Water has been the cause of war on several occasions in history. In 1962, negotiations between Brazil and Paraguay over the development of Parana River region where interrupted when the former invaded the area and to control of the Guaira Falls site. Brazil took five years to withdraw its troops after an agreement with Paraguay to re-examine the development of the region was reached.
Water is the sensitive issue and if India continues to deny Pakistan to its share, it can lead to war between the two countries. The talk of a war with India over water is an alarming turn in the conflict debate but is not something new. Water has become the latest cause to stoke tensions between India and Pakistan; the world may be perilously close to its first water war.
Water is linked to the crises of climate change energy and food supplies and prices, and troubled financial markets.
The first attempt to use water as a military tool was made in 1503 when Leonardo da Vinci and Machiavelli planned to divert Amo River away from Pisa during the conflicts between Paris and Florence.
In early 2009, Pakistan was seen being on the drink of a water disaster, as the availability of the water which was 5000 cubic meter per capita 60 years ago has declined to 1,200 cubic meters. By 2020, it may fall to about 00 cubic meters per capita. In recent weeks water storage has worsened from 30 to 40 per sent because of the drought that may reduce the Rabi crops produce by 20 per cent.
The first phase of Baghlihar dam, a 450 MW hydroelectric power project initialed in the 1990s, was completed on October 10, 2008. India has blocked Pakistan’s water supply from Chenab River and it may increase the lead to war between two countries. If Pakistan does not show upright then Pakistan can become desert within the next 10 to 15 years.
Pakistan has objected to the design of the Kishanganga project for not being in line with the provisions of the Indus Water Treaty as it diverts the water of Jhelum River and there could be 30 per cent water shortage for Rabi crop season. India has almost completed a 22-kilometer long tunnel to divert Kishanganga waters to Wullar Lake in India held Jammu and Kashmir. It will reduce water levels downstream in the plains of Punjab province threatening irrigation and power projects. India attempt to use water as a geo-strategic tool is in contravention to the Indus treaty. Under the treaty, India has been allotted exclusive control over the waters of the eastern rivers which are the Rivi, the Beas and the Sutlej. Pakistan controls the water of the three western rivers- the Indus, the Jhelum and the Chenab. The base-source of water of all the rivers flows from the Indian side of Kashmir.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Driving on Air
As concerns for the environmental continues to grow, many industries the world over have even working hard to develop products that are environment friendly, including the automobile industry.
From solar to hydrogen to electric, many innovative ways have bee employed to power vehicles with varying results. One such concept is the use of air as a fuel substitute.
Developed by India
Unlike conventional engine cycles that depend on the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels, this engine that depends on the expansion of compressed air to move the pistons, resulting in a cleaner and quieter engine that expels nothing but very cold air without any traces of greenhouse gases. The compressed air used is stored in a carbon-fiber tank. Currently, two versions of this technology are on offer.
1- Single energy compressed air plus fuel engines, which use only compresses air.
2- Dual energy compressed air plus fuel engines, which may switch to fuel mode if the air runs out.
Two models of the air car are available; the MiniCAT which seats three people and the CityCAT, which has a capacity to seat six people.
In all other respects, both models are similar in that they can be bought either with the single compresses air or the dual energy version of the engine. Both versions can travel between 200 and 300 kilometers on one fill-up.
And when it cones to refilling, it takes about three minutes at a purpose built station.
The air is set to make its Unites States debut sometime this year.
Friday, January 22, 2010
National Saving Bonds (NSBs)
The Director General of Central Directorate of National Saving (CDNS) has introduced three-years, five-years and ten-years National Saving Bonds (NSBs) with coupon rates of 12.50, 12.55, and 12.60 per cent respectively. The minimum amount of investment is Rs20, 000 with no limit in maximum amount. These bonds can be bought from all National Saving Centers up to January 25. On January 29, the CDNS would allot the bonds and then CDC would process them till February 25, following which, investors can buy these bonds from the country’s all the three stock exchanges. The first ever listed and tradable NSB last week marked the beginning of new era in domestic debt management.
