Learning from a half-century of Economic Development in Asia In 1968, renowned economist Gunnar Mydral published Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations, a highly pessimistic work on Asia’s development prospects. The fifty years since witnessed a remarkable economic transformation with Asia emerging as a global economic powerhouse. Like so many, it was hard for Mydral to imagine …

UN Climate Action Summit At this year’s UN Climate Action Summit, world leaders have gathered to share plans on how to tackle global warming. At the Summit, governments and private-sector leaders unveiled initiatives aimed at reducing planet-warming emissions. Close to 30 global initiatives to ramp up action on climate change were unveiled or expanded. Bringing together governments, businesses, development banks, …

Learn to Say “No” Laiba Muhammad Aamir Humans are social animals and they cannot help themselves without interaction with one another. In their communications, an easy ‘yes’ always wins over the difficult ‘no’ creating a lot of problems. Living in a ‘yes’ culture, we think more about the comfort of the other person, even though we may have to face …

Imran Khan’s Historic UNGA Speech Key Takeaways “Supposing a country 7 times smaller than its neighbour; faced with a question. Either you surrender, or you fight till the end. I ask myself this question. And my belief is “La ilaha illAllah,” [There is no God but one]. We will FIGHT!” On September 27, Prime Minister Imran Khan delivered his maiden, …

Book Review The Anarchy The Relentless Rise of the East India Company Reviewed by: Maya Jasanoff About a century ago, a series of giant murals was unveiled in the Palace of Westminster depicting the “Building of Britain”, which bounded in eight set-pieces from King Alfred’s long-ships beating back the Danes in 877 to bewigged parliamentarians presenting Queen Anne with the …

INTERNATIONAL Aug. 16: Indian defence minister Rajnath Singh said that New Delhi might change its “no first use” policy on nuclear weapons. Aug. 16: Indian Army Chief General Bipin Rawat confirmed that the punishment of dismissal has been awarded to a Major General from service in connection with a sexual harassment case. Aug. 16: The boss of Hong Kong carrier …

Regionalism A new trend or an old idea in need of better understanding? Magazine Desk There are several determinants to the foreign policy of a modern state. Every nation wants to pursue its own short and long-term foreign policy goals and objectives in its way. The fateful incident of 9/11 has forced all the modern states not only to revisit …

What are the Geneva Conventions? Magazine Desk The Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols are international treaties that contain the most important rules limiting the barbarity of war. They protect people who do not take part in the fighting (civilians, medics, aid workers) and those who can no longer fight (wounded, sick and shipwrecked troops, prisoners of war). The Geneva …

Festivities of China’s 70 Years and the Silk Road Spirit Saadia Saif Niazi October 1st, 2019 has a significant historical significance for the People’s Republic of China as this is the day China is celebrating the 70th Chinese National Day. On this day, the Chinese people will rejoice the declaration of victory in war against the Nationalist forces of Chiang …

CSS Comprehension  “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”    — Albert Einstein  What is comprehension? Comprehension is an exercise in reading any material, and then initiating a process of gauging and explaining your understanding of that in simple words. It is a delicate and attention-warranting process whereby an interaction between the reader and the …