iPhone concept car-iChange

Since launching in 2001, Apple's iPod has helped change the landscape of the music business and the mobile phone industry. Many industries are jealous of this extraordinary success of the iPhone and taking a cue from Apple's success in the technology industry. About iChange it is hoped it could have the same affect on the car trade – by creating a vehicle that is controlled by using an iPhone.
The idea might sound like science fiction, but Swiss design firm Rinspeed hopes that it can bring that fantasy one step closer to reality with a new concept design to be put on display at next week's Geneva Motor Show.
The entire vehicle, known as the iChange, is built around Apple's popular mobile handset, which hooks into the dashboard and acts as the car's key – locking and unlocking it, as well as turning on the engine and performing other vital functions.
The electric-powered model also boasts a shape-changing design that allows it to seat one, two or three passengers. On first glance, the iChange is a teardrop-shaped single seater sports car – but at the push of a button the rear opens up to offer another two seats. The concept, which has been supported by the Swiss government, might seem far-fetched, but the team behind it say it is intended to stimulate the struggling car industry into innovative thinking.
Rinspeed founder Frank Rinderknecht said that the vehicle is the sort of required to push the modern car into the 21st century.
"The iChange is a symbol for the fundamental changes the auto industry undergoes worldwide," said Rinderknecht. "It is clear that only those companies will survive that have innovative answers for the demands of a new automotive era."

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'Bill of rights' by Facebook

In future, the Facebook has announced, proposals to change its terms of service will be circulated to users in order to get feedback. Some may go to a public vote, while it also said that its legal contract with Facebook addicts will be simplified into a "bill of rights and responsibilities". the social networking site has decided to stem off future criticism by putting some changes to public vote and asking users to sign simplified 'bill of rights'
"We're going to notify everyone who wants to be notified and give them time to comment," Mark Zuckerberg said. in a call with journalists earlier.
In the case that a proposed change draws a high volume of response, "we'll even put it up for a vote".
The move comes just a few days after an embarrassing climbdown, after changes to the site's terms of use led to outrage among many of the site's 175m users. The concerns, over a shift in wording that appeared to give Facebook perpetual ownership to every piece of data on the site, eventually led to Zuckerberg making a drastic U-turn.
Although executives at the site said they did not intend to offend or annoy users with the earlier changes, they recognised that data ownership was a sensitive issue for many people.
Facebook's vice president of communications and public policy, Eliot Schrage, said: "Because of the nature of the information our users share, we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard."
Facebook has suffered from backlashes before – when implementing its news feed or its controversial Beacon advertising system, for example. But this latest change effectively hopes to stem future controversies in the bud by putting part of the company's up for public approval (although Facebook will, of course, still control which issues are up for public discussion and vote)
Zuckerberg, who seemed stuck for words on a few occasions, said that although the announcement was precipitated by last week's farce, the changes had been discussed for a "long time".

New features of Apple Launch

Apple unveiled a number of new products at the Macworld conference. Safari - Apple's new web browser-Free to download, in beta (test) version now Safari-A major surprise was the arrival of Apple's new open source-based web browser. The move is seen by some as an attempt by Apple to become less reliant on Microsoft for vital programs. Safari is in a test version at the moment, but Apple claims it is already substantially faster than Internet Explorer - although they did not reveal how well it compares with the Mac browser from Norwegian software company Opera. Other features include Google integration, a "snap-back" feature to make searches easier, easier organisation of bookmarks and pop-up ad prevention. Apple's answer to PowerPoint
Another surprise, seen as a dig at Microsoft, whose PowerPoint software is the industry standard presentation creator on both Windows and Mac. Mr Jobs claimed the package had been specially made for him and, indeed, his presentation featured a few new special effects between some of the 500 slides. On first inspection Keynote seems a straightforward but powerful package. A library of templates is intended to give the impression of a large graphics design studio working for you "day and night". Importantly, Keynote will be able to import and export PowerPoint files. Could this be a subtle attempt to get Apple into PC-dominated businesses?
Video Editing Package
Video editing package, without losing much of the functionality that makes its parent package popular. The interface remains the same, there are plenty of special effects to give your video a professional look, and even sophisticated functions like colour correction remain. It usefully bridges the gap for amateur film makers who have grown out of iMovie, but who cannot afford - or face - the more complex Pro package.iLife - Apple's revamped digital media suite
iLife
Apple has revamped its digital media software, more closely integrating iTunes, iMovie, iDVD and iPhoto. This makes it easier, for instance, to set your digital photograph slide show (in iPhoto) to music (from iTunes). Apple sees its iLife suite doing for digital media what Microsoft's Office suite did for productivity software. The iMovie, iDVD and iPhoto programs have all been given major upgrades. Apple is charging for this software bundle for the first time, although all bar iDVD will still be available for free download.
The PowerBook G4 12" - a new compact notebook this is the world's smallest "full feature" notebook. It has a 12" display, and it is capable of burning DVDs with an optional SuperDrive. It is only 1.2 inches thick, and weighs 4.6lbs. Like its bigger sibling it comes equipped with Bluetooth, although Airport Extreme is available as an option rather than fitted as standard. Battery life is claimed to stand at five hours.
The PowerBook G4 17" - a new top-end laptop Apple's notebook range sports an enormous 17" widescreen display, yet is also the company's thinnest laptop at less than 1" thick. It has Bluetooth built in, allowing it to communicate wire-free with other mobile devices, and also sports Apple's new Airport Extreme - a faster version of the WiFi networking standard. The Airport antenna is built into the lid of the device, to tackle complaints that previous PowerBooks had poor WiFi reception. It has a 1GHz processor and a DVD burning SuperDrive as standard, and Apple claims four hours of battery life.

