Thursday, August 27, 2009

Cleanliness

One of few things in our society, which has always made me ashamed is the state of cleanliness outside Pakistani homes. I think that is the major difference between a developed and a developing country.

Outside the houses, you will see the reckless disposal of refuse and wastage. Just outside the boundary wall of house, there will be the waste of that or other houses in the street. The streets are littered with garbage, which include papers, polythene bags, stale meals, dung, debris and other weird things. If you will go inside those houses, they will be as clean as heart of an angel.

This state of affair is ubiquitous all over the Pakistan, no matter whether it is the capital Islamabad or any highly educated town like Wah or any village like ‘Jhubran’. People, habitually and callously throw things in street after cleaning their houses. Commuters throw wrappers and other things from the vehicles while traveling. Picnic spots and parks have converted into a heap of dung. You will commonly see people urinating on the sidewalks. To add insult to injury, due to lack of planning and corruption, there are many roads and streets which are suffering from the disorder of sewerage system.

Generally the aim of cleanliness comprises mainly of health, beauty, absence of offensive smell, avoidance of shame, and to avoid the spreading of dirt and contaminants to oneself and others. Almost all of us seem to avoid the anti-cleanliness elements just from us.

Cleanliness has been declared as an element which comprises the half part of faith of Muslims. More than 98% of Pakistanis are Muslims. Ironic isn’t it?

Other posts by Commoner

Default Is Global Warming A Real Threat For The Existence Of Human Beings.

HI BUDDIES, TODAY WE SHALL DISCUSS GLOBAL WARMING, ITS CAUSES, EFFECTS AND REMEDIES.DEAR FRIENDS, BEFORE WE START OUR TOPIC WE SHOUD MAKE AN OUTLINE. FOR PRACTISE REASON I WILL MAKE IT FOR U ROUGHLY BEFORE displaying ITS ORGANISED COPY. So what u have to do, is simply putting the bullets in order.


OUT LINE:
---GLOBAL WARMING IS RISE IN AVERAGE TEMPERature of earth's atmospher,surface and occeans.
---For the last century there is a rise of 0.6 c in the global mean temprature .
---its causes are the following anthropogenic gases: co2 ,N2o(nitrous oxide),chlouro flouro carbons(CFCs),methane,etc
---Deforestation
---burning of feul in vehicles and factories.
---rise in sea level and chances of submerging of low lying areas ,such as coastal areas.For instance 16-17% of Bangladesh would submerg.
---extinction of some plant and animal species.
---in some parts of the world there would be more rain and some of the parts of the world will experience drought like conditions.(desication of earth)
---In someparts there would be boost in agriculture initialy and some parts it would be ruined.
---migration and displacement of people.
---food crises.
---there would be surge in deseases,people would die earlier,more cancer of skin.
---these anthropogenic gases,also called as green house gases,absorb ultra violet beta rays and causes green house effect,so slows the natural out flow of heat from the earth's surface to the space.
---coral reafs are in danger,these reafs are the algeas that are the major food for many marine animals,they also absorb co2 and convert it in to o2 .
---ice caps and glaciers are melting.
---aternate resourses of energy should be used.
---planting of more trees (plantation).
--- cutting of trees should be stoped.
---25%of the co2 of the world is emitted by the US alone.
---50% of the co2 is released by 80%of the world (that is developing countries)
---water vapours is aso a green house gas
---kyoto protocol
---Bali conference
(you can edit in this topic)

Outline of Global Warming Essay

Default Outline of Global Warming Essay

Global temperature is increasing day by day – this phenomenon is called as Global Warming. This warming, which began with the advent of industrialisation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, has accelerated over last few decades and bodes ill for the earth’s ecosystems and for human health. The planetary temperature has increased one degree Celsius over the last century; a number that might seem small yet has dramatic consequences. Its immediate causes are described as Green House Effect, Industrialisation and Automobiles and Combustion for Cooking and Heating. This catastrophe has drastic impacts in the form of Temperature Rise, Melting and Flooding, Extreme Weather Events and Air Pollution and Ramification for Human Health. Different measures have been suggested by Environmental Scientists as to Recycle Economy, Reduction in Automobile Use, Family Planning and Reduction in Green House Gases. The role of governments, organisations and health professionals is of high importance to cope Global Warming. Kyoto Protocol is the only international agreement for combating global warming collectively. A question arises in mind, weather, Global Warming persists or not? In this regard, many evidences are provided by the scientists and they even pointed out some sudden changes evolving in the global ecological system.



Waseem Aslam.
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Energy Crisis in Pakistan

A very common question asked in Pakistan is about the most burning issue in Pakistan? The answer you will get may be a list of hundreds of issues which start from Kashmir and will end on terrorism or militancy etc. Recently, Mr. Mansha, a renowned businessman, in an interview in CNN replied same question by giving a simple answer that water and energy are two most valid problems in Pakistan. With its immense socio-economic ramifications, the prevalent energy crisis has become a critical issue for Pakistan. It is not only preventing people from carrying on their daily routine, it is also depriving many of their livelihoods. Currently, the country faces the power deficit of 3500 Megawatt that will enlarge in the near future if effective measures are not taken. Energy crisis is a global phenomenon; it remained on the history pages during different era and with different backgrounds. The Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) is a semi-autonomous body for the development of schemes in Water and Power Sectors, that failed to materialize the growing demand of energy in Pakistan. There are many factors of this crisis in Pakistan, ranging from poor management to global rising oil prices. It has impacted the society in large scale in the guises of unemployment, poor living standards, loss in production and much more. Effective management, check and balance in the transmission and distribution system, opening of new projects and public awareness is the need of the time to bridle this storm. Many projects of dams and hydropower plants construction are in the pipeline by the Government with a ray of hope that this problem will be resolved in the future. But, implementation and timely response is of urgent need.

POWERS OF MEDIA

Outlines
Introduction
Role of media in society
Media and religion
Media and democracy
Freedom of media
Pemra
Comments

Media is a source of information that transmits its data to masses; for awareness. There are its many types:

Print media relating to newspapers, magazines etc
Electronic media relating to Internet, TV, CD, VCRs, DVDs etc.
Advertising media.

It gathers information round the globe and delivers its data to people; they get to know about their status in the status-quo, also about the international countries’s situation-people can raise their voices to the authorities-it is simply the media, which is a source. It reflects people’s desire that what they want to be changed and what are their priorities. It also presents an image of national policy before the modern world.

Media plays an effective role in the society; to strengthen and stabilize it. It also unveils the social problems being faced by the people in their daily lives. For example now-a-days power outage is a core issue-it is the media which is highlighting the issue to the concerned authority and asking them for alternative sources. Government gets to know about social-cum-national problems through media. Media also unveils the social evils and delivers about its adverse affects to the masses. Any piece of crime or disturbance in the society is being highlighted by media, people can give their advice about the evil matter, Infact, media is there to compel authorities to get down about the people’s advice and ponder. So a peaceful society seeks a vibrant media.

Media and religion are analogous to each other. Media reflects its state-religion round the globe, so it should go through under the jurisdiction of its state-religion. It should also know its limitations regarding religion. But look at the situation. Are the media playing its role regarding religion; simply, to some extent. Religion can be spread and taught round the globe through media. It is of grave concern that media is not engaged in such activity. Look at the print media of our country; on the top of the very front page there is a verse written, indicating it is the news paper of a Muslim country. Beside, nowhere any article regarding Islam is written or a few is written. Our people have a great touch with the media and much belief in it, but lack of religionality in print media is a shocking factor leading people having lack of interest in religion. Electronic media is some where in place; having some religious programmes or having some Islamic channels attracting people day by day. Besides, a worse fact is that electronic media is presenting sex and glamorous culture among the people. a considerable study shows an increase in sexual violence and gender crime after the emergence of electronic media especially in case of cable facility in the era of late president Musharraf.One may, indispensably say that media is presenting women in glamorous mode for the sake of money to attract more viewers. Women is ruling every where on media, whether it is a drama, or an advertisement. We may often see a glamorous gal (girl) in a talk show on a very threatening issue. Majority of the people watching the show are more interested in her figure rather than her lip-service.

Let’s look at the advertising media ,you can say it a women media, so nothing to say more on this .While driving, one can come to know about the cell phone packages, in a glamorous way from the hoardings ,instead of written verses preaching us peace and harmony in the society. I am not a critic of women empowerment but instead of glamorizing, she should be given its right status. Media should present it in the form of mother, wife, and sister instead of a girl friend. If exhibition of women is a ‘SURETY’ for prosperous and enlightened nation, then Saudi Arabia should be the most failure state in the world.

