In recent literature corporate governance of banks has received a valuable interest from academic researchers and policy makers around the world. It is established that in banks failure or weakness of corporate governance has potential to destabilize the economy of a single country as well as other countries. “Basel Committee on banking regulation and Supervision” (BIS, 2010) highlights the key role of ownership structure in corporate governance of banks. Ownership concentration is a distinguished feature of corporations in many developing countries including Pakistan. When ownership is concentrated it helps to mitigate the conflicting issues of the owners and managers. In such a situation there is another type of conflict between owners with large equity and owners with small equity. In such case it is very important to know who the controlling shareholders are. This study empirically investigates the banks’ ownership structure effects in the wake of post privatization era in Pakistan. Addressing the needs of corporate governance of banks in Pakistan State Bank issued “Handbook of Corporate Governance” in 2003. The guidelines and recommendations provided in this handbook are extracted from the policies proposed by “Basel Committee on Corporate Governance”. The objective of the current study is to explore the impact of ownership concentration on i) performance, ii) risk taking and, iii) credit allocation efficiency using sample of commercial banks in Pakistan over the period 2000-2015. Data on concentration of ownership is collected from unconsolidated annual reports of banks. This study further categorizes large shareholders into i) state ownership, ii) family ownership, ii) institutional ownership, and iv) foreign ownership. The study assesses the impact of types of ownership on i) performance, ii) risk taking and, iii) credit allocation efficiency of sample commercial banks in Pakistan. This study also analyses the impact of managerial equity holdings on performance and risk taking of banks in Pakistan. The current study finds that in Pakistan bank performance increases when ownership is either dispersed (less than 30 percent) or highly concentrated (above 70 percent). However, performance decreases when ownership concentration is at intermediate level (30-75 percent on average). Government owned banks are detrimental to their bank performance while family, institutional and foreign ownership has positive influence on bank performance. Insider ownership has significant positive impact on bank performance when managers hold low or very high stakes in banks equity. When managerial ownership is between 12-40 percent, it has significant negative impact on bank performance. Further, the study finds that concentration of ownership has significant direct impact on bank risk taking in Pakistan. Government, family and institutional ownership increase bank risk taking while foreign ownership decreases bank risk taking. Managerial ownership has significantly direct impact on bank risk taking when managers’ ownership is either low or very high. Managerial ownership between 11-40 percent on average has negative impact on bank risk taking.Bank regulations decrease bank risk taking as ownership concentration increases. However, bank regulations affect bank risk taking by various types of owners, differently. This study also finds that ownership concentration of banks has negative impact on credit growth (public and private sector both). Ownership concentration has negative impact on credit allocation efficiency of banks. Government and foreign ownership of banks tend to invest inefficiently; however, family and institutional ownership of banks tend to allocate bank resources efficiently. The findings of this study conclude that in Pakistan high ownership concentration in banks helps to improve bank performance, enables banks to take more risk and invest in inefficient projects. Banks with majority of government ownership are associated with poor performance, high risk taking and inefficient credit allocation. Domestic ownership which comprises family and institutional ownership increases bank performance, bank risk taking and credit allocation efficiency. Foreign ownership of banks with majority of foreign ownership are associated with increased bank performance, less risk taking, and allocating resources to less efficient projects. The findings of this study highlight the need of policy intervention in order to regulate concentration of ownership in Pakistan’s banking industry. Policy makers are also suggested to take measures to encourage public and private banks to invest on rational investment projects instead of advancing credit to related parties.
المبحث الأول: الأدب النسائي کان للرجال (الشعراء) دور کبیر في النثر والشعر، ولکن لا یمکن ان تنکر دور ومحاولات النساء(الشاعرات) في الشعر، ولکن في البدایۃ کانت تعتبر أشعار ومنظومات النساء شيئًا معیبًا ، فلا یھتم الناس بالشاعرات، اللّھمّ إلا شاعرۃ واحدۃ کانت في قمۃ الشاعرات المبدعات وھي ’’بدر النساء بیگم‘‘ وکان ذلك في عام 1192۔ ولم یظھر إبداع النساء الشاعرات الکبیرات ولکن ظھر القلیل منه في النصف الأول من القرن التاسع عشر المیلادي ولم يکن من حقھن أن يظھرن إلی الساحۃ الأدبیۃ مباشرۃ وقد ظلت أشعارهن بین الجدران۔ وجاء ذکر الشاعرۃ (حضرت بی بی ولید) التي لھا مجموعات شعریہ متعددۃ وکان ذلک فی القرن الثامن عشر المیلادي وقد توفیت في 1836، وھناک بعض الشاعرات اللاتي جاء ذکرهن في ذلک العھد ومنھن: خضیہ بیگم، بی بی حلیم چندا ماہ لقاء، سید النساء، حیدری خانم، سلطان بیگم سلطان، شمس النساء، رضیہ خاتون جمیلہ، فخر النساء حجاب، رحمت النساء بیگم، سیدہ سردار بیگم اختر وغیرھن من الشاعرات المشھورات ۔ وتعتبر ماہ لقا چندا صاحبۃ الدیوان (الأولی) في الشعر الأردو وقد تم ترتیب دیوانھا في 1798م، 1213ھ، ولکن ذکر نصیر الدین ھاشمي بأن الشاعرۃ لطف النساء تعتبر صاحبۃ الدیوان الأول والأقدم من ماہ لقا چندا لأنھا رتبت دیوانھا في 1212ھ وکان ذلک قبل ماہ لقاء بسنۃ واحدۃ ، وھناک الکثیرات اللاتي لھن الفضل الکبیر في الشعر النسائي ومنھن: نواب شاہ جھاں، رضیہ جمیلہ، عابدہ، زاہدہ خاتون شروانیۃ، وتقول عنھا الدکتورۃ فاطمۃ حسن بأنھا ولدت في 1896ء وتوفیت في 1922 وعمرھا آنذاک 26 عاماً. وتقول الدکتورۃ سلطانہ بخش عن زاھدہ خاتون بأنھا نظمت عدۃ أشعار ولکن تخلصها الشعري کان (زخ ش) وقد ولدت في 1894م ۔ ومن الأمثلۃ علی شعرھا: میں شانے سے درگزری، أئینے سے باز آئی اب دل ہی نہیں جس میں ہوذوق خود آرائی ہر چیز کی صورت میں، ہوں نور کی مورت میں ناظر نہ ہو جب...
