Friday, March 29, 2024
11:30 AM (GMT +5)

Go Back   CSS Forums > General > News & Articles

News & Articles Here you can share News and Articles that you consider important for the exam

Reply Share Thread: Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook     Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter     Submit Thread to Google+ Google+    
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread
  #381  
Old Saturday, January 18, 2014
HASEEB ANSARI's Avatar
Senior Member
Medal of Appreciation: Awarded to appreciate member's contribution on forum. (Academic and professional achievements do not make you eligible for this medal) - Issue reason:
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Pakistan
Posts: 2,803
Thanks: 93
Thanked 1,321 Times in 834 Posts
HASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of light
Default

12.01.2014
In good health
Punjab Healthcare Commission is mandated to cleanse the health sector. The challenge is big and there’s a bumpy road ahead
By Shahzada Irfan Ahmed


It was not quite long ago when the news of death of 3-year-old Imane Malik flashed across television screens, appeared in newspapers, social media and was shared widely through mobile networks. The young girl had died due to wrong administration of drug through injection by an employee of a private hospital. This person was neither skilled nor authorised to inject drugs.

There was a concerted campaign against this negligence spearheaded by the parents of the deceased child. Imane’s father raised his voice at various fora against medical practices. His point was that though he had lost his loved daughter forever he was struggling to ensure such “criminal acts” are not repeated in future. He wanted to bring those responsible to the book and get them punished under law so that others become careful in their dealings.

This tragic incident took place in November 2009 and good four years down the road the situation has not improved much. There are endless complaints related to health service delivery and every other person has a story to tell.

So, the question is what happened to all those campaigns and the hue and cry raised by masses after Imane’s death? Did all that went in vain or is there any hope left?

Though most common people would be confused on what to say, there are some who believe the efforts had paid to an extent. They refer to the formation of a health sector regulatory body in Punjab to take cognizance of certain cases of medical negligence and substandard service delivery. Called The Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC), this body is an autonomous health regulatory authority established in consequences of the PHC Act 2010 passed by the Punjab Assembly.

The commission team is headed by a Chief Operating Officer (COO) and has four directorates namely complaints, clinical governance and organisational standards licensing and accreditation and business support. Its staff mainly comprises healthcare professionals with a few employees belonging to the fields of management and law. The idea behind setting up this body is to improve the standards of health service delivery through licensing, inspections and suspensions.
Healthcare establishments will be required to clearly mention their policies on notice-boards, not to refuse emergencies, clearly mention room rent rates, keep verified educational degrees of their staff with them and establish in-house complaint centres.

Besides, it is responsible for development of Minimum Service Delivery Standards (MSDS) and their enforcement in all the healthcare establishments, from tertiary care hospitals to homeopathy or tibb clinics as well as diagnostic centres and laboratories, and allied services like physiotherapy clinics, cosmetic treatment centers and nursing homes.

Against this backdrop, one wonders whether this initiative would be a success or not and if yes, why? There were several similar initiatives taken in the past but the strong lobbies and influential players in health sector did not pay heed to them. So, what’s different this time?

The answer comes from Dr Muhammad Ajmal Khan, Chief Operating Officer (COO), PHC, who says things would be different as this body has come into being as a result of a law passed for the purpose. The commission, he says, is autonomous and also has judicial powers to handle complaints. The executive management processes complaints and the decision is taken by the board which comprises members from the private sectors. These include a retired judge, a chartered accountant and a leading businessman as well.

He tells TNS the impetus for this initiative came from the Supreme Court’s decision in the Imane Malik case as well as other cases of medical negligence in both public and private sectors. Besides, there were several strikes by doctors during the previous PML-N government in Punjab which caused great inconvenience to patients and the general public. The apex court took notice of this and asked the Punjab government to take initiatives to handle such issues professionally.

He dispels the impression that being dependent on government funds, the commission cannot work independently. “We are provided funds by the Punjab government just as the federal government provides funds to regulatory bodies such as PEMRA, OGRA and others. Even the courts get government funding but they take independent decisions.”

He says the commission is hopeful that by 2018, it would become financially independent. The sources of funding would be licensing fees, money coming from donors, fines imposed on violators etc.

Explaining the domain of PHC, he says it would take care of healthcare establishments whereas disciplinary action against medical professionals would be the responsibility of Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC). However, while investigating a case of healthcare establishment, if the commission finds a professional responsible for negligence his case would be referred to PMDC.

The MSDS will be enforced at around 70,000 healthcare establishments in the province. These will be applicable on allopathic, dentistry, homeopathic, acupuncture and other clinics, shops of hakeems, nursing homes, government and private hospitals, pathological labs, slimming and cosmetic clinics and so on.

These establishments will be required to clearly mention their policies on notice-boards, not to refuse emergencies, clearly mention room rent rates, keep verified educational degrees of their staff with them, establish in-house complaint centres, make the physician report every treatment given to the patient in writing, allow only the qualified professional to treat patients etc.

These establishments will be awarded licenses after due diligence and fined if found non-compliant during inspections. The maximum fine suggested is Rs 5 lakh. However, the bigger threat is close of business and requirement of re-application to get a new license.

The PHC also has Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) whose members comprise key stakeholders from the public and private sectors who are engaged to advise, facilitate and offer assistance on any matter referred to it by PHC. For example, there are representatives from Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan, Pakistan Nursing Council, Pharmacy Council of Pakistan, Federal Mental Health Authority, Council for Homeopathy, Council for Tibb, Auditor General of Pakistan, University of Health Sciences, Lahore, a member of the provincial assembly to be nominated by the Speaker, two international health experts to be nominated by the government and others.

Anybody who wants to file a complaint against a healthcare establishment can call at toll free helpline 0800 00 742 or register a complaint online, says Dr Shabana Haider, Head of Communications Department, at PHC. Besides, she says, complainants can visit the office or send a written complaint by post.

Explaining the complaint handling process, she says after the receipt of a complaint the commission determines the maintainability of the cause of action that forms the subject matter of the complaint. If the complaint is found to be based on sufficient grounds, it undergoes a rigorous investigation process at PHC.

This involves affording both parties an opportunity to present their cases, after which every party is allowed to cross-examine the other. Teams from the commission also make field visits to gather first hand information regarding a complaint. Expert opinion is also sought in cases involving medical or surgical procedures. Finally, the evidence and recommendations for disposal of the case are submitted to the board’s complaints sub-committee for review. The final decision is taken by the full board.

On the private sector service providers’ concerns regarding arbitrary exercise of authority, she says they have been addressed repeatedly by the commission which views itself as a facilitator for the service providers and a bridge between the patients and medical professionals. They have been ensured that the commission would apply the same criteria to public sector establishments as it would to private health care establishments, she says.
__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)
Reply With Quote
  #382  
Old Saturday, January 18, 2014
HASEEB ANSARI's Avatar
Senior Member
Medal of Appreciation: Awarded to appreciate member's contribution on forum. (Academic and professional achievements do not make you eligible for this medal) - Issue reason:
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Pakistan
Posts: 2,803
Thanks: 93
Thanked 1,321 Times in 834 Posts
HASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of light
Default

12.01.2014
The new battleground of ideas
Is Facebook a realm of political propaganda for the various societal actors or is it a space which will lead to the renewal of an utterly needed social contract?
By Raheem Ul Haque


Public sphere is a concept articulating a sphere for dialogue and discussion open to all citizens that could lead to the formation of public opinion after all perspectives had been deliberated upon.

