Current Affairs November - 2016
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
CSS - CURRENT AFFAIRS NOVEMBER - 2016 COMPLIED, ARTICLES, EDITORIALS FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER 2016 12/1/2016 CSSMENTOR.COM COMPILER: SHAHBAZ SHAKEEL WWW.THECSSPOINT.COM | WWW.CSSMENTOR.COM | WWW.CSSBOOKS.NET DOWNLOAD CSS Notes, Books, MCQs, Magazines WWW.CSSMENTOR.COM Download CSS Notes Download CSS Books Download CSS Magazines Download CSS MCQs Download CSS Past Papers CSSMENTOR.COM, Pakistan’s The Best Online FREE Web source for All CSS Aspirants. Email: [email protected] November 2016 Table of Contents PAKISTAN TACKLING ABJECT POVERTY BY M ZIAUDDIN ............................................................................................... 5 PAKISTAN AND THE REVENGE OF GEOGRAPHY BY DR QAISAR RASHID ....................................................... 9 CLIMATE CHANGE AND PAKISTAN BY SIRAJ SHAWA .................................................................................. 12 WHAT IMPACT WILL US ELECTIONS HAVE ON PAKISTAN? ......................................................................... 14 THE WAY OUT: SOLUTION TO CIVIL SERVICE CONUNDRUM LIES WITHIN BY RIAZUL HAQ ....................... 16 TRUMP VICTORY MAY NOT HARM PAK-US TIES: US EXPERTS BY WASEEM ABBASI .................................. 19 THE ENERGY CRISIS: NO END IN SIGHT | EDITORIAL .................................................................................. 21 FROM ‘COLD PEACE’ TO ‘HOT PEACE’ | EDITORIAL .................................................................................... 22 PAK-TURK RELATIONS | EDITORIAL ............................................................................................................ 23 TERRORISM IN PAKISTAN: ROOT CAUSES BY AMANULLAH KHAN ............................................................. 25 FOREIGN POLICY CHALLENGES | EDITORIAL ............................................................................................... 27 DISCUSSING THE 98 PER CENT FAILURE IN THE CSS EXAMS BY MOHAMMAD ALI BABAKHEL .................. 28 CSS REFORM AND VISION 2025 BY AISHA GHUMMAN .............................................................................. 31 RESTARTING THE PAK-AFGHAN RELATIONSHIP | EDITORIAL ..................................................................... 34 THE NEW ARMY CHIEF | EDITORIAL ........................................................................................................... 35 PAKISTAN & INDIA EU SAYS WORKING TO DEFUSE INDO-PAK TENSIONS ................................................................................ 37 ONGOING EFFECTS OF KASHMIR ISSUE | EDITORIAL ................................................................................. 38 PAKISTAN WARNS INDIA AGAINST BREACH OF WATER TREATY BY ZAFAR BHUTTA ................................. 39 NSG, INDIA, AND PAKISTAN BY MALIK MUHAMMAD ASHRAF ................................................................... 41 WORLD AMERICA’S RUSSIA POLICY HAS FAILED BY THOMAS GRAHAM & MATTHEW ROJANSKY ......................... 44 WILL AMERICA’S GOOD NAME SURVIVE THE 2016 ELECTION? BY STEPHEN M. WALT ............................. 51 IRAQ AFTER ISIS BY VERA MIRONOVA AND MOHAMMED HUSSEIN .......................................................... 55 CHINA AND RUSSIA: GAMING THE WEST BY MATHIEU DUCHÂTEL & FRANÇOIS GODEMENT .................. 59 IRAN ONCE AGAIN EXCEEDS A NUCLEAR DEAL LIMIT ................................................................................. 79 TRUMP’S SYRIA STRATEGY WOULD BE A DISASTER BY CHARLES LISTER .................................................... 80 3 CSSMENTOR.COM November 2016 IS US TRYING TO DEFEAT IS TOO QUICKLY? BY TAYLOR LUCK .................................................................... 86 GET READY FOR THE MOST VIOLENT DÉTENTE EVER BY IVAN KRASTEV, STEPHEN HOLMES .................... 88 ECONOMY E-COMMERCE — A NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITY BY MUBARAK ZEB KHAN ................................................. 94 EU MISSION HINTS AT FIVE-YEAR STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH PAKISTAN BY PEER MUHAMMAD ..... 97 WB AND PAK ECONOMIC ACHIEVEMENTS | EDITORIAL ............................................................................ 99 GAWADAR BECOMES FUNCTIONAL | EDITORIAL ..................................................................................... 100 ECONOMIC PROGRESS | EDITORIAL ......................................................................................................... 101 INDIA OFFERS SOME RELIEF TO CHAOS IT CREATED WITH CURRENCY BAN BY NIDA NAJAR .................. 102 PAKISTAN’S INTERNAL CHALLENGES AND CPEC BY RAJA OMER SHABBIR ............................................... 104 EDUCATION HIGHER EDUCATION VISION 2025 BY DR PERVEZ TAHIR .......................................................................... 