Despite relatively good economic growth backed by economic reforms, liberalisation of financial institutions and the globalisation of trade and commerce, the South Asia has not used the generated resources to alleviate widespread poverty and hunger and improve the deficient health and education services. Where positive employment generation, better food security and a remarkable success in women’s advancement follow a higher macro economic growth, concerns about the quality and nature of work, unequal access to food and persisting social and cultural factors constraining women from being part of the developmental process have fragmented this growth process, rendering optimistic statistics hollow. In theory, economic growth should indicate an increase in the overall employment opportunities created across the working population that are more diverse and offer greater career alternatives. However, these options are limited to the region’s favoured few. A large percentage of the global wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few and a similar trend prevails in South Asia. Economic growth has not effectively enhanced the lives of people in terms of quality of life, access to education, healthcare and resources for a decent standard of living with over half a billion people living in the region under the poverty line. In fact the gulf between the rich and the poor is on an alarming rise with a greater concentration of wealth in the pockets of the rich coupled with an ever rising income disparity that could potentially even push back the rising middle class. The only way to sustain long term economic growth is to sponsor an equitable redistribution of skewed wealth with a high level political commitment to achieve socioeconomic goals. With the absence of an alternative post-Cold War, capitalism has displayed an inherent tendency of not just creating but also upholding the wide income and wealth gap. National governments should take a new approach to economic growth, triggered by forward looking policies and reflected in human development indicators.
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