Pakistonomy

Since the onset of the pandemic, the BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pushed forward a whole host of reforms, including much-needed changes to India's farm laws. Farmer protests, however, have caused many to focus on the everything but the core components of these reforms and what they seek to achieve. In this episode, Uzair spoke to Sadanand Dhume about India's economic refo...

There is systemic exclusion of women in Pakistan's economy and the drivers of this systemic exclusion are poorly understood by most. In this episode, Uzair talks to Dr. Hadia Majid about the role of women in Pakistan's economy and the unique and diverse challenges they face in the country. Dr. Hadia Majid is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics & Director at the Saida Waheed Gende...

Bykea is one of Pakistan's startup success stories that raised $13m in the middle of a pandemic. In this episode, Uzair talks to Rafiq Malik, the startup's Chief Operating Officer, about the business and its growth plans. Rafiq's book recommendations are: - A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060883286/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_4SZ51RF4EPHP991P332J - The Asce...

Uzair talks to Pramath Sinha about Harappa Education, an education startup offering the foundational skills critical to achieve professional success and personal meaning. Pramath is a trailblazer in many different fields, including education. He served as the Founding Dean of Indian School of Business (ISB), which just got ranked as the best business school in India and #23 in the world, according...

In this special episode, Uzair talks to Zarrar Khuhro about a whole host of issues, focusing on the rise of illiberal populism around the world. Zarrar is a co-host of the show Zara Hat Kay which airs on Dawn News and writes a weekly column for Dawn.

Uzair talks to Jarrar Shah about his startup 24Seven.pk, an online Grocery Shopping platform based in Lahore. The 24SEVEN journey started from his farm when he painfully found out how he was getting no premium for growing graded, good quality produce in the off season and consequently decided to create an alternative marketing channel for farmers that would enable them to bypass the middle men. Hi...

Uzair Younus talks to Dr. Aparna Pande about her new book "Making India Great: The Promise of a Reluctant Global Power. The episode covers a wide range of topics related to India, including domestic politics, economic nationalism, the country's foreign policy, and its relations with Pakistan. Dr. Aparna Pande is Director of the Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia at the Hudson Institu...

Uzair talks to Raza Rumi about the state of media in Pakistan and the role of Nayadaur in bringing alternative perspectives into the discourse. Raza Rumi Director, Park Center for Independent Media and teaches in the journalism department; a visiting lecturer at the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs. He is also the Founding Editor of Nayadaur Media, a bi-lingual progressive digital media platfo...

Pakistan finally has a digital payments system and this development is going to revolutionize financial transactions in the country. It will also accelerate the formalization of the economy, increase financial inclusion, and catalyze the growth of fintech startups in the country. Uzair spoke to Rehan Akhtar, Chief Digital Officer at Karandaaz Pakistan, about Raast and its potential. This week's bo...

In the first episode of 2021, Uzair talks to Hasaan Khawar about why it is difficult to push through bureaucratic reforms, why Prime Minister Khan accepting his government's mistakes is something that should be appreciated, and his theory of change. Hasaan also shared three books that have profoundly interested him: 1) The 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1443456624/ref=cm_sw_...

In the final episode of 2020, Uzair talks to frequent guests Ammar Khan and Ariba Shahid about how 2020 turned out for Pakistan's economy, unresolved issues, and the outlook for 2021. Thank you to all of you for tuning in this year. I will be taking a break for the next couple of weeks and a new season of the show will be back in early January, 2021.

Uzair Younus talks to a Bangladesh-based economist about the keys to Bangladesh's economic transformation. Syed Yusuf Saadat, Senior Associate at the Center for Policy Dialogue, is an economist with deep expertise is in assessing economic policies and has done research for several international organizations, including the UNDP. Yusuf is also co-author of the book titled “Youth Employment in Bangl...

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the global economy on its knees, leading to mass unemployment and a dramatic slowdown in economic activity. The Indian economy, which was already showing signs of weakness before the pandemic, has now entered a recession. At the same time, concerns over India's illiberal turn, its refusal to enter trade agreements, and poor implementation of flagship programs have led...

