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		<title>Navigating Mobility Madness</title>
		<link>https://learnersrepublic.com/navigating-mobility-madness/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[momin]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Mar 2024 16:33:47 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Policy Fellowship]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">/?p=2199</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]City infrastructure, urban development policy, traffic, roads, bridges, flyovers and mass transit; things that we interact with daily. Be it your commute from home to the<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/navigating-mobility-madness/">Navigating Mobility Madness</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></description>
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<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]City infrastructure, urban development policy, traffic, roads, bridges, flyovers and mass transit; things that we interact with daily. Be it your commute from home to the office, picking up your kids, taking out the family for a ride, or just a casual cruise with your buddies, we all at some point lose ourselves amid mobility madness.</p>
<p>While it is pertinent to note that a proper, sustainable, and a citizen centric approach to infrastructure is vital for change, the subject is far more nuanced than what meets the eye. As discussed in the session, the policy first tends to target the mindset and approach of the people to re-think mobility. It is vital we understand that the subject doesn&#8217;t only deal with vehicles and city laws. It deals with the way we function as a society. Climate concerns take centre stage in the primary phase of addressing the issue. Along with that, various other factors come at play that, at prima facie level, appear to be peripheral. Spoiler alert: they are not!</p>
<p>Like all reforms, the drive for sustainable urban development begins with a conscience-stricken public and public administrator realizing the importance and impact of this policy. With public interest surging, it is quickly becoming part of discussions and debate among policy makers. It is heartening to see people, mostly youngsters, exercised about this cause. While it is encouraging that we are slowly waking up to these issues, the work is still quite rudimentary. There will be considerable effort required before we see any change. However, let’s not make the long process make us beholden to hesitation and fear.</p>
<p>Once we set our minds to fix the conundrum, we transition to the next phase: solutions and modalities of mobility. This doesn&#8217;t apply to regulating vehicles and mitigating carbon footprints only, but also to re-imagine cities. Re-imagining cities requires us to consider and study sociological, psychological, and cultural aspects of our society. It requires for planners to consider not only environment related problems, but also equitable commuting options, participation in public life, efficient use of city’s resources, and social cohesion. As mentioned above, all these factors seem very loosely linked to the problem of mobility at first. Thorough research and analysis show that these factors act as building blocks for a sustainable urban mobility policy.</p>
<p>The policy recommendations from experts call for a multimodal mobility framework. In layman terms, it is a hybrid model where citizens rely on a half-and-half approach: public and private transport. The Multimodal Mobility concept aims to reduce congestion, mitigate fossil induced pollution, and sharing of city&#8217;s resources. This leaves more space for walking tracks, cycling tracks, and most importantly, helps protect the green belts and plantations of the city.</p>
<p>It is simple math really: more people are dependant on private cars, people need roads to drive their cars, city cuts down trees and forests to make way for their cars. Hence, more personal mobility, more concrete, less of the green.</p>
<p>It is imperative that we make the entire framework inclusion; make public transport safer and more accessible for women and children. A paradigm shift is required in policy from being exclusively car-centric to people-centric. Furthermore, tremendous focus should be put on effective data gathering, governance, city designs, and pilot initiatives.</p>
<p>Change is the only constant and being a developing country in an erratic region in an even dynamic world, adapting through effective measures is what can help catapult us at the forefront. If Pakistan wants to lead the fight against climate change and for sustainable development, we require reforms and we require them at the earliest. Re-imagining cities and public spaces shall help us eradicate the “concrete jungles” that our cities have become. Plans of building cycling tracks and introducing electric buses for public transport are encouraging to hear.</p>
<p>Let’s hope that we see a consistent continuation of these measures. A complete over-haul of urban management is required. It is our job to at least ensure that we become less reliant on personal mobility, continue to take part in activism, and put in our effort wherever we can.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]</p><p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/navigating-mobility-madness/">Navigating Mobility Madness</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
					
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		<title>Solid Waste Management &#038; Recycling: Operational and Financial Model</title>
		<link>https://learnersrepublic.com/solid-waste-management-recycling-operational-and-financial-model/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[momin]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Oct 2022 12:00:14 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[PPF]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">/?p=2038</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] By Ummamah Shah, Abdul Moeez, Rafala Khan and Hira Naqvi The increase in usage of packaging in consumer products along with the ever-increasing population has<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/solid-waste-management-recycling-operational-and-financial-model/">Solid Waste Management & Recycling: Operational and Financial Model</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></description>
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<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]</p>
<p style="text-align: left; color: #00a837; margin-bottom: 5px;">By Ummamah Shah, Abdul Moeez, Rafala Khan and Hira Naqvi</p>
<hr />
<div>The increase in usage of packaging in consumer products along with the ever-increasing population has led to an exponential rise in land pollution. Meanwhile developed countries are making huge leaps in reducing and recycling the waste, developing countries like Pakistan are remotely prepared to fix the problem. Piles of garbage in the middle of streets and shopping bags clogging waterways are a common sight due to the lack of a proper solid waste management system. This lack of proper solid waste disposal leads to flooding in areas next to waterways, groundwater contamination and poses health risks to communities. These issues further lead to loss of economy, human capital and damage to the infrastructure. In a large number of countries, solid waste management has been either done through public entities or it is outsourced to private firms. In either case, the consumer of services pays a meagre amount for disposal of their solid waste. The collection of solid waste serves as a good revenue source for any entity involved in collection since most of the items in solid waste are sold back to manufacturers for recycling purposes. Moreover, this strategy serves as a valuable tool in disposal of hazardous waste thus keeping the environment clean.</div>
<div></div>
<div>This project report evaluates the solid waste management services from a business perspective. To develop the operational and financial model, the region of Gulshan-e-Iqbal in Karachi was considered for the base case. According to the survey conducted by UN habitat, the average household in the area generates 1.54 kg of solid waste which yields approximately 280 tons collectively. Most of this waste either can be recycled or can be utilized for energy or biogas generation. This provides an ample opportunity for investors to consider solid waste recycling as a profitable venture.</div>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/LR-Project-Solid-Waste-Management-Recycling.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Download</a></p>
<p>[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]</p><p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/solid-waste-management-recycling-operational-and-financial-model/">Solid Waste Management & Recycling: Operational and Financial Model</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
					
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		<title>The Potential and Hurdles of an Anticipated Digitally Governed Pakistan</title>
		<link>https://learnersrepublic.com/the-potential-and-hurdles-of-an-anticipated-digitally-governed-pakistan/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[momin]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 11 Oct 2022 09:59:38 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Policy Fellowship]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">/?p=2035</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] By Mohsina Asif Blockchains, NFTs, cryptocurrency, IoT, fintech, metaverse, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality—these are just a few of the many technologies to have emerged<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/the-potential-and-hurdles-of-an-anticipated-digitally-governed-pakistan/">The Potential and Hurdles of an Anticipated Digitally Governed Pakistan</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></description>
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<p style="text-align: left; color: #00a837; margin-bottom: 5px;"><em>By Mohsina Asif</em></p>
<hr />
<p>Blockchains, NFTs, cryptocurrency, IoT, fintech, metaverse, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality—these are just a few of the many technologies to have emerged in recent years. What would have appeared to be mere sci-fi fantasies till a few years earlier are now booming as ground realities around us. Our world is fast, dynamic, data-driven, and transitioning into a digitalized cluster where boundaries between different disciplines are diffusing. Globally, standing in the middle of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, every country—especially developing countries like Pakistan itself—has encountered some intimidating yet important questions. How well, as a nation, are we adapting to these technologies? Are we even adapting at all? What are the prospects of implementing advanced technologies in the government sector? Are the impending risks and compliance costs of this transformation even worth it? Can we ever become more than just users—collaborators or even creators in this global movement? While it may be difficult or even impossible to completely answer these questions, we must attempt to frame these dilemmas against the present circumstances and imminent future of Pakistan.</p>
