Global Moderators

Dear Students,

Virtual University of Pakistan is conducting following Competitions for Observance of Anti- Corruption Awareness Activities, 2019.


Essay Writing Competition- English
Essay Writing Competition- Urdu
Poster/painting Competition

Following are the details of competitions:

Essay Writing Competition

English Topic

Urdu Topic

Picture of corruption free Pakistan

Poster/painting Competition

Any theme related to Anti-corruption

Instructions:

Essays can be submitted through E-mail at [email protected] by November 15, 2019.
Painting/Poster should be posted in hardcopy till November 15, 2019 at the following address:
Character Building Society, Virtual University of Pakistan, 54-A Lawrence Road, Lahore.
1 Participant is allowed to submit only one piece of Essay or Poster for this competition.
Offensive, rude, racist or objectionable language will disqualify the submission.
Nominated panel reserves the privileges to accept or reject any submission.
Participants will not be allowed any change once submitted.
Guidelines for Essay Writing Competition

The essay should be an original piece of work. It should be written in student’s own words and not copied from any book, article or internet.
The Essay should be not more than 1500 words. Student must provide word count in the file.
English Essay should be written in “Microsoft Word” with double line spacing with title and page number on each page.
Urdu Essay should be written in INPAGE with double line spacing with title and page number on each page.
In case you face problem in composing a document of Urdu essay in soft file you may submit scanned copy of a hand written essay.
Do not include any picture.
The essay should not be written to hurt or discourage any sect and religion. It must be an ethical piece of work.
For any further query students can email at [email protected]

Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan – Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme (YES)
In order to uplift the youth of the country by offering opportunities to utilize their entrepreneurial potential to the fullest, Government of Pakistan is offering low cost business loans up to Rs. 5,000,000/-

Loans can be availed for setting up of new business or expansion of existing one. All eligible persons can apply for the loan by visiting designated online portal (to be announced by GOP) or seek assistance from all participating banks i.e. National Bank of Pakistan, The Bank of Khyber and The Bank of Punjab. No other mode of application submission other than through designated online portal should be acceptable.

Salient Features of YES
Eligibility Criteria
All men/women/transgenders holding CNIC, aged between 21 and 45 years with entrepreneurial potential. For IT/E-Commerce related businesses, the lower age limit will be 18 years.
Small Enterprises (startups and existing businesses) as per definition of SBP and owned by youth as per above mentioned age brackets.
For IT/E-Commerce related businesses, at least matriculation and/or experience of at least 6 Months will be required
Focus on Women 25% of the loans will go to women borrowers
Loan Size and Security Loan Amount Security Requirement
Tier I (T-1) Rs. 100,000/- to Rs. 500,000/- Clean loan, only personal guarantee of the borrower
Tier II (T-II) Rs. 500,001/- to Rs. 5,000,000/- 1. Commercial Vehicle
2. Gold Ornaments
3. Government Securities
4. Mortgage of Property
Loan Type
Working Capital Loans
Term Loans
Loan Tenor Up to 8 Years with Maximum Grace Period of up to 1 Year
Debt to Equity Ratio
T-I Loans = 90:10
T-II Loans = 80:20
The borrower’s contribution of equity will be in the form of cash or immovable property and will be required after approval of the loan.
Pricing
T-I Loans: Fixed @ 6% per annum
T-II Loans: Fixed @ 8% per annum
Fees & Charges
Processing Fee: Rs. 100
Other Charges: At Actuals
Charges of all sorts will only be payable by successful applicants

