Corruption in railways
I went to the railway station in Faisalabad on Oct. 9, to book two seats for Nawabshah on the Karakoram train. The booking clerk said the system was not working and so he was not able to book seats. He asked me to come the next day. On Oct. 10, the booking clerk at the same window told me that the system was not working, though another clerk at the next window was busy booking tickets. When I told him about the other clerk, he asked me the number of seats I wanted to book. I then said I would like to book two seats. The clerk once again fooled me by saying that there was only one seat. I was very much disturbed because I had to reach Nawabshah in view of an emergency. While I was still standing in the waiting-room a coolie approached me and inquired about my problem. When I told him about my problem, he asked me to pay some money for the booking of the two seats and he introduced me to a policeman who asked me to go to the booking room. He told me to pay Rs.200 extra per seat. I did not pay the extra money and so I was not able to book seats. I told my relatives in Nawabshah about the problem. My nephew contacted the man concerned at the Nawabshah railway station and got two seats booked. Then he sent me these tickets by courier. If seats can be booked in Nawabshah, why cannot they be booked in Faisalabad? If someone does not pay the money, seats go vacant and the railways lose revenue. This behaviour of railway employees causes a loss to the railways and leads to the failure of the department. In turn, this causes a loss to the people of Pakistan. I request the authorities concerned to improve the working of the railways for the sake of the growth of the economy of the country.
Bakhshish Yousaf Chaudhry
Faisalabad

Two-day weekend for a healthy society?
THIS is apropos of S. Ibrahim's letter on the five-day work week (Oct. 4). A five-day work week should be enforced in private sector organisations as well. Reduction in productivity is cited as a major reason for opposition to the reduced number of days. I argue that the five-day work week will, in fact, increase the productivity of workers over the long run. In the hyper-competitive environment of urban centres like Karachi, an employee does not get even enough time to take care of his domestic responsibilities, let alone time to pursue meaningful activities. A person is an individual beyond his role as an economic man and the path to subjective well-being is finding engaging and interesting activities for their own sake. There are hardly any people from the middle classes who are actively pursuing hobbies or things that they enjoy doing. This is because of long working hours and just getting Sunday as a day off which is usually spent in taking care of household responsibilities. Productivity is not based on the number of days or hours worked, but on the ratio of inputs and outputs. A person who has spent the weekend enjoying a picnic, playing the guitar or attending a book club or playing with his/her children and still with time to do household chores will be more relaxed and fresh on Monday than an overworked drone whose entire life is about catching up, thus decreasing productivity. Spending close to two years in the US, I noticed that every one was passionate about something which brought more meaning to their life other than work. For example, the chairman of my department in the university was a tenor in a local choir. It isn't that they don't work hard, but that they balance their lives with other activities, especially during the weekend. In 1932, Bertrand Russell's In Praise of Idleness extolled the virtues of working less. Satirically written, I don't think Russel advocated brainless activities like spending hours watching intellectually- challenged talk shows (and guests featured), or gossiping on the phone, but reducing work to do things that enrich both the mind and the body. Productive leisure activities should be a right, not a privilege, and the first step is a two-day weekend. This I feel is important for a healthy and happy society.
Syed Imran Saqib
Karachi

Plea for media focus on education
PRIME Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced earlier this year that the literacy rate would be improved. Can we be updated on the state of education for the last nine months? It is, indeed, a pity that education is not our priority. The media should allocate at least 30 minutes daily on education, presented by well-known anchors, to mobilise public interest and invite educationists to discuss as to how to bring about education reforms. Federal and provincial education ministers should also be invited on TV channels to present before the nation what progress has been achieved so far. The nation should be mobilised to force the government and political parties to allocate at least five to 10 per cent of the GDP for education and ensure that it is spent without corruption. There should be consistent follow-ups by the media and civil society to see if the allocated education budget is spent in the right direction.
Ummul Baneen Zehra
Karachi