<p>Before we proceed, it is important to discern two terms that are often wrongly interchangeably used: digitization and digitalization. Digitization is converting a process from analog to digital, for example, using a spreadsheet such as Excel to log some entries instead of using a conventional paper-based register. Digitalization is a step ahead of digitization. It is leveraging our digitized solution to fully exploit the beneficial impacts of this transformation, for example, running meaningful statistical and graphical analysis on the data we had digitized earlier. Pakistan, like most other developing countries, is in the first digitization phase right now.</p>
<p>A key dilemma of digitization and digitalization in developing countries is the problem of access. Of course, technological innovation would make any process more efficient; cut down the time, labor, and cost associated with cumbersome manual processes; greatly reduce human errors; and create logistics and communication channels that are productive. The effects will be the same for any public sector procedure that is digitally reformed. However, it will be important to analyze if the required legal and structural framework for this change exists for all sections of society. A good example of this might be the Prime Minister Portal Application. This application is a quick single solution that facilitates all complaints, records maintenance, and feedback-receival regarding how cities and towns are being run. But would a common woman in Thar even know about this service? Does she have a cell phone or the means to download such an application and run it? Will she be able to navigate through the application? Before we jump into introducing innovative solutions to a larger scale, the foremost step should be ensuring mass accessibility and connection. While cellular connectivity has tremendously grown in recent years, grassroots efforts in the education sector will be needed to fully counter the fallacies that may occur in the introduction of mass modern processes.</p>
<p>Another interesting aspect of the technological innovation adoption by the government is its two-fold effect. On one hand, the common people will get better access to government officials; be able to better communicate their wants and needs to the public sector officials; hold government practices against more transparent accountable ideals; and get rid of unwieldy processes. On the other hand, another new paradigm will crack open. The government will get access to denser data regarding the common people, allowing them to expand their surveillance, and exert stronger control on how people communicate and interact with each other. Restrictions, banning operations, and penalties for ‘straying’ are just a few of the possible dystopian measures a pessimistically proactive government may take. To avoid this, newer policies towards data collection, handling and security will need to be designed and updated.</p>
<p>To tackle these questions and ensure that the empowering benefits of the digital revolution override its detrimental deeper effects, the policymakers of our country must think in a way that prioritizes the people and their convenience and build strategies that are in line with the rest of the world. The policy framework would need to ensure that power is decentralized, and sources are redistributed justly that strengthen public engagement. Technological advancements and implications of the Industry Revolution mean countries can no longer work in isolation. Decision-makers will need to work horizontally—not in vertical hierarchies—and closely collaborate with and work about the frameworks being adopted by the rest of the world. The policymakers cannot be lost in conventional methodical thinking. For this, it is important to involve the technical minds (the ever present IT) in decision-making processes as well, so all possible implications can be gauged and the capital required for these reforms be more efficiently allocated.</p>
<p>No doubt, digital transformation will help in economic growth, citizen prosperity, and make Pakistan an internationally competitive state. In any other country, the most important and foremost aspect before implementing such a solution would have been to take consent and opinions of the citizens and meanwhile assort the capacity to build such solutions. In Pakistan, the most important aspect would be first <strong>informing</strong> and <strong>educating</strong> the common people about the benefits and the associated (albeit not overpowering) possible drawbacks. The second most important aspect would be to build a legal and infrastructural framework to support this transformation. It is a long way before technology fully penetrates our administrative infrastructure, economic landscape, and social setups such as healthcare and education systems. However, as once concluded by the World Economic Forum, it is only with resilience and agility that any country may navigate through, adapt to, and expand its technological innovations.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]</p><p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/the-potential-and-hurdles-of-an-anticipated-digitally-governed-pakistan/">The Potential and Hurdles of an Anticipated Digitally Governed Pakistan</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
					
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		<title>Anti-Encroachment-Drive</title>
		<link>https://learnersrepublic.com/anti-encroachment-drive/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[momin]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Aug 2022 06:06:52 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[The City]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">/?p=1999</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>By Fizza Amjad Since April 2015 (Dawn, 2015), successive governments in Pakistan have adopted an &#8220;Anti-Encroachment&#8221; policy at the national level. The latest iteration was a<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/anti-encroachment-drive/">Anti-Encroachment-Drive</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></description>
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<p style="text-align: left; color: #00a837; margin-bottom: 5px;"><em>By Fizza Amjad</em></p>
<hr />
<p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">Since April 2015 (Dawn, 2015), successive governments in Pakistan have adopted an &#8220;Anti-Encroachment&#8221; policy at the national level. The latest iteration was a Presidential Ordinance promulgated under Article 89 of the Constitution in August 2021 (The Express Tribune, 2021). Essentially, the national policy is designed to provide a legal framework to act against illegal encroachment of public land. The policy explicitly sanctions seizures and the use of force (Business Recorder, 2021), in addition to fines and imprisonment (The Express Tribune, 2021).</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">The Capital Development Authority (CDA) in the country&#8217;s capital, Islamabad, has used the national anti-encroachment policy as the basis for its aggressive plans to recover land from illegal occupation across the city. In the CDA&#8217;s own words, they have used the might of the Capital Police to have &#8220;an action plan aimed at the implementation&#8221; (Albrechts and Balducci, 2013, pg.17), forcibly evict residents and demolish structures across the city to reclaim land <em>owned</em> by the CDA (CDA Website, 2018). The brunt of this policy has been borne by the residents of <em>katchi abadis</em> (informal settlements housed by labourers and migrants employed in low-wage jobs) and <em>khokas</em> (informal food stalls set up for serving food to the blue-collar workers). For instance, CDA has razed hundreds of <em>khokhas</em> (Zulfikar, 2020, pg.6) without warning and demolished entire settlement communities (Pro Pakistani, 2021). These jobless and homeless are primarily domestic and sanitation workers priced out of other housing options in the city.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">The CDA&#8217;s drive relies heavily on the national anti-encroachment policy. Firstly, the national policy itself refers to the master plan for Islamabad published in 1960 (Doxiadus, 1960), which introduced spatial zoning without any unplanned areas. It effectively deems illegal all &#8220;unplanned&#8221; and ad-hoc solutions for low-cost housing for low-wage workers. Secondly, the national policy sanctions using force to evict residents and demolish structures. It has enabled the CDA to utilize excessive force to achieve its objectives. Finally, the national policy fails to specify appropriate repatriation and compensation for the affectees, allowing the CDA to act without worrying about consequences and associated costs.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">CDA&#8217;s anti-encroachment drive has centred squarely on the <em>khokhas</em> and <em>katchi abadis</em>, despite several other instances of encroachment on CDA-owned land. For example, the country&#8217;s Prime Minister&#8217;s residence in Bani Gala has been deemed an encroachment. Still, the CDA moved quickly to regularize it- a fate starkly different compared to the residents of the <em>katchi abadis</em> (Dawn, 2020). The CDA&#8217;s drive has led to widespread condemnation. In a city that needs its low-wage workforce desperately, the CDA is clearing them out without any alternatives and no compensation (The Express Tribune, 2020). As one would expect from such an aggressive action plan, vested interests within the CDA have abused their authority and destroyed several legitimate businesses to further personal interests (The News, 2018). </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;"><span style="color: #0e101a;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in; margin-bottom: .0001pt;"><span style="color: #0e101a;">The above factors point to the aggressive and interest-based implementation of the policy and plan as opposed to what Elcock, 2006, states about the government defending citizens&#8217; fundamental rights and engaging in commerce. Instead, the most vulnerable segments of society are suffering. </span></p>
<p><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1995" src="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/learners-the-city-300x179.png" alt="" width="300" height="179" srcset="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/learners-the-city-300x179.png 300w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/learners-the-city-244x146.png 244w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/learners-the-city-50x30.png 50w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/learners-the-city-126x75.png 126w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/learners-the-city-387x231.png 387w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/learners-the-city-600x358.png 600w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/learners-the-city.png 621w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>
