SochBichar

City planning professionals—Khurram Farid and Nadeem Khurshid and a profession of city development, Imran Mohammed talk to us today about the sad plight of our cities.

Listen to them tell us

why our cities are so unlivable, how they are4 beholden to cars and captured by the rich.

Why whimsical projects like the metro are so expensive as well as badly designed and executed.

How cities, the most important invention known to man, have been messed up by the hubris of our princely political elite and colonial civil service who run cities without knowing their importance or potential.

Cities are the engines of growth. But in Pakistan their potential has been badly suppressed for decades.  Wake up listen to this and start reviewing and learning about cities. 

For the social scientists here, we need more research and thought on cities.

I visited LRBT and was impressed by its work and the number of people it was treating absolutely free.

So please listen to Colonel Moeen, the graceful and stern manager of the Lahore facility talk passionately about LRBT, its history and current workings. 

I urge young researchers to write about such successes as well.

I was impressed by the work of LRBT, probably Pakistan's best philanthropy.

Today, I talk to Mr. Parvez Iftikhar an extremely able telecom professional who has served in many capacities to make the extremely efficient telecom that we are all very proud of.

I was very dismayed to learn that our apparent success in this area may not be sustainable because of several conceptual flaws.

This is an extremely important area which most laymen as well as development experts know little of.

I learnt a lot form Parvez. I hope you will pay attention and learn too. I also hope that some of you will also direct some research and thinking towards this sector so our policy can be more informed.

IMF program yet again!

Pakistan never seems to leave teh emergency ward. 

Ali Khizar talks to us about the impending crisis and what can be done.  

Will we ever do teh necessary to get Pakitan out of the emergency ward or are we an addict?

The 5 million housing program is in. it is an important initiative and Economists should be analyzing it. 

Ali Khizar who heads up the Business Recorder research Unit has an analysis of the new policy. We discuss:

Should the government build houses?

Should government land be given?

Should banks extend credit?

Are there simple ‘win-win” private sector solutions?

Faizan Qayyum (@faizaanq) a young PhD student in Urbana-Champaign in Illinois is doing a thesis on local government and the civil service.

We talk to him to focus on

The necessity of local government for service delivery and effective development.

Can there be local government if DCs and Commissioners continue to run cities?

The importance of cities in economic development and why cities are an important unit on which local government should be based.

How local government requires autonomy at the lowest possible unit. Autonomy allows innovative competitive solutions to emerge.

Listen to this and let us reinvigorate research and debate into change. 

Listen to this fascinating discussion. There is much to learn and research here. 

You can also look at my book “Looking Back: How Pakistan Became an Asian Tiger in 2050” now available in hard copy in Pakistan here http://www.libertybooks.com/index.php?route=product/search&search=Nadeem%20ul%20haque&category_id=0Soft copy here. https://www.amazon.com/Looking-Back-Pakistan-Became-Asian-ebook/dp/B06X94135J/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1488133596&sr=1-1&keywords=nadeem+haque

Listen and learn and write some papers on this subject.  Don’t forget to cite Soch Bichar

Please subscribe to Soch Bichar if you like it. Tell you friends about it. That is the only way to grow a public discussion. And we need a wider conversation on these important subjects.

We have met Khalid Malik before. A well-known Pakistani development expert with long experience in China and the UNDP

Here we will learn about how to develop the state drawing upon his Chinese experience.

We are all cowed down with the term “Evidence Based Policy.” Proponents often talk about it with authority as if they have final evidence on that will tell us how the universe works. 

We really need to get deeper into what evidence is? How can we use it? how can we develop it? What does it mean?

We take these issues up with Professor Paul Cairney.

‘Paul Cairney is Professor of Politics and Public Policy, University of Stirling, UK (@Cairneypaul).  His research interests are in comparative public policy. His research spans comparisons of policy theories (Understanding Public Policy, 2012), methods associated with key theories (Handbook of Complexity and Public Policy, 2015), international policy processes (Global Tobacco Control, 2012), and comparisons of UK and devolved policymaking.’

His website is here

https://paulcairney.wordpress.com/cv/Evidence Based Policy

As I keep saying in Pakistan we have worked very hard to maintain the colonial system for our brown elite that has inherited it. Not surprisingly the main beneficiaries of this colonial system are the ones mort invested in preserving it—the civil service, the judiciary and the army.

Civil Service Reform remains a big issue and we will continue to explore it with as many people as possible.  I would urge all young people to think about it, research it and write about it. 

Here we take up the issue with Hasaan Khawar a young Pakistani who has been a civil servant and is now a consultant and a development practitioner.  

We will have 3 conversations with him to try to keep the podcast shorter.

Here is the third.

As I keep saying in Pakistan we have worked very hard to maintain the colonial system for our brown elite that has inherited it. Not surprisingly the main beneficiaries of this colonial system are the ones mort invested in preserving it—the civil service, the judiciary and the army.

Civil Service Reform remains a big issue and we will continue to explore it with as many people as possible.  I would urge all young people to think about it, research it and write about it. 

Here we take up the issue with Hasaan Khawar a young Pakistani who has been a civil servant and is now a consultant and a development practitioner.

We will have 3 conversations with him to try to keep the podcast shorter.

Here is Number 2