Under the rules individuals, mutual funds, provident/pension/ gratuity funds or trusts can invest in the new bonds. Banks and corporates cannot.
Under the rules those investing in NSBs must have an operational account or sub-account with CDC. NSBs are open-ended instrument of investment and as such there is no specific size of the issue. The profit n NSBs is payable every six months and liable to income tax but it is exempt from compulsory deduction of Zakat. Unlike other instruments of NSS, the new bonds are not redeemable before maturity.
Since banks are not allowed to invest in the new bonds it would help the government in avoiding a buildup in its borrowing from banks and would also compel banks to improve their rate of return on deposits. And as corporates are not eligible to invest in the new bonds, there is no chance for them to borrow money from banks invests in these bonds.
Bank employee’s funds are, however eligible to invest in NSBs and these funds would hopefully make some investment in the new bonds. Pension/provident/gratuity funds of state-run institutions in particular and those of corporate in general may also part of their funds into the zero-risk NSBs that also offer reasonable rates of return.
Since these bonds are listed and tradable on the three stocks exchanges, which means the investors would also have the opportunity to earn capital gain. But at the same time, chances of capital loss would be there and as such loss would be there and such investment in these bonds would require some-expertise unlike in case of NSS.
At the time passes eligible investor becomes familiar with these bonds, the government would be able to generate enough financial resources fro domestic market and domestic savings would grow. In recent years, massive government borrowings from the SBP resulted in unmanageable inflationary pressure. It’s borrowing from commercial banks also fuelled inflationary besides crowding out the private sector’s credit requirements.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Phone Fury
Acision, the world leading messaging company, announced that over 660 million smses were delivered across its messaging system during Eid in 48 hour period in Pakistan in October, 2009, a mind-boggling figure indeed.
Pakistan according to Acision is one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world. It is becoming very common of sending smses during festivals, mainly it is inexpensive, easy to use and supported by 100 per cent of all mobile sets in the market. Another reason is the introduction of SMS bundles in the market for the prepaid segment. Now SMS has becoming the most preferred choice for communication and is set to remain the most dominant area of revenue for mobile companies.
Take as a whole, one of the amazing growth in the telecommunication sector is due to number of factors, one of which is definitely the relentless and highly aggressive marketing activities by telecom sector who bombardment us with messages about their products and services from every direction.
There are five major players in the market and each one of them has come up with enticing and competitive packages. Let have a look at each of the company’s package offerings and of the users of these packages on how economical these packages are and whether they deliver on their promises.
Zong
As a late entrant is wisely focusing on converting customers from other networks and has also aimed at positioning itself as a ‘second SIM’ option by offering competitive packages and rates. Zong claim that they offer a lowest call rates in the industry, at 45 paisa only. In addition they have flexible ‘happy hour’ packages which claim is the only one of its kind in Pakistan.
Telenor
With Aniee, Sonia Jehan as their brand ambassadors, Telenor tool on the market leader, Mobilink. By introducing the catchy ‘talkshawk’ as its brand extension, it has captured lot of chunk of the market.
Warid Telecom
Crazy seems to the brand mantra for Warid telecom for they have packages titles ‘Voice Craze’, ‘Infinite Craze’ and ‘Sunday Craze’. Unfortunately all this craziness has failed to depict the clear cut image for the brand and perhaps Warid is the weakest in term of brand recall where telecom advertising is concerned.
Ufone
In the market having lot of clutters it took a brave player to make a mark with advertising that definitely stands out. Ufone’s Slapstick comedy is hard to miss. Ufone, too, claims to offer lowest services available and has scored a major success with its SMS bundle offer.
Mobilink
As the market leader in Pakistan, huge customer base has become its biggest asset as for many users it proves cheaper to remain with Mobilink since the most of their contacts are on the same network.