When talk about democracy versus media, in Pakistan, both had never enjoyed a friendly relation. Media has its roots since the independence of Pakistan but it emerged more prominently in the era of Parvez Musharraf, which also deserves credit for the media extension. Democracy is the wish of people and media reflects the wish of media so both are closely connected to each other. Media is known to be the fourth pillar if the state so stronger and free media is necessary for a democratic country. Current situation witnesses that media is highlighting the protestants, agitation among people, and the war on terror. Instead of showing all these disturbances, media must play an active rule in curbing the situation and to present a better image of sound Pakistan before international community. Due to status-quo, internatonal observers are expecting a ‘Imam Khomeini’ for the people of Pakistan. Problems are there, but the best way is the sit down and to prepare a home-grown team to counter all theses crises. Beside, media should also present government good policies and to gather support from all walks of life on these policies.

Media should be fully aware of the internal and external threats faced to the nation, so it should not dare to expose such information which results into the destabilization of the country, for this Pemra ordinance should be enforced.

In a nutshell, free media is in the best interest of nation and in the best health of a democratic country but it should be aware of its limitations.Pemra ordinance should not contain any content regarding suppressing the freedom of media.We, as a nation must strive for a vibrant and powerful media if we want our nation to be at apex. If our media will hold strong existence, people will be strong, resulting a strong Pakistan in the region.

Clean Water Problem

It has been sixty years that Pakistan has been present on the map of earth, but still the drinking water is not available to many citizens, even in the big and modern cities including the capital Islamabad. And if by luck there is a water, its so polluted and dirty, its not even suitable for the livestock.

In the summer season, the things tend to gravitate to worse. Water becomes a rare commodity and people yearn and cry for it. They wait by their taps for water to appear. Every drop becomes the drop of gold. Water is treasured like jewel. If the tap is on the corner of street, then there would be a long line of people, competing for it. There would be fights over water, both verbal and physical. Neighbours would forget their bonds, and relatives would start new animosities.

The owners of water tankers enjoy the most. They become celebrities and distribute water like autographs. They charge exuberant prices for it, and that is also on the basis of some priority.

I think we have, on every forum, debated and cried enough for government to come forward and do something about it. It’s of no use, not even in the distant future. So what should we do? We should accumulating the ingenious ways, how people save and spend water frugally. So please share with us, what are your tips to use water efficiently?

Solid Waste Management: Individual actions matter

Some of us are not careful when it comes to the upkeep of our beloved planet. Instead of recycling, washing dishes, and disposing of domestic waste properly, many use disposable utensils and plates or single use plastic products and throw away mixed domestic litter wherever possible.

City governments and municipalities are not having proper system to collect and dispose of the municipal wastes appropriately. Some of it is not lifted at all and keep accumulating in streets layer over layer.

The accumulation of municipal waste results in high concentrations of airborne dust, bacteria, and fungal spores that have been reported more in and around urban centres and industrial areas. The concentrations in thickly populated areas are considered to be sufficiently high to cause adverse health effects.

Simultaneously, use of so many different kinds of consumer products is on the increase. Companies introduce products to make profit and save time, but the more they create, the more resources and energy they use and our environment becomes messed up; polluted. Imagine the disposable things we use. List of disposable is endless.

Paper pots and aluminum pans, multipurpose glass bottles, disposable baby bibs and plastic shopper bags that are thrown away after one use so the consumer does not have to worry about cleaning up any mess. Every bit adds up.

What is more, apart from animal driven transport (tongas, rehras) domestic animals (Goats, cows and buffaloes) are also seen living inside residential quarters as well as in city streets. Their unused fodder and droppings adds up domestic waste. At some places, segregation law has been enacted but that has never been implemented in true letter and spirits anywhere.

No local data is available but as per the global estimates, on the average each of the 6.3 billion humans living on this planet creates 1,600 pounds of domestic garbage every year. The garbage quantity is increasing with time. Not only does it affect the environment, but toxic waste and air pollution does, too. Every year, 2.5 billion pounds of toxic waste ends up in the air, water or ground, causing over 50,000 people to be hospitalised for various diseases, some of them terminal.

Is it really that hard to wash pots and pans to reuse? Agreed that life is getting faster every day and people have little time for household tasks and they have more money and can afford disposable things but still, it should not be difficult to take a few minutes and do them. It is life. In the process every one will be saving lot of trees, energy and the environment, which we all share.

If every one performed these simple tasks, perhaps our environment would not be so polluted. Or if people would reduce consumption and throw away only what cannot be recycled or reused, this world could be better. In order to reduce the strain on the environment from the domestic waste, at individual level we need to reassess our usage patterns and living practices and need to have a sound disposal plan in place at community and national level. If that is not done, we may be poised to damage our planet. What will happen once we mess it up beyond repair?

Pre Ramadan Price Hike

In Pakistan, although being an Islamic state, traditionally fruits and vegetable prices at the advent of the Holy month of Ramadan went spiraling high by 80/100 percent. More than 25 daily commodities like sugar, rice, pulses, chicken, beef, mutton, vegetables and fruit prices have shot up in local markets.

Like past, this year also the government appears to have flopped in controlling the prices even before Ramadan. The country is already in the grip of hyperinflation, while the advent of Ramadan has further aggravated the situation taking the prices of fruits and vegetable sky-high and much beyond the purchasing power of the common man.

Wholesalers and retailers, particularly of fruits and vegetables, enjoyed a free hand to fleece the consumers in Holy month despite of all the claims of officials. The price of Flour is already raised by 5 to 8 Rupees per Kg. Dates are available from 100 Rs to 150 Rs a Kilo while Chicken is being sold at around 240-260 Rs. Besan is regularly used in Ramadan for making Pakoras for Iftar and its price now days is around 58 to 64 Rs a Kilo. Yogurt is being sold at 64 to 68 Rs while a liter of milk costs 45 to 58 Rs (show a discrepancy for fresh and tetra packs). Sugar prices have broken all the previous records and it has been sold at 54 to 64 Rs per Kg. There are reports about shortage of these commodities also. Utility Stores are unable to supply the desired amount of commodities and unavailability of products is causing nuisance. Despite of being honest and helpful at least in Holy month the retailers exploit the needs of public in Ramadan. Even the lower middle class person tries to eat nutritious fruits daily but how can they afford such prices?

According to a report by Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) there is an increase in prices of various commodities over a period of month.

The main commodities which showed an increase in their prices in July 2009 over June 2009 are as under:

Food: Potatoes (29.33%), tomatoes (28.39%), eggs (20.37%), vegetables (17.32%), mash (14.59%), chicken (9.83%), moong (8.87%), gram whole(6.94%), onions (6.93%), gur (4.91%), masoor (4.48%), gram split (3.25%), fresh fruits (3.08%), food prepared/preserved(3.02%), oil cakes (2.91%), wheat flour (2.50%), tea (2.46%), meat (1.86%), sugar refined (1.72%), wheat (1.69%), rice (1.42%), beans (1.33%) and besan (1.06%).

Raw materials: Cotton seeds (2.72%) and tobacco (2.09%).

Fuel, lighting & lubricants: Furnace oil (2.68%).

Manufactures: Woolen textiles (2.10%) & nylon yard (1.28%).

Building materials: Iron bars & sheets (5.39%), pipe fittings & sanitary wares (1.21% each) & glass sheets (1.14%).

The main commodities which showed a decrease in their prices in July 2009 over June 2009 are as under:-

Food: Cotton seed oil (1.81%), vegetable ghee (1.77%), bajra (1.43%), jowar (1.14%) and maize (1.00%).

Raw materials: Cotton (5.28%) & hides (1.30%).

Fuel, lighting & lubricants: Natural gas (4.46%), motor sprit (2.69%), diesel oil (2.55%) & kerosene oil (2.43%).

Manufactures: Fertilizers (1.30%).

There is a hope to have an announcement from PM Gilani about the price hike matter soon but it’s implementation is a hard nut to crack. From now it seems that people have to get ready to bear the huge storm of inflation this Ramadan like always.


Literate and illiterate societies

Sharp differences can easily be spotted between literacy based societies and societies that have more of verbal narratives and oral traditions. These differences construct the social mindset of individuals in these societies thereby concluding a positive or negative image. One can divide the polity in two parts with a distinction that is visible in the daily routine conversations ranging from political issues to social life problems of its local communities. Events can be seen as intrinsically linked with proverbs used that illustrate some specific meaning for any gender, issue or joke.

South Asia mostly underdeveloped and its polity with oral traditions more commonly trusted and quoted; has a stereotype political setup with a culture where conversation does not aims at settling disputes or introducing suggestions and strategies resulting in relief, improvement or construction but rather use it as an instrument to give an impression of this kind.

An important reason for this centuries passed drawback is not only its cultural heritage and history that can be seen in the proverbs used in routine lives, but is the standard of education. Societies that are literacy based use written text as an immediate and primary source of logic and reason but the others that have been living with oral traditions, proverbs narrated since generations and sayings consider them as an undoubted important source of conversation. For them the logic and reason is there and thus they do not need any further yardsticks or instrument to judge an issue or reach a conclusion.

