The Pakistan Tehreeke Insaf (PTI) government has waived off Rs228 billion of influential industrialists and owners of fertilizer, CNG and power sector companies through a presidential ordinance enforced with immediate effect from August 28 The News International has reported.
As per the details, President Arif Alvi waived half of the outstanding liabilities of the said players of the amount collected from May 22, 2015 to December 21 2018.
Furthermore, the government also reduced Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) rates by up to 75%, which would push down prices of gas and fertiliser for the end-consumers.
According to the Petroleum Division statistics, as of the end of December 2018, the total principal liabilities of these sectors stood at Rs416.3 billion and half of those were written off by the government.
Cumulative GIDC collection since 2012 was recorded at Rs701.5 billion till the end of December 2018, out of which only Rs285 billion had been deposited.
The government further waived the late payment surcharge, which was supposed to be paid at the rate of 4% plus three-month Karachi Interbank Offered Rate (Kibor), which currently stands at 13.7%, meaning the government has written off 17.4% mark-up, which brings the total to over Rs300 billion.
The ordinance also did not address the issue of how to refund 50% GIDC to those companies that timely discharged their legal obligations and paid the entire amount of GIDC.
Upon Prime Minister Imran Khan’s call to the nation to show solidarity with Kashmiris by observing the weekly Kashmir Hour, Pakistani across the country responded and gathered across the country in silent protest.
After the Kashmir Hour, PM Khan also took to Twitter to thank those who spoke up.
The Pakistani nation has also let the world know about the Nazi-style takeover of India by the RSS-BJP’s Hindu Supremacist ideology & the danger it poses not only to the region but the world.
Prominent media personalities and celebrities were also part of the monumental gatherings and even addressed those present to continue to raise their voice against Indian atrocities in Indian occupied Kashmir.
Here’s everyone who showed up.
Hamza Ali Abbasi
Hamza Ali Abbasi was present at the Prime Minister Secretariat with PM Khan himself.
Shahid Afridi
The former captain of the Pakistan Cricket Team was present at Mazar-e-Quaid along with Governor Sindh Imran Ismail and PTI Minister Faisal Vawda. He also addressed those gathered and criticised Modi for his actions.
Adnan Siddiqui & Bilal Ashraf
The two along with Superstar director Ehteshamuddin waved Kashmir’s flag at Jehangir Kothari Parade in Karachi.
Shehzad Roy
The singer made a human chain with 2500 girls of Zindagi Trust’s adopted SMB Fatima Jinnah Government School.
By the end of next month, the Indian Air Force (IAF) will be receiving bunker buster version of Israel-made Spice 2000 bombs, which the country is reported to have used in the failed Balakot airstrikes in February, India Today reported.
According to reports, India and France had signed a Rs3 billion deal with Israel to acquire the bomb that has a standoff range of 60km and approaches the target using its scene-matching algorithm.
It consists of an add-on kit for warheads such as the MK-84, BLU-109, APW and RAP-2000; and was also used by the IAF in a failed attempt to bomb the religious seminaries in Balakot in February this year.
The attack had been foiled by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) that had forced Indian pilots to abort their mission and return in haste.
India had also later failed to support its claims with facts as observers and international media reported that the seminaries New Delhi had claimed to have destroyed, were standing even days after the intrusion.
Two episodes in, ARY’s latest offering Meray Pass Tum Ho is being discussed everywhere – from Whatsapp groups to Facebook groups. ARY knew they had a hit on their hands with Humayun Saeed, Ayeza Khan and Adnan Siddiqui in the main roles. And this isn’t your run of the mill saas/bahu drama.
The story begins with a happily married Danish (Humayun Saeed) and Mehwish (Ayeza Khan) who live within a government officer’s means. They have a son who isn’t going to a good school because of lack of finances. Danish is smitten by his wife and is willing to do everything and anything to make her happy. Mehwish, on the other hand, is materialistic and wants expensive jewellery because her friend Anushay (Meher Bano) is loaded and she wants to be too. To make Mehwish happy, Danish gives up his morals and resorts to corruption, because as the man he must give her what she wants.
