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iPhone 5 to add more flavour to the scrumptious Apple pie Page 02
profit.com.pk
Monday, 02 April, 2012
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sobering eWS reports ahead of the last budget before the next vote betray sobering times for the government as the entire production-export machinery, along with its support structures, stands paralysed. Aptma’s concern that not only will the projected $16 billion export target be missed, but also last year’s $14 billion number, is serious. (The final expected figure is nearer $12 billion). So much for Dr Sheikh’s boasts at our prebudget seminar shortly before the last budget presentation. And so much for the ‘growing out of the downturn’ mantra. immediately following the last budget, we expected serious activity in manufacturing and industry, to build the capacity of incorporating value addition in our unimpressive export mix. Not only was no such concern ever evident, but the current base of production was also not protected. Three quarters of the outgoing fiscal saw 40 per cent of the textile sector’s production capacity compromised. The special concession at the eU, gained after throwing in everything including the kitchen sink, and the MFN status to india, will also likely go begging – there isn’t enough production capacity to cater to new markets. There’s more. All the time the power crisis was brewing – resulting in rioting mobs now – the government has been guilty of choking industry’s other precious lifeline – credit. islamabad’s ridiculous borrowing in the money market kept risk averse banks from lending to the private sector, compounding the production problem by engineering a destructive liquidity crunch. The result is obvious – exports have dropped, employment is chronically low, growth will definitely be mute and state bank’s printing presses will keep inflation high. That all these are likely to come together around election time is enough debate about the free market’s performance under a parliamentary democracy setup.
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Left high & T dry TexTile exporTers criTicise nonpaymenT of cusTom rebaTe for lasT Two years from faisalabad dry porT Textile export sector is a major forex earning sector to the tune of 13 billion dollar plus per year. Textile exports of the country are crumbling and the industry and business were squeezing due to non availability of funds
Any disruption in the tempo or bottleneck in export facilitation would not only hurt the exports of the country but also have devastating impact on the industry causing productivity loss, job losses and industrial unrest
Sakina HuSain
W
hile the number of heinous crimes grows at a compounding rate within the country, not a day passes when the common man (read educated bourgeoisie elite) laments moral degeneration and lack of justice in the country. it’s like reading Madonna’s biography and thinking: Are people really capable of this? And more importantly: Am i capable of this? The conclusion that has so far not been braced is that the jungle and its laws offer more liberty in addition to a plethora of opportunities to men. And thus back gliding in to animal hood is may be not such a bad idea! There are little hurdles and no accountability to be faced irrespective of whichever extreme the avatar turns to. in a country where the richest 10 per cent consume about 40 per cent of the country’s income and
FaiSaLaBaD INP
exTile exporters have criticized nonpayment of custom rebate for the last two years from Faisalabad Dry port model collectorate. Millions of rupees in rebate are stuck up creating severe liquidity crunch for exporters who are already suffering from continuous load shedding of electricity and gas in Punjab, said Rana Arif Tauseef chairman Pakistan Textile exporters Association talking to newsmen here today. Rana Arif Tauseef expressed grave concern over stuck up amounts of exporters on account of custom rebate regime creating liquidity crunch. Pakistani exports were already under pressure due to prevailing economic, financial, industrial crisis in the country as well as persistent law and order situation which were badly affecting the industrial and trade activities, the productivity output and workers employment, he said. Textile export sector is a major forex earning sector to the tune of 13 billion dollar plus per year. Textile exports of the country are crumbling and the industry and business were squeezing due to non availability of funds, he claimed. held up amounts of exporter’s funds under the above head have created financial crunch for the exporters and they are unable to increase their exports, it was contended. This was evident from the
12% decline in textile exports in February of current fiscal export figures. Overall growth in textile exports in the past eight months posted a negative growth of 7.5 per cent, as it touched USD 7.97 billion in July-February this year from USD 8.62 billion over the corresponding period last year. This declining trend in export sector if not checked immediately would be dangerous for national economy, he argued. The export sector was life line of national economy and was a very sensitive sector. Any disruption in the tempo or bottleneck in export facilitation would not only hurt the exports of the country but also have devastating impact on the industry causing productivity loss, job losses and industrial unrest, he said. Rana Arif said that severe shortage of energy was already almost devastating the manufacturing and industrial sectors rendering export units dysfunctional and this situation is resulting in the loss of production. emphasizing the importance of conducive industrial promotion and productivity augmentation conditions in the country, PTeA chairman said, to keep the industrial wheel running and providing maximum job employment to working hands in the country, it was imperative to facilitate the optimum industrial activity. PTeA chairman demanded the Government to bail out textile industry and exports from current crisis by removing hurdles and provision of necessary incentives to increase the textile exports of the country. he demanded early release of blocked funds in custom rebate regime to enable the textile exporters to retain their hard won export markets at this time of tough competition in international markets.