Terrorism


Terrorism

Terrorism is the gravest challenge faced by the world today. It has threatened the peace, security and even the very existence of nations and states of the contemporary world. Countries round the globe consider themselves to be in state of war against this enemy terrorism. The current waive of terrorism is a result of complex issues which have been mismanaged over time. Unresolved international disputes, economic and political exploitation, misadventures of the so-called super powers, extremism, absence of tolerance and understanding can be regarded as mainly responsible for the spread of terrorism. Owing to its devastating and far-reaching implications, urgent and formidable actions are needed to counteract it effectively. As terrorism is a global issue, so global solutions are needed. Global balance of power needs to be equated. Equitable resolution of international disputes, focusing on social issues, promoting tolerance and understanding, and above all, taking the responsibility and demonstrating commitment to tackle this issue can prove helpful. In the following pages, an attempt has been made to probe and understand terrorism, examine the current scenario and historical tends of terrorism, evaluate different perspectives on terrorism, throw light on factors responsible for it and its implications and suggest ways how to deal with it.

Terrorism is a vague term. Its vagueness explains its complicated nature. To put it simply, the word ‘terrorism’ means extreme and intense fear. Terrorism is using terror as a strategy to achieve some objectives. Death, physical harm, mental and emotional torture are its main tools for intimidation. Recently, various attempts have been made to define it precisely enough to obtain a common definition of the phenomenon. International summit on Democracy, security and Terrorism held in Madrid in 2006, defines it as ‘it is the intimidation of a population by an individual or group so as to force a legitimate government or an international organization towards or against an action. However, there has been no universally agreed upon definition of terrorism which remains a serious issue in talking the problem effectively. Consequently, it becomes difficult to demarcate clearly between terrorism and non-terrorism. The adage, “ One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” is an expression of this fact. In the same way, yesterday’s heroes are today’s terrorists and vice versa.

However, despite this controversy over definition of the term, the fact remains that it poses one of the greatest threats to human race. People in every continent of the world have been victims of terrorism. Violence, bomb blasts, killings and militant movements are common and ordinary phenomenon in today’s world. Almost every news channel every day would report these incidents occurring on almost daily basis. These terror incidents have become an inherent component of lives, of our world. And perhaps the saddest part of it is that there seems no limits to this phenomenon of terrorism. Bomb blasts, shooting, target killing and the like are not the only instance of terrorism. Television in specific and electronic media in general also subject people to terrorism. That is why it is said that terrorism has descended upon the whole world as a curse. We have become so used to it that perhaps we cannot now even imagine that the world can become free of terrorism. It shows the intensiveness and extensiveness of the problem.
Besides, terrorism so prevalent can be seen at different levels and of different kinds. It can be state-terrorism which means terrorism at the level of state, sponsored and executed by a state. Terrorism in Kashmir and Palestine are typical examples of state terrorism. And secondly, terrorism can be waged by Non State Actors; the most recent example of which is the Mumbay Attacks in November 2008. In non-state terrorism, individuals or groups are involved in the events of terrorism. Terrorism is also divided on the basis of the motivation that terrorists employ as cause are justification for their activities. On these lines, there are terrorists who are motivated religiously and others motivated politically. The former makes the bulk of today’s terrorists, although politically motivated terrorism is also very prevalent. Further, sometimes clear demarcation between the two is not possible. Al qaida, taliban and Zionism are primarily regarded as religious in nature while the Tamil tigers or even the Balochistan militants are considered political in nature.

Perhaps the most important part of the terrorism phenomenon round the globe are the victims of terrorism. These are the people who ultimately bear the brunt. The saddest fact about these victims is that mostly they are innocent. Among these victims, the people of Iraq and Afghanistan are towards the top of the list. Citizens of both these countries became victim to one of the history’s most ridiculous and ironic misadventures of the present day sole super power- the pre-emptive strikes. They were to eliminate WMD, instead, they destroyed the peace of Iraqi citizens.

History is replete with the horrible tales of terrorism. Obviously, terrorism is not a new phenomenon. So the Iraq or Afghanistan disasters are not the only instance of human misery at hands of terrorism. Human mind has not yet forgotten the horrific deaths and miseries brought by the two word wars. Before that, the colonialism had also brought unimaginable misery upon the innocent people in the colonized regions.
All these massive terrorism instances are apart from the terrorism inflicted by feudalism regionally, across the world. There are numerous examples of economic exploitation and violence in history as well. The bloodiest of all, the French revolution is the typical example. Then there are tales of religious terrorism in history which are no less in horror than any other kind of terrorism.

Coming back to the current scenario, one can observe similarities between today’s terrorism and that of the past. However, there are contrasting aspects also. One of the particular features of today’s terrorism is that it is generally widely associated with Muslims. It is generally believed that the concept of jihad in Islam results in terrorism. Most people consider Jihad and terrorism synonymous with each other. In fact, it is not true. Jihad has been misinterpreted by many, particularly west. Jihad is actually struggle against oppression, aggression and cruelty. While terrorism has no rules. Unfortunately, Muslims all over the world feel that they are being treated unfairly. Palestine, Kashmir and Chechnya are the most evident and obvious examples of it. That is why the people of the above mentioned regions are struggling for their legitimate right. Their struggle became violent because these issues have become chronic.

To look into the above mentioned long-standing conflicts and understand their nature can help us understand the root causes of terrorism today. Disputes like these are actually the breeding grounds for terrorism. If these issues have been solved immediately after they emerged, the world could have been different today. These issues must be solved equitably as soon as possible. Understanding and trust has been absent among nations, religions, and particularly between east and west, especially USA. USA and Europe are involved in the so-called great game to indefinitely dominate the world. They also went to get hold of the natural resources like oil in the Middle East and gas in central Asian region. It is believed that this oil politics is the reason why west is not showing the will to stabilize the danger zones of the world. The double standard of the west are also causing anger amongst many and turning them to terrorists. Extremism, particularly religious extremism is also one of the major causes of terrorism around the world. But the roots of extremisms can be traced to lack of social infrastructure i.e. poverty, education and the like.

What is the way forward? How to deal with terrorism? This is the most urgent and most important question. Following are some suggested strategies to reduce or rather eliminate terrorism:
- Balancing the global power equation.
- Equitable resolution of the world major disputes i.e. Kashmir, Palestine.
- Focusing on social issues like poverty & education.
- Rationally normalizing the danger zones of the world like Afghanistan.
- Finding economic resources other them oil, so that the west’s strategic and economic interests can be secured alternatively.
- Promotions interfaith harmony and understanding for peaceful coexistence.
- Taking responsibility for the mess created by our own hands and then showing the will to effect change, so that our future generation can be saved:
As Madiha Lodhi noted:
There is no silver bullet which can address the issue of terrorism in all its complexities, there fore, it is concluded here that by addressing all the above causes through the suggested strategies, there can be hope that we would see a peaceful world free from the menace of terrorism.


Thanks to Urooj
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INTRODUTION GLOBAL WARMING

;Yesterday is impossible to recover but tomorrow is in our hand to win or lose;{lydon.B.Johnson.}.scientific advancement and technology have revolutionized every aspect of human life.with a click of button,information from the farthest corner of globe could be obtained with a fraction of second.distances traveled in years reduced to hours.the imagination of past is the reality of today.in fact,the advance world of today is able to predict the probable future realities of life.
Global warming and its effects as climate change are the growing concern of 6.5 billion people of this globe.reports and findings of leading enviromental scientists reveal the rise in temprature of the globe.besides,real life exprience of unprecedented change in weather phenomena makes one belive that global warming is reality.......

PLA CHECK THIS INTRODUCTION FOR GLOBAL WARMING..IS IT OK OR NEEDS MODOFICATION..?

ROLE OF MEDIEA IN PAKISTAN

• Played an effective role to promote democracy, national integration and Islamic values.
• It has waged war against martial law civilian autocratic and other usurpers of the people’s right.
• Judiciary revived
• Programs such as, “voice of America” “capital talk” “50 minutes ‘ are high profile on political issues.
• Media is giving detail average on all current issues.
• Educational programs:
• Virtual university Allama Iqbal University, lectures and discussion on science, arts and technology
Agricultural programs:
“kisna Times” keep informed about the best fertilizers and pesticides ,their precaution. besides animal husbandry and poultry farming.
Islamic Media.
QTV, LABBAIK, ILAM TV main objects
• spread Islam
• remove misunderstanding about religion
• solve problems in light of Quran and Sunnah

EVALUATING PARAGRAPH;

Media through in any form, either it is print media or electronic has proved to be most powerful weapon against any social, political economic knowledge and religion issues.

CONCLUSION

In nutshell, the forth institution outside the government, the media keep a check on misuse of power by the three pillars of the state, namely the legistature.the judiciary and the executive.