Apple's Snow Leopard to include "geopositioning"

Apple's Snow Leopard to include "geopositioning" for computer,
The next release of Apple's Mac OS X operating system will have the capability to pinpoint your position, the latest release notes of Apple's Snow Leopard operating system - still in preparation - show that the company is going to build in geopositioning for desktop and laptop computers, bringing it into line with its GPS-enabled iPhone.
This sees includes the CoreLocation framework which lets you determine the current latitude and longitude of a computer. The framework uses the available hardware to triangulate the user's position based on nearby signal information.
Now, what could you do with that? Well, apart from fitting in with the new location-enabled services in the latest version of Apple's iLife, one can see that there's going to be lot of people offering apps that will tell you where your precious computer is at all times - including if/when it's stolen.
The new seed includes some other stuff and it is being reported that it runs quite noticeably faster, at least on Apple's own apps compiled under the new gcc compiler. And it tells us that great progress has been made in the Grand Central Dispatch (libdispatch) and OpenCL APIs.
Grand Central and OpenCL, you'll recall, are the methods being used to get the graphics processing units (GPUs) to take over some of the processing load from the CPU.
There's also now Microsoft Exchange support. Though a few bugs do remain, such as
-The date shown in the iCal Dock icon does not update correctly. The prediction of launch if all goes well is May this year.

LED lightbulbs"smart lighting" will become the next generation of wireless communications technology

Smart-lighting technology means your house lights could communicate with your stereo. Professor Thomas Little of Boston University would like your house lighting to communicate with your computer, TV, and even the heating thermostat. By piggybacking data communications on to LED lightbulbs, he hopes "smart lighting" will become the next generation of wireless communications technology. But has it got a hope against existing technologies? The replacement of existing bulbs with low-energy LEDs reduces carbon emissions while offering an opportunity for smart lighting.
Little anticipates smart-lighting data rates of "1Mbps to 10Mbps with visible light this year and a 100Mbps to 500Mbps range with future prototypes". Such speeds are impressive except for one thing: exactly how will smart "We expect it to be two-way with the use of LEDs at the receiver. In practice, the channel will be asymmetric – just like cable modems or DSL [broadband] systems – due to the overhead lighting being intended to distribute light and the receiver intended to be passive," he says. "At the receiving end we will use a smaller LED and will investigate other wavelengths if visible light proves annoying in the back channel."
lighting challenge two-way wireless home networking?
The concept of smart lighting may not stop indoors. Little is considering outdoor applications such as smart LED brake lights or even data-transmitting road signs. "LED lighting is a green technology. If we enable all future lighting to provide network connectivity we will have a far deeper penetration than current wireless tech. We will do this without the additional energy cost of these other technologies," so being said by the researchers.

Green Dream Hybrid Car made by China

China is rolling BYD (Build Your Dream) cars on massive scale. These car are hybrid cars and do not need to be charged specially on the electric charge station. These cars can by recharged conveniently from electricity supplied to homes. Wow!!!! what a great achievement for our environment. In china manufacturer with breathtaking ambitions, supported by a government seeking to become a world leader when it comes to green technology.
BYD Auto – short for Build Your Dreams – was only founded in 2003, yet it has pulled off a global coup by mass-¬producing the world's first plug-in, petrol-¬electric hybrid, the nifty-looking BYD F3DM (byd.com). Under the bonnet, the car is more of a purely electric car than any similar hybrids on the road today, and has made its debut at least a year ahead of similar models from the US and Japan.
The car, which does not need a specialised electric charging station and can be charged using a normal household supply, is now on sale in China, where it costs just under 150,000 yuan (£15,000), a similar price to a mid-range petrol-powered sedan and a bit more than half the 250,000 yuan it costs to buy a Toyota Prius. BYD has come from nowhere to sell 24,107 vehicles in January alone, an increase of nearly 80% from the previous year, and aims to sell 400,000 models in China this year.BYD aims to tap into the world's fastest-growing auto market as China's emerging middle class – now estimated to number between 100 million and 150 million people – swap their bicycles for four wheels. While the economic crisis has sent vehicle sales tumbling around the world, Beijing alone is still adding more than 1,500 new cars to its gridlock every day. "The use of alternative types of cars could really make a contribution to the reduction of pollution in large Chinese cities," says Karl-Thomas Neumann, chairman of the carparts manufacturer Continental.
A survey by Continental shows that Chinese consumers are much more interested in hybrids than their European counterparts, with 53.7% of those surveyed happy to buy a hybrid and 73.4% who would consider an electric car – decidedly more green than the UK's respective 30.2% and 37.1%. Chinese drivers are more open to hybrids as "more than 90% drive in urban centres and travel less than 60 miles a day", says Paul Lin, BYD Auto's marketing manager.

Nasa's pioneering satellite, designed to map carbon dioxide concentrations, has crashed.

