Citizen’s Trust in Political Leadership and Parliament of Pakistan: A ComparativeStudy of Punjab and Sindh

Present study compares the level of public trust in political leadership and the parliament in two provinces of Pakistan: Punjab and Sindh. By applying ordinal logistic regression models, study finds that respondents from Punjab had significantly more trust in their leader and parliament of the country as compared to the participants from Sindh. The variable, government performance, was observed to be the major predictor of public trust in political leadership and parliament between Punjab and Sindh. Additionally, people’s interest in political affairs and conflict resolving behavior of leadership were two other variables which significantly predict public level of trust. The study suggests that respondents who were more interested in the political affairs revealed a high degree of trust in leadership and parliament. Conversely, participants who suffered from the lack of leadership interest in conflict resolving behavior showed low level of trust in both leadership and parliament in both provinces. It is concluded that public trust and distrust are significantly associated with the socio-economic development of the country. Present study may help to understand the factors that may cause public distrust in leadership and parliament of the country. ______

A Disease Predictive Model for Chemotherapy of Karnal Bunt of Wheat

Karnal bunt disease caused by (Tilletia indica) is sporadic in nature. The fungus attacks the wheat crop in Feb. and March which are the susceptible stages (booting stage) of the host. During the survey it was estimated the disease is extending from north to south Punjab that are hot and dry areas of the province. Epidemiological studies revealed that range of minimum air temperature between (11-16 oC), maximum air temperature (27-31 oC) and rainfall more than (1.15 mm) during the vulnerable growth stages produced the critical circumstances for the invasion of the fungus on the wheat crop. Based upon the environmental conditions of two years data combined stepwise regression indicated that all the employed environmental factors explained 84 % of the in disease development, Out of 200 germplasm lines/ varieties only 16 lines were highly resistant and 9 were resistant. Protective spray of fungicides (Dolomite and Shelter) reduced the disease 62 to 63 % respectively.