Role of media

Introduction

It is often said that the world has become global village. Telecommunication, radio and television and finally computer have reduced distance and brought the most countries aloes enough to each other. Indeed, it has become an effective instrument for norms of democracy facilitate the decision, making process. In complex globalized world, role of media has become diversified and effective. Hence, peace or war politics or trade, diplomacy or commerce, religions or conflicts, civilization media could decide about the victor, vanquished, winner and the loser, and can get information on wide range of subjects.

Function of media.

It is a lethal weapon. it has four categories.1 printing media 2 audio media 3 video media and 4computer.

1 creation of awareness

• Creates awareness and enlightenment. so necessary to wave smoothly the fabric of society and keep it intact.
• Everyone has to be conscious of his or rights.
• Though. It people and government become aware and conscious of the future challenges.

2 strengthen democracy:

• Indeed, for democracy to strengthen a free and responsible media is prerequisite.
• Democracy-rights and responsibilities, rule of law, free and fair election. Accountability and transfer of power.
• Free media is necessary, it keeps politician within limits.
• Contrary to this, absence of free media makes them freebooters, and vassals always bent upon usurping the rights of the people.
• Autocratic, dictators and military rulers have deep abhorrence for media as it exposes their illegitimacy, corruption and ineptness.

3 promotion of tolerance and understanding:

• In this way promotes national integration.
• Biggest challenge is intolerance and mutual mistrust. Proving a destructive phenomenon for social harmony, political stability and economic growth. Intolerance makes society a jungle.
• Effectively be taken by media through educating them- solve problems through dialogue and negotiation,
• it creates public opinion as a means of pressure.


4 attract the attention of policy makers

• People express their problems and grievances.
• Attract the attention of policy makers.
• Institution of government has become complex.
• The ruler must know the aspiration and demands of the people.
• Media highlights various issues in a way as to ensure balanced and effective policymaking process.

5 strengthen relation with other countries:

• Connects various nations and countries
• Religious and cultural and promotes harmony and understanding between them.
• World has shrunk into a global village.
• Chances of clashes and collision increased manifold
• Can be averted through trust and to tolerance

6 entertainment

• Provides entertainment and recreation activities
• Without entertainment, the society will suffocates.
• People will become psychological patients
• Cinema, films, television channels radio and internet provide entertainment for healthy and smooth life.
• Remains only alternate’s source of entertainment.

Forth pillar of society

Democratic governments and society strive their best to strengthen this pillar so that good governance should be ensured.


NEGATIVE ROLE OF MEDIA

• Potential flaws and dangers under pressure or temptation
• Wars starts with worlds, media can invoke conflicts and violence by playing on bestial instincts of the people.
• Journalist sometimes makes media a tool of propaganda by expressing subject’s views or particular angle of an issue. It should be discharged
• Propaganda tool
• Sometimes focus only on love, romance and, marriage issues.
• Heavy influenced by Indian culture
• Widen social gape- classes

Going Green, Saving Energy, Saving Money

“KESC bekaar hogayee hai. Aao in kee gaarian jala dey tay hain.”

We usually do hear something like this when there are power outages in Karachi and other parts of the country. Angry businessmen and their employees lose out on a lot of business due to power outages and indeed, they are not at fault.

But is burning down the vehicles we essentially pay for with our utility bills and taxes really bring any benefits? Also, if we burn the KESC vehicles down, rendering them useless will delay the process of bringing power back on even more.

You will note that a lot (if not most) of the times, power outages are caused due to an overload on a grid, on a power line, or something along those lines. Enough blaming KESC. We need to do something…no, not burn down more cars, something more peacefule, benevolent and effective.

What, pray tell, is this stance that we can take, you ask?

Conserve! The entire world is going green, and this article is part of a series of what you can do to save electricity using DIY kits (to double as airconditioners) and what not.

So, now that the elections are over and we have lesser to worry about, lets take some steps. But, before you start taking actual physical measures, here’s a few tips which will help you prepare.

First, when you see or believe illegal electricity stealing, REPORT IT! KESC likes nothing better than to cut power for people. They’ll enjoy doing this so give them the reason to. That way, you won’t face an overload in your house. Imagine an entire township in Malir having 50% electricty being stolen, you could save so much money and energy. More for you!

when you see a riot about to begin, tell people to stop and this is not the way. Explain to them. Most people have nothing to do when power goes out so they go burn the KESC cars and beat the drivers. This won’t get you anywhere. It will delay the job.

If you have bulbs that you use in your home, try to replace them with Ecotones. Sure, they cost slightly more, but they will last longer, work on generators and save ALOT of energy. A whole lot.

Turn off lights when you leave the room. If you did this, you would DRASTICALLY reduce your electricity bill.

Try to keep your A/C thermostat somewhere around or on 5-6. This will consume less power, all the while keeping your room cool.

The most important thing however, is to check your meter: sometimes the meters will run really fast as part of a flaw, so your bill will come really high. Even if the bill is slightly higher than general, imagine over 12 months, you may end up paying a whole lot more money collectively.

So lets try taking these measures and see where we get in a bit. More to follow.

Cyber media Vs Print Media of Pakistan: A war within

Media in Pakistan has grown after mushrooming of private TV channels and we have seen number of journalists becoming analysts, hosts and opinion-makers, making and breaking public image of their followers. On the other hand, cyber space has been getting populated in our country since last few years as people started to get into blogging and making their mark by commenting and participating in discussions. The word “Breaking news” remains the hero of print, cyber or electronic media. A race to break the news sometimes distorts the ethics of journalism but as they say “jo dikhta hai wo bikta hai”, so it has become an industry now. Columnists like Hamid Mir, Ansar Abbasi, Shahid Masood, Talat Hussain, Javed Chauhdary, Nazir Naji, Rauf Klasra and many others got recognition and fame from electronic media. Cyber Media has also started to developed readership of die-hard followers, reading and commenting on blogs and websites. Thus, the world of news and journalism modernized at very high-speed.

Recently, a flame war has started by pkpolitics.com as it is exposing known journalists on various corruption issues. It has published documentary evidences about Rauf Klasra, Nazir Naji, and Muhammad Malick The stories are rather investigative including media advertisements and attached documentary proofs while the writing and reporting style resembles the (in)famous Ansar Abbasi, as he is quite popular these days for his investigative and inside stories. However, the identity of the author of these “reports” is not revealed on the web site.

These corruption stories against journalist are grabbing whole lot of attention and hundreds of responses are pouring in. Most of the commentators clearing taking sides, verbally flogging some of the journalists and naming the likes of Ansar Abbasi, the crusader of Pakistan. The web site has also been promoted by some columnists in their columns especially Dr. Shahid Masood.

Mr. Rauf klasra and Haroon Rasheed after getting scandalized by the web site could not resist responding in their columns published in Jang on 26 and 28th July. Cyber media influence may be the reason for quick response. There is also an audio recording of a phone call by Ahmad Noorani made to senior columnist Nazir Naji inquiring about the allotment of plot to him. In response to which Nazir Naji called him back and abused.

What could be the reason of such a furious allegation based stories. The admin of the site could be from media hiding his name and exposing his foes as it is easy to disguise on web. So, who can be behind this alleged “crusade”, here are some interesting theories:

  • Could it be Ansar Abbasi / Shahid Masood / Shaheen Sehbai behind this? Sehbai has experience of doing cloak-and-dagger stories which he pubilshed in his web-based magazine after taking self exile in Musharraf’s regime. Ansar Abbasi seems to be a man with a mission, while Dr. Shahid Masood is apparently a tool in the hands of the powers-to-be.
  • Ironically, all the jounralists targeted so far works with Jang/News/GEO. It may be an attempt by elements that are unhappy with Jang Group’s attitude and trying to get even by counter propaganda.
  • It could be pro-Musharraf group trying to disrepute those who write against Pervez Musharraf.

Corporate Social Responsibility

In the last 30 years, a large number of companies have appeared in the world of market. Concentration of entrepreneurs in the new dimensions is the basic factor of success. As compared to the previous years, entrepreneurs have acquired more awareness regarding their social responsibilities. Now companies not only focus on the needs of their customers but also the needs of society and environment.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), popularity is growing day by day, as more and more companies around the globe are turning their focus towards the sustainability of environment and resources at large. Companies now have come to realize that their future as successful, large companies is dependent upon the future of environment and society to which they belong and in which they exist.

In a survey, it has been observed that customers are showing keen interest in buying the products of that company which is fulfilling its social responsibilities. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), simply means that companies should spend some proportion of their profit on the betterment of the society by plantation of trees, proper disposal of waste, using alternate sources of electricity, proper utilization of raw material and if possible using those renewable resources.

In Pakistan, companies like EBM, Nestle, Unilever etc have realized their social responsibility. Nestle Pakistan Ltd has a unique CSR profile which is inbuilt into its business model, their concept is to integrate rural development with market mechanism. If we look at EBM, their cultural ethos is of a “Caring Corporate Citizen”, that is giving back to community as a responsibility and obligation of a good management. EBM portrayed itself as a responsible company by responding immediately to the victims of earth quake and providing them not only funds but free of cost biscuits. Unilever is also actively participating for the betterment of society. Rose Petal is donating a proportion of their sales proceeds to WWF Pakistan for the preservation and nature conservation.