In search of equity the poorest 20 per cent earn less than nine per cent, it is no wonder why the population at large will never aspire to even day dream the American dream; entrepreneurial abilities and ambition in the face of zero resources and a discriminatory financial system get completely busted in front of the luxuries attached with looting and plundering. And let’s face it, how many people who have achieved fair and reasonable successes has the nation celebrated or been made to acknowledge in the last 60 years? The only role models that we have been able to identify with, belong to many many centuries ago, hence the common predilection to find solutions for today in the examples of yesterday long past. in search of evidence against inequity,
the road ironically exhibits the first clue of disparity. This arena has witnessed the onslaught of more than 400,000 brand new 1300-1600cc cars in the last ten years. Since, there have not been many climbing the economic ladder as far as the statistics show, this increase in the standard of living can only be ascribed to our very esteemed 10 per cent of the population. And this figure excludes those for imported and other high powered vehicles. in comparison, the middle class who form an estimated 50 per cent of the population, and can biasedly be assumed to be participating in the market for smaller cars (8001000cc) can said to have been benefited from an additional 600,000 cars in the last decade. Which brings us to the low income
group where much is left to be desired. Their children are underweight, deprived of basic nutrition which seriously impairs both mental and physical growth. There is very little or no constructive education, and no quantifiable asset creation. Furthermore, the government has nurtured their status as beggars by dolling out a thousand rupees per poor household (BiSP) and thus handed out about Rs35-40b in 2011 alone. if in this anti subsidy, lacking political will establishment, policy makers had actually cared about implementing projects for their “poverty alleviation” fetish, reasonable investments into employment creation would have been made for the poor making this subsidy self-sustainable over the longer run. economics differentiates between wants and needs. While the current growth in the economy is driven through producing commodities that satisfy the rich man’s wants, his custodian staff is somehow
expected to internalise and respect the fact that good things are not meant for his class. The results of inequity are not unknown. Prisoners occupy 222 per cent of the current capacity of jails, the total value of stolen goods in 2011 exceeded Rs560m, snatched vehicles were valued at Rs45m in addition to a higher number of murders, kidnapping for ransom etc. And one can always rely on the accuracy of these official reports! in the way of devising solutions, two clear paths can be delineated; invest more in security, guns, ammo, special forces and their paraphernalia. The second path, although much simpler may take a lot from this society as this prescribes sharing one’s bounties, believing in nature’s abundance and other such philosophical ruminations. i wonder which is the Muslim way! The writer is an economic researcher and freelance financial journalist. She can be reached at sakina.husain@gmail.com
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Monday, 02 April, 2012
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Trading death The sleePing beAuTies of cusToms And Their uToPiAn lAws where you cAn Procure severAl ThousAnd Tones of diseAse for jusT A few hundred ThousAnd ruPees aLi HaiDER N Pakistan purchasing diseases is quite an easy task. in fact if you want to purchase an infection from an operation theatre of Germany or Japan all you have to do is to go to any one of the bulk traders of post consumer hazardous plastic scrap in Shahdara market and tell him to sell you hiV, hepatitis C or Tuberculosis. The rates vary with good infections fetching from Rs 100 to 150 per kg. You might be wondering what this is all about. Day in and day out we all talk about the lack of accountability in Pakistan. The authorities that are responsible for ensuring accountability are those working in connivance with plastic scrap traders of lahore to ensure clearance of containers carrying thousands of tones of infection into our local market. During a visit to Shahdara scrap market recently i was shocked to see huge stacks of used iV tubes and infusion bags, all medical waste up for sale to manufacturers in bulk. Upon inquiring where he had procured the medical waste the guy said, “Sahab, sab imported maal, (Sir, it’s all imported).” life is cheap in this land of the pure. As long as the average joe capitalist get’s to make a few thousand bucks here and a few thousand bucks there. Dengue killed more than 300 people in Punjab infecting several thousand in the area. it was an epidemic, spiraling out of control. The PiC fake medicine case according to reliable sources killed more than 250 people, while stating that the authorities willingly under reported the number of casualties in the