<p><strong>Retrospect: Whose interests are represented in ‘Anti-Encroachment Drive’?</strong></p>
<p>In theory, the Anti-Encroachment national policy in Pakistan and its implementation by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in Islamabad are motivated by general public interest. Specifically, the national policy aims to regain control of Government lands encroached upon illegally. In theory, this should benefit the tax-payer and general public because the lands can be put to their best economic, environmental, societal and developmental use (Elock, 2006). However, such objectives can only be met if all competing interests are represented in the policy- and implementation- planning stages. Whether the policy was correct or preferable can be assessed from the consequences after implementing it. (Wheeler, 2006, pg.23)</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>The interests of influential political and economic groups have been well-represented in the national parliament and cabinet, influencing the policy. Additionally, they are well-represented in the CDA, directly affecting the implementation plans. For example, a vast housing society built on 6000 kanals encroached on government land (forest area), called the Bahria Town, has consistently gotten away with paying small fines to regularize their encroachment instead of handing over control back to the government (Dawn, 2019). Further, the Prime Minister&#8217;s sprawling residence in Bani Gala, built on entirely encroached land, was hastily regularized without any penalties (Dawn, 2020). In a familiar and expected pattern, none of the major shopping malls, housing complexes, or office complexes for the wealthy but built on encroached land have faced the wrath of the CDA, similar to the demolition jobs suffered by the <em>katchi abadis</em> and <em>khokas</em>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Unfortunately, catering to the wealthy and influential&#8217;s economic, personal and political interests cannot count as acting in <em>the public</em> interest. The definition of public interest by Wheeler, 2006, states that &#8220;..considerations affecting the good order and functioning of the community and government affairs for the well-being of citizens&#8221; (pg.14). The anti-encroachment national policy does not take into account the well-being of the most impacted citizens. None of these citizens is represented in the federal or local governing bodies, and the only political parties representing them (e.g. the Awami Workers Party) have remained unelected (ECP, 2018). Thousands of people have been rendered homeless (The News, 2018; Pro Pakistani, 2021), with no compensation or alternatives provided to the affectees. In just one such demolition drive in Islamabad, it is estimated that 25,000 of the poorest citizens were directly or indirectly impacted (Bashir, 2020, pg.14). The economic, political and societal costs of these operations have been ignored by the people and the impact on their lives and livelihoods. The impacted people are mostly low-wage workers keeping the major urban centres functional who are now left with no housing and sanitation options. It is impossible to conclude that the anti-encroachment policy and its implementations acted in <em>the public</em> interest.</p>
<p><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1993" src="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/post-300x181.png" alt="" width="300" height="181" srcset="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/post-300x181.png 300w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/post-242x146.png 242w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/post-50x30.png 50w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/post-124x75.png 124w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/post.png 359w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p><p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/anti-encroachment-drive/">Anti-Encroachment-Drive</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
					
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		<title>Advocating for Science Advocacy in Pakistan</title>
		<link>https://learnersrepublic.com/advocating-for-science-advocacy-in-pakistan/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[momin]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Apr 2022 08:16:51 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Policy Fellowship]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">/?p=1970</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>By Mohsina Asif “The creation of Physics is the shared heritage of all mankind. East and West, North and South have equally participated in it.” These<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/advocating-for-science-advocacy-in-pakistan/">Advocating for Science Advocacy in Pakistan</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></description>
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<p style="text-align: left; color: #00a837; margin-bottom: 5px;">By <em>Mohsina Asif</em></p>
<hr />
<p><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1971" src="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Science-Background-300x300.png" alt="" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Science-Background-300x300.png 300w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Science-Background-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Science-Background-150x150.png 150w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Science-Background-768x768.png 768w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Science-Background-146x146.png 146w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Science-Background-50x50.png 50w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Science-Background-75x75.png 75w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Science-Background-85x85.png 85w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Science-Background-80x80.png 80w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Science-Background-258x258.png 258w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Science-Background-375x375.png 375w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Science-Background.png 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The creation of Physics is the shared heritage of all mankind. East and West, North and South have equally participated in it.”</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">These were the words of Abdus Salam as he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979 (a first for Pakistan). Salam’s </span><a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1979/salam/speech/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">speech</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> was about more than just physics: he used his voice and recognition to advocate for a vision where technology and science—in its unadulterated impactful form—is not confined by geography, backgrounds, privilege, or politics but allowed to transcend these boundaries and become a tool to empower and benefit masses. Was it a goal far too ambitious? Was it easier said than done? Maybe, maybe not.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, Abdus Salam, as an individual scientist, made considerable strides towards manifesting his ideals. In the 1960s, Salam (as the Science Advisor of Pakistan) established the first space program of the country that later developed into Space &amp; Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO); in the 1970s, he initiated physics and nuclear research at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), creating the possibilities of nuclear weaponries and power generation for the country; he promoted synergies between local research in Pakistan and eminent international organizations such as CERN and NASA; and established various prominent research institutions across Pakistan. Perhaps, one of his most significant contributions is the establishment of International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Italy—a nucleus of theoretical physics education particularly </span><a href="https://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/publications/magazines/bulletin/bull29-1/29106094144.pdf"><span style="font-weight: 400;">founded to provide equal learning opportunities</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> to aspiring students from the developing world.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The purpose of succinctly mentioning these (few of the many) contributions of Salam is to emphasize the impactful role he played even outside the fringes of his publications, calculations, and academic teachings. Undoubtedly, Salam was an accomplished scientist who had a brilliant mind, exposure of some of the best institutions, and the charge of an important government position. But what truly set him apart was his drive towards change making. Salam was a physicist, but he was equally an advocate and diplomat of science, who understood and rallied to unravel the complex nexus of culture, science, and privilege. He emulated the essence of some of the most prominent science advocacy fields, long before the terms of these areas had even become common.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">We can campaign partially—if not wholly—as Salam did, with instruments that currently lie in an immersive yet unexplored field. This is often called </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">science advocacy</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">: a field that remains largely untrodden in Pakistan due to a national wide-spread obsession to pursue hard sciences. Even in hard sciences, most of the pursuit is restricted to medicine and engineering. In 2019 alone, as reported in </span><a href="https://nation.com.pk/21-Sep-2019/medical-colleges-and-doctors-in-pakistan-too-many-or-too-few"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Nation</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, approximately 150,000 intermediate students appeared in MCAT, i.e., the government medical college entry test. In 2021, as reported in </span><a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1634770"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Dawn News</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, more than 33,000 students appeared in ECAT, i.e., the admission test for UET, Lahore, the most prominent public engineering university in Punjab. A part of this linearity can be traced to the customary wants of parents of seeing their children have a career that is stable and a source of privilege and pride for the family. While these notions are largely debatable on a subjective scale, they have existed for a long time and have been deeply inculcated in the mindsets of young students. This obsession now also forms the mission statement of many ‘schools, colleges, and academies’ in Pakistan. Apart from this fixation, a lack of direction and information available to confused intermediate students contributes greatly to this skewness.