Though each service is doing best to outdo the other in the ‘rate race’, as some users use ‘jazz ladies first’ to call to their family and friends and talk to them for an hour as it charge them only Rs10 per hour.
It is obvious that the phone war are not going to end anytime soon- and if it results more benefit to the consumer, so much the better.
Track Your Car
Recession has given rise to price hikes and unemployment and thus to committing crimes as well. In addition to all the robberies, car snatching is perhaps the most common menace.
Out of the thousands of car stolen every year-expect for a few that are taken by teenagers for a joyride- most are stolen by professional thieves who sell them onwards or sell the valuable parts to mechanics or second-hand spare parts dealers. This risk of car stolen can not be completely stopped but by taking few preemptive measures can prevent it from happening- GPS system is one such solution.
GPS or global positioning is a device which helps in tracking, immobilizing and recovering a stolen vehicle, thus giving the car owner a sense of security that his valuable possession is safe and sound.
GPS determines the precise location of any object to which it is attached. It records the position of the assets at regular intervals-the recorded data can be stored within the tracking unit, or it ma be transmitted to a central data base using a cellular, radio or satellite modem embedded in the unit. This allows the object’s location to be displaced against a map backdrop, either in real-time or when analyzing the track offline.
There are three major categories of GPS tracking units- data loggers, data pushers and data pullers. The categories are divided on the base of how data logged and retrieved.
Data loggers; Data loggers are the most basic type of GPS. A GPS data logger simply logs the position of the object or asset at regular intervals and retains it in an internal memory. Usually they are used by the sportsmen in order to track their location during hiking, biking and jogging.
Data pushers; Data pushers are commonly used by companies that need to manage the large fleet of vehicles. If goods transported or sorted in a specific place, they can constantly monitor to avoid risk of being stolen.
Data pullers; Data pullers remain ‘switch on’ all the time and allows the user to ‘pull’ the information as frequently as needed. It is less common than data pusher but can prove to be useful for tracking down the stolen property.
In Pakistan some of the renowned companies offering tracking system are Trakker, Tracking World and SimTrack and the technology was introduced in Pakistan by Jameel Yusuf, owner of Trakker (Pvt) Ltd, in collaboration with South Africa’s DigiCore Holdings.
The irony is that in spite of all attempts criminals are always smart enough to find ways to beat the protection. The came case is true to car tracking system. Car lifters have devised new ways to disable the tracking system.
Many people have the view that car tracking system doesn’t give 100 per cent guarantee and they also do not afford the fee charges by the tracking companies.
The car thieves are using GSM jammers for disabling trackers installed in the vehicle. These jammers can block the communication transmitted between the tracking company and the vehicle and in this way the car’s whereabouts simply vanish from the monitoring screen of the tracking company. But GSM jammers are too expensive to be affordable by most unprofessional thieves; therefore they are not great threat. Most of the tracking system has a power back. If the main power source is cut off, the device switches to its backup and notifies the control room immediately about the main power cut. Therefore is the thief disabling the tracker, even then the tracking device can help track the vehicle. The tracker is easily to locate in small cars and diesel vehicles. Car thieves can easily locate the tracking system by opening the bonnet and making the vehicle ignition system direct. But now a lock system has been designed for the bonnet so that the car lifters cannot open it at once the vehicle has been immbolises by the tracker.
C-trackker system by Trakker Company cost of Rs50, 000/- at the time of installation and pays Rs11, 000/- annually.
‘Tracking device’ if affordable by the car owners, can really prove to be helpful as they minimize the risk of asset from being robbed.
Friday, November 20, 2009
War by America in Afghanistan
After the air bombing campaign had routed the Taliban in 2001, joyful shouts of victory resonated in the United States, and the loudest coming from the white house and the Pentagon.
But these were short-lived as the characteristics afghan resistance began. The reason was that United States and his military has under estimated the enemy.
