Traditionally, the media has been organised to perform a variety of socio-political roles such as the provision of information, education, entertainment and transmission of values. However, a key role any national media is expected to perform at any given time is the creation of a national identity and sense of unity among members of communities divided by time and space. From the development of print technology to the onset of broadcast revolution, millions of people have “acquired their fi rst (and subsequent) taste of nationality when newspapers put them in contact with distant realities, radios exposed them to distant voices that addressed audiences as members of one cultural community, movies portrayed themes that bound them together with close and distant neighbors, and television articulated values that defi ned the national character” (Waisbord, 1998).
The Anatomy of Agricultural Credit in Pakistan
Agricultural credit is often presented as a driver of rural development, yet millions of Pakistan’s farmers remain excluded from formal financial systems. This article examines how collateral requirements, bureaucratic barriers, and institutional design have concentrated access to credit among landowners while pushing tenants and small farmers towards costly informal lending networks. By analysing the structural weaknesses of Pakistan’s agricultural finance system and drawing lessons from international experience, it presents a reform agenda aimed at promoting financial inclusion, agricultural productivity, and sustainable rural development.