It is the need of time that all the companies across the globe should realize their responsibilities and discharge them as responsible citizens and generate not only good returns but also conserve the environment.

SMS (some meaningless sayings) flowing through Pakistan

Cellular companies in Pakistan allow their customers to send unlimited text messages since a while now. It has now become a custom to greet your contacts via SMS either its morning wish or a good night message. One can have a package of unlimited SMS daily or for the whole month, at affordable rates. So it has been a huge writing and sending of thoughts on regular basis. From economy to government and sports to culture they almost cover all comings and goings around. I don’t know precisely who is in the wake of their creation but they are circulated like wild fire. Probably it is the easiest way to be in touch now days. There are many website created for content of these messages and they had a huge traffic also.

Recently, Ahmed Faraz, a great poet, was bashed through SMS. People made fun of him that after every funny line they added Faraz and pass it on. Some times it was unbearable as I am a fan of his poetry. People sometimes become dishonorable too. Although they are enjoyable but those who haven’t been familiar with his poetry may think that what kind of poetry he wrote? Here is an example.

Aiport pe kharay hain dus jahaz, Ek ka pilot hai faraz.

Another famous personality on this service is Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. Too many jokes are being cracked about him these days. The famous one is the meaning of his name.

ZAR means DOLAT, DAR means DARWAZA, I means MAIN, Yani ZARDARI= saari dolat mere darwazay pe.

Have a look at the second most circulated message so far. I must admit I enjoyed it.

Tumahri kamyaabi k rastay main sab se bari rukawat tumhari biwi hai.” (Asif Ali Zardari)

Above personalities and messages are based on my survey of hundreds of youngsters from age group 14 to 25. There are some messages about President which contains the kind of language that I am unable to post here.

When I had a conversation with one of the representative at customer care center of a cellular company he told me that they don’t keep the record of sent SMS as content but only the number of text messages is recorded. In my opinion many students and youngsters are wasting their time by using this service. There must be a check or limit on this service to make our youth redirect towards constructive work.

Growing population of the world and its effects

Some people say that the gap between the world’s rich and poor is growing as fast as its population. They converse consumption crisis and unequal distribution of the world’s finite resources and a growing threat to the well being of much of the planet’s population.

The environmentalists have been warning about a threat of population growth for decades but whether or not you are experiencing the consequences depends largely on where you live. According to UN when a child is born, he/she has a 3 & 10 chance of being born into abject poverty and 4 & 10 chance of being only marginally better of. That body enters the world where the wealthiest countries are using far more than an equal share of resources.

The richest 1/5th of humanity consumes 86% of the world’s goods and services, the poorest 5th consumes just over 1%, and current trends where the developing world absorbing almost all of the world’s population growth are likely to make the disparity worst. The population growth rate is far at pace then our ability to ride people jobs and education, housing and health care, in addition to that we are causing tremendous environmental problems in the world.

The principle population problems in the world today are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian sub-continent which includes Pakistan. In sub-Saharan Africa population are going still at close to 3% a year which is 20 folds increase in 100 years. Obviously no country can stay on that trajectory for very long, most of the services are lagging behind the growing population, whether its education or health care or even such basic things as food production.

When we look at the growing affluence of population that increase spending power and increase consumption that it starts to multiply up into something very serious. Developed countries are drawing in resources from all over the world and this has an enormous effect in the countries that these materials come from. We now live in an integrated global economy, rich countries should be concerned about the problems of developing countries. We are now integrated economically and certainly we have always been integrated environmentally. But, if we are going to deal with the problems facing the world effectively, we are going to do it together, that means the developed countries, must help out the developing countries.

We call this world a global village, for the sustenance of this global village for our future generations we need to work together. We are integrated environmentally as well as economically, which means we live together and we die together.

Problems associated with educational system in Pakistan

The dubious educational system is among a number of problems that Individuals and groups face on daily basis in Pakistan. Despite huge educational expenditures and budgets allocated by the Governments, the double standards are still there. This has been one of the reasons that the true talent never gets an opportunity to prove them.

While entering the practical life one of the most horrendous discrimination that is made in employment sectors, is that individuals with better command over English language are given priority on those who cannot speak this language in a fluent way. Some times this kind of altitude adopted by Organizations gives an impression that the required merit is not dependent on marks and distinctions but rather a command over this language.

One can not underestimate or denounced the importance of English language but it is absolutely discrimination, if your qualification is ignored and merely a speaking power is given more importance.

Merits of Foreign Education

While I was pursing my degree in Pakistan I was perplexed at people’s thought of going abroad and acquiring education there. I had a certain degree of comfort about sense of security and recognition that one’s home country could give a person. So hence thought about leaving one’s country never occurred to me despite constant turmoil and disorder that was prevalent. Maybe at that instance my thoughts and visions were a manifestation of my unbounded love and patriotism for the country which had given me my identity. However once I ventured outside the country by means of an opportunity to study I came to realize merits and value of foreign education.

Whilst I was studying in Pakistan I had a continuous realization that our country was gripped and plagued with little deficiencies that were sort of ruining and derailing the bigger picture. I was saddened by nature of academic studies within colleges. The criteria to measure and gauge student performance were not significantly viable and effective in terms of global quality benchmarks. The notion which persisted around various circle of students was about obtaining a degree rather than learning and knowledge, which are key attributes and in fact prerequisites, which determine why student intend to acquire a degree. A great deal of stress and emphasis was devoted to copy and pasting material which was grabbed from the internet. So as a result papers and reports which were formed didn’t reveal quality and knowledge of the student rather it was fabrication if one has to put it more bluntly. Moreover even teachers in implicitly recognizing prevalence of such practices ignored it completely and took no steps to adhere to the problem. This thus gave leeway to students and encouraged them to pursue with unfair practices.

When I went to study abroad I was astounded by amount of emphasis that collages there give towards acts of plagiarism. Unfair practices are widely ridiculed and students are encouraged to adopt stringent and comprehensive methods to avoid plagiarism. I vividly remember level of stress which was placed on acts of plagiarism in my induction sessions where booklets were distributed regarding means to avoid plagiarism. On the surface it seemed easy to do task but when we got down to writing papers I realized the degree of attention and devotion it required. However going through such a tedious and tiresome job tuned me towards seeking out different materials with respect to a particular paper. This consequently enhanced and substantiated quality of papers I wrote. Apart from that with each paper scope of my knowledge and learning was raised considerably. Moreover my motivation and inspiration to indulge in such minute intricacies was significantly boosted by value and feedback which I got with each paper I wrote. This allowed me to understand value of a thoroughly researched and fully referenced paper hence, I came to realize how fallible and weak our system is which discourages learning and reduces scope of challenges that could inspire and motivate students to achieve higher standards. What we require today is some cleansing of these practices which, persists in our academic system so that podium of knowledge and learning is revived.

The importance of academic education in Islam

The idea that people should pay attention to religious education only is very disturbing. In Islam, a person is only required to acquire that amount of knowledge which will enable him/her to follow Islam. The rest is optional. Allah SWT did not ask everyone to become a scholar. On the point of scholars, there are some who are found in bars. On the other hand, there are people who only know the very basics of Islam and yet they are punctual with their daily prayers and righteous in their conduct. There are some very religious people in the world today who are PhDs.

There are many people who preach that people don’t follow Islam because they don’t read the translation of the Holy Quran and Ahadith, so they don’t know what Islam teaches. The question is, who does not know what Islam teaches? Is there anyone who does not know that a person is required to pray daily, be upright morally, pay zakat, avoid drinking, avoid giving/taking interest etc.

Realizing the importance of an academic education in Islam, a lot of madressas have now added Maths, Science and English along with the religious curriculum. This is because Islam does not teach that a person remain a ‘jahil’. Islam encourages a good, comfortable life. Even money is important in Islam.

An academic education is a great blessing of Allah SWT and a person should be grateful for it.

How to Welcome the Virtuous Month of Ramadan

Ramadan karim

As Ramadan approaches everyone gets busy in its preparation, namely, shopping. This preparation will reach its climax on the eve of Ramadan when the crescent is sighted. It is a sight full of hope and joy. The preparations should not only be of the materials required. One should also prepare themselves spiritually for the Holy Month.

Ramadan is the best of the months. This is the month in which we observe the fourth pillar of Islam- Sawm- by the Sole Command of the Sole Lord of the worlds (SWT).

It is the month of worship to seek rewards from Allah (SWT). The Prophet (May Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him) said: “Whoever spend the nights of Ramadan in prayer out of faith and in the hope of reward, his previous sins will be forgiven.”

The superiority of this month is based on its many facets.

