People are talking about —

— the manner in which persons, mostly junior officials, are acting without written orders from their superiors and how this appears as obstruction to the smooth working of the government. People say the knocking down of a house in Bani Gala – a drastic action – and the stopping by a guard of a woman not wearing a ‘dupatta’ from entering the office of a minister – an annoying act - are cases in point where they have acted by claiming they had verbal orders.

— the revelation that many beggars all over the country have substantial bank accounts and live comfortable lives after their ‘working’ hours because they earn more than the average ‘blue collar’ worker, while a few earn even more. People say we are known to be one of the nations who donate generously to charity so it would be better to donate funds to well known organisations looking after deserving persons rather than feed these fat cats who deprive their needy fellowmen.

— the horrifying statistics on plastic bags and how the government should do something about regulating the industry or slowly fading it out altogether so as not to cause unemployment, as there are thousands of persons involved in the industry. According to a report 55 billion plastic bags are sold every year and the number is increasing in spite of the fact that many advocates for the use of paper or cloth bags are trying their best to promote their use.

— the fact that while Pakistan faces a financial crunch, a few powerful, corrupt personalities and land mafia continue to bleed billions of dollars through loopholes created to facilitate them in connivance with financial regulatory agencies. A report submitted to the SC by a committee headed by Governor State Bank reveals that $15.25 billion have been transferred from Pakistan by account holders through normal banking channels, not including money transferred through unauthorised ‘Hundi’ and ‘Hawala’ system, which may exceed 40 billion.

— the government approved Access Programme offered by a Swiss pharmaceutical company to provide medicine at a minimal price to underprivileged women with breast cancer. The Patient Support Programme for access to cancer medicines, ‘UNMOL’ is not widely known, resulting in the death of many women. People say when such a facility is available there should be a system whereby patients are informed of the option by hospital authorities so that more poor women can avail of this generous offer.

— the mind boggling statistics about the quality of education in far flung areas, especially in Sindh, where cheating during exams is accepted as the easy way to earn a degree, resulting in the fact that young people have no sound academic grounding or qualification and cannot get a job in the private sector. People say this is the reason there are many jobless youth, who blame everyone for their troubles instead of working hard to better their knowledge.

— the well known phrase, ‘Beware the Ides of March,’ and how this can be applied to the month of October in Pakistan as many history making events seem to happen in the tenth month! People who like to work out conspiracy theories or have a knack of putting two and two together and making five have pointed out this phenomena which makes interesting reading and has become a conversation piece on social media as well as generally. — I.H.