Bureaucratic woes on April 5, 2017According to Global Competitiveness Index 2016-17 of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Pakistan ranks 122 among 138 nations in quality of business environment. Furthermore, The World Bank’s ‘Doing Business’ report for 2017 ranks Pakistan 170 in ease of access to energy and 169 in property registration among 190 countries. Behind these numbers is hidden life’s […]
Revisiting Socratic teaching through Tagore on March 29, 2017 South Africa’s apartheid era was notable for the country’s ranking high on all economic indicators while the majority of the citizenry faced a life of systematic subjugation and discrimination. This reminds us that while focus on economic development remains important — the opportunity cost of this cannot be democracy, social justice, social cohesion and […]
Poverty and citizenship on March 22, 2017“I sold my kidney for eighty thousand rupees ten years ago to secure freedom of my entire family from debt-bondage. I am as poor today as my father was at the time of my birth. Like me, my children and their children will remain poor. This is our destiny!” This anecdote tells the untold story […]
Civil service reforms on March 15, 2017‘With every passing year of our career, we increasingly feel a steep decline in our morale and motivation. There is a disjunction between what we idealised to do for society and what the real life has offered’. This is what you will hear from most of the civil servants in any candid and informal discussion. […]