Science and Technology Rat Race (ٹرک کی بتی)

We were mindlessly and blindly made to follow the chimera of science and technology.
Unfortuately Pakistan was steered away from the essential fields that make a nation great and were diverted to a rat race towards the glitter of Science and Technology. See the related blogpost "Myth of our Country being Backward because we lag behind in Science and Technology". https://syedirfanhyder.blogspot.com/2013/03/myth-we-are-backward-because-we-lag-in.html

Link to the talk on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k505gmNtNws

See Also;

• Myth: Mushrooming of HEIs in Pakistan
• Myth: Impact factor measures impact
• What does it Mean to be a PhD: Myths of specialization and departmental scope of expertise
• Myth: We are backward we Lag Behind in Science and Technology 
• Myths of Schooling and Education: Resources
• 5 Myths of Higher Education in Pakistan
• Why PhD is Difficult to Complete and Why there are so many ABDs (All But Dissertation)  and PhD dropouts. 
• This write-up is an extended rehash of the ideas presented in a talk on "Five Major Myths of Higher Education" made at the CIO Conference, March 2009 at Sheraton, Karachi (link.)

This is the 1st of the Five Major Myths of Higher Education in Pakistan:

1. Our backwardness is because of science and technology 
2. There is mushrooming of educational institutions in Pakistan 
3. Public universities cost lower than private universities 
4. Bigger infrastructure (land, building, equipment) means better education 
5. Impact Factor research measures real impact

How HEC Kills Creativity and How PEC Kills Creativity

How HEC and PEC kill creativity! They kill creativity by targeting the roots from where creativity and innovation originate. Creativity, innovation, new paradigms, new frameworks and and new ideas originate from out-of-the-box thinking, lateral thinking, inter-disciplinary aha experiences. However, HEC/PEC's notion of quality works in the reverse direction; they force faculty, curriculum as well as research to be imprisoned in rigidly defined boxes or cells! They compartmentalize knowledge and think that knowledge can be captured in boxes and in silos designated by the names of the disciplines, programs or departments. This helps the bureaucracy in imprisoning the faculty into existing rigidly defined boxes i.e. the name of the discipline written on the degree or the name of the department on the transcript. This box then becomes the territory on which turf wars are fought for future promotions and fancy designations of professors, chairpersons, and deans. It is on this turf that departmental politics is played out. This imprisoning of knowledge in silos has nothing to do with academics or the quality of higher education.
This is also discussed in my blogpost What does it Mean to Have a PhD: Myths of Specialization and Departmental Expertise
[https://syedirfanhyder.blogspot.com/2014/10/Myths-Definition-of-PhD-Specialization-Expertise.html]

HEC Ranking Fiasco Genesis

University Rankings in Pakistan

Dr. Syed Irfan Hyder, January 5, 2004

https://www.dawn.com/news/1065476 

This is with reference to the letter to the editor of Dawn, December 31, 2003 where the writer has highlighted the risks of jumping prematurely in the area of university rankings.

Development of a ranking system is a good idea, but coming up with a criteria that is complete, just, fair, valid, reliable and professional is a non-trivial undertaking as explained below. Hurriedly put together experiences of a few academicians in to a ranking system cannot be expected to be fair, valid or even professional.

It is surprising that with all the emphasis on R&D, there is a reluctance in investing in the research and subsequent development of the proposed ranking system. The ranking initiative is therefore headed in the same direction as the Model University Ordinance and Tenure Track initiatives. Recently a questionnaire was sent out by HEC that lacks in completeness as well as sufficiency. It is even without clearly laid out objectives and has typographical and structural mistakes. It is surprising to note the lack of thoroughness even in the booklet on Criteria for Establishing New Institutes and Universities that has been published and widely circulated. Institutions are threatened to be de-recognized if they do not conform to the booklet Criteria in five years!

What HEC Quality Criteria Did Not Measure

[Written in December 11, 2003]

This was written on the basis of HEC Survey that was circulated by HEC in 2003. Many of these areas are still not being covered.

The survey still relies too much on brick and mortar measurements.

Following important areas for determining the strength of an institute of higher learning and measuring its quality have not been covered in this survey and should be included:

• Financial control
• Administrative control
• Academic control
• Records Management
• MIS Support

Why HEC’s Foreign Faculty Hiring Plan failed

This was written in June 2003 when HEC with a fanfare started the program and spent billions of rupees.

Why HEC’s Foreign Faculty Hiring Plan may fail:

• 

Different Types of Research Contributions and Challenges in Defense

Paper Writing and Research Strategies

 [Copied from the net in 2012. Source unknown]

Introduction

Here is a brief reminder of how to write papers and what kinds of papers to write. Please also see the other materials on our web site on paper structure.