The two main conceptual assumptions that have been critiqued by scholars over the years and can be considered an evaluatory mechanism in assessing the public sphere and thus deliberative democratic potential are: one, the extent of citizen participation in dialogue and discussion on matters political; and two, the quality of dialogue.

Facebook, a social networking site which began in 2004, became popular in Pakistan later in the decade. Currently, 11.4 million users residing in Pakistan have an account on Facebook and bandwidth usage shows that Facebook is one of the most active sites in Pakistan.

However, these users constitute 80-85 per cent of those who interact on pages and groups related to Pakistan, thus suggesting a vibrant involvement of also the expatriate Pakistani population living in Saudi Arabia, Britain, USA, UAE and other countries. Thus, Facebook can be accepted as greatly broadening the participation of citizens in the public arena.

In terms of demography, it is dominated by the youth (13-30 years) who make up 80 per cent of total Pakistani users as against 67 per cent of the population under the age of 30. Similarly, Facebook also lacks representative qualities based on gender or class as only 30 per cent of the youth (age 13-29) are females while the rural, illiterate and under-privileged sections are heavily under-represented. However, with increased access to the internet through mobile phones in Pakistan, this proportion is changing fast, especially as Smart Phones become cheaper owing to technological innovation and competition.
For political actors, Facebook thus becomes an effective tool for political propaganda and the most important youth public space to be captured while for researchers, it is an effective medium to assess the extent of polarisation of society through content analysis of youth interactions.

Thus, overall Facebook fulfills the participatory criteria of the public sphere, specifically of youth public sphere as it bypasses the gate-keeping and sanctions involved in the old media (newspapers, TV, radio) while facilitating many to many (M-M) interaction among anonymous participants and broadening interaction.

However, it is not just because Facebook has created a market place for the commons that political actors increasingly see it as the new battleground of ideas but because of its association with other features: one, that it has become the main source of information for the millennium generation, two, that it empowers a single person to engage many arenas and targets of power with their messages having viral acceptance through reproduction (sharing) and attestation (like) across communities.

As research suggests, Facebook politics, a form of personalised politics, has succeeded more than other forms in occupying contemporary political discourse, and that Facebook engagement can spur political participation. I can attest to Facebook’s influence on youth’s political comprehension as more than 80 per cent of the youth with access to Facebook thought that Malala was not shot as against the marginalised youth with access only to mainstream media who thought otherwise.

While the above makes a great case for Facebook being a contested realm for the formation of public opinion, it needs to be noted that in the theoretical parlance of public sphere, there is a difference between “opinion” which is personalised and “public opinion” which is only formed after due deliberation among participants. Thus the question remains: What is the quality of dialogue on Facebook and does interaction on Facebook enhance deliberative aspects among participants? To put it simply, is Facebook a realm of political propaganda for the various societal actors or is it a space which will lead to the renewal of an utterly needed social contract.

Scholars are quite pessimistic about Facebook’s role in strengthening the deliberative aspect of public sphere. Instead, they argue, that while broadening communication, it has also led to increased fragmentation. Some argue that Facebook can further erode collective life through dangerous balkanisation with extremism as the potential outcome.

Preliminary results of my unfinished research are closer to the pessimists but then Facebook is but a continuation of the polarisation that exists offline in Pakistan. We live in an era of fragmentation where multitudes of publics (where individuals interact) exist, and each person or people of a particular ideology, class etc. want to capture the public. Thus, the purpose is not to engage in reason based argumentation in the spirit of dialogue leading to a consensus based “public opinion” but instead to forcefully articulate their opinion in the spirit of propaganda to capture public space.

For political actors, Facebook thus becomes an effective tool for political propaganda and the most important youth public space to be captured while for researchers, it is an effective medium to assess the extent of polarisation of society through content analysis of youth interactions.
__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)
Reply With Quote
  #383  
Old Saturday, January 18, 2014
HASEEB ANSARI's Avatar
Senior Member
Medal of Appreciation: Awarded to appreciate member's contribution on forum. (Academic and professional achievements do not make you eligible for this medal) - Issue reason:
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Pakistan
Posts: 2,803
Thanks: 93
Thanked 1,321 Times in 834 Posts
HASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of light
Default

12.01.2014
The conflict triangle
Bruce Riedel’s Avoiding Armageddon: America, India and Pakistan to the Brink and Back reviews the US diplomacy in South Asia critically, dissecting different crises in the region
By Dr Syed Hussain Shaheed Soherwordi


Bruce Riedel’s Avoiding Armageddon: America, India and Pakistan to the Brink and Back, with critical comments on the triangular relationship between India, Pakistan and the US, met all the expectations of avid readers of history and international relations, though there is some room for factual corrections.

In this book, Bruce Riedel, a long time CIA official and present day director of the Brookings Institution Intelligence Project, looks at the ways and means by which terrorist networks like al Qaeda, the TTP, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), and certain other mushroom terrorist parties are capable of defying regional and global democratic tendencies which, the theorists believed, inevitably lead to the volatile relationship between India and Pakistan and national security of the US.

As a terrorist regime, Riedel argues that parties like al Qaeda always take steps to weaken democratic trends in the region and make countries trouble each other resulting in a disturbance between states like India and Pakistan. However, in this process, countries like the US are the ultimate sufferers, who lose confidence and support of regional countries in their mega policy — global war on terror. The author describes how the rivalry between India and Pakistan handicaps the US in dealing with the war on terror. Hence, he reviews the US diplomacy in South Asia critically, dissects crises in the region, and prospects for future crisis.

The book starts with a sympathetic chapter for India defining the Mumbai crisis of 26/11. Riedel on page 24 says: “The complex web of ties between al Qaeda, LeT and the Pakistani army are direct threat to American strategic interests beyond Mumbai itself.” However, he does not give any details of such a network. The sacrifices given by the military and civilian population of Pakistan for containing terrorism must not be diminished by aligning Pakistan army with al Qaeda and other terrorist networks. Indeed Pakistan is a war-torn country that is direly in need of financial, economic, and military support rather than mud-slinging and defamation.
America’s biggest mistake in South Asia was to undermine civilian rule in Pakistan for decades. This resulted in a psyche which thought the US is using Pakistan rather than cultivating relations on equal level.

After defining Mumbai crisis, the author for some historical perspective, looks back at how today’s India, Pakistan, and America were born of a common parent, the British Empire. On page 36, Riedel, while giving reference of the 1857 War of Independence talks about capture of Mr ‘Zahar’. However, with a paragraph more, the reader understands it’s not Zahar. It’s Zafar [Bahadur Shah], who was sent into exile in Burma.

On page 27, the author says that ‘America, India and Pakistan are all products of the British empire… to which they also owe a common language’. One wonders which common language he is talking about — English, Urdu or Hindi. All the three countries do not have anything in common as for as their language is concerned. Rather the Indo-Pak history says that the language was one of the reasons of the Partition in 1947.

After historical background of the three countries, Riedel focuses on the relationship among India, Pakistan and the US since 1947, examining how 12 American presidents engaged with India and Pakistan. His primary focus on their relationship aims at diplomacy, counterterrorism, and nuclearisation of South Asia and its effects. Every President in the White House tries to befriend both India and Pakistan. However, in the end, he would build an alliance with one. Truman and Eisenhower went for Pakistan while Kennedy, Johnson selected India for their respective friendship.

