Community targeted advertisements - Only in New Jersey...

Check out this flier I got in the mail the other day. I was so amused to read "TASTE KI BAAT HAI!" on top. I was even more surprised to see that it was from McDonald's, who are currently in the midst of promoting their new coffee drinks.

So for those of you who don't speak Urdu, "TASTE KI BAAT HAI!" means something like "It's about the taste".

I guess they probably found me through my name. But the concept of targeted advertising is quite interesting nevertheless. I don't know if community targeted advertisements are supposed to work better than just ones in plain English, but one thing is for certain. This can only happen in New Jersey!

Rutgers tuition amongst the highest for public universities - but is it worth it?

The undergraduate tuition at Rutgers University is notoriously high, but a recent report by California's Post secondary Education Commission caught my eye. This report compares fees at California's educational institutions, with those around the country and at the top of list, lies Rutgers, Newark (though a quick check at the Rutgers, New Brunswick website will tell you that the other campuses have around the same cost). This is a sad state of affairs for New Jersey, and its bound to get worse as Gov. Corzine is again reducing the amount of funding for Rutgers.

On the bright side, Rutgers has been prepared for this for a while now, and already has one of the lowest operating costs in the country. According to this news article...

Somehow, Rutgers has managed to survive thus far with its name and its glitter fully intact, even in the face of the sliding state figures. It's a wonder, when school leaders have had to cut hundreds of classes and positions. Or when tuition has soared by more than 10 percent in certain years. Or when one realizes that New Jersey now ranks in the bottom 10 states in tax funds spent for operating expenses of higher education per $1,000 of personal income, with a rate below $5.50; the U.S. median is $7.50.

Moreover, the education is still worth it. A recent study by SmartMoney.com debating the pros and cons of private colleges vs public colleges using a measure called 'payback' indicated that payback at most public universities is a lot higher than private colleges. This payback takes into account the higher cost of education at these private universities. The website just lists the top 5 public universities, but Rutgers admissions has the list of top 10, because its ranked 6 on that list. This is pretty cool and I've posted a picture of the list.

Countries on the brink of failing

Every year, Foreign Policy magazine tabulates a list of countries whose economic and social indicators point towards it being a collapsed or failed nation. I don't subscribe to Foreign Policy anymore, so I was waiting for some other news source to relay the list. Turns out the Economist covered this a few months ago.

Each country is given a score for a dozen political, military, social and economic indicators; the more unstable a country, the higher its total score.

It's so embarrassing to see Pakistan in the bottom 10 when the country has not experienced a major war, famine, or invasion in the past 30+ years. There have been plenty of unfortunate circumstances (earthquakes, Afghan refugees etc) , but her wounds are mostly self inflicted (Kargil, Islamization, the immense brain drain, burgeoning military class, corruption, communal riots etc. ) The list is never ending....

Ban on Indian movies in Pakistan is pointless

Pakistan has banned Indian movies in theaters for 30 years now. This ridiculous law, however, has not stymied the popularity of films and shows from across the border. Indian soaps, movies, and game shows are quite routinely copied. Though its not all one way traffic, as I recall my friends mentioning that Pakistani dramas were quite popular back in India too.

The piracy industry in that part of the world has been thriving ever since somebody figured out how to burn a cd-rom. Naturally there are no figures to support this claim, but I am sure there is plenty of financial loss to the filmmakers. This article in Asia Media talks about efforts being made to lift the ban.

The Pakistani Film Exhibitors Association has filed a petition in the Sindh High Court asking for permission to import and screen Indian films in movie theatres, with amicus curiae Qazi Faez Isa arguing the ban was irrational and resulted in closing down of about 925 cinemas over the years and bringing down the number and quality of feature films produced in Pakistan.

India has no such ban on the import of Pakistani films according to the lawyers. They argued that Indian films in theatres would increase revenue and attract more viewers.

What's interesting is the ban was initially sought out for 5 years in 1961. The aim was to actually improve the Pakistani film industry. How stupid is that?

It seems to me that the only thing that can improve the quality of films is competition. If Indian films are better, then so be it. Banning them isn't going help the local industry. The ban should be lifted. It doesn't make sense.

Though could they perhaps place restrictions on the length of these movies!? 3 hours! I can't stand how long desi films are...

Renewable Energy in Pakistan

My friend wrote this excellent article entitled 'Adding fuel to fire' which recently got published in one of Pakistan's leading daily's. He presents arguments supporting ethanol as the next new renewable source of energy in the country. I was impressed to learn that Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) has been heavily encouraged in Pakistan and has been quite a success. I have included some excerpts from his article. I urge you to peruse the published version at your leisure.

