Participatory Based Transactions in Sharī‘ah (Islamic Commercial Law) and Their Role in the Development of Rural Local Agricultural Sector in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Local farming is, indeed, the most important sector of agriculture through which farmers grow food. However, owing to their weak financial conditions, they are not able to get maximum benefits from their labours for most of the times. The case of Pakistani farmers, particularly in rural areas of KP (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), is not different in this connection. They frequently resort to formal and informal sources of financing to accomplish their basic agricultural requirements: both crops and non-crops inclusive. However, all these sources advance financing facility on interest basis. Being typical Muslims, such agricultural credit is, therefore, avoided by these farmers and, as a result, they always endure on their financial grounds. In such situations, some substitute arrangements are recommended to reciprocate with their problems. This alternative is offered by Sharī‘ah through various commercial transactions – among which participatory based transaction i.e. Mushārakah is the most suitable and important one. In the present work, various models are proposed on the basis of such transaction to fulfill various agricultural requirements of farmers, living in rural areas of KP.  In addition, such models are structured in the light of basic theory, available in the classical literature of Islamic law, in order to make them more Sharī‘ah based rather Sharī‘ah compliant. The proposed models are then, at the second stage, tested at ground level to strengthen further their viability for all stake holders. Findings show that all agricultural requirements, particularly heavy machinery and transport, can be realized through such models provided if they are applied in their true spirit. Moreover, content analysis and focused group technique of qualitative research have been used, as a research methodology, for the investigation of the issue in the present work.

Impact of Training and Development Practices on Leadership Skills of Middle Managers: A Comparative Study

Impact of training and development practices on leadership skills of middle managers: a comparative study is the title of this thesis. The objective of this research study was to show the relationship of training and development practices and improvement of leadership skills of middle managers of chosen organizations in comparison. To conduct this study, response was collected from the 60 middle managers of Pakistan International Airlines, Descon Engineering Limited, ICl/Akzonobel Chemicals, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, Allied bank Limited and National Bank of Pakistan, working in Lahore, where an established HR department and training and development practices were prevailing. To conduct the research both primary as well as secondary data was collected. The main focus of the research was on primary data, 6 informal interviews as well as questionnaires were used. Descriptive statistics techniques, graphs and bivariate correlation analysis by using SPSS were applied on the data collected through questionnaires and informal interviews. The conclusion revealed from the study is that training and development practices improved the leadership skills of the employees as it built confidence of recognition and made middle managers clearer of their objectives and customs of work in their organization to lead their colleagues fairly and with full devotion. But the fluctuation in results of different organizations came because of execution patterns of training, corporate culture, globalized culture pressures, morale, and willingness of employees to learn. Therefore, both training as well as fair development practices are important for the improvement of leadership skills in middle managers.