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Alongside a pressing need to encourage insightful dives into the physical and applied research fields of science, there exists an urgency to address the vacuum of science advocacy resources and opportunities in Pakistan. Science diplomacy, policymaking, regulations, communication, outreach, journalism, and think tanks are all disciplines that merge rigorous scientific research with more tangible societal relationships. These areas define how research and technology reaches and is perceived by the public. Despite their significance, these areas remain largely absent from the pool of prospect career trajectories in Pakistan. Currently, no university in Pakistan offers a master’s degree program in science communication, science journalism, science policymaking, or science advocacy. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Pakistan is one of the countries where interventions such as population control measures (</span><a href="https://jpma.org.pk/PdfDownloadsupplements/122"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Family Planning and Contraception in Islamic Countries: A Critical Review of the Literature</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">) and mass vaccination programs (</span><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8426931/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Vaccination‐hesitancy and vaccination‐inequality as challenges in Pakistan&#8217;s COVID‐19 response</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">) are met with a fierce resistance backed by religious and cultural propaganda. Thus, in a larger context, it is only effective and accurate communication of these aspects that can disperse reluctance and misinformation among citizens. Comprehensive datasets and surveys also need to be accumulated and researched to identify the exact clefts that need to be bridged. This analysis should then be followed by a careful decryption of the concerns and sentiments of the involved stakeholders: the laypersons, decision makers, educators, and industrialists. </span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Salam’s work in reforming the science advancement landscape of Pakistan may be easily regarded as achievements of an incredibly multifaceted and assertive scientist. However, I believe we can still attempt to imitate the impacts of Salam’s work by working in the ambit of science advocacy. This is an extensive arena with implications that can be far more amplified, broad, and long-lasting, particularly in a country like Pakistan. Therefore, it is only imperative now that local universities, faculty members, and education policymakers start working towards designing more courses, fellowships, and programs that encourage such science-societal fields of study and practice.</span></p>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: left;">Mohsina Asif is a mechanical engineer from Lahore, Pakistan. Besides her role as an Application Engineer at LUMS, she is also the Science Communicator at Khwarizmi Science Society, and is interested in policymaking, science journalism, and outreach.</p><p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/advocating-for-science-advocacy-in-pakistan/">Advocating for Science Advocacy in Pakistan</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
					
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		<title>Are Ehsaas and BISP the Right Way to Go?: Social safety nets vs. rights-based social protection in the wake of COVID-19 in Pakistan</title>
		<link>https://learnersrepublic.com/are-ehsaas-and-bisp-the-right-way-to-go/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[momin]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Apr 2022 07:37:22 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[PPF]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">/?p=1974</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>By Mashal Nadeem, Rahma Aslam, Navaira Ramzan and Arsalan Khatti As members of a community, there are certain expectations we have of our collective group. These<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/are-ehsaas-and-bisp-the-right-way-to-go/">Are Ehsaas and BISP the Right Way to Go?: Social safety nets vs. rights-based social protection in the wake of COVID-19 in Pakistan</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></description>
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<p style="text-align: left; color: #00a837; margin-bottom: 5px;">By <em>Mashal Nadeem, Rahma Aslam, Navaira Ramzan and Arsalan Khatti</em></p>
<hr />
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1985" src="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Learning-Content-Insta-Posts-4-1-300x300.png" alt="" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Learning-Content-Insta-Posts-4-1-300x300.png 300w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Learning-Content-Insta-Posts-4-1-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Learning-Content-Insta-Posts-4-1-150x150.png 150w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Learning-Content-Insta-Posts-4-1-768x768.png 768w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Learning-Content-Insta-Posts-4-1-146x146.png 146w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Learning-Content-Insta-Posts-4-1-50x50.png 50w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Learning-Content-Insta-Posts-4-1-75x75.png 75w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Learning-Content-Insta-Posts-4-1-85x85.png 85w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Learning-Content-Insta-Posts-4-1-80x80.png 80w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Learning-Content-Insta-Posts-4-1-258x258.png 258w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Learning-Content-Insta-Posts-4-1-375x375.png 375w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Learning-Content-Insta-Posts-4-1.png 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>
<p>As members of a community, there are certain expectations we have of our collective group. These expectations include that of social care and support from the group, in the form of healthcare, poverty protection and general help in times of hardship. In the modern nation-state, this form of support often takes the form of “social protection”, which UNICEF has defined as “a range of policies and programmes needed to reduce the lifelong consequences of poverty and exclusion” (UNICEF). These policies include activities ranging from cash-transfer programs for people within the earning bracket, to social support housing, to skill-development programs to empower people to gain employment.</p>
<p>A developing country with an Islamic foundation, Pakistan has social protection laws written in its constitution; however, it has faced numerous difficulties in implementing social policies and protection measures for all citizens. These range from having a largely informal, agricultural workforce, to lack of government implementation abilities in far-flung areas, to security threats to governmental associations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of these implementation difficulties became even more evident &#8211; and even more in need of change.</p>
<p>Pakistan’s social protection activities have grown over the years, with two key programs becoming well-known nationwide: the 2008 Benazir Income Support Program, also known as BISP, and the 2019 Ehsaas Program. These two programs have different approaches to social protection, namely Social Safety Net programs and a growing Rights-Based Approach.</p>
<p>By analysing the importance of a social safety net approach and a rights-based approach, this paper will examine the effectiveness of both social protection programs during COVID-19 in Pakistan in order to provide a deeper understanding and further recommendations for how to prepare the nation in case of further emergency and/or disasters.</p>
<p><a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/LR-Project-Social-Protection.pdf">Download the full document here.</a></p><p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/are-ehsaas-and-bisp-the-right-way-to-go/">Are Ehsaas and BISP the Right Way to Go?: Social safety nets vs. rights-based social protection in the wake of COVID-19 in Pakistan</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
					
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		<title>Understanding Public Mental Health</title>
		<link>https://learnersrepublic.com/understanding-public-mental-health/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[momin]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Mar 2022 07:08:53 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Policy Fellowship]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">/?p=1966</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>By Mashal Nadeem Mental health, or zehni sehat, is not a phrase commonly used by the general population of Pakistan. As internet usage has grown and<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/understanding-public-mental-health/">Understanding Public Mental Health</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></description>
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<p style="text-align: left; color: #00a837; margin-bottom: 5px;">By <em>Mashal Nadeem</em></p>
<hr />
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1967" src="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Accounting-Finance-1-300x300.png" alt="" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Accounting-Finance-1-300x300.png 300w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Accounting-Finance-1-1024x1024.png 1024w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Accounting-Finance-1-150x150.png 150w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Accounting-Finance-1-768x768.png 768w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Accounting-Finance-1-146x146.png 146w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Accounting-Finance-1-50x50.png 50w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Accounting-Finance-1-75x75.png 75w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Accounting-Finance-1-85x85.png 85w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Accounting-Finance-1-80x80.png 80w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Accounting-Finance-1-258x258.png 258w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Accounting-Finance-1-375x375.png 375w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Accounting-Finance-1.png 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>
<p>Mental health, or <em>zehni sehat</em>, is not a phrase commonly used by the general population of Pakistan. As internet usage has grown and social media has become widespread, Pakistan’s online sphere has seen a surge in mental health awareness and advocacy, highlighting the prevalence of mental illnesses like depression and anxiety within our society. But for most of the country, this is the singular understanding around mental health: that there is either a healthy human being or a human being with mental illness. However, addressing mental health in such a binary is detrimental to treating it appropriately.</p>
