Tag: funds

  • Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet approves Rs2.5 billion subsidy under Ramzan package

    The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) cabinet on March 29 okayed a subsidy package of Rs2.5 billion for the upcoming holy month of Ramzan, to ensure an uninterrupted supply of edible items at lesser rates.

    KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan presided over the meeting, which was attended by ministers, chief minister’s advisers, and administrative secretaries.

    Following the meeting, government spokesman Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif revealed that 2,800 points had been set up around the KP to sell 20kg bags of wheat flour for Rs800 instead of the customary Rs1100 during Ramzan, while 10kg bags would be sold for Rs400.

    During Ramzan, the cabinet also decided to set up 83 sasta bazaars, 123 Ramazan facilitation centers, 42 mobile utility stores, and 96 Ramzan dastarkhwans.

    All of these points will be supervised by monitoring units led by respective secretaries and deputy commissioners to prevent price hikes and shortages of vital commodities on the market.

  • Mila Kunis raised $35 million for Ukraine relief in less than 30 days

    Mila Kunis raised $35 million for Ukraine relief in less than 30 days

    Since the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, individuals all over the world have come together to offer monetary and non-monetary relief to the war-torn country. Mila Kunis and her husband Ashton Kutcher were among the first fundraisers to help.

    The American actress instantly created a GoFundMe page to raise funds for Ukrainian refugees fleeing for their lives. They even kicked off the fund with a $3 million donation of their own, and donations only escalated from there.

    The couple had exceeded their $30 million goal in less than 30 days and then increased it to $40 million. They have raised more than $35.3 million from nearly 73,400 donors as of March 29, 2022.

    DST Global and Larry Ellison, the co-founder of Oracle Corporation, are among the fund’s major contributors. DST contributed a total of $3.5 million to the cause, with Ellison donating the most money of all, $5 million.

    Several anonymous donors, in addition to many others, gave significant contributions totaling more than $1 million.

    GoFundMe created a hub for verified fundraisers trying to raise money for humanitarian help in Ukraine in the wake of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

    Presently, the hub organizes fundraisers ranging from supporting major humanitarian groups such as ‘Save the Children’ to raising donations for particular Ukrainian families.

    To get verified on the donation hub, GoFundMe’s trust and safety team need to know the identity of the organizer along with how the funds will be used and who they are raising money for.

  • Pakistan may send experts to replace Afghan brain drain

    Pakistan may send experts to replace Afghan brain drain

    Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Pakistan, Shaukat Tarin has said that Pakistan may have to send experts to Afghanistan because of the country’s major experts have left the country which has complicated the Taliban’s administration, reports The News.

    While giving an extensive briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Finance on Thursday, Mr Tarin said that the government was building up strategic reserves of essential food commodities to meet domestic as well as Afghanistan’s requirements.

    According to him, “they [Afghanistan} require assistance and we may have to dispatch experts because of the brain drain in Afghanistan. The situation is fluid and we are analysing it. The West has stopped foreign reserves of Afghanistan to the tune of $10 billion, as the IMF has stopped $400 million and many others so Kabul will be facing a scarcity of foreign exchange. Our bilateral trade will surge but we may have to undertake bilateral trade in the Pak rupee.”

    Talking about Pakistan’s economic situation he stated, “Pakistan’s trade deficit stands at $4 billion and remittances are hovering around $2.5 billion.”

    “On tax revenue, FBR revenues are ahead of target by 23 percent. The track and trace system will be placed for five major sectors. The Point of Sale (POS) will integrate receipts and standardised and frivolous notices will be withdrawn,” he assured.

    More than 120,000 people evacuated from Afghanistan are qualified professionals from civil servants to lawyers.

    Michael Barry, a specialist on Afghanistan who taught at the American University in Kabul, said that many members of the Taliban are from rural areas and lack the knowledge to run the state bureaucracy, as per Agence France-Presse (AFP).

  • Teen on space flight tells Bezos he has never used Amazon

    Teen on space flight tells Bezos he has never used Amazon

    A Dutch teenager who became the world’s youngest space traveller told billionaire Jeff Bezos on the space flight that he had never ordered anything from Amazon.com.

    An 18-year-old physics student, Oliver Daemen, accompanied Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos and 82-year-old female aviator Wally Funk – the oldest person to go to space on a 10-minute space trip.

    Bezos funded exploration company Blue Origin by selling billions of dollars worth of stock in his online delivery business Amazon.

    “I told Jeff, like, I’ve actually never bought something from Amazon,” Daemen told Reuters in an interview on Friday at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. “And he was like, ‘Oh, wow, it’s a long time ago I heard someone say that’.”

    Daemen, who was picked after another candidate bidding $28 million for the ride cancelled at the last minute, found out he would be joining the flight while on a family holiday in Italy.

    “They called and said: ‘Are you still interested?’ and we were like ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’”

    Daemen had dreamt of space travel since he was a kid.

