Skill Development, Productivity, and Growth

I am extremely grateful to Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad for giving me an opportunity to share my views on “Skill Development for Growth and Productivity”. Pakistan is currently experiencing an exciting period of economic and social change. The post-WTO regime and the global market dictate has exposed Pakistans’ economy to international competitiveness necessitating rapid technological changes in the industry. There is definite and recurring need to optimise human resources through Skill Development efforts for achieving high productivity culture for investments in the industrial, commercial, agriculture and services sectors. There is clear indication that low cost labour will no longer be significant advantage for any business which is not based on productivity charged and quality oriented workforce. Therefore, a growing realisation exists for the huge skill deficiency and the demand for competitive workforce with constant supply from educational, vocational/technical training institutions. These hard facts point towards urgent development of strong network between various stakeholders to achieve skill development for economic development. Indeed skill excellence and human resource development has been acknowledged as the major component of economic and social development that contributes in direct proportion to poverty alleviation and national prosperity

Politics of Social Reformation in NWFP (KPK)- An Estimate of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan(1890-1988)’s Educational Philosophy

In the history of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; renamed as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through 18th Amendment on 15 April 2010), many renowned personalities played their role for the awakening of the masses. Among them, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (alias Bacha Khan) occupies a prominent place. The history of KPK would remain incomplete without the notion of services rendered by Bacha Khan. He played his role in a dignified manner in politics, social and educational field. It is a matter of fact that continuous invasions over Pakhtuns region greatly reduced the literacy rate among Pakhtuns which resulted in backwardness of the province. Consequently intermingling of evil customs into Pakhtun society in the name of Islam became the fate of the society. They were having a little knowledge of the religion. Mullahs, the religious leaders, also did nothing for the revival of Islam and Pakhtun society. Pakhtuns were living miserably and none was ready to come forward for the revival of this society. At the same time there came Bacha Khan on the scene and he accepted the challenge of the revival of Pakhtun society. This article highlights the facts that how Bacha Khan used education as a weapon for the revival of Pakhtun society of KPK. He not only made steps to flourish education among Pakhtuns but also tried his best to refrain the Pakhtuns from believing the evil customs and their practices. This article also mentions the institutions which were established by Bacha Khan to achieve his motives

Unforgiving heat wave deaths in the largest metropolitan city of Pakistan: lessons learned

Heat stroke is a deadly condition that needs astute care and timely management. Recently, the city of Karachi in Pakistan has been the victim of an intense heat wave, which has resulted in an insurmountable loss of life. We observed various deficiencies in dealing with this national threat that provides us with a valuable lesson regarding the measures that can be undertaken to avoid such a disaster from occurring again

Religio-political Discourse and Jam’iyyat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP): A Careful Study of Different Narratives (1970-2003)

Barelvi Ulema, being active participants of the Pakistan Movement (1940-1947), very soon reached to the point that their objectives associated with the struggle for Pakistan could only be achieved through a constitutional and political struggle; and as per the need of the parliamentary system prevailed in the country, they must converge and consolidate their energies on a political platform. Hence, on 28th March 1948, in a 3-day meeting of Barelvi ulema at Madrasah-i-Islamiah Arabiah Anwar al ulum, Multan, the Markazi (Central) Jam’iyyatal-Ulema-i-Pakistan (MJUP) was formally established. A glance over the party objectives set at this meeting gives a clear picture of JUP’s Rightism sui generis. It was aspired that Pakistan would be a true Islamic state established through the promulgation of the Islamic constitution in the country and all the social and moral evils would be emulated as the founding father of the country had aspired in the inaugural session of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan (CAP). Moreover, it was also hoped to propagate Islamic teachings among the Muslims by initiating the spirit of religious cum political awakening and the spirit of Jihad among them and direct their attention from western culture and civilization towards Islamic culture and civilization. Hence, the establishment of an Islamic state in the country was the destiny of JUP. In order to remind the higher authorities and other stakeholders responsible for the formation of the constitution, JUP held meetings and processions throughout the country. It pressed demands for the enforcement of Islamic jurisprudence through Islamic constitution. This religio-political as well as constitutional strife can be found in a number of indigenous narratives and beyond. The article presents a careful and curious study of different available narratives in this connection

Failure Detection within Composite Materials in System Engineering Applications

This paper introduces essential key attributes of composite materials with a focus on carbon fibre (CF), followed by a description of common failure modes and proceeds to an investigation of stiffness of continuous CF laminates of 4-ply and 7-ply epoxy resin in pre-preg and wet layup. The three-point flexural test was performed with a Zwick Z010 machine, and the findings are presented. Continuing to real world failure scenarios and moving onto novel concept methods of live failure detection including scope for wood composites. Showing that early design considerations and further research can lead to advantages for system engineering

Connection between the South and East Asian Monsoons: Comparing Summer Monsoon Rainfall of Pakistan and South Korea

This study investigates the tele-connection of the southeast Asian monsoon systems by comparing the summer monsoon (June to September) rainfall variability between Pakistan and south Korea. The daily data sets (19812014) of rainfall of Pakistan and south Korea are utilized to explore the possible link. The data products of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) were also used for the understanding of the large-scale atmospheric environments. The patterns of summer monsoon rainfall on a daily basis between Pakistan and south Korea followed to each other throughout the year. Sub-seasonal differences of the summer monsoon revealed that July is the wettest month in both countries. The large-scale atmospheric environment of higher geopotential height revealed that the Tibetan high and the western north Pacific subtropical high are showing positive anomalies during positive phases over south Asia and east Asia, respectively. The anomalies of zonal wind are negative during positive phase and adverse in the negative phase between 20-40oN. The reduced westerly is interpreted as the seasonal variation and moving of jet streams from the east Asian route. The Tibetan high, northwestern Pacific subtropical high and the east Asian jet stream have reliable and sufficient linkage between the Pakistan and south Korea summer monsoon system