On Our National Day: stop protecting fatcats! on March 23, 2020Look at the worldwide interest rates. We are in the second largest bracket of high interest rates, 149thout of 166 countries, double the interest rate of 148 others. Since most bank profits are out of govt bonds, because of the high interest, in effect SBP is making the govt pay banks’exorbitant profits. Having annunciated an […]
Declare national emergency, now! on March 20, 2020The stock market crash of October 1929 sent Wall Street into a panic, wiping out millions of investors. Lasting from 1929 to 1939, it reached its lowest point by 1933 making some 15 million Americans were jobless and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed. Over the next several years, consumer spending and investment […]
An emergency is on us on March 18, 2020The Coronavirus crisis has rolled over the world. By the time the seriousness of the situation dawned upon national governments and WHO the virus had spread across borders and infected thousands. Unprecedented actions restricting social contacts and travel including civil rights of like freedom of assembly have been put in place. Infringements on these strict […]
Client-patron relation and cronyism on March 18, 2020More than seventy years into independence Pakistan continues to be bedeviled by major socio-economic challenges, to its credit many have beenovercome but not all problems have been resolved. The major threat ofterrorism was effectively dealt with by the Pakistan Army and other law enforcement agencies (LEAs) at a huge cost in men and material; however […]
Politicisation of water resources (Part-III) on March 4, 2020Bangladesh will experience a serious threat to its water supply by Indian activities upstream the Ganges river as well. The Brahmaputra and Ganges rivers merge in Bangladesh and flow into the Bay of Bengal. India’s damming of the Ganges River has already reduced its flow downstream. Soil salinity in Bangladesh has increased as a result […]
Politicisation of water resources (Part-II) on March 4, 2020The global demand for fresh water resources has escalated dramatically over the last few years, especially in light of rapid population growth and widespread urbanization across the globe. Moreover, as the impacts of climate change and stresses of resource scarcity gain further traction, societies are increasingly hard pressed to find effective and sustainable solutions to […]
Politicisation of water resources (Part-I) on March 3, 2020The global demand for fresh water resources has escalated dramatically over the last few years, especially in light of rapid population growth and widespread urbanization across the globe. Moreover, as the impacts of climate change and stresses of resource scarcity gain further traction, societies are increasingly hard pressed to find effective and sustainable solutions to […]
An hour with the sindh police on February 28, 2020Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh, Dr. Syed Kaleem Imam has taken various far-reaching initiatives to not only build the capacity of police officers in the province but build public trust through ensuring better service delivery to the people of the province. Apart from establishing Schools of Investigations, Finance and Information Technology he has generated […]
Making cpec work — II on February 23, 2020The CPEC is a collection of infrastructure projects for Pakistan (current size $45 billion, expected size $62 billion). With the key projects being Gwadar Port, planned to be a central hub in the connectivity scheme. Starting in November 2016, Chinese cargo with transported overland was shipped to Africa and West Asia. Transport projects for $11 […]
Making Cpec Work — I on February 22, 2020At a panel discussion organized by Pathfinder and Martin Dow Group during Davos 2020 Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh spoke about understanding CPEC and making it work. He provide the context of CPEC by sharing the “Big Facts” about the two economies of China and Pakistan, the current international economic environment, the main features of the […]