Not only that, they have also committed two strategic blunders, the consequences of which are being not only suffered by the American but also the Pakistani people.
The first blunder was to allow the Taliban to escape to Pakistan. Had they secured the Durand line crossing sites prior to initiates the air bombing campaign? The second blunder was to put their military effort in the wrong direction, Iraq which left the main theatre, Afghanistan, undermanned.
Instead admitting the mistakes, whit house blames to Pakistan for their failure in war against terrorism, even though Pakistan had done far more than them.
The new appointed commander namely Gen Stanley McChrytal just in one operation concludes that “the situation is serious”, and that he would need 40,000 more troops. He has thus placed the president in a serious dilemma.
The situation has become more serious all these years because of serious imbalance in the mission assigned and the resource allocated- only Gen McChrytal has found that out now. The mission assigned to the US military when it was first deployed in Afghanistan is yet to accomplish eight years on. Why? The pentagon needs to ponder over this.
All military planning begin after the mission assigned. The mission analyzed in several factors, the main ones being the enemy (size, strengths, weakness), and from these emerge the resources that would be required to accomplished the mission in the given timeframe.
The pentagon’s appreciation of the enemy was the serious flawed. Taliban fighters are highly motivated as they are fighting got freedom from foreign occupation like the American Partisan Patriots did during the War of Independence. They are skilled, tenacious, resilient, battle-hardened, cunning, and masters of surprise and improvisation. Since time is always on the side of guerrillas, their strategy to war sown the enemy by making them bleed from a thousand wounds. History records that almost all military defeats were caused by one factor alone- misappreciation of enemy.
What was the mission assigned to the Gen McChrystal when he was appointed to the top post in Afghanistan? He was expected to defeat the insurgency, or at least create condition that allows the US troops to withdraw gracefully, which his predecessors fail to do. That the US high command is taking their time on his request for more troops, clearly suggestion hat he was to make do with the resources already there.
Gen McChrytal declared priority to secure Afghan population centers until Afghan forces are ready to assume responsibility for their country by 2013. Four to five years more? What would he do when his battlefield, which is presently confined to the southern and eastern parts of the country, is extended by the Taliban to the rest of the country?
How many more troops would he ten ask for?
A defensive counter-insurgency strategy can never succeed as it leave initiate with the guerillas. Finally history would repeat itself when are forced out Vietnam style. The only way Afghan population centers can be secured and people’s support won is through an offensive strategy that aims to dominate, and then defeat the insurgency. Thus, a sequence of operational movements would have to be initiated to up for the lost time: first, to secure the Durand line crossing sites to prevent the Guerillas from escaping to Pakistan; second isolate the area selected for the operation to prevent their escape from it; third to secure the mountains to deny their use as sanctuaries; and finally, to force them into the valleys for taking hem out by ground and air –delivered firepower.
An offensive strategy would need far more troops. The Americans went to Afghanistan to fight a war. They should plan to win it- unless they want to be known as superpower defeated twice by Guerillas. Blaming Pakistan and prodding it to ‘do more’ would not win the war for them.
But these were short-lived as the characteristics afghan resistance began. The reason was that United States and his military has under estimated the enemy.
Not only that, they have also committed two strategic blunders, the consequences of which are being not only suffered by the American but also the Pakistani people.
The first blunder was to allow the Taliban to escape to Pakistan. Had they secured the Durand line crossing sites prior to initiates the air bombing campaign? The second blunder was to put their military effort in the wrong direction, Iraq which left the main theatre, Afghanistan, undermanned.
Instead admitting the mistakes, whit house blames to Pakistan for their failure in war against terrorism, even though Pakistan had done far more than them.
The new appointed commander namely Gen Stanley McChrytal just in one operation concludes that “the situation is serious”, and that he would need 40,000 more troops. He has thus placed the president in a serious dilemma.
