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p Southeast and South Asia comprise an extensive, densely populated region of the developing world. Covering an area of approximately 9 rriillion sq. km. this region has a population of about 1,000 million, or 60 per cent of the total population of all African and Asian countries.

p The countries of Southeast and South Asia occupy an important place in the modern world. Their enormous international significance is explained first of all by the fact that they account for almost a third of the world population. They are a major source of manpower resources and a region of a mounting national liberation struggle.

Possessing considerable natural resources these countries account for the bulk of natural rubber, tin and tea sold on world markets, and also large quantities of manganese and copper ore, nickel and other strategic materials.

Area and Population of Countries in Southeast and South Asia Area (sq. km.) Population All developing countries of Southeast and South Asia 9,000,000 985,000,000 of which: India 3,300,000 550,000,000 Indonesia 1,900,000 17,000,000 Pakistan 900,000 52,000,000 Bangladesh Burma 140,000 700,000 75,000,000 28,000,000

p The world sea and air routes linking Europe and Africa with Asia and Australia and the Indian and Pacific oceans are also of great strategic and economic importance.

p In the past Southeast and South Asia were the private domain of British, Dutch and French colonialists. The 158 British were the undivided rulers in India, the biggest country in South Asia. Lenin characterised the British colonialists as "regular Genghis Khans" who plundered and oppressed India for over two centuries.

p The peoples of India had always fought against the foreign invaders. To a large extent their struggle was influenced by the Great October Revolution in Russia in 1917 which powerfully stimulated the national liberation movement. The victory of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941- 45 motivated the Indian people to launch a decisive struggle against the British rule with the result that India emerged on the path of independent development.

p Following the expulsion of the British colonialists from South Asia two large states, India and Pakistan, emerged on the Indian Peninsula. In 1972, as a result of the victory of the national-liberation movement in East Bengal the independent republic of Bangladesh was proclaimed in the eastern wing of Pakistan. The former British colonies of Burma, Ceylon and the Maldive Islands also achieved independence. Nepal is consolidating her independence. Bhutan has become a member of the United Nations.

p In Southeast Asia the Republic of Indonesia emerged in place of the Netherlands Indies. The victorious battles against the colonialists resulted in the appearance of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam on the territory of the former French Indochina. Malaysia and Singapore emerged in the place of former British colonies. The USA was forced to grant independence to the Philippines.

The principal branch of the economy of the young independent states of Southeast and South Asia is agriculture which employs about 80 per cent of the population and yields more than a half of the national income. In this branch of production plantations cultivating tea, tobacco, rubber and other agricultural items of export play an important part. The local semi-natural economy of the small peasants and the landed estates cannot meet domestic food requirements. The lagging agriculture is one of the reasons for the slow rates of industrial development of these countries.

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BANGLADESH

p Bangladesh is a new sovereign state which appeared on the political map of South Asia in 1972 following the victory of the national-liberation movement of the people of East Bengal and its secession from Pakistan. Bangladesh lies in the lower reaches’ of the Ganges. In the east it borders on Burma, and in the north and west on India. In the south Bangladesh is washed by the Bay of Bengal which is a part of the Indian Ocean.

p Bangladesh has a relatively small territory (140,000 sq. km.) and a population of 75 million, of whom the Bengalese, a people with an ancient culture, make up the majority. The greater part of the population is concentrated in the rural areas. There are few large cities, of which the most important is the capital, Dacca (population about 800,000), and the port of Chittagong (500,000 inhabitants).

p Because of its colonial past and recent dependence on West Pakistan, the economy of Bangladesh is weak. Over 80 per cent of the population are employed in agriculture. Bangladesh grows rice and jute and has a developed fishing industry. The republic is the world’s biggest producer of jute and also cultivates tea, tobacco, vegetables and orchard crops. Handicraft industries predominate in its still weakly developed economy, which was seriously damaged by West Pakistan troops.

The rehabilitation and the further development of the economy and improvement of the standard of living are directly connected with the socio-economic reforms which are being carried out by the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

BURMA

p Occupying the northwest of the Indochina Peninsula and the adjoining part of the mainland Burma borders on Thailand, Laos, China, India and Bangladesh. Burma is a land of mountains and plateaus cleft by river valleys and covered with tropical jungle.

p The Burmese have a high ancient culture. In 1948 they freed themselves from the British colonialists and proclaimed Burma’s independence.

