Environmental Pollution and Sustainable Development in Developing Countries

Environmental Pollution is cost of economic growth via increased industrialisation, urbanisation, mechanisation, use of fertiliser and pesticides in agriculture and mismanagement to dump human waste, especially in developing countries, where environmental laws usually are relatively less strict. Hence growth and pollution are positively linked in developing countries expectedly. Sustainable development may be defined as continuous increase in the socio-economic standard of living of a country‘s population, normally accomplished by improving the quality of its physical and human capital. The research‘s foremost objective is the generation of environmental pollution index that incorporate various production and consumption side indicators that are majorly responsible for pollution. While, the at-most objective of the study is to examine the causal relationship between the generated pollution index and human development through a panelcausality analysis using a panel of 32developing countries over the period 2000-2013. JEL Classification:Q2, Q3, Q4, O13 Keywords:Pollution Indices, HDI, Renewable Energy, Panel Causality, Sustainable Developmen

Perceived Effectiveness of Professional Development Programs of Teachers at Higher Education Level

The major purpose of the study was to assess the perceived effectiveness of professional development programs of teachers at higher educational level.   The objectives of the study were: to assess university level teachers’ opinion about effectiveness of professional development training with reference to quality teaching, to measure university level teachers’ opinion about the effectiveness of the content  applicability in classroom settings in taught  professional development programs, to find out the effectiveness of  professional development programs in leading to tackle with students  related problems in classroom, to assess the effectiveness of  professional development in introducing innovative teaching strategies.  Data for the study was collected from teachers of Public Sector University.   Major findings of the study were that university teachers were not satisfied with the effectiveness of content of professional development programs. The respondents were not satisfied with the professional development programs with reference to classroom related problems of students; follow-up of training, innovative teaching strategies and reflective practice aspects of professional development programs.    On the basis of present study we   recommended that the content of the professional development programs may be designed to address daily classroom problems of students,    providing practical training in innovative teaching strategies, using innovative teaching strategies that are helpful in effective teaching and proper follow-up of every professional development program may be made mandatory through implementation of rules. In current era reflective practice is an important component of effective teaching. Therefore it is suggested that special programs may be design for training of university teachers in doing reflective practice. The result of the study may lead to redesigning of professional development courses of teachers. Keywords: Professional developments, university teachers, effectiveness, reflective practice, follow u

BANKING AND TELECOMMUNICATION INFLUENCING MIGRATION IN MAJOR CITIES OF PAKISTAN

The paper is designed to present the descriptive as well as, the empirical analysis for investigating links between the growing investments and flow of migration towards major cities of Pakistan. Specifically, study explores the link of foreign investment in banking, telecommunication and migration. The descriptive analysis is confined to a single year (2013) while empirical analysis is spread over a time span from 2005 to 2013. The descriptive results show that more migration inflow is experienced by cities with greater Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) index values. The empirical results are in line with strands of theory and expectations of the study with all variables bearing correct signs. The core variables Foreign Banks’ Branches (FB) and Foreign Telecommunication Franchises (FTF), proxies for FDI inflow are highly significant, strengthening the hypothesis that FDI and migration are complement to each other

Measurement of indoor radon concentration in district Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

The study of the indoor radon concentration in district Mardan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan is presented. To know the impact of the dose for Mardan city, 40 CR-39 detectors were installed in different houses for a period of three months. The radon concentration for this phase of the year (early summer) is from 18.45 ± 0.53 to 41.51 ± 3.4 Bq/m3. The level of indoor radon concentration is the highest in the basements i.e. 41.51 ± 3.4 Bq/m3 which is within acceptable limit (148 Bq/m3), recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency. The annual effective dose calculated from this study is ERn = 0.704 mSv. It was concluded that indoor radon concentration may not suppose any severe threat to the health of residents

Two way Panel Causality Analysis for Degree of Trade Openness and Size of City

The relationship between trade openness and economic size of city has long been a subject of much interest in international literature of trade. Trade Openness might increases the economic size of city by increasing the significance of transportation modes which are mostly present in urban areas and raising the demand for marketing, financing and communication. In contrast some literature argue that protectionism generates large cities as firms cluster in an urban area to minimize its unit cost via sharing of intermediate goods, labour pool and knowledge spill-over. Thus, there exist an important causal connection between the economic size of the city and its contribution in international trade. This paper is designed to explore these causal connections using panel causality analysis. The panel consists of fourteen major cities of Pakistan and 14 years commence from 1999-00 till 2012-13. The result affirms a positive two-way causal relationship between a cities' economic size and its degree of trade openness