The Industrial Revolution of the 18th century brought new things in the lives of our ancestors which they transferred to the “Generation X” in the form of techno-civilized society. Consequently, the generation of our time is transmitting the digital revolution to the coming generations. Therefore, an important conversation of our time begins with the intriguing question "What the future of our kids will look like in the coming decades? Indeed, this question needs serious attention to indulge in a conversation which may probe a plausible solution or a way forward for our kids to pursue.
The evolution of life 1.0 to life 3.0 — from bacteria to humanoid robot — tells us the dynamic progress of human thought over the millennia. Human beings follow certain patterns to behave rationally towards any phenomena or task; for instance, driving a vehicle, predicting trends in financial markets, and lawyers in case of legal proceedings… The recent developments of self-driving car/drones and LawGeex Artificial Intelligence algorithm (Al lawyer) indicate that machine is learning the human patterns to perform cognitive tasks more efficiently than humans. Therefore, it is quite possible that machines may replace humans in the majority of cognitive tasks.
Some people who are naive enough to the tidal wave of digitization may argue “How is it possible to replace humans?” To avoid any logical regress, let’s explore the human’s exceptional attribute of consciousness. We all know that “intelligence is an ability to solve problems” whereas "consciousness is an ability to feel things such as, anger, love, and fear’. Intelligence & consciousness are two attributes and human beings have both these attributes whereas the machines hold intelligence ability only. The ability to feel in humans — consciousness- is not a mysterious eternal trait but a biochemical process which receives signals from neural mechanisms. If scientists are able to know the biochemical mechanisms that underpin human emotions, desires and choices then it will be very easy for machines not only to know human behaviors but to predict human decisions. Subsequently, it would not be difficult for machines to replace doctors, drivers, bankers, and lawyers. Moreover, the machines will go beyond this and will design a human brain by analyzing the biochemical mechanisms of neurons.
The designing of a human brain is no longer the stuff of science fiction movies but a reality which is being transpired. It’s time to wake up to indulge in such serious conversations to probe a plausible solution or a way forward for our kids to pursue.

Sajid Hussain (Lecturer VU, Department of Management Science)

I have read a lot about the different techniques to understand the power of subconscious mind. It is evident what we feed to our mind, it is displayed in accordance to our intentional efforts in the form of our attitude and behavior. Subconscious mind, according to Sigmund Freud, a psycho dynamic theorist, plays its role between Id and superego. Ego works at conscious and precociousness level to keep the balance between other two elements of personality.
It was about 10am when I was going from Pind Dadan Khan to Mandi Bahawal Din by a Toyota Hiace to buy a PC for studies. When I caught the sight of that vehicle before sitting inside, I thought not to go by this vehicle because it came to my mind (subconsciously) that it was not suitable for me. So, I first sat on the front seat for about 5 minutes and then left it to go. Due to the less number of passengers, the driver had to wait. He requested me to have a front seat. I ignored but due to his constant requests, I again sat on the front seat. Soon after sitting there for 2 minutes, a thought came in mind that the vehicle was going to be damaged in an accident and it would take my life. This thought made me sad and I again left the vehicle. I stood by the side of the road to wait for the other vehicles.
It was Lad Ada in Pindi Said Pur, Pind Dadan Khan. My elder brother Tahir Mahmood was also with me. He insisted to go by the same vehicle as he didn’t want to wait for long. Finally, we took the front seats and I recited the prayer and the vehicle started to move. When we reached at Misri Mor (a place near Jalal Pur Shareef), to our surprise, our vehicle became out of the driver’s control due to fast speed and break had failed. It suddenly collided with a cement truck. A sack of cement fell on me from the top of the loaded truck and I became unconscious in the vehicle. A broken glass piece damaged my trachea and facial bones fractured. We were rescued by 1122 and reached to a civil hospital at Mandi Bahawal Din (as information received after recovery from ventilator).
I was shifted to CMH Rawalpindi where army doctors placed me on a ventilator. I became a little conscious after 4 days on ventilator. I saw my whole family standing by my side and crying. At that time I was a 7th semester student of BS Psychology in Virtual University of Pakistan. After my senses were recovered, I thought to freeze my semester and resume my studies after getting well. I smiled at my family showing that I was feeling OK. They all started to smile with tears in their eyes. After this, about 3 months (from October 2017 to December 2017), I was on the support of a mechanical ventilator.
People who were observing me thought that I was sleeping for 24 hours, but in reality, I had a lot of thoughts with closed eyes. Those thoughts were related to my study and career. I was looking and having mental imagination of fully a recovered person who would soon be going to start his education where he had left. This thinking process continued in my mind. Allah was making me better and better by every passing day.
After three months I became able to walk and talk a little. It was a wonderful situation when people thought I was sleeping but I was feeling improvement and had no worries of having tracheotomy tube in my trachea or the pain of my condition… It was the power of my subconscious mind that was working great and made me able to feel healthy and no worries or fears of accident.
I unfroze my studies and resumed my studies from the 7th semester where I had left. I was really thankful to Allah Almighty who created the universe and to all the people who prayed a lot for me.
I am happy and proud to be a student of Virtual University of Pakistan whose instructor taught me psychological concepts that helped me to understand my inner self. These concepts helped me to not only understand my own mental health but also to take care of all other people around me and get them out from their stresses due to which they were depressed, anxious, or suffering from severe mental illnesses.
At last, I would like to share my message to all the VU students that you must use your subconscious mind power in studies and try to foresee the suitable time frame for you. Read, write, recognize, recall, memorize and listen to the VU lectures attentively and then work on those concepts to understand them subconsciously before going to sleep. It will give you better study experience and you will see its effect on your exams and results.

