ہوائے دید کا چلنا تمھیں مبارک ہو
قفس زدوں کا مچلنا تمھیں مبارک ہو
ہمارے ہاتھ لگے ہو خریدیں کیوں نہ تمھیں
نگاہِ ناز پہ بکنا تمھیں مبارک ہو
میں حسن زادہ ہوں، کنعاں وطن سے آیا ہوں
کہ مجھ پہ تہمتیں دھرنا تمھیں مبارک ہو
مرا نصیب کہ مجھ پر نگاہ بھی نہ ہوئی
مرا وہ ہاتھ یوں ملنا تمھیں مبارک ہو
وہ اک نظر کہ شرابوں کے جام جیسی ہے
اب اس سے پینا ، بہکنا تمھیں مبارک ہو
The success of federalism in multiethnic societies greatly depends on fiscal decentralization. It empowers the provincial governments along with the local bodies at the grass root level. In this perspective fiscal decentralization needs structural arrangements in order to ensure revenue generation and appropriate expenditures. It helps to strengthen the national grid to avoid inter-provincial or intra-provincial discrepancies. This study illustrates the relationship between fiscal devolution and symmetrical horizontal economic development. It envisages the devolution plan (2001) introduced by former General Pervez Mushraff in Pakistan under which the Provincial Finance Commissions were established. This research would focus on Punjab as a case study to analyze the working of Provincial Finance Commission. This research tends to address the questions like what have been the patterns of fiscal decentralization in Pakistan? Did National Finance Commission and Provincial Finance Commission promote the principles of equitable devolution of resources in the divisible pool on the basis of need assessment? Could PFC be able to mitigate the intra-provincial disparities in Punjab? Did PFC take efficiency advantage in Punjab through the empowerment of local governments? This study would encompass the analysis of the resource allocation formula opted by the successive governments in the past till present and the counter arguments by the academia and the local body members. Qualitative and quantitative both methods would be used while incorporating primary as well secondary sources. This research concludes with the proposition that empowered local bodies and effective finance commission are the sine qua non of fiscal decentralization in democratic state like Pakistan.
The Aga-Khan University Institute for Educational Development (AKU-IED) offers a two-year Master in Education (M.Ed.) program to its cooperating educational institutions in the public and private sectors in several developing countries situated in South and Central Asia and Eastern Africa. The medium of instruction of the M.Ed. course is English. The program is highly interactive in nature. The course participants (CPs) are engaged in writing academic papers, class presentations, classroom discussion and group work, all of which require adequate proficiency in both oral and written English. English is normally taught as a second and third language in the countries from where the CPs come. Therefore, the CPs need to obtain good skills of academic writing, reading, listening and speaking to meet the academic requirements of the M.Ed. program. For that reason, the CPs are supported in their language skills through English Language Support Program (ELSP), eight week Pre-Session Intensive English Language Course (PIELC) as well as On-Going Language Support Course (OLSC) to address their entry level and emerging needs during the course of their studies respectively. The purpose of this research study was to evaluate the outcomes of the two components of the ELSP and analyze the extent to which ELSP prepared the CPs of the M.Ed. class to meet the academic requirements of the M.Ed. program at AKU-IED in English. The study used a questionnaire survey and qualitative research design; Qualitative data was collected through a focus group interview with the CPs of M.Ed class 2005, a semi-structured interview with the coordinator of ELSP and reviewing of some documents. The findings of the study indicated that PIELC was effective for the CPs with relatively upper-intermediate English language proficiency level, as the content for them was more relevant in respect to the requirements of the M.Ed. program. However, The CPs with intermediate and low-intermediate proficiency level found pre-session intensive English language course not very effective as the focus was more on basic elements of language and not on the academic requirements of the M.Ed. program for their groups. While it helped them develop their language skills in general, but it did not prepare the CPs for the M.Ed. program. The CPs' evaluation of OLSC was low, in general. It seemed to be helpful for the CPs with relatively low-intermediate proficiency level to some extent. However, the objectives of OLSC were also not achieved due to various reasons. As a result