The Local Government System of Pakistan: Participation, Representation and Empowerment of Women

Politics is the field where women have been ignored since ancient times, due to the political notions determined by ideological beliefs and cultural norms. Among the United Nations’ measures remove gender inequalities, includes recommendation for reserving 30 per cent seats for women in legislatures. In Pakistan, this remarkable change was effected in 2000, as it reserved 33 percent seats for women at the local government and 17 per cent at the Provincial/National Assemblies and the Senate level, so about 40,000 women entered in local bodies throughout the country in 2000-01, and almost 55,000 women contested local government in 2005. Despite these developments, women are still facing challenges that deter the full realization of their roles as active interlocutors of policy-making. Keeping in view these aspects, this paper has analyzed the local government, focusing on women, exploring whether the increasing number of women in legislatures is merely a numerical strength, or is empowering them, too, Whether they are the ‘subjects of change’ or the ‘agents of change.’ It is calculated that administrative structures of local government is male-dominated, whereas women are trying to ensure their position, however, gendered barriers remain unbroken

Vulnerability of Major Crops to Climate Change in Pakistan: Time Series Ascertainment

Climate change has emerged as a major environmental threat towards the agrarian economy of Pakistan with significant pressures on agriculture production abilities, ecosystem functioning, availability of water assets and also affecting the economic firmness. Increase in atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases has produced significant effects on the climate of our home land in the coming years and this would transform our normal climate, leading towards extreme weather happenings. The current study traced out the impact of climate change on major crops of Pakistan i.e. wheat, rice, maize, sugarcane and cotton by employing Vector Auto Regression (VAR) model. Yearly seasonal data (from 1983 to 2013) published by the Metrological Department of Pakistan and Agriculture Statistics of Pakistan was used. It was revealed that climate change has significant influence on production abilities of major crops in Pakistan. Temperature variable has lasting impacts on crop production. Average minimum temperature played a positive role towards the production of wheat, maize and cotton while reduced the production abilities of rice and sugarcane crop. In case of wheat it showed about 17 percent increase in production due to minimum temperature and showed about 4 percent increase in cotton production. Average maximum temperature also showed positive effects for cotton and maize crop and reduced the production abilities of wheat, rice and sugarcane crops. Average temperature increased production of cotton and sugarcane and lasted negative impacts on wheat, maize and rice. Average temperature increase from four to five degree till 2030 brought reduction in maize production about 5.8 percent. Rainfall is going to be beneficial for sugarcane crop xxiii production. However, it negatively affects wheat, maize and cotton crop. In case of rice it has a beneficial impact in initial period. However, in the long run, it has a negative impact. Variance decomposition showed that average rainfall has brought about 13 percent variations in cotton production hence creating a negative impact while in case of sugarcane it only showed about 2 percent variation. Water availability significantly added for the entire major crops showing that time availability of the water required fairly enhances crop productions. Fertilizer role towards crop production were also very positive i.e. timely fertilizer application enhanced crop production for all the crops. Augmenting research and development policies, public private partnership are the key options to mitigate the harmful effects. Introducing heat and drought resistant crop varieties, improvement in existing irrigation systems, adjusting timings of cultivation will definitely eliminate the catastrophic effects of climate change.