Adil Najam
I must confess that I am fascinated by the outrage over the outrage over the outrage that was the fake degrees.
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Adil Najam
About a year ago, I had posted one of the funniest comedy performances I have ever seen – Khalid Abbas Dar and friends at the 1987 PTV Awards singing ‘Mein naeen khedna Korea dey naal.’ But I had premised it by saying that this was “not the best work of Khalid Abbas Dar” because “Khalid sahib’s all-time greatest performance is the ‘classical’ singing he does with made up words – it is side-splitting funny – originally recorded during the 1971 election transmission and recorded multiple times later.”
I had been looking for a recording of that performance ever since. Finally, I have found a version based more on ‘folk’ than a ‘classical’ sensibility (I think from one of the 1990s election transmission).
This itself may not be the best version of this performance, but it shows the versatility and command of Khalid Abbas Dar. Especially the first half where he does his singing is hilarious not for what it is, but for what Khalid Abbas Dar does with it. I stand by what I had written in my earlier piece on Khalid Abbas Dar: “for my money [he is] the most brilliant stand-up comic Pakistan has ever produced.” Do check out his hockey commentary skit once you have watched this one.
After much buzz in the press about conflicts between the IT Minister and certain members of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) R&D fund, government fired 6 directors of ICT R&D Fund directors last week. Allegedly these directors had mismanaged the funds. The controversy has shaken Pakistan’s academia and ICT industry. The ICT R&D Fund was created in 2007 with the goal of promoting ICT research and industry.
The funding for this program came from from telecom industry as a percentage of their revenue. The management consisted of representatives from government, industry and academia. Over the last few years, ICT RDF approved funding for many projects
The official web site (here) provides a list of the funded projects.
Financial support for National ICT R&D Fund Company is provided by the Federal Government which in turn collects the prescribed contributions from the relevant PTA licensees operating in the telecommunications domain including the Fixed Line Operators, Cellular Operators and Data Service Providers.
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