What matters most about a paper is what the reader gets out of it, not how much work you put into it. That is, after reading your paper, the reader should feel that he knows something new, has a better insight into something, or has a better idea of how to do something.

Each paper you write should stick to one main idea, and that idea should be clear enough that you can formulate it in a single sentence. If you can't tell someone else what the main contribution of your paper is in a single sentence, you haven't worked it out enough.

Writing papers doesn't need to be all that hard because papers fall into a small number of common categories. Most of them involve some problem that needs to be solved or some observation that needs to be explained; for the paper to be accepted, it's important that this problem or observation is interesting in the first place.

Solving problems that aren’t interesting to reviewers won't get you published. It is therefore important that you keep track of the literature and figure out what topics are likely going to be of interest to reviewers.

In writing your paper, keep in mind that many reviewers are graduate students like yourself. Think about how you approached your last few paper reviews. How well did you yourself know the literature? Did you give the authors the benefit of the doubt when you didn’t understand something? Did you ask for more experiments?

Quality and Duration of PhD Degree: Will HEC recognize Iqbal's PhD ?

Do you know that Allama Iqbal's PhD thesis would never have passed HEC's quality criteria of minimum duration of three years for a PhD!

Iqbal arrived in Germany between 17 to 20 July 1907. Munich University issued call for defense on 21st July. Defense was held on 10th November 1907.

A group photo, of young Allama Iqbal with his landlady and roommates during his stay in Heidelberg Germany. Year: 1907

Faulty BISP Beneficiaries Analysis. Use of Proxies in Data Analytics

Faulty assumptions of BISP research led to faulty conclusions:

We must need to question the faulty research assumptions of BISP Benazir Support Program Research Study that is being promoted on social media without requisite critical analysis. Over 8lac people have been identified that are being classified as "rich"  without the necessary and rigorous research methodology and analysis. The research has used some raw data plucked from random sources without rigorous analysis, validation and triangulation of the data. 

The use of data analytics,  however,  is a good beginning and like all tools need to be used with care and proper training. This is a good case study of faulty research assumptions for MPhil/PhD researchers that often lead to faulty conclusions:. 

بے نظیر پروگرام ریسرچ مفروضہ-1:

کیا NADRA کے ایگزیکٹو سنٹرز سے cnic بنوانے والے سارے امیر لوگ ہوتے ہیں؟ کیا آپ نے وہاں مزدور نہیں دیکھے؟ کیا غرہب، بیمار اور بوڑھے لوگ لمبی خواری سے بچنے کیلئے ایگزیکٹو سنٹرز نہیں جاتے؟ 

بے نظیر پروگرام ریسرچ مفروضہ-2:

کیابیرون ملک سفر کرنے والے غریب مزدور نہیں ہوتے؟ کیا واپس آنے والے سارے مزدور امیر ہو جاتے ہیں؟ کیا آپ نے ان کے استحصال کی دلخراش کہانیاں نہیں سنیں! جن سے وہاں بیگار میں سالوں کام کروایا گیا؟  میں کئی لوگوں سے ملا ہوں جو کئ سال بعد واپس آئے ہیں یا واپس بھیج دئیے گئے ہیں، اور اب اپنی ذندگی دوبارہ شروع کر رہے ہیں- کچھ ساز و سامان انہوں نے اچھے وقتوں میں خرید لیا مگر بدلے ہوئے حالات میں کرائے کی ٹیکسی چلا رہے ہیں-

بے نظیر پروگرام ریسرچ مفروضہ-3:

کیا ہر موٹر سائیکل خریدنے والا امیر ہوتا ہے؟ کیا موٹر سائیکل خریدنے والے مزدور یا فوڈ ڈلیوری والے نہیں ہوتے؟ کیا موٹر سائیکل 2ہزار روپے مہینہ قسط پر نہیں ملتی تھی؟ کئ لوگوں سے ملا ہوں جنہوں نے کسی طرح موٹر سائیکل خرید لی ہے اور اب اس کے زریعے معاش تلاش کر رہے ہیں- آج کل موٹر سائیکل ٹھیلے کی جگہ بن گئ ہے-

Do you think that all Food panda/Bykea riders are rich? Do you think all taxi-drivers/rickshaw drivers are rich? Do you know what is the daily rent that a yellow cab driver pays to the owner of the yellow cab/rickshaw? Do you think the Uber driver who drives professionally is rich? Many of them may have brought the car/bike on installments. 

There can be similar critique of other parameters selected in this study:

The collected data is known as proxy data. Please ask any econometric and social science researcher how this data needs to be qualified with other demographic data before it could be gainfully used to pluck out those unworthy of government support. 

