Haj decision for women

WHILE this year’s Haj will again be marked by a limited number of pilgrims, the Saudi government’s decision to allow women to perform the rite...

Modi’s movies

THE world knows India through its movies. For more than a century, most of South Asia has been humming Bollywood tunes, mimicking Bollywood actors...

Flashpoint — South China Sea

The South China Sea is a crucial link in the ‘global commons’ connecting the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf and Europe. Right now it is...

Increasing exports is the key factor

IT is encouraging that the country has witnessed a considerable growth in its exports in the 2020-21 fiscal compared to the the previous financial...

The game changers

WOMEN’S economic empowerment is not just a buzzword, it’s a game-changing concept. Women’s economic participation, financial inclusion, and...

The US-China conflict and where it would lead to

The intensification of rivalry between United States and China has far-reaching global repercussions. It has been described as a new Cold War and is...

Pakistan’s Afghan quagmire

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s latest statement on Afghanistan appears to fall short of a careful evaluation of Pakistan’s future role...

Bandits Release 5 Hostages In Shikarpur’s Katcha Area: Police

Local police claimed Tuesday that kidnappers have released five people who were taken hostage from the Katcha area in Shikarpur district as a...

Govt Jacks Up Petrol, Diesel Prices By Up To Rs2.13

The federal government on Tuesday increased the price of petrol by Rs2.13 per litre for the next 15 days of June 2021, according to a notification...

The past, present and future of PTV

Growing up in the Pakistan of the 1980s, a time before Cartoon Network and HBO, and much before the bustle of private news channels, one of my...

Is Iran on the verge of full SCO membership?

Eager to enhance its negotiating leverage with the United States and Europe, Iran is projecting imminent membership of the China-led Shanghai...

Budget 2021 and the whines of fading hopes

Another budget for Pakistan has been released by the PTI government. Three years in power and three finance ministers tried to maintain the...

Israel’s New PM Is Proud Of Killing ‘Lots Of Arabs’

This is the second part of the article. Read the first part. Since the founding ideology of Israel is based upon the surreal notion of an Old...

Steel, ghee sectors want unfair concessions withdrawn

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: The steel industry on Tuesday reacted strongly over the decision of the government to withdraw Federal Excise Duty (FED) in...

Strategy ready to bring more retailers into tax net

ISLAMABAD: The government is evol­ving a comprehensive strategy to bring more retailers into the tax net from July 1, a senior official told Dawn...

Sindh to spend Rs329bn on development in FY22

KARACHI: The Sindh government has unveiled Rs329 billion Annual Development Programme (ADP) for 2021-22, which is more than double the revised ADP...

Centre to introduce mechanism to monitor projects by provinces

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to introduce a mechanism to monitor and evaluate development projects to be executed by provinces as well as...

Govt promises to tone down arrest powers of taxmen

ISLAMABAD: After a strong objection by the opposition to a provision in the finance bill granting powers to FBR officers to arrest and prosecute...

Of Rs172bn for health, Sindh to spend Rs24.73bn on fight against Covid in FY22

KARACHI: The Sindh government on Tuesday announced an increase of 30 per cent in the health allocation for financial year 2021-22 while setting...

Sindh presents Rs1,477.9bn tax-free budget

• CM Murad regrets shortfall in federal transfers to the province • Rs30.9bn proposed for social protection, economic sustainability • Rs10bn...

CJP questions Sindh government performance

Karachi one of the megacities of the world has a quagmire of problems that are endless and are in a bottomless pit and there is no solution in...

Human trafficking and modern slavery business

Human trafficking is also called “trafficking in persons”. It is an illegal use of force, enforcement of any such act without consent or approval...

The Analytical Angle: Addressing the woes of Pakistan’s electricity distribution sector

Electricity is the wheel that drives all facets of our daily lives such as production, consumption, communication, transportation and routine...

Increasing nuke arsenals

In the year 1945, two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were destroyed when the United States, then the sole nation in the world in...