1 - The best of all nights falls in Ramadan – the Night of Decree. Allah SWT says: “Verily, We have sent it (this Qur’an) down in the Night of Al-Qadr (Decree). The Night of Al-Qadr (Decree) is better than a thousand months.” [Surah al-Qadar : 1-2]

Hence worship on this night is better than worshiping for a thousand months, which is approximately eighty-three years!!

No one exactly know when this Night falls, however Rasool Kareem (May Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him) told us to seek this Night in the last odd ten days of Ramadan.

2 - It was in the month of Ramadan that the Qur’an Majeed –the best of all Books- was revealed to the Rasool of Allah (May Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him).

Allah (SWT) says: “Ramadan is the (month) in which the Qur’an was sent down, as a guide to mankind, also clear (Signs) for guidance and judgment (Between right and wrong). So every one of you who is present (at his home) during that month should spend it in fasting.” [Surah al-Baqarah :185]

This makes it clear that there is a great relation between the Qur’an and Ramadan. It is highly meritorious to complete reciting the whole Qur’an (Qur’an is derived from the root word qaraa’ means recitation) in this month.

3 - In this month the gates of Paradise are opened and the gates of Hell are shut, and the devils are chained up. It is a proven fact that evil actions are drastically reduced in Ramadan. Those who observe the etiquette of Ramadan will be safe from evil actions.

4 - Ramadan is the month of complete worship. In this month certain acts of worship are performed that are not carried out in other months. These are: fasting, praying the Taraweeh, feeding the poor, I’tikaaf, Sadaqah, and reading Qur’an.

Ramadan - Manifold Blessings

The Prophet (May Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him) used to give glad tidings of the arrival of Ramadan to the Sahabah Karaam (May Allah (SWT) be pleased with them all) and explain its merits. This is the month that should be welcomed with hopefulness and sincerity that our repentance will be accepted. One should resolve not to repeat any wrong deeds after the repentance. It is the blessed month in which Muslims should be determined to worship Allah – Rabb ul-‘Arsh il-Kareem.

Overpoulation in Pakistan

I became interested in the issue of overpopulation in Pakistan after I watched report program on television about how the overpopulation can threaten the environmental condition and lead to bad things, for example, poor education, poor health, and poor economic resources. As we know, poverty is on the increase in Pakistan. Therefore, most young people in Pakistan emigrate from their country to search for good jobs and better lives. For example, the large majority of immigrants in England is from Pakistan. As a result, the government of Pakistan should solve the issue of overpopulation. Some people think that if Pakistan increases its population, Pakistan will improve its economic condition. In fact, overpopulation leads to a bad economic climate. Therefore, people become unemployed.

In my research paper, I would like to argue that overpopulation leads to a bad environmental condition and bad economic resources. First, the government of Pakistan should educate people to take responsibility to help the environmental condition and the economic climate by making a program to encourage women to know about the modern contraceptives. Second, the government of Pakistan should support the private sector to control the issue of population by operating businesses in rural areas. Finally, the government of Pakistan should improve the economic climate. As a result, they can control the country to have sufficient money for their population. I found a variety of articles that tell about how over population can lead to environmental degradation and poor economic resources. Moreover, I had a hard time finding an article against my argument, but I found it. Most articles discuss how the government can control overpopulation by educating people, supporting the private sector, and improving the economic climate.

First, in order to control overpopulation the government of Pakistan should make a good strategy to control overpopulation in Pakistan by educating young people. The government of Pakistan should build the infrastructure in rural areas such as schools and hospitals. As a result, people can find places to educate them. According to a SAFTA report, that the less developed countries like Pakistan have poor infrastructure in rural areas (Ashraf, 2006,). Moreover, the government of Pakistan should get support from the mass media to educate people about the issue of population by making educational programs. According to the Ministry of Population Welfare in Pakistan, “Advocacy programmers will utilize all channels of communication particularly the media, interpersonal communication and mass education to convey the macro and micro effects of runaway population growth, “(2004). The government of Pakistan should support the Ministry of Education to make rules by educating young people until they finish high school. Therefore, the government of Pakistan should provide the infrastructure in every part in Pakistan to help people get education.

In addition, in order to control overpopulation in Pakistan, the government should support the private sector to operate their businesses in rural areas. Therefore, population can have all services in their areas. If people can have better access to family planning services in rural areas, they will not migrate to the urban areas. In the word of the Asian Development Bank, “The private sector in Pakistan consists of millions of privately owned farms, thousands of small and medium enterprises, extensive service sector providers, and the informal sector providing goods and services, “(News International, 2001,Prer6). Moreover, the government of Pakistan should support the private sectors by giving permission to produce the contraceptive for the women in Pakistan. As a result, the women can afford the price of the contraceptives and know easily about it. The government of Pakistan should support the private sector to make a program to help family planning by training people in their companies. Therefore, the government of Pakistan should work together to control overpopulation by letting people have better accesses to family planning services in every place in Pakistan.

Finally, in order to control overpopulation in Pakistan the government should improve the economic resources. As we know, in the less developed countries like Pakistan overpopulation leads to a bad economic climate because they do not have sufficient money to hire their population. If the government of Pakistan is open to globalization, the companies from overseas will come to operate their businesses in Pakistan. As a result, the government will improve the economic condition. Moreover, the government of Pakistan should divide the money equally in all areas. If they do this will have a good economic condition in every place. The government of Pakistan should make Pakistan safe for investors. As we know, Pakistan still has problem countries at its borders. Therefore, the government of Pakistan should make a good relationship with countries at the border. As a result, Pakistan can attract the investors to operate their business. The Asian Development Bank points out,” the Good governance includes improved strategies and management for external and domestic debt; medium-term budget and expenditure management and financing for pro-poor public services; restructuring of intergovernmental relations, including devolution and civil service reform; access to justice, including legal, judicial, and police reform; and capital markets development” (2001,prpre5). The government of Pakistan should find a good strategy to improve the economic climate.

Some people claim that an increase in the population will develope the urban area because they think population increases the income in the urban areas. Moreover, they think that the increase the population in the big cites will improve both the private sectors and public sectors. According to the government of Pakistan, “There is a rapidly growing population and associated urban development” (2007). In fact, the overpopulation leads to bad economic climate. Therefore, people become unemployed. Moreover, the truth is that overpopulation leads to poor education, poor health, and poor the economic resource. As we know, overpopulation can damage the environment and bring a lot of disease because the Pakistan is a small country. The less developed countries like Pakistan the governments do not care about the issue of overpopulation. Therefore, the overpopulation damages the environmental condition by misusing the land. According to the Social Entrprise Development Center,” A large population is one of the main causes of a high level of population “ (n.d. prpr5). As result, the government of Pakistan should stare look at the population and solve the issue of overpopulation.

In conclusion, for these reasons and many other reasons the government of Pakistan should start to find a solution to control the overpopulation by educating people, supporting the private sector, and improving the economic climate. As a result, people will get social welfare and have a good economic condition. Moreover, the government of Pakistan can help population to understand how overpopulation threatens the environment and take responsibility about the issue of overpopulation.

Illiteracy & overpopulation: Pakistan’s major problems

Pakistan cannot survive unless the problems of illiteracy and overpopulation are solved. Illiteracy can be overcome only by making education compulsory for everyone, and preferably making it mandatory for all children to be taught in English, as is the practice in India.

The population of the country cannot be controlled unless draconian measures are introduced, as was done in China. Unfortunately, the common Pakistani has been brainwashed to believe that birth control is a heinous sin. It’s normal for men in the country to aim for ten children and to seek medical treatment if they cannot achieve this goal. In China, those couples who have more than one child lose their jobs and have to migrate to the rural areas to work in the fields. In India, the Congress Party carried out mass sterilization to prevent people breeding like rabbits, but this was one of the reasons why it was routed in the next general elections. Of course, the ensuing governments did not dare try it again, for obvious reasons.

In Pakistan, we can replace the present crop of illiterate clerics with those who have had a modern education. Or the state can train new mullahs who can prove to the people that birth control is not forbidden by Islam. Until that happens, our population will go on increasing exponentially until we run out of food and start eating each other.

Global economic recession: threats and challenges

Global economic recession: threats and challenges
By Faizan Usmani

The current wave of global economic recession is more than a globalised form of slump hitting those liberalised economies of the world which are bound to share the fated gains as well as disadvantages of liberalised international trade.

Since Second World War, the current recession period being suffered by global traders is the largest one and many countries are now seriously considering imposing protectionism policies to strengthen their domestic productions by putting up heavy taxes on imported articles. In this crucial time, reverting back to protectionist policies remains the only viable option for developed economies which would be, in fact, detrimental to connected economies by and large.

According to recent report released by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), global trade in 2009 will decline between 2 per cent and 10 per cent whereas entire international trade dropping by 9 per cent on the whole. At the start of this year, global trade was expected to drop by only 2.8 per cent but latest figures, as shown by WTO, are quite alarming to both developed and underdeveloped economies of the world.

