Research – CAK

Culture Area Karakorum Research Project in the Northern Areas, Pakistan: proceedings of the Pak-German Joint Workshop on …. held on 1-3 Dec 1991 at Lahore, Pakistan

Scientific Studies

Series edited by: Irmtraud Stellrecht.

The Culture Area Karakorum Scientific Studies’ series presents, in English or German, selected results of research being conducted in the high mountain regions of the Karakorum, Hindukush, and the Himalayas, in Pakistan and in the adjoining countries. The research project was sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG) from 1989 to 1998. Its interdisciplinary approach involving cultural and environmental sciences offers the opportunity to arrive at a deeper understanding of the relationship between the high mountain environment, man and culture as well as on the changes occurring in the past and present.

The series has been completed by volume 12.

Hermann Kreutzman (ed.). Karakoram in Transition: Culture, Development and Ecology in the Hunza Valley. Oxford University Press, Karachi, Pakistan. 2006. 500 pp. INR 895 (Hardcover). ISBN 0-19-547210-1.

Since the late nineteenth century, the Hunza valley has been the subject of much academic and popular writing. British administrators were intrigued by this region due to its strategic location at the northern frontier of their empire, which had to be guarded against the advancing Russians in the ‘great game’ of imperial rivalry. Traversing the majestic peaks and glaciers at this frontier, discovering and describing its uncharted terrains, and investigating the racial and cultural connotations of why the main language of its inhabitants (burushaski) was a linguistic isolate, all added to the mystique of Hunza for Western explorers. Today, the Hunza valley forms a major tourist hub in the Northern Areas of Pakistan, and continues to pique the interest of travelers with images of the ancient silk route, rare wildlife species, the famed longevity of its dwellers, and of course, its breathtaking landscapes.

In the last three decades, the political and socio-economic landscape of Hunza valley has been significantly transformed by a variety of factors including the opening of the Karakoram highway, the abolition of princely kingdoms leading to more direct control by the Pakistani state, increase in donor-funded development projects and the marketisation of the economy. Such processes of change have been extensively studied by a collective of mostly German researchers under the ‘Culture Area Karakoram’ (CAK) project[1]. The edited volume under review continues this focus on ‘transition’, and includes articles by several authors who were associated with the CAK project. Hence, it reads like a continuation of this project even though it is not presented as such.

1.  ‘environment and resources’ : In his article on Hunza glaciers, Kenneth Hewitt attends to a timely concern by exploring the links between glacial processes, natural hazards and climate change. Hewitt argues that since the 1920s, there has been a general reduction in the ice cover in the Hunza basin as well as in the incidence of large ice dams and outburst floods. At the same time, there have also been periods in which several large ice masses have thickened. 
2. Apart from chapters on glaciers, the first section also includes one article each on Hunza’s vegetation, wildlife and forests. The article on Hunza forests by Udo Schickhoff is particularly insightful, as it draws upon the science, history and politics of forest use in the Hunza valley to provide a rich, interdisciplinary analysis of forest degradation in the region. 
3. The next section on ‘history and memory’ is exciting in its variety of subject as well as method. Everyday tales, local songs, colonial photographs and rock inscriptions are some of the objects that are employed for historical inquiry, to answer a range of questions: for example how do the historical and the mythical fuse together in oral accounts of the past, or, how can changes in the physical and cultural landscape of a place be captured through the act of reading old photographs alongside contemporary ones.
4. Similarly, Irmtraud Stellrecht challenges Sidky’s[2] famous thesis that political centralisation in the Hunza state was primarily achieved through the construction of irrigation channels and subsequent control over newly cultivated lands by the ruling Mirs. Instead, he compellingly argues that a decisive external factor which enabled state formation in Hunza was the rising political significance of the passage to Central Asia, as it created conditions in which the Mirs could take advantage of ‘route politics’ for consolidating their power. Moreover, as Stellrecht emphasises, the history of princely statehood in Hunza also needs to take into account less emphasised internal factors such as the ‘marital politics’ of the Hunza Mirs through which political alliances were forged and loyalties secured.
5. Another interesting contribution in this section is a chapter by Beate Reinhold, which provides a discussion of linguistic transition in the upper Hunza region of Gojal. The Gojali language of Wakhi has attracted significant academic attention in recent years, with the result that Wakhi vocabulary, grammar and oral traditions are fairly well documented. However, as Reinhold points out, less attention has been paid to how Wakhi is spoken in everyday life, particularly by women. She goes on to analyse how linguistic habits and preferences are changing in the contemporary context of migration and modern education in Gojal.
6. Hermann Kreutzmann-who is also the editor of the volume-provides a comprehensive analysis of how the agricultural and pastoral economy of Hunza has changed over the last seventy years. His article is rich in archival research as well as ethnographic detail, and like Schickhoff’s article on forest degradation discussed earlier, illuminates an understanding of agricultural science, history, political economy and social relations in unique and compelling ways. We learn that animal husbandry in the Hunza region was of tremendous importance historically, as grazing taxes in the form of livestock and their products constituted a chief source of revenue for the Hunza state, and were thus critical for its sustenance. This gave a measure of power to affluent nomadic communities in upper Hunza, and also resulted in frequent conflicts between communities and the Hunza Mir over the control of pastures. 
7. The final section on ‘culture and development’ is different from the other sections in at least two ways. First, it includes articles not just by academics, but also by practitioners who have been actively involved in key development projects in the Hunza valley. Second, it also includes perspectives from local researchers, not just foreign ones. Both these factors bring a refreshing diversity to the volume.
8. Thematically, there is a prominent focus on the built heritage of Hunza in this section, and particularly on the work of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC). Stefano Bianca’s article, for example, elaborates how the AKTC has sought to unite concerns of culture as well as development, by undertaking the conservation of monuments, village settlements and public spaces in Hunza with the participation and ownership of local communities. The work of AKTC has enhanced local awareness about managing urban sprawl, and also led to a revitalisation of traditional building techniques.

As a member on AKCSP Board 1996-1999, upgraded the house as a model residence for present age living essentials – for emulation as a living example.

The preface of Karakoram in Transition mentions that it is particularly aimed at the ‘young generation of students and scientists in Pakistan and in the Northern Areas in particular as a basis for further research efforts’ (p. vii). In this, it surely succeeds as it provides an excellent index of current research on the Hunza valley.

Stellrecht, I. (ed.). 1997. Perspectives on History and Change in the Karakoram, Hindukush, and Himalaya. Culture Area Karakorum Scientific Studies Köln, Köppe, Germany; and Stellrecht, I. (ed.). 1998. Karakorum-Hindukush-Himalaya: Dynamics of Change. Culture Area Karakorum Scientific Studies Köln, Köppe, Germany.

Publications – numbering twelve volumes – are available in the BHT library for reading by all interested. 

• Volume 12
• Cultural Analysis of Politics, Law and Religion in Pakistan
• Author: Muhammad Azam Chaudhary.
• In 2007, three major political events rocked Pakistan
• – the Chief Justice of Pakistan was suspended by then Army Chief / President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf
• – Pakistani authorities cracked down on the “Red Mosque” in Islamabad, resulting in hundreds of lives lost
• – former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returned from exile, only to be killed weeks before national election
• These three cases are interwoven within law, religion and politics in Pakistan. Much has been written about them and these writings mainly focus on technical, legal, and political aspects of these events, and the points of reference chosen are mainly those of “democracy” (particularly Western notions of democracy), or international dimensions like the interest and involvement of the USA in Pakistan, the so-called fight against terrorism, etc.
• All these dimensions are no doubt important at their places for understanding politics, law and religion in Pakistan, but it is the author’s assertion that politics, law and religion cannot be understood without understanding the culture of the people or country concerned. Similarly, he is of the view that politics, law and religion are interconnected and that culture provides the life line between them, and thus for a proper understanding of either of these three fields, a prerequisite is to examine the vital role played by the indigenous culture.
• This much-needed cultural analysis of politics, law and religion in Pakistan has not been previously undertaken. This book intends to make its own contribution to this area of scholarship hoping that it will be followed by more research in these areas.
• About the author:
• From 2008 onwards, Dr. Muhammad Azam Chaudhary is Professor at the National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad/Pakistan.

• Volume 11
• Verwandtschaft, Geschlecht und Raum

• Author: Katrin Gratz.
• The present ethnographical work is the result of a long term field research in North Pakistan. More than one and a half year the author participated in everyday life of two families in Gilgit, a dynamic and rapidly changing town in the Karakorum Mountains. Against the background of rigid Muslim sex-segregation she describes the everyday chores of the women and girls, their limited mobility and their – often conflict-riddled – interactions in the family and neighbourhood. The spacial confinements of the female life-world, its rootedness in the domestic daily life, and the outsized meaning of kin relations become apparent.
• At the same time the book shows how actively women and girls deal with the potentialities and dangers of their changing living conditions. Aspects which too often remain neglected, because women act in secrecy or because they are considered powerless and passive to begin with, are specifically taken into account. Thus the work is on the one hand an ethnography of the “small things”, the everyday acts and encounters. On the other hand the author worked out essential structural principles determining everyday female life. These principles are not restricted to North Pakistan but applicable to large parts of the country as well as to Afghanistan and other regions of the Muslim world. Numerous elaborate diagrams illustrate these basic structures.
• The domain of family and household – womens’ primary sphere of influence – are still regarded as hardly accessible in the ethnography of Pakistan, and are therefore largely neglected. In contrast, the author shows that it is quite feasible for a female researcher to be admitted to households and to monitor Pakistani family life – provided she is ready to pay the price: she has to give up the privileged role of the researcher; she has to accept that, once “inside”, the research no longer proceeds at her discretion. And she has to face the fact that her methods turn out to be incompatible with the subject of the research. This specific research situation – thoroughly analysed in the introduction – has left its mark: the author avoids an all too scientific vocabulary, the references to scholarly debates remain implicit, and the rendering is rather unconventional.
• Thus, Verwandtschaft, Geschlecht und Raum is also an experiment in ethnographical writing. The author tries to transfer as much of the original ethnographical experience as possible into the text. The mere fragmentation of experience und its subjugation to professional and representational interests is being complemented by the very power of the experienced life itself. Quotations from the author’s field diaries permeate the text. As a result the experiencing subject is integrated into the text without being the focus of attention. For students this book provides valuable insights into the process of field research, its richness of experience, and the different levels of ethnographical analyses and evaluation – in the field as well as at the writing desk back home.
• Volume 10
• Frauen und Feen
• Author: Maria Marhoffer-Wolff.

• Shamanism is a classical topic of anthropological research. The present book deals with a hitherto rather unknown form of shamanism in North Pakistan, i.e. the special relationship between fairies (parí) and women. Those fairies are depicted as female entities, who belong to a world of spiritual purity and bliss. They often possess young women called mómalas, who receive religious treatment to rid them of the intruder, but a few of these women cannot be healed and develop into spiritual media between the physical world and the world of the fairies. When their possession is cultivated, a mómala can call her parí for prophesying purposes.
• The author spent 20 months of field study in the Yasin valley of North Pakistan (1989–1991) on ethno-medical research in the context of an interdisciplinary research project concerning the relationship between humans, environment and culture in North Pakistan. During her stay she became aware of the existence of the mómalas and began to focus on the influence of fairies on the lives of these women.
• The discussions with the mómalas and their social environment resulted in a collection of empirical reports, self-descriptions, accounts of narrative situations, local and emic stories, as well as appraisals by others. With her book, the author breaks new ground in this traditionally male dominated ethnological field of study in North Pakistan, gaining intimate access to the otherwise closely guarded women of Pakistani society.
• Reviews
• […] the author’s method of discussing indigenous world views on possession in Yasin without any recourse to sociological or psychological explanations provides an array of insights which would have been lost, had she clung to the current anthropological approaches. Her“multi-perspective approach”, taking into consideration both the female perspective of the mómalas and the male perspective of the xalífa, not only meets an important methodological demand in anthropology, but also reveals the existence of conflicting discourses on the phenomenon. Marhoffer-Wolff shows, among other things, that even in a male-dominated society, as is the case in the Yasin Valley, women have been agents resisting male efforts to“cure” them from their“fairy illness” for a considerable period of time.
• Elisabeth Schömbucher in European Bulletin of Himalayan Research, 25/26, 2003/2004, 227-229
• Volume 9
• Rechtspluralismus in den Northern Areas / Pakistan
• Author: Sabine Lentz.
• The present study focuses on law and legal pluralism in the Northern Areas. 

