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NEWSLETTER
OF THE INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND COMPUTER SCIENCES VOLUME#I ISSUE#1
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| EDITORIAL
BOARD |
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Chairperson:
Mrs. Anjum Aziz
Convener:
Mr. Aqil Rehmatullah
Editor-In-Chief:
Maliha Amir
Executive Editor:
Sara Hadi
Associate Editor:
Murtaza Ahmed
Members:
Sabqat Siddiqui
Sobia Sardar Khan
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Managing
Trustee’s Message |
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Editorial:
Why a Newsletter?
—Sara Hadi
Suggestions:
complaints? Views?
We publish them all!
Chicken Smuggling
—Maliha Amir
Sports News
—IMCS Reporter
Students Define…
—Sobia Khan
Links are in below are
on Next page
Computer Glossary
—Murtaza Ahmed
Business Glossary
—Sabqat Siddiqui
Websites’ Review
—Editorial Board
Faculty: Access
Denied!
Students’ News.
Staff says…
Which is the naughtiest class
in IMCS?
Contest Time!
First ever contest arranged
in IMCS.
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| Dean
& Director’s Message |
It
gives me immense pleasure to testify the meritorious efforts put
in by my students this Fall to take an edge over their own and
their predecessors’ past performances by taking out their
in-house newsletter, The Edge.
It is a welcome move by all standards, and I, with the core of
my heart, felicitate these youngsters for the unprecedented initiative
they took in the history of this Institute.
I wish they continue keeping an edge over the rest, for the rest
of their life.
With all the best wishes,
Prof.
S. Sabir Ali Jaffery
(Dean & Director)
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The
Editorial Board would like to thank our Dean and Director Prof.
S. Sabir Ali Jaffery for all his support and encouragement
in making this vision of a newsletter into a reality.
We would also like to acknowledge our Chairperson Mrs.
Anjum Aziz, Convener Mr. Aqil Rehmatullah, Mr.
Wasif Adnan for their help and Mr. Mohammad Saleem
for letting us use the Computer Lab.
Last but not the least, we would like to thank our entire faculty
and administration for putting up with us when we created an Olympic
environment while we took the survey.
—Editorial
Board
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E-COMMERCE
SEMINAR IN IMCS |
A
presentation was conducted in IMCS on 18th Sept, about E-Commerce
and IT scope in Pakistan. The presentation was given by Mr. Asif
Ashraf, CEO, EVO-TECH software house. Mr. Wasif Adnan made the introduction.
He said that such types of presentations are in the interest of
students preparing them for the practical implementation in their
later lives. Then he introduced Mr. Ashraf.
Mr. Ashraf was thorough about the subject. He first discussed IT
and E-Commerce in general, then its scope in Pakistan. Discussing
about the important elements of IT, Mr. Ashraf said that people
are the most important and basic of all. He divided them in to two
groups; the professionals and the users. He informed about the elements
that an IT professional should know about in order to be successful
in the practical field. He explained the importance of E-Commerce
in the current business era.
He discussed about the different aspects of E– Business and
E-Commerce and explained the differences between the two. He informed
that E-Business is any process that a business organization conducts
over a computer-mediated network, while E-Commerce is any transaction
completed over a computer-mediated network that involves the transfer
of ownership or rights to use goods or services .
Mr. Ashraf then discussed the reason behind the downfall of E-Commerce
and said that the main cause was the lack of security and mutual
trust between the customer and the dealer.
At the end a Q and A session was held, where the presenter answered
students’ queries expertly.
Such kinds of seminars are good for preparing the students for their
practical lives. They should be conducted more often by inviting
professional individuals, as well as students should be encouraged
to give such presentations. So that when they go out in the real
world, they know how to take a stand and be successful professionals.
Editorial Board
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Investment:
The Backbone of an Economy
By Sabqat Siddiqui
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Economy
of any country plays the role of backbone in the development of
that country. It means that if the economy is stable then the
country is stable. Now the question arises that what are the factors
which leads the economy either to prosperity or to decline. It
is a very vast topic and there are many factors which affect the
economy but one of the most vital factors, which plays a very
crucial role in determining the economic conditions is the Investment.
Good investment is necessary for giving an uplift to the economy
because it helps in reducing the unemployment problem, in increasing
the foreign reserves, in promoting the exports and in giving profit
and generating revenue for the State.
Now coming towards the Pakistan’s Economy. If we look towards
the history of our economic conditions, we can easily see that
ever since the
beginning of the economic life of our country and up till now
our economy has never attained the position which could place
Pakistan in the row of leading nations of the world. The basic
reason of this crucial condition is low investment. The key factor
of investment is lacking in our economy. The overall investment
has been low since 1995 in Pakistan, except in oil and gas sector
and in IT sector.
