Fiction:United Republic of South Asia

The United Republic of South Asia (URSA) was an intergalactic empire, and a Gigaquadrantic superpower, having territories in the Milky Way and Mirus Galaxies. It comprised of India (the founding member), Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives. In short, it comprised of most South Asian nations. It was a representational democracy.

It was in the year 2085, when the then Prime Minister of India, Aabida Khan saw dreams of uniting all South Asian nations under a single government after similar tasks of uniting nations were being undertaken by the Alliance of the Mashriq and POTATO.

The URSA played an important role in World War III and the Human Colonial Wars. It's role in the Human Colonial Wars soon got the URSA the status of colonial superpower, and the URSA soon rivalled France.

Development of India
By the year 2010, India had become the fastest growing major economy among the major economies. But the country still had high levels of poverty, unemployment, corruption, crime, etc. Also, cities were not planned, which resulted in poor drainage systems and other facilities. Trash was thrown everywhere and water bodies were polluted. Villages had barely any facilities. Diseases were also common. Illiteracy was high. Some governments tried to bring about a change but were not very successful.

All this changed after the government led by Gurmeet Singh, who became Prime Minister in the year 2029, brought about new reforms to develop the nation. Villages were rebuilt, with new facilities, such as hospitals having the latest facilities, schools having many facilities (such as a playground, labs, etc.) and many other things. Education and healthcare were taken care of. Connectivity within these villages and between two or more villages was improved. The extra workforce in the agricultural sector (which more than half the population was dependant on then), was moved mainly to the industrial sector. A modified Land Reform Act was passed, which forced many people having a lot of land and property to donate a large portion of their land to the landless labourers and farmers. Through these reforms not many people now depended on the agricultural sector, farmers now had larger land holdings and got access to modern technical inputs and were taught of organic farming. Hence food production increased, all farmers soon got higher incomes and rural poverty was soon eradicated.

When it came to urban lifestyle, cities were rebuilt in a planned way, with tall skyscrapers, wide roads, good drainage systems, better public transport, wide footpaths, etc. All unemployed people and those working in the unorganised sector were given employment in the organised sector. All this lead to Gurmeet Singh's government winning a second term in 2034 and complete the remaining developmental projects.

In his second term, his government focused on cleaning up the water bodies and the cities and villages. Water treatment plants were set up, which took all wastes generated from industries and cleaned the water before leaving the clean water in the water bodies. Heavy penalties were introduced for littering or for throwing anything inside water bodies, for breaking rules, etc. Laws were made more strict to bring down crime and corruption. The military was also built up.

The army also carried out major operations against the terrorist groups prevalent in the country, with thousands of terrorists, including the leaders of these terrorist groups, either being killed or imprisoned, and their strongholds and hideouts were raided. The losses faced by these terror groups were so high that almost all of them were forced to disband. The last terror group in India was disbanded in the year 2050.

These action gave many results. Unemployment and poverty were eradicated. Crime and corruption reduced drastically. The standard of living of the people increased. All water bodies were clean. No litter could be found anywhere. Forest cover increased. Life expectancy of the people increased. Through advancements in technology and medicine, diseases were soon kept in check. Malnutrition was eradicated. The Indian economy boomed, growing at very high rates (growth of economy and GDP reached 20% per annum, a figure which no other country had ever reached).

India was not affected much by the fossil fuel crisis since it had largely converted to green energy. But its neighbors were affected.

Formation of The United Republic of South Asia
In the year 2085, the then Prime Minister, Aabida Khan, hoped to unite the South Asian nations under one government. She was ready to use force, if needed, in order to achieve her goals. Hence, her government built up a large, modern and well-equipped military. The Indian armed forces soon became a power to be reckoned with. This, and the reforms brought about by Gurmeet Singh, lead India to get the status of economic and military superpower. Aabida Khan first convinced Nepal and Bhutan to unite with India. This led to uprisings in both nations, which were suppressed. The two nations were soon made to believe that uniting with India would bring a solution to the problems they were facing. Hence, they united with India. The new nation was called the United Republic of South Asia (URSA). Maldives was the next to join, under the same belief as in the case of Nepal and Bhutan. After some hesitation, Sri Lanka joined the URSA, followed by Bangladesh, both nations believing that uniting with the URI would bring a solution to their problems. Soon these regions were also developed, and crime,corruption, terror, etc. brought down,bringing them in par with the rest of the URSA. Thus, the URSA elevated from a status of a developing nation to that of a developed nation, with poverty, unemployment and social evils completely eradicated.

Pakistan and Afghanistan had united to form the Union of Afghanistan in the year 2110. This was a setback to the URSA's efforts to unify of the whole of South Asia. Aabida Khan thought of convincing them to join the URSA, and if they didn't, then she would send in the URSA military to annexe the Union of Afghanistan.

Tensions between the URSA and the Union of Afghanistan
In the year 2130, Aabida Khan, who had won the 2129 elections, after losing the previous elections in 2119 and 2124, sent a delegation to the Union of Afghanistan to convince them to join the URSA. She secretly had the armed forces prepared to react should they refuse. Her fears came true. They did refuse to join the URSA. However, instead of attacking, she sent another delegation to ask them to crack down on the terrorists in the north-western region of the Union of Afghanistan (former Pakistan Occupied Kashmir), which had been causing havoc in the URSA state of Kashmir.

