China’s decision to step back from directly financing Pakistan’s Main Line-1 (ML-1) railway project marks a quiet but important shift in how large infrastructure projects are being funded in South Asia. For years, ML-1 was presented as the flagship transport project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), symbolizing deep strategic and economic ties between Beijing and Islamabad. Today, that picture looks very different. With China no longer willing to act as th

As more of daily life moves online, expectations about how institutions should work are changing fast. People can open a bank account in minutes, transfer money instantly, and manage finances from a phone. Against this backdrop, a growing question is emerging: why can’t government work the same way? This question sits at the heart of the idea of a virtual government. Just as online banks reshaped financial services by removing physical branches and redesigning processes fo

Governments are under growing pressure to use data better. Policymakers want clearer evidence, agencies want to share information more easily, and leaders want confidence that decisions are based on accurate and consistent data. A government data dictionary is one of the simplest and most effective ways to support these goals. A government data dictionary is a shared reference that explains what data means, where it comes from, how it is structured, and how it should be us