Nasa's pioneering satellite, designed to map carbon dioxide concentrations, has crashed into the ocean near Antarctica after running into technical difficulties during launch.The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (Oco) blasted off aboard a Taurus XL rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The payload fairing failed to separate from the vehicle during ascent." The 160 centimetre-wide payload fairing is the nose cone that protects the satellite as it blasts through the atmosphere and should have split in two before falling away from the satellite. Because of the additional weight of the fairing, the rocket and satellite failed to reach orbit and subsequently plummeted into the Southern Ocean.

"Certainly for the science community it's a huge disappointment," said John Brunschwyler, Taurus project manager for Orbital Sciences Corp, which built the rocket and satellite. "It's taken so long to get here." The project took nine years to reach the launch pad. "The loss of this instrument is a serious setback," added Professor John Burrows, a co-investigator for the satellite. "Oco planned to build on the first measurements by the European Sciamachy instrument on Envisat and is complementary to the recently launched Japanese mission, Gosat." The technology onboard Oco was unique and boasted the ability to take more frequent and sensitive readings of CO2 levels than Envisat and Gosat. Nasa's director of Earth sciences, Michael Freilich, said: "Over the next several days, weeks and months, we're going to carefully evaluate how to move forward and advance the science, given our evaluation of the assets that are in orbit now, the assets of our international partners and the existence of flight spares in order to put together a programme, as rapidly as possible, to pick up where Oco left off." The £190m satellite was designed to collect precise measurements of the greenhouse gas in the Earth's atmosphere, identifying where it is being emitted, where it being absorbed and what happens to it in between. "It's critical that we understand the processes controlling carbon dioxide in our atmosphere today so we can predict how fast it will build up in the future and how quickly we'll have to adapt to climate change," said David Crisp, principal investigator for the Oco based at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Experts believe a successor to Oco is likely. "Given its relatively low cost, I would expect a second Oco to be approved," said Dr Chris Welch, principal lecturer in Astronautics at Kingston University's Faculty of Engineering.

Economic package for Pakistan by US and international community

As per media reports the United States is working on a major economic package for Pakistan and Afghanistan, besides involving the two countries in formulating a new security strategy for the region. Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, had recently invited about a dozen economists from the two countries for discussing various proposals for the economic uplift of the region.

The participants said that the United States was developing a multi-pronged approach for ending terrorism and militancy from the Afghan-Pakistan region, with a major emphasis on economic development. A former Pakistani finance minister, Shahid Javed Burki, who also participated in the meeting, proposed a $60 billion package for economic development in Pakistan.

Under this proposal, the donors will contribute half of this fund while Pakistan will provide the other half. Since Pakistan does not have that kind of cash at this stage, the donors will make their contributions first. The donors will also be involved in formulating various programmes for economic development and also in implementing them.

Americans are seemed to be very interested in the proposal, which would also call for establishing a social security system in Pakistan and for easing the economic burden on ordinary people. Mr Burki also suggested that since the Pashtoons living on both sides of the border were one community, the Durand Line should be treated as a soft border. Former Afghan finance minister, Ashraf Ghani, also supported the proposal.

At this critical juncture, wherein both Afghanistan and Pakistan are suffering the most in the so called war against terror, it is binding on the international community to come forward and initiate programmes for the social development of the region by initiating major investment in the education, health and create alternate source of living for the local peoples.

Both Afghanistan and Pakistan are pregnant with chronicle problems you name any problem you will find in the region Kalashnikov and heroin culture is result of the continuous war and terrorism in the region. The war lords in the region especially in Afghanistan have been found to be most powerful and influential. The people can only be liberated by careful planning. If locals have the sources of earnings and can stand on their own feet I am sure they will not look towards the war lords.

Trade with Russia and Central Asia

In a major policy shift the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) is going to target markets in Russia and Central Asian Republics for promotion of country’s exports. The new export strategy is based on comparative advantages focusing on developing new products and new markets with an aim to widen the narrow export base. This was stated by Syed Mohibullah Shah, chief executive, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan. He said for the last 30 years “we were neglecting these markets which did not only give us proximity advantage but also held great opportunity for our products which are in great demand.” He said in this connection for the first time a very large trade delegation from Russia is visiting Pakistan from Wednesday (Feb 25, 2009) on an exploratory mission.
The delegation members, he said, would have extensive visits of our manufacturing facilities in Karachi and Faisalabad so that they could have a firsthand information about the range of our products and their quality. Syed Mohibullah said there had been minimal export of around $100 million to Russia whereas their total imports from around the world presently stand at $190 billion. The TDAP chief said there was a great demand of products, like textiles and clothing, poultry, meat, fish and fish products, furniture, footwear, cutlery, fruits and vegetables in Russia and CARs. However, our export figures indicate that we are not exploring these potentials though they are being produced and exported to other markets of the world, he added. Twentyfour leading exporters, he said, have booked with the TDAP to meet the visiting Russian trade delegation. Similarly, Pakistani trade delegation would soon be visiting Russia and by exchange of bilateral delegations and holding of fairs, there would be a substantial increase in exports, he maintained. Another major market, Mohibullah Shah said was the Central Asian Republics (CARs) where there was a great advantage of proximity, besides, the demand of such products which are already being produced and exported by Pakistan in other world markets.
All these CARs are presently getting their supplies of such goods like wide range of textiles and clothing, fruits, fish and fish products, meat, furniture etc from Europe, Turkey and Ukarain.
However, it takes around 15 days for supplies to reach CARs from these countries, he said. The TDAP, he said, would also organize a “Trade Caravan” in summer this year to display Pakistani products in major cities of CARs. The caravan will travel through Karakuram Highway and hold a multi-purpose exhibition. There would also be a Pakistan Festival where heritage, culture, music and art events would be organised in three major cities of CARs.
He hoped that by entering these new markets, Pakistani products affected by hard hit recession in the West would gain because impact of slowdown in economies of these countries was much lesser.