• Volume 8
• Ein Labyrinth von Identitäten in Nordpakistan
• Author: Martin Sökefeld.
• The topic of this publication, written in German and including an English summary, is the description, analysis and discussion of discourses and processes of identity in Gilgit, Northern Areas of Pakistan.

• Volume 7
• Freundschaft und Macht
• Author: Wiegand Jahn.
• Indus Kohistan is a region on both sides of the Indus Canyon in the Pakistani North West Frontier Province which was integrated in the Pakistani political system as a district during the construction of the Karakorum Highway in 1976. The population consists of various language, territory and descent groups, of which the latter are allocated in turn to distinct status groups. Shin is the term for descent groups of high status and prestige who constitute the well-defined majority of the population in most parts of Kohistan.
• The present analysis is limited to the relations between agents and groups of the Shin. The majority of the 600.000 people living in Indus Kohistan have their residences in the Indus tributary valley and live on traditional subsistence economy: agriculture and highland pasture farming. 

• Volume 6
• Mountain Societies in Transition
• Edited by: Andreas Dittmann. With contributions by: Jürgen Clemens, Andreas Dittmann, Eckart Ehlers, Reinhard Fischer, Hiltrud Herbers [show more…].
• CONTENTS
• Andreas Dittmann:
• Foreword
• Jürgen Clemens:
• Rural Development in Northern Pakistan – Impacts of the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme
• Eckart Ehlers:
• Sustainability – Indigenous Knowlegde Systems and Traditional Land Uses. The Northern Areas of Pakistan as an Example
• Fazlur-Rahman:
• Community Organizations and Management of Natural Resources in the Northern Areas of Pakistan – A Study of Astor Valley
• Reinhard Fischer:
• Village – Valley – Nation. Integrating Mountain Communities into a Nationstate
• Hiltrud Herbers:
• Undernutrition and Heavy Workload in Northern Pakistan – Consequences for Production and Reproduction
• Arnd Holdschlag:
• Chitral – A Society between Irrigation, Isolation, and Migration – Some Observations from Lower Chitral and Tehsil Thorko
• Hermann Kreutzmann:
• Geolinguistic Variegation in the Eastern Hindukush and Karakoram
• Claudia Polzer / Matthias Schmidt:
• The Transformation of Political Structure in Shigar Valley / Baltistan
• Matthias Schmidt:
• The Utilization of Mountain Forests in the Bagrot Valley
• Georg Stöber:
• Structural Change and Domestic Agriculture in Yasin
• Andreas Dittmann / Fazlur-Rahman / Arnd Holdschlag:
• Chitral – Urban Development and Traditional Bazaar Structures

• Volume 5
• Transformation of Social and Economic Relationships in Northern Pakistan
• Edited by: Irmtraud Stellrecht, Hans-Georg Bohle. With contributions by: Hans-Georg Bohle, Christoph Dittrich, Benno Pilardeaux, Irmtraud Stellrecht, Martin Sökefeld.
• The central aspect of this volume is the interaction between the high-mountain region of northern Pakistan and the political and economic centres of the adjoining lowlands. The contributions by cultural anthropologists and cultural geographers describe the transformation of this interrelation between highlands and lowlands that has been taking place since the 19th century. Moreover, the innovations and the process of change arising from new forms of communication and transport introduced by the opening of the Karakorum Highway are studied from the current as well as the historical perspective.
• CONTENTS
• Irmtraud Stellrecht:
• Trade and Politics – The High-Mountain Region of Pakistan in the 19th and 20th Century
• Martin Sökefeld:
• “The People Who Really Belong to Gilgit“ – Theoretical and Ethnographical Perspectives on Identity and Conflict
• Hans-Georg Bohle:
• Introductory Remarks – People at Risk: Geographical Contributions on Agrarian Change and Vulnerability in the Karakorum
• Christoph Dittrich:
• High-Mountain Food Systems in Transition – Food Security, Social Vulnerability and Development in Northern Pakistan
• Benno Pilardeaux:
• Surviving as a Mountain Peasant – Innovation, Development and the Dynamics of Global Change in a High-Mountain Region (Punial/Northern Pakistan)

• Volume 4.I + 4.II
• Karakorum – Hindukush – Himalaya
• Edited by: Irmtraud Stellrecht. With a preface by: Irmtraud Stellrecht. With contributions by: Tor Aase, Shafeeq Ahmad, Yuri Badenkov, Zhang Baiping, Elena Bashir [show more…].
• This two-volume edition consists of papers presented by scientists from several countries during the international, interdisciplinary symposium Karakorum – Hindukush – Himalaya. Dynamics of Change, held in Islamabad/ Pakistan in 1995. This symposium was organized by the coordinators of the Culture Area Karakorum research project, sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Central to the contributions by environmental, cultural and social scientists to this volume are the continuously-changing relationships between man, culture and environment in the high-mountain regions of the Karakorum, Pamir, Hindukush and Himalaya.
• CONTENTS:
• Part I
• Irmtraud Stellrecht: Foreword
• A. Processes of Landscape Formation
• Kenneth Hewitt: Himalayan Indus Streams in the Holocene – Glacier-, and Landslide-‘Interrupted’ Fluvial Systems
• Matthias Kuhle: The Ice Age Glaciation of East-Pamir (36º40’–39º10′ N/74º40’–76º10′ E)
• Sigrid Meiners: Preliminary Results Concerning Historic to Post-Glacial Glacier Stages in the NW-Karakorum (Hispar Muztagh, Batura Muztagh, Rakaposhi Range)
• Lasafam Iturrizaga: Preliminary Results of Field Observations on the Typology of Post-Glacial Debris Accumulations in the Karakorum and Himalaya Mountains
• B. Vegetation and Climate
• Sabine Miehe / Georg Miehe: Vegetation Patterns as Indicators of Climatic Humidity in the Western Karakorum
• Zheng Du: A Comparative Study on the Altitudinal Belts in the Karakorum Mountains
• Jens-Peter Jacobsen: Investigations into the Vertical Temperature and Precipitation Gradients in Two Test Areas in Northern Pakistan (Yasin and Bagrot)
• Uwe Schmidt / Gerald Braun: Remote Sensing and GIS Applications for Phytoecological Modelling in a High Mountain Environment (Hunza-Karakorum, Northern Areas of Pakistan)
• Aleem Ahmed Khan / Rafiq Ahmed Rajput: The Biodiversity of the Deosai Plateau, Baltistan, Northern Areas, Pakistan
• Wu Sugong / Yang Yongping / Fei Yong: Flora of the Alpine Region of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau
• Fei Yong: Medicinal Plants in the Kunlun and Karakorum Mountains (Chinese Part)
• Yang Yongping / Wu Sugong: Notes on the Chromosome Numbers of Alpine Plants of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
• Firdaus-e-Bareen / Syed H. Iqbal: Riparian Vegetation and Freshwater Fungal Flora of some Lakes in the Northern Areas
• Firdaus-e-Bareen / Syed H. Iqbal: The Longitudinal Distribution Patterns of Freshwater Hyphomycetes along some Mountain Streams in the Northern Areas
• Syed H. Iqbal / Firdaus-e-Bareen: Snow Group Hyphomycetes of the Karakorum Range
• C. Environmental Risks and Utilization of Resources
• Mohammad Said: Natural Hazards of Shigar Valley, Northern Areas of Pakistan
• Irina Alekseevna Merzliakova: Environmental Hazards (Hait Earthquake) and Administrative Pressure for Resource Utilization (Pamiro-Alai Case Study)
• Udo Schickhoff: Socio-Economic Background and Ecological Effects of Forest Destruction in Northern Pakistan
• Parveen Daud Kamal / M. Jamal Nasir: The Impact of the Karakoram Highway on the Landuse of the Northern Areas
• Marcus Nüsser: Animal Husbandry and Fodder Requirements around Nanga Parbat, Northern Areas, Pakistan – Recent and Historical Perspectives of Human-Ecological Relationships
• Chiranjivi Sharma / Janardan B. Khatri Chhetri: Slash-and-Burn Agriculture in the Mount Makalu Range of Nepal
• David Butz: Orientalist Representations of Resource Use in Shimshal, Pakistan, and their Extra-Discursive Effects
• Joëlle Smadja / Monique Fort: Research on Diversity, Origin, and Evolution of Himalayan Nepalese Landscapes
• Zahid Javed Janjua: Tradition and Change in the Darel and Tangir Valleys
• D. Hydropower and Energy Supply
• Juan José Victoria: Hydropower – An Energy Source for the Northern Areas of Pakistan
• Kim Gutschow: Hydro-Logic in the Northwest Himalaya – Several Case Studies From Zangskar
• Jürgen Clemens: Problems and Limitations of Rural Energy Supply in Mountainous Regions of Northern Pakistan – A Case Study on the Astor Tahsil and the Northern Areas
• E. Processes of Settlement
• Andreas Dittmann: Dynamics of Urban Development in Baltistan
• Reinhard Fischer: The History of Settlement in Punial, Northern Areas of Pakistan, in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
• Christian Kleinert: The Impact of Tourism and Development on Houses and Settlement in the Kali Gandaki Valley (Central Nepal)
• Charles Ramble / Christian Seeber: Investigations in Northern Mustang/Nepal 1995 – Dead and Living Settlements in the Shöyul Area
• Niels Gutschow: Why Was it so Dark in Kak? From Darkness to Light – Thoughts about a Process of Change in Housebuilding in the Northern Himalaya
• John Harrison: A Brief Introduction to the Architecture of the Kalasha, Chitral
•  
• Part II
• Irmtraud Stellrecht: Foreword
• F. Highland-Lowland Routes and Relationships
• Irmtraud Stellrecht: Economic and Political Relationships between Northern Pakistan and Central as well as South Asia in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
• Hermann Kreutzmann: Trans-Montane Exchange Patterns Prior to the Karakoram Highway
• Haruko Tsuchiya: Field Research along the Ancient Routes in the Northern Areas of Pakistan (1991–1995)
• Mhammad Anwar Khan: A Perspective on the Relationship between Pakistan and Central Asia after the Break-Up of the Former Soviet Union
• Zhang Baiping: Recent Studies on the Northern Sino-Pakistan Highway Areas with a Proposal for the Northward Extension of the CAK Project
• G. Development – Strategies and Conflict
• Jack D. Ives: The Himalayan Dilemma Reconsidered
• Tor Aase: Politics of Natural Resource Management in the Sai Valley, Gilgit District
• Daniel J. Miller / George B. Schaller: Rangeland Dynamics in the Chang Tang Wildlife Reserve, Tibet
• Antje Linkenbach: Forest Protection and Concepts of Development in the Garhwal Himalayas – People’s Perspectives
• Shekhar Pathak: State, Society and Natural Resources in the Himalaya: Dynamics of Change in Colonial and Post-Colonial Uttarakhand
• Yuri Badenkov: Mountain Tajikistan – A Model of Conflictory Development
• Jürgen Clemens / Ruth Göhlen / Roland Hansen: Dialogues on the Development Process in Astor Valley – Insiders’ and Outsiders’ Perceptions and Experiences
• Ulrike Müller-Böker: Wild Animals and Poor People – Conflicts between Conservation and Human Needs in Chitawan (Nepal)
• Sudibya Kanti Khisa: Upland Settlement Programme within a Rubber-Based Agroforestry Farming System – A Sustainable Development Initiative for the Tribal Communities of Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh
• Shafeeq Ahmad / Umar Farooq: The Environmental Impacts of Coal Mining in the Punjab, Pakistan
• H. Historical Dynamics
• Muhammad Ayaz Khan: The Resonance of Gandhara Culture in Mansehra District of Hazara Division
• Mohammad Salim: Ancient Man in the Northern Areas of Pakistan
• Wolfgang Holzwarth: Change in Pre-Colonial Times – An Evaluation of Sources on the Karakorum and Eastern Hindukush Regions (from 1500 to 1800)
• Abdul Ghani Sheikh: Ladakh and Baltistan through the Ages
• Harjit Singh: Economy, Society and Culture – Dynamics of Change in Ladakh
• Nawang Tsering Shakspo: Ladakh’s Relations with Baltistan
• Mohammad Ishaq Khan: Dynamics of Kashmiri Culture vis-à-vis Brahmanism and Islam – A Historical Perspective
• I. Dimensions of Culture
• Martin Sökefeld: On the Concept of “Ethnic Group”
• Nejima Susumu: Diversity of Lineages in Ghizer, Northern Areas, Pakistan
• Claudia Polzer: The Break-Up of Village Communities in the Context of Elections in Baltistan, Northern Areas, Pakistan
• Monika Krengel: Dominant Clans and Ritualized Exchange – Tradition and Change in Kumaon/Himalaya
• Muhammad Azam Chaudhary: Blood Feuds in Chilas, Past and Present
• Ruth Göhlen: Mobility and Freedom of Decision-Making of Women in Astor Valley (Pakistan-Himalaya)
• Katrin Gratz: Walking on Women’s Paths in Gilgit – Gendered Space, Boundaries, and Boundary Crossing
• Sandra de Vries: Old People and Modern Life in the Shigar Valley of Baltistan (Northern Pakistan)
• Maheshwar P. Joshi: Culture Constructed by Intellectualism and the Intellectualism of Culture – the Case of Central Himalaya
• Elena Bashir: Prospects for Interdisciplinary International Research and Educational Development in Chitral
• Saeed Ahmad Nagra: Nutritional Status of the Population in the Northern Areas of Pakistan
• Muhammad Hassan Hasrat: Traditional Healing System and Introduction of Modern Biomedicine in Baltistan Language and Literary Tradition
• Roland Bielmeier: Balti Tibetan in its Historical Linguistic Context
• Inayatullah Faizi: Language as a Phenomenon of Social Change – Khowar in Laspur, Chitral (Pakistan)
• Erhard Bauer: Several Groups of Pashto-Speakers in Pakistan’s Northern Areas – Different Ways of Dealing with Multilingual Surroundings (Preliminary Results of Field Research)
• Fateh Mohammad Malik: Unity and Variety in the Sµf¡-Poetic Traditon – The Legacy of Bãbã Siãr
• John Mock: The Cannibal King of Gilgit
• Hugh van Skyhawk: Underground Music in Gilgit
• Review by Agnieszka Kuczkiewicz-Fras, see the link below:

• Volume 3
• Perspectives on History and Change in the Karakorum, Hindukush, and Himalaya
• Edited by: Irmtraud Stellrecht, Matthias Winiger. With contributions by: Muhammad Azam Chaudhary, Jürgen Clemens, Thomas Cramer, Andreas Dittmann, Christoph Dittrich [show more…].
• The contributions to this proceedings volume emerged from an interdisciplinary workshop, held in April 1995, which brought together members of two high-mountain research projects supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation). Regionally, the focus was on northern Pakistan, India and Nepal. The main topic common to all participants was the dynamic aspect of the relationships between highlands and lowlands in the past and the present, and their impact in the high mountain regions on trade, population structure, ethnic and religious identity-forming processes as well as the use of the environment. In addition, this volume discusses the aspects and implementations of policies aimed at sustainable development in the Himalayan regions of Pakistan, India and Nepal.
• CONTENTS
• Dynamics of Highland-Lowland Interaction – Past and Present
• Irmtraud Stellrecht:
• Dynamics of Highland-Lowland Interaction in Northern Pakistan since the 19th Century
• Christoph Dittrich:
• Food Security and Vulnerability to Food Crises in the Northern Areas of Pakistan
• Benno Pilardeaux:
• Agrarian Transformation in Northern Pakistan and the Political Economy of Highland-Lowland Interaction
• Thomas Hoffmann:
• Historical Relations between Northeastern Nepal and its Indian and Nepalese Foreland, Exemplified by Migration from the Solu-Khumbu District
• Rainer Graafen:
• Trade and Trading Villages between Tibet and the Lowlands – The Districts of Mustang and Kaski
• Christian G. Seeber:
• The Current State of Research on Historical Development – Processes in the Area of Mustang/Lo. Questions Concerning the Crystallization, Decline and Foundation of States and Settlements
• Identity Formation in the Context of Change
• Martin Sökefeld:
• Discourse and Action – Unequivocalness and Ambivalence in Identifications
• Andreas Dittmann:
• Central Goods and Ethno-Linguistic Groups in the Bazaars of Northern Pakistan – An Example of Central Place Theory Modifications in Mountainous Environments
• Johannes H. Löhr:
• History as a Social Practice – An Example from Northern Pakistan
• Ulrike Müller-Böker:
• Tharus and Pahariyas in Chitawan – Observations on the Multi-Ethnic Constellation in Southern Nepal
• Monika Krengel:
• Migration and the Danger of Loss – Some Aspects of Cultural Identity in Kumaon/Indian Himalaya
• Thierry Dodin:
• Transregional Buddhist Organizations in Indian Himalaya
• Andreas Rieck:
• From Mountain Refuge to “Model Area” – Transformation of Shi`i Communities in Northern Pakistan
• Environmental Resources – Utilization and Present Exploitation
• Jürgen Clemens / Marcus Nüsser:
• Resource Management in Rupal Valley, Northern Pakistan – The Utilization of Forests and Pastures in the Nanga Parbat Area
• Thomas Cramer:
• Climatic Gradients in the Karakorum and their Effects on the Natural Vegetation
• Udo Schickhoff:
• Ecological Change as a Consequence of Recent Road Building – The Case of the High Altitude Forests of the Karakorum
• Dietrich Schmidt-Vogt:
• Stand Structure as an Indicator of Forest Change Due to Human Impact – A Methodological Contribution with Examples from Nepal and Northern Thailand
• Environment under Pressure – Strategies in the Context of Change
• Klaus Seeland:
• Sociological Observations on “Community Forestry” in Nepal
• Antje Linkenbach:
• Social Struggle and Conflict of Interests in the Garhwal Forest
• Susanne von der Heide:
• Cultural Identity and Nature Conservation in Nepal. The Annapurna Conservation-Area Project – An Initiative Worth Imitating
• Roland Hansen:
• Remembering Hazards as “Coping Strategy” – Local Perception of the Disastrous Snowfalls and Rainfalls of September 1992 in Astor Valley, Northwestern Himalaya
• Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka:
• Complex Communities in Nepal-Himalaya, or: “Solidarity” – A Global Category and a Way of Life
• The Transformation of Himalayan“Life Worlds”
• Sabine Lentz:
• British Officers, Kashmiri Officials, Adultery and “Customary Law”
• Hiltrud Herbers:
• The Changing Position of Women in Northern Pakistan – From Agricultural Producers to Off-Farm Employees
• Muhammad Azam Chaudhary:
• Maruts – Gold-Washers of the Indus
• Jürgen W. Frembgen:
• English Loan Words in Burushaski as a Barometer of Cultural Change
• Claus Peter Zoller:
• Heroic Ballads and the Biography of a Woman – On Coping with Conflicts in the Western Garhwal Himalaya

• Volume 2
• The Past in the Present
• Edited by: Irmtraud Stellrecht. With contributions by: Ruth Göhlen, Roland Hansen, Wolfgang Holzwarth, Johannes H. Löhr, Maria Marhoffer-Wolff [show more…].
• In this volume, cultural anthropologists and Oriental scientists deal with the written and oral treatment of historical processes and experiences in northern Pakistan. The authors themselves experienced, during their longterm fieldwork in this region, the meaningfulness of the past in the contemporary life of the inhabitants of the high-mountain valleys. Experiences from pre-colonial times, lengthy processes of Islamization as well as the current encounter between traditional and modern lifestyles are the thematic focus of the papers.
• CONTENTS
• Irmtraud Stellrecht:
• Writing Concerning the Past in Northern Pakistan – A Short Introduction
• Wolfgang Holzwarth:
• Islam in Baltistan – Problems of Research on the Formative Period
• Andreas Rieck:
• Who Are the Nurbakhshis? Controversy about the Identity of a Beleaguered Community in Baltistan
• Martin Sökefeld:
• Jang Azãd¡ – Perspectives on a Major Theme in Northern Areas’ History
• Monika Schneid:
• Identity, Power and Recollection – Inside and Outside Perspectives on the History of Bagrot, Northern Pakistan
• Johannes H. Löhr:
• Gender, Power, and Public Identity – Maintaining the Masculine Past
• Maria Marhoffer-Wolff:
• Family History as Legitimizing Strategy – The Thui Khal¡fa
• Ruth Göhlen:
• The Background of Genealogical Time Structuring and Remembering – Aspects of Time in Astor Valley, Northern Pakistan
• Roland Hansen:
• Demonic Sabotage – Corruption – Natural Hazard. Channel Breaks and the Manipulation of “Myth” in Astor Valley, Northern Pakistan

• Volume 1
• Bibliography – Northern Pakistan
• Edited by: Irmtraud Stellrecht.
• This bibliography on the high mountain region of Pakistan contains more than 5,000 titles in Western languages. Included are scientific inputs from different disciplines (physical and cultural geography, botany, cultural anthropology, ethnology, linguistics, Oriental and Islamic studies, history and archaeology), travel reports as well as unpublished manuscripts, especially from development organizations. The bibliography covers a time span between the second half of the 19th century right up to the 1990s. The titles are listed in alphabetical order and can easily be found by referring to the region and thematical index.
• The majority of the titles having been provided by CAK project members whose research in northern Pakistan began in 1989. The range of interests of the main contributors and the focus of their research inevitably guided their selection of the literature, which in turn, has defined the thematic limits of this bibliography. Owing to the fact that earth sciences, such as geology, geophysics, geomorphology and glaciology, were not included in CAK research, we must state that the inclusion or omission of titles pertaining to these fields was a question of mere chance. It must be noted that a markedly contemporary and progressive accent is offered by the “grey literature” which includes material mainly intended for internal use in governmental or non-governmental agencies. The choice of “grey literature” was necessarily random, and the compilation is by no means comprehensive.
• Reviews
• This bibliography contains more than 4,000 entries covering the regions which now make up Pakistan’s Northern Areas and parts of North-West Frontier Province(NWFP). It will be an essential research tool for scholars working on these areas, and for Ladakh specialists looking for comparative material on the regions to the west.[…]

Hunza Culture and BHT

Background: 

• a.    “Use culture to strengthen faith” appointment meeting guidance to leaders and ITREB November 1996.

• b.  Mandate of BHT: Entrusted to the promotion and preservation of cultural and historical heritage of this part of world. 

• c. Detailed Policy:  On “how” and “what” of the policy. Read on this link:

• UNESCO Conference in China

• d. Discussions on the topic with BHT Chair

STRATEGY:

• a. Assign Primary Responsibility to the CURATOR. 

• “A curator (from Latin: cura, meaning “to take care”) is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution (e.g., gallery, museum, library, or archive) is a content specialist charged with an institution’s collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage MATERIAL.”

• b.  Sources:

1. 1. 1.  Research Publications donated by CAK research team.
      2.  Collections by AKCSP.
      3.  Input by interested researchers both indigenous and global through this “LIVING DOCUMENT”

• c.  How: Share the link for this document on social media, related blogs, mail etc.

• d.  Form a dedicated group on “whatsapp” and similar platforms.

AKDN VIEW:  

AKTC became active in the north of Pakistan in 1989, in response to concerns that the unique culture of the area was under threat due to developments that followed the completion of the Karakoram Highway in 1978.  Increased accessibility to remote valleys of Gilgit-Baltistan, which were part of the old Central Asian Silk Road but which had remained inaccessible to vehicular traffic, coupled with the impact of tourism, introduced a rapid transformation of local customs and economic patterns.  These changes called for a new strategies and procedures that were capable of steering ongoing rapid change.