<p>When we speak of physical health, we do not simply mean whether one has a physical illness or not. According to the WHO, “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. [Therefore,] mental health is more than just the absence of mental disorders or disabilities.” Yet in Pakistan, this concept is hardly reflected in any of our healthcare practices. The common public perception of mental health treatment is as a last resort: one goes through religious intervention or mental hospitals (or, as they are still frequently called, <em>pagalkhanas</em>). There is no concept of taking care of one’s mental health before it reaches the stage of mental illness.</p>
<p>Pakistan and WHO’s joint National Health Vision (2016-2025) states that half of the burden of disease in the country are non-communicable diseases, within which lies mental health issues. Yet the reasons listed behind these mental health issues are not genetic or caused by physical objects, but societal ones such as “poverty, low literacy, unemployment, gender discrimination, and huge treatment gap[s]”.</p>
<p>None of these are issues that should need to be treated in a mental hospital – or at least, none of them should be. Yet it is from these issues that unsuspecting mental health issues creep in: anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks. Research has shown countless times over how different underprivileged sections of society are more susceptible to mental illness.</p>
<p>When we know that several groups of people in Pakistan are predisposed to mental health issues, the approach we take cannot be that of leaving care to <em>pirs</em> or waiting until one’s health issues are severe enough to medicate them. So what is a different approach to this?</p>
<p>A potential answer is in a new wave of understanding towards mental health that has been highlighted in Pakistan during the recent COVID-19 pandemic: public mental health.</p>
<p>Public mental health as a field is a way of approaching mental healthcare from a public health perspective: that is, treating mental health not on an individual-to-individual basis as we treat patients who go to hospitals, but on a population scale, as we treat citizens during vaccination and immunization campaigns. Public health acts proactively. Rather than waiting for an issue to occur before attempting to fix it, public health puts a focus on setting up low-cost, widescale structures that both help prevent health issues from occurring and help support patients who are suffering from such issues.</p>
<p>Public mental health often comes with three tiers of interventions. The primary tier addresses the risk factors for mental disorders, including those issues addressed in the National Health Vision 2016-2025, including socio-economic issues, gender discrimination, etc. The secondary tier involves early intervention to prevent mental health issues from progressing into more severe illnesses. Finally, the tertiary tier focuses on treatment of mental illnesses and disorders as well as preventing relapse. By taking a holistic approach to mental health on a population level, as compared to the more individualistic understanding of mental health treatment we have now, we may stand a better chance of reducing the burden of disease that rests on this country.</p>
<p>Executing public mental health initiatives requires an allocation of resources and time that cannot be achieved easily without the help of the government. However, on a policymaking level, this proves difficult due to the 18<sup>th</sup> Amendment, in which healthcare decisions were devolved to the provincial level.</p>
<p>Still, by using the National Health Vision as a guideline, perhaps public mental health policies and procedures can still be introduced in such a way that the words <em>zehni sehat</em> are no longer foreign in our population.</p>
<hr />
<p>Mashal Nadeem is a research and psychology enthusiast, looking to learn more about other fields to increase her skills and contribute to the development sector. Her interests include public and psychological health, social protection, gender discrimination and intersectionality. She currently works at an NGO, Tameer e Khalaq Foundation, in Islamabad.</p><p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/understanding-public-mental-health/">Understanding Public Mental Health</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
					
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		<title>How Digitally Transforming Our Government Can Support Women’s Participation</title>
		<link>https://learnersrepublic.com/how-digitally-transforming-our-government-can-support-womens-participation/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Mar 2022 06:43:04 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Policy Fellowship]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">/?p=1960</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>By Mashal Nadeem If there is one experience universal to the average Pakistani citizen, it is the absolute dread of interacting with the bureaucracy and state.<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/how-digitally-transforming-our-government-can-support-womens-participation/">How Digitally Transforming Our Government Can Support Women’s Participation</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></description>
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<p style="text-align: left; color: #00a837; margin-bottom: 5px;">By <em>Mashal Nadeem</em></p>
<hr />
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1961" src="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Untitled-design-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Untitled-design-300x169.jpg 300w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Untitled-design-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Untitled-design-768x432.jpg 768w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Untitled-design-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Untitled-design-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Untitled-design-260x146.jpg 260w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Untitled-design-50x28.jpg 50w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Untitled-design-133x75.jpg 133w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Untitled-design-387x218.jpg 387w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Untitled-design-600x338.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>
<p>If there is one experience universal to the average Pakistani citizen, it is the absolute dread of interacting with the bureaucracy and state. Whether it is to renew one’s passport or file an FIR, unless one has contacts or large amounts of money to subtly speed up the process, it is an hours if not days long ordeal to visit a government office and get something done.</p>
<p>But for women, this dread is two-fold. Not only is the process physically exhausting but emotionally draining, as they are exposed to male-dominated public spaces that make them feel unsafe and unwanted. In 2019, Trust for Democratic Education and Accountability (TDEA) reported that around 2.6 million women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa did not have identity documents – which means of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s 17.4 million female population, almost 15% of women do not have a say in their federal government’s policies and policymaking institutions. In a deeply conservative society like KPK, the reasons behind this can be speculated, but it isn’t hard to guess that having to interact with the public space is a contributing factor.</p>
<p>Furthermore, of the 112,307,995+ women in Pakistan, UNFPA states that 32% of them have reported experiencing physical violence in their lives – but this isn’t an accurate number. One in two women do not report their experiences at all, and it’s not surprising they don’t. The process of reporting and following up on cases takes a toll on our women, who live in a society that believes that a good, respectable woman belongs within chaar-dewaari. To go out and interact with government institutions is to leave the chaar-dewaari, and leave one’s izzat behind when they do. Because of this, for many women who can lose family support when leaving the house, the case is lost before it has even begun.</p>
<p>It’s clear that interacting with government structures is a struggle for women. So how does one fix this problem? The conservatism in Pakistani culture is not likely to shift in the near future, and one cannot wait for decades for cultural change. One possible solution for this has arisen in the recent decade: by digitalizing government procedures, women no longer have to navigate the public space to access justice or influence policies that can help them.</p>
<p>The benefits of computerization when it comes to government support are huge. Online government implementation services make it easier for women to access help they need. Introducing an online FIR system has allowed processes to be streamlined and less time-consuming, as well as more supportive to female crime victims, who no longer have to go through the additional trauma of filing reports in a police station full of men, but can stay in a safe space.</p>
<p>Similarly, the digitalization and computerization of NADRA has made it so women no longer have to go and wait long hours to make or renew their identity documents – a huge deterrent for women and their families. Having an identity card provides a host of benefits to women that they would otherwise be entirely deprived of. From registering a sim to opening a bank account, one needs a national identity card. For women specifically, the introduction of the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) in 2008 highlighted the benefits of being registered with the government: BISP provides the female head of household with financial support, only through registering with a CNIC. According to the BISP Impact Evaluation Surveys conducted by Oxford Policy Management in 2011 and 2013, the women who had CNICs felt a stronger sense of identity and felt more respected and safer to voice their opinions.</p>
<p>Is the solution this simple? Of course not. The digital divide in Pakistan is huge, and as with most things, disproportionately impacts women as well. Yet with smart phones and digital access on the rise, this opportunity should be taken to move beyond simple digitalization to actual digital transformation. This change is what can create a system that actually supports women.</p>
<hr />
<p>Mashal Nadeem is a research and psychology enthusiast, looking to learn more about other fields to increase her skills and contribute to the development sector. Her interests include public and psychological health, social protection, gender discrimination and intersectionality. She currently works at an NGO, Tameer e Khalaq Foundation, in Islamabad.</p><p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/how-digitally-transforming-our-government-can-support-womens-participation/">How Digitally Transforming Our Government Can Support Women’s Participation</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
					