World's first satellite to map concentrations of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere

The world's first satellite designed to map concentrations of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere is being launched by Nasa. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (Oco) will collect precise measurements of the greenhouse gas in the Earth's atmosphere, identifying where it is coming from, where it is absorbed and what happens to it in between.
This improved tracking of CO2 will help scientists develop maps how the gas is concentrated around the world and give a better picture of how it affects the Earth's climate. Policymakers and governments will be able to use the data when setting and monitoring CO2 emissions targets designed to tackle climate change.
The Oco will blast off on a Taurus XL rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in the early hours of Monday morning. It will help scientists answer one of the biggest mysteries about the movement of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere. Of all of the greenhouse gas emitted into the air since the industrial revolution in the 19th century, around 40% has stayed thee. Half of the remainder has been absorbed by the Earth's oceans but the rest has not yet been be accounted for. Scientists think the gas must have been absorbed on land but no one really knows where these missing carbon sinks are or what controls them.
"It's important to make clear that the 'missing' sinks aren't really missing, they are just poorly understood," said Scott Denning, an atmospheric scientist at Colorado State University. "We know the 'missing' sinks are terrestrial, land areas where forests, grasslands, crops and soil are absorbing carbon dioxide. But finding these sinks is like finding a needle in a haystack. It would be great if we could measure how much carbon every tree, shrub, peat bog or blade of grass takes in, but the world is too big and too diverse and is constantly changing, making such measurements virtually impossible. The solution is not in measuring carbon in trees. The solution is measuring carbon in the air."
Previous Nasa missions, such as the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, have also measured the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere but only at altitudes of 5km to 10km above the surface. "Oco is the first Nasa mission that has been dedicated, and optimised to make precise measurements of carbon dioxide throughout the atmospheric column, between the surface and space, with the greatest sensitivity near the Earth's surface, where most of the carbon dioxide sources and sinks are thought to be located," said Crisp.
Oco will collect about 8 million measurements every 16 days for at least two years. It will use three high-resolution spectrometers to split light into its various constituent colours. By anlaysing this light to detect the unique signature of gases such as carbon dioxide and oxygen in the atmosphere, scientists will be able to determine their relative concentrations and identify sources and sinks of CO2.
"Oco is primarily an exploratory science mission, whose objective is to test and validate a new technique for measuring carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere from space. If we find that this approach works as well as we predict, it should provide scientists with the data that they need to produce the first global maps of carbon dioxide sources and sinks on regional scales, or spatial scales comparable to the size of Great Britain," said Crisp.

Solar Mobile

ZTE of China was set on Wednesday in Barcelona to unveil the world’s first low-cost solar-powered mobile phone targeted at the two billion people who have no or limited access to electricity, a spokeswoman said. The first solar phone was put on display by South Korean rival Samsung earlier this week here at Mobile World Congress, the industry’s biggest trade show, creating a buzz around the alternative energy source. Samsung’s phone, called Blue Earth, has mini solar panels on its back and is to go on sale later this year. The handset will be expensive, however, and targeted at ‘green’ conscious consumers in developed countries. A spokeswoman for ZTE said the company’s version, to be unmasked at a press conference later, would be the first ultra-low-cost solar handset pitched at the poor. It is expected to have a screen and buttons on one side and solar panels on the other. South Korean manufacturer LG has also put a prototype solar-powered phone on display here, but it has not been named and it is not yet ready for the market.
A salesman for Samsung claimed 10-14 hours in the sun would give a user four hours of talk time on the Blue Earth, which can also be plugged in.

Khetran Tribal Dance

Khetran Whirling Dance

Khetran is a tribe living in the Barkhan District, Balochistan. The traditional tribal dance (rand) which also known as martial dance and its war cries are well known. There are seven different styles of khetran (Kehtran) dance for example DRESO, chau pheri, pidra, gatay etc. Mostly people dance in the marriage ceremonies.

A clip of such dance from a marriage ceremony held in Nahar Kot is attached to have taste of such dance.

Eco Homes-zero carbon homes.