European Union, apart from America, has been badly hit by the ongoing recession. If existing conditions remain unchanged in coming days, this financial crisis will divide the European region into two financial blocks: one consisting of east European nations like Poland, Russia, Czech Republic, Greece etc and the other one having western and southern parts of the continent including United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, France, Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Many futile attempts are being made to restrict the flow of money from western banks to Eastern and Southern Europe whereas bailout plans, as announced from respective European governments, don’t seem to work either.

During this financial slump, procedural flaws and structural weaknesses of various leading banks and financial institutions have been badly exposed, that’s why a lot of questions are being raised on the authenticity of existing banking and financial systems all over the world.

Technically speaking, most developed economies are always hit hardest by widespread economic recession in form of sizeable decrease in investments, massive layoffs, banking bankruptcies coupled with the significant depreciation of the real estate sector.

Mostly, heavy financial losses incurred by highly-developed economies are more noticeable to the world as compared to those weakened economies with nothing to lose further.

Thus, this should not be a matter of joy for developing and underdeveloped countries as their global economic dependencies will be never evaded in any circumstances whatsoever.

For many people, the current financial crisis are symptoms of dying capitalism but a few also take the very phenomenon as a start of a revised and refurbished capitalism taking its roots in a crucial time when developed nations are at war with under-developed countries and existing financial and banking mechanism is comparatively prone to vulnerabilities offered by war-hit economies.

The revision is not a total replacement of existing financial systems; in fact, it’s a high time for developed economies to bear a temporary economic slump somehow but, in the end, rise with more vigorous and error-free version of capitalism, which would be more capable to absorb terror jerks but stay affirmed to assure the economic stability of highly-developed regions.

Those people, for my part, are really off-beam who regard banking and financial system of Pakistan rather safe and secured from the damages of ongoing financial crisis across the world. The whole national economy, as a matter of fact, is on the verge of collapse whereas banking and financial institutions of the country are nowhere to contribute in order to facilitate or strengthen up the aggravated economic conditions by any means.

More than a matter of economic stability like developed countries, the more relevant misery for Pakistan pertains to its economic survival as even a momentary stimulus or partial foreign ad would be quite insufficient to serve the desired objectives.

Despite going through a worst slump, western countries can still manage to deal with ongoing economic downfall in all business sectors. But, to somehow sustain the very conditions for underdeveloped countries like ours is absolutely out of possibilities.

Despite all of these, our patriotic bankers and proud economists are still misguiding the key decision makers about the prevailing threats looming over our economy.

Thus, it would be quite better if we adopt some result-oriented policies and strategies in order to avoid total economic downfall.

Global financial crisis

General inflation was all around the world
Reason

Food Crisis
Energy Crisis
USA War against terrorism

This has been created general inflation in the world


Due to General inflation saving of people went down

Now about banking sector as it has been explained already quite well

Banking was financing but not recovering as they should prime reason was general inflation due to that saving decrease

Now even those people who has there income in banks they were taking it back because saving was low and they have to maintain life standard so they were taking money bank

Now bank that was already in problem not recovering their income and people who landed the income to banks asking it back so it makes collapse to bank

Although there are few other research has been done on GFC

They relates petrol with dollar
Iran, Iraq, Venezuela
All are petrol producer

And as we know petrol transaction should be done in US $ only

These countries were taking stand against it that the will deal in Euro
Iraq become war Zone
Venezuela Anti American
Iran Anti American

If it start in Euro so it means demand of Dollar US $ will be hell of down which can surely destabilized the financial system of America

\World financial crisis

Assalam o allaikum

i want to share with you some thoughts abt the current financial crisis in world.( i want to make it simple so if any one interested in more details abt it can google it ).

the start,

i wont go in chronological order but rather how the events started.

firstly the commercial banks in usa have excess money. now to invest it somewhere they lend it to various types of debtors. even after they give loans to their credible debtors but problem with credible customers is that that they were charged at lower interest rates, they still had plenty of money with them, then they started to give loans to ppl who have no crediblity.the plus point of noncredible customers is that they can be charged higher interest rate and banks can earn more money then in case of credible customers. thus money is given also to non credible customers too.

banks were happy as they thought that since they had given loans and can earn more money, so they encouraged this process by giving extraordinary high bonuses to their executives, which further increased the pace of lending to noncredible customers.

since the loans that banks gave to their customers are to be returned in future. in case the bank needed more funds in present then since they cant ask their debtors to pay immediately. so what they did for their urgent capital requirements was to sell their loans to other banks.

now those banks which have purchased these loans, due to their own reasons sold it to other banks. this process continued till europen banks were also sold these loans.

but the point here was that could those noncredible debtors can repay their loans. and as suspected those debtors fled away or simply said we cant repay our debts.

now here started all this financial crisis. because the whole banking system which relied on those noncredible debtors started collapsing and now we can see whats going on as the total amount involved in this crisis is 14 trillion dollars. (1 trillion = 1 thousand billion )

some terminology

prime market = market of credible debtors
sub prime market = market of non credible debtors
derivatives = the asset based on loans to be paid in future

i have tried to make the argument simple, thats y i didnt used the above terminology. however u can relate it if u wanna be a csp.

any further input welcome
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UN awards Benazir Bhutto human rights prize

An emotion-filled Bilawal Bhutto Zardari received the top UN human rights prize awarded posthumously to his mother, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, for her outstanding contribution to promoting democracy and fundamental freedoms.

The plaque was handed over to PPP chairman by the 192-member assembly president, Miquel d’Escoto Brochmann, who conducted the proceedings before a large number of diplomats, human rights activists and senior UN officials.

The UN Prize in the Field of Human Rights, awarded every five years, was presented at a General Assembly ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

The winners are former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour; United States ex-Attorney-General Ramsey Clark; Executive Director and co-founder of Jamaicans for Justice Carolyn Gomes; Denis Mukwege, co-founder of the General Referral Hospital of Panzi in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); Human Rights Watch, represented by its executive director Kenneth Roth.

The prize was first awarded on 10 December 1968 on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the UDHR.

The committee met in New York with the assistance of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on 21 November 2008 to select the awardees from among 189 nominations received in accordance with the established rules.

It is a historic movement in Pakistan’s history as Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has been recognized by the United Nations and the world community as a champion for upholding human rights and who laid down her life fighting for the democratic rights of her people.

Your comments on this important development are welcome!

Indo-Pak tension and role of CBMs

Just as it seems things are settling down on the Pakistan-India front, someone or the other on the Indian side acts to hike up the tensions once more. First it was the Indian foreign minister, Pranab Mukherjee, who said that Islamabad was being evasive in its response to the 26/11 dossier. A day after that it was the Indian army chief, General Deepak Kapoor, who said that Pakistani troops had moved to the border with India and that "all options were open". Not without irony, the general at the same time warned that there was no need to build up war hysteria.

The general quite conveniently forgot to mention that Indian troops had also been mobilized or that fighter jets had crossed into Pakistani air space a few weeks ago, and that the Pakistani redeployment was probably a response to all of that. And on Jan 15, the remarks of the army chief were followed by a remarkable statement by Shri Mukherjee who said seemed to concede that those involved in the attacks could be tried and prosecuted in Pakistan.

This comes right after British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, after a meeting with his Indian counterpart in New Delhi, said pretty much the same thing. So while Mr. Mukherjee's most recent statement needs to be welcomed, the same cannot be said for General Kapoor's remarks, or even for what Shri Mukherjee said just a couple of days ago.

Do you think that there is an element of growing frustration in the Indian response? Do you second that passing saner statements would help reduce prevailing tension between Pakistan and India? And what steps need to be taken to boost the Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) in South Asia?

Your comments are welcome!

More drone attacks

The first drone attacks under the Obama administration have taken place. Fourteen people were killed in the Waziristan area in the latest bombings. Just days earlier there had been another unusual operation carried out jointly by Pakistan and US forces deep within Pakistani territory, apparently targeting a hideout for militant leaders. For the present then it seems there is no change in policy. The rather optimistic assurance issued a short while ago by the prime minister, that drone attacks would come to an end once Obama took charge of leadership, seems to have come to naught.

We all know how much damage, emotional, psychological and physical, the drone attacks have inflicted. Many civilians have died, among them women and children. There has also been a wave of anger over the US incursions, which adds to the hatred already in existence.

The Obama administration has pledged to initiate better relations with the Muslim world. It is also in the midst of undertaking a policy review with regard to Pakistan; therefore, we had better come up with a robust strategy to counter the drone attacks.

What strategy Pakistan should chalk out in coordination with the new US administration to stop these drone attacks? How the US decision-makers should be persuaded of the drone attacks which have so far caused much damage and contributed to the growth of militancy?

Your comments are welcome on this festering issue!

Extremism far and wide

Like a weed that spreads rapidly and kills all that existed before, extremism in its most ugly form has reached out from Swat into other places. Its tentacles now seem to be in the process of wrapping themselves around Quetta – a city that during the colonial age and the decades that immediately followed was known as 'Little London' due to its reputation for lively activity.