Stock market awareness and training
THE stakeholders in our market are planning to organise some road shows and awareness programmes to promote the stock market, both inland and abroad, in order to educate new investors and broaden the base of the market. Interestingly, these road shows are going to be in large cities only. Similar plans have been made and implemented in the past as well. However, the road shows' success has not been gauged by any means. The road shows were organised by a stock brokerage house which helped in capturing the media's attention and strengthening the confidence of investors already in the market. The Exchange has been regularly uploading material on its official website but it is difficult for a potential investor to comprehend with regard to awareness and training. Though some brokerage houses are offering better information for their investors, it also seems to be more useful to an old player who already has knowledge of the market mechanism. Our business management institutions and universities are also imparting limited awareness about equity markets to their banking and finance graduates in their curriculum. They include either the revision of the basics of economics, or analysing some features of the financial statement only. Some certification programmes and workshops were organised in the past by the Exchange but they could not be maintained. One of the leading stock trading houses in India has offered a plethora of investor-awareness programmes structured during the current month for the financial year. These have a set target to educate 15 million investors by organising 300 seminars across 200 cities in India. The company will be rolling out its programmes in urban areas in the first phase followed by rural regions which were unexplored earlier. The programmes will be organised with the help of partners in various state capitals, metros, tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 cities across the country with special focus on eastern states where the economy is mostly agriculture-based. The BSE India training institute is a premier facility in financial and capital market training. It is popular not only among the whole range of institutions in the Indian securities market but also market participants, like the government, external agencies, financial institutions and corporations. It currently offers over 40 courses with about 200 programmes which are attended by over 8,500 participants a year. The BSE India is also offering regular programmes of certification in security market and derivative exchange. In Pakistan, such programmes should be offered without geographical discrimination of an urban and rural divide. At the graduate level, a new discipline of BBA in financial markets with a more detailed syllabus on market structures and issues will be beneficial. Targeted KSE certification programmes can also be organised for traders, students and investors. An effective use of the Internet and media may also be made to make it user-friendly.
Fahim Akhtar
Karachi

Reckless driving on the highway
THE government built the Makran Coastal Highway to facilitate citizens, but it has now become too dangerous for travellers. It was constructed on December 16, 2004, during Pervez Musharraf's regime by the National Highway Authority and the Frontier Works Organisation at an estimated cost of Rs. 3,000 million. The highway is 653-km long along the Arabian Sea coastline. It improved transportation. However, accidents on a daily basis have become a great cause for concern. On June 19, nearly 55-km away from Ormara, a bus heading for Karachi from Mand turned over due to over speeding. As a result 15 passengers lost their lives and 18 received serious injuries. In May 2005, near Pasni, two buses collided, leaving 30 people dead. According to a local newspaper, the highway has so far witnessed at least 165 casualties. Besides, at least 600 people have been injured. One of the main causes for accidents are the drivers who are either too drunk to drive, are busy on their cellphones or go to sleep due to fatigue. They do not follow traffic rules either. The highway police should be more vigilant and fine drivers heavily if they are found not following highway rules. Ambulances should also be available on the highway for emergencies.
Bakhtawar Anwar
Turbat

Appointment of police ombudsman
PARTICIPANTS of a debate on police reforms, organised under the aegis of an NGO have rightly demanded the appointment of a police ombudsman. The desire of the participants, conscientious members of civil society, is obviously most crucial, especially when there is hardly any control of civil institutions over the police force. The idea behind the promulgation of the Police Order in 2002 was to do away with the age-old police system, created by British occupying forces to suit their own needs, into a highly professional and service-oriented organisation, fulfilling democratic aspirations of the citizens of an independent country. However, the so-called reforms achieved nothing significant except getting rid of judicial control of district management officers, which they used to exercise over police and whom people always preferred to approach in times of distress. The idea of the National Police Safety Commission (NPSC) was to reduce estrangement between police and citizens and to create a bridge between the two. However, soon after the announcement of establishing the NPSC in 2006, the idea died its own death, leaving the police an unbridled law unto themselves. A policeman is supposed to be the guardian of law-abiding citizens' interests. However, in this part of the world, the police as an institution, because of its centuries' old anti-people's role, has become the most detested, if not abhorred, organisation to say the least. So much so that even under pressing circumstances no decent person would like to visit a police station as he knows the humiliating treatment he would get at the hands of officials there. Needless to say that after the promulgation of Police Order 2002, without the NPSC it has become all the more obligatory to have an authority-like ombudsman at the provincial level which citizens can approach against the maladministration of the police department, which may be either on account of excesses or indifferent police officials. The police ombudsman, if appointed at the provincial level, will definitely resolve innumerable problems currently faced by the common man. However, in order to create trust in the people in the institution and fairness of the office, the post of police ombudsman should be headed by no less than a retired judge of the high court, having impeccable integrity.
Zohaib Ahmed Qureshi
Hyderabad