When there was no reaction for quite many days, the URSA decided to send in the army and a few bombers to destroy all existing terrorist camps in the region, while ensuring minimum civilian casualties. All terrorist camps in the region were destroyed, and more than a thousand terrorists were killed. Although this action of the URSA armed forces was lauded by most countries, some, including the Union of Afghanistan itself, went against this move saying the URSA had intruded on another nation's sovereignty. This soon lead to tensions, to the extent that many times, soldiers of both nations opened fire on each other, with some casualties on both sides. Things took a new turn after the URSA destroyed a tank belonging to the Union of Afghanistan during one such incident. The Union of Afghanistan responded by bombing two of the URSA's airbases. This led to the declaration of war. Aabida Khan thought this would be the right opportunity to unite the only remaining region of South Asia to the URSA.

The URSA-Afghan War (9 November 2130 - 2 December 2130)
War was declared by the URSA on the Union of Afghanistan after two of its airbases were attacked. The war started in 9 November 2100. The URSA navy disrupted supply routes to the Union of Afghanistan and destroyed Afghan naval vessels it encountered in the Arabian Sea, at the same time also ensuring its own supply routes remained intact. Meanwhile, the URSA airforce bombed important Afghan military places.

In the Battle of the Arabian Sea, the URSA navy destroyed the majority of the Afghan navy, ensuring the URSA's domination in the sea. Soon enough, a dogfight between Afghan and URSA airplanes over Lahore resulted in an easy victory for the URSA. The URSA army defeated the Afghan army at the URSA-Afghan border. These three victories enabled the URSA forces to advance onto and capture Lahore, Karachi, and a few days later, Peshawar. The loss of Karachi was a big blow to the Union of Afghanistan (it was their naval headquarters). The URSA forces kept defeating the Afghan forces and advanced and soon captured Quetta. The headquarters of the Union of Afghanistan's airforce, Khandahar, was the next to fall (another big blow to the Union of Afghanistan). This enabled the URSA to gain domination in the air.

Finally, on 30 November 2130, Islamabad fell, followed by Kabul in 2 December 2100. The Union of Afghanistan surrendered. However, by then, Aabida Khan had felt like allowing the Union of Afghanistan to continue existing and hence, it wasn't integrated into the URSA.

World War III and Human Colonial Wars
By the beginning of the 22nd Century, the URSA had colonised Jupiter's moon Callisto; Saturn's moon Rhea; and had established four mining outposts in the asteroid belt, leaving it just behind POTATO in the space race.

At the mid-22nd Century (by 2145), World War III broke out. In the beginning, the URSA was having a tough time in the war, with a part of its northern territories (former Bhutan) being taken away by the newly formed East Asian Coalition (EAC), and with the URSA fighting Iran in the west. However, the URSA soon recovered. It recaptured Bhutan (making it an integral part of the URSA again), then defeated the Iranian forces (upon which Iran was conquered by the Alliance of the Mashriq), and defeated the EAC. By the time the war was over, the URSA had also colonised Jupiter's moons Lysithea and Autonoe; Saturn's moons Enceladus, Tethys and Dione; and two each of Uranus' and Neptune's Moons.

By the year 2250, the URSA had established colonies in Epsilon Indi, Beta Hydri and Vega. The URSA prepared an expedition to colonise the planet Persephonie, and Ross 128, but after learning that France and Roreinia had colonised Persephonie and were competing for control over it (bringing about a series of events culminating in the Battle of Persephonie), the expedition to the planet was abandoned. The expedition was instead sent to Barnard's Star, while Ross 128 was successfully colonised by the other expedition. Soon, a few more star systems, including Epsilon Eridani, Sirius and Procyon were colonised. The rich natural resources of these star systems helped the URSA economy grow very rapidly, and Ross 128 became a major starship and weapon manufacturing centre where starships and weapons having cutting-edge technology were built. At this time, the URSA navy had two super carriers, many carriers and destroyers (which served the role of an average cruiser, destroyer and battle-cruiser) as well as many frigates and corvettes.

In the year 2265, Roreinia and POTATO, both of who were defeated in the Battle of Persephonie, sought to avenge their defeat. They built a new fleet of warships and sought the help of the Yamato Intersolar Commune. The POTATO, Roreinia and Yamato fleets prepared for an attack on France's starship maufacturing centre. But there was a problem. They were under the impression that it was Ross 128 (the URSA starship and weapon manufacturing centre), when it was actually another star system. Hence, they attacked Ross 128. The URSA saw this as a threat to its sovereignty and fought back. In the resulting Battle of Ross 128, the URSA emerged victorious, while the entire Roreinia-POTATO-Yamato fleet was destroyed. It was only after the battle that they realised they had attacked the wrong star system. However, the URSA demanded that as compensation, all three empires hand over a couple of their star systems, or else the URSA will take them by force. All three empires gave the URSA some of their star systems, making the URSA larger. The battle; the secession of territories from Roreinia, POTATO and the Yamato Intersolar Commune; and its prosperity made the URSA a colonial superpower.

By the end of the Human Colonial Wars, the URSA had the largest colonial empire.

In the year 2270, the human nations met at Brussels to divide the territories. Some nations lost territories but were given new ones. As for the URSA, however, it didn't have to give up any of its territories, but it didn't get any new territories either (the URSA didn't want to give up its territories).

After Human Colonial Wars
After the Human Colonial Wars, the URSA expanded rapidly in the Orion spur, colonising many star systems. Some of these became centres for manufacturing starships and weapons (usually these were located in clusters.

(to be continued)