The conservation of the Baltit Fort – the earliest elements of which date back more than 700 years – and the stabilisation of the historic core of the village of Karimabad – historically BALTIT – in the Hunza Valley, were the Trust’s first major interventions in Pakistan. The project was finished in 1996, but conservation efforts continued. The AKTC’s country affiliate, the Aga Khan Cultural Service-Pakistan (AKCSP), was formed in 1991.

BALTIT FORT IS NOW A MUSEUM

After the restoration of Baltit Fort in 1996, the fort was opened for public. It is now being managed by the Baltit Heritage Trust. An estimated 15,000 people visit the Baltit Fort every year which includes locals, domestic and foreign visitors.

IT TOOK 6 YEARS TO RENOVATE THE BALTIT FORT

The fort was renovated by Aga Khan Cultural Services for Pakistan (AKCSP) and opened for public in September 1996. The restoration work of Baltit Fort took AKCSP about six years to complete with the support of Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC). The fort was inaugurated after restoration by His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan and then president of Pakistan Mr. Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari.

The Fort remains open all year round and seven days a week, with the idea of being a self-sustaining cultural centre supported by the sale of entry tickets, souvenirs and generous donations of individuals and organizations entrusted to the promotion and preservation of cultural and historical heritage of this part of world.

Hunza Cultural Forum Islamabad and BHT: 

Baltit heritage trust is the main institution in Hunza towards preservation and promotion of heritage of hunza. Now we have the son of soil heading this organization that gives us the hope that the trust will provide the needed impetus even to the diaspora. My advocacy: Hunza Heritage through BHT chair.

AKCSP & BHT: Seek input through this paper.

BHT SITE: Click this link FEATURED SITE.

How can anyone participate and contribute towards the MANDATE: Open the document on this link and update with your input, be it an audio clip, a video, a saying, historical event etc – anything that deals with culture/civilization of past, present or the thoughts for future.

BURUSHAKI LANGUAGE:

http://www.burushopedia.org/860-2/

Remarks/Speech: TMS MANDATE and BHT – +Mandate of TMS 

Mandate of TMS

His Highness’ Speech at the TMS Meeting at Baltit Fort, 25.9.96

First of all I would like to tell the Town Management Society, how happy I am to be able to meet with you on this really unique day when, for the first time, I am able to visit the restored Fort of Baltit. I would want to take this occasion to congratulate all those who have been associated with the restoration for the really wonderful work that they have put in to make this a successful restoration.

There are two ways of working, one with one’s head only, and the other is to work with one’s head and one’s heart. I have to tell you that I sensed today that all team members who worked on this project have worked with their head and their heart, and I really would like to tell you how grateful I am, how happy I am.

I would like to take this occasion to illustrate to you why I think this is such an important initiative. The history of the peoples of the Northern Areas is under your control: it can be eliminated and forgotten, or it can be retained and used as direction and guidance in a number of different ways for generations ahead. It was my hope that this would be the use that you would make of your own history. History has multiple ways of being part of our everyday lives, and one of them is in the historic buildings that we have. Retaining these historic buildings, giving them a purpose from one generation to another, enabling them to inform us as to what were the principles by which previous generations lived; these are all elements of the greatest importance, and I am deeply happy to see that the Fort has not only returned pride in one building, but it has returned pride in the history of the people of Hunza. This is to me a very important aspect of the work you have been doing, and I am hopeful that what has been learnt from this restoration project will become part of Hunza’s society.

As you look at your old buildings, you will want to retain them and give them a modern purpose in life. Now the nature of life has changed, and Hunza has changed. There are two ways to look at change: one is to let it build up its own momentum in many different ways, but the benefit is likely to be dubious and diluted and there may be negative repercussions. The other way is try to understand and forecast the nature of change and have that Change work for you. And that is what I am hoping for, in the way you think about planning in the town of Karimabad, and other towns in the area. That is: let the processes of change occur but manage them, forecast them, make them work for you.

Now this is a new concept. A hundred years ago there was no question of large number of visitors coming to, Hunza every year. The younger generation wasn’t receiving the type of education it is receiving today. Today, there are new requirements, there are new needs, and the important thing is to create a consensus around one objective: that those processes of change should bring new quality of life to you and the future generations that live here. And the only way to do so is to try to identify what are the positive aspects of the processes of change and what are the negative aspects. Remember they very rarely come independently one of the other. They will nearly always, come together.

So while looking at the opportunities of change, be careful of the risks of change and in the work that you are doing. There are both aspects: risks and opportunities. Risk management means identifying the areas where change could be damaging to the traditional way of life, to maintaining history, to maintaining the overall atmosphere and quality of life, Opportunity is letting the change benefit. Now if you locate those, benefits in various areas of your environment, you will find that they will become beneficial to everyone. The effect may not be recognizable immediately. But in the long run they will help everybody, because more and more people will find that the planning that you have done has been beneficial to them. This means that everybody has to collaborate in turning those opportunities to the positive side and in managing the risk.

I really wanted to share this thinking with you. Please remember that previously we have discussed income enhancements through improving everyone’s resources, we have discussed improving health care through a primary health care and hospitals. We have discussed the improvement of basic education, and the training of teachers. Now we are discussing the physical environment; all that is part of the same goal, which is to improve the quality of life for people in the areas in which you are living.

I have simply given you some sense of the importance of this work. What I would like to do now is to listen to you, so that you can tell me whatever problems you have and I can think about them. I may not give you answers immediately, because sometimes I like to think a little bit more also as to what are the solutions. But basically, the important thing is to manage opportunity as it comes, so that you get the benefits of the opportunity and you contain the risks of change. This is what I am hoping for.

I think that you will be setting an extraordinary example. There are not many other places on the face of the earth with societies like yours, doing such things. So it is a new initiative. And Insha’Allah, with the intellect that you have, and with the knowledge we try to support you with, we will bring to this part of the world the knowledge of our time, but at the same time protect the past and enhance the future; that is really what we are seeking.

http://www.akdn.org/Content/1180/Speech-by-His-Highness-the-Aga-Khan-at-the-UNESCO-Conference-on-Culture-and-Development-in-Hangzhou-China

Speech by His Highness the Aga Khan at the UNESCO Conference on Culture and Development in Hangzhou, China

15 May 2013

Extracts:

“I am honoured by your invitation, and pleased for this opportunity to talk about two subjects that are very close to my heart – culture and development.”

“My attention to cultural legacies was triggered, over three decades ago, when I realized that the proud architectural heritage of the Islamic world was endangered. The art forms through which great Islamic cultures had expressed their identity and their ideals were deteriorating.

The result, for huge segments of the world’s population, was a fading of cultural memory. The world was threatened by an enormous cultural disaster.

Even worse, there were few resources for addressing this situation. Architectural thinking, globally, was dominated by western industrial models. Islamic architecture itself was abandoning its heritage in the face of an all-consuming modernity. 

Our response to that situation began with the creation, in 1977, of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, dedicated to the renewal of this legacy. Soon afterward came the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, and under its aegis, the Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme.”

“The life of the neighbourhood has also been revitalized. Important initiatives in health, education and sanitation grew out of our quality of life assessments, and we continue to monitor quality of life indices, through baseline studies, on a regular basis.”

“For all of these journeys, the development process has been long and complex, but filled with stimulating lessons. Let me briefly summarize five of them.

First, these cultural projects depend upon an ethic of partnership. This means that traditional separations between public and private domains must be set aside. The concept of public-private partnership is an essential keystone for effective cultural development.

The role of governments, including municipalities, is fundamental in providing what we often term “an enabling environment” for development. But the public sector cannot do this work alone. A creative mix of participants is needed, corporations and development agencies, foundations and universities, individual donors, faith communities and local community groups.

I have one more comment to make about partnerships. It is absolutely essential that effective partnerships are maintained throughout the life of a project, including the post-completion period. Let me cite our own experience in support of this point. Of the 20 Historic City projects that we have undertaken, only two have failed the test of time. But in both cases what was missing was a strong partnership structure for post-project management.

This discussion leads me to a second conclusion: while cultural development often begins with physical legacies, planning must focus well beyond the cultural goals. We cannot somehow assume that a favourable social and economic impact will flow naturally as a by-product of cultural commitments. Issues relating to the quality of life must be considered from the beginning and monitored throughout the project’s life.

A third point in this list of lessons learned is that the engagement of the local community from the earliest stages is imperative for success. Cultural endeavours, in particular, involve risks that go beyond external, economic factors. Their progress can depend heavily on variable qualities of human nature, including the pride and confidence of the peoples involved. In any development effort, there will be a tipping point along the way when we see the glass as half full rather than half empty. But these tipping points are more likely to tip in the right direction when attention to local confidence has become an ingrained reflex.

There is a fourth point that is also special to historic restoration projects. That is the fact that we can never be sure just what we will encounter as the work of rediscovery moves along. There are many unknowns going in, and we must be ready for surprises. I think, for example, of how little we knew, when we started, about the extent and condition of the Ayyubid Wall in Cairo, buried for 500 years or more. The Wall in fact had been so completely obscured that plans had been suggested for building a highway over it, until its remains were identified. In this case, as in so many others, the resilience and adaptability of all the partners, including the people of the local neighbourhoods, was critical.

Let me finally highlight a fifth lesson. Planning for such projects must anticipate how they will operate on a continuing basis after they are completed. In many cases, a permanent service facility will be put in place, a site museum perhaps, a scholarly centre, a children’s library, a training workshop, a clinical resource, or research facility. Financial planning must take these opportunities into account, as a set of costs to be sure, but also a potential source of revenue. Up-front investment will be on everyone’s mind at the start. But our financial strategies should include eventual income streams that will sustain the project over the long run. One of the least happy outcomes for any cultural initiative is that it becomes a net drain on the local population.”

CITIZEN’s PORTAL – E-Government in NEW PAKISTAN

Issues raised through CITIZEN’s PORTAL and their status:

1. Education and skills – Date 30th October 2018, Code: Gb301018-0141513, Status – Status close (Un-Resolved)

Nov 2, 2018: system assigned it to Chief Secretary GB, who closed it on Jan 14, 2019 with these remarks: “Case will be submitted to the competent Auth on file and will process further after directives”.
My Feed back: Since the topic proposes a big change in education policy, it should have been referred to HEC as well as the Minister of Education, besides the PM himself.
January 14 2019: Remarks case will be submitted to the competent authority on the file and will process further after directions

2. Revolution in Teaching, Learning and Networking– Date 01 January 2019, Code: PU010119-0864448, Assigned to Chief Secretary Punjab; Status – In Progress. (Should have gone to Minister of Education)

Remarks: Complaint has been assigned to chief secretary Punjab from chief secretary Punjab forwarded it to secretary school education.

Remarks: the petition is forwarded for further necessary action as per facts public merits

3. Constitutional Status of GB –Date 05 January 2019, Code: IS050119-0923605, Status – initiated on 14 January 2019. Assigned to Prime Minister of Pakistan; Droped by system in Sep 2019 – SENSITIVE MATER.

From system to prime minister of Pakistan remarks complaint has been assigned to prime minister of Pakistan

4. Free High Speed Internet in Hunza: 14 January 2019, Code: IS140119-1054135; Status – Assigned to PM Pakistan; In Progress.

Free high speed internet in Hunza, part of Cross Border Optical Fiber Cable Project:

The infrastructure has been provided by the Chinese and also tested. Will be available to populations only when GOP (SCO) issues NOC. We request GOP to facilitate establishment of KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY by issuing the NOC without further reluctance.

5. Difficulty in initiating a complaint from GB – District & Tehsil names missing: CODE: ISO30219-1316735 03 Dated February 2019 – STATUS: Resolved.

