Indian Aspiration of Permanent Membership in the UN Security Council and American Stance

India’s urge to become a major power is as old as Indian state itself. This desire is pre-dated and Indian leadership wanted to equate it with China in terms of power even before the transfer of power from the British rule. India is trying to seek an international confirmation for its status of a major power. It has strengthened its claim on the basis of its capability to take an active, decisive and even forceful role in South Asia, Middle East and Central Asia, which is vital to Indian rising power as well as for increasingly American anti-terrorism campaign and its search of energy resources. Permanent membership of the UN Security Council has traditionally been considered a key criterion for being counted as a great power. Whether India is able to become a part of the global order with American support on the basis of its potential and capabilities; to answer this question, the paper will examine the Indian claim for gaining this position and to become a global power as well as the US view point in this direction with a view of its impacts on the future world order in general and regional security system in particular

Assessment of social capital to internationalize educational institutions

Social capital promotes internationalization and competitiveness.Prevalent notions to measure Internationalization content of organizations are ill with ‘social capital’.Social capital is the core competency in knowledge-based organizations. This paper uses the Leif Edvinsson’s scheme of Intellectual Capital (IC) as the basis of analysis; because the IC causes change in the internationalization content.The particular concern of this paper is to assess and enhance the social capital in the internationalization content of the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT system), Pakistan, based on measured behavioral actions by utilizing Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, (KAP) Analysis technique.The internationalization content of CIIT system is characterized by Internationalization Academic Staff (IAS) and Non Internationalization Academic Staff (NIAS). IAS was found more responsive to the questionnaire.The results showed that IAS was having more internationalization knowledge.The attitude of both IAS and NIAS was positive and the practices were found to be more positive among IAS.The social capital exists at 65% as grand mean of the survey showed. Recommendations are offered on how the social capital can be built, thereby to enhance the CIIT system’s capacity to learn, adapt and internationalize in the marketplace

Indo-US Nuclear Cooperation

For over half a century, Indo-US relations had not been friendly. But the situation gradually changed in the post-Cold War era and signs of improved relations were visible in coming period. Both governments began to extend bilateral cooperation in different areas, from industry to agriculture and space technology to nuclear energy but main emphasis was on civilian nuclear cooperation. On 18 July 2005, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid a visit to the US and signed a bilateral agreement with President Bush. This visit was reciprocal and President Bush was in India in March 2006. These visits were hailed as historic events and signaled the dawn of a new era and end of “estrangement” as Kux characterized the relations of the Cold War era. Today, there is a growing chorus of views in both countries recommending a long-term strategic understanding even partnership. The study is to take a survey of Indo-US nuclear relations of the last six decades and to explore the current nature of the relationship in nuclear arena.&nbsp

A mini review on food preservatives

Food additives are not recently discovered, humans used food additives from ancient times.These food additives enhance the color and taste of food but also, kill harmful pathogens andkeep food safe for a long time. Ancient people used salting, smoking, jugging and many moretechniques to preserve food but in modern times, lifestyles changed, and people used advancedtechniques like ultra-sonication, vacuum packing, electro plasmolysis, bio preservation,nanotechnology, etc. There are many natural compounds extracted from plants like caffeine,anthocyanin, turmeric, saffron used as food additives. Similarly, many synthetic additives canbe used in food for example ampicillin, benzoic acid, tetrazine and many more. These syntheticadditives are more dangerous as compared to natural additives; therefore, many additives arebanned in the world. These additives are given E codes (European union numbers) and INS(International numbering system of food), but E code is used more commonly and labelled onall food items like chips, biscuit, pharmaceutics, cosmetics etc. In this review, we summarizesome traditional and modern food preservation techniques and give some most commonly usedfood additives with E codes

Language Controversy: Impacts on National Politics and Secession of East Pakistan

Politics like other fields is mute without language. Though graphics, pictures and movies play important role yet they are ineffective, if not mixed with words. It was Hearst, an American journalist, who sent a cartoonist to Cuba to furnish the picture of Cuban war but he himself used words to ‘furnish the war.’ The international politics is also worthless without appropriate choice of language. In politics, use of proper words is inevitable for achieving political objectives and avoiding controversies but sometime language itself becomes a political issue. Pakistan faced this problem in early years of its independence when language controversy exercised far-reaching effects on subsequent history of the country as a whole. Imposition of Urdu as state language was thought unjust by Bengalispeaking Eastern wing and they demanded that Bengali should be given equal status to that of Urdu. There was a sense of being ignored and exploited by West Pakistan and it was thought a rightful demand on part of East Pakistan to have its own language. Bengali written in Devanagari was not approved by the central leadership and this attitude was resented by the Bengalis who asserted that Bengali was as much language of Muslim as that of Urdu. This sense of exploitation resulted in division of country into Bangladesh and Pakistan. Language was the major factor that contributed and intensified the feeling of mistrust between the two wings. The paper is an effort to shed light on how language issue contributed in determining the fate of a nation with special reference to the creation of Bangladesh.&nbsp

