Wednesday, July 31, 2013
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Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Interview
Raja Ishfaq Sarwar
This interview was published in the sunday magazine of Daily WAQT dated July 28,2013
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Investing in Dreams
Investing in Dreams
As my car enters the posh surroundings of the Arfa Software Technology Park, I notice a plainly clad girl getting off a rickshaw and briskly walking towards the entrance. The spring in her step belies the haste with which she wants to reach her destination. Maybe she is late for a meeting; maybe she doesn’t want to be seen getting off a rickshaw in these posh settings. As we enter the lift together, I instantly recognize her. Sidra is one of the young entrepreneurs in the startup incubator setup by the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), called Plan9. Sidra, along with her co-founder, Waqas, founded an Internet e-commerce service last year and started selling handmade leather shoes to the world from a warehouse in Okara. Hometown now employs 11 people and uses technology to scale a traditional handicraft business in Pakistan. Two months ago, they closed a deal with Fab.com (world’s top ecommerce store), with customers in European and US markets. Sidra’s company, Hometown, is one of the 30+ IT startups housed in Plan9. Each startup in Plan9 is working on an innovative IT product ranging from fun mobile games to hardware gadgets. However, there is one thing all these entrepreneurs have in common: ambition. No one joins Plan9 to start a “respectable” company with a few thousand dollars in monthly revenue. Instead, every entrepreneur in Plan9 is pushed to work towards a dream of launching the next Google or Facebook from Pakistan. Government of Punjab, through Plan9, is investing in these dreams. Plan9 provides free, furnished office space in the Arfa Technology Park, laptops, stipends, administrative and legal help, training, funding for travel and access to world-class mentors and investors. The program is structured such that entrepreneurs can walk in with an idea and walk out with a company. Even though Plan9 is the first organized effort by the government in Pakistan to setup an incubator, such facilities are not uncommon in other countries. Seoul has over 300 incubators in one city; many successful companies in US have come out from famous incubators like the Y-Combinator and techstars; countries like Estonia (with the highest number of startups per head in Europe) have many successful incubators that have helped it leapfrog other countries in high-tech entrepreneurship. Another example is Israel, a country, with its successful startup ecosystem, which has produced more NASDAQ listed companies than all of Europe combined! Even one startup like Skype, founded by two young entrepreneurs in Sweden and sold for $8.5 Billion, could be a game changer for Pakistan’s economy. Our entrepreneurs have not disappointed us. Many started turning profits and attracting investments within our six-month incubation cycle. Others learnt the art of constructive failure and made something out of absolute nothing. PeerCloud, company with a struggling product plugged away to pair up with a VC from Khosla Ventures (one of the top Venture Capital firms in the Silicon Valley) who they met through Plan9. Another startup Eyedeus Labs was recently featured by TechCrunch and Gizmodo. Eyedeus Labs is also among the eight lucky startups from around the world selected by Google for Entrepreneurs to attend this summer's Blackbox Connect. At the same time, Plan9 has put together an Angel Investor Club, where successful businessmen in Pakistan get together every few weeks to evaluate Plan9 companies for possible investment. Already grown to a size of over 15 members, this group has also provided us an opportunity to develop a legal and corporate framework for investments in technology companies. In the absence of organized venture capital in Pakistan, we have started looking at governmentsponsored models like SBIC (Small Business Investment Company) in US and Yozma program in Israel to kickstart a VC industry in Pakistan. We believe that Hightech entrepreneurship can be one of the key enablers of our economy. If we can provide the right ecosystem, Pakistan, with a population of 200 times that of Estonia, can be a hub of startups. Statistically, it’s just a matter of time before Pakistan produces a Google or a Skype. And we, at Plan9, will not settle for anything less.
Power generation: Punjab government, China to invest in Balochistan
Power generation: Punjab government, China to invest in Balochistan
LAHORE: The government of Punjab has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China Power International (CPI) Holding Limited, a private company, to generate 2,400 megawatt (MW) electricity in Pakistan within the next two to three years.
Speaking to the media, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said that the MoU was pure investment through which two partners will establish four coal-fired power plants. The plants, which will be set up in the Gadani area of Lasbela district, will produce 600MW each.
Sharif said that coal will be imported to Gadani and the 2,400MW will be shifted to the National Grid Station to distribute power across the country. He said that the MoU was signed within 25 days after he along with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had called on the management of CPI during their China visit.
The Punjab chief minister said that the first plants producing 1,200MW will be finalised in two years and the next two in 48 months.
Sharif did not disclose how much was being invested by Punjab and CPI Holding, but said that his government had a “little share”.
When asked if the Balochistan government had been taken on board for the project, the Punjab chief minister replied in the affirmative and said that the people of the province should be happy as China and the Punjab government were making a big investment in Balochistan. He also said that all issues related to the project will be dealt with according to the constitution.
