A broken social contract
Power is amoral. It has no religion, either. It listens only to those it feels threatened by. So, how can a country deliver social, economic, and political empowerment to its…
Climate-smart social protection
PAKISTAN’S social protection system is at a crossroads. Traditional social protection systems, while providing critical support for poverty reduction, are not designed to address the compounding challenges of climate-triggered disasters. The country’s…
Subtracting fake news from social media
In an age where truth seems negotiable and subject to multiple interpretations, lies and fake news travel at lightning speed. Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) reveals a…
Basic structure, again
EVERY few years, questions regarding the limitations of parliament’s power to amend the Constitution, and the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction to review, and if necessary, strike down constitutional amendments, become issues…
Basic structure, again
EVERY few years, questions regarding the limitations of parliament’s power to amend the Constitution, and the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction to review, and if necessary, strike down constitutional amendments, become issues…
Infrastructure blues
LAHORE has traffic jams and traffic congestion in the morning and afternoon; not when offices/businesses open and close, but when school sessions begin and end. Roads are chock-a-block with cars,…
Gas infrastructure & communities
NATURAL gas has played a major role in Pakistan’s energy matrix since the first large reserve was discovered in Sui, Balochistan, in 1952. Significant gas fields of smaller sizes were…
Social protection in Pakistan
In Pakistan poverty levels have reached a high of 40 percent, equivalent to those in Sub Sahara Africa, and hence there is a compelling need for domestic and international stakeholders…
Social security for all
The province of Sindh, characterized by its diverse economic framework, encompasses a substantial labour force integral to its industrial and service sectors. According to the most recent Labour Force Survey,…
A social democratic, green, mission-oriented budget
In contrast to the usual approach to a budget discourse based on ideas around raising taxes, and expenditure allocations with slight hints of expanding the tax base, and having progressivity,…
