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Background and Objectives: South Asia hosts the largest proportion of undernourished children in the world. Hidden hunger and undernutrition continue to be a major global health concern in the region. A systematic review looking at factors and drivers for hidden hunger and child undernutrition was undertaken., Methods and Study Design: This review was conducted using the 2020 Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta- Analysis guidelines. Five computerized databases were searched: CINAHL, EMBASE, PubMed, PsycINFO and Scopus, in addition to various grey literature sources., Results: A total of 3601 articles were retrieved from databases and 25 studies from grey literature, 98 studies met our inclusion criteria. Included studies were assessed for quality by validated tools. A Meta-ethnographic narrative approach was used to analyse the findings. The most commonly reported factors for child undernutrition were maternal education, poor dietary diversity and rural residence., Conclusions: Based on findings we propose a model to mainstream context specific nutrition behavioural change along with nutrition specific and sensitive interventions aimed at targeting gender, social and cultural factors and norms. Findings from the review add to the extant literature of child undernutrition to inform policy and program.

Ethnic nationalism and secessionist demands by minorities in South Asia, which have been on the increase since this region gained independence from Britain, may lead to the disintegration of South Asia. The secessionist movements in South Asia in the 1990s include those of the Kashmiris, Assamese and Sikhs in India, the Tamils in Sri Lanka, and the Sindhis in Pakistan. Attempts must be made to redress the grievances of these ethnic groups to prevent confusion and chaos in South Asia.

Food production data provide important measures of welfare (nutritional status). They also provide important policy signals to governments. The estimation of crop production entails estimating both the area planted to the crop and production per unit area (yield). The usage of objective (i.e., crop-cutting) methods to estimate yields has replaced subjective methods (estimates by farmers and government officials) and has probably produced improved estimates of yields. Area estimates have not attained obvious improvements in recent years. Consistency checks between annual sample survey data and census data have been used to assess the reliability of production data. In addition, consistency checks between food consumption, production, trade stocks and costs data provide another index of reliability. These checks, when applied to food production estimates from South Asian countries, show that some improvement in reliability has probably occurred over time but that contemporary estimates of food production remain subject to considerable error. The estimation of food production in the form of livestock products (milk, meat, eggs) is rudimentary at best in South Asia and this is likely to be the case for many other developing countries as well. Methods for improved estimates exist and are in use in many developing countries. The policy value of better estimates for policy making in South Asia and other developing countries is sufficient to call for more resources and better methods to measure food production. Key words: Measurement; Food production; Food consumption

South and Central Asian Muslim states need to be redefined according to their ethnoculture and common political and economic objectives. Ethnic and secessionist violence has been rife in Afghanistan, Kashmir and Sindh. Pakistan can help by reducing interethnic and interstate tensions in these areas. Central Asian Muslim states were antagonistic about authoritarianism, cultural isolation and Russian exploitation. Islam played a unifying role in their struggle for sovereignty. Central and South Asia should now find a balance between their diverse cultures, religion and the state.

Total factor productivity (TFP) in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan were evaluated to determine the factors influencing productivity growth and to measure the returns to public investment in research and extension. The study was premised on the belief that productivity is spurred by investments in research, extension, human capital and infrastructure. TFP growth in India between 1957 and 1985 grew at a rate of 1% per year.Pakistan exhibited the same growth as India while the TFP of Bangladesh grew 0.58% in the same period. Results indicate that TFP accounts for 1/3 of the productivity growth in the crop sector of these three nations.

Arikamedu in southeast India was the birthplace of a glass bead industry which supplied much of the Old World with drawn monochrome Indo-Pacific beads for more than 2,000 years. The industry was begun in the third century BC, and the beadmakers subsequently moved to other sites in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand to continue their craft. A remnant of the industry still survives in southern India. In addition, other types of beads were made from the raw stock of the Indo-Pacific beads at Arikamedu and the other sites. Arikamedu was also a major lapidary center, and stone beadmaking there and at the other sites is also reviewed. Both of these craft/industries called for many specialized operations, comparable to modern Indian glass and stone beadmaking operations.

Both India and Pakistan have the capability to manufacture nuclear weapons, although it is unclear whether either country has any finished bombs. They have both bought fighter planes capable of launching such weapons. The US is keen for both countries to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. India is less likely to sign, although Washington can bring pressure to bear if it is felt necessary.