6. Floating Hydroelectric Generator and Pumping Station: ISO80319-1773215, Lodged on 08 March 2019: initiated on 3rd February 2019 from system to prime minister of Pakistan

Remarks:

Complaint has been assigned to prime minister of Pakistan

7. DSL Internet in Hunza – GB240219-1635451:

Feb 25, 2019: From system to Chief Secretary GB who forwarded it to Chairman PTA on Apr 25, 2019. Chairman PTA requested me for additional information on Apr 29, 2019.
May 6, 2019: PTA remarked, “In future you can complain directly to us about your Telecom Service Related issues through the following link for an early redressal:
http://Complaints.pta.gov.pk/public/complaint/onlinecomplaints
Your complaint hereby stands closed at our end.
Direct complaint initiated and PTA assigned a number PTA-SCO-26533-2019. Your complaint has been registered successfully.Your complaint will be resolved in stipulated time. You can check the status of your complaint by your CNIC or Reference number.Your Complaint Reference No : PTA-SCO-26533-2019
May 23, 2019: Your issue has been resolved as we have installed DPI in SCO. Kindly check and do let us know if you still face any issue.
May 24, 2019: The relief sought is still outstanding. Please revisit the complaint.
Reminder sent on Aug 24, 2019: No reply so far.   PTA-WEB-70125-2019 and  PTA-WEB-70122-2019, 16 Oct 2019: “your complaint has been disposed of”

8. Bureaucracy bent on making this modern tool for accountability ineffective CODE – PU140519-2691142, Dated May 14 2019, STATUS: Initiated.

   9. Withdraw the GOP Order 2018 and allow the legislative assembly to formulate laws: CODE: GB-140519-2692109 Dated 14th May 2019; STATUS: Initiated

   10. Complaints on citizen portal CODE: ISO-10519-2505144 Dated 01 May 2019; STATUS:Assigned to PM Pakistan.

   11. Bureaucracy bent on making the portal ineffective; CODE: PU-14059-2691142 Dated 14 May 2019; STATUS: Assigned to Chief Secretary Punjab.

   12. Implementation of Law on Tax in GB, must follow the constitutional integration of citizens: CODE: GB290619-3382557;

June 29, 2019: From system to Chief Secretary GB, who forwarded it to Chairman FBR on July 3, 2019 with remarks: “Respected sir the complaint of citizen relates to the fpr Islamabad it is therefore requested to look into the matter please regards.”

July 12,2019: Chairman FBR forwarded it to Secretary Cabinet Division with remarks; “Remarks: dear sir this is the complaint has requested for constitutional provision amendments therefore there complaint is being forwarded to your office kindly take necessary appropriate action as per law”, who forwarded it to PMDU on 15th July 2019. On September 2019 the case was closed with “partial relief” granted.

Government has initiated a process to design a policy to deal with all such matters. Hopefully a policy will be available soon to address the matters pertaining to this subject. With your positive input in the shape of feed-back we will be able to make Government Service Delivery Process more efficient.
I am motivated from this policy of my Imam:

“• Concentrating at the local level. When national conditions are not favourable – as is often the case in fragile or conflict situations – the most meaningful, and quickest, change can often start locally, building credibility and confidence more quickly.

• A commitment to pluralism is essential. Consultation must be wide and everyone present in a community must benefit.

• Civil society, which AKDN refers to as private organisations designed to serve public goals, is of utmost importance. Such institutions can be stabilising factors and points of continuity when security is fragile and politics are volatile.”

Berlin, Germany, 15 January 2019.

Applicable to our regions as well. REORIENTATION a must for the. Institutions. Also revisit DJ WEBCAST on 11th July 2017. Numerous TALIQAS, APPOINTMENT MEETING NOTES are a poignant reminder

ROAD-MAP FOR OUR REGION

PREAMBLE: This post proposes a ROAD-MAP with the aim of goading the populations in the region to start a journey which can result in a desirable situation for the present and coming generation: Start the First Step LISTEN First: HUNZUKUTZ March towards global leadership will involve following steps: 1. Get rid of BEGGING BOWL/QARATANG MENTALITY […]

via ROAD MAP – INTRODUCTION TO HDF — Myblog’s Blog

Gilgit Scouts

Gilgit Scouts can be identified with part time force recruited through the local rulers from the Agency populations considered friendly, loyal and reliable by the British officials of the agency as Levis in 1889. The force was established as a regular entity by the British officials in Gilgit Agency when the Gilgit Wazarat (SAT-MAQSU) came in the direct control of British Political Agent after lease in 1935 towards administration, security within the Agency and the borders against threats from Russia. This force played a key role in fighting the war of liberation against Dogra / Indian Forces operating in the region in 1947/1948 and won independence for the people of Northern Areas (now Gilgit-Baltistan).

Official history of liberation: Ian Stephens, the man – made responsible by President Ayub Khan to compile the official history of Pakistan – describes the relevant history as follows:
“This was not locally liked, but it was tolerated in the belief that, as Kashmir was a Muslim majority state, the Maharajah, despite his personal will, would soon act along the lines of Lord Mountbatton’s advice to the Princes generally in July, and accede to Pakistan. When the startling news came on 26 October of the Maharajah’s accession of Kashmir to India, the locals of Gilgit were outraged and so were the Muslim officers posted to Gilgit scouts and a few to the Maharajah’s army located at Bunji. Mullahs in the villages started preaching ‘JEHAD’ against the Dogra regime. Reports came that the neighboring Princely states of Swat and Chitral, which had joined Pakistan, were about to invade; Muslim soldier in the predominantly Sikh garrison at Bunji, on the far side of Indus, caused a disturbance; on the other hand, local Sikh and Hindu traders in Gilgit Bazaar were known to have arms. By the evening of 31 October, tension locally became such that, in the scout commandant’s view mutiny and slaughter, resulting in general chaos, could only be forestalled by prompt acceptance of what unquestionably was the prevailing popular will. He therefore sent a platoon to request the Hindu Governor to come to the Scout’s lines for protection and simultaneously ordered his colleague (Captain Matheson) detachments from Chilas (headed by Subedar Sher Ali of Yasin), as well as those from Gilgit (headed by Subedar Safiullah Beg) to hold the Indus River Crossings and prevent 6th Kashmir Infantry troops from Bunji getting over to Gilgit and undo the coup.
Some casualties ensued at the crossings and indeed on the Gilgit Residency’s moonlit lawns too, because the governor resisted custody and fired on the scouts and their sympathizers from his windows, killing one soldier from Hunza. But within a few hours, the affair was effectively over; and on 2nd November the Pakistan Flag was run up amidst public acclaims”.

 

 

The Mirs and the Governors of the Political Districts exercised their option to accede to Pakistan [obviously in consonance with the wishes of the populations]  their territories and communicated the same either in writing or verbally to Major William Brown, Commandant GILGIT SCOUTS – obvious authority in Gilgit at that time – who in turn communicated it through wireless messages to Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan, the Prime Minister [CM] NWFP Peshawar as well as Col Bacon PA Khyber [the last British Political Agent in Gilgit] with an additional request to post a Pakistan Government Political Agent expeditiously.

Quaid-e-Azam accepted the accession and asked the Prime Minister to issue “a simplified Instrument of Accession” on the 6th of November 1947 – see MOST IMMEDIATE minute no 380-G initiated by Liagat Ali Khan. Mir of Hunza, Jamal Khan as well as Mir of Nagar, Shaukat Ali Khan, signed this instrument on 19th November 1947.

Further parleys with the delegations from the region in 1950 resulted in continuation of the administrative structure of an Agency which continued till 1974. Ever since different options have been instituted by GOP.
On 29 August 2009 the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan announced the creation of Gilgit–Baltistan, a new province-like autonomous region with Gilgit city as its capital and Skardu as the largest city. A sizable number of young generation activists are however not satisfied and raise their voices for a vigorous constitutional status – some even demanding cessation and independence.

Thus Major Alexander Brown ‑ British commandant of Gilgit Scouts ‑ in the light of popular will of the people in general (and with the help of the dissatisfied group of five junior commissioned officers from Hunza and Nager in particular), compensated for the machinations perpetrated by his fellow British in the past. The officer, for these services, has belatedly been honored by the government of Pakistan after his death, by awarding Sitara‑e‑Pakistan in 1993. Consequently Gilgit acceded to Pakistan and Sardar Alam Khan arrived as the first Political Agent from Pakistan.

Version of an Indian author:

THE FALL OF GILGIT
Lt. Col KS Samyal (Retd)

The entire north-west of the Indian sub-continent was, in the autumn of 1947, aflame with communal riots. In October 1947, the disturbances spread to the State of Jammu and Kashmir also. The Gilgit area of the state had an overwhelmingly Muslim population, made up of turbulent hill-men. The position was complicated by the existence of the semi-feudal principalities of Chitral, Hunza, Nagar etc which had been brought under Dogra rule in the 19th Century.

In July 1947, Gilgit was still being administered by the Government of India, to whom it had been made over by the State Government on lease for 60 years. The departure of the British from India being imminent, it was decided to terminate this lease and hand Gilgit back to the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir. Late in July 1947, the State Government appointed Brig Ghansara Singh, one of the most senior officers of the State’s Force, to be the Governor of Gilgit. He flew to Gilgit on 30 July 1947 and took over the administration from Lt Col Bacon, the British Political Agent, on 01 August 1947.

The local people, even though overwhelmingly Muslim, joyously welcomed the return of the Maharaja’s administration after the period of British rule. Of the subordinate chiefs under the Governor of Gilgit, namely, the Mir of Hunza, the Mir of Nagar, the Raja of Punial, and the chieftains of Koh Ghizar, Yasin, and Ashkoman, only the Mirs of Hunza and Nagar were hostile.

Their hostility proved very damaging, for three-fourths of the men of the Gilgit Scouts came from Hunza and Nagar, and Subedar Major Babar Khan of the Scouts was the uncle of the Mir of Nagar and had married the sister of the Mir of Hunza.

The two British officers of the Gilgit Scouts whose services had been retained by the State, namely Major WA Brown and Captain Matheson, proved themselves inveterately hostile to Jammu & Kashmir State and took the leading part in the pro-Pakistan treachery at Gilgit. The predominantly Muslim civil employees of the Government of Gilgit were also pro-Pakistan and they backed the demands of the Scouts for special rates of pay and other concessions for serving the Jammu & Kashmir State soon after Brig Ghansara Singh took over charge.

It should be noted, however, that the Gilgit Scouts and the local people were still free from the violent communal passions then sweeping through the Punjab and did not favor killing or converting by force the non-Muslims at Gilgit.

Not the State’s own Muslim troops. Gilgit area was garrisoned by 6 J&K Infantry, less than two companies with Headquarters at Bunji, about 54 kms from Gilgit on the road to Srinagar. Commanded by Lt. Col Abdul Majid Khan, the battalion was composed of Muslims and Sikhs in almost equal proportions. The Sikhs, according to the Commanding Officer, were raw recruits and were not fit for active duty for the next 5-6 months, till they had fired their musketry course. The Muslim companies had men from Punch and they having heard all about the horrible communal killings in Punjab, were in a violently communal frame of mind.

Wild rumors raged in Gilgit in the last week of October when the tribal invasion of Kashmir began. The common people remained friendly, but there was clear evidence that Major Brown and Sub Major Babar Khan of the Scouts were planning some trouble. Some locals advised the Governor to call up 6 J&K Infantry from Bunji, but Brig Ghansara Singh realised that State Force’s Muslim men were as disaffected as and more violent than the Scouts. The Sikhs of 6 J&K Infantry could not be called up due to the opposition of Lt. Col Abdul Majid Khan, the Commanding Officer.

At about midnight between 31 October-1 November 1947, about 100 men of the Gilgit Scouts, led by Major Brown, Lieut Haidar Khan and Sub Major Babar Khan, surrounded the Governor’s house and tried to steal in to capture him in sleep. He woke up, however, and started using his revolver, backed up by his orderly and driver who were handed a double-barrel shotgun and a sporting rifle.