Balochistan is considered to be unsafe for Chinese engineers. The area of Gadani is roughly one hour drive from Karachi and has a Baloch population of roughly 20,000 people.
CPI Holding Limited is a holding company operating through the China Power International Development Limited subsidiary, which owns and operates power generation, transmission, and supply plants. The company is based in Wanchai, Hong Kong.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Recruitment of 72,000 educators approved by Punjab CM
Recruitment of 72,000 educators approved by Punjab CM
LAHORE: Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif has accorded approval to the recruitment of 72,000 educators in public schools of the province during next two years in addition to 80,000 educators recruited in the last fiscal year.
This step has been taken to ensure successful campaign for 100 percent enrollment in schools under enrolment emergency to be started from August 14 this year which requires more and more teachers to meet the expected phenomenal increase in the number of students throughout Punjab.
This was disclosed by Provincial Minister for Education Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan while presiding over a high level meeting in connection with Punjab Schools Reforms Roadmap, here on Wednesday. Additional Chief Secretary Mirza Sohail Amir, Secretary Higher Education Farhan Aziz Khawaja, Secretary Schools Education Abdul Jabbar Shaheen, MD Punjab Education Foundation Ambreen Raza, Chairman Punjab Text Book Board Nawazish Ali, Project Director PMIU Imran Sikandar Baloch, Project Director DSD Nadeem Kiyani, representative of DFID Barbra Paye, Javed Malik, representative of World Bank Umbreen Arif besides Taimur Khan of MCK and Hina Khan of McKinsey attended the meeting.
Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan said that the Punjab government would surely achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations (UN) more efficiently as compared to other provinces of Pakistan. The educationists from Punjab will play an exemplary role to accomplish this gigantic task, he added.
He revealed that 74 percent kids of the age of five to nine years were studying in primary schools of the province, according to a survey conducted by PSLM Data of the Federal Bureau of Statistics in 2011. It is heartening to learn that this ratio has increased to 87 percent enrolment in June 2013 according to Neilsen house hold survey which is a third party enrolment data.
The minister expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that the dropout rate after enrolment of the kids was as high as 38 percent just after one year of their first enrolment in Montessori level.
Punjab signs MoU to set up manufacturing plant of solar panels
Punjab signs MoU to set up manufacturing plant of solar panels
LAHORE: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding solar development project was signed between the Punjab government and an international consortium of five countries, including Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Austria and Pakistan, at the Chief Minister’s Office, here on Wednesday.
Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Energy Minister Sher Ali Khan, Secretary Energy and senior officials of departments concerned were also present.
Secretary Energy Usman Bajwa and Chief Executive Officer and Group Chairman of Swiss Company STCS AG Rainer Kertess signed the document on behalf of the Punjab government and the international consortium. respectively. Under the agreement, the international consortium would set up a plant of assembling and manufacturing of solar panels, solar cells and batteries in Faisalabad. The consortium would also consider the project of setting up 400 solar power projects each near industrial zones in Faisalabad, Sialkot, Gujranwala and Lahore while a 150-megawatt power plant would be set up along the motorway from Pindi Bhattian to Faisalabad.
The consortium will also introduce solar pumps for agriculture sector in Punjab, street lights in big cities of the province and those installed at Ring Road will be gradually converted to solar power. The consortium will also consider introduction and implementation of zero energy building system for large buildings besides evolving a project of supply of off-grid energy to industrial zones.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif welcomed the signing of the agreement between the Punjab government and international consortium and said that measures would be taken for the early implementation of the agreement in a transparent manner. He said that the Punjab government would provide all possible facilities to the international consortium. He said that nothing could be more important than solution of energy crisis, he said, therefore the Punjab government was implementing a comprehensive programme of encouragement of foreign investors.
The croup chairman of the consortium said that his group was interested in making heavy investment in solar energy sector in Pakistan, especially Punjab and the agreement would promote investment in the province.
Earlier, representatives of the international consortium met the chief minister and gave him a briefing on cooperation in solar energy sector.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Saad gives a push to Railways
Saad gives a push to Railways
Monday, July 22, 2013 - PAKISTAN Railways has launched its third goods train to accelerate the freight operations and increase revenue generation. The operation of the train reflects that Railways has started moving once again and with the passage of time not only more freight trains would be introduced but the entire system would be revamped.