Similarly, during 1970s and 80s, Nixon and Ronald Reagon went for Pakistan while Ford and Carter befriended India. In fact, Americans wanted to build an alliance of states to contain communism and roll back its gains. In their view, democracies like India should recognize that the cold war was a conflict between good and evil and honour their moral obligation to choose good. But Riedel further says that Nehru and subsequent Indian leaders wanted to preserve Indian neutrality in the cold war. They wanted India to lead a third way, nonalignment, which would be created from the newly-decolonized countries of the world. It would be a powerful bloc between Moscow and Washington that would focus on further decolonization and economic growth.

Dr SoherwordyThe author also touches Pakistan’s domestic politics of the 1950s. He says that while Pakistan was keen to have west on its side, the East and West Pakistan were not harmonious with each other. Ayub Khan’s coup made no difference in the two wings relationship. This ultimately resulted in dismemberment of Pakistan.

The era of triangular relationship between India, Pakistan and the US during late 1970s is very particularly focused by the author. It was the era of change within and without. Carter was facing crisis in Tehran, while the Soviet forces were marching into Afghanistan. In India, the state of emergency was lifted by Indra Gandhi who announced elections. However, she lost and was replaced by PM Morarji Desai.

In Pakistan, General Zia, through a military coup, rose to power and replaced Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. In the circumstances, Carter’s priority was India. He wanted to balance the tilt of Nixon of 1971 towards Pakistan. This would have balanced the US approach towards South Asia in general.

President Carter visited India in 1978 but ignored Pakistan. However, the Indo-US honeymoon was short-lived. The hostage crisis of Tehran and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan changed strategic look of the region. The US needed a confident to fight Cold War II in Afghanistan and Pakistan had an experience of it. Hence, with the replacement of Carter by Ronald Reagon, the Indo-US honeymoon was replaced by the Pak-US alliance.

The 1990s era was the era of the US negligence of Pakistan and importance to India. This produced a gap between the US and Pakistan policy makers. Hence, monsters like the Taliban and the al Qaeda were produced.

However, the 9/11 events brought Pakistan, India and the US again together on the same table. Still the rivalry between India and Pakistan is badly affecting the US objectives in the region. However, it’s due to the US ‘rental commodity approach’ that produced backlash in Pakistan. America’s biggest mistake in South Asia was to undermine civilian rule in Pakistan for decades by backing every military dictator in the country’s history. This resulted in a psyche which thought that the US is using Pakistan rather than cultivating relations on international level. Presidents from both parties of the US liked the Pakistani military generals. Thus anti-American feeling in Pakistan in the present era is understandable.

The book, with the exception of a few factual errors, emotional statements like linking al Qaeda with Pakistan army and numerous typos is worth reading for academicians, students of history, political science, and international relations, as well as for the strategists and policy makers of Pakistan, India and the US.
AVOIDING ARMAGEDDON:
America India and Pakistan to the Brink and Back
Author: Bruce Riedel
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: XV+230
Price: Rs890
__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)
Reply With Quote
  #384  
Old Thursday, January 30, 2014
HASEEB ANSARI's Avatar
Senior Member
Medal of Appreciation: Awarded to appreciate member's contribution on forum. (Academic and professional achievements do not make you eligible for this medal) - Issue reason:
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Pakistan
Posts: 2,803
Thanks: 93
Thanked 1,321 Times in 834 Posts
HASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of light
Default

19.01.2014
Containing corruption
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government finally enacts law providing wide-ranging powers to Ehtesab Commission for elimination of corruption
By Akhtar Amin


The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa PTI-led government took a lead from the other provinces for enacting a law and provided wide-range powers to Ehtesab Commission for elimination of corruption and corrupt practices from the public sector in the province.

The PTI-led provincial government under the Ehtesab Commission Act would constitute an independent and autonomous accountability body at the provincial level as it was not satisfied with the performance of the existing government institutions, especially the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) department established for elimination of corruption within the government institutions. The ACE was not independent and was under the provincial government as the ACE had to get permission from the provincial chief secretary for taking action against the officials of grade-18 and above.

The Ehtesab Commission would act independently and even would directly take action against the chief minister of the province and the ministers if found involved in corruption.

On January 7, the provincial assembly unanimously passed the much-propagated Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission Bill, 2013, which provides for the establishment of a five-member Ehtesab Commission and appointment of a director general for preventing corrupt practices and to hold accountable all public officeholders for these practices.

Under the Act, within 30 days of the enforcement of the act, the government will take necessary steps to set up as many as Ehtesab courts as may be necessary to ensure expeditious trial of offences under this act with territorial areas as specified by the Peshawar High Court and dispensation of justice within prescribed time as specified by the National Judicial Policy.

“Each court will consist of a judge, being a person who is district and sessions judge or a senior additional district and sessions judge. The government after consultation with the Peshawar High Court will appoint a judge of each court. The court will not grant any party more than one adjournment during the pendency of a matter from the filing of reference till its disposal,” said the act. The court would be bound to dispose of the case within three months and the accused persons have the right to a file appeal against the decision in the Peshawar High Court.

Senior Minister Sirajul Haq, on behalf of the chief minister, tabled the bill, which was recommended by the House’s Select Committee. Establishment of an independent and autonomous Ehtesab Commission in the province was part of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s election manifesto.

The Select Committee accommodated several amendments moved by the members of the treasury and opposition members. The unique amendment through the committee in the act was an accused person, if honourably acquitted by the final court of appeal, may file for financial compensation.

The provision has been added to Sub-Clause II of Section 44 of the Accountability Commission Act which was passed by the provincial assembly. “Provided that person is honourably acquitted by the final court of appeal, he may be compensated in accordance with Section 35-A of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC),” it states. The Ehtesab Commission will comprise five commissioners to be nominated by the search and scrutiny committee and will be sent to legislative committee on governance and accountability for confirmation.

The commissioners will hold office for one non-extendable term of four years. The speaker in consultation with treasury and opposition in the provincial assembly will set up the legislative committee within one month after the commencement of the act. The speaker will chair the legislative committee comprising five members of the House and will evaluate eligible candidates.

The Ehtesab Commission has the powers to appoint director general (DG), prosecutor general, and director internal monitoring and public complaints wing for the smooth functioning of the commission and effective discharge of the statutory obligations.

The commission will approve annual budget and regulation required to be made under this act. There will be directorate general of the commission that will comprise information and data processing wing, investigative wing, prosecution, finance and audit, internal and monitoring and human resource wings.

The director general will lead the directorate who will be appointed for a period of non-extendable four years.

The DG will cease to hold office if he has been convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude. A person who is a retired government officer in Grade 21/22 or equivalent or is a lawyer eligible to be appointed as a judge of the high court and has served in a leadership position in professional career will be appointed the DG.

The DG can call any person for the purpose of determining whether there has been any contravention of the provisions of this act or any rule or order made there under.

About financial autonomy of the commission, the bill said the remuneration payable to the commissioners, director general, directors, other employees, staff and administrative expenses of the commission will be an expenditure charged upon the provincial consolidate fund. The DG will be the principal accounting officer of the commission. The Auditor General of Pakistan will audit accounts of the commission.

There will be prosecutor general to be appointed for a period of four years. He will give advices to the commissioners and director general upon such legal matters. He will head the prosecution wing and will be responsible for overseeing the performance of special prosecutors who have been appointed to conduct prosecutions of cases and advocates that have been appointed to institute or define cases, appeals, petitions, applications and all other matters before any court or tribunal.

