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India's Information Technology Sector Dwarfed by Textiles

About 60% of India's workforce is in agriculture. Textile industry is the second biggest employer, accounting for a fifth of India’s exports, and employs almost 10 percent of India’s workforce, or some 35 million people, and has the potential to add another 12 million new jobs --dwarfing the 1-2 million jobs created by the much-heralded IT and BPO sector, according to a…

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Added by Riaz Haq on October 30, 2010 at 8:30am — 4 Comments

Are Diseases and Malnutrition Lowering IQs in South Asia?

Poverty, hunger, unsanitary or unsafe conditions and inadequate health care in South Asia's developing nations are exposing their citizens to high risk of a variety of diseases which may impact their intelligence. Every year, World Health… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on October 25, 2010 at 9:28am — 2 Comments

Pakistan Cut Poverty and Hunger in Musharraf Years 2000-2008

Poverty and hunger often go together. The affordability of food is usually a bigger issue than its availability in most poor nations, according to research published by Indian-born economist and Nobel Laureate Dr. Amartya Sen. With few exceptions, rising incomes and reductions in poverty rates are known to lead to lower hunger levels.



Pakistan experienced significant declines in… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on October 17, 2010 at 10:08am — 3 Comments

Do Pakistani Students Lack Abstract Knowledge, Critical Thinking Skills?

Here are some excerpts from a Friday Times Op Ed by University of Wisconsin's Dr Howard Schweber who

taught students at a private university in Lahore, Pakistan and found them bright, resourceful and highly confused. He particularly singles out lack of general education and consequent lack of critical thinking skills as problems:



My first impression of Pakistani students was that they are, well, just that – college students. How… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on October 16, 2010 at 8:00am — No Comments

Surging Economy Propels India to New Heights on CWG 2010 Medals Table

Is there a correlation between a nation's economic performance and its success at international sports competitions? Has India's economic resurgence contributed to its achieving remarkable second place status on the medals table at the Commonwealth Games 2010 that just concluded in New Delhi?







Economics professor Daniel Johnson and his student… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on October 14, 2010 at 5:00pm — No Comments

Pakistan's Lost Decade of 1990s

Pakistani economy grew at a fairly impressive rate of 6 percent per year through the first four decades of the nation's existence. In spite of rapid population growth during this period, per capita incomes doubled, inflation remained low and poverty declined from 46% down to 18% by late 1980s, according to eminent Pakistani economist Dr. Ishrat Husain. This healthy economic performance was maintained through several wars and successive… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on September 27, 2010 at 6:30pm — 3 Comments

Meeting Millennium Development Goals in Pakistan

In year 2000, leaders of rich and poor nations pledged to build a better world by 2015. Among their key goals now called Millennium Development Goals: halving extreme poverty and hunger from 1990 levels, reducing by two-thirds the child-mortality rate and slashing maternal mortality by three-quarters and achieving universal primary education.



The good news is that the share of people living on less than $1.25 a day seems on track to meet the goal of halving the extreme poverty rate.… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on September 24, 2010 at 11:00pm — 6 Comments

Upward Economic and Social Mobility in Pakistan

Over the last two decades, Pakistan has continued to offer much greater upward economic and social mobility to its citizens than… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on September 18, 2010 at 12:00pm — 10 Comments

Pakistan GDP Driven By Consumption, Not Exports and Investments

Gross domestic product (GDP) is calculated by adding up public and private consumption, investments and exports. Some of the major world economies, most notably Germany and China, are led by exports, while others, such as United States, United Kingdom, India and Pakistan, are primarily domestic consumption driven.



With almost 80% of its GDP from consumption, Pakistan has particularly heavy reliance on domestic… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on September 17, 2010 at 8:48pm — 6 Comments

How Can Overseas Pakistanis Help in Post-Floods Reconstruction?

Members of Pakistani diaspora must remember their compatriots in distress as we celebrate Eid today.



While there have been high-profile recent efforts by overseas Pakistanis to raise millions of dollars to fund rescue and relief efforts after the recent devastating floods, it is now time to begin to shift focus on to the much longer term and significantly more expensive reconstruction phase that… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on September 11, 2010 at 11:00am — 2 Comments

Silicon Valley's NED Alumni Lead Fundraising Efforts For Flood Relief in Pakistan

For every Pakistani hit by floods, there are eight who are still standing and ready to help. That was the theme that guided the recent Silicon Valley Iftar and Fundraiser organized by Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs (OPEN Silicon Valley) at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View,… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on September 2, 2010 at 9:30am — No Comments

Expanded Pakistani Middle Class Helping Flood Victims

A pre-requisite for a responsive and accountable democracy is a substantial middle class population.