The terms eco home refers to zero carbon homes. The term "eco home" is now so used and abused that it barely retains any trace of meaning.
This house, in Crossway, Kent, is one of the first zero-carbon homes in the UK. It was designed by architect Richard Hawkes, who will be its first occupant, with structural design by Michael Ramage and Philip Cooper – both based at the University of Cambridge's Department of Architecture.What sets it apart is its structural reliance on a large vaulted roof which spans 20m. Much of the house is covered in earth to aid insulation and help it to blend into its rural setting. The earliest known example of "Catalan vaulting" – the forebear of timbrel vaulting – is a building in Valencia dating back to 1382 and it is a very resource-efficient way of creating a strong, expansive roof.
A zero-carbon home which could become a template for more houses in the UK is to be unveiled in Kent. The four-bedroom property, called 'Crossway', situated near Staplehurst, uses a technique borrowed from 600-year-old medieval architecture to provide what may prove a blueprint for energy-efficient living in the future
But it is intriguing to know that it claims to draw on centuries-old ideas, such as timbrel vaulting. It has often struck me when talking about how we might green up our housing stock just how often the solutions can be found by thumbing through the history books. Much of what is prescribed – insulation, insulation, and a bit more insulation – isn't exactly rocket science.
Our ancestors realised all this long ago, but as fuel becomes ever more available and affordable we largely lost the need to care about wasting energy in our homes. However, things are fast changing and we need to urgently rethink how we use and save energy at home. After all, households account for 27% of the UK's carbon emissions.
"The vaulting gives the house plenty of structural strength but obviates the need for embodied-energy intensive materials such as reinforced concrete," says Dr Michael Ramage, who helped to design the home. He is an architectural designer based at the University of Cambridge's Department of Architecture with expertise in structural design and construction technology. "It also provides it with great thermal mass, enabling the building to retain heat, absorb fluctuations in temperature and reducing the need for central heating or cooling systems," adds Ramage.
The UK's first example of a combination photovoltaic and thermal heating system has been installed alongside an 11kW biomass boiler to provide the home's heating and power needs.

Globalisation

While the international financial system that oiled the wheels of the world economy is in shambles, protectionism is being reinforced in the West to fight deepening recession. With credit drying up in developed economies, banks in Britain have been advised not to lend money to overseas clients.

Focus has shifted from globalisation to national fiscal stimulus plans even in the European Union. Foreign trade is shrinking, as imports are falling on dwindling domestic demand in the United States and Europe. The industrialised world has ceased to be an engine of growth for developing countries dependent on the affluent markets for their exports. China will be a big loser.

Global foreign investments have plummeted and portfolio investments substantially withdrawn by global investors from developing economies. And multinational assistance is being used to shore up the distressed economies. China says, the best way it can help the world, is to salvage its own economy from recession. Efforts have been mounted worldwide to restore robust health to national economies, be fore the globalisation journey is resumed with renewed vigour and diverse approaches. For sometime, there will apause in globalisation.

The current downturn in globalisation is evident in declining foreign investments and the latest move by the United States to insert a “Buy American” clause in its stimulus programme. Earlier, the US and EU resisted investments by National Wealth Funds in their crisis –ridden corporations. For too long, the West has refused to withdraw subsidy on its agricultural products. Western countries have free market within national or regional (EU) boundaries but restrict foreign investment and trade in a variety of ways.

In the past three decades or more, globalisation was spurred by the international financial markets dominated by the West – a patronised and partially unregulated system which has almost collapsed. Unless a new international financial architecture is developed on a more equitable basis and much broader shared responsibilities, international trade and investment flows would remain stifled.

No longer can the West accumulate world’s financial resources at its financial centres like London and New York and distribute it to the developing countries according to its whims and narrow interests.

The global financial system evolved since the 1970s, anchored on the excessive printing of dollars, cannot be salvaged. The system has been destroyed by organic failures and the greed of its own creators. But what is worse, powerful dogmatists are still pinning hopes on outdated ideas which may prolong the world’s agony. The future, however, belongs to those who adjust quickly to fast changing global economic scenario.

Given the changing international environment, Pakistan needs to look inwards rather than outwards for the resolution of its economic problems. The outlook for exports and foreign investment are not very bright, at least for short to medium -term.

With huge stimulus plans, governments of developed countries would not have much money to spare for developing countries. Multilateral assistance would depend on the domestic economic performance and the ability to repay debts. The inflow of foreign investment may improve, though not much, if the economic growth rate picks up. Like many other countries, Pakistan will have to fend for itself by adopting a policy of national self-reliance.

The opening of the domestic market to international competition (where it helps the economy and restricting trade where it hurts) has to be a gradual process. It should not be driven by donors/lenders but flow from a well conceived process of national decision-making, to avoid frequent economic downturns..

Even ideas offered by lenders that have universal application have to be adapted (not adopted) over a period of time, with well thought out sequence, and these should not to be adopted prematurely.. The devil lies in the details--- the specifics rooted in the ground realities. Countries with different backgrounds can pursue different, quite often contradictory approaches, to reach the same goal. The boom-bust business cycle cannot be over come by acquiring domestic ownership of lenders-dictated programmes nor can a dogmatic approach.

In recent years, the country benefited from huge foreign capital and financial inflows but much of it was not used to raise productive capacity. Foreign direct investment came in few sectors, primarily attracted by distress sales of state enterprises whose proceeds were needed to shore up the fiscal deficit and balance of payments position. FDI went into existing import-substitution capacities and not export-oriented industrialisation. The services sector expanded at the cost of agriculture and industry.

Pakistan’s economy is much too small , compared to those of its giant neighbours, India and China and the domestic market is shrinking because of the rising poverty. The purchasing power of the middle classes that attracts foreign investment is declining. Nor does it exhibit dynamism that successful small economies have demonstrated. The national economy is not integrated with regional markets that could attract foreign investment in projects that could cater regional markets.

Foreigners see as to how the domestic industry is performing before putting money in any market. Even local people with money find it difficult to find productive channels. There is over-reliance on financial mode to correct imbalances and develop the economy while domestic banks prefer to invest in T/bills rather than lend money to the commodity producing sectors. .

When trade deficits became unmanageable, the rupee was allowed to depreciate significantly to curb imports, with no other incentive orprogramme for import substitution, barring some focus on farm production.

