اندھا بوڑھا
نعمان نذیر
صبح ہوتے ہی معمول سے کچھ دیر پہلے ہی اس کی آ نکھ کھل گئی ۔ یوں تو وہ آ غاز سے ہی اپنے کام میں مہارت کے ساتھ ساتھ وقت کی پابندی کا بھی قائل تھا۔ شاید ہی ان دس سالوں میں کھبی اس کو افسران بالا کی طرف سے اس بات کا اعتراض کیا گیا ہو کہ وہ وقت پہ دفتر نہیں پہنچا ۔ ان دس سالوں میں اس کے افسر جو متعدد تبدیل ہو چکے تھے۔ کوئی بھی اس کے کام پہ معترض نہ تھا۔۔۔۔۔۔۔
آج اس کی زندگی کا ایک اہم دن تھا۔ اس موقع پہ اس کی بیوی بھی اس کی خوشی میں برابر شریک تھی۔ اسی کی خدمت اور حوصلے سے تو وہ آ ج اس مقام تک پہنچا تھا۔۔۔۔۔۔۔۔
اس خبر کا انتظار اسے گزشتہ دو سال سے تھا ۔ وہ مسلسل اپنی محنت کا پھل پانے کے لئے آ ج تیار تھا ۔ یہ دن تھا اس کی محکمانہ ترقی کا۔۔۔۔۔
اس خبر کی اطلاع تو اسے نیم کلرک نے ایک مہینہ قبل ہی دے تھی۔ جب اس کی ترقی کا پروانہ مرکزی دفتر میں دستخط ہونے کا منتظر تھا۔ ۔۔۔
اس موقعہ کو یاد گار جانتے ہوئے اس نے نیا قیمتی لباس بھی تیار کروایا تھا ۔ گزشتہ اتوار کو وہ اپنی اہلیہ کے ہمراہ شہر کے سب سے بڑے شاپنگ مال میں کپڑے اور جوتے خریدنے گیا ۔ اس کی بیوی نے اپنے خرچ میں سے جمع کی گئی رقم سے مہنگے جوتے خرید کر تحفہ دیا۔ جو اس کی اس کامیابی کو اپنی کامیابی سمجھتی تھی ۔۔۔۔۔
آ خر کار 15 ستمبر کے دن کا سورج طلوع ہوگیا ۔ وہ معمول...
The financing operations of conventional microfinance institutions are usually based on interest (Usury/Riba) which is strictly prohibited by the Shariah of Islam, therefore, some Islamic microfinance institutions were set up in Pakistan to provide micro credit and other financial help to the deserving people based on Shariah compliant mechanism. The aim of this paper is to evaluate and compare the social and financial performance of these microfinance institutions in Pakistan. Two separate samples containing two microfinance institutions each, representing conventional and Islamic microfinance institutions has been selected for this study. Four stars, Wasil Foundation and Akhuwat from Islamic microfinance institutions while Asasah and Community Support Concern (CSC) from conventional microfinance institutions, rated by Mix market have been selected for this research paper. The social and financial performance based on outreach, profitability, efficiency/productivity, and portfolio quality of both these microfinance institutions were studied and compared. The study revealed that Islamic MFIs were more cost effective compared to conventional MFIs based on cost per borrower (CPB) and operating expenses to assets (OEA), while on the basis of financial efficiency conventional MFIs performed well. Though the financial and social performance of both Islamic and conventional MFIs have improved over the passage of time, still they have to struggle hard on various fronts especially to improve their profitability based on ROA and ROE measures to make the institutions profitable and sustainable. This study reveals that the successful operation of Akhuwat and Wasil Foundation for the last more than a decade latterly proves that Islamic MFIs are viable and sustainable even in the absence of charging interest from their clients. So, the society and the government should encourage and promote these Shariah compliant organizations in order to help the extremely marginalized people of the society.
Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were treated with HNO3 and H2SO4 to obtain activated/functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (A-MWCNTs). The functionalization increases the stability and dispersive properties of the A-MWCNTs. A-MWCNTs supported and unsupported bimetallic oxides nanoparticles were synthesized from their respective salts through chemical reduction method. Five different supported and unsupported bimetallic oxides nanoparticles (A-MWCNTs/Mn–Zn oxides and Mn-Zn oxides NPs), (A-MWCNTs/Fe-Mn oxides and Fe-Mn oxides NPs), (A-MWCNTs/Cu-Ti oxides and Cu-Ti oxides NPs), (A MWCNTs/Ag-Co oxides and Ag-Co oxides NPs) and (A-MWCNTs/Co-Ti oxides and Co-Ti oxides NPs) were prepared. The supported and unsupported bimetallic nanoparticles were characterized by various instrumental techniques like scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-rays (EDX) and X-rays diffraction (XRD). The SEM images shows that bimetallic oxides nanoparticles are mostly in spherical form. It also shows that the supported bimetallic oxides NPs are mostly in dispersed form on the surface of A-MWCNTs while the unsupported bimetallic oxides NPs are in agglomerated form and hence have low surface area as compared to the supported bimetallic oxides NPs. The EDX spectra show the concerned composition of the prepared supported and unsupported bimetallic oxides NPs. The EDX spectra also revealed that bimetallic NPs are in their oxides form as confirmed from the presence of oxygen. The presence of oxygen also confirms the functionalization of the A-MWCNTs, as carboxyl functional group is introduced during the acid treatment. All the supported and unsupported bimetallic oxides NPs were used as photocatalysts for the degradation of different dyes under UV irradiation in aqueous medium. In the photodegradation study, A-MWCNTs/Mn– Zn oxides and Mn-Zn oxides NPs were used for the photodegradation of malachite green, A MWCNTs/Fe-Mn oxides and Fe-Mn oxides NPs for methylene blue, A-MWCNTs/Cu-Ti oxides and Cu-Ti oxides NPs for alizarin red, A-MWCNTs/Ag-Co oxides and Ag-Co oxides NPs for congo red and A-MWCNTs/Co-Ti oxides and Co-Ti oxides NPs for Rhodamine-B dye photodegradation. The photodegradation of all the dyes shows that the supported bimetallic oxides NPs caused more degradation of the dye compared to the unsupported bimetallic oxides NPs. This is due to the dispersion of the bimetallic NPs on the surface of A-MWCNTs. The effect of various parameters such as the irradiation time, catalyst dosage, dye concentration and pH of the medium on the photodegradation of dyes was studied. The catalytic efficiency of recycled photocatalysts was also evaluated for the same dye under the same experimental conditions, which showed less activity compared to the original photocatalysts.