ARTICLES

Traffic of Lahore, a major economic and environmental issue

Since Lahore is the 2^nd largest and most populated city of Pakistan after Karachi, it is facing major environmental and economic issues like any metropolitan city in any LDC. With a population of over 10 million people, traffic is one of the most important issues in many aspects as everyone in the city or those millions of people who come here on daily basis for earning some livelihood or for any other purposes have to move on roads in their private automobile or in public transport. Being 2^nd big economic hub, by having a big number of attractive places and with quite a number of educational, health, public and private sector institutes people come and live here from all over the Pakistan.

All of its habitants and those people who come and live for a short or long  period of time face traffic problems where ever they go in Lahore. There is a cluster of factors which is making this issue a horrible and disastrous issue, both economically and environmentally, if not dealt with right cure right now.  Due to traffic congestion on roads, lack of sufficient public transport, mismanagement of traffic and absence of having the right traffic sense and last but not the least, lack of right sustainable development planning by the authorities no one can get to their destination in time.

Development authorities are definitely trying to make a difference by making progress in different development projects but these projects are not quiet sustainable. MDCs give priority to public transport projects and 1^st world countries have completely adopted public sector development and yet Lahore development authorities are serving private sector by making projects which serve the minor sector of the society i.e. private automobiles owner class which is less than 30% of the total population. Apparently authorities have no concern about pedestrians and bicyclists. More than 300 private vehicles are being registered in Lahore on daily basis which will create quite a big issue by congesting the traffic even more in the near future. Large number of private vehicles led to the more congested traffic which led to the mismanagement of traffic and this issue is directly linked to economics and environment i.e. wastage of fuel, time and emission of carbon in abundance, respectively.

Authorities must launch public sector development projects to serve the masses as it is the need of the hour. Furthermore, there must be regulations applied in issuance of traffic licenses, number of sales of vehicles and better management planning for the current traffic jam issue which is a routine now days in the entire Lahore. Time is real short and decisions must be taken rightly in the right direction. People are lingering for the authorities to make a difference for them by serving them and if authorities want to serve the people, Now is the time.

Corruption culture in Pakistan

Written by; Zunaira Rahim

Class; Msc Development Study (ISCS Punjab University Lahore)

 Corruption is a scourge that has badly affected the quality of governance, state of the economy and social justice available to the people. Corruption is defined as the misuse of entrusted power for private gains. It is of different types. It is petty, grand and political.

 The petty corruption is usually linked with the lower salary employees and generally considered and facilitating payments, whereas, the grand corruption is associated with the high level bureaucracy. However, the political corruption as name indicates is related to the politician. They usually involve in this type corruption in order to maintain their status quo. The corruption varies in the rate of its presence, therefore in this regard the incidence of corruption may be rare, widespread or systematic.

 The rare corruption is easy to identify and control than widespread. Whereas, the systematic corruption becomes a way of life and it is very difficult to overcome. The corruption is universal, however, its existence varies in rate of occurrence. Since the inception of Pakistan, the country has witnessed of the rampant corruption. Many governments in general and the governments in decade of 1990 in particular has become the victim of the widespread corruption and corrupt practices. In a recent survey conducted by the Transparency International, Pakistan ranks lowered from 42^nd most corrupt country to 34^th country in the world.

 Islam explicitly condemns the existence of corruption in every form. Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) declared that; “Damned is the bribe giver (or corruptor)-the bribe taker (the corrupted) and he who goes between them”. Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah has strongly condemned the presence of corruption. He avowed a strict action against such mal practices and their doer. The root causes of the rampant corruption in the country are lack of effective accountability, poor performance on the part of respective institutions, unchecked and unlimited power of feudal for vested interests.

 The presence of corruption and corrupt practices play a pivotal role to engender the deteriorate law and order, shackle the economy which leads to the inflation, unemployment and poverty in the country. Its presence distracts a man from ethics, humanely attitude, tradition and civic laws. The pervasive corruption in the country can be checked by applying certain measures. The government should ascertain the rule of law; it means equal application of law, equal protection by the law and equality before law, effective and impartial accountability, active role of media to eradicate the corruption are the few factors which can play an active to diminish the corruption.