“The Ehtesab Commission will be fully autonomous and there will be no role of executive in hiring and firing. The proposed body can even order the arrest of the chief minister and ministers,” the provincial information minister Shah Farman told TNS. He said there would be Special Ehtesab Courts to conduct hearing into cases on day-to-day basis and that proceeding in any case could be adjourned for seven days only.

The minister said that there would be ‘one-line’ budget to ensure the autonomy of the commission, which would be free from any political interference. He said initially, a 10-member legislative committee having equal representation from the treasury and opposition benches would select seven members of the search and scrutiny committee, who would nominate five Ehtesab Commissioners. The minister said the legislative committee could reject a nominated Ehtesab Commissioner proposed by the search committee with by 3/4th majority vote.

He said strict timelines had been prescribed to ensure that appointment process and functioning of the Ehtesab Commission was not sabotaged due to delays and secretary provincial assembly would serve as secretary to the legislative committee. He said that members of the search and scrutiny committee would hold domiciles of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while every member would declare his assets as per law.

He said the search and scrutiny committee would nominate one of the Ehtesab Commissioners as Chief Ehtesab Commissioner to the Legislative Committee on Governance and Accountability.

“As for the education qualification, an Ehtesab Commissioner should be a bachelor’s degree holder; the minimum age is at least 45 years old and at most 65 years old during the year of selection, and he should be competent, honest and of good repute,” he said.

Unlike the National Accountability Ordinance 1999, the new law envisages that there would be no plea bargain with an accused person by the Ehtesab Commission. Only the trial judge would be allowed to consider that full recovery of the assets accumulated through illegal means along with interest has been effected due to cooperation of the convict and consequently leniency may be shown in awarding imprisonment. The offence of corrupt practices will be punishable up to 14 years with fine up to one million rupees and confiscation of property.
__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)
Reply With Quote
  #385  
Old Thursday, January 30, 2014
HASEEB ANSARI's Avatar
Senior Member
Medal of Appreciation: Awarded to appreciate member's contribution on forum. (Academic and professional achievements do not make you eligible for this medal) - Issue reason:
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Pakistan
Posts: 2,803
Thanks: 93
Thanked 1,321 Times in 834 Posts
HASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of light
Default

19.01.2014
Dilemma of nation state
Pakistan, its constitution, politics and society have come to have everything to do with religion. Is secular character of the constitution still a possibility?
By Yaqoob Khan Bangash


State formation and consolidation has been the bane of most post-colonial states. As post-colonial states, based on the ‘nation-state’ model, emerged from multi-ethnic and multi-religious empires where there was no need to have a rationale for incorporating a territory beyond physical occupation, the modern nation-states faced a grave dilemma. If each nation deserved a state, then what constituted a nation? Most wars in the twentieth century have been a result of disagreements over the nature of the ‘state’ and ‘nation.’

Some states and nations are easier to decipher than others. So the Irish live in Ireland, the Spaniards live in Spain, the French in France and so on. Most modern nations have had some medieval and early modern manifestations too. Hence even though Italy did not emerge as a nation-state till 1870, the ‘idea’ of Italy and Italians was present for centuries and similarly the notion of the Germanic people and their lands was present much before the unification of Germany by the Prussians in 1871.

When Pakistan was created in August 1947, it did not have such historical claims. Pakistan was a new country carved out of ‘India’ which while it had not been united in a complete way except under Emperor Ashoka more than two thousand years ago and then under the British, the ‘idea’ of India still carried its charm and captivating power. Therefore, while ‘India’ emerged as the successor to the British Indian Empire, Pakistan, created for the Muslims of South Asia, was considered to have ‘seceded.’ So Pakistan had to create a new identity based on its religious or community based ideology, and as we all know, it is still very contested.
While ‘India’ emerged as the successor to the British Indian Empire, Pakistan, created for the Muslims of South Asia, was considered to have ‘seceded.’ So Pakistan had to create a new identity.

After 1947, the nature of the state and even the society became so controversial that a deep rift was created between the two wings of the country — East Bengal, renamed East Pakistan, and West Pakistan, which was composed of the provinces of Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and the territory of Balochistan. The disparity, political, economic, societal and cultural, between the two wings became so stark by 1970 that the refusal of West Pakistani politicians to honour the first general elections in the country led to the bloody vivisection of the country and the birth of Bangladesh — the land of the Bangla people.

It was very ironic that the province where the Muslim League was most popular and had struck deep roots became the first to break away from the country, and that even though the overwhelming majority of Bengali’s professed Islam as their religion they chose language and culture as their primary identity markers. The constitution of the Republic of Bangladesh enacted in 1972 under the leadership of the founder of the country, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was secular in nature. It based the citizenship and identity of the people of the country on their language and culture, rather than religion.

Sheikh Mujib was brutally murdered, together with most of his family on August 15, 1975 and only two of his daughters, Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana who were abroad at the time survived. Thence followed bouts of military rule and, as in Pakistan, attempts to infuse religion in the state and society. An amendment to the constitution in 1988 declared Islam to be the state religion, and further changes introduced by the Proclamations Order in 1997 removed the world ‘secular’ from the preamble, and inserted the ‘Bismillah’ at the beginning of the constitution.

While these changes did not make the constitution of Bangladesh nearly as Islamic as Pakistan’s, since there was no compulsion that the prime minister and the president be Muslims, or that Ahmedis are non-Muslims, or that there is no freedom of conscience, yet the changes did insert a religious dimension to the constitution, which had hitherto been national and secular in character.

I met the incumbent Prime Minister of Bangladesh in March 2011 in Oxford. After her talk at the Oxford Union, I had a chance to sit and converse with her for a time. The ease with which she talked to me — a mere student at the time — and her frank answers to the questions of a Pakistani (after all!), impressed me greatly. While it seemed that she still reeled from the memories of the incidents of 1970-1, she also clearly wanted good relations with Pakistan. However, the wounds of the past do no heal so quickly especially when the other side refuses to acknowledge and apologise for any wrongdoing.

In my conversation with Sheikh Hasina, I asked her what measures she was undertaking to restore the liberal and progressive line of her father — something she had also committed to. With forthright honesty and frankness, she admitted that while she could not do away with all the Islamising provisions of the constitution, she would aim to bring it as close to the vision of her father as possible. And true she was to her word!

I have very recently read the text of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Bangladeshi Constitution which was passed in 2011, and was simply struck by its brilliance. Without touching the wording of the Islamic provisions, Sheikh Hasina’s amendments have in effect restored the secular character of the constitution. The amendment began with a change in the preamble of the constitution where ‘secularism’ was restored as the ‘fundamental principle.’ This change gave no anti-religious, but a religiously neutral foundation to the governing principles of the country.

Then an amendment to Article 2A, while retaining Islam as the state religion made the equal treatment of other religions compulsory, let alone their mere toleration. The new Article 2A hence reads: ‘The State religion of the Republic is Islam, but the State shall ensure equal status and equal right in the practice of the Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and other religions.’ This change in effect makes all religions equal in the country while keeping the honourary place of Islam as a premier religion in place.

The 15th Amendment also inserted definition of ‘nationalism’ for the Bangladeshi people. Article 9 therefore notes: ‘The unity and solidarity of the Bangalee nation, which, deriving its identity from its language and culture, attained sovereign and independent Bangladesh through a united and determined struggle in the war of independence, shall be the basis of Bangalee nationalism.’ This amendment brings the entire ‘Bangalee nation,’ be they Muslim or Hindu, Christian or tribal, together as part of one nation based on their shared language and culture. While it is very hard to confine to a few sentences the essence of nationalism in any country, by placing its national identity within the confines of the language and culture, Bangladesh has now given itself a holistic definition as a country.