    “We didn’t pay even close to $28 million, but they chose me because I was the youngest and I was also a pilot and I also knew quite a lot about it already.”

    “I don’t think I realised it until I was in the rocket: ‘Wow, it’s really happening’,” he said. “It was my ultimate, ultimate goal … but I never thought it was going to be this soon.”

    The crew was given safety training before the training, but nothing very hard, said Daemen.

    “That was super cool. It’s so weird to be weightless. It was easier than I had expected. It was kind of like being in the water.”

    Daemen, who is set to start at Utrecht University in September, said he was not sure what he wanted to do later in life, but would seriously consider a career in space travel.

    Asked what it was like travelling in a rocket ship with a billionaire, he answered with a wide smile: “They were super fun and all down to earth, as funny as that may sound.”

  • Five organisations collecting funds for Karachi flood victims

    Five organisations collecting funds for Karachi flood victims

    The urban flooding in Karachi has shattered the city and many colonies and slums have been swept away by the rain leaving scores homeless with no basic necessities of life.

    The Current has listed a few organisations that are working to help flood victims in the port city.

    Edhi Foundation

    Website: https://edhi.org/

    Al Khidmat Foundation

    Website: https://alkhidmat.org/

    https://www.facebook.com/alkhidmat.org/posts/3059215384201913

    JDC Foundation

    Website: http://jdcwelfare.org/index.html

    Noble Foundation

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CEZIuz5gZcB/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

    Corona Ration Project

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CEZW-rsJqdO/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
  • Metro, causing ‘Rs3.6 million loss a day’, remains shut for over three months

    Metro, causing ‘Rs3.6 million loss a day’, remains shut for over three months

    The Punjab Mass-Transit Authority’s (PMA) deficit has reached Rs375 million due to the closure of the metro bus service for 105 days while officials believe that a single-day shutdown of metro bus causes a loss of Rs3.6 million, Pakistan Today reported.

    According to reports, while no decision has been taken to restore the service by the government so far, the Punjab government had earlier also cut subsidy of PMA by Rs1 billion and the fourth quarter’s funds were not fully released in the last fiscal year (2019-2020).

    “Due to non-issuance of funds, there have been problems in payment to contractors,” reports quoted officials as saying.

    They lamented that the government’s policies were beyond understanding as it had allowed intra-city and inter-city transport to operate but had not yet restored the metro bus service since after the first coronavirus lockdown.

    “An average of 130,000 commuters were benefiting from the metro bus service daily. The authority is currently facing the worst financial crisis. No strategy has been formulated to restore the financial damages nor has it been decided how the foreign company which is operating the metro bus will be supported.”

    Due to the outbreak of coronavirus, the Punjab government had decided to close Lahore, Rawalpindi and Multan metro bus service in March. However, local transporters were later allowed to operate inter and intra-bus service while following certain guidelines.

    The report also quoted sources in the Punjab government as claiming that the metro bus service was a white elephant. “The service had been subsidised by the previous government but it is very difficult for the present government to subsidise the bus service further.”

    PMA General Manager (Operations) Uzair Shah said the decision to reactivate the bus service would be taken by the Punjab government whereas no order had so far come from the government. “The authority is facing problems due to non-receipt of subsidy,” he added while also requesting the government to release funds.

  • PM Imran orders to publicly reveal names of officers ‘stealing’ BISP funds

    PM Imran orders to publicly reveal names of officers ‘stealing’ BISP funds

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has reportedly ordered to publicly reveal the names of 2,543 senior government officers who had added either their own names, or those of their spouses, to the list of beneficiaries of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

    In a tweet, Sania Nishtar, who serves as the BISP head as well as the special assistant to the prime minister (SAPM) on social protection and poverty alleviation, had last week said that 2,543 government officers of Grade-17 and above had availed the BISP and had now been “exited” from the programme.

    According to official data, which was also posted on Twitter by Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry, the highest number of government officials availing the BISP was from Sindh. Per the detailed breakdown, 1,122 officers of Grade-17 and above from the province had been BISP beneficiaries.

    The second highest number came from Balochistan, where 741 government officials were signed up for the poverty alleviation scheme. From Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 403 government officials availed the BISP, while 137 did so from Punjab.

    From the federal government, 62 officers availed the programme. Additionally, 1 officer of the Pakistan Railways, 22 of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and 49 of Gilgit Baltistan were also marked as undeserving recipients of the BISP. From within the BISP itself, six officers were listed among the beneficiaries.

    With the federal cabinet taking up the matter on Tuesday, PM Imran ordered to publicly reveal the names of the officers benefiting from the programme. “No leniency should be there for those who deprive the poor of their rights,” the premier reportedly said.

    “It is very regretful for us and damaging for the image of the country that officers of grade-17 to grade-20 officers were receiving funds meant for the poor deserving people,” SAPM on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan had said earlier in the day as she announced that a report on the matter would be presented to the premier in the federal cabinet meeting.

    She had also said that a strict action would be taken against those involved.