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p But the national bourgeoisie and the landowners who came to power opposed socio-economic and political reforms and thus created a threat to Burma’s national independence. In 1962 power passed into the hands of the Revolutionary Council which advanced the Burmese Way to Socialism programme signifying the country’s transition to the progressive road of development.

p According to the new Constitution the state is called the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma. Its capital, Rangoon, has a population of 1.8 million.

p Advancing along her chosen road Burma is introducing far-reaching reforms: she has nationalised all foreign banks, companies, industrial enterprises, transport and communications, and also’ some branches of private capitalist production, foreign and wholesale trade. Her developing state sector controls the production of almost 40 per cent of the gross national product. The state controls the production of oil, silver, tin, tungsten, lead, zinc, copper and precious stones, teakwood timbering and also the woodworking and other manufacturing industries.

p The state is building a number of industrial projects including a tractor assembly plant, nitrogen fertiliser and farm machinery factories, and a textile mill, all of which comprise the mainstay of Burma’s rising national industry.

p Serious steps are being made to promote agricultural production, an important branch of the economy employing four-fifths of the population. The peasants, freed from the need to pay rent to the landowners and delivered from the yoke of money-lenders, are drawing on state credits to buy fertiliser and build irrigation systems. They are mustering their efforts to develop virgin lands, enlarge the irrigated area, make more efficient use of fertiliser and farm machinery and increase crop yields. To help the peasants the state has established machine and tractor stations.

p The greater part of the cultivated area is under rice whose average annual harvest is approximately 8 million tons. Other important agricultural products are groundnuts, sesamum, cotton, sugar cane and beans. Some of them, mainly rice, are exported in large quantities. Draught animals— buffaloes and oxen—cows and other cattle arc raised. As distinct from other developing countries Burma is self-sufficient in food.

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Economic reforms are changing the social structure of the population. While the exploiter classes are being steadily deprived of their economic positions and political influence, the working class is growing in number and is coming to play an increasing role in the country. The workers’ councils established at enterprises are drawing the masses into production management. People’s peasant councils are encouraging the rural population to carry through the agrarian reform, develop the co-operative movement and boost agricultural production. A series of social measures are being carried out to meet the needs of the working people. A minimum wage has been fixed and working people are entitled to paid holidays. Medical service and education are free. National personnel is being trained and the level of literacy and culture is steadily rising.

INDIA

p India, one of the world’s biggest states, is playing an increasingly important role on the international scene. Situated in the centre of South Asia, she has a 15,000- kilometrelong border with China, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

p Her vast territory extends for more than 3,000 kilometres from the Himalayas in the north to the tip of the Indian Peninsula in the south. The Ganges with the Brahmaputra, and the Indus with its tributaries—India’s great rivers which irrigate the fertile Great Plains, India’s granary—rise in the mighty peaks of the Himalayas covered with eternal snows and glaciers. South of the Great Plains lies the Deccan Plateau, a huge area of desert and medium mountains. The coast facing the Indian Ocean is under tropical forests. The wealth of the vegetative cover is supplemented by rich deposits of iron, manganese, bauxites, gold and other useful minerals.

p A land of ancient culture, India has a population of more than 550 million consisting of different races and tribes.

p Having freed themselves from colonial oppression, the Indian people are increasing their struggle for progress and democracy.

p Since her independence, almost 25 years ago, India has made considerable headway in economic and cultural development and in consolidating her sovereignty.

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p She was among the first young independent states to introduce elements of planning into the economy. The state controls the leading branches of the heavy industry, transport and communications, banks and insurance companies. In other words it holds key positions in the economy. Since she became independent India has increased her volume of industrial production by 3 times. In the volume of the gross national product India is now among the 10 leading countries of the capitalist world. But the growth rates of industrial and agricultural production are still behind the population growth (approximately 13 million a year).

p About a hundred large enterprises of the state sector employing about 500,000 workers make up the core of India’s rising modern industry. Consistently extending its positions the state sector embraces the metallurgical, oil, chemical, engineering and other key industries ensuring the industrialisation of the country.

p India annually produces about 71 million tons of coal, 6.5 million tons of oil, over 50,000 million kwh of electricity, close to 7 million tons of steel and over 90,000 tons of aluminium.