Two way Panel Causality Analysis for Degree of Trade Openness and Size of City

The relationship between trade openness and economic size of city has long been a subject of much interest in international literature of trade. Trade Openness might increases the economic size of city by increasing the significance of transportation modes which are mostly present in urban areas and raising the demand for marketing, financing and communication. In contrast some literature argue that protectionism generates large cities as firms cluster in an urban area to minimize its unit cost via sharing of intermediate goods, labour pool and knowledge spill-over. Thus, there exist an important causal connection between the economic size of the city and its contribution in international trade. This paper is designed to explore these causal connections using panel causality analysis. The panel consists of fourteen major cities of Pakistan and 14 years commence from 1999-00 till 2012-13. The result affirms a positive two-way causal relationship between a cities' economic size and its degree of trade openness

Impact of FDI on Import Demand and Export Supply Functions of Pakistan: An Econometric Approach

FDI tends to increase the host country’s imports, because Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) often have a high tendency to import intermediate inputs, capital goods and services that are not readily available in the recipient countries as well as it also affect exports from the export supply side. We investigated the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and imports demand as well as between foreign direct investment (FDI) and exports supply of Pakistan for the time span of 37 years range from 1973 to 2009. Our analysis emphasized on the existence of long run equilibrium relationship between FDI and imports demand & exports supply of Pakistan using econometric techniques (Co-integration Analysis and Error correction mechanism). The co-integration analysis of import demand showed stable long run equilibrium relation-ship between real import and FDI results of export expressed that FDI has positive relation with real exports in the long run, but the coefficient is statistically insignificant. It suggested that the inflow of FDI has largely been directed toward import-substitution industries or production for the domestic market while little has gone toward export-oriented industries. That is long run policies will be fruitful to be implemented. While the short term dynamics as analyzed by the error correction mechanism (ECM) revealed that the short term discrepancies were significant enough to not to converge toward equilibrium and will require a longer time to adjust back in both model. Unilateral causality was detected between real imports (RIM) and FDI which was established both by theoreti

Geospatial Analysis of Land Fragmentation and Its Impact on Land Use of District Peshawar, Pakistan

The study analyzes how land fragmentation affects the use of the land in sample villages of Peshawar district. Globally, land is a primary source of productivity, yet the population is expanding at an alarming rate. This population growth has an effect on how land is acquired and used, which frequently results in the problem of land fragmentation. To meet the study's goals, data were gathered from both primary and secondary sources including an intensive field survey using a questionnaire as well as land revenue department and population census organization. Out of a total of 279 villages two sample villages, namely village Ghalji Kander Khel and village Mathra were selected by random means for detailed and intensive study. During 1990-91 to 2020-21, fragmented land in sample villages increased. In village Ghalji Kander Khel fragmented land increased from 5.6% in 1990-91 to 23.9% in 2020-21 while in village Mathra fragmented land increased from 6.9% in 1990-91 to 27.1% in 2020-21 indicating an overall four-time increase during past two decades. The main cause of land fragmentation in sample villages is the Law of Inheritance, followed by population growth, market prices, financial difficulties, social issues, and government infrastructure. In sample villages, both area under cultivation and cultivable waste decreased out of which in village Ghalji Kander Khel cultivated land shrunk from 3478 kanal (1 kanal =506 m2) to 2194.1kanals and cultivable waste reduced from 31.1 to 25.4 kanal from 1990-91 to 2020-21. In village Mathra, cultivated land contracted from 5473.2 kanal in 1990-91 to 3443.94 kanal in 2020-21, and cultivable waste diminished from 117.81 kanal to 32.4 kanal. The built-up area enlarged from 802.4 kanal to 1298.1 kanal in Ghalji Kander Khel and from 1392.3 kanal to 1991.6 kanal in Mathra. Finally, it was revealed that most of the area under cultivation is transformed into other land uses. The conversion of cultivable waste to cultivable land took place on a very small scale