So Danish turns to becoming a corrupt government official and getting lakh, two lakh rupee kickbacks to buy his wife jewellery so she can compete with her richer friend Anushay. In walks, Anushay’s husband’s boss Shahwaar (Adnan Siddiqui) who is a ladies man, has a wife who lives abroad, travels a lot with his secretaries and has a Prado.
The Kabab mai haddi
At the end of the second episode, we kind of know what’s coming. Mehwish, entranced by Shahwaar’s good lucks, dashing smile and above all, money, money, money is going to flutter towards him, and Danish, getting a feeler of Shahwaar’s interest in his wife asks her to stay away from such a “loose” character.
The moment when they spot Shahwaar together
The actors are great and the story is realistic. The script has been penned by Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar while Nadeem Baig has directed this – both masters of their games. The lust for money taking over a genuinely loving marriage happens – to both men and women and it seems the drama might be taking that interesting route. Let’s see how it goes since the twist is bound to be epic.
Water wastage is high and agricultural yields are low. We are also among the 10 countries with the lowest access to clean water.
Water is a resource that has been taken granted for
centuries. People think it’s an abundant and limitless, but this faulty
perception is changing and it’s about time. We’re running out of fresh water…
and fast.
According to a World Bank report published in January 2019,
the country is “well-endowed” with water but “water wastage is high and
agricultural yields are low”. This, according to the report, is because of bad
management of available water resources.
We are also among the 10 countries with the lowest access to
clean water, according to a study “The Water Gap — The State of the World’s
Water 2018”, by WaterAid. About 21 million out of the total population of 207
million do not have access to clean water.
“Pakistan is facing severe challenges; industrialisation and
the demands of agriculture, depleted and increasingly saline groundwater, rapid
urbanisation and drought have all taken their toll,” says the report.
What adds to the problem is the outdated water
infrastructure. The lack of reservoirs and the dilapidated existing facilities
mean that our ability to store water is way lower than what is needed.
Pakistan has clearly a lot to make up for in almost each of
the areas identified above. Compared to the United States (US) and China where
40% and 65% of freshwater withdrawals are used for agriculture, respectively;
in Pakistan, the figure exceeds 90%.
The government clearly needs to have a well-thought-out
policy in place with proper implementation to ensure that the scales do not
tilt in one stakeholder’s favor. There are sectors where urgent interventions
are merited because they use up the most water the most notable being the
agriculture sector.
Intensive irrigation not just wastes water but also
increases the risk of over-irrigation leading to low crop yield. Since most of
the farmers are practicing agriculture the way their forefathers did, the
government and private sector need to work together to help the farmers adapt
to more responsible irrigation techniques.
Another area is intensive water use industries like textile,
leather and sugarcane to name a few. The world over, industries are looking to
reduce their water footprint. For example, Levi Strauss & Co. recently
announced that it would reduce its water use for manufacturing by 50%, especially
in water-stressed areas by 2025. Abercrombie & Fitch has also pledged a 30%
water reduction by 2022.
There are food and beverage companies who are trying to work
on reducing water waste, not just in their own processes but also outside their
fence. A leading name in these efforts is that of Nestlé Pakistan, which
under its “Caring for Water” initiative is helping farmers move
on from water-intensive irrigation practices and take up high-efficiency
irrigation systems like drip and sprinkler irrigation.
The company claims that it has helped save more than 300
million litres of water in two years by promoting drip irrigation on about 107
acres of land. Their aim is to help save 400 million litres by the end of 2019.
In addition, the company has also developed smart soil sensors. The sensor
detects the level of soil moisture sensors and send real-time data to the
farmers helping them to save water (about 12%), avoid crop stress and
ultimately increase yield.
The company has developed cheap versions of the sensor with the help of the Lahore University of Management Sciences’ (LUMS) Centre for Water Informatics and plans to scale the project up this year.