Role of SAARC for Countering Terrorism in South Asia

Terrorism poses a serious threat to security of any region and South Asia has become one of the most dangerous regions of world due to terrorist activities. Since the inception of SAARC in 1985, concerns over terrorism have been showed and realization for collective regional mechanism is prominently highlighted in its agenda as the terrorism is threatening political stability and mutual understanding in the region. Owing to increased threats, terrorism was high on agenda during the 3rd summit of SAARC at Kathmandu in 1987. All the seven members signed ‘SAARC Regional Convention on Suppression of Terrorism and were agreed to take effective measures. The Convention warned the member countries against this menace and its dangerous effects towards regional security. In 1988, the convention came into force but did not control the terrorist activities by taking any effective measure. Several other initiatives have also been taken from this forum but the desired results are not achieved. The paper is to examine the counterterrorism initiatives taken by this forum and to explore impediments blocking the path of cooperation for an effective and joint strategy as well as suggestions for countering terrorism and securing regional peace and stability.&nbsp

US Afghan Relations: A Historical Perspective of Events of 9/11

Before the World War II, the US policy was a compound of cooperation and isolation towards the world affairs and the US has no direct link in Southwest Asia and this area was under British influence. The main reason was lack of American commercial interests in Afghanistan and the role of Britain as guardian of Afghan foreign affairs, which obviated an early meaningful relationship between the two countries. So the history of US-Afghan relations is not very long and the efforts of the Afghan government for establishing relationship were not cherished up until 1934 and formal diplomatic relations were established in 1942. Afghanistan continued its traditional and preferred role as a buffer state, which prevented it from going into the orbit of any superpower or joining any military alliance. However, the Soviet influence increased and the Soviets provided military training and arms supply to Afghan army. The US adopted flexible approach in its relations with the Soviets, which resulted in increasing influence of communism and ultimately, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan on December 27, 1979, which totally altered the geo-strategic situation. Pakistan became a frontline state and the US made arrangements to supply military assistance to resistance groups without its direct involvement. In 1981, President Reagan took power with his tough anti-communist stance and made Moscow pay a high military and political price for the intervention in Afghanistan. The Soviet left Afghanistan after signing Geneva Accords in February 1989. In the absence of a central government, a civil war erupted which brought the Taliban in power. The paper will explore historical events which led to the events of 9/11 and war on terrorism in Afghanistan.&nbsp

Trends and Challenges in Pak-US Relations: Post September 11

The global changes have occurred throughout the 20th century and there is no reason to believe that they will slow down their pace in this millennium. The disintegration of the Soviet Union with its defeat in the Cold War and the terrorist attacks of September 11 have changed geopolitical environment and generated new forms of instability in the world and particularly in South Asia. These events also damaged those traditional international security arrangements that were evolved after the World War II. This paper will examine the major challenges and trends in Pakistan’s foreign policy after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 that caused major shift in the US policy towards the region and the issues pertaining to the US-led global war that has much significance for Pakistan.&nbsp

MODERATING ROLE OF NEUROTICISM BETWEEN TOKOPHOBIA AND MENTAL HEALTH AMONG PRIMIGRAVIDAS

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between tokophobia, neuroticism and mental health; and to examine the role of neuroticism as a moderator between tokophobia and mental health. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted from September, 2019, to January, 2020, at different hospitals. Three instruments Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS), and The Wajima Delivery Expectancy Questionnaire (WDEQ) were administered on 100 women along with a demographic sheet to collect data and were analyzed using SPSS V 23. RESULTS: Results showed that tokophobia had a significant positive relationship with neuroticism and significant negative relationship with mental health ({β = -0.23, t = -2.20, p = 0.030}). Neuroticism also predicted Mental health {β = -0.51, t = 5.45, p = 0.001} and create 22% in it {ΔR2 = 0.22, ΔF (1,97) = 29.72, p = 0.001}. The interaction of tokophobia and neuroticism significantly predicted mental health {β = -0.17, t = 2.85, p = 0.48} and about 30% change {ΔR2 = 0.30, ΔF (1,96) = 3.42, p = 0.048} in mental health. Neuroticism significantly moderates the relationship between tokophobia and mental health in negative direction. Residential areas do not have significant differences on neuroticism, tokophobia and mental health among primigravidas. CONCLUSION: Primigravida women with neuroticism personality have higher tendency to develop tokophobia and both significantly affect mental health of pregnant women

Happiness, Gratitude, Life Satisfaction, and Life Orientation among Working and Non-working Individuals

The study was conducted to find differences among working and non-working individuals regarding happiness, gratitude, life satisfaction, and life orientation. Convenient sampling technique was used to collect the data. The sample consisted of 300 individuals; 150 were working and 150 were non-working individuals. Out of 150 working participants, 75 participants were bankers and 75 were teachers. The non-working sample consisted of 75 males and 75 females. Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, The Gratitude Questionnaire-six item form (GQ- 6), Satisfaction with Life Scale and Life Orientation Test-Revised were used to measure happiness, gratitude, life satisfaction, and life orientation respectively. Correlation unveiled that happiness, gratitude, life satisfaction, and life orientation were positively correlated. Independent sample t-test showed that working individuals were happier, more grateful, and more satisfied with life as compared to non-working individuals while non-working females showed higher levels of gratitude, satisfaction, and positive life orientation than non-working men. Further independent sample t test indicated that bankers were happier than teachers. Multiple regression analysis showed that happiness and gratitude predict life satisfaction