The Scouts then opened machine gun fire on the house. Exchange of fire went on for several hours, and two men of the Gilgit Scouts were killed. Morning came, and with it a message from Major Brown asking Brigadier Ghansara Singh to surrender or else all non-Muslims in Gilgit would be killed. The Governor surrendered and was put under arrest.

The local people protested against this, and villagers from the surrounding areas began to gather in Gilgit. The Scouts’ leaders managed to pacify them and sent them away, but probably this demonstration of the people’s affection saved the Governor and other non-Muslims from being murdered in cold blood. Lt Col Abdul Majid Khan, the CO of 6 J&K Infantry, was also imprisoned by the Gilgit Scouts and their British officers.

Immediately after this, steps were taken by the conspirators to annihilate the Sikh troops at Bunji. A Sikh post at Janglot was treacherously attacked at night by Muslim troops of 6 J&K Infantry and the Gilgit Scouts and the entire garrison was killed, except for a lone survivor who managed to cross the icy Indus river on a log of wood.

On hearing the news from Gilgit and Janglot, the Sikh company at Bunji dispersed and the men tried to find their way out to Gurais via Astor. But the Scouts from Chilas under the personal command of Captain Matheson were already guarding that route and prevented all escape. The Sikhs wandered through the high, snow-covered mountains for days without food and were captured one by one.

The entire Gilgit region passed into the hands of Pakistan early in November 1947. At first a provisional Government was formed, of which the leaders were Major Brown, Captain Hassan, Captain Ehsan Ali, Captain Muhammad Khan, Captain Sayeed, Lieut Haidar, and Sub Major Babar Khan. It is notable that none of the local Rajas nor any member of the public was included in the Provisional Government.

On 3 November 1947, Major Brown held a flag hoisting ceremony at Gilgit in the Socut Lines. After about a fortnight, one Sardar Mohammad Alam, a Pathan and obviously a nominee of Pakistan, came from Peshawar and took over the administration as Political Agent at Gilgit. No “Azad Govt” was established there, even in name.

But the control of Gilgit areas enabled Pakistan to operate towards Gurais as well as to attack Skardu.

K S Samyal,
J&K Ex-services League,
Ambphalla,
Jammu – 180005.
Telex-0191-2564326
Gilgit Baltistan Scouts identify themselves with Gilgit Scouts which were raised in 1889. This force played a key role in fighting the war of liberation against Dogra / Indian Forces in 1947/1948 and won independence for the people of Northern Areas (now Gilgit Baltistan). Gilgit Scouts were further reinforced by raising of Northern and Karakorum Scouts. These three Corps of Scouts subsequently merged in 1974 to form Northern Light Infantry (NLI) Units.

After the Kargil conflict, in 1999 the Northern Light Infantry Units were given the status of regular Army. The need of having Civil Armed Force in the Northern Areas remained a constant demand of the people since 1974. NA Scouts, therefore emerged as 5th Civil Armed Force of Pakistan on 31 October 2003.

With the imposition of “Empowerment and Self Governance Order” in 2009, Northern Areas were given the name of Gilgit Baltistan. Consequently Northern Area Scouts being a Federal Civil Armed Force in this region was also renamed as Gilgit Baltistan Scouts on 17 January 2011.

Advocacy on Teaching, Learning and Networking through the State of Art Learning Centers in GB

CENTERS

“It has been said that the Internet is the most important development for education since the invention of the printing press. But for now it is grossly underused for educational purposes. Universities around the world should take on the task of developing educational materials, resources and programmes for the Internet. They should add their voices to critics of regulations and policies that impinge on the use of the World Wide Web for educational purposes in favour of commercial interests.’

SPEECH DELIVERED BY His Highness the Aga Khan LOCATION Washington DC, USA (22 April 2001)

GOOGLE IN EDUCATION
TEACHING, LEARNING, NETWORKING

KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY INITIATIVE – Life Long Learning Centers for Developing Human Resources through free World Class Education at the Doorsteps

In the digital age world class education as well as skills are universally accessible as such depending on BRICK and MORTAR facilities of questionable standards will fail to prepare competitive HR for a global world. There is definite need for reorientation towards methods and facilities made accessible by technology. Readers can visit the following post to get a better idea of my advocacy:

https://hisamullahbeg.blogspot.com/2016/12/every-home-unique-world-class.html

Advocacy on Teaching, Learning and Networking through the State of Art Learning Centers in GB

Welcome development, Chinese establish six state of the art lifelong learning centers and open universities in GB towards development of HR in the global world. Propose the LSOs in the area must motivate populations to avail these Facilities.
Recall the fourteen facilities established by AKDN in 2010 through the Education department as well.

Request integrate these to provide free of cost knowledge and skills to every household thereby developing an innovative human resource throughout the region.

Please study the contents on the following links:

1.   Google for Education:
2.   https://support.google.com/a/answer/139019?hl=en
3.   https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/answer/6025224?hl=en
4.   https://support.google.com/edu/?hl=en
5.   https://developers.google.com/edu/faq
6.   https://edu.google.com/training-support/privacy-security/?modal_active=none
7.   Drop Box:
8.   https://www.dropbox.com/help
9.   https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Get-started/ct-p/101009
10. https://gsuite.google.com/marketplace/app/dropbox_for_gmail/33761876029
11.         https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Get-started/ct-p/101009
12. Red spider software
13. https://www.scientific.net/AMR.605-607.2530
14. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272054700_Application_of_Red_Spider_Software_in_Multimedia_Network_Classroom
15. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1001.5146&rep=rep1&type=pdf

For a firsthand experience send your E-Mail address and accept subsequent INVITATION.

https://gsuite.google.com/marketplace/app/dropbox_for_gmail/33761876029

INTEGRATION WITH POPULAR PLATFORMS

Home Classroom
Manage teaching and learning with Classroom
Classroom helps students and teachers organize assignments, boost collaboration, and foster better communication.
Note to Minister of Education GB and VC KIU: 
As a start I request you to get a report as to how many of these twenty centers are functional and delivering to the schools, colleges, University campus and the general population. Then integrate these to provide free of cost knowledge and skills to every household thereby developing a innovative human resource throughout the region.

Education and skills for 21st century that you can acquire FREE OF COST through Lifelong Learning Centers in our region 

A typical MIT course that can be done free of cost anywhere in our region using the state of Art learning centers.

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/edgerton-center/ec-s07-photovoltaic-solar-energy-systems-fall-2004/

RESPONSE:

Ibrahim Sanai

Salam sir, I read it and will bring soon as addenda for discussion in the fourth coming Review Meeting of the Education Department Gilgit Baltistan.

Vice Chancellor KIU Thanks Baig sb. As always appreciate your sharing wonderful resources.
INTERNET:
Free high speed internet in Hunza, part of Cross Border Optical Fiber Cable Project:
The infrastructure has been provided by the Chinese and also tested. Will be available to populations only when GOP (SCO) issues NOC. We request GOP to facilitate establishment of KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY by issuing the NOC without further reluctance.

Vice Chancellor KIU

KIU is deploying Campus Management System, Learning Management System as part of the Vice Chancellor vision for technological transformation of the institute. Within next 6-9 months most of the operation of KIU will be automated and online. The cited software and learning platform can be integrated once the basic IT infrastructure is laid. Initially the services will be offered through intranet due to poor internet services. Later it will offered at internet once the services improve in GB.

Reply: Hisamullah Beg:

Dear VC

My proposal contemplates use of existing twenty centers as extended campus of KIU without any addition of infrastructure or investments or staff. Policy REORIENTATION will result in immediate facilitation towards preparation of HR for 21st century and provide FREE OF COST education and skills at the doorsteps. For a detailed explanation of views kindly visit: https://hisamullahbeg.blogspot.com/2017/08/knowledge-society-

Dr. Attaullah Shah

Thanks Baig sb for your suggestions. KIU would love to utilize the existing 21 technology based study centers for outreach of its programs. I have been visiting deep into the valleys of Yaseen, Gojal etc and have seen that there are many difficult areas which cannot be accessed through formal means of education. In such cases, technology driven Open and Distance Learning (ODL) can be one of the most feasible option. I may need the following information:
1. The locations of these 21 Centers
2. The existing technological platform at the Centers and its accessibility and relativity as presently due to lack of electricity and strong internet, the traditional web based education is not possible in most of the remote valleys.
3. If KIU decides to use these Centers for the outreach of its programs, then who has to be contracted

Due to recent stringent regime of HEC, the Distance Learning Programs have been halted in most of the Universities. However KIU can initiate some skill development short courses, diploma and certificate programs.
REPLY:
Gratified to read your response. Request you to visit one facility located in Government Middle School Altit in Hunza. In all four facilities are in Hunza while remaining sixteen are spread throughout GB and in the jurisdiction of Education department. A coord conference with Minister of Education will be a desirable step towards better utilization of these facilities.

 

Concrete Proposal towards “Hunza Power Supply Company”

Kinetic energy of water flow in a stream or river is a renewable source of energy abundantly available in our region. Harnessing this source through well established methods is both capital and time intensive. I am suggesting an alternate technology suited from affordability as well as indigenous manufacture en  mass. This involves use of a “floating hydro-electric generator” tethered to the anchors on river bank and suited to minimum flow in winters and also swollen rivers during summers.
Objective: To provide electricity to each village independently through self-help and gradually increasing the capacity to meet entire demand needed towards economic transformation.
Inspiration
Lets see and create something that has the same look and feel that can be seen in this video I found the other day.


Levels / Stages
Prototype Development and functionality Tests
Need interested youngsters ready to go for a career in this field to participate.
Collaboration by government and established CSOs such as AKRSP is highly desirabl.
Please feel free to add or update these if you think I missed anything!

Experience Shared:    On the other hand, don’t under-estimate what one person looking to change their piece of the world can do. Before I bought the FITZ Waterwheel company, I had been through some hard times. Now 6 years later, I operate 1250 kilowatts of generators commercially, providing clean, environmentally safe power to over 1000 homes. I hope you have as much fun and satisfaction with your waterwheel, whatever the size.

(Rudy Behrens owns the FITZ Waterwheel Company. 118 Sycamore Ct., Collegeville, PA 19426, Phone: (215) 489-6256.)

Congrats!
“So Here you are. You are accepted into climatelaunchpad 2019 you made it.
So join the games. Fixing climate change one startup at a time.
You Made it to the last follow-up module of climatelaunchpad 2019. Congratulations on that!!!.
And with that, we wish you lots of success with your national final and hopefully we see you on the Global stage in November.
Why I Joined this competition: TO EARN CONFIDENCE and ESTABLISH CREDIBILITY OF MY TARGET POPULATION IN GB FOR ONE OF THE IDEA DEMONSTRATION PROJECTS.
BACKGROUND:
Hira Wajahat – one of the employees in Pakistan -”Dear Hisamullah, this is a really exciting project. We hope you are applying to the ClimateLaunchpad Pakistan Programme.” 

Floating Hydroelectric Generator & Pumping Station – MOU June 10, 2017
Brig Hisamullah Beg SI (M), Hunza Development Forum, PO Karimabad, Hunza, Gilgit-Baltistan
PROTOTYPE 3

PRESENTATION

MY DREAM

The dream is to solve the issues faced by the society in my region through self-help as part of my belief system which stresses on TKN (time and knowledge Nazrana). I have developed Idea demonstration projects to achieve:

1. Poverty Alleviation.
2. Education and skills from ECD to tertiary – through Free of cost world-class Education and Skills at door-steps in my region.
3. Infrastructure for water and energy – through SELF-HELP 75 LSOs established by AKRSP, – through the Village Organizations (for men – 2928) and WOs (for women –2117} a total of over  5045 entities, combined covering entire population of GILGIT-BALTISTAN & CHITRAL, Faith based Institutions and the Government.

What I want to achieve is:

A. Provide job opportunities to more than 15000 youngsters in the decades to follow.
B. Provide low-cost energy, initially for Life-style improvement and gradually for economical uplift through adding value to Agricultural product – by pumping water from rivers to irrigate large swaths of barren lands in the region.
C. Facilitate knowledge society

Target date: Coming decades

I want to develop awareness and confidence by the potential beneficiaries by installing the model at a place frequently visited by all populations for at least two years

I am also coordinating with college of EME innovation team as well as KIU (Karakoram International University) to install one of the prototypes at the site where they have a pumping system utilizing Public Supply, for which they pay sizable bill every month – this job is in-progress.