A major change brought about by the amendment was the restoration of Article 12 of the original constitution on secularism and religious freedom. This article, which was omitted by the Proclamations Order of 1977, now states: ‘The principle of secularism shall be realised by the elimination of? (a) communalism in all its forms; (b) the granting by the State of political status in favour of any religion; (c) the abuse of religion for political purposes; (d) any discrimination against, or persecution of, persons practicing a particular religion.’ This critical clause not only defines secularism as the states’ neutral approach towards religion, but also explicitly prohibits its abuse for political or other purposes. In a multi-religious society, such provisions are essential for peace, security and harmony among the general population.

In her efforts to make the constitution as equal as possible, Sheikh Hasina’s amendment also gave the option of translating the ‘Bismillah’ as ‘In the name of the Creator,’ keeping in mind the sentiments of the non-Muslim population of the country.

In a country which hosts the world largest Muslim gathering outside the Hajj — the Bishwa Ijtema — and which boasts one of the largest Muslim populations in the world, these changes are very momentous. Sheikh Hasina’s successful endeavour to restore the constitution to its original 1972 form, much like our attempt to ‘restore’ the 1973 constitution, neither created a godless society and nor did it precipitate a revolt.

In fact, taking religion out of the political realm makes its more personal, meaningful and effective. More than anything else, the 2011 amendments reestablished the vision of the founders of the country who wanted to see a Bangladesh for the Bengali people — irrespective of other dividing factors. It was the secular nature of Bengali nationalism which brought the people together against British imperialism in 1947, and then again against West Pakistani imperialism in 1970, and which, I hope, will create a more coherent, united and strong Bengali nation and country.

A fierce debate still rages in Pakistan over what Jinnah really wanted. Some liberals contend that once he had achieved Pakistan, Jinnah advocated a secular republic where Muslims — and others — would enjoy equal rights and privileges. Quoting the famous speech on August 11, 1947 these people claim that the founder of the country in fact wanted that religion should have ‘nothing to do with the business of the state.’

However, as time has shown, slowly, but surely, Pakistan, its constitution, politics and society have everything to do with religion, with the debate usually focused on the ‘right type’ of religion. While I still have some issues with such an interpretation, what is clear is that the founding father of Bangladesh — who should also have been the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1971 — did indeed want a liberal and secular Bangladesh — the same was his wish for a united Pakistan. Where Sheikh Mujib’s vision was thwarted after his assassination in 1975, his daughter Sheikh Hasina kept the hope alive and restored the original vision of Bangladesh in 2011. Will such a thing ever happen in Pakistan, I wonder?
__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)
Reply With Quote
  #386  
Old Thursday, January 30, 2014
HASEEB ANSARI's Avatar
Senior Member
Medal of Appreciation: Awarded to appreciate member's contribution on forum. (Academic and professional achievements do not make you eligible for this medal) - Issue reason:
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Pakistan
Posts: 2,803
Thanks: 93
Thanked 1,321 Times in 834 Posts
HASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of light
Default

19.01.2014
A myth-busting discipline
Every generation needs its own history, and much of history is made by writing it
By Tahir Kamran


Michael Gove, Education Secretary of the United Kingdom, incurred the wrath of historians for his recent article in the Daily Mail “Why does the Left insist on belittling true British heroes?” In a caustic writeup, Gove particularly gave short shrift to renowned Cambridge historian Sir Richard J Evans over one of his columns in The Guardian.

Professor Evans is one of the leading British historians specialising in modern European history. Historiography, too, is his passion, for which he is known in Pakistan. Despite the quite pronounced ring of acerbity in the mutual denigration, the exchange remained academic in essence and mostly within the limits of civility. There was no insinuation or incrimination.

Interestingly, Gove called Evans “a leftist historian who writes for The Guardian” who insists ‘on belittling true British heroes’. None of them called each other Ghadar or Kafir, the epithets our ears are so attuned to. Calling anybody merely a ‘leftist’ sounds rather like a euphemism. However, a curious point of commonality in ‘us’ (Pakistanis) and ‘them’ in this particular case is the deployment of the ‘left(ist)’ in the pejorative sense.

The primary motive of the dispute was about the history in national curriculum devised for pupils aged 5 to 14. The initial draft of the curriculum met with trenchant criticism from top historians in the country for its over-emphasis on a chronologically-ordered and fact-based formulation. Consequently, the curriculum was revised in view of the suggestions proposed by historians, foremost among whom was Richard Evans.

The new version of the curriculum abandoned the chronological approach which existed in the earlier draft and such themes as crime and punishment through the ages; in-depth studies in local history were included instead. The draft was “less prescriptive”, “leaving teachers with more scope to use their own initiative and imagination”.

Thus Gove’s original intention of using history teaching at the schools, writes Evans, “to impart a patriotic sense of national identity through uncritical hero-worship of great men and women from the British past” was set at rest. He further says, “Gone is the triumph list celebration of victories such as the Spanish Armada or the Battle of Waterloo… History is not a myth-making discipline, it’s a myth-breaking discipline, and it needs to be taught as such in our schools”.

It is essential for us, as Pakistanis, to appreciate what Evans has underscored. Indeed the creation of a national identity via a celebratory romp through the heroes and triumphs of the yore is not the role that ‘history’ is supposed to play. National identity cannot be manufactured or imposed by rulers or through their version of history. It has to emerge organically, by popular consent. Neither can it be created by concocting historical myths, because they will certainly be contested one day or another.

The tension brewing beneath the surface forced itself into the open when the issue of commemoration of the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War was broached. Richard Evans in his assertion, privileged the “broad and inclusive plans of the culture secretary” (Maria Miller) over the “tub-thumping jingoism” of Gove which, he said, was an attempt to “force schools to teach an uncritically celebratory narrative of English history”. Then Evans furnishes an alternative reading of the First World War which inverted completely the way Gove imagines the event. He refuses to accept First World War as a “just war”, a “noble cause” which was fought by men “committed to defending the western liberal order”.

One of the two allies that Britain had was the Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, as despotic and rather more authoritarian than Germany’s Kaiser. Such a statement, even if cogent and factually authentic, may put one in a deep trouble, particularly if seen from our vantage point. But Richard Evans goes on to contest the entire notion of Britain as an emblem of the western liberal order. At that time Britain was not a democracy because until the Reform Act of 1918, 40 per cent of adult males didn’t have the right to vote whereas in Germany every male was entitled to cast a vote in national elections. He, therefore, calls into question, although a bit vicariously, the claim that Britain is the mother of democracy etc.

The First World War, as many scholars argue, was the seminal catastrophe of the entire period, from which emanated many evils that subsequently plagued Europe as well as other regions of the world. Fascism, racism, anti-Semitism, dictatorship, extreme violence, mass murder, genocide and “the wholesale abandonment of civilized values across the continent” were the illustrations of those evils. The men who enlisted may have thought they were fighting for civilisation, a better world, a war to end all wars, a war to defend freedom. All of them, according to Prof. Evans, were wrong. Of course, nothing of the sort came to pass as a consequence.

It is not only historians that are obliged to promote and instil the spirit of critical inquiry not only among themselves but others. Human history is bound to have pitfalls which must be rectified. Events or personalities which have had a more profound bearing on history cannot be rendered sacrosanct simply because history is inherently mutable and more often than not changes its course, thus it is written and re-written every now and then.

