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Over the years, Governments of South Asia have faced the challenge of achieving the goal of sustainable development. On the one hand, they must satisfy the ever-growing demand for energy and, on the other hand, the interminable deterioration of the environment is causing great concern among political economists. The widening gap between the demand and supply of energy, over-reliance on the use of fossil fuels, and increasing import bills due to rising global prices are the challenges that South Asia is facing. These can be overcome by using its great potential in renewables. This paper uses SWOT methodology to identify that the poor financial situation of the distribution companies, due to power losses and non-cost-reflective tariffs, and the lack of credit opportunities, due to high interest rates and inaccessibility of loans for the long-term, are the major impediments to the growth of the renewable energy sector of the region. Moreover, there is a conflict of interest between the manufacturers of renewable energy equipment and the developers of renewable energy projects in terms of Government policy concerning the imposition of import duties. India is moving towards protection of the former, while the latter see opportunities in the renewable energy sector of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being the most populous countries of South Asia, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh represent about 37% of the world total undernourished population. In these three countries, the growing place of animal products can be observed in the diets, but the levels consumed for animal products remained very low as compared to the world mean. The consumption behaviour of animal products for three countries is presented in the study. Expenditure elasticities, own and cross compensated as well as non-compensated price elasticities of main animal products of these countries are calculated by using a LA/AIDS model applied to yearly data. Milk is income as well as price elastic in Pakistan while all other animal products in all three countries are relatively price inelastic. On the other hand, chicken and eggs are relatively income elastic. The results are compared with other authors in detail. The impact of some government policies to improve the protein and calorie intake by the actions on income and prices for the most vulnerable consumers (low income group) in these countries is also evaluated for Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]