I hope the idea demonstration projects convey gist of following important messages to the populations in our region:
a. SELF HELP IS THE BEST HELP – teaching conveyed fourteen centuries back in time and continuing through the guidance system instituted in Ghadir-e-Khum – read webcast of 11th July 2017 and the speech on 15th January 2019.
b. I am not looking for the best technologies in the world to solve issues around our homes rather for solutions evolved by innovative human resources and sustainable options within reach.
c. Promote KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY towards attaining BETTER TOMORROW goals.
I expect our institutions collecting better tomorrow donations as well VO/WO saving scheme investments in proposed Hunza Power Supply Company will result in poverty alleviation through pumping water from rivers to irrigate barren lands and Life-long learning centers towards world class education and skills to result in innovative HR. For details read my blog.

https://paper.dropbox.com/doc/Project-overview-Floating-Hydroelectric-Generator-Pumping-Station–AkLrEY6PKBLZ~huhQ4UXoUkRAg-SivFveB8cgyCB3hK7qLqv

Open Educational Resources about BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Open Educational Resources about BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

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11.014J American Urban History II | Urban Studies and Planning

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English

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Massachusetts Institute of Technology OEC Member

MERLOT

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• Arts / Architecture

This is a seminar course that explores the history of selected features of the physical environment of urban America. Among the features considered are parks, cemeteries, tenements, suburbs, zoos, skyscrapers, department stores, supermarkets, and amusement parks. The course gives students .. show the rest of description.

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11.437 Financing Economic Development | Urban Studies and Planning

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English

Institution:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology OEC Member

MERLOT

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• Arts / Architecture

This course focuses on financing tools and program models to support local economic development. It includes an overview of private capital markets and financing sources to understand capital market imperfections that constrain economic development; business accounting; financial statement .. show the rest of description.

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11.947 Urbanization and Development | Urban Studies and Planning

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English

Institution:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology OEC Member

MERLOT

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• Arts / Architecture

The course examines the causes and effects of rapid urbanization in developing countries. Using case studies from the world’s four major developing regions, including (among others) Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Managua, Singapore, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Kabul, Beirut, Cairo, Kinshasa, Cape Town and .. show the rest of description.

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15.990 Architecture and Communication in Organizations | Sloan School of Management

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English

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Massachusetts Institute of Technology OEC Member

MERLOT

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• Business / Management

While no businesses succeed based on their architecture or space design, many fail as a result of inattention to the power of spatial relationships. This course demonstrates through live case studies with managers and architects the value of strategic space planning and decision making in relation .. show the rest of description.

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4.285 Research Topics in Architecture: Citizen-Centered Design of Open Governance Systems | Architecture

Language:

English

Author:

Mitchell, William

Institution:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology OEC Member

MERLOT

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• Arts / Architecture

In this seminar, students will design and perfect a digital environment to house the activities of large-scale organizations of people making bottom-up decisions, such as with citizen-government affairs, voting corporate shareholders or voting members of global non-profits and labor unions. A .. show the rest of description.

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Advertising and Promotion

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English

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The Saylor Foundation

MERLOT

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• Business / Marketing / Advertising

The purpose of this course is to lead students in an exploration of fundamental advertising principles and the role advertising plays in the promotional mix. Although some consider all promotion synonymous with advertising, unique characteristics separate advertising from other forms of .. show the rest of description.

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Quantitative Analysis

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English

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The Saylor Foundation

MERLOT

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• Business / Economics / Mathematical and Quant.
• Business / General
• Social Sciences / Statistics

This course is designed to introduce you to quantitative analysis (QA), or the application of statistics in the workplace. The student will learn how to apply statistical tools to analyze data, draw conclusions, and make predictions of the future. This free course may be completed online at any .. show the rest of description.

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Corporate Communication

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English

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The Saylor Foundation

MERLOT

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• Business / Management
• Humanities / Communication Studies

Effective communication skills are a prerequisite for succeeding in business. Communication tools and activities connect people within and beyond the organization in order to establish the business’s place in the corporate community and the social community, and as a result, that communication .. show the rest of description.

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Financial Accounting

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English

Institution:

The Saylor Foundation

MERLOT

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• Business / Accounting / Financial

This course focuses on financial accounting, a sub-discipline of accounting. The information generated in financial accounting is often used by individuals external to the organization, such as creditors, investors, government regulatory agencies, and taxing authorities. Additionally, business .. show the rest of description.

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Human Resource Management

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English

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The Saylor Foundation

MERLOT

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• Business / Management / Human Resources

Managing Human Capital involves strategically allocating the most valuable resources—people—to the right areas of a firm. The basics of managing human capital are covered in any basic management course, but this course will introduce more advanced topics in the field. The student will learn .. show the rest of description.

Management Information Systems

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English

Institution:

The Saylor Foundation

MERLOT

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• Business / Management
• Science and Technology / Information Technology

Management Information Systems (MIS) is a formal discipline within business education that bridges the gap between computer science and the well-known business disciplines of finance, marketing, and management. In its most general terms, information systems encompass any interactions between .. show the rest of description.

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Managerial Economics Principles

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English

Author:

Unknown

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Lardbucket.org

MERLOT

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• Business / Economics / General

One standard definition for economics is the study of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. A second definition is the study of choice related to the allocation of scarce resources. The first definition indicates that economics includes any business, nonprofit

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Negotiations and Conflict Management

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English

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The Saylor Foundation

MERLOT

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• Business / Management / Conflict Resolution

This course examines the conceptual framework of negotiations as applied to all areas of negotiation in both the public and private sectors, focusing specifically on business negotiations later in the course. It also uncovers the influence of national and cultural variations in the decision-making .. show the rest of description.

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Operations Management

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English

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The Saylor Foundation

MERLOT

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• Business / Management / Production and Oper Mgnt

This course covers the fundamentals of operations management as they apply to both production and service-based operations. Operations management is a science with which we are all, in some capacity, familiar. We all have scarce resources and have to allocate those resources properly. In the realm .. show the rest of description.

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Principles of Marketing

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English

Institution:

The Saylor Foundation

MERLOT

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• Business / Marketing / General

In this course, the student will learn about the entire marketing process and examine the range of marketing decisions that an organization must make in order to sell its products and services. The student will learn to ask: what does the customer need? What does the customer want? Who is this .. show the rest of description.

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Risk Management

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English

Author:

The Saylor Foundation

Institution:

The Saylor Foundation

MERLOT

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• Business / Finance

This is a free online course offered by the Saylor Foundation.

‘The Business Administration major is designed to prepare you for a leadership role in today’s highly competitive, global business environment.  This elective course will allow you to incorporate risk management principles into your

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Small Business Management

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English

Institution:

The Saylor Foundation

MERLOT

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• Business / Management

This course introduces entrepreneurship and business planning and is geared towards both the eclectic mix of individuals planning to develop and launch their own businesses as well as those with established small business ventures. Topics include the history of small business, the characteristics .. show the rest of description.

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Strategic Information Technology

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English

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The Saylor Foundation

MERLOT

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• Business / Management / Strategy
• Science and Technology / Information Technology

This course focuses on the allocation and use of technology resources across an entire firm as part of the larger organizational strategy. This course introduces some advanced topics for those familiar with the “nuts and bolts” of information systems. This free course may be completed online at .. show the rest of description.

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15.518 Taxes and Business Strategy

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English

Author:

Prof. George Plesko

Institution:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology OEC Member

MERLOT

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• Business / Accounting / Managerial

Traditional finance and other business courses analyze a broad spectrum of factors affecting business decision-making but typically give little systematic consideration to the role of taxes. In contrast, traditional tax accounting courses concentrate on administrative issues while ignoring the .. show the rest of description.

 

• Course Introduction

US firms maintain their competitive advantages by holding on to resources their competitors cannot obtain. What do we mean by “resources?” The term “resources” can refer to anything from rights to a certain oil field, the patent on touchscreen technology, or an exclusive contract with the government. More often than not, however, a company’s most valuable resources are its employees. Often, having the “right” employees – the individuals capable of developing iPhones or finding new oil fields – separates the highly successful firms from their less successful competitors. As you begin the journey of this course, you might be saying to yourself, “My company may say I am its most valuable resource, but it really do not treat me like I am valued.” This feeling is one of many elements associated with managing human capital.

In the United States, the subfield of Human Resource Management (alternatively known as Human Capital Management) has a history that dates back almost a century, but the most strategic components of this course emerged as a result of transitions in the workforce in the late 1960s. After the passing of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, all organizations were mandated by the Federal Government to adhere to specific laws, which governed how an organization should respond to and treat their human capital. The transition of women and minorities into the workplace and their resulting contributions to business success incentivized organizations to develop a better understanding of how to integrate all employees into a culture that would reinforce and support the vision and mission of a business.

Human Resource Management refers to the practice of strategically allocating the most valuable resources – people – to the right areas of a firm. This practice involves careful strategizing, good leadership, and other solid business practices. Human Resource Management requires more than a strong human resources department; it requires smart, capable team managers working in conjunction with an HR department to carry out common goals.

The key to understanding and applying the concepts of this course revolves around learning how to become uncomfortable. What exactly does that mean? Every one of us has a core belief system shaped by our individual experiences, situations, and circumstances. This belief system informs and guides our perceptions (i.e. what we believe is or is not valid/applicable to the situation or circumstance with which we are dealing). We naturally gravitate towards those things with which we have some understanding, and we have an intrinsic bias against those things that do not make sense to us, that we perceive as unethical, or that make us uncomfortable. To effectively manage human capital, you have to learn how to step outside of your comfort zone and make strategic decisions in the best interest of the company, rather than those that make you “comfortable.”

You know the basics of managing human capital from your Principles of Management course (BUS208), but this course will introduce you to more advanced topics in the field. You will learn that identifying the best employees begins with identifying the firm’s needs and carrying out a proper recruitment and selection process. Training, development, and performance evaluations can then shape the selected employee into an ideal firm resource. Finally, adequate and incentivizing compensation can keep those resources with the firm. This course will cover all these topics and more.

Though you may not be planning to pursue a career in human resource management, much of your career success will depend upon working with the right people. This course will help you appreciate and leverage this fact.

• Course SyllabusPage
• Course Terms of UsePage

• Unit 1: The Nature of Managing Human Capital

People are a firm’s most valuable resource, and many of the most successful firms proudly profess this fact in recruitment materials, press events, and statements of their corporate values. Human Resource Management has been a focus in corporate strategy for the last half-century, especially in light of the emergence of a service-based economy (whereby most firms today provide services as opposed to the products produced by firms in the past).

In this unit, you will learn about the role that Human Capital Management plays within any organization. You will also review a variety of major topics pertaining to human capital, including the nature of HR management, strategies for HR management and planning, the legal framework for equal employment as it applies to managing diversity, and the application of affirmative action. Some of these subjects are so complex and diverse that they deserve their own courses. For example, the field of Managing Equal Employment and Diversity is so broad that the US federal government has created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to ensure that individuals receive equal treatment in employment-related activities. These topics will be touched upon in this unit to so that you can focus on the core of human capital management in the remaining units.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 13 hours.

• Unit 2: Staffing the Organization: Job Analysis and Description

Now that you understand the core components of strategy as applied to managing human capital, learn how to identify the right human capital by properly assessing and defining all of the jobs within an organization. Identifying the right people for a firm can be very difficult. To make things more challenging, job descriptions often do a poor job of detailing the employment environment. By conducting a proper job analysis of all roles within a firm, hiring managers can better identify the traits they need a future employee to possess for a specific job.

Employers seek employees with traits that fall into one of four categories: Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics. Collectively, these traits are referred to as KSAs. The keys to success lay not in an individual’s experience with Microsoft Office or his or her ability to work in a high stress environment, but rather in his or her capacity to learn on the job, humility in admitting fault, and temperament in a stressful situation. In this unit, you will learn how to identify the true demands of a job and translate them into an accurate job description.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 10 hours.