Today, cafes and restaurants across the city are refusing to serve women. This extraordinary measure was adopted after militants visited the eateries, advising them to exclude women, as eating out with family was not permissible as per Islam. 'Family areas' in some restaurants have since been converted into 'gents only' dining spots. There are also accounts coming in of the harassment of women who do not wear the veil and of threats to the owners of Internet cafes and video shops.

It is not Quetta alone that is affected. Over the last year, Peshawar has seen repeated attacks by militants. The writ of the state seems to have receded even from localities in the very heart of the city. Incidents involving extremist violence have taken place in Karachi, Lahore and other cities as well. It seems obvious that the militant 'victory' in Swat has encouraged similar action in other areas.

Things there indeed seem to be going from bad to worse. The Taliban have now issued a list of 43 people from Swat, mostly ANP politicians and local notables, who they have deemed 'enemies' and ordered to appear before 'Sharia courts' or else 'face action'.

The question is what the authorities are doing to combat this and save a society that stands on the very brink of anarchy. What are the grey areas in government’s policy that need to be addressed so that peace is restored in the country?

Making Pakistan safe

United States President Barack Obama, in an interview, has said he seeks a stable Pakistan and wants to ensure that insurgency in neighbouring Afghanistan does not affect Pakistan. Mr Obama seems especially concerned about the safety of Pakistan's nuclear weapons. In recent months, scenarios under which Al Qaeda-backed militants seize the weapons have been put forward by various US-based think tanks, and the issue is said also to have been brought up during briefings to top US officials. Now there has been conjecture that freed Guantanamo Bay prisoners could become involved in terrorist action against the US and could intensify efforts to grab nukes.

Obama has already announced additional troops for Afghanistan. It is obvious that he sees the Pak-Afghan region as a flashpoint that needs to be more effectively managed. For this, as the president has said, a strong, united and stable Pakistan is important.

The question is how such stability can be built. A bill which the US Vice President Joe Biden had helped draft had proposed large-scale development aid for Pakistan rather than only military assistance. That bill has been left on the roadside as dramatic change swept last year across the US.

The stability Barack Obama believes Pakistan needs can come only when the abject poverty and social injustice in which extremist thought is rooted is addressed. Pakistan today needs massive investment in education, health and welfare. As part of his bid to usher in a better world and to build peace in Afghanistan and Pakistan, this is a priority Mr Obama needs to keep at the top of his list. Greater security for people in the country would after all work in everyone's interest, aiding in combating the terrorism that threatens people everywhere in the world.

Geo news transmission blocked in parts of country

The transmission of Pakistan’s premier news channel Geo news has been blocked in some parts of Karachi, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Quetta, Multan, Rawlakot, Muzaffarabad, Deepalpur and Sargodha.

The concerned officials have directed the cable operators to place Geo news channel at the tail end, making it difficult for the viewers to watch the channel.

Viewers of Geo News started making phone calls to Geo’s offices, trying to find out reasons for not receiving the transmission. People from every walk of life have strongly condemned the blocking of Geo news transmission. They expressed complete solidarity with Geo news.

Pakistan Muslim League-N Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif has condemned the blocking of Geo news transmission in various cities of country.

Speaking to Geo news, Nawaz said: “These steps have reminded us the negative tactics adopted by former dictator.” Pakistan Muslim League-Q secretary general Mushahid Hussain Syed said Geo news is being punished for airing the truth.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chief Imran khan and MQM Senator Babar Khan Ghauri also condemned the blocking of Geo news.

“Reporters Without Borders” condemned the action which, it said, has brought back memories of military rule in the country. Awani National Party (ANP) Secretary Information Zahid Khan has said that ANP strongly condemns the blockage of Geo news in different cities of the country.

National People’s Party Chief Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Jamaat-e-Islami secretary general Munawar Hasan, Karachi Press Club (KPC) and Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ) condemned blocking of Geo news transmission in the country.

The secretary general of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, Mazhar Abbas said the act of blocking the transmission of any news channel or media cannot be justified.

Is the blocking of Geo news transmission tantamount to suppressing freedom of expression and media? How do you view the blocking of Geo news in the backdrop of lawyers’ long march and present political situation in the country?

Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry restored as Chief Justice of Pakistan

The crisis that had the potentiality of turning into catastrophe has been averted. Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has been re-instated.

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani announced reinstatement of the deposed Chief Justice and other judges.

“I restore the deposed chief justice and others according to the promise made by me and the President,” Gilani said in a televised address to the nation. The announcement, in light of the directive of President Asif Ali Zardari, met the main demand of the political parties and the lawyers’ community.

He said, “A notification to this effect is being issued now.” He said Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry would replace Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, who retires on March 21.

Gilani pledged to “continue the politics of reconciliation.” The deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was removed from service by former President Pervez Musharraf on March 9, 2007, sparking a wave of protest that led to his resignation from his office on August 18, 2008.

The crisis that had the potentiality of turning into catastrophe has been averted. Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has been re-instated.

However, to put things in its correct perspective, it must be said that the combined efforts of the lawyers, the elite citizens, the media, the political parties of various denominations and most importantly, the solidarity exhibited by the nation, has achieved the improbable.

A new beginning has been made. It is time to review and revise our national policies to insure that we no longer continue stumbling down a path of decline. The system is fundamentally flawed and it requires the combined efforts of all branches of govt. and the people of all walks to focus their attention to fix the problem at the earliest. The convergence of nation into a missionary zeal must be kept alive. Having accomplished the first priority they should now focus their attention towards national reconstruction, consolidation and growth.

All parochial and provincial notions must be jettisoned and it is time for national unity and ironing out of shallow and superficial differences.

Your comments on this historic development are welcome!

Obama unveils new US policy for Pakistan, Afghanistan

U.S. President Barack Obama Friday said Al-Qaeda is ‘actively planning' attacks on US from safe havens in Pakistan.

Unfolding a new US strategy to defeat Taliban and Al-Qaeda, Obama said Pakistan must be 'stronger partner' in destroying Al-Qaeda safe havens. In this connection, he said Pakistan would be provided financial assistance of 1.5 billion dollars each year for the next five years.

However, he said US would not provide a blank cheque to Pakistan “as they also needed to prove their commitment in war against terror.”

President Obama said the goal is to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The situation in Afghanistan is increasingly perilous, President Barack Obama warned.

"Attacks against our troops, our NATO allies, and the Afghan government have risen steadily. Most painfully, 2008 was the deadliest year of the war for American forces."

"I want the American people to understand that we have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan and to prevent their return to either country in the future," Obama said.

"That is the goal that must be achieved. That is a cause that could not be more just. And to the terrorists who oppose us, my message is the same: we will defeat you. "

He said US will not turn blind eye to Afghan government corruption.

The US President proposed setting up a new contact group on Afghanistan including Iran to tackle the Taliban and Al-Qaeda insurgency.

Dear readers – we would welcome your comments on new US policy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. What do you think of this policy and its far-reaching implications? And what would be the reaction in Pakistan?

All-out war declared against militants

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has ordered the armed forces to launch an operation against the militants and terrorists so as to flush them out completely from Swat and Malakand in order to ensure security, restore honour and dignity of the homeland and for the protection of the people.

The prime minister also appealed to the nation, political leadership, civil society, religious leaders and all the institutions of the country to lend their complete support to the government and the armed forces for the cause of Pakistan.

Gilani said the time had come to show unity in our ranks and stand up against those who wanted to make Pakistan of Quaid-e-Azam and Allama Iqbal hostage on gunpoint. “The nation should get united and support the armed forces and the government to foil their designs,” he appealed to the nation. The prime minister also said that one billion rupees had been provided for the rehabilitation of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

The premier also talked about his government’s seriousness to implement the Nizam-e-Adl agreement, saying that since the day one the government took seriously the situation in Swat and made efforts to resolve the issue through dialogue. The prime minister said for the peace in swat, the government had sustained internal and external pressure but stuck to the agreement.

The prime minister said the accord envisaged that after the enforcement of the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, militants would lay down arms for the sake of complete peace in the Malakand division. However, he said the militants continued violating the accord, attacked security forces and targeted government installations and buildings.

He said the militants misconstrued the government’s desire for peace as its weakness. He said the government had decided not to bow down before the terrorists and extremists and would force them to lay down their arms.

The prime minister said the country was facing security and economic challenges and both were interlinked. He asked the people to come forward to safeguard the sovereignty of Pakistan. He urged the Ulema and Mashaikh to help project Islam’s true spirit. “We have to highlight before the world that there is no place in Islam for suicide attacks and that Islam is a religion of peace and brotherhood,” he maintained. He said it was a baseless propaganda that Islam was spread through the force of sword.

Your comments are welcome on Prime Minister’s speech – what should be done by the government to get the country rid of the scourge of terrorism and extremism? And what is our responsibility as a nation at this critical movement in our history?