by TIM STRANGLEMAN Neither faith in, nor critiques of the idea of meritocracy is new. Michael Young’s famous 1958 book The Rise of Meritocracy argued that class privilege and advantage were likely to be amplified as financial and cultural capital passed across generations in families. Each new generation would benefit from existing structural advantage created by their parents and even grandparents. They might …

A new book highlights gaps between aid agencies and communities, the efficacy of aid in poverty reduction and human development Herald Report The debate over development strategies and policies being applied in the developing countries to eradicate poverty has been going on ever since the introduction of the neoliberal economic agenda and the structural adjustment programmes. Independent economists and academics …

Use of cat’s eyes or road studs as a speed breaker is causing serious environmental hazards and economic losses By Ali Rahmat Everywhere in the world, the cat’s eye is used for an indication of the limits of roads. It guides the drivers on where the road ends and what are the limitations of driving in a specific lane. Unfortunately, …

  By Zofeen Ebrahim and Elena Berton KARACHI/LONDON, Oct 22: From turning organic waste into fertiliser to sharing farm equipment, new businesses seeking to address social problems in Pakistan have made the South Asian nation one of the best performers in the second global poll on social entrepreneurs. Pakistan was one of the three countries, along with Australia and the …

  Carly Roth   The 2015 Paris agreement on climate change set the goal of keeping global, average temperature rise “well below” 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-Industrial Age levels, and hopefully below 1.5 degrees Celsius. This month, new research published by scientists from the University of Hamburg predicts how these temperature changes will affect water availability in Pakistan. They …

TASHKENT Nine countries in Central and West Asia on Friday signed a historic declaration that will accelerate cross-border cooperation on energy issues and move the region a step closer to the creation of a regional energy market, a statement issued by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said. According to the statement, energy ministers and leaders from Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the …

By Ghulam Amin Beg On Tuesday, September 14, 2010, I had written this article and published on the Simurgh Institute blog, which received several comments and further elaborations. The article analyzed the opinion post by Selig S. Harrison published in the New York Times in August the same year under the title, ‘China’s Discreet Hold on Pakistan’s Northern Borderlands’. Today, …

‘Neither the begging bowl has been broken nor 5 million jobs and 100m houses provided’ Farman Ali Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s government has miserably failed to fulfill its electoral promises. The dream of a “change” has shattered within a year. Unless structural and drastic changes are made in state policies, power structure and fair distribution of wealth and resources are ensured, any …

The position of women rests, as everything in our complex society, on an economic base.—Eleanor Marx and Edward Aveling by Margaret Benston The “woman question” is generally ignored in analyses of the class structure of society. This is so because, on the one hand, classes are generally defined by their relation to the means of production and, on the other hand, women are …

Islamabad needs to rethink its foreign relations in the context of a new ‘Great Game’ in the Eurasian region and beyond war and peace in Afghanistan, say experts   HAH Report   Islamabad: Diplomats and experts on Wednesday stressed the need for a thorough revamping of Pakistan’s foreign policy and it’s relations with its neighbours and the United States in …