this process, and the performance of the method was tested on 20 additional DXA images by calculating percent error and concordance correlation coefficients (CCC) for manual and automated measurements. Stature was then regressed on the automated femoral and tibia lengths and compared to published stature regressions to further assess the reliability of the automated measurements. Results: Based on percent error and CCC, the performance of the automated measurements falls into three categories: poor (sacral and acetabular breadths), variable (trunk length, upper thoracic breadth, and innominate height), and high (maximum pelvic aperture breadth, bi‐iliac breadth, femoral maximum length, and tibia length). Stature regression plots indicate that the automated measurements reflect realistic body proportions and appear consistent with published data reflecting these relationships in South Asian populations. Discussion: Based on the performance of this pipeline, a subset of measurements can be reliably extracted from DXA scans, greatly expanding the utility of biobank‐level data for biological anthropologists and medical researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic violence is a global phenomenon impacting countless lives. However, most research on the topic is anchored in the Global North. Using South Asia as a case study, we encourage further development of intersectional, comparative research. Such work brings us closer to understanding shared and divergent causes, patterns, and impacts of domestic violence within and across societies. The tendency to treat South Asia monolithically erases nuanced understandings of domestic violence and reduces South Asian women to victims. Our context-specific explorations highlight how marriage, religion and global processes reveal theoretically meaningful variations in women's experiences of domestic violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study empirically examines the effects of socio-economic (human capital), macroeconomic (per capita GDP), demographic (fertility rate, urbanization), and environmental variables (carbon emissions) on child mortality in South Asia. For empirical analysis, panel cointegration technique is used by using data for five South Asian countries for the period 1973 to 2015. First, it is found that the variables have unit roots at levels but are stationary at first differences, which indicates the possibility of cointegration. Cointegration test results show that long-run cointegrating relationship holds among variables. Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) and Dynamic OLS (DOLS) methods are applied to find the parameter estimates. The results of long-run estimates show that human capital, per capita income, and urbanization reduce child mortality while high fertility rate and environmental degradation increase child mortality in the region. It is also found that trade openness, immunization, food security, and high life expectancy also decrease child mortality and that population density increases child mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workforce Diversity is an undeniable challenge in the field of public administration. It is vital to do a systematic literature review to identify the gaps in context of South Asia, notably Pakistan. The current research reviews 83 research articles of last 45 years by addressing the following question: How research on workforce diversity has developed over time in the field of public administration? The two studies are noted from South Asia: Pakistan and India. The researchers tried to examine the dimensions, antecedents and consequences of workforce diversity in context of public administration. Moreover, the relationship of workforce diversity with other variables: mediators and moderators used in the researches are also studied. The aim of the study is to identify the trends of workforce diversity worldwide and by following the foot prints of developed countries, how South Asia can benefit by supporting equality and accepting differences. The current research has valuable implications for public organizations in South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kashmir issue is a primary source of resentment between India and Pakistan. It is considered the oldest issue on the schedule of the Security Council yet to be resolved. This divisive issue remained unsolved and has become the nuclear flashpoint. The peace of the South Asian region is severely contingent upon the peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute. It is not only the pivot of bitterness in the bilateral relation of India and Pakistan, it also a continuous threat to the regional peace in South Asia. This study critically assesses and evaluated the issue in the perspective of historical facts and current context regarding Kashmir. Chronological data presented and describe that the Kashmir issue has deteriorated the fragile security of South Asian region and remained a continuous threat of nuclear escalation in the region. Kashmir issue has severe implications for populace of Kashmir as well as for the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]