Pakistan is full of numerous natural resources and they also have
the potential of cutting our import bills as well as can boost
our export also. But these resources are not playing any positive
role towards the betterment of our economy, as all of the resources
are not fully employed due to the lack of investment. The question
is that what are those factors which are the real constraints
in the way of investment.
According to my opinion the most probable
answer of this question is that policy instability, high level
of taxes, weak infrastructure and lack of regional peace are the
major constraints to investment.
Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) report of 2001 acknowledges
that;
“Pakistan is an inefficient investment location, with the
country becoming less attractive relative to the other investment
locations in the region.”
The main obstacles according to this report are policy inconsistency
and tax administration.
A policy inconsistency increasingly deters investment because
investors feel comfortable with consistent and stable policies.
According to an estimate, management spends approximately 10%
to 20% of its time in dealing with the regulatory authorities
on different policies. This burden is particularly more serious
for small firms. Approximately 91% of firms consider policy inconsistency
as the major obstacle to economic activity. In the same way high
level of taxes also keep new investors away from the various economic
sector but are even likely to shut down the existing industries.
Some firms and investors cite taxation as the chief constraint
to investment.
With both these main factors security situations and weak infrastructure
are also causes of low investment. Regional peace stability is
very important for investors specially for foreign investors.
Paul Chabrier (advisor to the Managing Director of World Bank)
said that,
“Foreign investors are not attracted solely by debt relief
or by foreign exchange reserves. There are certain factors like
regional peace which are beyond the economic sphere which influence
the decision to invest in any particular country.”
Internal and external security situation should be improved, unless
that happens investment will not be forthcoming because how can
foreign investors come in the country when they feel a great risk
in investing their money in the country.
In the same context, the weak infrastructure is another great
deterrent to private investors especially in mineral sector of
our economy as mining areas are mostly situated in remote deserts
or mountainous areas and a private investor cannot arrange
the entire infrastructure on his own resources.
So, these were some of the main factors which are destroying the
whole environment of investment. In order to exchange the various
dead sectors of our economy into a live and vibrant one these
fore mentioned constraints should be removed. So that both the
foreign and local investors invest freely in Pakistan and give
a boost up to our economy. This is the only way of giving an upward
shift to Pakistan's economy.
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Why
a Newsletter?
By
Sara Hadi
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The
good thing about studying in an institution affiliated with Karachi
University is that one piece of paper given to the graduates on
their convocation ( the Karachi University Degree). The bad thing
is—there’s always a bad thing isn’t there?—not
many people still seem to know what “affiliated with the University
of Karachi” really means. And so, without really wanting to,
you have to go into a full fledged explanation of how you’re
not studying in some asa-wesa institute and that where it does stand,
you’ll be next in line with the KU graduates. In comes the
skeptic (and sometimes sarcastic) smiles, and you’re forced
to exclaim, ‘Come on! NU FAST used to be affiliated with Karachi
University as well, you know. They didn’t become No. 1 just
like that either!’
True, not every student to step out of a good institution is a 4.0
GPA holder. Recent studies even proclaim that the most successful
people of the world today are the ones who were average throughout
their academic life. So what is it that makes an institute successful,
or famous for producing high standard professionals?
It’s the whole equilibrium game. Balance is the key, between
right and wrong, necessities and accessories, and between studies
and extra curricular activities. A good educational institution
recognizes that. And it’s our good fortune that our new administration
does also.
In an institute where changes are taking place on daily basis, how
can one expect to keep up with things by only skimming the Bulletin
Board once in a while? If we can’t keep up with what’s
going around in our own organization, how can we expect to stay
in touch with the ups and downs of real world dilemmas? Keeping
up with new things is necessary. Making up new things is mandatory.
And the publishing of a local newsletter is a step towards change
in the monotonous environment of our institute.
Why a newsletter? Why not a newsletter? To me, it seems like the
best way to provide maximum interaction between students, and faculty
alike. More over, it’s an excellent opportunity for the reserved
kind to let their creative bunnies come out of their closets. But
best of all, it will provide an air of recognition for the entire
body of IMCS. The palest ink is better than the best memory. The
probability of people acquiring knowledge about the overall environment
of IMCS is higher if they can come across its records, instead of
just hearing about it from someone.
Also, it’s not like we’re studying in times when even
higher education didn’t come anywhere close to what was required
for a professional career. Apart from choosing programming as a
career (Like, who does BCS and chooses that nowadays?), the professions
for BCS and especially BBA students require a firm grasp on the
concepts of management, organization and presentation. And these
things are not taught in lectures, they're learned by taking active
part in academic as well as practical activities.
