Journal of South Asian Development 

About: Journal of South Asian Development is an academic journal published by SAGE Publishing. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Productivity & Government. It has an ISSN identifier of 0973-1741. Over the lifetime, 278 publications have been published receiving 2435 citations. The journal is also known as: JSAD & South Asian development.

The Indian Women’s Movement Within and Beyond NGOization

Abstract: The article documents some of the transformations to the women’s movement in India in the post-independence period. Given the empirical and ideological centrality of nongovernmental organisations (...

Awakening Giants, Feet of Clay A Comparative Assessment of the Rise of China and India

Abstract: Both China and India have made remarkable economic progress in the last quarter century—China more than India—but both have severe structural and institutional problems that will hobble them for many years to come. In this article, after a comparative study of the two economies in terms of broad development indicators, we explore some deeper social and historical issues that underlie their differential ability to resolve collective action problems in long-term investment and to manage political conflicts, which go beyond the usual simple aggregative comparisons of an authoritarian and a democratic political regime.

NGOs, Politics and Grassroots Mobilisation: Evidence from Bangladesh

Abstract: Since the early 1980s non-governmental organisations have become a major phenomenon in development, and a focus of attention for academics and practitioners alike. The study of NGOs tends to emphasise their role in the delivery of welfare services and pays less at-tention to their political significance. This despite numerous claims about the contribution of NGOs to civil society and democracy. The article draws on ethnographic research carried out in Bangladesh to explore in more detail the NGO–politics nexus. It demonstrates that there is a strong but complex link between NGOs and politics. On the one hand it confirms the political nature of NGO intervention and activity. On the other hand it highlights how the organisation of politics through NGOs reproduces clientelistic forms of action. This apparent paradox runs counter to most of the assumptions underpinning NGO research. The article closes by exploring this paradox and offering illustrations of how it may actually be an effective form of social ac...

Lives in motion: the life-course, movement and migration in Bangladesh

Abstract: Through a series of ethnographic examples drawn from long term research in Bangladesh, this article examines the relationship between different forms of migration and movement and the life course, focusing in particular upon how the life course influences peoples’ pro-pensity to move rather than how movement affects peoples’ experiences of the life course. Understanding the latter as inherently gendered, contextually varied and constructed by history, culture and global economies as well as physiology, the cases detailed in the article illustrate how human migration must be understood both in terms of the vagaries of individual lives and biographies (and hence micro-levels of analysis) as well as broader structural factors. The article is thus a reminder that the study of migration must involve appreciation of the interconnection of both micro- and macro-levels of analysis.

Determinants of Livelihood Choices: An Empirical Analysis from Rural Bangladesh

Abstract: The study identifies socio-economic determinants of livelihood choices of rural households in Bangladesh (4,195 households from 139 villages) by applying a multinomial logit model of occupational choice and a multivariate Tobit model that allows for jointness in decision making. Results reveal that households choose multiple livelihood options. A number of socio-economic factors and resources at the household level as well as the state of rural infrastructure significantly determine households’ livelihood choice. Overall, resource-rich and educated households engage in diversified livelihoods and rural infrastructure promotes such diversification. Female-headed households fail to participate in any of the livelihood categories and consequently earn significantly lower income. Policy implications include investment in rural infrastructure, irrigation, rural electrification, education, livestock resources, as well as targeting of female-headed households, for example, creation of a hired labour market and s...