Poverty being a multidimensional phenomenon invites the attention of policy makers and researchers in Pakistan to visualize it in non-conventional ways. There has been felt a dire need to shift the research endeavour from mere uni-dimensional estimation to multidimensional diagnostics so as to draw appropriate & workable policy inputs. As against the money metric approach, the latter accommodates all such dimensions as education, health, housing, public services, employment, thereby offers broader picture of economic development. This study aimed at identifying various socio-economic dimensions in the mapping of multidimensional poverty along with establishing cut-off points according to Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The study also addressed the estimation of incidence, depth & severity of multidimensional poverty across regions and time by employing modified and adjusted FGT class of poverty. Similarly, poverty correlates have also been explored with the aid of probabilistic empirical specifications. On an overall basis, incidence of multidimensional poverty was estimated as 43.34 percent in 1998-99. With minor fluctuation, the value for 2007-08 was 38.31 percent. The decline in urban area was more pronounced than that of urban area across the time and space. The regional situation exposes that the poverty index was higher in the rural area, but it was interesting to note that the percentage decrease was substantial in rural areas as compared to the urban areas. This indicates that growth has been effectively translated to the rural poor during that specific decade. The provincial trends also followed the overall shifting over the time. It revealed from the regional scenario that Sindh urban was the only region where incidence of multidimensional poverty increased overtime. The declining trend in Punjab province was higher than that of Sindh. Balochistan remained the worst of all in terms of reduction in multidimensional poverty. In terms of percentage contribution of incidence of multidimensional poverty to the overall country level poverty, Balochistan ranked number one followed by KPK, Sindh and Punjab during 1998-99. The urban contribution of Sindh in overall poverty was found to be the lowest followed by Punjab, KPK and Balochistan. But in 2007-08, the proportional contribution of Balochistan in the overall multidimensional poverty was the highest both in rural and urban areas. Similarly in each province there has been made further estimations at divisional level and thus identified the percentage contribution of each division to the overall poverty statistics in the respective provinces. For all the five years, separate multilogistic analysis indicate that probability of occurrence of poverty in a specific area was attributed to household size, household head age, education, child index, unemployment, dependency ratio, rural urban and provincial dummies. The research necessitates the priority intervention in the poorest segments as well as highly deprived regions which are contributing largely in the poverty index, particularly in the rural sector of respective province and division. The overall findings are offering the government some policy lessons for constructing a comprehensive Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) while meeting World Bank standards. Any poverty alleviation policy should be designed keeping multidimensional poverty statistics in view rather than merely focusing of uni-dimensional results. Finally, region specific policies would be more effective rather than targeting the poor on an overall basis which create regional inequalities – one of the major causes of violent conflict in the country.
پی۔ ایچ ۔ڈی 1 :امتیاز احمد رشید احمد صدیقی کے تنقیدی نظریات 2 :تو قیر احمد خاں اقبال کی شاعری میں امیجری 3:خالد علوی غزل کے چند جدید رجحانات (1936ء سے 1986ء) 4:شبیر حسن خان مکاتیب اقبال کا تدوین و تجزیہ 5:شمیم احمد فکر اقبال کا تنقیدی مطالعہ (نثری تحریروں کے حوالے سے ) 6:طاہره منصور اردو غزل کے تہذیبی تناظر 7 : عبد الرحمن اعظمی اردو میں عربی کے ادبی اور تعلیمی تراجم کا تنقیدی جائزہ 8:فردوس جہاں شعر اقبال کا سیاسی اور تہذیبی مطالعہ 9: محمد حسن اقبالیات کا تنقیدی جائزہ 10 :محمد نفیس حسن فکر اقبال کے مغربی سرچشمے 11 :نجمہ رحمانی آزادی کے بعد اردو غزل میں علامتی رجحان پروفیسر عبدالحق کی تحقیقی اور تنقیدی تصانیف کی تعداد بہت ہے۔ ان کی تصانیف کی فہرست کچھ اس طرح ہے۔
Customs and traditions have a significant role in the social set up of every society. These customs project a picture of its culture, manners, beliefs, mental inclinations and life style. For social advancement, it is necessary for a nation to take reformative steps with respect to changing situations. They should adopt the customs that are productive and avoid the harmful ones. It has been a ground reality that the progressive nations have got the leading position having modifying their customs and traditions, while those who have been conservative are backward in the global race restricting on their outdated norms and so called customs. In the prestigious age of the Holy Prophet (BPUH) and his followers, various laws and principles were formulated for the uplift of society, which provided a broad based concept of “custom”. The Islamic jurists have taken the custom as a source of Islamic legislation. In the article under reference, custom has been highlighted with respect to Islamic thoughts in various ages of Islamic history in a number of recommendations have been presented in order to uplift the society and to aware the Muslim theologians and Muftees accordingly.
The present study was aimed to isolate and characterize microorganisms capable of degrading polyester-based biodegradable plastics under natural soil conditions. Two fungi, designated as strain SS2 and S45, were isolated from soil that could degrade various polyesters of natural as well as synthetic origin, both in emulsion as well as film form. Strain SS2 and S45 were identified through 18S rRNA gene sequencing and found closely similar to Penicillium sp. and Aspergillus sp., having 100 and 99% similarity with Penicillium oxalicum and Aspergillus fumigatus, respectively. P. oxalicum SS2 could efficiently degrade polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and polyhydroxybutyrate-co-valerate (PHBV) emulsion as well as films in liquid medium within 36-48 hrs. The fungus showed maximum growth and degradation at 30°C that represented its mesophilic nature. Furthermore, the role of P. oxalicum SS2 in degradation of polyester films in soil environment was evaluated by soil burial experiment in lab-built microcosms where the fungus degraded PHB and PHBV films in 7 days. Aspergillus fumigatus strain S45 showed degradation potential against poly(caprolactone) (PCL) and polyurethane (PU). Bio-augmentation of the fungus in soil accelerated biodegradation of PCL film. While measurement of weight loss and evolution of CO2 showed breakdown of PU film upon inoculation with S45. The biodegradation of polyesters was further confirmed through various qualitative assays such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Aspergillus fumigatus strain S45 was found to show esterase activity during biodegradation of PU. This study demonstrated soil as a reservoir for polyester-degrading microorganisms which could be utilized for the development of novel waste management strategies.