• Unit 3: Recruitment and Selection

Identifying the traits one will need for success in a position is relatively easy compared to the daunting task of identifying those traits within an applicant. Given the cyclicality of unemployment, you will likely receive a pile of resumes simply by posting an opening on a company website or job board. But how many of those resumes will be worth looking through? How many will be worth interviewing? And will any of them be the right person for the job? You do not want to just select the best person in the applicant pool; you want to find the best person for the job. Sometimes this means going beyond the normal labor market and recruiting people currently employed at other firms.

There are a number of methods of recruiting the right talent. Some firms prefer to use specialized recruiting firms, while others ask their current employees for recommendations. The point is that a firm needs to cast the widest net possible in order to secure a large applicant pool.

Then, the firm must face the challenge of selecting the right applicant by determining whether he or she possesses the KSAs discussed in the last unit. Like it or not, the interview method of selection is one of the weakest forms of selection. Critics argue that it is too subjective. While subjectivity is not a bad thing, it must be paired with the right objective measures. This unit will cover a number of such measures that can be useful in identifying candidates. Please note that interviews are still very important and that there are “right” and “wrong” ways to conduct interviews, all of which will be addressed here.

One of the key points to remember when recruiting and selecting human capital is that you should identify individuals who share the company’s ideas about the goals and objectives of its business. You should work to identify unique individuals with shared and complementary skill sets in order to build an effective team. Recruiting and selecting human capital should be carried out in order to provide the organization with a strategic advantage.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 7 hours.

• Unit 4: Training and Development/Career Planning

Once you have completed the recruitment process, it is crucial that you properly train and develop your human capital. As you go through this unit, think of training as a process used to inform new members of the specifics associated with the jobs that they have assumed. Development should be thought of as a continuous process of improvement and as an opportunity to provide human capital with the updates and insight needed to be successful on the job. Career planning refers to the process of mapping the career growth of your human capital and building strong relationships between human capital and the management team. Note: Career planning is sometimes referred to as succession planning.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 4 hours.

• Unit 5: Performance Management and Measurement

In the last unit, you learned about human capital development and training. Mastering and applying this information is crucial to helping you become more effective at identifying and creating a performance management and measurement system. Firms often use performance management systems in order to properly identify the success of their employees. “Success” in the workplace is often defined by an individual’s ability to live up to the demands of his or her position. With proper job analysis, it should be easy to quantify the level of success or failure that each employee has reached. However, it is important to recognize that all humans are subject to certain biases – leniency and the halo effect are good examples – when asked to provide feedback. (Leniency refers to a manager’s tendency to be “too nice” out of fear of hurting the feelings of his or her employee. The halo effect refers to a situation in which a manager focuses on one positive aspect of an employee’s performance as opposed to the performance as a whole over the evaluation period. The manager might, for example, fixate on the fact that an employee obtained a high-profile client or made a profitable sale, despite poor performance in all other aspects of the job.) Employees should be made aware of such tendencies in order to strive toward a more balanced evaluation process.

Meanwhile, in a performance appraisal, one employee (frequently a manager) reviews the performance of another employee. Many successful firms (including Infosys, one of the largest IT companies in India) use what are known as “360 degree reviews.” In the 360 degree review, the employee also reviews the manager. Firm managers should explore various types of appraisal systems in order to determine which fits best with the firm’s culture and strategy.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 4 hours.

• Unit 6: Compensation and Benefits

When an employer is making a hiring decision, he or she must consider a number of factors, including the cost of compensating human capital. In most cases within a business, this is the highest overhead cost consumed by an organization. Because poor financial planning is one of the top 10 risk factors associated with business failure, it is extremely important that an employer understands the many elements associated with the development and application of a compensation program. An employer must also be aware of compensation, as it is a tool used to attract and retain human capital. At different stages of an employee’s life, he or she will have different workplace needs. An organization may have some employees who value direct financial compensation and others who have an immediate need for other, more indirect benefits, like tuition reimbursement or child care. The key is to understand the dynamics of a compensation program and develop an organizational program that serves the needs of the organization, as well as the human capital employed by the organization.

In times of recession, there is usually a larger labor force in search of work. This gives employers leverage when hiring; some can drive down the associated human capital cost of employment due to the high supply of labor. However, the key to retaining good people in any environment, including in periods of high growth, is usually compensation. Compensation is not just about a salary or bonus – it is about work/life balance, perks, and contentment. The happiest employees are not necessarily the ones in the highest pay grade. Often times, the most successful companies pay less than their competitors because they have created an environment that is pleasant to work in.

Much of the chatter surrounding compensation today revolves around executive pay, as the disparity between executive pay and employee pay has grown dramatically over the decades. This widening gap is largely due to the fact that firms have been aligning executive compensation with firm performance. For publicly traded companies, performance is often measured in terms of profitability or stock price performance. This system is problematic in that it incentivizes executives to take on too much risk, as they are guaranteed compensation no matter what happens. This unit will explore this issue as well as others pertaining to compensation and benefits.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 6 hours.

• Unit 7: Safety and Health

By now, you should more fully understand the significance of managing human capital as a strategic part of any business platform. It is important that you recognize how all of the human capital management concepts come together to support an organization that enjoys a competitive advantage over others within its market. It is also important that you understand that the employer is responsible for making the job attractive to potential human capital candidates and enticing them with an environment that incentivizes employees to work and grow with the organization. While you have covered a lot as this course has progressed, there are still some key factors to be addressed as you develop an understanding of how to manage human capital. One of those key areas is the safety and health of human capital.

At a most basic level, the employer is responsible for sending its employees home in the same manner in which they arrived. The concept of safety is so important that the government has created a special department – the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) – whose sole focus is the safety and well-being of employees within the workplace. Every single workplace environment must comply with OSHA regulations.

Employers must also be concerned with the health of their human capital. Healthy employees boost workplace performance and productivity, use fewer sick day benefits, and are more likely to build stronger and longer-lasting relationships with their employers. When an employee or potential employee sees that an employer is concerned about his or her personal well-being, he or she is more likely to become and remain a part of that organization. Note: Employee Health is sometimes referred to as employee wellness.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 6 hours.

• Unit 8: Labor and Employee Relations

In this final unit of the course, we will discuss labor and employee relations and conclude with a brief perspective on how ethical concerns pervade all aspects of human resource management. As mentioned earlier in the course, an employer wants to create an environment that is attractive to potential and current employees. As you have already learned, the relationship between employer and employee can be a bit tricky. The employer has specific expectations when it makes the decision to bring a new employee on board. The employee has or should have an expectation of the employer when he or she decides to join and/or stay with an organization. Sometimes, there are significant discrepancies between what the employer needs/wants and what the employee needs/wants. In these situations, labor relations – or more specifically, labor unions – can help strengthen the employer/employee relationship.

Labor relations is a subfield of Human Capital Management concerned with labor unions in the workplace. Labor unions are independent third parties that represent the collective interest of the employees within a particular industry. Just as a marriage counselor serves as a mediator between a husband and a wife, a labor union seeks to balance the differences between employer and employee.

Employee relations is a subfield of Human Capital Management concerned with the prevention and/or resolution of workplace problems. This subfield encompasses poor performance and disciplinary action, the identification and promotion of policies/procedures, and the communication and promotion of awareness of the laws and legislation that impact the managing of human capital. These activities ensure that efficiency, equity, and voice can be achieved in the workplace for both the employer and the employee. But what exactly do we mean by efficiency, equity, and voice?

Efficiency relates to the ability to achieve a workplace goal with a minimal or minimized investment of resources. An employer seeks to achieve efficiency by engaging the most productive human capital and using the least amount of business resources. An employee seeks to achieve efficiency by asking for a specific balance between his or her time contributions to the organization and the economic outputs provided by the employer. Both an employee and an employer want workplace processes to be structured in such a way that each feels there is value for what they are contributing. Efficiency addresses the questions of: am I getting an equal or opposite response to the amount of work I am putting in? Are you motivated to help me be successful? Can I trust that within our relationship, you have my best interest in mind?

Equity relates to the partnership ideal in the relationship between the employer and the employee. The key to understanding equity is identifying with the fact that the business environment is typically not a democracy. An employer creates and enforces the workplace rules and processes that it considers necessary to conducting business. If an employee works for this organization, the anticipation is for them to comply, as employers typically make them aware of these expectations. Is the workplace environment stable and fair? Is there room to grow and do more? Am I treated like a subordinate or a true partner? These are just some of the questions asked when assessing the equity in the relationship between the employer and the employee.

In personal relationships, there are times when one person feels that the other is not listening. The same applies to the relationship between employer/employee. Employees typically want to work for an employer who enables them to be heard and to contribute to the functioning of the organization. An employer wants an organization in which employees have actively listened to and engaged in the proper application of any workplace rules, processes, and procedures, with minimal to no infraction. In both cases, the employee and employer are looking to “achieve voice” in their organizations. Most, if not all, organizations try to assist in the achievement of voice by providing hotlines for employees to communicate, implementing suggestion boxes for the anonymous submission of ideas or comments about the workplace environment, and establishing an open door policy. Because the employer is the more dominant partner in this relationship, the balance between efficiency, equity, and voice can appear to be a bit one sided; this is where labor and employee relations step in.

Ethical conduct requires us to ask difficult questions. Firms need to make the distinction between legal compliance and ethical decision making. Ethical lapses have been responsible for U.S. companies losing billions of dollars in class action law suits. Individual employees must also take responsibility to adhere to their firms’ codes of conduct, codes of ethics, and various policies written to protect the employee, the company, the community and other entities their organization serves Articles below describe some of the issues and challenges faced by human resource professionals today to ensure these codes of conduct, codes of ethics and company policies are disseminated, acknowledged and followed and accurately reflect the values and mission of their firms.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 11 hours.

• Optional Course Evaluation Survey
• Final Exam
  • BUS301: Final ExamQuiz
  • BUS301: Proctored Final ExamQuiz

 

REORIENTATION – STEPS TOWARDS AN EGALITARIAN AND HAPPYY SOCIETY

I have been advocating “political action” through civil society in preference to the divisive system of political parties. It is apparent that this theme is not accepted by vast majorities and questions have been posed as to how progress for the society is possible by deviating from this commonly adopted course. If you go through the happiness index for the countries, you will find Switzerland in the lead. I have posted this article as a good example of “direct democracy” results over the divisive and nonperforming “INDIRECT DEMOCRACY” system that we have inherited.

How Switzerland’s political system works

Switzerland is a direct democracy, where the people can influence the activities of government through initiatives and referendums. The political process is played out at three levels, federal, cantonal and communal.

WAY FORWARD:

We have a well-defined social structure in place but not moving forward at a desirable speed – mainly because the three targets defined over a 25-year life span got mixed up through a DONOR DRIVEN IMPETUS and did not get the missionary zeal required for these ambitions of the GUIDE.

Please go through and implement in the working procedures the eight guideline booklets issued by AKDN which are designed to establish a FIELD DRIVEN system aimed towards HELPING PEOPLE HELP THEMSELVES in achieving a BETTER TOMORROW. These are:

1. https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/7415b355-6c4d-437f-bc1c-18b844ddc41c
2. https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/fc3542cb-55e6-4722-9de0-2c594fbd0032
3. https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/984a3aba-7629-4c39-b6ee-b8514a5d2455
4. https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/4ca1e1cf-127c-410c-91da-4653ab3ccc29
5. https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/9d0709ec-221b-49ad-937b-16696dac2d34
6. https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/9822f88b-b023-4569-836a-586b48420465
7. https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/831d1f2c-3f60-4883-a6ab-41c3ba25feff
8. https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/b29293a4-fe74-4752-952d-bb525d1dd8e4

GB government press release dated 05^th December 2016 (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1359431604075389&set=a.609120032439887.1073741828.100000256889281&type=3&theater0  ) is a positive step in this direction.