By lifting import duties on CNG conversion kits, converting government vehicles, and liberally distributing licenses for CNG filling stations, the (Pakistani) government kick-started a cycle of CNG production that was then propelled by basic market forces and low CNG prices. As a result of these policies, CNG use has captured a large share of the petrol market over the last two years. There are over 1 million CNG-enabled vehicles in Pakistan today, constituting nearly 20 percent of all vehicles in the country. It is the third largest CNG fleet in the world.

That's great to know that Pakistan has the third largest CNG automobile fleet in the world. However, as my friend and author rightly points out, CNG, though clean, is not renewable. As a result of this, he proposes several measures whereby ethanol can be introduced as the source of renewable energy

According to the World Bank, the only potential renewable fuel anywhere in the world that can currently compete with petrol is ethanol from sugarcane. Pakistan produces the world’s 5th largest sugarcane crop, of which 20 percent is exported. In fact, until recently, Pakistan was the second largest exporter of sugarcane ethanol to the European Union — a preferential status we have since lost because of WTO obligations and dumping complaints. Several distilleries have planned to close down in light of this fact. Instead of curbing production of fuel ethanol, however, we should redirect it to the domestic market. Eventually, a domestic industry will grow, and the further development of sugarcane feed-stocks will accelerate rural infrastructure development and result in rural job creation from farms and processing facilities.

Experiences with fuel ethanol in Brazil and around the world suggest that government action is essential in the initiation of such programs to coax the market away from pre-existing technologies. A Pakistani fuel ethanol program, like its CNG predecessor, will need initial government support to develop an infrastructure in which the new industry can grow.

This entails providing incentives for both production and consumption of fuel ethanol. the fledgling industry will need fiscal support in the form of subsidies, tax incentives, and state-guaranteed credit, to ensure that it has a consumer base and a competitive price. As production increases, economies of scale will develop until ethanol production is cost-effective and self-sustainable.

This is an impressive article and quite eye-opening for me. I believe the ideas that he proposes are quite manageable. There is, after all, an infrastructure already laid down for CNG production. Thus the government is aware of the looming energy crisis. It's great that Pakistan is far ahead of other nations with regards to industrial and automotive CNG incorporation. It would be even more impressive if Pakistan can think to the future, utilize its renewable crop resources, and thus produce energy domestically.

Microcredit financing and the Nobel Peace Prize

This year's Nobel Peace prize has been awarded to Muhammad Yunus, who set up a bank in Bangladesh in the 70's to help the poor using microcredit financing. Seems like such a great idea. I know this is my upteenth post about the Nobel Prize....but I find this sort of stuff very inpirational. It's great to know that someone from our part of the world has won such a prestigious award. What is even nicer is that this award has gone to such a humble man. He is planning on using the prize money to help out the poor and to give it back to the community.

The 65-year-old economist said he would use part of his share of the 10 million kronor ($1.4 million) award money to create a company that would make low-cost, high-nutrition food for the poor. The rest of his share would go toward setting up an eye hospital for the poor in Bangladesh, he told reporters.

I did't know what Microcredit Financing was till I read up about it. Apparently 99% of the loans are paid back according to Yunus. This is such an inspriational story. From CNN.

Yunus told The Associated Press in a 2004 interview that his "eureka moment" came while chatting to a shy woman weaving bamboo stools with calloused fingers.

Sufia Begum was a 21-year-old villager and a mother of three when the economics professor met her in 1974 and asked her how much she earned. She replied that she borrowed 5 taka (about $0.09) from a middleman for the bamboo for each stool.

All but $0.02 cents of that went back to the lender.

"I thought to myself, my God, for five takas she has become a slave," Yunus said in the interview.

"I couldn't understand how she could be so poor when she was making such beautiful things," he said.

The following day, he and his students did a survey in the woman's village, Jobra, and discovered that 43 of the villagers owed a total of 856 taka (about $27).

"I couldn't take it anymore. I put the $27 out there and told them they could liberate themselves," he said, and pay him back whenever they could. The idea was to buy their own materials and cut out the middleman.

They all paid him back, day by day, over a year, and his momentary generosity grew into a full-fledged concept that came to fruition in 1976 when he began to set up experimental microfinance projects in rural parts of Bangladesh. Grameen Bank was formally founded in 1983.

In the year's since, the bank says it has loaned 290.03 billion taka ($5.72 billion) to more than 6 million Bangladeshis.