Bio-fuels:The true picture !

Recently i came across a blog post from one of my reading list. It was about bio-fuels being used as an alternate energy source.Before you continue to read on please go through the article over here: Spring of Autumn !

Since oil prices around the world are shooting up the low cost of bio-fuels seems to be very attractive. But you have to keep in mind the larger picture.As we all know that land is limited so eventually energy crops for bio fuels will compete with food crops. The farmer will definitely choose to cultivate energy crops as it will result in greater profits for him.This will cause a food shortage throughout the world.


In a country like Pakistan where food inflation is already in the double digits this would mean signing the death warrant of millions of people who live below the poverty line ! Whereas the rich would be happily fueling up their fancy cars with cheaper "cleaner" bio-fuels .

There are several other sources of alternate energy with less negative impacts that are waiting to be tapped . Surely we should work on those rather than bio-fuels which can create an unbalance in the world .

Heat !

Finally we're starting to feel the heat turn on in Karachi too. Its almost 35 centigrade outside. Personally i dislike summers, you sweat too much, get dehydrated ,get sun burns if you stay out for too long and if you're out of luck you might even faint due to low blood pressure. In short its really difficult to do anything in such weather.

Thanks to the power supply corporation there's also been an increase in power outages lately.Hot weather plus no electricity its a deadly combination !
To add to the misery my flu is back and its really killing me. Lets just hope it goes away soon.

Thats all for now. Take care all of you and protect yourself from the Sun.

PS: Conserve energy, turn off unnecessary lights and fans.

Energy !

The recent increase in petroleum prices has brought across a new wave of inflation and price hikes not only in Pakistan but all across the world. Sometimes i wonder is this some kind of plan to starve out the poor and low income groups across the globe and reduce the planet's population ? Or is it the greediness of the ultra-rich oil giants to milk the world of all the wealth.

Anyhow we cannot control the global oil prices but we should at least do what lies in our hands. I fail to understand why Pakistan being a country that has numerous diverse energy resources relies so heavily on oil. We have unlimited supply of coal at Thar and in regions of Balochistan why don't we explore that area ? Why have we failed to attract foreign investors in the coal mining sector ?

Why don't we shift get hydro-electricity ? If a consensus cannot be reached on large dams we should at least go ahead with smaller units.Something is better than nothing.Then we have wind energy. Why don't we use our wind corridors to generate free, non-polluting electricity ?

Last but not the least we have the Sun on our side. We might be uncertain about most of the things in life but one thing is sure : The sun will rise everyday. We can look forward to the Sun to meet our energy demands. The world has seen exponential growth of solar energy in recent years so why should Pakistan remain behind in the race ?

A country having a diverse energy mix is least affected by fluctuations in oil prices. We will have to realize this fact and shift to other means to meet our energy requirements and the sooner we act the better it is. 

It's Over !

Finally the cricket world cup fever comes to an end with India winning the world title. Well most of us already knew that it would be India who would be taking the cup home due to their home ground advantage and the marvelous performance they gave in this entire tournament.

Nonetheless Sri lanka  also did well and kept fighting till the end. But as the saying goes "May the best man win."

Anyways...its over now and nothing can be done. So back to work everyone !

Pak-India Cricket Semi Final !

Finally the date all of us had been waiting for has arrived ! 30 March 2011 marks the beginning of a new exciting day. Everyone is set for the world cup semi final going to be played amongst India and Pakistan.

Although there's been some news about rain in Mohali where the match is going to be played but lets hope for the best.
For now, everyone keep your fingers crossed . Looking forward to an exciting match.....

Get instant immigration to Canada,USA or UK !

Well the topic is not a new one but in-fact one that most of the Pakistani Youth dreams of.Most young Pakistani nationals wish to immigrate to the western developed world.An average Pakistani starts dreaming of acquiring higher education in a foreign university even before he clears high school. Soon after his intermediate or bachelors he'll approach agents to get admission in a "foreign university" even if it is ranked the lowest in that so called developed country.

Leaving behind much better options in his home town this guy finally persuades his parents that his future lies in a foreign country.The poor parents spend the entire savings of their life to send their 'talented' son abroad to acquire education.

Once approaching that country the son gets too involved in other things(usually enjoying the night-life etc.) and eventually education takes a back seat.After a few years this guy gets his degree barely obtaining passing marks.