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		<title>Mall Road: A Decaying Dream</title>
		<link>https://learnersrepublic.com/mall-road-a-decaying-dream/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Jan 2022 11:12:08 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[The City]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">/?p=1904</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>By Amna Mahnoor Cheema, Ehtesham Arshad, Haider Ali Nawaz, Manaal Ahmed, and Safa Baig For the purpose of this study, we are using UNESCO&#8217;s metrics to<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/mall-road-a-decaying-dream/">Mall Road: A Decaying Dream</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></description>
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<p style="text-align: left; color: #00a837; margin-bottom: 5px;"><em>By Amna Mahnoor Cheema, Ehtesham Arshad, Haider Ali Nawaz, Manaal Ahmed, and Safa Baig</em></p>
<hr />
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-1931 size-full" src="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Mall-road-image.png" alt="" width="715" height="568" srcset="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Mall-road-image.png 715w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Mall-road-image-300x238.png 300w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Mall-road-image-184x146.png 184w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Mall-road-image-50x40.png 50w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Mall-road-image-94x75.png 94w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Mall-road-image-325x258.png 325w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Mall-road-image-472x375.png 472w" sizes="(max-width: 715px) 100vw, 715px" />For the purpose of this study, we are using UNESCO&#8217;s metrics to define public space as “an area or place that is open and accessible to all peoples, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age or socio-economic level. These are public gathering spaces such as plazas, squares and parks. Connecting spaces, such as sidewalks and streets, are also public spaces.” Mall road can be classified as a public space because there are no explicit barriers to entry on any person. Though implicit obstacles do exist, we will discuss them further in the report.</p>
<p>Being the most famous street in Lahore, Mall Road is packed with traffic throughout the day but also has enough sidewalks to assist pedestrians. Mall Road is one of the most privileged places in Pakistan to have most of the major cultural, civic and educational institutions including the Governor’s house, the Lahore Museum, GPO and major government high schools, colleges and universities. Many of these buildings are built in either Gothic or Indo-Saracenic style. We chose Mall Road as the focal point in our study on public spaces because of banks, shops, parks and universities it is the converging point of economic, leisure, cultural, finance and legal centres.</p>
<p><a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Mall-Road-A-Decaying-Dream.pdf">Download the full document here.</a></p><p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/mall-road-a-decaying-dream/">Mall Road: A Decaying Dream</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
					
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		<title>Lahore: A Landed History</title>
		<link>https://learnersrepublic.com/lahore-a-landed-history/</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 12 Jan 2022 07:00:37 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[The City]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">/?p=1903</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>By Manaal Ahmed Lahore is one of the oldest cities in Pakistan. Consequently, it has undergone many conquests, destructions, and reconstructions over the centuries. This project<span class="excerpt-hellip"> […]</span></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/lahore-a-landed-history/">Lahore: A Landed History</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></description>
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<p style="text-align: left; color: #00a837; margin-bottom: 5px;">By <em>Manaal Ahmed</em></p>
<hr />
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-1914 size-full" src="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-A-Landed-History-2.png" alt="" width="624" height="624" srcset="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-A-Landed-History-2.png 624w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-A-Landed-History-2-300x300.png 300w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-A-Landed-History-2-150x150.png 150w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-A-Landed-History-2-146x146.png 146w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-A-Landed-History-2-50x50.png 50w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-A-Landed-History-2-75x75.png 75w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-A-Landed-History-2-85x85.png 85w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-A-Landed-History-2-80x80.png 80w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-A-Landed-History-2-258x258.png 258w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-A-Landed-History-2-375x375.png 375w" sizes="(max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Lahore is one of the oldest cities in Pakistan. Consequently, it has undergone many conquests, destructions, and reconstructions over the centuries. This project seeks to uncover how Lahore was shaped into the bustling, ever-expanding and often confusing city that it is now. What are the forces behind the urban layout of the city and the implications of that layout for the residents of the city?</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1906" src="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Colonial-construction-of-Lahore-300x300.png" alt="" width="300" height="300" data-wp-editing="1" srcset="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Colonial-construction-of-Lahore-300x300.png 300w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Colonial-construction-of-Lahore-150x150.png 150w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Colonial-construction-of-Lahore-146x146.png 146w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Colonial-construction-of-Lahore-50x50.png 50w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Colonial-construction-of-Lahore-75x75.png 75w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Colonial-construction-of-Lahore-85x85.png 85w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Colonial-construction-of-Lahore-80x80.png 80w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Colonial-construction-of-Lahore-258x258.png 258w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Colonial-construction-of-Lahore-375x375.png 375w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Colonial-construction-of-Lahore.png 624w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Lahore presented a unique opportunity to the colonisers. It had a vibrant walled city with its own socio-political rules and regularities but outside the city lay waste of land, tombs and abandoned barracks (Glover, 2008). Viewing the walled city as native, disorderly and beyond reform, they focused their attention on the suburbs outside the city. These suburbs became the site of the civil lines, railway station, Lawrence gardens, the chiefs (Aitchison) college, Punjab club, Gymkhana, Racecourse, the Church of Mary Magdalene and so forth.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">These buildings were seen as “heterotopia”: a setting that is detached and in direct contrast to its surroundings (Talbot, 2017). This was not unintentional. The walled city was seen as a cesspool of disease, vice and disorder and the new colonial city was the direct antithesis of that. It was a city built for the new moral imaginations of the colonisers and the elite class. Spatial segregation created a distinction between the modern and the traditional, moral and immoral, clean and unsanitary, coloniser and colonised, and created that ‘the dual city’ of British India (Glover, 2008). The spatial imagination of the colonists was manifested in the construction of two Lahore’s: one within and one outside its walls.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The focus of the new city was on easily deciphered design as opposed to the winding gullies and the mystery of the Mughal city. Straight lines, right angles, the Indo-Sacronic architectural design and the presence of zoning were key features of the colonised city (Ian, 2017). Suburbs were separated on the basis of religion (Gowal Mandi and Mozang) and class (Model Town) as well as work specialisations. Despite the spatial differentiation between the old and the new, however, the colonial construction of Lahore was invariably a product of elite co-operation with the British. Lahore was divided not into Mughal and British territories but into class territories instead.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1907" src="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-cantt-300x300.png" alt="" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-cantt-300x300.png 300w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-cantt-150x150.png 150w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-cantt-146x146.png 146w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-cantt-50x50.png 50w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-cantt-75x75.png 75w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-cantt-85x85.png 85w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-cantt-80x80.png 80w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-cantt-258x258.png 258w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-cantt-375x375.png 375w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Lahore-cantt.png 624w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The Lahore cantonment was another creation of the British Empire. Due to rising concerns about Cholera, the Indian Army troops were moved from Anarkali to the Mian Mir Cantonment in the late 1800s (Ian, 2017). The cantonment was a perfect specimen of British architectural sensibilities. Its rectilinear roads went off in cardinal directions that made the cantonment easy to navigate, however, the cantonment&#8217;s design had many other functions.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The colonial construction of Lahore focused on two main points: control and surveillance (Talbot, 2017). The connection of the Cantt to the Mall Road and to the old city made it easier to dispatch groups on account of any riot in the city (Ian, 2017). The city was built to be legible and to be easily observable to the troops. It was also easy to transport troops from the railway station to the Cantt owing to the mostly straight roads. The cantonment also took pains to conduct massive surveys of the villages surrounding it for the purpose of ensuring cleanliness. However, in reality, it was a method of surveillance and control of the population. The cantonment also showcased a central tenet of the British regime: hierarchy. The space was organised in a way that the most senior troops resided in the centre while others moved further away according to their rank (Ian, 2017). The military hierarchy resulted in a spatial hierarchy of housing as well.