NCERT Solutions For Class 12 Political Science Chapter 9 Contemporary South Asia

• The Northern States (developed) are concerned with ozone depletion and global warming whereas southern states (developing) want to address the relationship between economic development and environmental management.
• The developed countries of the North want to discuss the environmental issue as it stands now and want everyone to be equally responsible for ecological conservation.
• The developing countries of the South have the opinion that much of the ecological degradation in the world is created by the developed countries through their industrial projects.
• If the developed countries are responsible for more environmental degradation they are supposed to take more responsibility onwards for undoing the damage.
• The developing countries are under the process of industrialization and they should be exempted from restrictions imposed on developed countries through various conventions like protocol, etc.
• The special needs of developing countries must be taken into considerations in the process of development, applications and interpretations of rules of International Environmental law.

Global Environmental issues became the priority of states since the 1990s because at global level, the environmental issues drew attentions of various states at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janerio in Brazil in June 1992 through Agenda 21:

1. Rio-Summit 1992 dealt with climatic change, bio-diversity and forestry.
2. Agenda 21 combined economic growth with ecological responsibilities
3. Kyoto Protocol set the targets for greenhouse emissions. The above mentioned conference and summits raised the environmental issues at the global level to take steps by various states to check environmental degradation in a cooperative manner.

• Common but differentiated responsibilities mean that the state shall cooperate in the spirit of global partnership to conserve, protect and restore the health and integrity of the Earth’s ecosystem.
• As the states have common but differentiated responsibilities over various contributions of global of global environmental degradations.
• The developed countries acknowledge that the responsibility that they bear in the international pursuits of sustainable development and of the technological and financial resources they command.

We can implement the idea with the help of conventions and declarations:

1. Rio Summit worked out conventions dealing with climate change, biodiversity, forestry and recommended a list of development practices called Agenda 21.
2. The 1992 United Nations Framework convention on climatic change (UNFCCC) also emphasised that the parties should act to protect the climate system on the basis of common but differentiated responsibilities.
3. Kyoto Protocol is a legally binding agreement to set targets for industrialised countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions which support for global warming.

The ‘Global Commons’ refers to resource domains or areas that lie outside of the political reach of any one nation State.

International law identifies four global commons namely:

• The High Seas
• The Atmosphere
• Antarctica and
• Outer Space

With the advancement of science and technology in recent years it has made access to resources in the Global Commons easier, leading to an increase in activities in these resource domains, some types of which lack effective laws or policies to control and regulate such uses.

For example, Antarctica is facing rapid environmental degradation due to human pressures such as pollution, and the effects of global warming.

The outcomes of the summit are as follows:

(a) Rio Summit worked out conventions dealing with climate change, biodiversity, forestry and recommended a list of development practices called Agenda 21.

(b) The summit brought out the concept of sustainable development combining economic growth with ecological responsibility.

(c) It also touched upon various contentious issues like Commons, Global commons in global politics of environment.

a. The Earth’s atmosphere, Antarctica, ocean floor and outer space are considered as part of the global commons.

a. It was attended by 170 countries, thousands of NGOs and many MNCs. (Correct)

b. The summit was held under the aegis of the UN. (Wrong)

c. For the first time, global environmental issues were firmly consolidated at the political level. (Correct)

d. It was a summit meeting. (Wrong)

c. The environmental degradation caused by human activities has become pervasive and has reached a dangerous level.

a) All the countries in South Asia are democratic.

No, this is not a correct impression.

• India never tries to dominate or interfere in the domestic affairs of the smaller countries of the region. India thinks that there are real economic benefits for all if all the countries lift up trade barriers.
• India avoids political instability in its neighbouring states so that outsiders should not take advantage of influence in the region.

• The principal players in the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka are the Sinhala Community and Tamils who had migrated from India to Sri Lanka and settled there.
• The Sinhala nationalists are in majority and they do not want to give any concessions to Tamils who are in majority. This has led to militant Tamil nationalism.
• The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been fighting an armed struggle with the army of Sri Lanka since 1983.
• Despite the revenge of internal conflict Sri Lanka has maintained democratic political system and registered considerable economic growth and high level of human development.