If one goes by what E.H. Carr says, then every generation needs its own history, and certainly every generation also needs to have its own understanding of history too. Much of history, therefore, is made by writing it.
__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)
Reply With Quote
  #387  
Old Thursday, January 30, 2014
HASEEB ANSARI's Avatar
Senior Member
Medal of Appreciation: Awarded to appreciate member's contribution on forum. (Academic and professional achievements do not make you eligible for this medal) - Issue reason:
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Pakistan
Posts: 2,803
Thanks: 93
Thanked 1,321 Times in 834 Posts
HASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of light
Default

19.01.2014
Bitter-sweet lessons
Free and impartial elections in Afghanistan are vital for staving off another series of internecine wars
By Dr Syed Hussain Shaheed Soherwordi


Afghanistan is going to witness another milestone in its emerging history of the 21st century. In April, presidential elections are taking place which will probably be the first peaceful and constitutional transfer of power in Afghan history. A successful electoral process would reflect a united Afghan nation, ready to overcome its historical difficulties especially in the US/Nato drawdown era. However, a rigged election will turn the country to square one.

Violence and fraud or pre-poll rigging is something common in the third world country. However, the way 2009 Afghan presidential elections took place, in fact disappointed many political stakeholders within Afghan society. Any repetition of such kind would lead to illegitimacy which Afghanistan is not at all in a position to afford. Rigging in elections would lead to violence and this in turn would result in warlordism. Of course, the annoyed candidates are in a position to play havoc with the country’s integrity, as was witnessed in the 1980s and 90s. Fraud in elections is extremely dangerous keeping in view the drawdown of the US/Nato forces from the region.

In the circumstances, the Afghan presidential elections are a challenge. A country with meager resources, weak political institutions, and still in process of a civil war, Afghanistan is writing its golden history. However, a man who completed two terms in office will lead a retired life afterwards. As the country is experiencing a nascent democracy, Hamid Karzi must not be retired. On the contrary, his hands on experience of running the country for more than 12 years must be used by granting him an important position. This would mean collecting all important and precious people for the benefit of the nation irrespective of their ideological, ethnic or political affiliation.

It must also be borne in mind that Hamid Karzai rigged the 2009 presidential elections. But the same fraud was done by the defenders of the US interests in Afghanistan. In his memoirs, the US defence secretary at the time, Robert Gates, less than three months before Afghanistan’s next critical presidential poll, says “the 2009 election was ‘ugly’ and that, though President Karzai was ‘tainted’, our hands were dirty as well.” He says that the US administration connived in delaying the Afghan presidential election in 2009 and then tried to manipulate the outcome in a ‘clumsy and failed putsch’ that aimed to oustHamid Karzai.

Furthermore, he writes, “Holbrooke was doing his best to bring about the defeat of Karzai. What he really wanted was to have enough credible candidates running to deny Karzai a majority in the election, thus forcing a runoff in which he could be defeated.”

We have no option but to believe in all this as Robert Gates was the man responsible for taking care of Afghanistan at that time. If he accepts all the mess, there is no doubt left in believing in it. This also reflects how the US plays havoc with democracy abroad. When I meet my American friends, they accept that the elections in the US are also manipulated. However, manipulating elections in the US is called freedom of speech, the people’s choice, a surprise popular result and is protected under the US Constitution.

Manipulating elections in other countries is called the US foreign policy. Was/is the electoral process in Afghanistan too serious a business to be left to the Afghans? Indeed, as supported by Henry Kissinger’s interpretation of democracy: “Idon’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people. The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.”

I am also curious as how is Gates revelation not far more serious than any of Snowden’s leaks? Karzai can read and this just confirms his public suspicions. This would definitely muster anti-US perceptions amongst the US friends in the presidential palace. And why wouldn’t the Taliban put this on a loud speaker/banners/hand bills constantly to further poison public opinion and increase anger at US troops?

It does not take long to multiply events and issues for other nations. This would definitely be taken seriously in Pakistan where it’s a common perception that general elections are always fixed and that no political party comes into power in Islamabad without the consent/ permission/and nod of Washington DC.

It’s high time that a free, fair and impartial election take place for a vibrant and stronger democracy in Afghanistan. Rigging elections in the country in the past was one thing. But now it’s just like playing with fire. This may pull back the country into another series of internecine wars. Many, including Afghans, have learnt sweet and bitter lessons in Afghanistan. The US is yet to learn more.
__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)
Reply With Quote
  #388  
Old Thursday, January 30, 2014
HASEEB ANSARI's Avatar
Senior Member
Medal of Appreciation: Awarded to appreciate member's contribution on forum. (Academic and professional achievements do not make you eligible for this medal) - Issue reason:
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Pakistan
Posts: 2,803
Thanks: 93
Thanked 1,321 Times in 834 Posts
HASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of light
Default

19.01.2014
Private vs public
More and more people opting for private schools for their children as the government-run schools need significant reforms
By Rasheed Ali

Rafia Bibi was really fed up with the government schools, and she did not want her children to go there any longer. Her two kids, studying in class 5 and 7, had performed very poorly in their annual exams, last year. Both were promoted to the next grade by giving them ‘grace marks’ by their class in-charges.

On the other hand, her youngest son, a grade-2 student at a private school in the same locality, not only passed his examination on his own, but also secured third position in his class. And that’s why Rafia decided to withdraw her elder children from the government school and put them into a private school.

In fact, it was a hard decision for Rafia for financial reasons. Iqbal Ahmad, her husband, earns a meagre amount of Rs9,000 a month, as a security guard at a private firm. She also helps her husband supplement his income by stitching clothes at her single-room rented house in a Tajpura area of Lahore. Her monthly earnings from sewing range from Rs2,000 to Rs2,500. She had to face stiff resistance from her husband also, who did not want to pull his kids from the government school. He argued that it would be almost impossible for him to pay the tuition fee for all three at the private school, though he is convinced they should get education at a better school.

The couple is semi-literate and shifted to Lahore from a far-off village in southern Punjab soon after their marriage about 14 years ago. Rafia had left school after passing her grade five exam, as there was no school in her village for further education.

Iqbal Ahmad, however, attempted twice to pass his matriculation examination, but couldn’t, and left education for good. Both are convinced their children should be educated to the highest level. But the high cost and their low incomes are proving to be a big hurdle in the realisation of their dream of making their children highly educated members of society.
There is no denying the fact that private schools are performing well…. There is an accountability system in private schools.

However, despite all those hurdles, they admitted their children to a private ‘English Medium’ school last year. When Rafia Bibi was asked why she shifted her children from a government school to a private school, she offered a very valid reason. “Private schools give a better education to students,” she told TNS.

“Here in a private school, I can meet the principal and the class teacher and ask about my children’s education. But in government school, nobody is ready to listen to me even if my children fail their examination,” she explains. “When I went to their school after they failed their annual exams, their class in-charges threatened me with striking off their names,” alleged Rafia. “They were not ready to even listen to me and they put all the blame on me.”

Rafia Bibi herself studied up to grade-5 at a government school in her village and never failed any examination. “Then why could not your children get a good education in a government school now and pass their exams,” she was asked.

“Don’t compare those good old days with today and those good village teachers with the city school teachers,” she offers a strange logic. “In those days, teachers, though less in number — only one in the primary school — were selfless. They would take great pains to impart education to their students,” explains Rafia. “Now government teachers, especially in cities, do not come to schools to teach students, but only to pass their time there. I have myself seen them knitting sweaters, or chit-chatting among themselves,” claims Rafia.