This measure indicates also that it is deriving Sadistic Pleasure from stopping the paltry amount of 1500-2000 rupees being disbursed to over 8lac people. Just see the ridiculousness and shameful irony:

بے نظیر انکم پروگرام سے ملنے والی دو ہزار روپے ماہانہ کی "خطیر" رقم پر "عیاشی" کرنے والے لاکھوں  لوگوں کا ناطقہ بند کر کے حکومت اب بیرونی قرضوں پر لات مارے گی، موج اڑائے گی

What a shameful sadism. 

Dr Irfan Hyder

What Economic and Political Circumstances Led to Secession of East Pakistan

 [To understand the context of this post, please read At What Cost! Why Compute Economic Costs of Faulty Political Decisions]

Pakistani Decision Makers should have their Skin in the Game

[To understand the context of this post, please read At What Cost! Why Compute Economic Costs of Faulty Political Decisions]

A Jog Down the Memory Lane

A Jog down the memory lane

Yesterday I took a stroll down the fields on the farm in Tumair. Moving from the small cozy cottage on the east side of the farm land towards the north-west corner where the work was in progress to build a water reservoir. This is barani land, where people have been growing crops such as corn and wheat for ages. These crops only require the seasonal rain pattern. As the farm lodgings begin to take shape we are still groping for a water solution. Without water, landscaping and growing of the plants we want is difficult. Although, rain in Islamabad is plentiful, the water needs to be stored in reservoirs. [2007-04-28]

How I learned the Craft of Book Binding

I learned book binding جلد بندی from my relative Ehtisham Haider Chacha (منّو چچا) . I went with him to Raja Bazar, Rawalpindi  in 1975-76 when I was in 8th class and living in Islamabad. He helped me buy the needle, thick thread, and glossy paper sheet, scissors,  etc. He then taught me how to prepare home made glue (میدہ کی لئی ), make holes in the book, thread the book with needle, attach thick card from used  hard binding of copies,  tie it to the thread, cut it, put the spine cloth, glue it and paste the glossy paper. I used this skill to bind hundreds of books in my home collection. I still have a few of those bound books with me. Unfortunately I could not get the opportunity to graduate to the finer art of جزو بندی which is a more involved craft requiring sewing with fine thread different parts (جزو)  of the book.

See the sewing of one of the binding that is exposed of this book

Where to Download Books for Free and Legally

45 places you can download tens of thousands books, plays and other literary texts completely legally for free

BY PROFESSORWUJanuary 10, 2017

Dismissals of Civilian Prime Ministers in Pakistan by DoN Doctrine of Necessity Godfathers

[To understand the context of this post, please read At What Cost! Why Compute Economic Costs of Faulty Political Decisions]
Doctrine of Necessity (DoN) sword had been used to repeatedly dismiss civilian prime ministers of Pakistan prematurely, since 1950s. The DoN godfathers have played the role of 1st umpire, 2nd umpire and 3rd umpire interchangeably in ensuring that the civilian prime ministers are never able to complete their terms peacefully. These dismissals have now been documented in several places such as History of Judiciary of Pakistan and also in books by several generals.  
The objective of neocolonialism is to keep the third world countries perpetually in ICU so that they are never able to challenge their hegemony and remain a pliant consumer of their produce. None of the third world countries especially the Muslim Countries have been able to establish strong democratic credentials that can help them serve their people. Today's Pakistan is now totally subservient to IMF/World Bank and their tool FATF and once again in the service of its neocolonialism masters.

Judiciary (J), Bureaucracy (B), Establishment(E) taking turns as 1st, 2nd , 3rd Umpire for keeping Pakistan perpetually in ICU.

References (Being Updated): 

• How Corruption is being Eliminated in Pakistan since 1950s: Corruption as a Ruse to Maintain Status Quo
• Costs of Justice Munir's Disastrous Doctrine of Necessity
• Suharwardi, II Chundrigar, Feroze Khan Noon: See Bilal Ghauri Pakistan's Army Chief #03: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9byMis05iHE 
• DoN godfathers Political Engineering of the SC Bench to Obtain Doctrine of Necessity Judgement in 1954-55
• [1] Hamid Khan, A History of Judiciary of Pakistan, Oxford University Pakistan, 2016, pp. 34-35.
  [2] Hamid Khan quotes Qudratullah Shahab's book Shahabnama
  [3] Hamid Khan quotes his own personal interaction with Justice AR Cornelius
• Why Bhutto is Alive: Political Engineering of SC and HC bench and decisions
• ZA Bhutto: See: Bilal Ghauri Pakistan's Army Chief #08 https://www.vhd.wiki/video-tarazoo/thK9xxrXa14
• Benazir Bhutto-1: Bilal Ghauri Pakistan's Army Chief #09 Gen Aslam Baig
• Nawaz Sharif-1:  Bilal Ghauri Pakistan's Army Chief #11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhXiwjOuxbc
• Benazir Bhutto-2: Bilal Ghauri Pakistan's Army Chief #13 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL7tHtYzh38
• Nawaz Sharif-2: Bilal Ghauri Pakistan's Army Chief #19 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFV8r0Zhe-4
• Yousuf Raza Gilani: Bilal Ghauri Pakistan's Army Chief #21 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3PDEHP5nxg
• Nawaz Sharif-3: 
• Doctrine of Necessity from CJ Munir to Judge Khosa: Role of Judiciary in the Service of Neocolonialism
• Role of Sharifuddin Pirzada in Promulgating Martial Laws for Every Dictator of Pakistan
• 
  