Economic Stability

Need for a new development agenda

In 2015, all UN member states, including Pakistan, adopted the Sustainable Development Goals under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development....

Women police and VAWG

The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated violence against women and girls (VAWG) throughout the world. In Pakistan, a country that ranks 164th among 167...

Baseless defence budget criticism

Baseless defence budget criticism THE criticism of defence budget is unfounded. Europe and America have dealt with defence cost in two different...

Recovery from crisis to growth requires inclusivity, sustainability

Recovery from crisis to growth requires inclusivity, sustainability WE have achieved economic growth of 3.94% in the first full financial year...

After IIOJK, now Lakshadweep

Rs8bn allocated for Karachi’s 19 infrastructure development schemes

KARACHI: The Pakistan Peoples Party-led Sindh government has allocated Rs8 billion in the provincial budget for fiscal year 2021-22 for a total of...

Saudi women’s rights

Just a few days after it was confirmed that Saudi Arabia would not be allowing people who live outside the kingdom to perform Hajj, we have gotten...

A sacred oath

Scepticism towards the healthcare industry is nothing new, but the novel coronavirus pandemic has revealed to us the extent of it. The world over,...

A tale of fallacious choreography

On May 26, Bashar Al Assad was re-elected as Syria’s president for a further seven years with a victory margin out of grasp of democratic leaders...

The guard and the guardian of law

It was the New Year’s Eve of 2011, as Rebecca Kerubo, a female security guard, assumed her duty at an upmarket shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya....

BOI Incentives

The public in public decisions

What often passes for public participation in a public decision is nothing more than mere tokenism. To be able to distinguish substantial...

Expensive wars

The logic of financialization was ruining the US economy even as rapid industrialization – with massive support from American TNCs transferring...

Ending exploitation

In the poshest areas of Pakistan’s cities stand large houses, with marbled pillars and floors studded with elaborate mosaics. But the beautiful...

PARTLY FACETIOUS: Ganging up against China

"So what's up with the G-7?" "Ganging up against China!" "Hmmm, so Biden is doing a Trump!" "Well, he is doing a Trump with respect to only one...

Does Pakistan need the Chicago Boys to save its economy?

In 1956 the University of Chicago and Santiago’s Universidad Cato’lica–with the help of Ford Foundation–signed an exchange agreement to send...

Pakistan’s blame game and ways to end it

“When you blame others, you give up your power to change.”  Robert N. Anthony The quote by Robert N. Anthony epitomizes our understanding of...

G7 brightens outlook for new nature pact but pandemic threatens deadline

New pledges by G7 leaders on climate change and biodiversity loss will boost efforts to strike a global pact to protect nature but an October...

IMF waiting in the wings...

This is apropos a Business Recorder op-ed "IMF programme implementation" carried by the newspaper yesterday. The writer, Dr Sajjad Akhtar, has...

Remittance processing time improves: survey

KARACHI: An overwhelming majority of foreign investors recently surveyed by the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) has...

Nepra reserves quarterly tariff hike for KE

ISLAMABAD: While reserving its judgement on tariff increase, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Tuesday expressed...

India to expedite Amazon, Flipkart antitrust probe as tech focus intensifies

India's antitrust watchdog plans to expedite a restarted probe into allegations of anti-competitive behaviour at Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc's...

Industrialists unhappy over heavy increase in minimum wage in Sindh

KARACHI: Sindh government’s proposal to enhance the minimum monthly wage of a worker to Rs25,000 from Rs17,000 has irked Karachi-based...

Rs277.5bn set aside for education sector in Sindh

KARACHI: Presenting Sindh’s education budget for fiscal year 2021-22 on Tuesday, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah stressed the importance...

Economy and ‘feel-good’ gimmickry

Within weeks of taking over the Ministry of Finance, Shaukat Tarin has remarkably created a ‘feel-good’ sense about an otherwise low-growth and...