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scenario. As per Basel Convention plastic scrap is defined as hazardous if it belongs to any category contained in Annex i, and have characteristics defined in Annexure iii. annexure i, incluDes 1. Clinical waste, pharmaceutical waste, waste from production formulation and use of resin latex, plasticizers , glue/adhesive etc. 2. Waste having as constituents such as Selenium, Cadmium, Antimony, etc. annexure iii, incluDes 1. Characteristics such as explosiveness, poisonous, infectious, toxic, ecotoxic etc. News reports that have emerged over the last few weeks have been highly alarming. leading newspapers have reported that customs authorities “have allowed a large mass of imported infectious medical waste into the country under the garb of ‘PVC plastic scrap’ in blatant violation of Pakistan’s import policy and the Basel Convention. A visit to the local Shahdara plastic scrap market in lahore would clear all your doubts about the presence of hazardous plastic scrap that is being imported in large quantities from abroad. What is more disturbing is the fact that import policy of Pakistan specifically states that plastic scrap is “importable by manufacturers only for their own use subject to the condition that they shall furnish to Customs authorities a certificate from relevant government agency of the exporting countries that the goods are not hazardous and comply with the provisions of the Basel Convention.” The import policy further states that “it shall not be used in the production of bags for packing of foodstuff.” Plastic scrap market of Shahdara is clustered with traders who have in connivance with the customs authorities been getting their containers released in violation of the
import policy order. Besides the presence of clinical and surgical waste, “non-sterilised hazardous plastic scrap is also being crushed and sold openly in bulk” again strictly prohibited under local and international laws. A Smeda report, “Diagnostic Study on Plastic Products” gives us some more information on how casually medical waste is being converted into usable plastic products in Pakistan. The report states, “Plastic scrap recycling has developed into an industry in Pakistan. About 400 units are engaged in recycling of plastic scrap in Punjab. The sources of collection of scrap are household waste of broken unusable plastic items, industrial plastic cans, containers etc.,
medical waste must be incinerated with the resulting smoke processed so it is not released into the atmosphere. While the Smeda report casually remarks that syringes and other medical waste is processed into producing household utensils, sandals and washers and seals for water supply fittings. Just some of the products manufactured from the disposed medical waste of an hiV patient, a Tuberculosis or a hepatitis patient in some country abroad. So next time you decide to make nuggets for your son there might be a chance that he would be served those in a plastic utensil that has been manufactured from any one of these disease
hospital waste such as disposable syringes, branulas etc.” The report further states, “the recycled material is used for manufacture of low cost and inferior quality products such as, household utensils, Sandals/chappals, washers and seals for water supply fittings.” The report so casually mentioned these without even realizing that
ridden iV tubes and infusion bags, used as raw material. intriguingly custom documents that have been leaked, reveal that while the customs inspector in the description of the contents of the container mentions “post production plastic scrap,” he in the detailed report writes, “production pvc plastic scrap in shape of ‘infusion bags and tubing’ in pressed bails.” The
kunWaR kHuLDunE SHaHiD Disclaimer: This piece is an offshoot of the writer taking a nosedive into scuttlebutts and rumour mills. hence, the scribe cannot be held responsible, liable or blameworthy for eventual unpleasant surprises, unfulfilled promises or indeed Premature Ventricular Contractions. Being tech savvy connotes that one is multiple times more impatient than how God intended us to be. And if you’re one of the Apple brigade, you know that you’d make a four-year old spoilt brat, who has just seen her favourite Barbie, seem like a sculpture of tranquility. Therefore, even though the launch-date of the notso-originally (and indeed tentatively) titled iPhone 5 is a good few months away, you just can’t help sniffing around for a preview of what to expect. While the iPhone 4S launched in October last year was a small jump, the iPhone 5 is being touted as a prodigious leap – technically speaking at least. There are rumours being radiated, from as diverse origins as South Korean newspapers and Chinese manufacturing companies, that the latest
medical examiner at the lahore dry port also makes a similar claim, writing “sample comprises of one cutted dirty infusion bag, one small size piece of translucent cream colour flexible plastic tube (iV tube).” As in all things Pakistan the said container containing around 25000 tonnes of iV tubes and infusion bags was cleared by the custom authorities. in order to control movement of such hazardous waste, our neighbouring countries have implemented stringent regulations ranging from complete ban on imports of plastic scrap to import by only licensed Manufacturer having recycling and manufacturing setup. summary of regulation of few Developing countries are given below 1. China: Vinyl Chloride Polymer scrap waste and processed scrap waste is in the restricted list. 2. Sri lanka: The Ministry of environment to consider the import of plastic scrap on case to case basis. 3. india: The Requirement of license to import the plastic scrap after furnishing details of recycling and manufacturing setup. Unfortunately while other countries have imposed strict regulations governing the import of hazardous plastic waste, the import of such products in our country is going unchecked, with customs authorities blatantly violating laws to facilitate traders who aren’t even allowed to import such material in the first place. Customs officials have reportedly claimed in leading newspapers, “The custom officials were discharging their duties in accordance with import Policy and Basel Convention, besides rules and regulations of their own department.” Well, this sure isn’t happening in accordance with either the import policy or the Basel convention, maybe the Custom officials make their own import policy and conventions based on the amount of the ‘green jinnah’ being bribed with. As to the traders, they continue to happily operate as authorities sleep and ponder over when the next consignment of hazardous plastic waste would enter Pakistani territory where they would then be able to fill in their wallets while selling their conscience for just a few extra bucks. As for you, you’ll just get to taste the latest disease for just a few hundred bucks. how about that?