We see the light at the end of the tunnel because soon after taking the rein of railways Ministry the young and vibrant Minister Saad Rafiq is spending his entire time on going through the ills in Railways and how to get the very important source of transportation out of the mess. He is visiting different departments and inspiring the workers and officials to restore lost glory to Railways. With the launch of the train and almost no significant report of failure of engines, over the past one month, one can say that the Minister has given a push to the Railways. Once upon a time, Pakistan Railways was a fascinating, cheap and most secure system of transportation all across the country and its network strengthened the federation. But with the passage of time and total apathy of the successive governments, scar of unionism that developed culture of wheeljam, overstaffing and theft of assets and corruption took the railways to almost its ultimate destination of junkyard. The last blows were terrorist related incidents destroying its tracks and land mafia that occupied the precious land bringing it to a virtual standstill. During the last two years of the previous government, there were daily reports of breakdowns of engines, non-availability of fuel and even disconnection of electricity at railway stations due to financial bankruptcy. But we hope that with sincerity of purpose, the Minister will continue with the same zeal and fervour to put the PR back on rail and make it the popular mean of transportation by utilizing the indigenous resources of the organisation in-cluding the Risalpur locomotive factory, Mughalpura work-shop and Islamabad Carriage factory to name a few.
News Report
Anti Corruption campaign in Major Institutes
This news report was published in Nidai Millat dated July 11,2013
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Punjab’s education success story
Punjab’s education success story
“One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. Education is the only solution. Education first.” So ended Malala Yousufzai’s rousing speech before the UN Youth Assembly on July 12. Malala voiced a call to action to fulfil the universal right to education for every child. With 40 million out of 70 million Pakistani children aged five to 19 not attending school, Pakistan is performing poorly in this regard. Given this, it rightly seems that we have mountains to climb before we can educate all our children.
But this is not a column about how dismal things look, about how our government is inefficient, and how our citizenry is unmotivated. It is about the steps that are being taken in the right direction, especially in Punjab. Here is a look at some of the “good news” from Punjab’s education sector, as Sir Michael Barber, Department for International Development’s (DFID) special representative for education in Pakistan, describes it. Due to a number of interventions, which are part of a larger reform road map, teacher presence and student attendance numbers have shown impressive increases in Punjab. Both the percentages of teachers present and of already enrolled students attending class were greater than 92 per cent in December 2012, up from 72 per cent and 82 per cent in September 2011, respectively. The percentage of schools with functioning facilities has also increased from 69 per cent to 91 per cent in the same time frame. Enrolment has seen increases for the five-to-nine-year age range, but most of these come from kachi (or kindergarten classes) and do not yet extend all the way through primary school. While some areas in Punjab have laudably passed the 90 per cent enrolment mark, others, such as rural areas and southern Punjab, as well as girls’ schools, clearly lag behind. In addition, students are learning more. The latest Annual Status of Education Report, which assessed over 60,000 children from all Punjab districts, reveals significant gains in learning outcomes for both literacy and numeracy. Clearly, there is much more work to be done, but the above indicators show progress.
A number of policy innovations, fostered by the DFID and led by the Punjab government, have made these developments possible. Greater monitoring of schools has been instrumental in improving teacher presence. This has been made possible by the tireless work done by a revamped programme monitoring and implementation unit. Also key is the Punjab Education Foundation, which enables poor children to attend low-cost private schools for free. There is also the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund (PEEF), established in 2009 to provide merit-based scholarships and assistance in the 16 less-developed districts in Punjab. It has awarded over 41,000 scholarships, worth over Rs2 billion.
A number of government policies specifically target girls and young women. Under the Punjab Education Sector Reform Programme, annual cash stipends worth Rs1.5 billion are provided to 380,000 girls in grades six to 10 in government schools, in 16 out of the 36 Punjab districts. The objective is to improve enrolment and increase retention. The beneficiary girls are given Rs2,400 a year conditional on an 80 per cent attendance rate.
Some of Punjab’s policies and successes will be replicable and some will need to be adapted for the other provinces. The DFID is providing its second-largest funding to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with the expectation that some of these successes can be reproduced there. Balochistan is implementing a programme similar to the PEEF, in a good example of inter-provincial policy learning.
All of the above implies that Punjab is making strides in solving the access issue and in increasing the quantity of education supplied, at least at the primary level. But what about the quality of education? There are serious issues with our curricula and in our textbooks, as well as in how we expect our students to learn from these materials. While it appears that the 2006 curriculum reform recommendations have been incorporated in Punjab’s latest textbooks, there is no analysis yet of the quality of these textbooks. Over the next few weeks, I will be undertaking exactly that task.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2013.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/579652/punjabs-education-success-story/
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
NewsUpdates on Railway
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Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Editorial Daily Waqt Lahore
Govt's Measures to reduce Load-shedding
Published in Daily Waqt, Lahore dated July 16, 2013
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Nawaz Sharif hopes to end power crisis during his tenure
FAISALABAD: Condemning gas theft taking place across Pakistan, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif vowed to stop such corrupt practices in the country and hoped to end the current power crisis during his present tenure.
The premier was speaking to the business community of Faisalabad on Monday.
Nawaz said that gas theft takes place with the help of people working in the gas companies, adding that his government will punish the perpetrators.
He further asked the nation to be patient as it will take at least few years to fix the electricity problem.
