Science and the Islamic world --- The quest for rapprochement

VIEW: Reality-check —Farrukh Saleem

The UN’s Human Development Index “looks beyond GDP to a broader definition of well-being” and measures the “impact of economic policies on quality of life”. In 2006, Pakistan ranked 134th out of 177 countries surveyed (meaning: economic policies are not having any impact on quality of life)

Here are some facts and figures from various standards — surveys and indices — which need to be placed alongside official claims to economic progress and the overall well-being of this country. They make an interesting read

Pakistan Economic Survey 2006-07: “Pakistan’s growth performance over the last five years has been striking. [The] Average real GDP growth during 2003-07 was the best performance since many decades, and it now seems that Pakistan has decisively broken out of the low growth rut that it was in for more than one decade.”

Let us now consider some other standards.

UN’s Human Development Index: This Index “looks beyond GDP to a broader definition of well-being”. It measures the “impact of economic policies on quality of life”. In 2006, Pakistan ranked 134th out of 177 countries surveyed (meaning: economic policies are not having any impact on quality of life).

Failed States Index: The Fund for Peace — an independent, non-profit, Washington, DC-based research and educational institution — first published the Index in 2005. In 2005, seventy-five countries were surveyed and Pakistan ranked 34th (meaning that there were 33 other countries that were ‘more failing’ than us). In 2007, one hundred and seventy-seven countries were surveyed and Pakistan ranked 12th, a sharp deterioration from 2005 (meaning that there were only 11 other countries that were ‘worse off’ than us). This Index compares measures such as ‘Criminalisation of the State’, Deligitmisation of the State’, ‘Uneven economic development’, ‘Suspension of rule of law’, and ‘Security apparatus operates as a state within a state’. The ‘most failing’ states include Sudan, Iraq, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Chad, Congo, Afghanistan, Haiti and Pakistan.

Press Freedom Index: Reporters sans frontières Ior Reporters Without Borders maintains this Index which surveys the world for ‘direct attacks on journalists’, ‘direct attacks on the media’ and other ‘indirect sources of pressure against the free press’. For the past five years Finland with a score of 0.50 has been holding the first place. In 2002, Pakistan’s score stood at 44 (a higher score indicates more restraints on freedom of the press). In 2003, Pakistan’s score improved to 39. It’s been a steep downhill since then: 61 in 2004, 60 in 2005 and 70 in 2006. In 2002, Pakistan ranked 119th falling to 129th in 2003, 150th in 2005 and 157th in 2006. Looks like the 2007 Report will group with the worst offenders alongside North Korea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Global Peace Index: This Index is maintained by the Economist and “measure[s] the relative position of nations’ and regions’ peacefulness”. In 2007, a total of 121 countries were surveyed and Pakistan ranked 115th meaning that we are among the seven ‘least peaceful’ countries in the world (there are 114 countries that are ‘more peaceful’ than us). The group of ‘least peaceful’ countries includes Pakistan, Colombia, Nigeria, Russia, Israel, Sudan and Iraq.

Global Competitiveness Index: This Index is published by the World Economic Forum and “assesses the ability of countries to provide high levels of prosperity to their citizens. This in turn depends on how productively a country uses available resources”. In 2006-7, Switzerland, Finland and Sweden are the world’s most competitive economies while Pakistan ranked 91st out of 125 countries surveyed. India, at 43rd, is a lot more competitive than us and Bangladesh, at 99th, is less competitive.

Ease of Doing Business Index: This Index is maintained by the World Bank and includes factors such as starting a business, dealing with licenses, hiring and firing workers, registering property and trading across borders. Here we are 74th out of 175 while India, at 134th, is a much more difficult country to do business with.

Gender Empowerment Index: This Index is a “measure of inequalities between men’s and women’s opportunities in a country” and includes factors such as ratio of female to male earned income, female professional and technical workers and seats in parliament held by women. In 2006, Pakistan ranked 134th out of 177 countries surveyed. India was 126th and Bangladesh 137th.

Happy Planet Index: This Index also goes beyond GDP into ‘life satisfaction’, ‘life expectancy’ and ‘ecological efficiency’. In 2006, Pakistan ranked 112th out of 178 countries surveyed.

Dr Farrukh Saleem is an Islamabad-based economist and analyst

shishapa #484 Did they teach you this logic in India?

arjun #487. They say that if a fool should keep silent, because people will think he is a wise man. You have done the next best thing, I see, by quoting one phrase from someone's post and with one phrase. Thus, you seem ALMOST like a wise man.

Suggestion for your next post, write something like this, and you will appear even smarter (and the three dots might remind people of hamidm and they will think you are humerous as well as wise):

...