p India’s first iron and steel factory is the Bhilai plant (State of Madhya Pradesh). Built with Soviet assistance it will subsequently increase its annual steel output to 2,500,000 tons. Metallurgical factories have been built in Rourkela (State of Orissa) and Durgapur (State of West Bengal). The Soviet Union is assisting in the construction of an iron and steel plant in Bokaro whose first section will have a capacity of 1,500,000 tons of steel. When completed the plant will be producing up to 4 million tons of steel a year. The emerging engineering industry is to an ever greater degree meeting the domestic requirements in machines and plant. New machinetool and power engineering enterprises are being put into operation: heavy machine-building factory (Ranchi), and factories manufacturing mining equipment (Durgapur) and heavy electric equipment (Hardwar). Important industrial centres are Ghittaranjan (locomotive building) near Calcutta and Visakhapatnam (shipbuilding). Calcutta, Bombay and Madras have motor vehicle assembly factories and there is an aircraft factory in Bangalore. The biggest nitrogen fertiliser factory in Asia (not counting the Asian part of the USSR) is situated in Sindri, near Calcutta.

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p In the production of cotton fabrics (4,500 million metres annually) India comes next to the United States in the capitalist world. The largest textile centres are Bombay and Ahmadabad. There are about 100 jute mills in the vicinity of Calcutta with an annual output of over a million tons of sacking, canvas, ropes and other items.

p India’s food industry annually produces 3 million tons of sugar, hundreds of thousands of tons of tobacco, tea, vegetable oils and other items. Handicraft industry processing agricultural raw materials turns out large quantities of consumer goods.

p Agriculture, which is the occupation of about two-thirds of India’s able-bodied population, yields 50 per cent of the national income. Members of producers’ co-operatives whose establishment is encouraged by the authorities, retain private ownership of the land but till it collectively, distributing the income according to the size of their lots. Handicrafts are developing in the co-operatives and other measures are being taken in keeping with the programme of communal development. On the whole, however, co-operatives play but an insignificant role in the Indian economy.

p Rice is the principal crop. Wheat, millet and beans are also cultivated. Industrial crops include cotton, jute, tea, tobacco, sugar cane and groundnuts. The gross grain harvest in bumper years ranges from 90 to 100 million tons. The growth of harvests has enabled India to stop importing foodstuffs.

p India has one of the biggest cattle population (200 million) in the world, but its productivity is one of the lowest. Cows are used mainly as draught animals. Hinduism prohibits the slaughter of cows for food and the government, therefore, expends large funds on the maintenance of animals which are either too old or too sick to be of any further use.

p Only a fifth of the population lives in cities. The capital New Delhi has 4.2 million inhabitants. Public services and amenities and sanitary conditions are improving in villages and towns. Measures are being taken to wipe out hotbeds of epidemics and the sick rate is falling. Almost a third of the population can now read and write. India’s universities and colleges are training an increasing number of national specialists. National science and culture are advancing.

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p National-religious relations are very complicated. Among India’s numerous nations and tribes there are about 15 large nationalities. The northwest is inhabited by Kashmiris, Rajasthanis and Punjabis, the north and central parts by Hindustanis and Biharis, the northeast by Bengalese, Assamese and Oriyas and the west by Marathas. In the south live Telugu, Tamils, Malayalis and Kanarese. The overwhelming majority of the population are Hindus. There are also tens of millions of Moslems most of whom live in regions bordering on Pakistan.

India’s further economic and cultural development is directly connected with the deep-going socio-economic changes in the country and her peace-loving foreign policy. The 1971 Soviet-Indian Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Co-operation helps India to carry through her plans aimed at promoting socio-economic progress, and strengthening peace in Asia and the world.

PAKISTAN

p Pakistan lies in the valley of the Indus, between Afghanistan and Iran. Her southern shores are washed by the Arabian Sea.

p The territory of Pakistan (over 800,000 sq. km.) is predominantly covered by mountains and tablelands with a hot dry climate and semi-desert vegetation. The exception is the Indus valley. Irrigated by the river it is cultivated and is the most densely populated part of the country.

p Pakistan’s population of about 52 million consists of Sindhis, Punjabis, Baluchis, Pathans and other peoples. The capital is Islamabad.

p The overwhelming majority of the population is employed in agriculture, the mainstay of the country’s economy. The most important crops are wheat and cotton. There is meat and dairy cattle. But agriculture does not fully satisfy the country’s requirements in food, though in recent years she has become less dependent on imported foodstuffs.

p Until recently Pakistan had no modern industry. A number of enterprises have been built in the past few years with the assistance of the USSR and other countries. Now 165 the country is building up her own light, food, engineering, chemical and a number of other industries.

Nevertheless, strenuous efforts will have to be made before Pakistan overcomes her age-old economic and cultural backwardness inherited from colonialism.