Fazl-i-Javed Afridi, director of National Institute of Research and Education (NIRE), Peshawar, endorses a major part of Rafia Bibi’s assertions. He says that most of the government schools have a better infrastructure, better buildings, more qualified and more trained teachers, but still their performance is poor. A primary teacher for a government school, according to the new criterion, must be a science graduate, along with a professional teacher training diploma or degree. But why do they fail to deliver?

According to Afridi, the major difference between a government and a private school is lack of responsibility and lack of an accountability system in public sector schools. On the other hand, private schools hire teachers for less than one-fourth of the salaries being paid to the public sector schoolteachers. These teachers are usually untrained; their qualifications mostly range from simple Matriculation to BA and, in rare cases, Masters. But their results are far better, compared with the government school teachers, adds Afridi.

Sofia Aziz, the learning adviser for Plan International Pakistan, also endorses viewpoints of Rafia Bibi and Fazl-i-Javed Afridi. “It is only because of better management and a better accountability system in private schools that parents rely on them and like to send their children to such private schools, even if they are in small buildings,” she tells TNS. There is an accountability system in private schools. If students do not perform well, if they fail their exams, the principal takes the class in-charge to task. In fact, it’s a school management, teacher commitment, teaching aids and quest for improvement that make a difference, she explains.

There is no denying the fact that private schools are performing well, she adds, and that’s why over 56,000-odd private schools are already functioning in the country and more are opening with each passing month and year.

Afridi believes that there are some major problems with the school education in the public sector. The government-run schools, which educate the vast majority of children, need significant reforms and an increase in resources. He points out that a few initiatives that could be taken to improve the plight of the education system in Pakistan are: implementation of a comprehensive literacy programme, expansion of primary elementary education, improving the quality of education through teacher training, higher education sector reforms, and fostering the public-private partnership. These initiatives, if undertaken efficiently and in good faith, could revamp our education system, he says confidently.
__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)
Reply With Quote
  #389  
Old Thursday, January 30, 2014
HASEEB ANSARI's Avatar
Senior Member
Medal of Appreciation: Awarded to appreciate member's contribution on forum. (Academic and professional achievements do not make you eligible for this medal) - Issue reason:
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Pakistan
Posts: 2,803
Thanks: 93
Thanked 1,321 Times in 834 Posts
HASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of light
Default

19.01.2014
A window of opportunity
Pakistan can cash in on demographic dividends as population increases and age structures change
By Alauddin Masood

Nations need economic growth to offset and balance the effects of population increase and the change in age structures of its population. With nearly 50 per cent of Pakistan’s population below the age of 20, Pakistan is heading towards a window where, if right steps are taken, it can head towards success. Availing this window of opportunity is called demographic dividend and failure to exploit it is referred to as a demographic disaster.

As Pakistan’s population increases and age structures change, dependency ratios, i.e. number of people economically dependent on others, also changes. According to a study conducted by Pakistan’s Planning Commission in the year 2011, Pakistan’s dependency ratio will reach its lowest point by 2030. It means the number of people in the working group will far exceed the number of people dependent upon others for survival.

By that time, if the country is unable to provide suitable jobs for those people, unemployment will rise sharply, increasing poverty, crime and fuelling extremism. To avoid such a “disastrous” scenario, Pakistan needs not only a continuous growth in its economy but also to provide appropriate education, skills and economic opportunities to the youth so that the country could reap full benefit from the window of opportunity offered by its demographic structure.

Cognisant of this need, one would commend the initiative taken by the government to launch Rs100 billion “Youth Business Loan Scheme,” aimed at empowering the youth economically by granting them loans for launching their own business enterprises. With focus on utilising the talents of the youth and alleviating poverty, the scheme would provide the youth adequate economic opportunities by granting them business loans, ranging from Rs100,000 to Rs2.0 million.

Speaking at the launching ceremony of the Youth Business Scheme in Hyderabad on January 3, 2014, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif stated that disbursements under this scheme would be made on merit and in a transparent manner. The violators of merit would be dealt with strictly.

Unable to meet strict conditions, the youth could not get credit from the banks till recently. If one of them was impelled to obtain loan, he/she had to obtain it from money lenders at exorbitantly high rates of interest. This mode of credit deprived the borrowers of a major chunk of their income. Under this scheme, the conditions for the grant of loans have been considerably eased. A grade 15 or above officer, or even a blood relative and family member having net worth of 1.5 times the loan, can give the guarantee for loan under this scheme.
To ensure productive use of loans, the authorities need to set up centres for imparting skills to the youth, and also put in place a system of counselling and guidance to enable the youth to establish their business enterprises and market their products profitably.

However, to ensure that the borrowed money is strictly used for business purposes, the temptation to use it for meeting the consumption needs of the borrower or his family should be suppressed through a strong system of monitoring or social pressure. Some countries have successfully used a system of social pressure to avoid such an outcome or to forestall the possibility of loan default. During a visit to the Thai Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) in Bangkok, in 1988, the scribe learnt that the BAAC’s bad debts were negligible because it was following a system of granting loan against collateral or a system of social guarantee. In other words, BAAC provided credit services to farmers on both a group security and individual security basis. Under group security system, credit was extended to such farmers who did not possess assets to be put forward as collateral. Under this system, the bank required each borrower to join an informal client group of at least five farmers, with members jointly and individually liable under any loan contract entered into by the group.

According to bank officials, the group security system obliterated the chances of bad debts as the group pressure forced the farmer to repay his loans. However, farmers who were relatively better off and able to mortgage their immovable assets could obtain loans without becoming member of a joint liability group. Furthermore, the BAAC extended loans to Thai farmers through its branches and field officers and also indirectly through agricultural cooperatives and farmers’ associations.

To ensure productive use of loans, the authorities need to set up centres for imparting skills to the youth, and also put in place a system of counselling and guidance to enable the youth to establish their business enterprises and market their products profitably. The services of Pakistan’s missions abroad should be utilised for obtaining input on products in great demand in various regions of the world and also ascertaining the likes and dislikes of the population there.

The emphasis should remain on the utilisation of local raw material and value addition to it. Agricultural countries, like Pakistan, could even market their horticultural products in green as well as dried form, after handling them as per international standards. They could also prepare beautiful handicrafts, utilising their produce and its waste.

During a visit to the Philippines, the scribe happened to visit a one-room workplace in a village where artisans were busy making handicrafts and various items of daily use from tropical material, like bamboo, palms and vines. The owner of the factory proudly said she was annually earning over half-a-million dollars through exports of baskets, table lamps, mats and shell products to the US and European countries. To reach that level, we need to prepare and market products in keeping with the tastes, trends and standards in various countries.
__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)
Reply With Quote
  #390  
Old Thursday, January 30, 2014
HASEEB ANSARI's Avatar
Senior Member
Medal of Appreciation: Awarded to appreciate member's contribution on forum. (Academic and professional achievements do not make you eligible for this medal) - Issue reason:
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Pakistan
Posts: 2,803
Thanks: 93
Thanked 1,321 Times in 834 Posts
HASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of lightHASEEB ANSARI is a glorious beacon of light
Default

19.01.2014
Making and breaking of laws
Rebellion and chaos are the order of the day when non-observance of laws becomes our national character
By Huzaima Bukhari & Dr Ikramul Haq

“The law was made for one thing alone, for the exploitation of those who don’t understand it, or are prevented by naked misery from obeying it”—Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) from Laws and the Law

“A strong person makes the law and custom null before his own will”— Ralph Waldo Emerson

Every society, no matter how primitive, tends to regularise its inhabitants by laying down certain rules and laws. This is done essentially to prevent chaos, to better organise day to day affairs and to check disorderly behaviour in an attempt to facilitate people in leading a comfortable life. These laws can be laid down by the elders of a tribe, a monarch, a parliament, a government or any other body that is responsible to manage a society.