The situation has become more serious all these years because of serious imbalance in the mission assigned and the resource allocated- only Gen McChrytal has found that out now. The mission assigned to the US military when it was first deployed in Afghanistan is yet to accomplish eight years on. Why? The pentagon needs to ponder over this.
All military planning begin after the mission assigned. The mission analyzed in several factors, the main ones being the enemy (size, strengths, weakness), and from these emerge the resources that would be required to accomplished the mission in the given timeframe.
The pentagon’s appreciation of the enemy was the serious flawed. Taliban fighters are highly motivated as they are fighting got freedom from foreign occupation like the American Partisan Patriots did during the War of Independence. They are skilled, tenacious, resilient, battle-hardened, cunning, and masters of surprise and improvisation. Since time is always on the side of guerrillas, their strategy to war sown the enemy by making them bleed from a thousand wounds. History records that almost all military defeats were caused by one factor alone- misappreciation of enemy.
What was the mission assigned to the Gen McChrystal when he was appointed to the top post in Afghanistan? He was expected to defeat the insurgency, or at least create condition that allows the US troops to withdraw gracefully, which his predecessors fail to do. That the US high command is taking their time on his request for more troops, clearly suggestion hat he was to make do with the resources already there.
Gen McChrytal declared priority to secure Afghan population centers until Afghan forces are ready to assume responsibility for their country by 2013. Four to five years more? What would he do when his battlefield, which is presently confined to the southern and eastern parts of the country, is extended by the Taliban to the rest of the country?
How many more troops would he ten ask for?
A defensive counter-insurgency strategy can never succeed as it leave initiate with the guerillas. Finally history would repeat itself when are forced out Vietnam style. The only way Afghan population centers can be secured and people’s support won is through an offensive strategy that aims to dominate, and then defeat the insurgency. Thus, a sequence of operational movements would have to be initiated to up for the lost time: first, to secure the Durand line crossing sites to prevent the Guerillas from escaping to Pakistan; second isolate the area selected for the operation to prevent their escape from it; third to secure the mountains to deny their use as sanctuaries; and finally, to force them into the valleys for taking hem out by ground and air –delivered firepower.
An offensive strategy would need far more troops. The Americans went to Afghanistan to fight a war. They should plan to win it- unless they want to be known as superpower defeated twice by Guerillas. Blaming Pakistan and prodding it to ‘do more’ would not win the war for them.
Downfall of SME
Small and medium enterprises- no less than four million in number- are waiting for broad economic recovery to resume their operation in full swing.
In the last fiscal year, the SME sector grew 7.5 per cent but thousand of SMEs had to cut production, suspend business and sack employees as large-scale manufacturing (LSM) declined by 8.4 per cent, resulting in huge job orders. In addition, a 2 per cent plus inflation and almost equal bank interest rates couples with electricity and gas shortages hit them hard. Now as LSM has begun crawling up, inflation has decelerated and interest rates softened, business opportunities are opening up for SMEs. Some large-scale industries that have picked up pace, like automobiles, electronics, light engineering, edible oil, chemicals and paper board, outsource a lot of ancillary items from them. If they keep growing- and chances are that they will- it will lift sagging output of SMEs in manufacturing sector.
However, revival of textile industry that accounts for one third of LSM is still not insight and this may impact many of the SMEs’ productivity.
An executive member of the Union of small & medium enterprises (UNISAME) said, “Many of our colleagues who suspended work in the last fiscal year have reinstalled sacked employees and restarted production”.
“initially we have seen activity in downstream for automobiles, electronics and light engineering,” but “Banks have almost stopped lending to SMEs and that can block growth of this sector.” bankers say they have restarted making fresh loans to the private sector but they admit that lending to SMEs is still negligible. In October 2009, banks gave Rs72 billion fresh loan to private sector.
“The problem with SME sector is that its non-performing loan (NPLs) as percentage of net loans almost doubled in the last fiscal year which forced us to halt lending and see what went wrong and where. Some banks are still in that process while others are past this exercise and would soon restart lending to SMEs.