Now when this boy comes back to Pakistan,his parents force him to find a job here.Confused between two different cultures, working in a mediocre Pakistani firm is an insult for this 'highly-educated' person.
Finally this guy returns to the country of his choice,becomes a second-class citizen over there and settles for a low class job.

Now i ask you whats the point of migrating to a foreign country where you'll always be treated as a second-class citizen ? Why immigrate to a foreign country if you can do better off in your own country ?
Why not make your own country a better place to live ?

Kindly leave your comments, i want your opinion on this.....

I'm Back !!

First of all i apologize to all my readers for not writing any sooner. I was extremely busy during the past few weeks...bombarded with assignments and tests.But finally now I'm free and not by choice ....

Actually this is the third year of my studies and i am supposed to be doing an internship this summer.I had even applied to an oil refinery a month before our summer vacations. So far so good.I kept waiting for their reply...internship offers from different industries came and went by...

Finally June arrived.I was really looking forward to the work experience i would be getting.As days passed i started getting worried.Usually companies reply until late May but in my case they kept me waiting until June.I called and checked on them but they told me to wait.

At last yesterday i got a reply.I was rejected. I was really confused,why i was rejected? I mean I'm pretty high up on my university merit list but still...
Later on i came to know only those people who'd applied to that refinery through personal references were selected.Those who had applied on merit basis were rejected.

Well what can i say? This is Pakistan. Anything is possible here. You don't have to be talented to be successful in this country,rather you have to have the right contacts so you can pull a string or two and get your desired post.

Anyways so here i am free and idle.No internship to do. No influential contacts to get my job done.I have talent, i have merit,but who cares !

Just how much do we have to pay ??

This post highlights a very serious issue that every Pakistani citizen should think about.Just how much tax do we exactly pay and where does it all go?

Recently i was going through my home electricity bill and it said income tax "xyz" amount.I found it rather amusing.Income tax on residential consumption of electricity? That's definitely not an income in-fact its an expenditure so why pay tax on expenditure?

Then there is the excise tax you pay for any property that you posses.There is an additional professional tax you pay for starting any business.Then there is income tax that we pay according to yearly turnover and profit. Being a science student i don't have much knowledge about these things but will somebody tell me exactly how much taxes do we have to pay?

I don't have any problem with paying taxes,but if there's a law it should be implemented for all.The rich and powerful in this country don't pay a single rupee in taxes.Its only the middle class that always suffers.

Still i believe most of us would be willing to pay taxes only if we got some assurance that it would be spent on development projects,building roads,hospitals,schools and universities for the public. But unfortunately we don't see any such progress around us.

At a time when countries around the globe are giving tax incentives to their citizens,new taxes are being introduced in Pakistan. I wonder what impact will it have on the business sector,one thing is clear its definitely not going to help it...

Load-shedding !

Finally after three years or so this is the first Saturday that i got off.Thanks to some really indigenous policy makers who decided that giving a long weekend break will save electricity.

I wonder how can we overcome this shortage of electricity just by saving energy ? What most people are not paying attention to is adding new mega-watts to the national grid.With growth in population this increase in demand of electricity will grow exponentially.We need new power plants and soon.

We cannot rely on thermal power plants only.They are way too expensive to operate.Its high time our country invests in renewable energy sources such as wind,solar,bio-gas,hydro-electricity.

To top it all, now we will have gas load shedding too.Amazing.We being an agricultural country are surrounded by livestock manure which can easily be utilized to make bio-gas.Why not go for the alternatives ? If we can spend billions on oil import we can definitely spare some money for these renewable energy projects.

Hungry and Homeless

Today i went shopping for some groceries.It would've been just another usual trip had it not been for that incident.While i was shopping a boy came up to me.He was about 8 or 9 years old,wearing a torn blue shirt,dirty black shorts and was bare footed.He asked me to buy bread for him.As a natural response i hushed him away at first.But when i turned to face him something just made me freeze.
Maybe it was his face,maybe it was his innocence or maybe it was his eyes.Deep hollow eyes that had no sparkle of life in them.It was as if i could see his hunger and helplessness through his eyes.His eyes were full of sorrow and fear.I felt sad for the poor boy and bought him some bread.
On my way back i could not concentrate.My mind was full of thoughts about the boy.Where did he live ? Who are his parents ? Why did his parents leave such a cute little child alone ? When will the boy have his next meal ? Will someone feed him ? Where will the poor fellow sleep at night ?
I don't know how many such hungry,homeless children are there in Pakistan but i know one thing,there are many.
Why is our society so ignorant of such poor innocent children ? Don't they deserve to live a normal happy life ? Don't they deserve three meals a day,a shelter and an education ? Why not-only because they were born poor ?
Our social security net will have to be strengthened to help these innocent souls. Their future is Pakistan's future.If the government is not willing to help them then we should help them on our own.They're our responsibility.They're our children...