#485 aslambhai, i am objecting to bogus shyte like putting idols in a deserted temple..not the jihad by itself. its like doing munh mein ram ram ..a hindu bania trait. do the jihad, and declare loudly that we support it as a god-ordained duty. that i can respek.

sure occupation, why is hindu occupation of muslims so wrong? cant hindus be "secular"?

Uh-oh...more heartburn for the kuldip nayyar clones..

Wipro to acquire US services provider Infocrossing
Indian outsourcer to pay $600 million to provide better hosted and managed IT infrastructure services

Indian outsourcer Wipro plans to acquire U.S. IT services provider Infocrossing for about $600 million, to fill gaps in its portfolio in hosted and managed IT infrastructure services and network operations centers.

Wipro of Bangalore announced Monday that the companies have signed an agreement for Wipro to acquire Infocrossing for $18.70 per share in an all-cash deal.

Infocrossing of New Jersey has 32 million outstanding shares, Wipro Chief Financial Officer Suresh Senapaty told reporters in Bangalore on Monday. Wipro will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Infocrossing followed by the merger of the company with a Wipro subsidiary in the U.S., he added. The tender offer for the shares is expected to close by the fourth quarter of this year, Wipro said.

Besides five data centers in the U.S., and expertise in mainframes, Infocrossing will bring to Wipro its IT services and BPO (business process outsourcing) in health care, Senapaty said. Wipro plans to sell services delivered from India in infrastructure management, BPO and other areas to Infocrossing's clients, which number about 190, Senapaty said.

Wipro has already made eight IT acquisitions in the last 24 months, primarily to gain access to new markets in Europe and the U.S. But the company typically paid about $50 million for each of those acquisitions.

A pure offshore vendor will no longer do, and Indian outsourcers need a global footprint, said Siddharth Pai, a partner at outsourcing consultancy firm Technology Partners International Inc. (TPI) in Houston. Wipro has made the right move to acquire Infocrossing, he added.

Indian outsourcers have been setting up operations closer to their customers in the U.S. and Europe, as some customers are increasingly demanding that offshore outsourcers also have a local presence.

#458 Posted by PM on August 7, 2007 6:30:22 am


is no secret.


It is to tahmed

jangs firstly it is a sign of tolerance admist many signs of intolerance. Why has the sign of tolerance become the problem (the "insult") ?
re. the second part its a very dicy question, the legitimacy changes when you change the word "rule" to "occupation".

The logic is,

If you are visiting, we will be nice to you, so you can
say all the good things about us.
If you are living under our rule, under our thumbs,
you will be at our mercy and will be tolerated if
you you behave and do not complain.
But if you are living amongst us, in any way ahead of
us or stand out, we will either kick you out, convert you,
or will kick you out so your progeny can visit us and
sing our praises.

That is the logic Pakistani and Kashmiri muslims have
been following.

cliff, what is bad is that putting idol in an out of use temple (200 mile radius ethnically clensed of any potential users) is touted as a sign of tolerance while aiding and abetting an active jihad against "hindu" rule.

Re: # 483
according to indian propaganda film every thing is ok in kashmir.

#457 PM, what's your point, can't you make the simple connection: "that modern Christian missionaries mimic the mentality of the colonial missionaries, though the feign politeness unlike those colonial bas*****"

Now there is a way to propagate, you all should learn from the Quran, "...reason with them in ways that are best and most gracious". Of course there are believers in Christianity who use such methods I don't deny that but the "Bible thumpers" going all over the place "selling" their religion in merchandise manner use the most uncouth methods available...

re. Kaal:
"People like Voltaire (and there were/are many many like him) did and do write similar stuff about Christianity. Was/is that without cause, or out of mere ignorance? :)

Not making a distinction between Christianity and Christendom, or indeed the Christianity of Christ (or even Paul) and that of the regal popes, qualifies as mere ignorance. :-)

Admittedly, the distinction is not nearly as clear as night and day, what with Jesus suppposedly handing keys to Peter and all that jazz... In Islam, it's a little easier, though not easy by any means, to distinguish between the religion and its followers' actions.

why is it insulting jangs? the idea that there is a hindu/idol place which is being actively supported by the pakistani govt even as a token gesture is that in itself bad? I agree that the tolerance shouldnt stop at katas raj but thats different.

yar i find the shyte about katas raj really insulting. that is a tourist shyte...noone goes there, there are no hindus around like for hundreds of miles.

then there is also the jernail who oversees the nankana sahib..

re: PM # 472

"you would've written the last two..."

People like Voltaire (and there were/are many many like him) did and do write similar stuff about Christianity. Was/is that without cause, or out of mere ignorance? :)