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Remembering Professor Nauman 1951-2009

My good friend and NED University Professor Mohammad Nauman passed away last Sunday. He was a dedicated teacher at NED Engineering University in Karachi. Born on December 19, 1951 in Bahawalpur, Nauman attended Cadet College, Petaro, and then graduated from NED University in electrical engineering in 1974. He attended North Carolina State University for his graduate work.



Nauman was a soft-spoken academic and a left-leaning intellectual of high caliber. He was loved by his friends,… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on November 16, 2009 at 8:08pm — 1 Comment

Life Goes On in Pakistan

The world media are focusing on scores of deadly terrorist attacks in the last four weeks claiming over 300 innocent lives in Pakistani cities, and tracking the military's counterinsurgency campaign unfolding in South Waziristan. However, the Pakistani blogosphere is buzzing with… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on November 12, 2009 at 5:01pm — 3 Comments

Social Entrepreneur Fixing India's Sanitation Crisis

Guest Post by Dost_Mittar



A simple solution to a disgusting problem

"The toilet is a part of the history of human hygiene which is critical chapter in the growth of civilization."

[Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak]



Anyone who has seen the blockbuster film “Slumdog Millionaire” would remember one… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on October 28, 2009 at 11:00pm — 2 Comments

Pakistan Education Reform: Rehman Fires Back at Hoodbhoy

Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy is a vocal critic of Pakistan's Higher Education Reform initiated by Dr. Ata ur Rahman, adviser to President Musharraf, in 2002. This reform resulted in over fivefold increase in public funding for universities, with a special emphasis on science, technology and engineering. The reform supported initiatives such as a free national digital… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on October 24, 2009 at 5:20pm — 3 Comments

Pakistani IT Industry Overview

Pakistan's information technology industry is quite young. It is in very early stages of development compared to the much older and bigger Indian IT industry, which had a significant headstart of at least a decade over Pakistan. During the lost decade of the 1990s under Bhutto and Sharif governments, Pakistani economy stagnated and its IT industry did not make any headway. However, the industry has grown at 40% CAGR… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on October 22, 2009 at 1:30pm — 19 Comments

India, Pakistan Contrasted by Roti, Kapra Aur Makaan

There is nothing more basic in terms of human necessities than the adequate availability of roti, kapra aur makaan. Going beyond these bare essentials of food, clothing and housing, one can add sanitation, health care and education. Let's examine how the two biggest nations in South Asia are coping with such fundamental necessities of their population:…

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Added by Riaz Haq on October 12, 2009 at 10:04pm — 3 Comments

Asia Gains in Top University Rankings 2009

The latest edition of the world's top universities from The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) has few surprises in 2009. The top 10 Universities are: Harvard (US), Cambridge (UK), Yale(US), UCL, London (UK), Imperial College, London and Oxford (both UK, joint 5), Chicago (US), Princeton (US), MIT, Massachusetts (US) and California Institute of Technology (US). As always, the top of the list is dominated by American and British Universities this year, together making up about 40% of the… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on October 9, 2009 at 10:00pm — 3 Comments

South Asia Lags in Human Development

In spite of the fact that Pakistan's Human Development Index (HDI) has risen by 1.30 percent per year from 0.402 to 0.572 during 1980-2007 period, and it has accelerated to 1.9% increase since 2000 when it was reported to be 0.499, its progress is not yet sufficient to improve the nation's ranking relative to other countries in regions like East Asia, which have been moving considerably faster. Pakistan's index… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on October 8, 2009 at 10:30am — 1 Comment

More on Quality of Higher Education in India and Pakistan

A recent Chowk.com article titled "Indian Technical Recession", written by Sharad Chandra, asks the following basic question about the quality of engineering education in India:



"So why Indian engineering education system is not capable of producing quality engineers for the country?"



Then the author goes on to answer his own question as follows:



"One of the… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on September 19, 2009 at 11:00pm — No Comments

Professor Hoodbhoy's Critique of Higher Education Reform in Pakistan



Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy is a vocal critic of Pakistan's Higher Education Reform initiated by Dr. Ata ur Rahman, adviser to President Musharraf, in 2002. This reform resulted in a fivefold increase in public funding for universities, with a special emphasis on science, technology and engineering. The reform supported initiatives such as a free national digital library… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on September 5, 2009 at 7:30am — 3 Comments

Appraising Higher Education Reform in Pakistan

Here's an editorial opinion published in Nature Magazine on the status of Pakistan's Higher Education Reform initiated under President Pervez Musharraf in 2002:



Massive funding for Pakistan's ailing universities holds many lessons for other developing nations.



