INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPHS

English Essay Series

Truth is a rare commodity despite the freedom by the print and electronic media. (CSS 2011)

Once considered the champion of honesty, integrity, truth, responsibility and straightforwardness, the media – both print and electronic – is no more the way it was, or at least it should have been. Changing requirements of the modern era have cast their shadow on almost all sectors of human society, and the media is among the most affected ones. Where materialism has injected commercialism in all segments connected with human lives, the media now pursues only economic and financial agenda, compromising on, and sometimes even totally ignoring, its primary objective, that is, disseminating truth in a truly unbiased and objective manner. Speaking just because it will win favours from some politicians, propagating just because it will get back some money from business tycoons, writing just because it will get advertisement from public and private companies, concealing just because it will harm someone’s financial interests, disclosing just because it will earn some cheap popularity, publishing just because this is what reader wants to see, this, more unfortunately only this, is the norm today’s media observes, the principle today’s media follows and the goal today’s media pursues.

What are the hurdles in our way to becoming a truly independent state? (CSS 2011)

Independence is a vast term; when it comes to the independence of a state, it becomes even vaster as it consists of so many other factors and indicators not relevant to individuals. Pakistan, which apparently got independence in 1947 as an outcome of a relentless struggle made by the Muslims of the Indian Subcontinent against the British-Hindu nexus, is still not truly independent. Yes, it does sound strange, but this is what the reality is. Shackles need not be visible always; and these are the invisible shackles that hinder us from chalking out an independent foreign policy, make independent economic decisions, devise independent social action plans and introduce independent administrative reforms. We are not a truly independent state and there are a number of hurdles like meagre resources, poor situation of national integration, undemocratic norms, illiteracy and unawareness, backwardness of women, brain drain and leadership crisis that have so far thwarted every effort we have made to reach the destination of real independence.

Without good communication skills, life becomes impossible in the modern world. (CSS 2011)

Being a social animal, man is bound to interact with the fellow humans living around him so as to fulfil his physical, psychological and emotional needs. This interaction has been in existence since the day Father Adam and Mother Eve were sent down to the Earth. In different periods of times, men have adopted different means and methods of interaction with others. Words, signals, letters, pictures, gestures and facial expressions, all these modes of communication have been facilitating human beings for centuries in the sharing of knowledge, feelings and ideas, and they still do their job in a highly remarkable way. With the advent of technology that has made the state borders redundant by introducing the world with the fruits of globalization, the importance of communication has increased manifolds. Conduct of business activities, sharing of political ideas, dissemination of information, exchange of knowledge, carrying out of negotiations, reaching consensus-based decisions, all require good communication skills. The more one is effective at communication, the more prospects does one enjoy of succeeding and progressing in life. This is the handwriting on the wall, easily readable, by no means ignorable.

Read More: CSS Essay Series

Disaster Management & Government Preparedness (CSS 2011)

The calamitous earthquake of 2005 and the devastating flood of 2010 certainly left indelible prints on our memory as a nation. Sufferings, pain and anguish that Pakistani people faced during these two events in the form of loss of lives, bodily injuries and damage to property, as well as psychological pain they caused would take perhaps many years more to be compensated for and forgotten. The lesson these two fateful events gave us is to be always prepared to face and fight the calamity, as it always comes sudden and uninvited. Disaster management apparatus has been available in Pakistan since more than a decade at both federal and provincial levels. Created on the basis of National Disaster Management Ordinance 2006, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was the first specialized institute in Pakistan for performing disaster management activities – preparation, response, rehabilitation and reconstruction. Although NDMA and the authorities created at provincial level, known as Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (PDMAs), try to contribute a lot at the time of disasters – which occur almost every year occasionally in the form of earthquakes while regularly in the form of minor or major floods – by providing relief items and coordinating the activities of various organizations, yet all the efforts these organization put in are by no means sufficient enough to deal with the crisis single-handedly, skilfully and professionally. More often than not the affected persons remain deprived of relief services for days, and reconstruction facilities for years. Those affected in the instance of the creation of Attabad Lake, who still live in shelter homes although eight years have passed since the disaster, can be presented as a case in point. Truly speaking, if it comes to disaster management, the federal as well as the provincial governments are still not fully prepared to offer a reasonable and sufficient response.