Can we do it ??

For many years now Pakistan has been trying to come up with an internationally recognized research based university. The neighboring India and other regional countries like Malaysia,Singapore,China have become much more academically advanced and that has further increased the urgency to create new universities of international standards or improve the existing ones.
In 2009 Pakistan tried to setup an engineering university with French assistance but the attempt failed due to the law and order situation as probably French professors feared for their lives to teach in a country like Pakistan.
Plagiarism is one of the most important factor leading to declining standards in our universities.Copying others' work and using illegal methods to pass exams is making our educational system inefficient.
Also at many institutes appointed teachers are not up to the mark.A teacher is the primary source of knowledge to students.If the teacher is not competent enough how can students be good ?
Lack of proper equipment in laboratories, lack of funds,corruption in educational institutes are all major contributors that have led our educational system into this mess.
Of course there are certain institutions that are providing quality education such as Lahore University of Management Sciences,Ghulam Ishaq Khan Insitute of Engineering and Technology,IBA etc. But,it must be noted that these institutes are not affordable to all and the number of scholarships are extremely limited.
The country needs at least five to six universities of global recognition within the next 15 years to remain competitive in the academic field,but the question is can we do it ??

Of An Irresponsible Nation

Four to eight hours of daily load-shedding,a total shortage of 4500 MW of electricity,worst power shortage in the history of the country.Yet,when you go out in the mornings you can see street lights on.
Hundreds of small and big parks in the country where lights are on until midnight but in residential areas we have to live without electricity for hours at times.Why not close down all parks as soon as it gets dark and channel that electricity to hospitals,residential and industrial areas ? But no,people need relaxation,they need parks to enjoy...
Nobody cares about babies crying all night because of the heat,no one cares about students not being able to study for their exams.Why should anyone care for patients being operated in darkness with the help of torch light because there's no electricity?

And then we say why are we called the third world ? If in 63 years we can't light a bulb what else do we deserve ?

Why go far ?

I have never understood the nature of Pak-China relationship. Although we claim we are two countries that share same interests in the South-Asian region but we lack bilateral partnerships.
China is one of the strongest economy today.It is much more technologically advanced than Pakistan yet when Pakistan needs any expertise it looks towards Europe or America,why not look towards your neighbor for support?
The current crisis in the energy sector can be easily overcome by China's help.China produces a huge share of its electricity from coal.It is not a hidden fact that Pakistan too has large reserves of coal,so why not involve China and benefit from their experience?
When it comes to universities China produces a huge number of PhD's every year.But when Pakistan wants to build an international university we look towards the French. Why not build a university with Chinese partnership ?
International collaboration is necessary to survive in this global world,but why do we need to go far for everything when we have a supportive neighbor.
Pakistan should learn from the cooperation amongst the member countries of European Union and try to initiate new partnership programs with China.

Pakistan (The Land Of Pure)

The literal meaning of Pakistan is the Land Of Pure but has it lived upto its name ?

Today when you move across mega cities of Pakistan like Karachi, Lahore , Faisalabad, Peshawar or Quetta you'll see solid waste dumped across many streets and roads. Days and sometimes even months pass before that waste is picked and taken to some other dump site. This not only makes the city look ugly but also affects the health of people living in such areas.

If you walk down the road you will find two stroke rickshaws leaving behind a trail of bluish smoke .Uncontrolled emissions from buses, cars and motorcycles have made it difficult for many to breathe. The number of patients with asthma has constantly been increasing and allergies are becoming more common by the day.

Furthermore the industries have been given a free hand. There is no check on the emissions and effluent discarded by most industries.One of the biggest ship breaking yards of Asia at Gaddani, Balochistan is the worst example of such industries. There is no check as to what is dumped into the sea and most workers work without basic protection. This has resulted in accidents many at times and has literally destroyed the species of fish and prawn in that area.

The government needs to address this issue immediately. Steps should be taken to regulate the industries.Vehicle emissions should be reduced and two stroke rickshaws should be banned.Also, solid waste treatment plants should be setup across the country that will not only help clean the country but will also provide employment opportunities for skilled and unskilled labor.

Lets make the Land of Pure clean and green once again.