The prime minister said his government has taken the right direction and people will see the difference in coming years.
While speaking to the businessmen, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the government will ensure that Faisalabad gets 14 hours of gas supply from January onwards.
He reiterated the premier’s stance on gas theft and said stopping others from stealing the national resource was his first priority.
Electricity Production
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Monday that load shedding will decrease considerably in the coming months owing to a number of short projects initiated by the government, Radio Pakistan reported.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony of the 84 mega watt New Bong Escape Hydropower Project in Mirpur, he said projects undertaken to increase electricity production are long term ventures but since Pakistan has abundant water resources, the government will seek to utilize them optimally.
Nawaz said that a number of Chinese investors are working on energy projects in Pakistan, which when completed will help reduce the power crisis.
He further added that the Bong project would create economic opportunities for people in Azad Kashmir.
Nawaz assured foreign investors of assistance and cooperation.
He added that a one-window operation would be launched to facilitate investors.
Mills raided
PM Nawaz and Shahbaz visited a mill in Faisalabad that was involved in annual gas theft worth Rs0.2 billion, Express News reported.
The Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) recently started an operation against gas theft and had raided multiple commercial mills and factories.
The mill in Faisalabad was also raided as a part of this operation and was fined a total of Rs0.11 billion.
The SNGPL head briefed the premier and chief minister today about the raids conducted by the gas company.
A case was filed against the owner of the mill and all the equipment used for gas supply was seized.
Express News also reported that a mill in Multan – involved in gas theft worth Rs0.12 billion – was raided.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/577158/pm-nawaz-punjab-cm-visit-faisalabad-mill-involved-in-gas-theft/
Minorities pin hopes on PML-N for improved representation
Minorities pin hopes on PML-N for improved representation
ISLAMABAD: It was during the fag end of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government when a bill was tabled to increase the number of seats in the National Assembly for the minority communities to enhance their representation in the House from the existing 10 to 14 seats on proportionate basis.
The mover of the Bill was Akram Gill and the reason behind increasing the number of reserved seats in the National Assembly was that the existing number of seats, i.e. 10, was not in proportion with the number of total seats in House.
It was demanded in the Bill that the number of seats reserved for the minority communities in the National Assembly should be raised to 14, corresponding with the existing number of seats in the House on a proportionate basis.
The Central President of the Minority Wing of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI), Sajid Ishaq, said that this is high time for Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif to fulfil his promise that he had made with the minority communities during his election campaign and bring up the bill in the National Assembly.
“With such a thumping majority in the House and with all the support being extended by the like-minded and opposition parties on matters of national importance it should be very easy for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to fulfil this one promise that he has made with the minority communities of Pakistan and tuck a feather in the cap of PML-N government,” Sajid Ishaq said. The bill was tabled by Akram Gill in October 2012 and voting was scheduled to be held in February 2013. There was an unwritten consensus on the Bill and it seemed, at that time, that it will have a smooth passage in both the Houses, the National Assembly as well as the Senate, because it was not opposed nor any objections were raised against it when it was tabled.
“It was really disappointing and frustrating for the representative of minority communities in the House because the Bill could not be taken up for voting only because of lack of required quorum every time the House was in session!” Sajid Ishaq pointed out.And eventually the National Assembly completed its tenure with the move was put on pending agenda, to be taken up by the new government.
He said that now the representatives of the minority communities are looking up to the PML-N government, particularly towards Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif, who, during his election campaign, had vociferously announced to protect the rights of minority community and giving them due share in the government.
Sajid Ishaq pointed out that the number of seats for the minority community in the National Assembly was raised to 10, which at that time was in proportion with the number of seats in the House. “Since the number of seats in the House were increased, as such it was very pertinent that the number of seats for the minority communities should also have been increased proportionately,” he added.
“We demand of the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the government of the PML-N to take up the Bill for enhanced representation of the minority communities in proportion with the strength of the House and increase the number of reserved seats from existing 10 to 14 as has been suggested in the Bill tabled during the last government,” Sajid Ishaq said.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-190026-Minorities-pin-hopes-on-PML-N-for-improved-representation
Monday, July 8, 2013
News Report | PM's recent visit to CHINA
PM's recent visit to CHINA
This news report was published in Daily Jang, Dated July 08,2013
Interview | Raja Ishfaq Sarwar
Raja Ishfaq Sarwar
This interview was published in Daily Jang dated July 08, 2013.
Column | Ansar Abbasi
Good Governance of Shahbaz Sharif (2008-13)
This column was published in daily Express, dated February 14, 2013
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Interview
Kanwal Nauman
This interview was published in the Sunday magazine of daily WAQT dated June 23, 2013
Interview | Khawaja Sad Rafique
First Interview as Railway Minister
Published in Weekly Nidai Millat dated 04-10 July, 2013