The policy makers pin their hopes on services sector and agriculture for current year’s GDP growth. Manufacturing is sliding at a rapid pace It is not an integrated approach to economic development. The recent inter-sectoral disharmony gave rise to energy shortage.

The first priority should go to achieving self-sufficiency in foods grains while boosting production in farm and factories with the financial sector playing a supporting role.

High efficiency irrigation

Irrigated farming occupies a significant place in the country’s economy which is primarily agro-based. Of the total cultivated area of 23 million hectares, about 18 million hectares are irrigated. Important sources of irrigation include surface water, rainfall and underground water. Surface water, however, is largely used to irrigate crops.

Our irrigation system is one of the largest in the world that comprises reservoirs, barrages, inter-link canals, irrigation canals and major and minor water courses. To add to this, groundwater pumped through tube-wells constitute important source of irrigation.

Nevertheless, conveyance, distributive and irrigation efficiency of the canal irrigation system is extremely low due to huge conveyance losses from main canals and their branches, from main watercourses, from farmers’ watercourses and from irrigation fields through evaporation, seepage, percolation and overflow due to unlined canals, poor designed and maintained watercourses, defective irrigation practices, inequity in water distribution and lack of precision land level ing. As a result, crop yields are 50-80 per cent below their potential, contributing to plausible gap between actual and potential yields of arable crops.

This necessitates improving irrigation efficiency of the existing system so as to use available water resources effectively and to prevent wastage of land and water resources. On the one hand, a major project of construction, repair and rehabilitation of barrages, head works and re-modeling of canals, regular desilting of canals, distributa ries and minors, redesigning and improvement of watercourses, post-improvement care by community participation approach and precision land leveling through laser technology needs to be implemented, while on the other hand, the farmers are re quired to adopt recommended methods of irrigation.

Additional area could be brought under cultivation by plugging water losses. For instance, many acres have been brought under cultivation due to availability of additional water in Multan, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Rajanpur and other backward areas of Punjab due to rehabilitation of Taunsa Barrage which is playing a significant role in promotion of agriculture as well as socio-economic condition of the farmers. Likewise, abundant water has become available for crop cultivation in Bhakar, Layya, Khushab, Muzaffargarh and other areas owing to remodeling of the Thal Canal.

Construction of small dams to enhance water storage capacity for agriculture is crucial in the backdrop of lack of national consensus on construction of large dams. Small dams constructed in Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Chakwal and other arid areas are greatly helping in storage of water for agriculture purposes.

The farming community needs to shift from traditional methods of irrigation to modern methods such as drip irrigation, sprinkler irrigation etc. Drip irrigation is an effective technique to improve irrigation efficiency, saving water and protecting land form water logging and salinity. Moreover, this system is of great importance in arid and semi-arid regions such as Balochistan.

Sprinkler irrigation is another technique to utilise water equivalent to the water requirement of a crop and application of excess of water which may cause deep percolation and water logging could be avoided. Thus, this system considerably increases irrigation efficiency.

Lack of precision land leveling has been contributing to application losses up to 50 per cent, uneven distribution of irrigation water, leaching of nutrients, water logging and salinity, loss of cultivated land due to excessive bunds, trouble in cultural practices and lower yield of crops.

Realising the importance of land leveling, the Punjab government has launched a programme of providing the farming community laser sets in irrigated areas for development of irrigated agriculture which is the hub of farming activities. It is estimated that this programme would help in curtailing 50 per cent application water losses and increase in cultivated area.

At the farm level, conservation practices such as zero-tillage sowing of wheat in rice-wheat cropping system could increase water use efficiency by 20 per cent, decrease cultivation cost of wheat by about 82 per cent, reduce energy consumption by 81 per cent and increase yield by 15 per cent.

Likewise, suitable sowing method also helps improving irrigation effi ciency. For instance, bed-furrow sowing of wheat and cotton increase irrigation efficiency up to 30 per cent.

Moreover, appropriate cropping pattern could have considerable effect on water saving. For instance, spring planted sugarcane crop requires 64-80 acre-inch of water per acre, while autumn cane crop requires 80-100 acreinch of water per acre. Thus a crop water requirement is an important yardstick that could be used while selecting a crop in a particular region.

Importantly, the farming community needs to optimise plant population, use recommended irrigation methods, ensure timely sowing of crop, manage weeds free fields, adopt effective plant protection measures, optimal tillage during fallowing, use organic manures and where possible use mulches.

Problems like water theft, conflicts on the issues of water distribution, cutting of trees from canal banks and many other pilfering activities are prevailing unabated.

Therefore, irrigation strategy encompassing appropriate measures for checking water theft from water courses and canals would directly benefit the farmers located at the tail ends. Socio-economic uplift of the farming community in irrigated tract is greatly associated with steady supply of irrigation water essential for increasing farm productivity.

