Women's leadership in the Asian Century: does expansion mean inclusion?

This paper draws on British Council commissioned research in response to concerns about women's absence from senior leadership positions in higher education in South Asia. The study sought existing knowledge from literature, policies, and available statistics and collected original interview data from 30 academics in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. A central finding was that gender is not a category of analysis in higher education policy, research or statistical data in the region. Our interview data suggest that leadership was frequently not an object of desire for women. Being associated with particular types of masculinities, leadership often carried a heavy affective load for those women who transgressed patriarchal socio-cultural norms and disrupted the symbolic order of women being led by men. Leadership was frequently perceived and experienced by women in terms of navigating a range of ugly feelings and toxicities that depleted aspirations, well-being and opportunities

Ruled by records: The expropriation of land and the misappropriation of lists in Islamabad

In this article, I investigate the ongoing battle between villagers on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, and the state development agency attempting to expropriate their land. This battle has been waged through the medium of documents, particularly lists, which villagers and colluding officials have used to defraud the Pakistani government of the equivalent of millions of dollars. Through this case study, I develop an approach to contemporary state governance as material practice, showing how government discourse is shaped by the material forms it takes and highlighting the issue of reference and predication (or how words relate to things). [ governance, documents, state, semiotics, technology, materiality, South Asia, Pakistan ]Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75363/1/j.1548-1425.2008.00095.x.pd

Refinement of arsenic attributable health risks in rural Pakistan using population specific dietary intake values

Background: Previous risk assessment studies have often utilised generic consumption or intake values when evaluating ingestion exposure pathways. If these values do not accurately reflect the country or scenario in question, the resulting risk assessment will not provide a meaningful representation of cancer risks in that particular country/scenario. Objectives: This study sought to determine water and food intake parameters for one region in South Asia, rural Pakistan, and assess the role population specific intake parameters play in cancer risk assessment. Methods: A questionnaire was developed to collect data on sociodemographic features and 24-hour water and food consumption patterns from a rural community. The impact of dietary differences on cancer susceptibility linked to arsenic exposure was evaluated by calculating cancer risks using the data collected in the current study against standard water and food intake levels for the USA, Europe and Asia. A probabilistic cancer risk was performed for each set of intake values of this study. Results: Average daily total water intake based on drinking direct plain water and indirect water from food and beverages was found to be 3.5 L day-1 (95% CI: 3.38, 3.57) exceeding the US Environmental Protection Agency’s default (2.5 L day-1) and World Health Organization’s recommended intake value (2 L day-1). Average daily rice intake (469 g day-1) was found to be lower than in India and Bangladesh whereas wheat intake (402 g day−1) was higher than intake reported for USA, Europe and Asian sub-regions. Consequently, arsenic-associated cumulative cancer risks determined for daily water intake was found to be 17 in children of 3-6 years (95% CI: 0.0014, 0.0017), 14 in children of age 6-16 years (95% CI: 0.001, 0.0011) and 6 in adults of 16-67 years (95% CI: 0.0006, 0.0006) in a population size of 10000. This is higher than the risks estimated using the US Environmental Protection Agency and World Health Organization’s default recommended water intake levels. Rice intake data showed early life cumulative cancer risks of 15 in 10000 for children of 3-6 years (95% CI: 0.0012, 0.0015), 14 in children of 6-16 years (95% CI: 0.0011, 0.0014) and later life risk of 8 in adults (95% CI: 0.0008, 0.0008) in a population of 10000. This is lower than cancer risks in countries with higher rice intake and elevated arsenic levels (Bangladesh and India). Cumulative cancer risk from arsenic exposure showed the relative risk contribution from total water to be51%, from rice to be44% and wheat intake 5%. Conclusions: The study demonstrates the need to use population specific dietary information for risk assessment and risk management studies. Probabilistic risk assessment concluded the importance of dietary intake in estimating cancer risk, along with arsenic concentrations in water or food and age of exposed rural population

Outcomes from elective colorectal cancer surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

(Microsoft Word - Developing Integrated Energy Policies in South Asia, Jan. \205)

Abstract The focus of energy policy in the South Asian countries after they achieved independence from the United Kingdom during the 1940s has been on increasing energy supplies to meet the growing demand for energy. Except for oil imports, most of the energy from other sources was supplied from resources within the individual countries ---biomass and hydropower in almost all of the countries, and coal in India. In spite of a tripling of the region's population, and a doubling of per capita income, the South Asian countries have supplied their energy requirements largely from domestic resources. The discovery of oil and natural gas fields in Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, contributed to a relatively high level of energy self-sufficiency for those countries. However, the great increase in the use of biomass and coal (in India) were major factors in rising air pollution, land degradation, and loss of ecosystems. The switch from "traditional" forms of transportation to motor vehicles that used oil products contributed not only to air pollution but to much higher dependency on imported oil. Further, it helped change the nature of South Asian cities by following the pattern of industrialized countries in the form of urban sprawl, clogged roads, and long commutes. As in many other parts of the world, policies in South Asia are usually designed on a sector-wide basis, e.g. there is a policy for energy, one for environment, another for transportation, and yet another for technology. Further, the relations 2 between the South Asian countries were usually determined by political issues, rather than by economic development concerns, and energy is an important factor in the latter. This paper suggests a more integrated approach to energy policy, both in terms of integration across sectors, and across the countries of South Asia, defined here to include the seven member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)