Holy Quran is the revealed book of Allah Almighty. This holy book has described the fundamental principles for the guidance and success of Human beings. One of the fundamental beliefs is that of life herein after (Akhirat). Allah Almighty has described several stages for the same life. The first destination of man purgatory which is like an interval between death and resurrection. This destination is the beginning point of the graciousness and severe pain in the life herein after. In the article under reference efforts have been made to explore and highlight the Quranic view point about purgatory (the interval between death and resurrection).
In the present study, a series of experiments were conducted in the Botanic Gardens of the Department of Botany, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad to test the relative effectivness of the three osmolytes in alleviating the adverse effects of drought stress on maize plants. The osmolytes were applied through different modes at different growth stages of maize plants under non-stress or water stress conditions. In the first experiment, varying levels (0, 30 and 60 mM) of each of the osmolytes were applied as foliar spray and presowing treatment of seeds of two cultivars (Agaiti-2002 and EV-1098). The plants raised from the treated seeds were grown in plastic pots filled with sandy loam soil under greenhouse conditions. After two weeks of the imposition of water stress, different levels (0, 30, and 60 mM) of each of the osmolytes were exogenously applied as a foliar spray to maize plants at the seedling, vegetative or both seedling and vegetative stages when grown under non-stress or water stress conditions (60% field capacity). Tween-20 (0.1%) was used as a surfactant for foliar spray. It was found that 30 mM of GB, or proline or trehalose was the most effective in promoting seedling growth under water stress conditions. However, GB and proline were more effective than trehalose in ameliorating the adverse effects of water stress on growth of both maize cultivars. It was found that effective concentration of exogenously applied osmolytes through seed soaking or through foliar application is 30 mM. During the 2 nd experiment the effective concentrations of these osmolytes (GB, proline and trehalose) as estimated from the 1 st experiment were applied as pre-sowing seed treatment and as foliar spray at different growth stages (seedling, vegetative and seedling+vegetative) as in the 1 st experiment to observe their effects in inducing drought tolerance maize plants in relation to various physiological and biochemical attributes. Exogenous application of osmolytes as presowing seed treatment or as foliar spray at different growth stages increased the photosynthetic rate of the plants of both cultivars that was associated with stomatal as well as non-stomatal factors. Plant water status as reflected by leaf water potential and leaf relative water content (RWC) was improved by the exogenously applied organic solutes and it was associated with leaf osmotic potential, endogenous GB and proline, which suggests the role of these osmolytes in osmotic adjustment. Exogenous application of these osmolytes increased the accumulation of nutrients particularly K, and shoot nutrient use efficiency in maize plants under water stress conditions. Exogenous application of compatible solutes enhanced the antioxidant capacity of drought stressed maize plants by increasing the activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, POD and CAT) and non-enzymatic compounds (phenolics, tocopherols and ascorbic acid) which is evident from the reduced MDA contents determined in the present study. Exogenously applied different osmolytes enhanced the seed and seed oil quality of both maize cultivars. Seed sugar, seed oil, seed protein, seed macro- and micronutriets increased due to exogenous application of these osmolytes. Moreover, improved seed oil quality was associated with enhanced oil unsaturation in terms of increased in oleic and linoleic acid contents as well as the oil lipophilic antioxidants (tocopherols, phenolics, flavonoids) which in-turn enhanced the oil antioxidant activity. Overall, exogenously applied different compatible solutes as a seed treatment or foliar application improved growth and yield of maize pants. Osmolyte-induced enhancement in growth and yield under water stress conditions was associated with increase in net CO 2 assimilation rate, plant water status, antioxidant capacity and nutrient accumulation, particularly of K. However, further studies are required to explicitly elucidate the mechanism of organic osmolytes influx through epidermis and target enzymes or metabolites to induce stress tolerance in plants. Moreover, further studies are important to work out cost-benefit ratios of the use of different organic osmolytes used in this study. This information will be undoubtedly beneficial for stakeholders, particularly the farmers.