iPhone 5 iPhone offspring would feature a “gigantic” 4.6inch display. Not only is this 31.43 percent screen size hike, from the previous 3.5-inch display, quite colossal on its own, what it also implies is that the new display would need significantly more pixels than the 960 x 640, which the previous edition had. Maybe it’s the increasing size of the competitors that has led to this potential manoeuvre by Apple, or maybe it’s just that bigger is the new better! All the same, the magicians that work in the garb of iPhone engineers might believe that pulling rabbits of increasing sizes out of the proverbial hat might have become a tad boring, hence, they might just be vying to pull out a giraffe this time round – and who would want to bet against them! The word is that the new iPhone would also feature an iPad-esque sharp ‘retina’ display, which might just end up forcing english language professors to mull over revamping both the idioms, ‘as sharp as a razor’ and indeed ‘as sharp as a tack’. Then there is the scrumptious prospect of a new dock plug, which is much smaller in size – a 30-pin dock connector, and the forecast of the speed soaring up by as much as tenfold. Also, in a
to add more flavour to the scrumptious Apple pie
move reminiscent of Siri and iCloud in iPhone 4S – which proved to be blockbuster successes – Apple wants to go down the same lane and conjure up a new software. hence, after iOS 5.1, the latest edition might just throw the iOS 6 flavour in the ‘apple pie’. From the groundbreaking ‘big’ of the display, Apple is being said to go the ‘small’ route with the next SiM card size. And just like in this iPhone centric world of skewed adjectives, the impending display is said to be ‘gigantic’, the new nano SiM card is virtually microscopic. Nevertheless, despite all the forecasted coolness left, right and center the much hankered after memory storage hop from 64GB to 128GB is something that might have to wait – unless Apple is planning on staging a classic ‘surprise surprise’ act. All in all, the new features seem to be coming straight out of the reservoir of unparalleled coolness, and the latest iPhone edition must just comprehensively upset the ‘applecart’ of the rivals. The writer is Sub-Editor, Pakistan Today. He can be reached at khulduneshahid@gmail.com
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interview: Khwaja muhammad yousuf
pm Quality award for top manufactures iran moving forward iSLaMaBaD
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aMer sIal
hieF executive Officer of the National Productivity Organization Khawaja Muhammad Yousuf in an interview with Pakistan Today said that the government will be officially recognizing the contribution of the private sector by holding the first Prime Minister Quality Award within next few weeks. Prime Minister is the patron of the award and its basic objective is to acknowledge and appreciate the good practices of high achievers at national level. pt: wHat are npo acHievements During tHe last two years unDer your reign? Kmy: ever since i became Chief executive of NPO, my first and foremost objective was to make utmost personal efforts for the success of the organization that is focused on increasing the productivity of all the major economic sectors. NPO as you know has small budget and provides training and consultancy to the businesses. it was formed in 1961 under the aegis of the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) of which Pakistan was a founding member. APO has 20 members and they share with each other their experiences, but China the most successful country of the continent is not the member of the organization. So many valuable experiences which our businesses could have from China were not available. So we decided to obtain membership of World Network of Productivity Organizations (WNPO) which has 52 member countries. Now we have a pool of experters from 72 countries and we can take benefit from their expertise and experiences to enhance productivity. if we need we can consult experts from these 72 countries and train our trainers and get any of other resource person or consultant needed. Getting membership of WNPO is significant as it has increased our ability to further train the local businesses. We also plan to expand our operations, previously we had office only in islamabad but now we have opened offices in Karachi, lahore, Peshawar, Multan, Faisalabad, while one each in Mirpur and Quetta is in process. We are focused on enhancing productivity with quality to compete internationally. pt: How mucH new manpower you Have acquireD for tHese offices? Kmy: We have limited funds so we could not hire more than the required skeleton staff. instead of hiring, we have innovated by starting a national register for trainers and consultants. They have been included in our pool and their services are utilized on project to project basis. Now we have a central database of resource persons which could be utilized by any sector. interestingly now we are approached by the corporate sector to train their human resource.