Eight years ago, a task force advising Pakistan's former military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, laid out a bold plan to revitalize the… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on September 4, 2009 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Poor Quality of Higher Education in India and Pakistan



A few top-tier Indian schools, such as the elite Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), are often compared with world-class schools, but the American investors and businesses have finally learned the hard way that there is huge gap between the few tier one schools and the large number of tier two and three schools in India. Other than about 5000 graduates from the… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on September 3, 2009 at 6:00pm — 3 Comments

Pakistan's Dietary Habits and Sugar Crisis



World raw sugar futures hit a 28-year high of 23.52 cents a pound last week as the fears of a bad sugarcane harvest grew stronger. The key background factor is the continuing scarce supply scenario in the global market because of weather factors, particularly in India, the second largest producer of sugarcane, according to the… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on September 2, 2009 at 10:00am — 29 Comments

NY Times Fires Harpoon at Heart of Pak Aid Bill



The New York Times is quoting unnamed senior Obama administration and Congressional officials as claiming that the United States is accusing Pakistan of illegally modifying American-made Harpoon anti-ship missiles to expand its capability to strike land targets, a potential threat to India.



American military and intelligence officials reportedly say they suspect… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on August 30, 2009 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Pakistan Launches Production of Falco Drones

At a ceremony held at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC), Kamra, last Thursday, Air Marshal Farhat Hussain Khan, the chairman of the PAC board, announced the launch of Falco UAV production in Pakistan in collaboration with Selex Galileo of Italy. Speaking on the occasion, the Air Marshal said the… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on August 28, 2009 at 4:30pm — 1 Comment

Jaswant Acknowledges Quaid-e-Azam MA Jinnah as a "Great Indian"

Jinnah was a great Indian.



Gandhi himself called Jinnah a great Indian. Why don't we recognize that?



Jinnah stood against the might of the Congress party and against the British who didn't really like him.



Jinnah was not against Hindus.



Indian Muslims… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on August 19, 2009 at 8:55am — 8 Comments

Three Summer Days in Beijing



My family and I arrived on a Saturday evening in late July at Beijing's international airport's beautiful and spacious terminal 3, the new massive glass and steel structure that was opened just prior to last year's Summer Olympics in the city. I did not see it when I visited Beijing… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on August 8, 2009 at 9:05am — 6 Comments

Karachi in July 2009





Arrival in Karachi



My family and I arrived at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport on Tuesday in mid-July, 2009, after a short flight from Dubai in the afternoon. Our arrival was an hour later than scheduled. The disembarkation from the… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on August 5, 2009 at 8:44am — 3 Comments

Dubai in July



My family and I stopped in Dubai for a three-day vacation in July on our way to Pakistan from the United States. As I was planning the Dubai stopover, a friend of mine who maintains an apartment in Dubai for his frequent business trips there heard about it, and offered to me the use of his apartment and his driver for the duration of our stay. This friendly gesture… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on August 2, 2009 at 11:00am — 1 Comment

Science, Discovery and Daydreams



Much is often made of logic, methodical reasoning and rationality in Science, but it seems from the latest research about human mind that the actual process of… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on June 22, 2009 at 9:08pm — No Comments

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    Blog Posts

    India's Modi Brags About Ordering Transnational Assassinations

    In a campaign speech on May 1, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi bragged about his campaign of transnational assassinations of individuals he has labeled "terrorists". “Today, India doesn't send dossiers to the masters of terrorism, but gives them a dose and kills them on their home turf", he is reported to have said, according to a tweet posted by his BJP party. Last…

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    Posted by Riaz Haq on May 3, 2024 at 5:09pm

    Pakistanis' Insatiable Appetite For Smartphones

    Samsung is seeing strong demand for its locally assembled Galaxy S24 smartphones and tablets in Pakistan, according to Bloomberg. The company said it is struggling to meet demand. Pakistan’s mobile phone industry produced 21 million handsets while its smartphone imports surged over 100% in the last fiscal year, according to …

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    Posted by Riaz Haq on April 26, 2024 at 7:09pm

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