December 2018

NATIONAL 1. The current Finance Minister of Punjab is ______.  (a) Anwarul Haq                      (b) Dr Shahbaz Gil (c) Dr Murad Ras                    (d) Hashim Jawan Bakht 2. On World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index 2018, Pakistan has been ranked ______. (a) 98  …

NATIONAL Oct 16: The Punjab Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht unveiled Rs238 billion Annual Development Programme (ADP) for 2018-19, which is 62.51% down from Rs635bn set by the previous government for preceding fiscal year. Oct 17: Pakistan slipped by one position in the Global Competitiveness Index 2018 released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as compared to last year, ranking …

Pakistan’s main issue has been its crisis of governance as manifested by a weak institutional framework. In nearly seventy-one years of its existence, Pakistan has been ruled by four Governors-General, twelve presidents (including four military dictators) and thirty prime ministers (including caretaker prime ministers entrusted with the job of holding elections). It has witnessed thirty-two years of military dictatorship and …

Want to understand power? Forget Machiavelli! For too long, argues Dacher Keltner, author of “The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence,” we have accepted unquestioningly the version of power made famous by that sixteenth century author. To Niccolo Machiavelli, Keltner explains, power is “about force, fraud, ruthlessness and strategic violence.” To Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology and Director …

“The Culture of Power and Governance of Pakistan 1947–2008” by Ilhan Niaz makes a strong case for the quotation, “the one who does not remember history is bound to live through it”. In the book, the author has tried to trace the current culture of power and governance in Pakistan through the rich history of the Subcontinent. He has asked …

Everybody believes (or claims to believe) in the rule of law, but how many people could tell you what it means? Although Tom Bingham, a retired senior law lord, has spent his life in its service, even he does not find defining it that easy. But his short book is a remarkable essay on the subject, stooping from panoptic heights …

Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) will probably be the most important agent of change in the 21st century. It will transform our economy, our culture, our politics and even our own bodies and minds in ways most people can hardly imagine. If you hear a scenario about the world in 2050 and it sounds …

Reviewed by: Venky Vembu Follow the Incredible Journey of a Single Dollar to See How the Global Economy Really Works You don’t normally look to a Hollywood musical for lessons on the effect of money supply in the economy. Yet, in the 1969 film Hello, Dolly!, the eponymous matchmaker Dolly Levi, played by a peppy Barbra Streisand, channels her late …

The Founder of World’s First University A very intellectual, smart and generous woman of her time, Fatima al-Fihri founded the world’s first university to continuously grant degrees, the University of al-Qarawiyyin, an institute that has provided education to many philosophers and scholars who went on to significantly contribute to the cumulative knowledge of humanity Did you know that a Muslim woman …

By: Laiba Muhammad Aamir How to Stop Struggling, and Start Living? “A depression can be a golden opportunity given to us by life to face head-on issues that matter greatly to our hearts, but which, out of haste or ignorance, have been swept under the carpet.” This is a beautiful and encouraging piece by Elif Shafak in her book ‘Black …