Paper chase
In May the World Economic Forum issued the Human Capital Report 2015 that facilitates a comparative assessment of the education systems of various countries. For that purpose the WEF has…
Cultural gap
For the state, NGOs, donor agencies and multilateral institutions, culture is a segregated affair, perceived as a ‘set of things’ requiring sectoral interventions as in music, the arts and literature.…
Tax proposals for Budget 2015-IV: How to increase return filers
There is a gradual and disturbing decrease in the number of income tax filers, though over 50 million Pakistanis are paying advance income tax at source. Federal Board of Revenue…
Dual shades of darkness
Ignorance and inability come together to create much of the misery that constitutes the lives of people all across the country. The two fan together, creating a shield that is…
Breaking the box
Sometimes there are moments where it seems as if the barrier between reality and fantasy has crumbled, and something that should be in the province of fiction has become fact…
Dead man talking
Prisoners on death row are never heard making public statements and that too via video camera. It was extremely shocking to watch Saulat Mirza on a TV channel accusing MQM…
Pakistan Day reflections
The sufferings of Pakistanis, especially the poor and less privileged classes, will continue unabated unless the society is restructured on the principles of equity, fairness and justice-the fundamental elements of…
Too little, too late
I have learnt from a press report that the government has decided to bestow the ‘Sitara-e-Imtiaz’ on Agha Hasan Abedi almost 20 years after this legendary figure has passed away.…
Manipulating statistics
Statistics are like thermometer that measures and indicates body temperature. If thermometer is corrupted a person with extremely high fever may not be able to diagnose true fever and may…
Planning Commission: To be, or not to be…
Narendra Modi was swept to power on a number of manifesto promises including the scrapping of the 65-year-old Planning Commission set up by Jawaharlal Nehru in 1950. On India's 68th…