Arsal Mehmood Naz:, (BS Psychology, 8th Semester)

We live in a world where every passing second breaks some thrilling news. The most convenient sources of news are social media and media in general. Whereas, we feel satisfied with our being’ able to access these sources and feast our eyes and ears on exciting stuff, we blame and curse them for the ills of the world and the emergence of fake news (which has become very common these days). Well, fake news is not a modern world phenomenon; hundreds of years ago, fake news was as common as it is now. The difference (why we feel fake news very common these days) lies in the spread of fake news and definitely social media is to be blamed for that. Whereas major responsibility lies on the media houses/channels for not being able to keep their ,diligence intact and causing unrest in the society due to fake news, we, as the consumers of news are equally responsible for the spread and unrest. Allah Almighty says in Surah Al-Hujra’at: 0 you who believe! If an evil-doer comes to you with important news, verify it, lest you should harm people in ignorance [out of haste in belief and making decision], and afterwards you become regretful for what you have done. (Quran,49:6)

Why are we so easy victims of the fake news? Among several other reasons, one lies in the vulnerability of our mind that can very easily be guided by others and we like ‘driven cattle’ are dragged to the stuff that charms us. We don’t even mind spreading the news of somebody’s death and the news keeps on piling up with comments carrying sympathies and condolences until The dead’ has to come out of his grave and confirm that he is still alive. We are morally hallowed and I severely deprived of conscientiousness. To prevent ourselves from being easy fools to the fake news, we have to relearn the lesson that Duran taught us hundreds of years ago (see surah Al-Hujraat, ayah 6). Here are a few more tips:
i) always investigate the source for its credibility,
ii) see if the news is correctly dated in order to avoid re-circulation of old news,
iii) see if the news is properly backed up by the experts of the relevant fields, iv) if you find the formatting and language of the news awkward. (doubt it,
v) the readers should have some knowledge about the literary devices like irony, satire, etc., as along with ‘entertainment’ (which is the basic purpose of satire), they can misinform and misguide as well And this is how we can defeat fake news and its propagators.

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Topic Brief

In this topic, trainer will talk particularly about writing requirements for different types of mainstream media.

Skill(s) the trainee will acquire after completing this topic:

How to write for mainstream media correctly

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Topic Brief

The trainer will discuss about mainstream media and different kinds of writings that are involved in mainstream media. It will also provide an overview of the rules involved in this genre.

Skill(s) the trainee will acquire after completing this topic:

How to write for mainstream media correctly while knowing all the important rules