by Zubeida Mustafa
AS Americans focused on remembering those who died 10 years ago on Sept 11 at the World Trade Centre in New York and debated how this momentous event had changed their lives, it was an excellent idea by Dawn’s business pages to devote space to analysing the post-9/11 changes in the lives of Pakistanis. Continue reading The economy after 9/11
By Zubeida Mustafa
Shahid, my driver, is not educated. He is not even literate and can barely recognise the alphabets and numbers. On the other hand, Shahid is very intelligent and can connect the wires of my computer correctly; he also maintains the engine of my car pretty well. One day I asked Shahid why he didn’t study when his parents sent him to school in his childhood. With a technological bent of mind, he could have done so well in life.
Continue reading Why Shahid cannot read
An article by Max de Lotbiniere in the Guardian Weekly of 5 July 2011 (www.guardian.co.uk) cites a British Council Report released last month to show that English speakers in Third World countries had a higher earning power — by 25 per cent — than others. The research was conducted in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Cameroon and Rwanda. It also found that the US and UK invested a greater amount of their FDI in countries where English was more prevalent. Continue reading Something more on English
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
THE power crisis in Karachi has now begun to paralyse life in this metropolis. The immediate factor responsible is the KESC management’s failure — or is it unwillingness? — to negotiate an agreement with its workers.
I will not go into the details — 4,500 workers were recently put in the surplus pool while 6,000 untrained men were reportedly recruited on contract. KESC’s troubles are symptomatic of the bleak state of the labour sector in the country. With the national economy in the doldrums (having recorded a growth of less than three per cent this year) expectations are not high. We know who is being hit by this economic catastrophe.
Continue reading Crushing the working class
By Zubeida Mustafa
For long, women have been an invisible force in Pakistan as they have sustained the family quietly while keeping a low profile. But the stark reality is now emerging that as workers in the informal sector their role is no less significant even though they continue to remain in the background. Continue reading Oppression of women workers