Societies where there is mayhem, disregard for law of the land, violation of rules, ‘might is right’ policy and anarchy, soon crumble down. Such has been the history of mankind since ancient times. Social scientists view the disruption of a society from a cultural stand point.

In his book, The Chaotic Society: Product of the Social Morphological Revolution, Philip M. Hauser has attributed societal disorder to dissonance and discord among the various cultural strata, each of which tends to persist beyond the set of conditions, physical and social, which generated it. A political scientist would have a more fundamental approach regarding progress of and degeneration of societies, placing more emphasis on methods of governance and economic systems that are considered vital components for endurance. No matter what, the underlying cause remains defiance of the rule of law that eventually leads to destruction.
We keep on grumbling about various issues but fail to appreciate that in reality, we ourselves are responsible for the deteriorating state of affairs.

On a small scale or at the lowest stratum of society, such defiance may not have that great an impact compared to non-compliance at the highest level — where law-makers themselves become law-violators. In such circumstances where legislators, governors and enforcers set precedence of rebelling against their own formulated rules, it would be unjust in asking the citizens to observe the same with religious zeal. This means that in order to secure allegiance to law from others it is important for administrators to strictly abide by regulations, setting example for the rest to follow.

As in Pakistan, where they deliberately wriggle out of legalities or bypass rules on account of their authority status — a simple example would be breaking a queue at a public place — observers naturally tend to either find connections (nepotism) or go onto show disrespect by playing havoc with the law and order.

The most burning issue of non-compliance of tax obligations in Pakistan confirms how our lawmakers violate law of the land with impunity. They either do not file tax returns or grossly understate their incomes. Another glaring example is that of the traffic police who shamelessly defy one-ways and other traffic rules when on normal patrol. No doubt that those providing essential services like ambulances, fire engines or traffic-sergeants-in-pursuit are allowed to ignore rules but certainly not under normal conditions wherein they are supposed to show the same standard of care as expected from other commuters. After all, they are the ones whose acts are being closely scrutinised by those who follow in their footsteps to break laws creating life-threatening situations for themselves as well as their fellow travelers.

Frankly speaking, the real culprits remain unpunished because of which lawlessness prevails in the streets of our country. The ones in authority conveniently implicate the weaker segments who are unable to exert either money power or a suitable recommendation (sifarish) from a higher-up. Amid this confusion, perpetrators go scot free.

Traffic wardens are just executors i.e. they are responsible for enforcing the law made by the legislators sitting in the Parliaments. However, the real problem arises where defiance for the law of the land sprouts from the parliamentarians themselves. The public closely views such blatancy and is right to discern that rules are made for the sole purpose of subjugating the common man while the ruling elite considers itself above all laws. Such high-handedness is termed dictatorship if demonstrated by one man but what name, other than anarchy, can be given in a case where sitting parliaments, the entire bureaucratic structure and every henchman connected to those in power is bent upon infringing regulations for own vested-interest.

To make matters worse, the courts are too over-worked to provide prompt justice. The occasional episodes of resurrection appear only when the electronic media creates a hype whereby judges feel obliged to take immediate action to save their faces otherwise there are an infinite number of people who have reached their graves in search of justice and fair play.

Stringent efforts of law enforcers are perished on the precipice of shameless defiance by their chiefs. When they show lack of respect for their subordinates and for rules, the people too do not abstain from the same behaviour. Thus if the chief minister of a province publically humiliates a civil servant (only to gain cheap popularity), the man on the road gets the cue to slap a warden; when roads leading to own home and homes of the many in-laws of the head of a province are blocked in utter disregard for inconvenience caused to the neighbours and other commuters, the common man also learns to abuse public space for receptions, making sub-standard speed breakers or even mixing mortar for construction work.

All over the world, blocking thoroughfares (unless for emergencies/untoward circumstances) is considered a major blow to the civic sense and commuting rights of the citizen. In Lahore, public roads fall within the ambit of “controlled area” under the jurisdiction of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) Act, 1975. Unless prohibited by the government through some notification, no public road or passage can be blocked by anyone.

Unfortunately, despite the existence of this provision, a number of areas suffer from unauthorised blockade forcing citizens to veer around or travel a longer distance to reach their destinations. Strangely, the movement of these so-called public servants is accompanied with much fanfare and high security, yet they need many meters of road blocks to secure their entrances from innocent passers-by. Following in the footsteps of their leaders, even lower ranked ministers and parliamentarians also insist on creating obstructions around their homes causing inexplicable inconvenience to those living in their vicinity — on many occasions their guests are subjected to embarrassment at the hands of quizzical sentries posted at these check posts.

Surprisingly, these tactics have failed to protect the lives of so many politicians and officers who fell victims to acts of terrorism. On the one hand, we claim as Muslims to believe that every living being will face death on its appointed time and on the other we do our best to surround ourselves with human shields as if we can keep the angel of death away. In the words of Mirza Ghalib:

Maut ka aik din moayyan hai

Neend kyun raat bhar nahi aati?
[When death is destined for a particular day, why suffer from insomnia every night?]

The dilemma of Pakistani society in general is that we keep on grumbling about various issues but fail to appreciate that in reality, we ourselves are responsible for the deteriorating state of affairs. Non-observance of laws has become our national character for which we seem to take immense pride setting bad precedence, both for the public and our younger generation. We derive tremendous pleasure from infringing other people’s rights to satisfy our egocentric desires, not realising that such behaviour and attitude can invoke rebellious germs within human beings leading to extremely destructive ends.

As conscious citizens of this country, our dream is to see a better Pakistan and a more responsible society, catering to the needs of its people, setting good examples for its future generations, securing for its people their rights and enforcing rule of law. Such a scenario might remain an unrealised dream, if the present state of legal rapaciousness continues unabated.
__________________
"Nay! man is evidence against himself. Though he puts forth his excuses." Holy Qur'an (75:14-15)
Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
political economy, thew news

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Required Journalism Notes in Softcopy zaigham shah Journalism & Mass Communication 60 Saturday, October 16, 2021 01:42 PM
CE 2011 Interviews bilaljadoon CSS 2011 Exam 255 Thursday, August 02, 2012 12:56 PM
Political Science Terminology Jamshed Iqbal Political Science 0 Wednesday, November 23, 2011 01:14 AM


CSS Forum on Facebook Follow CSS Forum on Twitter

Disclaimer: All messages made available as part of this discussion group (including any bulletin boards and chat rooms) and any opinions, advice, statements or other information contained in any messages posted or transmitted by any third party are the responsibility of the author of that message and not of CSSForum.com.pk (unless CSSForum.com.pk is specifically identified as the author of the message). The fact that a particular message is posted on or transmitted using this web site does not mean that CSSForum has endorsed that message in any way or verified the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message. We encourage visitors to the forum to report any objectionable message in site feedback. This forum is not monitored 24/7.

Sponsors: ArgusVision   vBulletin, Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.