Representatives of SMEs say lack of access to bank credit is a perennial problem for almost all small business insisting that banks mostly lend to medium-sized enterprises that employ 50 or more people in their business and not to small business units.
The state bank of governor has launched a pilot programmed for training and development of SME portfolio of Rs383 “out of the total SME portfolio of Rs383 billion only Rs38.3 billion (or 10 percent) was being channeled to business entities having less than 20 employees.”
The causes of it probably be “unorganized way of doing business of small entities.” Most banks do not have tailor-made credit products for SMEs nor do they have the systems, tools and the expertise to examine SMEs credit proposal professionally and monitor their loan portfolios efficiently. These factors compel banks to regard SME loans as riskier and charge a higher interest, thus restricting SMEs’ outreach to bank credit.
The SBP has lately allowed commercial banks to lend up to Rs3 million to SMEs without collaterals and is encouraging hem to introduce cash-flow based methodology instead of relying on traditional collateral-based lending.
The SBP step towards giving training to credit officers based in SME clusters in Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Sialkot, and Gujrawala. The central bank is also establishing a Credit Guarantee Fund for Small and Rural Enterprises with the help of DFID of the UK.
These measures along with better economic environment may help SMEs revive their business. But the government will have to offer sector –specific incentives for SMEs keeping in view the origins of growth in our domestic economy and the areas that may show increase in domestic consumption. SMEDA officials named various areas where immediate action plan need to be implemented.
These include fruits and vegetable processing/packaging ; edible oil extraction from local oilseeds; cotton ginning; yarn; grey cloth making, manufacturing of readymade garments and other articles of textiles excluding towels and bed wear for domestic consumption; sports goods particularly gloves making and jewelry and furniture manufacturing etc.
In service sector, businessmen point out that SMEs catering to or involved in construction, transport, storage and communication, wholesale and retail trade are well-positioned to grow during this fiscal year. But thy say that unlike the SMEs in manufacturing sector fins it even harder to seek financing facilities from banks.
One of the reason that restrict SMEs access to formal financing is that foreign banks are simply averse to lending this sector and Islamic banks are yet to find ways to enhance their exposure. Foreign banks have around 0.5 percent shared in SMEs financing and Islamic banks about five per cent.
Major economies including China and India are now focused on driving domestic demand amidst a slow reversal of global recessionary trend. Pakistan also needs to continue a minimum stimulus spending to revive its own domestic consumption.
Some concrete steps to revive the SME sector like, providing seed money for setting up workers’ training institution and allowing duty drawbacks on machinery can help.
Businessmen suggest that part of export development funds can also be diverted to the SMEs with backward and forward linkages with export-oriented industries. Also SMEs in SMEs cluster cities must get maximum electricity and gas- and if load shedding becomes inevitable it must done under a per-announced schedule so that SMEs could rescheduled their work hours.
In the last fiscal year, the SME sector grew 7.5 per cent but thousand of SMEs had to cut production, suspend business and sack employees as large-scale manufacturing (LSM) declined by 8.4 per cent, resulting in huge job orders. In addition, a 2 per cent plus inflation and almost equal bank interest rates couples with electricity and gas shortages hit them hard. Now as LSM has begun crawling up, inflation has decelerated and interest rates softened, business opportunities are opening up for SMEs. Some large-scale industries that have picked up pace, like automobiles, electronics, light engineering, edible oil, chemicals and paper board, outsource a lot of ancillary items from them. If they keep growing- and chances are that they will- it will lift sagging output of SMEs in manufacturing sector.
However, revival of textile industry that accounts for one third of LSM is still not insight and this may impact many of the SMEs’ productivity.
An executive member of the Union of small & medium enterprises (UNISAME) said, “Many of our colleagues who suspended work in the last fiscal year have reinstalled sacked employees and restarted production”.