106 RESISTANCE THROUGH EDUCATION BY SHAHID SIDDIQUI ...................................................................... 108 VALUE OF EDUCATION IN PAKISTAN BY SAMRA KHAN ............................................................................ 111 ‘PAKISTAN’S EDUCATION SECTOR | EDITORIAL ........................................................................................ 114 THE LANGUAGE OF EDUCATION BY ZUBAIR TORWALI ............................................................................. 115 4 CSSMENTOR.COM November 2016 PAKISTAN TACKLING ABJECT POVERTY BY M ZIAUDDIN Nobody talks of 'trickle down' any more. They now talk of 'inclusive growth'. In its post- 1980 prescription all that Washington Consensus (WC)needed you to do was to get your economies to grow fast enough and the 'trickle down' effect, the WC doctors claimed, from such a growth would take care of the poor in your country ie, lift them out of the poverty line. But what really happened and is still happening following this kind of growth since the advent of Reaganomics, however, was something entirely opposite to what this prescription had claimed would happen. Instead of the poor being lifted out of the poverty line they went further deep down while the rich became filthy rich because the fruits of growth defying the laws of gravity went up rather than down. Today in most of the countries which had used the WC prescription of growth a handful of rich have cornered almost 99% of the wealth while the rest of the population is holding the empty sack. A recent report by Oxfam and the Lahore University of Management Sciences (Lums) has stated that the concentration of wealth in the richer 20% of Pakistanis is five times more than the bottom 20%. Inequality and poverty have walked hand in hand in many countries for decades and even centuries - the result of non-inclusive growth models and regressive social policies. Therefore, the buzz word today is 'inclusive growth'. But when it comes to spelling out what exactly do they mean by 'inclusive growth', most of the Breton Woods officials get tongue tied because any mention of equitable distribution of fruits of growth would immediately turn you into a socialist which is still a blasphemous term in the rich world and among their camp followers. And if you try to further explain the term in some detail by stating that such a growth would ensure that affordable education, affordable health cover, affordable housing, affordable transport and affordable telecommunication facilities would come within the reach of each and every citizen of the country you would only end up annoying the very ruling elite that has cornered the 99% of the wealth of their countries and do not want the status quo to undergo any change that would threaten their wealth accumulation capacity. 5 CSSMENTOR.COM November 2016 However, even before a country can attempt to attain inclusive growth of a kind in which every citizen is afforded the enabling circumstances to better his/her lot, the poorest of the citizens need to be extended a helping hand to escape their abject destitution and be able to make the most of inclusive growth. The Bangladeshis tried to do this with a fair degree of success through their world famous Grameen Bank launched by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. In some Latin American countries they tried to do it by distributing land among the landless, getting their ownership registered in government documents and making these lands bankable. In Pakistan the then official economic managers attempted in 2008 to attack abject poverty in the country through direct cash distribution amongst the most destitute through what is called the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP). The long-term objectives of the project was to support the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) launched world-wide to eradicate extreme and chronic poverty, to empower women and to achieve universal primary education through the provision of Rs 1000/month to eligible families. The monthly instalment was enhanced to Rs 1200 per month with effect from July 2013 and has now been fixed at Rs 1500 per month since July 2014. BISP is now the largest single social safety net programme in Pakistan's history. The number of beneficiaries has increased to approximately nearly 5 million and BISP annual disbursements the government claims are likely to go beyond Rs 90 billion during the current fiscal. A rigorous evaluation of the BISP is said to be underway. Despite some successes, however, the government finds high rates of malnutrition amongst young girls and boys. The BISP beneficiary households still face significant deprivations in access to adequate sanitation and drinking water. Some limited evidence of improvements to material welfare has been found with an increase in the proportion