An Asian Development Bank report on Asia's rising middle class released today confirms that Pakistan's middle class now is 40% of the population, significantly larger than the Indian middle class of about 25% of its population.



The other significant news reported by… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on August 19, 2010 at 4:58pm — No Comments

Pakistan's Glass is Half Full on its 63rd Independence Day

The devastating floods in Pakistan have dampened the spirits of its people on its 63rd independence day this Aug 14, 2010. All official events marking the day have been canceled as the nation mourns the death of at least 1700 of its citizens and finds itself overwhelmed by the monumental relief and rescue efforts aimed at tens of millions of people across three provinces.



As the scope and scale of… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on August 14, 2010 at 9:48am — No Comments

Pakistan Defeat Australia 2-0 in T20 Series

Former T20 World Champ Pakistan have finally reclaimed some of their lost honor by beating Australia in two T20 matches on consecutive days at Edgbaston, England. These convincing 2020 match wins brought an end a long losing streak for Pakistan which was comprehensively beaten by the Aussies in all formats in 12 consecutive matches played in Australia and West Indies.



Although the T20 matches were… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on July 9, 2010 at 6:33pm — No Comments

Globalization or Exploitation of "Cyber Coolies" in India's IT Sweatshops?

India's IT sector business is essentially driven by low-cost call centers, first-line tech support, simple repetitive code writing, and execution of pre-defined test suites. A typical Indian IT worker is increasingly being called a "cyber coolie" or sometimes a "code coolie", the former term having been coined by an astute Indian columnist Praful Bidwai back in… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on July 3, 2010 at 12:36pm — 8 Comments

Mass Communications Boom in Pakistan

With the planned September launch of its Pakistan edition, Newsweek magazine is the latest publication to join Pakistan's media revolution, according to MediaBistro.com. Newsweek Pakistan will be the first licensed international news magazine for the country and the eighth local edition under the Washington Post Co.-owned Newsweek brand. Other country editions published by… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on June 24, 2010 at 11:13am — 6 Comments

TEDx Karachi Draws 500 Pakistanis

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a U.S. based private non-profit foundation that is best known for its conferences, now held in Europe and Asia as well as the U.S., devoted to what it calls "ideas worth spreading." Its lectures, called TED Talks distributed through the Internet, are subject to an eighteen-minute time limit. Speakers are an eclectic mix of people with ideas representing a wide cross section of humanity.



TED is run by Chris Anderson, a Pakistani-born… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on June 22, 2010 at 1:53pm — 3 Comments

OPEN Forum 2010 in Silicon Valley

OPEN Forum 2010 in Silicon Valley, California attracted nearly 600 people, including entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, engineers, lawyers, physicians and others on June 5, 2010. It was an all day conference organized by the Organization of Pakistani Entrepreneurs (OPEN) in Silicon Valley featuring 5 plenary sessions, and over a dozen break-out sessions addressed by 58 speakers and panelists on special topics of interest to various groups of… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on June 9, 2010 at 6:14pm — 1 Comment

Radio Reports From Historic GT Road in India, Pakistan

America's popular public radio network, the National Public Radio or NPR, sent several correspondents last month to India and Pakistan to travel along the Grand Trunk Road and report on the contemporary life along the ancient route in the South Asian subcontinent.



Stretching 2500 kilometers from Kolkata in… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on June 4, 2010 at 7:00pm — No Comments

Strong Growth Forecast For Pakistan's Media and Telecom Sectors

Pakistan's media and telecom revolution that began during the Musharaf years is continuing unabated.



According to Daily Times, Chairman Mushtaq Malik of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has said that the cable television sector “is the fast growing segment among the electronic media ventures”. In the… Continue

Added by Riaz Haq on May 28, 2010 at 6:26pm — 37 Comments

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    Blog Posts

    Pak-Saudi Joint Defense: Is Pakistan A Major Power or Bit Player in the Middle East?

    The recently signed “Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement” between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan states that “any aggression against either country will be considered an aggression against both”. It is being seen by some geopolitical analysts as the beginning of an "Islamic NATO". Others, such as Indian-American analyst Shadanand Dhume, have dismissed Pakistan as no more than a "bit player"…

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    Posted by Riaz Haq on September 27, 2025 at 5:30pm — 1 Comment

    Silicon Valley Pakistani-Americans Among Top Donors to Mamdani Campaign

    Omer Hasan and Mohammad Javed are the top donors to Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign in New York City, according to media reports. Both are former executives of Silicon Valley technology firm AppLovin. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, Omer is the son of a Pakistani-American couple who are long-time residents of Silicon Valley, California. …

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    Posted by Riaz Haq on September 19, 2025 at 9:00am

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