Why are we subsidizing car-use?
When I write about going high, everyone responds, “what about parking?” My response “we don’t need parking!” is met with shock.
We are...
How do consultants, donors and Pakistani ministries solve problems?
The flood of 2010 showed me (I was Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commision then) how dysfunctional policy was in Pakistan and...
Political will or bad policy and reform design?
Reform remains an elusive and little understood concept in Pakistan. The word is seldom used on TV. It is used even less...
Planning Integration
Last week’s announcement of Pakistan inaugurating a steering committee dedicated to integrated energy planning (IEP) – with the US support – is...
Is the modern professional too busy to exercise?
A friend of mine, who is several years younger, went for a regular medical check-up recently. He was told that...
No better time than now, to move back!
I moved back to Lahore close to the end of 2015, with a heavy heart, worried about the lack of attractive digital-business...
Powerful smog
Earlier this month the PM2.5 levels in Lahore went beyond 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter, which is 30 times more than the...
Pakistan looking into the sun
Pakistan entered the realms of solar power generation as late as in the year 2012, a very delayed development for a country...
Recipe for sustained growth of jobs in Pakistan to meet youth bulge
They ask me to give ideas for increasing employment in Pakistan. The answer they are expecting is build more industry, more industrial...
Our unsavoury grocery trip
I remember my mother used to say, “Eat a good meal first and then go to the grocery store.” I learnt the...