“initially we have seen activity in downstream for automobiles, electronics and light engineering,” but “Banks have almost stopped lending to SMEs and that can block growth of this sector.” bankers say they have restarted making fresh loans to the private sector but they admit that lending to SMEs is still negligible. In October 2009, banks gave Rs72 billion fresh loan to private sector.
“The problem with SME sector is that its non-performing loan (NPLs) as percentage of net loans almost doubled in the last fiscal year which forced us to halt lending and see what went wrong and where. Some banks are still in that process while others are past this exercise and would soon restart lending to SMEs.
Representatives of SMEs say lack of access to bank credit is a perennial problem for almost all small business insisting that banks mostly lend to medium-sized enterprises that employ 50 or more people in their business and not to small business units.
The state bank of governor has launched a pilot programmed for training and development of SME portfolio of Rs383 “out of the total SME portfolio of Rs383 billion only Rs38.3 billion (or 10 percent) was being channeled to business entities having less than 20 employees.”
The causes of it probably be “unorganized way of doing business of small entities.” Most banks do not have tailor-made credit products for SMEs nor do they have the systems, tools and the expertise to examine SMEs credit proposal professionally and monitor their loan portfolios efficiently. These factors compel banks to regard SME loans as riskier and charge a higher interest, thus restricting SMEs’ outreach to bank credit.
The SBP has lately allowed commercial banks to lend up to Rs3 million to SMEs without collaterals and is encouraging hem to introduce cash-flow based methodology instead of relying on traditional collateral-based lending.
The SBP step towards giving training to credit officers based in SME clusters in Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Sialkot, and Gujrawala. The central bank is also establishing a Credit Guarantee Fund for Small and Rural Enterprises with the help of DFID of the UK.
These measures along with better economic environment may help SMEs revive their business. But the government will have to offer sector –specific incentives for SMEs keeping in view the origins of growth in our domestic economy and the areas that may show increase in domestic consumption. SMEDA officials named various areas where immediate action plan need to be implemented.
These include fruits and vegetable processing/packaging ; edible oil extraction from local oilseeds; cotton ginning; yarn; grey cloth making, manufacturing of readymade garments and other articles of textiles excluding towels and bed wear for domestic consumption; sports goods particularly gloves making and jewelry and furniture manufacturing etc.
In service sector, businessmen point out that SMEs catering to or involved in construction, transport, storage and communication, wholesale and retail trade are well-positioned to grow during this fiscal year. But thy say that unlike the SMEs in manufacturing sector fins it even harder to seek financing facilities from banks.
One of the reason that restrict SMEs access to formal financing is that foreign banks are simply averse to lending this sector and Islamic banks are yet to find ways to enhance their exposure. Foreign banks have around 0.5 percent shared in SMEs financing and Islamic banks about five per cent.
Major economies including China and India are now focused on driving domestic demand amidst a slow reversal of global recessionary trend. Pakistan also needs to continue a minimum stimulus spending to revive its own domestic consumption.
Some concrete steps to revive the SME sector like, providing seed money for setting up workers’ training institution and allowing duty drawbacks on machinery can help.
Businessmen suggest that part of export development funds can also be diverted to the SMEs with backward and forward linkages with export-oriented industries. Also SMEs in SMEs cluster cities must get maximum electricity and gas- and if load shedding becomes inevitable it must done under a per-announced schedule so that SMEs could rescheduled their work hours.
Monday, July 27, 2009
VOICE OF A CHILD
Living in this world with minimum rights is the right of every person. As world has recognized many things but it is still a need to recognized the rights of the children. Today in the under developed countries, children are treated as a source of earning and it may give lead to child labor. Child labor is usual in families who are living below the poverty line. In the under developed countries, children are deprived from the human rights.
Most of the children work in the gas filling stations filling gas in cars, doing motor mechanics work, working in small unhygienic hotel, washing the cars, selling different products in the public places, and many more. Let’s realize the children rights. We can contribute to the rights of children by stop taking work from them and parents should realized the need of the children and give them the basic of them so that they may not get betrayed.