Fuel of Future

Hydrogen is being considered as a fuel for the future the world over. It is an environmentally benign replacement for gasoline, diesel, heating oil, natural gas and other fuels. However, producing hydrogen using conventional methods defeats the purpose of using hydrogen as a clean alternative fuel.
Molecular hydrogen has the highest energy content per unit weight among the known gaseous fuels with heating value of 143 GJ per tones, and is the only carbonfree fuel which when burned, only produces water as a combustion product.
Burning hydrogen not only has the potential to meet a wide variety of end use applications but it also does not contribute to greenhouse emission, acid rain or ozone depletion.
Currently hydrogen is used basically as primary feedstock in industrial processes, including petroleum refining, petrochemical manufacturing, glass purification and in fertilisers. It is also used in the semiconductor industry and for the hydrogenation of unsaturated fats in vegetable oil.
Approximately, 90 per cent of the hydrogen produced annually worldwide is from fossil fuels, mainly by steam reforming of natural gas and petroleum derivatives. Other industrial methods use coal gasification and water electrolysis. Each method of hydrogen production requires a source of energy — thermal, electrolytic or photolytic (light) energy.
Hydrogen produced by steam reformation costs approximately three times more that the natural gas per unit of energy produced. Also, producing hydrogen from electrolysis using electricity will cost slightly less than two times the cost of hydrogen from natural gas.
The production of hydrogen from nonfossil fuel sources, such as solar, hydropower, wind, nuclear, etc., has becomes central for better transition to hydrogen economy.
Unicellular green algae offer an attractive choice in the production of hydrogen from water via the process of photosynthesis. Biological processes, unlike their chemical or electrochemical counterparts, are catalysed by micro organisms in an aqueous environment at ambient temperature and pressure. Biological hydrogen production has advantages, when compared to photo-electrochemical or thermo-chemical processes, that include low energy requirement and investment cost. Light absorption by the photosynthetic apparatus is essential for the generation of hydrogen gas. While regular green algae absorb most of the light falling on them, engineered algae have less chlorophyll and let some light through. In University of California, Berkeley, Melis and his colleagues are designing algae that have less chlorophyll so that they absorb less sunlight. When grown in large, open bioreactors in dense cultures, the chlorophyll-deficient algae will let sunlight penetrate to the deeper algae layers and thereby utilise sunlight more efficiently. The critical enzymatic component of this photosynthetic reaction is the reversible hydrogenase enzyme, which reduces protons with high potential energy electrons to form hydrogen. During normal photosynthesis, algae focus on using the sun's energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose, releasing oxygen in the process. Only about three to five per cent of photosynthesis leads to hydrogen. Because hydrogenase is sensitive to oxygen, this hydrogen production must be carried out in an anaerobic environment Photosynthetic hydrogen production by green algae involves water splitting to produce hydrogen and oxygen. Unfortunately, hydrogen production by this process is quite ineffective since it simultaneously produces oxygen, which inhibits the hydrogenase enzyme.

Thus, during light reaction, hydrogen evolution ceases due to an accumulation of oxygen. Therefore, the prerequisite for photohydrogen production by green algae is that they have to adapt to an anaerobic condition. By exposing the cells to specific conditions, scientists are able to modify photosynthesis so that oxygen will not act as the final electron carrier of the electron transport chain; rather hydrogen will allow the cells to release molecular hydrogen as opposed to molecular oxygen. Melis estimates that if the entire capacity of the photosynthesis of the algae could be directed toward hydrogen production, 80 kilograms of hydrogen could be produced commercially per acre per day. The yield of hydrogen production currently achieved in the laboratory corresponds to only 15 to 20 per cent of the measured capacity of the photosynthetic apparatus for electron transport. In a laboratory, Melis worked with low-density cultures and have thin bottles so that light penetrates from all sides. Because of this, the cells use all the light falling on them. But in a commercial bioreactor, where dense algae cultures would be spread out in open ponds under the sun, the top layers of algae absorb all the sunlight but can only use a fraction of it. In Pakistan, hydrogen is largely produced in the fertiliser industry from natural gas, which is used for the production of anhydrous ammonia — the building block for nitrogen fertiliser. On an average, the fertiliser sector has consumed 15.6 per cent of our natural gas. The government provides an indirect subsidy to fertiliser manufacturers. As on January 1, 2008, the balance recoverable natural gas reserves have been estimated at 31.266 trillion cubic feet. With the present consumption rate of 3,826 million cubic feet per day, these resources will last only 20 years at the most. According to The Energy Security Action Plan of the Planning Commission, Pakistan will be facing a shortfall in gas supplies rising from 1.4 billion cubic feet (BCF) per day in 2012 to 2.7 BCF in 2015, and escalating to 10.3 BCF perday by the year 2025. It is, therefore, a matter of economic security to develop alternative hydrogen resources to avoid mid century energy crises in the country. The advent of hydrogen will bring about technological developments in many fields, including power generation, agriculture, the automotive industry and other as yet unforeseen applications. It will increase employment, stimulate the economy and will have a positive impact on the environment in which atmospheric pollution is all but alleviated and the socalled greenhouse effect is mitigated.

