Caste and I

by Saba Aslam

The diversity of Asia's peoples
Photo credit: Wikipedia/Nordisk familjebok

I come from a family where caste has little or no significance in either getting to know about a person or a particular family. This was one of the reasons why I never really asked my father about the origins of my ancestors. May it be social gatherings, or formal meet ups with colleagues, knowing about a person’s caste had never been a basis of interaction. However, I wasn’t new to the concept and had studied about different castes, cultures, races in an introductory socio-cultural anthropology course in my undergraduate degree. Moreover, caste is definitely talked about in instances when people get married especially in the context of highlighting somebody marrying outside his/her caste. This may be perceived differently depending upon how much weight a person places on his/her caste.

Who Benefits from CPEC?

by Asad Sayeed

Photo credit: Wikipedia/mandarineveryday

The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (henceforth CPEC) has evoked mixed emotions in the country. On the one hand, the Federal Government and the private sector (especially some businessmen and bankers) have called CPEC a ‘game changer’ in the fortunes of Pakistan’s economy and on the other hand, provincial elites – particularly of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) – are apprehensive that their provinces will not get the fair share of benefits that will accrue from CPEC. The debate on CPEC thus is polarized around the issue of horizontal inequality that it is expected to generate.