PESHAWAR:Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), under its Research for Social Transformation and Advancement’ (RASTA) program, concluded its first-ever RASTA conference at PC Bhurban.
The research moot comprised diverse research themes, including energy issues, urban development, technology, and public service delivery, social sector development, markets and regulation, the political economy of development and reform, and sludge – the administrative burden, said a press release issued here on Tuesday.
In his concluding remarks, Dr. Nadeem ul Haque, Vice-Chancellor PIDE and Chairman RASTA Research Advisory Committee (RAC), said that the RASTA was an evolutionary process. Our local researchers and academics must conduct local research and find local solutions to our local problems, he said. He said, we can follow global research but it has to be adopted as per our local needs and requirements. Dr. Haque said that there was no looking back, rather, we must only look forward to progress. We have already put enough ideas on the table for policymakers, he said and hoped that the policy corridors would take notice of it.
The VC further said that local flavor to the research was all that we need. RASTA has researchers from across the country. At the first PIDE-RASTA Conference, we heard things we had never heard before, he told and questioned, what does it tell? It implies that research has to be inclusive; to make a real impact.
Earlier during the session, Dr. Anwar Shah, Associate Professor at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad presented his paper on ‘Informal Markets and Competition: An Analysis of Barriers to Entry of Legal Framework and Behavioral Attitude towards Khokha Markets in Pakistan’.
Dr. Shah opened his talk by saying that Khokas (small vendor shops) is one of the key segments of the informal economy in Pakistan. Khokas provide jobs to many people and facilitate consumers in doing various types of transactions, he added.