Most of the children work in the gas filling stations filling gas in cars, doing motor mechanics work, working in small unhygienic hotel, washing the cars, selling different products in the public places, and many more. Let’s realize the children rights. We can contribute to the rights of children by stop taking work from them and parents should realized the need of the children and give them the basic of them so that they may not get betrayed.
SUMMER HEADACHES
Summer can be headache free but how? That’s the main question is! People who suffer from headache know that the season brings with it unbearable heat, making body temperature high and make things worse, especially in our part of the world. A headache is a pain in the head or tissues surrounding the upper neck. The condition becomes worsens particularly in summer, as the scorching heat and sunlight trigger severe headaches, The cause a damage of small arteries in the scalp.
Now here are some common causes and preventive measures to avert headaches in this summer:
Meal timings
Skipping meal can be one of the prime cause headaches. If you feel headache because of prolonged fasting, break it and eat and you will feel a lot better instantly.
Lie down and use ice on your shoulders, neck and temples. Also, you can take some kind of pain killer for reducing headache to some extent.
Ice-cream headache
Perhaps the most common headache in summer is the ice-creme headache, trigger by the ingestion of cold beverages. One can easily get rid from this headache by avoiding cold fluids and ice crème, or simply by taking smaller and slower mouthfuls, so that the substance warms up quicker in the mouth. Another way to melt away ice crème headache is by pressing one’s tongue into the palate of the mouth.
Body posture
Poor body posture leads to tension headache, so it is better to maintain good body posture. You need to stretch your body every now and then at work, since the muscles of neck and shoulders contract due to poor body postures. Hence stretching help relive headache tremendously.
Bright light
Many headache suffers are sensitive to bright light and avoid it when they have a headache. So, bright light may be a headache trigger.
One should wear sunglasses for protection. A hat or cap may be helpful during the day.
Stress
During every one has to face stressful time and stress is major headache for trigger. This kind of suffers can easily manage stress by plan ahead of time for big family get-to gathers and holidays to avoid tension headache. Fort instance, try to avoid the last minutes shopping, ensuring that your car is serviced before traveling, and make travel reservations well in advance. Tension headache radiate pain through the neck and shoulders. A gently massage to scalp or shoulders good solution for this type of headache.
Herbal treatments
Betel leaves have cooling and analgesic properties. A paste made out of betel leaves applied to the center of headache gives immediate relief. The aroma of cloves is soothing for nerves.
Henna flowers have also tremendous cooling properties. It can be mixed with vinegar to get better results in excessive heat. Garlic and vinegar also have miraculous properties in reliving headache.
One can also soak almond in warm water overnight. Grind them into a paste in the morning and warm them slightly in pure ghee. Mix this in water or milk and drink. This helps in treating chronic headache problems. However it is not advised for head or cholesterol patients.
Dehydration
During summer, people prone to headache suffering should drink plenty if fluids to avoid headache. During summer, it is important to keep the body hydrated. It is better to drink plain water as carbonate soft drinks contains substance that trigger headache.
Substance that headache suffers should avoid include common ingredients in soft drinks such as caffeine and aspartame.
However it is very essential for those who are persistently suffering from headache to go regular medical and neurological examination to a special, especially if they have fever and neck pain along with headache.
Friday, May 29, 2009
GLOBAL VOICE OR GLOBAL WARNING
Melting of ice on the poles is the warning sign of global warning and also the global voice. Workshops and seminars are conducting in different part of world organized by different countries on global waning. We can easily judge the gravity of this issue by unanimously increasing industrialization, floods in different parts of world, urbanization, cutting of forests and increasingly doing nuclear experiences. A few suggestions are; (a) cut down the nuclear experiences (b) increase the forests and give them protection (c) protecting the ozone layer otherwise harmful rays will become responsible for various types of skin cancers (d) protecting the seas and rivers from pollution.
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