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Ms. Zainab Mahmood's Profile

Zainab Mahmood, a Fulbright scholar (2013-14), was placed in the Public Administration program at Syracuse University, New York. Considering the generality of public administration, she was keen upon opting for courses that would influence her work at the Civil Service directly. Currently working in Customs Intelligence, she has some very interesting stories to share from her work life involving anti-evasion of import duty/ taxes and anti-smuggling operations, and the use of data analysis techniques, GPS systems and social media projection.

Zainab is deeply interested in finding new techniques and international best practices being used by governments around the world. She launched a blog in collaboration with one of her American friends, Jaya Varma. Futuregovtech is now a platform that explores technologies and innovations that can impact governments worldwide. Meanwhile, she has not lost her love for the softer side of life. Amazon enabled her to self-publish a book, Feather Wings of Glory in which she shares her life’s story that takes her from a shanty town of Quetta, Balochistan, to the super power of the world.

Abstract

Building Bridges: Breaking Out of the Box

Bureaucracy is often termed as rigid, inefficient, insensitive and anti-democratic. It is a giant mechanism that requires many days of work to change a light bulb, let alone change the system. Kanwal and Zainab belong to this bureaucratic world, which has inherited its steel frame from the British Raj’s fabled Indian Service, and were trained for the same. The Fulbright experience was a breakthrough in their personal and professional lives and taught them much to learn, adopt and share not only from the academic life, but also from human interaction and implement the same in their respective departments.

This abstract is a joint submission by panelists, Ms. Kanwal Ali and Ms. Zainab Mahmood.