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Khalid Waleed, ‘Understanding electricity demand’
Dawn, 05 April 2024
“The aphorism ‘supply creates its own demand’, often attributed to economist Jean-Baptiste Say, encapsulates a fundamental principle of classical economics. This notion, known as Say’s Law, faced criticism during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when supply exceeded demand, leading to economic downturns. Similarly, Pakistan’s electricity sector is experiencing a power sector depression due to overexpansion and underutilisation of capacity, primarily fuelled by imported fossil fuels, thanks to poor planning and demand estimation.The demand for electricity is, by nature, a derived demand, meaning it is contingent upon the demand for the services that electricity powers. Thus, a country’s economic policy plays a pivotal role in shaping the demand for electricity. Ideally, such policies should position electricity as a catalyst for the nation’s production functions, complementing other essential inputs like land, labour, capital, and organisation to boost overall output.”
Editorial, ‘Failed experiment’
Dawn, 05 April 2024
“AS Pakistan calibrates its response to the ongoing wave of terrorism, a strange but familiar suggestion has come from across the western border. Speaking recently at an iftar in Khost, Mohammad Nabi Omari, Afghanistan’s deputy interior minister, called for talks between the banned TTP and the government of Pakistan. While the regime in Kabul is long believed to have favoured this option, few top Afghan Taliban leaders have said so publicly. While advising both Islamabad and the ‘brothers’ in the TTP, Mr Omari observed that Al Qaeda was not active in his country. He also felt that the war between the TTP and Pakistan was unwinnable, and that the ‘brothers’ could continue their campaign for “100 years” and not see any results. The Foreign Office, meanwhile, has rejected the prospect of negotiations with the TTP.”
Zubeida Mustafa, ‘ASER’s verdict’
Dawn, 05 April 2024
“More than 180 years later, we learn that Sindh has been ‘sinned’ against once more. How else would you describe the failure of those who control the destiny of this province to empower its children by educating them? This is no exaggeration. A look at the Annual Status of Education Report [ASER] 2023 is enough to inform the reader about the miserable state of education in the province. Aser is an independent citizens-led group that has been testing children in Pakistan every year since 2008-09 and its results are credible. In 2023, over 1,53,000 children were tested in 274 districts. The findings are shocking.”
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