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1908" src="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Model-town-300x300.png" alt="" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Model-town-300x300.png 300w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Model-town-150x150.png 150w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Model-town-146x146.png 146w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Model-town-50x50.png 50w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Model-town-75x75.png 75w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Model-town-85x85.png 85w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Model-town-80x80.png 80w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Model-town-258x258.png 258w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Model-town-375x375.png 375w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Model-town.png 624w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Evidently, the colonial conceptions of architecture influenced the private sphere of Lahore as well as its outward appearance. Houses in the Walled City were narrow, multiple stories high, adjoined and started at the street level with little room for sidewalks (Ian, 2017). By the 1930s, however, the construction of houses in the suburbs of Lahore was completely different. Building material, structure and use all were changed.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">By 1919, a committee had been formed in Lahore to consider the planning of Lahore’s growing suburbs. In 1922 the Town Improvement Act was passed in Punjab establishing the legal framework for municipal improvement trusts for the purpose of rehousing Lahore’s Indian residents in a “neat Western-type ‘New Town’ environment” (Anbrine, 2014). Several new suburbs popped up, most notable of which was Model Town.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Established by Barrister Diwan Chem Chand and constructed under the supervision of Ganga Ram, the town was essentially based on Ebenezer Howard’s Garden Town ideal. The purpose of the town was to create a garden town to fulfil all socio-economic needs of its residents (Anbrine, 2017). The new all-encompassing town was a result of colonial spatial imagination that redefined the purpose and function of living space. The new town was a geometrically constructed myriad of public and private spheres. The town was divided into public zones that were reserved for economic activity and public buildings like schools, hospitals, mosques, gurdwaras and temples, while the private space was dominated by neat rows of bungalows.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The bungalow itself was a stark contrast to the earlier construction of houses. Prompted by a focus on the unhygienic conditions of the inner city, Model Town emphasized sanitation. They introduced flush toilets for the first time. The Bungalow, in contrast to the “traditional” houses, were spacious, mostly single-story and surrounded by gardens. The law stated that ⅔ of each house must be reserved for gardens in each Model Town house (Anbrine, 2014). The floor plan also replicated British sensibilities. They had a verandah, a drawing-room, a dining, sitting room, and separate baths.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Though it seems quite ordinary, the new style of building was entirely different from what had been inbuilt earlier. The British placed importance on Facades to determine the social standing of the resident hence, subsequent buildings also placed an importance on facades. This section showcases how the colonial influence constructed Lahore. This influence was not reserved for public spaces, rather it transformed Lahore from within.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1909" src="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Private-housing-300x300.png" alt="" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Private-housing-300x300.png 300w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Private-housing-150x150.png 150w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Private-housing-146x146.png 146w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Private-housing-50x50.png 50w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Private-housing-75x75.png 75w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Private-housing-85x85.png 85w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Private-housing-80x80.png 80w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Private-housing-258x258.png 258w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Private-housing-375x375.png 375w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Private-housing.png 624w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Until 1985, the Lahore Improvement Trust and subsequently the Lahore Development Authority was responsible for most of the housing in Lahore (Van der Linden, 1994). It was able to build 97,000 new plots for housing for mostly middle-income residents of Lahore. This was mainly due to the Punjab Land Acquisition act 1973 that allowed the LDA to purchase land at lower rates. However, the act was repealed in 1985 and replaced by the Land Acquisition Act 1985 (Bhatti, 2018). This piece of colonial law made it much harder for the LDA to acquire land at low rates and consequently hampered its ability to provide adequate public housing. Since then, the LDA accounts for only 7% of the urban housing in Lahore, the rest is covered by private housing schemes or slums (Roosli &amp; Tariq, 2019).</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Private housing schemes boomed in the 1980s after the inflow of cash due to the Russo-Afghan war. Since then, the LDA has acted as a regulatory body that approves private housing schemes. So far it has given final approval to 73 private housing schemes inside and in the periphery of the Lahore Metropolitan Area (LMA) (Roosli &amp; Tariq, 2019). Private housing schemes have become the primary housing agencies within Lahore but they only exacerbate the problem of spatial segregation.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Private Housing Schemes can also be viewed as ‘fortified enclaves’ that are privatised, enclosed, and monitored spaces for residence, consumption, leisure, and work (Perera, 2011). However, they are also a packaged ideal that has been imported from the global north. On one hand, they are marketed as luxurious spaces to express one’s individuality and on the other hand, they are means of standardisation of tastes. As Peter Sasanka argues, private housing schemes inform you of what is ‘good’ and at the same time marking something else as ‘bad’ (Perera, 2011). The connotations of luxury and class are enough to drive the demand for these schemes that are seen as opposites to the congested, often confusingly laid out central city. The more unsafe the city becomes, the more slums are created, and the more they become covered spaces of residence. Regardless of the fact that the development of these societies is directly responsible for the displacement of the urban poor or the draining of the city’s resources away from these slums, they are seen as havens of Lahore.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">This segregation, however, is nothing new. In pre-colonial times, mohallas were divided along caste, religion and ethnicities. The colonial state segregated Lahore in terms of class and race and now the private housing schemes divide Lahore into the landed and the urban poor. For the middle class, there is no other option but to live in these societies because of a lack of public housing. Coupled with the fact that land is an important marker of class and a means to class mobility, the middle class continues to strive to live in these private gated communities, often at the neglect of the historic centres of Lahore (Asif, 2016).</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1910" src="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Military-300x300.png" alt="" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Military-300x300.png 300w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Military-150x150.png 150w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Military-146x146.png 146w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Military-50x50.png 50w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Military-75x75.png 75w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Military-85x85.png 85w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Military-80x80.png 80w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Military-258x258.png 258w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Military-375x375.png 375w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Military.png 624w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The military has been entwined in the land of and around Lahore for decades now. Mainly it appropriated agricultural land for the purposes of defence however, in the 1980s it began its expansion to urban land as well. The military was empowered by the colonial Land Acquisition Act 1894 that allowed the military to lease land from the provincial government for “defence” purposes, however, the military has now become a private landowner in Lahore with the majority of its schemes having nothing to do with security (Saddiqa, 2004).</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Schemes like Bahria and Defense Housing Authority are defined as “private sector operations run by authorities” (Guzdar, 2021). Pakistan’s role in the Afghanistan war meant huge foreign investment pouring into the country. Essentially it means that the military directly controls large areas of land within Lahore. This land is only allocated to military officers and only they are allowed to sell it to civilians creating a massive market for property (Saddiqa, 2007). However, instead of going towards development, it went into the real estate market. It served the army&#8217;s interests to have speculative land prices since it gave them high returns. These high returns, however, come at a cost.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Firstly, there are many instances of coercion by the military. The rural and peri-urban surrounding these housing schemes is appropriated, sometimes forcefully (Guzdar, 2021). Second, the speculative land prices mean that the demand for the land is high but given that the price is out of range for most Lahoris, the plots remain empty for years to come. Thirdly, the schemes are run like cantonments themselves where huge chunks of land are given to generals and officers are exempt from paying property tax (Saddiqa, 2007). Fourth, it leads to a concentration of wealth in the hands of a few wealthy military personnel. The military itself accepts that out of its 49 schemes, none are from ordinary officers within the military (Saddiqa, 2007).