The three challenges to democracy in Nepal are:

Maoist spread throughout Nepal. They believe in armed insurrection.

Restoration of Parliament and the election of a popular government.

Writing of a constitution for Nepal- Unlike other monarchies of the world, Monarchy in Nepal was people-centric and democratic. It was run on the Japanese model of democratic monarchy. The seven-party alliance of Nepal, in the influence of China, formulated the constitution for Nepal.  The Nepalese constitution bears the imprint of the authoritarian Chinese model of governance, where people's voice is muzzled in the name of development. the demand for new constitution was raised under the Chinese nefarious game plan of controlling the developing nations. Until a mature people-centric leadership emerges in Nepal no such kind of change is allowed in the Asian sub-continent.

Cooperation:

1. Economic relations have been improved considerably within the last ten years.
2. Bangladesh is the part of India’s Look East policy to link up with Southeast Asia via Myanmar.
3. Cooperation on the issues of disaster management and environment.
4. Cooperation on identifying common threats and being more sensitive to each other’s needs.

Disagreement:

1. Differences over the sharing of Ganga and Brahmaputra river waters.
2. Illegal immigration to India.
3. Refusal to allow Indian troops to move through its territory.
4. Not to export its territory.

• The external powers do influence bilateral relations in South Asia. China and the US are the key players in South Asian politics.
• Sino-Indian relations have improved significantly in the last ten years, but China’s strategic partnership with Pakistan remains a major irritant.
• The demands of development and globalisation have brought the two Asian giants closer and their economic ties have multiplied rapidly since 1991.
• The US enjoys good relations with both India and Pakistan and works as a moderator in Indo-Pak relations.
• Economic reforms and liberal economic policies in both countries have increased the depth of American participation.
• The large South Asian economy remains in the US and the huge size of population and markets of the region give America an added stake in the future of regional security and peace.

Following are the some of the commonalities between Bangladesh and Pakistan:

Difference:

• In June 1992, Earth Summit provided some conservative measures for sustainable growth without damaging the environment anymore. The consensus was on combining economic growth with ecological responsibility.
• The Antarctic Treaty of 1959 covered global commons for mutual economic development.
• Kyoto protocol has set the targets for the industrialised countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions to protect the environment and to develop industries also.
• Clearing of forests in the Third world countries should be stopped.
• Awareness should be created about the use of renewable resources.
• Resource Geopolitics allocates and distributes natural resource among the nation-states of the global arena for sustainable development of nations.
• The practices mentioned above protect the global environment and even though the states are developing we could achieve this challenge only if we follow the provisions and practices mentioned in all these conference and summits.

Role of SAARC:

1. South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is a regional initiative among South Asian states to evolve cooperation since 1985 onwards.
2. SAARC has seven members and they encourage and promote mutual harmony and understanding.
3. SAARC has initiated SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement) to free trade zones for whole South Asia for collective economic activity.
4. SAARC has projected on economic development of its member states to reduce their dependencies on non-regional powers.

Limitations:

1. Only the limitations led to bilateral issues as Kashmir problem between India and Pak.
2. Some of India’s neighbours fear that India intends to dominate them by influencing their societies and politics.
3. SAARC members are from among the developing or least developing countries which creates insufficiency of funds.

1. Both countries have agreed to undertake confidence building measures to reduce the risk of wars.
2. Bus routes have been opened up between these two countries. In the year 2000, Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpai visited Pakistan as a goodwill mission (Lahore yatra). The Delhi–Lahore Bus, officially known as Sada-e-Sarhad.
3. Summit level meeting between the two nations. Agra Summit held in 2001 between President Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpaiwith the aim of resolving long-standing issues between India and Pakistan.
4. Social activist and other prominent personalities of both nations have collaborated for creating an atmosphere of harmony and friendship.
5. Easing out the visa formalities between the two nations.
6. Trade between the two parts of Punjab has increased substantially in the last 5 years.