Pakistan's exports have been a chronic issue and in the last few years, an overvalued exchange rate dramatically accelerated the decline in the country's exports. But exchange rate is only one of several issues that have made Pakistan's exports uncompetitive. In this episode, Uzair Younus spoke with Dr. Gonzalo Varela about why Pakistan's exports have fared poorly and how this can be changed. Dr....

In this special episode, Uzair Younus speaks to Farieha Aziz about the new social media rules that have been approved by the government. These rules have raised serious objections from ISPs, digital rights activists, journalists, and other organizations in Pakistan. Uzair asked Farieha why this has caused an uproar and the potential impact of these rules on free expression in Pakistan.

Pakistan is about to experience another winter of gas shortages. Meanwhile, the LNG sector continues to cause confusion among citizens, with baseless claims of corruption and backroom dealings sowing doubt among many in Pakistan. In this episode, Uzair Younus talks to Laure Baynes Clarke about the LNG sector, how it operates, and its potential in Pakistan. Laure is a General Manager and part of Sh...

Fintech has played an important role in promoting financial inclusion, formalizing the economy, and accelerating economic growth around the world. Pakistan, however, has struggled in efforts to ensure that a significant part of the country's population has access to formal financial services. To talk about how this ecosystem is being developed in the country, Uzair Younus spoke with Nadeem Hussain...

Millions of dollars a year are made in collecting, sorting, and recycling waste across Pakistan. But this sector remains largely informal, leading to a whole host of issues, including the use of child labor, sexual abuse and exploitation, and criminality. Ahmad Shabbar is someone who has been on a mission to change the way the system works in Karachi. He is the Founder and CEO of GarbageCAN, an or...

Uzair Younus talks to Ammar Khan and Shahrukh Wani about the latest FBR data which shows that markets in Karachi - Jodia Bazar and Saddar in particular - pay significantly more in income taxes than markets in the rest of Pakistan. Despite that, Karachi has poor infrastructure and public service delivery. The guests share their views of why this is the case. You can read the article written by Amma...

In this Urdu discussion, Uzair Younus talks to Ahmed Majid Warraich, a Faisalabad-based entrepreneur in the agriculture sector. Uzair talked to Ahmed about the reasons for higher food inflation, his experience in modernizing farms, and what needs to be done to uplift this sector which employs almost 40 percent of Pakistan's labor force. Ahmed is currently growing Sugarcane, Wheat, Maize and variou...

The Role of Dynasties and Caste in Politics In a previous episode of the podcast, Dr. Adil Najam made a very important point that underneath all divides in Pakistan is the class divide. That is a very important point and one could argue that this divide is anchored by the caste divide in the country, particularly in Punjab and Sindh. However, both caste and class are absent from the daily politica...

The War on Free Expression In recent weeks, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has been on a banning spree. However, the issue is structural and the powers being used by the PTA were given to it through PECA, a legislation passed in 2016 by the PML-N government. In this episode, Uzair Younus speaks with Farieha Aziz about the war on free expression in Pakistan, Digital Pakistan and its futur...

Food inflation is breaking the back of households in Pakistan. Despite repeated warnings about a food crisis, the government has been unable to control rampant inflation. The price of wheat and flour has been rising at a rapid pace. To understand what is going on, Uzair talked to Adil Mansoor, who has deep insights about the wheat market and how it functions.

Gas Crisis Update - Urdu In this special Urdu discussion, Uzair speaks with Ammar Khan about the ongoing gas crisis and the recent cargos being bought by Pakistan. The price is now higher than the long-term Qatar contracts signed by the PML-N government and Uzair asked Ammar to explain what that means.

What's Going On, Pakistan? Ariba Shahid returns to Pakistonomy to talk about recent developments in the country. We talked about PTA bans, inflation, gas shortages, business optimism, and much more. This is a break from our usual in-depth conversations, which will return next week.