</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">All these factors have created a unique political economy of land in Lahore. The military housing schemes are in a sense furthering enclave ideals of the colonial era. They are seen as an oasis of security, amenities and class within the desolate, unplanned structure of Lahore. The enclaves not only operate in institutional isolation from their surroundings – but they also draw upon local natural and public resources in order to make themselves viable. The further the colonial spatial relations within Lahore that were parasitic to the city itself.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1911" src="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Peri-300x300.png" alt="" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Peri-300x300.png 300w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Peri-150x150.png 150w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Peri-146x146.png 146w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Peri-50x50.png 50w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Peri-75x75.png 75w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Peri-85x85.png 85w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Peri-80x80.png 80w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Peri-258x258.png 258w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Peri-375x375.png 375w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Peri.png 624w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Lahore has developed largely in an unplanned manner. This has led to a massive urban sprawl problem. The Lahore metropolitan area has nearly tripled in size in the last 70 years (Bajwa et al, 2021). In 1972 the Master Plan for Lahore was created that planned to curb the urban sprawl and provide planned housing to the city. However, the plan failed spectacularly. The lack of planning, trained technocratic planners, coordination between the LDA and the LMC, no participation from the population and outdated data resulted in an inability to control the unplanned development of Lahore (Bajwa et al, 2021).</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Given the situation, private developers began acquiring land at the peripheries of Lahore in the 1980s to build housing societies (Anjum, 2007). Land outside the city was cheaper and the rural population was easy to evict/convince to sell their land. The strict planning rules set by the LDA also didn’t apply in those areas hence it was both cheaper and easier to build. Owing to the rise of congestion in the city, there was more and more demand to move some places quieter. As the transportation networks developed in Lahore, it became easier to commute as well. These peripheral housing societies also came with all basic amenities like schools, hospitals and mosques that reduced the necessity to commute to the city. However, peri-urban development creates a new set of challenges.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Firstly, there is no penalty for delays in construction which means that a majority of these societies are just empty plots. For example, Izmir Town was started in 1990 has only 2.7% of its plots converted into houses (Bajwa et al, 2021). Second, the speculation of prices due to the financialization of the property market means that demand is always high (Bajwa et al, 2021). A majority of plots are owned by businessmen who have no plans to build on the land and are holding it purely for speculative purposes. Third, the land that is razed for these societies is often rural land (Nadeem et al, 2020). Rural land is essential to Pakistan as 60% of the workforce is engaged in the agrarian economy. Productive land is destroyed for the purpose of housing that lays empty for decades after. Fourthly, there are environmental concerns related to peri-urban development as well (Zaman, 2012). Environmental concerns have been the lowest priority for both public and private planning committees. For the Lahore Master Plan, no internationally recognised environmental feasibility study was carried out.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">All these factors make peri-urban development considerably alarming. In the case of the Ravi Urban Development Project, all these fears have been raised multiple times with little consequence. This signifies that the concerns of the poor are of little value in the business of city planning. Housing societies are being built at record rates while the majority of Lahore remains landless and homeless.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1912" src="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Dev-of-underdev-300x300.png" alt="" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Dev-of-underdev-300x300.png 300w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Dev-of-underdev-150x150.png 150w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Dev-of-underdev-146x146.png 146w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Dev-of-underdev-50x50.png 50w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Dev-of-underdev-75x75.png 75w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Dev-of-underdev-85x85.png 85w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Dev-of-underdev-80x80.png 80w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Dev-of-underdev-258x258.png 258w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Dev-of-underdev-375x375.png 375w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Dev-of-underdev.png 624w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">In Pakistan about half of the urban population, about 27 million people, live in informal settlements (Roosli, 2019). UNHABITAT defines slums as a group of people living under one roof in an urban setting who lack permanent housing, enough livable space, or provision of drinking water and a proper sanitation system (Roosli, 2019). Despite the luxurious private housing societies, a majority of Lahore&#8217;s urban poor continue to reside in these slums or katchi abadis.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Katchi abadis lack the basic facilities to survive. In Lahore, both authorised and unauthorised katchi abadis lack sanitation, electricity, gas and proper road networks. Most importantly, the residents don’t have tenure security (Roosli, 2019). The city officials or private developers can force them to evict the settlement at any given time. In fact, that is exactly what is happening at the Gujjar Nala in Karachi right now. Despite these dismal conditions, however, the urban poor continue to live this way. The reason is that informal settlement is their only option. Without adequate housing for the poor, most people cannot afford housing in the city. They move to the city in search of work and settle anywhere that is close to it. For example, DHA is just 10 minutes away from the Qalandarpura slum in Lahore (Roosli, 2019). Katchi abadis are built close to economic centres and often supplement elite housing schemes.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">This is not a coincidence. The colonial imagination saw the city in terms of binaries: formal and informal, rich and poor, good and bad. Unfortunately, the same binaries persist today in most cities in the global south because of capitalism. Global capital mandates development, it is necessary for a city to continuously produce more capital. The market-driven financialisation of the property and land means that new housing societies must be built continuously and their prices are purely speculative (Arif, 2015). This development however is entirely one-sided. It is not holistic or for the urban poor rather it results in the violent dispossession, segregation and peripheralization of the poor.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The persistence of katchi abadis can be seen as a failure of planning but in reality, it is the opposite. This is the kind of planning that has been going on for centuries in Lahore. The colonial state was only concerned with surveilling and controlling the urban labour rather than empowering them and the capitalist bourgeoisie state was only concerned with order and extraction of labour. The “world-class city” is just a space where poverty is invisible but it is still the crucial factor in the functioning of the city itself (Arif, 2015). First, the ruling prophesied class pushes the urban poor to the peripheries but then once the appropriate means for transportation have been established, takes control of the peripheries as well. Trapping them in a constant cycle of dispossession and neglect.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1913" src="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Conclusion-300x300.png" alt="" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Conclusion-300x300.png 300w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Conclusion-150x150.png 150w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Conclusion-146x146.png 146w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Conclusion-50x50.png 50w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Conclusion-75x75.png 75w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Conclusion-85x85.png 85w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Conclusion-80x80.png 80w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Conclusion-258x258.png 258w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Conclusion-375x375.png 375w, https://learnersrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Conclusion.png 624w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The purpose of this project was to understand the determinants of Lahore&#8217;s segregated development. By examining the political economy of land in Lahore, it is evident that selective development was not an unfortunate coincidence but a direct consequence of deliberately uneven planning strategies.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The colonial demarcations order and disorder, planned and unplanned, formal and informal, and legal and illegal persist to this day because they were institutionalized by the post-colonial state itself. Postcolonial elites inherited and reinforced the exclusionary geographies of segregated cities whereby the poor were considered a barrier to progress and denied a place in urban life. The segregation then resulted in the creation and perpetuation of katchi abadis and informal settlements that accompanied the luxury gated communities of Lahore.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Going forward, serious measures need to be taken to provide adequate housing, control urban sprawl, combat tenure insecurity and encourage building on empty plots. The first step however is to recognise the root of the problem itself. Without looking at the socio-political aspects that determine land acquisition and the prestige attached to land ownership we cannot hope to construct a solution for Lahore’s planning problems. We must first recognise the bias before attempting to correct it.</p><p>The post <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com/lahore-a-landed-history/">Lahore: A Landed History</a> first appeared on <a href="https://learnersrepublic.com">Learners’ Republic</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
					
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