Internet for all
July 27, 2021
The internet has become part of everyone’s life all over the world, including Pakistan. While most of Pakistan has weak connectivity, our priority in our public investment remains building roads and brick and mortar. All this while people have limited access to devices to use the internet well.
During the pandemic, PIDE as well as other academic institutions have experienced extreme difficulty in teaching on the net due to the poor connectivity in most areas of Pakistan.
PIDE engaged in a four-month exercise on this subject, talking to CEOs of telcos, users, Silicon Valley Pakistani renowned experts as well as ecommerce developers to understand how Pakistan can get to internet connectivity for all.
The writer is an Islamabad-based physicist and author.
WHEN Prime Minister Imran Khan categorically endorsed China’s line on Uighur Muslims he succumbed to political expediency: “Because of our extreme proximity and relationship with China”, he said, “we actually accept the Chinese version.” A savvier politician facing the Chinese media might have tried a little hemming and hawing rather than dispense with truth, human rights and Muslim solidarity. Still, one must not be too harsh on the PM; any country which owes its life to a powerful patron has little leeway.
Much loved by some but feared by others, China today is an economic superpower. Geopolitics changed in 2017 when its GNP shot above that of the US. But what accounts for its phenomenal rise and ferocious progress? Equally, one may ask: why has Pakistan been on external life support from 1947 onward and barely limped along? The difference cries out for an explanation.
China has much to teach Pakistan, other than how minorities should be handled theprint.in - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theprint.in Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Overall poverty decreases in Pakistan
July 2, 2021
ISLAMABAD: Poverty has declined significantly in Punjab in the last 20 years as it reduced from 61.8 percent population living below the poverty line in 1998-99 to 16.3 percent in 2018-19.
Balochistan is on top among the provinces where 40 percent population is still living in clutches of poverty in 2018-19 but 20 years back in 1998-99, KP used to assume the top position for having poverty level of 71 percent population into the poverty trap.
This provincial poverty estimates have been calculated by economists of Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), an affiliate research and degree awarding institution of the Planning Commission of Pakistan.