Just to give one example haier has approached us to train their work force of over 3600 people working in the Air Conditioners, Refrigerators and Television manufacturing units. i think now our efforts are paying off as business leaders recognizing us for productivity enhancement and approaching us for solutions. every year were help 80 people to get training from abroad in various fields duration of which varies from a few days upto couple of months. While we also invite 20 to 25 experts from aboard every year to train our local people. During the last two years we have held three international conferences and it was a big achievement considering the negative impression about the country’s law and order situation. We successfully projected a soft image of Pakistan. pt: is npo worKing on some energy relateD solution as it mainly affects our proDuctivity? Kmy: Yes energy is a big issue when we talk of productivity but there are two issues of the energy crisis. We are not mandated with the energy generation on which i cannot comment but we are working on energy efficiency in the textile and steel sector. During the last two years we have conducted energy audit of 80 textile mills and if they invest in what we propose they have at least 10 to 20 percent saving in their utility bills. An average textile mill having 25,000 spindles gets a saving of average Rs 1 million per month by adopting energy efficiency measures. This initiate of NPO has also received a lot of reorganization from business community and now they are approaching us for energy audit and willing even to pay. Just to give one example one of Pakistan’s largest tent manufacturers was so impressed by our energy audit that they asked us to audit their other units as well. Now we have 38 applications for energy audit even tough initially we did it for free. industry people are usually averse to get involved with government entity in micro assessing any of their working but in energy audit case we are welcomed whole heartedly which i think is the best example of our success. pt: are you are also looKing at tHe wastage in tHe public sector? KMY: Yes we are also working with the public sector organizations. We are doing energy audit of eight key buildings in the federal capital including the Pakistan Secretariat and PM Secretariat and it will result in 35 percent energy savings in the government offices. But we are mainly focused on the private sector which is the key to enhance productivity and transmit its benefits to the people. We are working on a project to benchmark the cutlery and surgical sector, including fans with the financial assistance of the european Union. Both these are small industries but their potential is huge. We have asked CBi of Netherlands to train our
people that will increase their livelihood. We are also working on a common facility centre for the fan sector to improve their quality to retain their export markets. pt: wHy is tHe quality not recognizeD in tHe government circles? Kmy: Yes you are right as we have export trophy awards arranged by the chambers but no recognition for any business process invention at the official level. But let me inform you that for the first time in the history of Pakistan, the government will be recognizing the efforts of the business community by giving Prime Minister Quality Award (PMQA).The management and administration of the prestigious award is developed on the basis of the world recognized business excellence principles found in US Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and other similar awards. Today, more than 70 countries in the world and 17 countries in Asia have adopted the criteria for performance excellence. The intent of the PMQA is to promote awareness of productivity and its impact on competitiveness, understanding of the requirements for excellence in quality and sharing of information on successful strategies and on benefits derived. Prime Minister is the patron of the award and its basic objective is to acknowledge and appreciate the good practices of high achievers at national level. We have hired a consultant from Thailand for the awards as the country regularly holds Thailand Quality Awards. We are also being assisted by Singapore. The awards distribution ceremony was early planned to be held on March 23 but now is rescheduled to be held in April or May. pt: are you focusing on any sector to enHance proDuctivity? Kmy: We are not industry specific organization but recently i have asked the organization to focus on agriculture sector, which despite being our mainstay, has very few value added products for exports. We have come up with two projects in the agriculture sector. One of them, extraction of essential oils from fresh flowers, has immense potential. We don’t extract essential oils from our most prized flowers which have a huge demand internationally. What we found out during the project formulation that the essential oils industry has failed to take off in the country just because of lack of extraction technology which is easily available. We estimate is only Rs 2 million are required to setting up an extraction plant that could easily utilize produce of 100 acres of land. if this takes off in the country, the main gainers will be the farmers who will be earning something around Rs 1 million per acre. We have proposed to the government to allow us to set up 4 demo projects in the provinces with three year time frame during which we will be training the farmers from seed, cultivation, extraction and marketing. it will be a revolutionary step in the life of small farmers.