US Economy Bail Out package of $789

Congressional leaders reached agreement on a compromise $789bn stimulus deal on Wednesday as Tim Geithner hit back against widespread criticism that his separate US financial rescue plan lacks specifics.
The stimulus package, which is likely to be signed into law by President Barack Obama by his target date of Monday, is smaller than both versions individually passed by the House and Senate.After days of intense debate, the speed of agreement reflected pressure exerted by the White House to reach a deal. It trimmed tax cuts and health and education spending to keep the figure below $800bn, a ceiling insisted on by moderate Republicans and Democrats in the Senate.
The other countries are also being persuaded to do more to save the global economy. “We will certainly be asking the others about their plans and encouraging them to take bold measures to help sustain the global economy,” the treasury officer is being so.
Earlier, Mr Geithner told the Senate regarding the financial rescue plan: “I completely understand the desire for details and commitments. But we are going to do this carefully.” He left the door open for a request for more bail-out funds at a later date. “We want to be careful before we come to you and ask for additional resourcesor authority that we have done so with as much care and consideration on design as possible,” he said.
Mr Geithner said regulators would use a stress test for big banks under the rescue planto “provide a more realistic, forward-looking assessment” of the losses they might face. This could require banks to step up provisioning.
The rescue plan was still attracting criticism on Wednesday. Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Associates, an advisory firm, said Mr Geithner was “an empty suit with an empty plan”. But Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council, said it reminded him of the initially negative reaction to the successful 1994 Mexico bail-out.
Investors said they could be interested in investing in toxic assets alongside the government providing there was attractive government financing and guarantees – but said there was little to go on in Tuesday’s announcement. “I don’t know who, exactly, they’re talking about, or how they’re going to lure people in,” one private equity investor said.

GM crops (Genetically modified crops)

Genetically modified crops are continuing to spread across the world’s farmland, according to the leading annual survey of GM in agriculture, published on Wednesday. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) said the global area of GM crops increased from 114m ha in 2007 to 125m ha in 2008, producing a harvest worth $7.5bn. The number of farmers planting GM crops rose from 12m in 22 countries to 13.3m in 25 countries.Clive James, ISAAA chairman, said the most significant development last year was the first commercial planting of biotech crops in two African countries: maize in Egypt and cotton in Burkina Faso. Both crops contain “Bt genes” from bacteria, which kill insect pests. In 2007 South Africa had been the only country on the continent with GM plants (cotton, maize and soya).
The third country where GM crops were planted for the first time last year was Bolivia, where farmers grew herbicide-resistant soya; it is the ninth country in Latin America to adopt the technology. One new GM crop, herbicide-resistant sugar beet, was launched last year in the US and Canada.
In Europe the area sown with Bt maize, the only GM crop approved for planting in the EU, was little changed from the previous year at 107,000 ha. While France suspended the planting of GM maize, this was balanced by a 21 per cent increase in seven other European countries.
But US farmers are responsible for half the world’s GM acreage. They planted 62.5m ha with biotech crops in 2008.
Crops with “stacked traits” are becoming increasingly important, the ISAAA report shows. These contain two or more genetic modifications in the same plant – usually a combination of herbicide and insect resistance. Planting with stacked traits increased by 23 per cent to 27m ha in 2008.
The ISAAA review argues that biotech crops “make an impressive contribution to sustainable agriculture”, by increasing yields of food, fibre and biofuels while reducing agriculture’s environmental footprint.
Of the cumulative economic gains of $44bn over 10 years of growing GM crops, the report attributed 44 per cent to yield increases and 56 per cent to reduced production costs, including the use of 359,000 tonnes less pesticide.
Looking to the future, ISAAA says the most important new biotech trait will be drought tolerance, because drought is much the greatest constraint to increased agricultural productivity worldwide. ISAAA is a non-profit organisation based at Cornell University in New York and with branches in Africa and Asia. The first drought-resistant maize for temperate regions will to be launched in the US by 2012. A drought-resistant variety for tropical regions of Africa, where it is most needed, could follow by 2017, it is expected.
Friends of the Earth published its own report on GM crops on Wednesday with a very different message. Their cultivation “is still confined to a handful of countries with export-oriented intensive farming”, the environmental group said. “The most widely grown GM crop, soy, is grown mostly as high protein animal feed for export to the UK and Europe. GM soy monocultures in South America are wiping out forests, causing massive climate emissions and forcing communities off their lands.”
The GM crops are making inroads into developing countries rapidly. Pakistan will not be an exception in the long run. The BT Cotton is already being grown in some areas according to some credible reports. But before doing that a careful analysis in needed before handing over our food chain to conglomerates.

Habit of checklist a cure of many ills

After he landed US Airways Flight 1549 on the icy waters of the Hudson, Captain Chesley Sullenberger was lauded as a hero for guiding his 155 passengers to safety. But what about the role of his co-pilot, Jeffrey Skiles, and his checklist? The events of January 15 in New York might well have resulted in casualties were it not also for Mr Skiles’ faithful execution of his emergency engine-failure and water-ditching checklists. Gary Klein, a cognitive psychologist, says such lists are vital to those who make critical decisions under pressure: “The Hudson River pilots didn’t have a half-hour to decide what to do with the engines. Instead they need a checklist that has been compiled by people who have seen these situations before and considered the ways to respond.”

Lists of repetitive yet critical steps in stressful situations are familiar to airline pilots, firefighters and wedding planners. But managers in sectors including finance and healthcare are also beginning to be persuaded of the merit of low-tech prompts that require no more than a sheet of A4 and a pencil.Mr Klein, chief scientist of Applied Research Associates, a software supplier to the US military, says checklists are more than just a memory aid. “They are a safeguard against interruptions and they help teams co-ordinate. If you can trust everyone on your team or crew to follow the checklist, it makes everyone’s actions predictable.”

“Checklists clarify and make explicit what the expectations are. But you also need to create a culture that allows and encourages cross-checking.” Dr Pronovost prescribes different types of checklist according to the nature and risk-profile of the task (see below). The most basic is a series of read-and-do actions completed by just one person.