The federal grip on the KP Mining Bill
As a student, I was fascinated by Allan Quatermain, the adventurous hero of ‘King Solomon’s Mines’ (1885) by Sir H Rider Haggard, which brought the legendary Biblical mines to life.…
Rationalizing priorities for federal and provincial budgets
For a country to be among the top ten countries in the world in terms of population, and with more than 60 percent of its population below 30 years of…
Federal funding cuts ripple through the heart of Trump country
The phone rang over the whine of Trey Yates’ butter churn. The person calling was polite, but the message was devastating: Mountaineer Food Bank was ending Yates’ butter contract, due…
The murky world of federal subsidies
Federal subsidies in Pakistan, particularly those directed towards the power sector, have raised significant concerns regarding transparency, effectiveness, and their impact on poverty alleviation. For the fiscal year 2023-24, the…
IMF and provincial governments
Three provincial chief ministers from three competing political parties – Punjab (PML-N), Sindh (PPP) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (PTI) — are vying with each other to deliver more to their people…
HEC disbursed over Rs301bn as federal grant to 156 public varsities in 5 years
The Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training told the National Assembly (NA) that during the last five years, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has disbursed an amount of Rs301.431…
Federal funding for universities
UNIVERSITIES in Pakistan are again in the news — once again for the wrong reasons. The issue this time is that the federal government has decided to stop giving annual…
Government plans merger of health units, abolition of vacant posts
While ministries and divisions have been directed to take austerity measures, a number of health units will be merged along with the abolition of posts lying vacant for the last…
Some US Sikhs fear Modi government is threatening, surveilling and doxxing them
As a physician specializing in addiction, Dr. Jasmeet Bains, the first Sikh American elected to the California assembly, was used to risky situations. Even so, Bains said she was shocked…
How to right-size the government
The latest buzzword these days is ‘rightsizing’ the government. This usually points to calls for reforms aiming to reduce government expenses and the budget deficit. But rightsizing or reforms is…