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CHauDHaRy BaDaR iqBaL
N the aftermath of the Great Depression of 1929, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the President of the United States of America had laid down his new deal policy comprising of the three RsRelief, Recovery and Reforms. One of the measures undertaken was the establishment of Federal emergency Relief Administration (FeRA) to provide relief to more than 30 million affectees, including the close to 7 million who had lost their jobs. Of the many tasks assigned to FeRA an interesting one was the handing out of the dole to the unemployed. Dole is the money that a state provides to its citizen without any services attained so as to enable them to make ends meet. This needs to be distinguished from the social security providences which are given to the pensioners, widows and the aged since the recipients of the dole are the public at large and not a particular age or sex group. it was a unique program in the modern history and, despite the bitter criticism levied against it for the complacency that it sets in and the loss of skills and manpower that it encourages, has been replicated the world over ever since. Pakistan’s Benazir income Support Program is an example of such. Mired by sanctions and economic woes iran too has put into effect a similar program, the targeted subsidies plan, whereby cash is handed out to the majority of Population. The first phase of the program was implemented near the end of 2010 under the auspices of the Ayatollah Ali Khamanei with Mahmoud Ahmadinijad, the iranian premier claiming it to be the “biggest economic plan of the previous 50 years”. it incorporated payment of about $40to the 90 per cent of the population with an aim to provide them with means of basic sustenance. The second phase of the program, expected to be executed by the end of April, yearns to decrease the number of recipients to 80 per cent of population while increasing the paid amount to $60. The money to be paid has been procured by reducing the general subsidies on fuel and food items. The idea behind this ‘targeted’ subsidies plan was to provide relief where it is most needed. Thus in essence the affluent with greater affordance capabilities, instead of being put into a different tax bracket so as to acquirehigher payments from them to the government are made to pay more for the basic amenities. This way the government ensures that only the impoverished are supported through subsidies therefore reducing the stress upon the national exchequer. Although, the policy does boast of some positive traits it has been criticised by many different quarters. The naysayers believe it’ll further escalate the precipitous inflation. Some of the opposition members in iranian parliament have contended that the inflation rate is 50 per cent, much larger a rate than the 20 per cent that the official figures quote. The situation has further aggravated after the imposition of the recent America led sanctions putting the iranian progress in hiatus and a devaluation of Rial. The figures such as the three fold increase in Petrol prices and 500 per cent rise in coal rates are often quoted to vindicate the economic failures. in such circumstances targeted subsidies plan, with its communist tendencies, would further hinder the economic growth. Also, it must be noted that the new deal policy of F. D. Roosevelt that the targeted subsidies plan emulates was a success only because the dole providence was just a small part of the variant policies implemented to tackle the depression. The plan alone is not sufficient to control the miseries of the aggrieved and as such is certainly not the biggest economic plan that Ahmadinijad wants it to be. if the iranian government earnestly wants to improve the conditions of the masses it must increase its export and control the inflation rather than focusing upon palliative measures. Since a healthy currency rate and cheap imports could only provide the sought long term relief. The iranian government is hard pressed to reconsider the nuclear programme as the time is running out for it to control the endless spiral of poverty that the sanctions are likely to push its people into. iran being a signatory of Non-proliferation treaty the government must weigh its options wisely. The sceptic west would not come to its assistance so long as the nuclear program persists and therefore the few Asian countries supporting iran are its only solace and it is here that the government should strive to improve economic ties.