Year	Dismissed PMs	1st Umpire	2nd Umpire	3rd Umpire

How to Build Confidence in Children: Climbing the Trees and Getting out of a Hole

This must be around 1965-66. I am around 4-5 playing in my next door neighbor's house with my friend Umair, and somehow I had managed to climb up a large shahtoot (mulbery) tree in their courtyard. I could still feel my exhilaration that I felt as I went up and up from one branch to another. We have not yet started going to school and it was morning time before noon. Umair's mother was in the kitchen. Other siblings have gone to school....

We were living in 57/2 Wavell Lines, right in front of the Chaklala Railway Station. This was where I was born in 1962 and spent my early years. These were old British era barracks which were used as temporary accommodations for government servants waiting for the new construction in Islamabad. My father was in government service and had moved in to this Chaklala barrack home from Karachi, when the capital had shifted to Islamabad in 1960-61. Each barrack block had been converted into three separate units for family accommodations with three rooms each, with a veranda, kitchen and bathroom. There were only trees and empty ground between the railway station and the barracks where we were. Now this area has all been encroached.

Front side of Wavell Lines Barracks 50 years later in 2011.
These barracks were torn down in 2017-18

Covey's First Habit Advice to Proponents of Corruption Eradication First

Stephen Covey's first habit advice to anti-corruption proponents:
First habit of highly successful people states that focusing on circle of concern is counter productive. Instead focusing on your circle of Influence will cause it to expand, and this expansion will eventually take care of your concerns. "Process Efficiency" is in your circle of Influence and "corruption" is in your circle of Concern.

Incompetence and inefficiency is the Mother of Corruption and is the fundamental problem of third world countries

Had corruption been the cause of our problems, then IK's "clean" govt's anti-corruption drive should have been showing better results. IK's "clean" govt has falsified the hypothesis that Pakistan's plight is because of corruption! It is the inefficiency and incompetence, stupids! Incompetence, not corruption, is responsible for our woes and problem.

[To understand the context of this post, please read At What Cost! Why Compute Economic Costs of Faulty Political Decisions]

Be Sensitive While Paying for Pizza (expensive meal) through a Domestic Worker

Did you order pizza (or an expensive meal) and asked your doorman (ملازم،چوکیدار) to pay the bill which ran into thousands (typically Rs 3000 or even much more) to the home-delivery rider? Did you realize that you sent a message to your چوکیدار that you are willing to spend one-half or one-third the amount of his 30 days day-night salary on a single-time meal? This door man's salary is subsistence for his 4-6 member family surviving somewhere in the interior.

Strategic Issues for Universities in Pakistan

During a strategic management meeting on last Sunday (29th September, 2019), a leading industrial group chairman gave the following advice to the higher management of the universities:

The future outlook is bleak. Don't expect any investment or industrialization during the next 3 years. We are in the process of investing about Rs 4 billion in an industrial venture in collaboration with a foreign concern in Malaysia. The cost of investment rose from Rs 4 Billion to Rs 7 billion driving out all our projections of the feasibility. Forget about any FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) coming in. The unemployment is going to increase and the jobs available for graduates is going to decrease substantially. Hence the only option is to focus on entrepreneurship.

Javier Poncela-Professor from Malaga Spain who Taught us Selfless International Collaboration

Very sad. It was very sad to learn that Dr. Javier Poncela, a Professor at the University of Malaga, Spain had passed away. Dr Poncela was a well known personality in the electrical engineering departments of the universities of Sindh. He became a popular academician in Pakistani community and was routinely invited for the conferences in Pakistan and he too invited and hosted several professors and students in conferences in Spain. He supervised numerous PhD and MS Pakistani students in Pakistan and at Spain. He had played a pivotal role in many European Union Projects in Pakistan including Erasmus Mundus.