We need positive initiatives like these, which involve
different partners working together on various aspects of the water challenges
to help address them. The multiple and cross-sectoral challenges beg
collective solutions.
It’s only with a collective approach that we can ensure
effective water management, which requires planning, developing and
distributing water in such a way that all the competing demands (agriculture,
access to safe drinking water, daily use, biodiversity etc) for water are met
and it is allocated on
an equitable basis to satisfy everyone’s demands.
Amid rising Kashmir tensions, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has called Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who had recently drawn ire of hundreds of thousands of people for awarding Indian PM the country’s highest civilian honour.
According to reports, the “regional and international developments” were discussed over the phone call, while a tweet by the crown prince also confirmed the development.
Mohamed bin Zayed receives a phone call from the Pakistan Prime Minister, discussing ways to enhance bilateral cooperation as well as the latest regional and international developments and issues of mutual interest.
The two dignitaries discussed “ways to enhance bilateral cooperation as well as the latest regional and international developments and issues of mutual interest”, the tweet said.
Mohammed bin Zayed — or MBZ — is also the deputy supreme commander of the UAE armed forces. The phone call between the two leaders comes days after Indian premier Narendra Modi was awarded UAE’s highest civilian honour.
The move had sparked outrage among rights activists over the Modi-led government’s clampdown on the Muslim-majority Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK).
MBZ had personally put the gold medal around Modi’s neck, with a portrait of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE’s first president after whom the order is named, displayed behind them.
Abu Dhabi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi conferred with Order of Zayed, UAE’s highest civilian award by Crown Prince, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. pic.twitter.com/tezAhEDtJU
The two men had also held hands for a moment and spoken quietly. “You deserve it,” MBZ had told the Hindu nationalist leader at one point while posing for photos.
Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan and United Nations (UN) Secretary General António Guterres among others have been made respondents in a petition seeking “jihad in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK)”.
As per the details, lawyer Muhammad Sharif Sabir has moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for directions to the government to “declare jihad” in the troubled valley.
While the court has dismissed the plea “as non-maintainable”, among other respondents were the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) PM, ministries of defence, foreign affairs and Kashmir affairs.
Emotions run high ever since New Delhi abrogated Article 370 of its constitution and robbed IoK of its autonomy. Pakistan has been protesting on all fronts against the move that can pave way for a Muslim genocide in the disputed territory.
“Kashmir Hour” on Friday is also being observed across the country on PM Imran’s call for solidarity with Kashmiris.
Marriott recently announced it is replacing travel-sized toiletries — tubes of shampoo, conditioner and bath gel — with larger bottles in an attempt to reduce plastic waste.
The world’s largest hotel chain said the small toiletries being used aren’t usually recycled. The new bottles will be made from recyclable materials.
Once the change is fully implemented, the hotel chain said it expects to reduce its plastic disposal by 30%, or nearly 2 million pounds of plastic it sends to landfills annually.
The change will affect roughly 500,000 guest rooms and will be made at most of its 7,000 hotels around the world by December 2020.
The supply of electricity to the Prime Minister’s (PM) Secretariat is likely to be snapped over non-payment of bills running into millions, Khaleej Times has reported.
According to reports, the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) has also issued a notice in this regard as the secretariat currently owes the distributor over Rs4 million in power bills.
“This is a recurrent problem with the secretariat. We will cut off the power supply if dues are not paid,” reports quoted sources in the IESCO as saying and added that the dues had not been cleared despite several reminder notices being sent.
Meanwhile, the country’s annual fiscal deficit has reportedly risen to the highest in the last three decades at 8.9 per cent for the financial year 2018-19.
Fiscal deficit is the difference between revenues and expenditures of a federal government. According to reports, the deficit that increased to 8.9 per cent of Pakistan’s gross domestic product in the financial year that ended in June, was recorded at 6.6 per cent last year.
The figure that depicts the situation of the country’s crippling economy, coincides with one-year completion of the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