CORPORATE CORNER bisp, state life insurance corporation sign agreement islamabaD: Benazir income Support Programme (BiSP) and the State life insurance Corporation Pakistan (SliC) have inked an agreement for three years from 2012 to 2015 to ensure 4.1 million breadwinners of BiSP’s beneficiary families. Besides Chairperson BiSP, Madame Farzana Raja and Chairman SliC, Mr. Shahid Siddiqi, Secretary BiSP and Mr. Sher Khan were also present on the occasion. The signing ceremony has been signed at the completion of one year (2011) agreement for 2.03 million breadwinners of BiSP beneficiary families between the two organizations and as an extension of the same coverage for another three years (2012 -2015). Madame Farzana Raja on the occasion appreciated the role of State life insurance Company in the success of the scheme which is an added social protection intervention launched by BiSP for pro-poor approach. Chairperson BiSP said that the scheme is part of the vision of BiSP aims at helping the dependant’s (mother, wife, children, sister) of deceased at the time of distress with the compensation of rupee 100,000 within the period of 30 days as a economic shelter which is being given first time in the history of Pakistan. The scheme would be applicable on the beneficiary families of BiSP across Pakistan. Press release
sanofi, diabetic association sign mou to promote better diabetes management
educate 1000 healthcare professionals from smaller towns and cities in early detection, better disease management and management of the complications in people with diabetes. Sanofi will also provide patient educational material and resources to help healthcare providers detect diabetes and manage patients better. Press release
communities in the country.” Press release
skimillac’s customer engagement activity
etihad airways wins Global corporate social responsibility leadership premium honours KaracHi: Sanofi announced today collaboration with the Diabetic Association of Pakistan (DAP) to improve the quality of care for diabetic patients in Pakistan. Diabetes is increasing at an alarming rate in Pakistan. There are currently (approx.) 7.1 million diabetic patients in Pakistan; by 2030 Pakistan is projected to have 11.4 million diabetics and will rank 10 th in the world. A MoU was signed today between the General Manager and Managing Director of Sanofi Pakistan, Mr. Tariq Wajid, and Prof. A. Samad Shera, Secretary General Diabetic Association of Pakistan. The distinguished Prof. Shera is also the honorary President of international Diabetes Federation (iDF) and heads the World health Organization (WhO) Collaborating Centre. The signing marks the launch of a nationwide initiative “Sanofi Kawish” (Sanofi endeavor), a collaborative effort between Sanofi and DAP (Diabetic Association of Pakistan) to improve the standards of diabetes care in Pakistan. Through this program, DAP will conduct 20 workshops to
laHore: etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab emirates, has won a prestigious Corporate Social Responsibility award in Pakistan. The award for Global Corporate Social Responsibility leadership Premium was presented at the first CSR Business excellence Awards 2012, organised by the National Forum for environment and health. The award recognized etihad Airways’ on-going commitment to incorporating ethical values, complying with legal requirements, and respecting individuals, communities and the environment. This was achieved through outstanding, innovative and world-class services and projects implemented in 2010-2011. Accepting the award on behalf of the airline, etihad Airways Area General Manager for Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, Amer Khan, said: “Corporate and individual philanthropy is an important part of etihad Airways’ CSR strategy. in Pakistan, our CSR programs focus on human development and economic empowerment to support underprivileged
KaracHi: A customer engagement activity was recently organized by Skimillac-low Fat and high Calcium milk in Park Towers, Clifton, and Karachi from 23 rd March to 25 th March 2012. Three day activity was carried out with free sampling, discount on purchase with gifts, free BMi checkup, aerobics and freeze act performance & different competitions amongst the audience. People actively participated and showed interest. Skimillac was highly appreciated because of its good taste and nutritional facts. Skimillac spokesperson informed media that Skimillac has already arranged this activity on various locations in lahore and islamabad; they will also organize the same mall activities at different locations.” Press release