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Scarcity of water is a huge problem faced by many countries of the world, especially the developing ones. The effects of environmental degradation and poor management of available water resource have made water one of the scarcest resources in poor economies. As a result, there is a struggle for this resource and this sometimes leads to conflicts. The India-Pakistan water …

How tornadoes form and how they die is not fully understood, yet scientists probing those mysteries’ and aiming to improve warning systems’ have pinpointed key risk factors. A tornado, or twister, is a violently rotating column of air that extends between the Earth’s surface and a cloud, usually a cumulonimbus cloud. Most tornadoes last for less than ten minutes. Large …

The word budget has been derived from the French word ‘Bougett’ which means a pouch or a wallet. It was coined by England’s Chancellor of Exchequer, Mr William Ewart Gladstone, in 1860. The budget is taken in different ways in different countries; when we speak of the ‘budget’ of a department, it means expenditure estimates only. While in England the …

The net result of the plethora of amendments to ATA 1997 is that they have taken away the ‘specialty’ of the special law and have relegated it to the level of general penal law of the country. On 6th February, 2014, two bills were introduced in the National Assembly of Pakistan to make amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 (ATA …

The PML-N, PTI and an assortment of religio-political Islamic parties had been clamouring for ‘dialogue’ with the Taliban. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also constituted a four-member committee, comprising, PM’s Adviser Irfan Siddiqui, renowned journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai‚ former ambassador Rustam Shah Mehmand and former ISI official Major (R) Amir, for negotiations with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). But, the process soon hit …

The most basic precondition of a true democratic setup is a healthy civil-military relationship. In all democratic countries, an elected civilian government enjoys full control over the military. However, in Pakistan, control over governance has oscillated between the two; a decade of civilian supremacy followed by a decade of military rule. The reasons for this periodic shuffling are incompetent political …

The economic model pursued by the successive governments since the establishment of Pakistan has premised mainly on the fact that the creation of enabling environment for the big businesses through favourable economic policies, tax exemptions and rebates will pave the way for growth. The idea governing the formulation of business-friendly policies has been that the emergence of a powerful business …

Their confidence gives them clarity to justify things accurately in whatever situations that they’re in. Confidence is a unique and magnificent trait possess by most successful people who lead today’s world no matter whatever disciplines they are in. People who are confident will not have any lapse of judgement and misconduct in their work and life. Great people are the …

South Asia, being the region of critical importance, has a greater role to play in the world politics. But, its prospects to exert its influence are marred by the high level of mistrust between the states in the region. Inter-regional trade is just paltry when seen in the trade relations of other world regions. It is also a heavily-guarded region …

India’s new Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, due to his nationalist tendencies, has been compared to Deng Xiaoping, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Shinzo Abe, Tayyip Erdogan and Mahinda Rajapaksa. Commentators have variously described him as assertive, dynamic and authoritarian. Many believe he is a genuine economic reformer. Others worry about his ‘and his BJP’s hard-line and pro-Hindutva credentials, and wonder whether …