Provinces directed to ensure supply of regulated wheat flour
National
February 16, 2021
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Monday urged the provincial governments and departments concerned to take all necessary administrative measures to ensure uninterrupted supply of regulated wheat flour throughout the country.
The minister was chairing the weekly meeting of National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC), according to press statement issued by the Finance Ministry. Among others, the meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar, Adviser to the PM on Commerce Razak Dawood, SAPM on Revenue Dr Waqar Masood, Secretary Ministry of National Food Security and Research (NFS&R), Secretary Ministry of Industries and Production, Chairman Federal Board of Revenue, Member Competition commission of Pakistan, Member Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, MD PASSCO, MD Utility Stores Corporation, Chairman Trading Corporation
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New Delhi: One of Pakistan’s prime exports, cotton, has witnessed a sharp decline in production over the past several years.
According to a report in the
Gulf News, the country saw its worst decline in cotton production in 2020-21. Another report in
Geo News noted that Pakistan’s cotton stockpiling had sharply reduced by 43 per cent to 3.45 million bales in October last year, raising concerns that the country may have to spend $3 million to import at least 7 million bales of cotton to fulfill domestic demands.
Till October 2020, textile companies in Pakistan bought 2.5 million cotton bales while exporters purchased 17,600 bales (down 58 per cent from 41,960 cotton bales in 2019). Cotton mills, meanwhile, acquired 2.57 million bales last year, which was a decline of 42 per cent from 4.42 million bales in 2019.
Accused going to court to appear in murder case shot dead
National
February 14, 2021
FAISALABAD: Sabri Dawn, an accused in a Dijkot murder case, was shot dead near Korian Bridge here on Saturday.
Reportedly, Sabri was on his way to the District Courts to appear in a murder case when some accused opened fire at him. As a result, he died on the spot while two passersby Ramzan and Muzammil also sustained bullet injuries in the incident. It was learnt that Sabri Dawn and his accomplices had allegedly gunned down Ehsan Ahmad at Darbar of Baba Kanni Shah in a nearby village.
The R&D conundrum choking our exports
With Pakistani products failing to perform globally, focus on research seems a no-brainer
PHOTO: AGENCIES
KARACHI:
Pakistan, like most developing nations, is locked in a paradox. In theory at least, innovation driven by robust research and development could be the key to breaking it out of a vicious debt and deficit-ridden cycle.
Indeed, economists the world over constantly exhort third world governments to spend more on R&D in order to cure their flagging economies. As emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and 3D printing usher in what many see as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, that investment could be the difference between market leaders and losers of the future.
The Agriculture Transformation Plan 2021, shared by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR) on Friday with Dawn, seeks to revolutionalise the agri-input regime to substantially increase production of major rabi and kharif crops. File photo
ISLAMABAD: The Agriculture Transformation Plan 2021, shared by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR) on Friday with
Dawn, seeks to revolutionalise the agri-input regime to substantially increase production of major rabi and kharif crops, with growth in wheat yield by 41 per cent, rice 40pc, cotton 65pc, maize 40pc, sugar 22pc, and other crops 30pc.
Under the first generation interventions of the plan, which was submitted to Prime Minister Imran Khan early this week, reforms will be brought in the seed sector, digitalizing the subsidy mechanism, revolutionizing the farm mechanization, improving water efficiency, revamping extension services, simplifying access of credit by farmers, expa