There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge available
to us: observation, reflection and experimentation. We, the Editorial
Board, observed the changes around us and collected facts, reflected
upon them so that they could be combined, and experimented with
it, ergo, this newsletter. Whether our experiment was successful
or not, we and you alike will find out after this first issue is
published. It is a genuine effort of the people who worked for it.
And it’s a learning experience for not only us but everyone
who reads it and takes advantage of it. For this newspaper is the
key for all those students interested in acquiring knowledge other
than finding out ways of how to sit through a two-hour lecture with
the impression of being really interested in what’s being
taught, while really it is not so.
Use these monthly editions to make your selves known to the rest
of the institution. It’s not going to be sparsely populated
forever. Submit your articles; advertise any websites that you’ve
created, societies you want to set up. Maybe you’re not the
only one with the idea of setting up a Presentations Club or a Drama
Society. Let out the shayur/shayura in you and submit that long-forgotten
poem you wrote. Let your ideas be known! People like to say that
the world is moving at a tremendous pace. Actually, it’s the
people who are moving fast. So, don’t go blaming them if they
don’t stop to ask you what’s in your mind because no
one’s going to do that. But they might stop and take a look
at how you presented what was in your mind. Why not take a chance?
Be creative. Cricket’s not the only activity worth pursuing
in this country.
“All the
lies and evasions by which man has nourished himself—civilization,
in a word—are the fruits of the creative artist. It is the
creative nature of man which has refused to let him lapse back
into that unconscious unity with life which characterizes the
animal world from which he made his escape.”
—Henry Miller
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This
first edition of this newsletter has been designed, written
and compiled by the members of the Editorial Board because
we wanted to give everyone an idea of how the newsletter
is going to be published. Onwards, if any student/faculty
member interested in publishing his\her work can come forward
and submit articles and if the Chairperson and the Convener
of the board approves it, it will be published. Apart from
articles, from the next issue, we’re planning on putting
up a column for any suggestions and complaints of the students
concerning the institute. Take caution, though, that the
comments you send in are valid and not the ones already
made clear by the Director.
Furthermore, an online publication of the newsletter will
be put up by the time of the next issue, with a separate
portion for Polls and Forums. Anyone interested can then
place comments on the forum board and the results of the
polls will be published in the newsletter.
For now, send in your requests, comments, suggestions, and
articles for publication to imcs_edge@hotmail.com. Make
sure to add in your full name and batch number in the Subject
line so that your contributions can be published without
any mistakes. Also, the material for publication should
be sent in as a Word Document attachment.
—Editorial
Board
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Kudos
to the great, sage and eminent (in possession of an invisibility
cloak, mayhap?) IMCS Reporter who started it all. Sir (or Madam),
the Editorial Board would like to thank you for giving us the
idea of starting an institutional newspaper and would like to
invite you to continue reporting for us, your request for publishing
them under your penname (IMCS Reporter) has been unanimously agreed
upon although we’re sure that everyone would be delighted
(?) if you could reveal your identity. However, like you said,
keeping yourself anonymous is your right.
For those of you who have no clue as to who the anonymous reporter
is (we don't either), or don’t know what we’re talking
about, copies of the IMCS Reporter’s earlier reports are
available. Anyone interested in reading them can contact the Editorial
Board.
—Editorial
Board
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Once
there was a man who wished to write stuff that would really
annoy people. He searched and searched, and finally he found
a job that suited him just fine. Do you know what he’s
doing nowadays? He’s writing error messages for Microsoft.
—contributed
by Murtaza Ahmed
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Chicken
Smuggling
A
True Story by Maliha Amir
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The
incident I am about to narrate is a real life story. From the
title I am sure, most of the readers must be thinking if it’s
a story about some drugs or explosives being smuggled stuffed
in chicken. But I assure you it’s none of that sort. In
fact this story is about real live chicken being smuggled. It’s
the incident that occurred to a person, whom I happen to know.
From here on I’d like you to hear the story narrated by
the person himself:
“I was working in the telecommunication department of Riyadh,
the capital of Saudi Arabia at the time. Our department sponsored
me and two of my friends to go to Scotland for some training courses.
The time duration for these courses was about 3 months. We arrived
at Scotland to be greeted by a very friendly lady Mrs. Meldon,
who was the representative of the company offering us the courses.
Anyhow Scotland is a lovely country, so we got settled in easily
and enjoyed being there. The only trouble we faced was the lack
of Halal meat, as continuously we were on pulses and vegetables.
Asking around for the availability of Halal meat, we got the information
about a good shop that sold red Halal meat. We were quite satisfied
with it but after 2 months with one whole month to go at our hands,
oh! How we longed for some real chicken meat. We planned to buy
a live chicken and slaughter it ourselves. But when we asked the
shop keeper
to give us one without killing it, he inquired about the reason
behind it. When we explained, he threatened to give us up to the
authorities. We discussed the matter with Mrs. Meldon and came
to know that it was illegal in Scotland to kill an animal without
having the license for it. And one could go to jail for about
3 months if he breaks this law. But we presented the issue of
our longing for some chicken meat in front of Mrs. Meldon, and
the kind lady promised to help us out. The next day Mrs. Meldon’s
face was lit up when she informed us with the news that she had
arranged for some live chicken for us. It gathered that she had
a friend who owned a poultry farm and she had asked him for this
favor. Only 25 days were left for us to leave Scotland. Mrs. Meldon
inquired about how much chicken we needed. Calculating our remaining
stay in Scotland we asked for 15 live pieces. That evening Mrs.
Meldon informed us by phone to travel 100 km outside the city
and wait at a particular sign board, around dusk that day. She
asked us to arrange for a cargo van so that when we’d bring
the chicken in city, no one would know about it. Further she informed
us that we would be charged 25 Scottish pounds extra for each
piece, considering the risk involved. The 3 of us friends and
our Scottish driver, whom we took in confidence, left for the
particular point at 2 in the morning. It was extremely cold at
that time in
Scotland, and we felt freezing cold partly because of the weather
and partly because of the adventure at hand. We had our map with
us and prayed that we wouldn’t pass that sign board without
noticing it. After 2 hours’ journey much to our relief,
we finally located that signboard. Just as we arrived there, we
saw headlights of a very large truck coming our way. A nervous
and frightened driver got out of the truck and inquired us about
our names. Then he unloaded the cargo and took off as if he was
scared for his life. To our horror, the cargo turned out to be
15 turkeys weighing 15 lbs each! As the driver had already left
so there was little we could do except to accept what our fate
had written for us. We had brought our cutting tools along with
us, as we planned to at least slaughter the chicken outside the
city. We started slaughtering and feathering the turkeys one by
one. Our hands got ice cold from the blood. We buried the turkey
heads and feathers in the ice, and it turned red. We prayed that
no one would get there before we leave. Arriving home we started
chopping the turkeys into pieces and stuffed them into the refrigerator.
The trouble that was faced next, was to finish off the white meat
before our departure from the country. We invited almost every
Muslim family in the area to dinner, some were even invited twice.
People got curious but knew to keep their questions to themselves.
We got sick of eating turkey meat ourselves, by the time we left
Scotland. And thus our chicken adventure came to end!”
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Sports
News
By IMCS Reporter
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After
the vacations, sports activities in IMCS have taken a pathetic
turn. Even though now there is a committee handling the sports
activities, still not a single match of cricket has been played
seriously.
The guys weren't at all interested in any good competition. The
girls however were seen for the first time in the institute interested
in sports. They were seen roaming around with rackets and playing
badminton. But it was all temporary as no sports activity has
been seen during the last past few weeks.
There were rumors of some badminton tournament which was to take
place, but guess it was only a rumor. Some girls were also seen
playing "king-king". Well is this where the sports in
IMCS leading to?
There were however 2-3 matches of cricket played among the different
batches. The no. of spectators has increased, but unfortunately
the quality of game has decreased to a great extent. The first
match played was between teams having players from different batches,
both BBA and BCS. The match was won by the team headed by Ali
of BCS III.
Murtaza of BCS II showed good performance in it, taking quick
wickets when bowling, and good runs as batsman. The second match
played was among the teams of BCS and BBA batches separately.
Faizan of BBA II can easily be declared as the man of the match
as his sixes and fours were the only remarkable occurring that
were seen that day.
Over all BBA showed an excellent performance comparing to that
of BCS. IMCS is hoping for a single cricket team representing
the institute in the near future.
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Class
Discussion: Few brains
talking to the class teachers, other discussing movies of
the week.
Intelligence: Something our economic resources
are facing; high rates of inflation.
Killer Questions: When the teachers ask,
“HAVE YOU STARTED YOUR STUDIES?”
Quizzes of IMCS: Meant to surprise the
teachers with our “abilities”.
Unexpected: Contents of examinations. (Often
used with Really Unexpected: Results.)
—compiled by Sobia Khan
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It
seems that in IMCS, the mere mention of the word “party”
makes the seniors turn the other way and run. And one would
have thought that they would be pleased with all the “controlled
freedom” they’ve been receiving.
Upon asking one of the freshmen about how they felt, the
irritated answer was, “Welcome naheen milay ga to
Farwell bhi naheen dein gay!” Come on, people, the
freshmen aren’t asking for much. And this goes out
to especially those seniors who were very busy on the first
day, planning schemes to rag the newcomers and teaching
mock classes. The BBA-I students especially deserve a party
after one particularly long mock class.
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____________________________________________
This
page from IMCS Newsletter is designed for Web
by M. Ali
Nawaz Adil
WebMaster
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