ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Senator Musadik Malik announced on September 11 that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had directed to prepare a comprehensive 300-day implementation plan within 15 days to address the mounting challenges of climate change, including the risks posed by monsoon rains and accelerated glacial melting. The directives came a day after PM Shehbaz declared a climate and agricultural emergency in view of the ongoing monsoon rains and
Child Rights in Focus
RAWALPINDI: Deputy Commissioner Dr Hassan Waqar Cheema on September 11 asked the District Health Authority to take action against 200 health employees under the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Disciplinary and Accountability Act for being involved in misappropriation during the campaign against dengue mosquito larvae. He asked the authority not to spare the relevant Deputy District Health Officers (DDHOs) as they kept issuing salaries to them without keeping an eye on their work. A senior official of
LAHORE: As floodwaters have submerged vast swathes in south Punjab, the tehsils of Jalalpur Pirwala and Alipur have become epicenters of an emerging humanitarian crisis, with over 1.4 million people affected by the calamity. In Jalalpur Pirwala tehsil, around 700,000 people have been affected by the flood as most of its union councils have been submerged. A drone camera footage shows floodwater inundating around 35km to 40km area of the tehsil. As most of the villages
THE federal cabinet’s decision to declare a climate and agriculture emergency in the country was overdue given the magnitude of devastation resulting from the floods sweeping across Punjab and beyond. The images of inundated fields in thousands of villages, displaced families, destroyed homes and dead livestock underscore the seriousness of the catastrophe. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has set up a special committee to assess the extent of damage to agriculture, determine how farmers can be compensated and recommend
WHEN schools are closed, especially at times when they are expected to be open, the loss in terms of educational and learning outcomes can be substantial. Out of the 365 days that make up the year, we get only 160 days or so for teaching and learning time, thanks to the weekends and a number of scheduled national and religious holidays. When schools are shut for a longer period, it makes it difficult for
Sindh Minister for Education and Mineral Development Syed Sardar Ali Shah said on September 10 that due to the country’s rapidly growing population, resolving issues within the available resources is becoming an increasing challenge. He highlighted that every year 1.2 million children are born in Sindh, but the public education system can provide schooling to only 250,000 to 300,000 children annually. He stressed that through partnerships with the private sector, many challenges can be
PHOOLNAGAR: A four-year-old child went missing from Saharan Kay village on September 10. Ismail left his home around 7am to buy items from a nearby shop, but never returned. His parents made desperate attempts to trace him in the neighbourhood, but were unable to find any clue to his whereabouts. Fearing that the child may have been abducted, Ismail’s father Asif got a case registered at Sadr police station. The police said a search
Islamabad: The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and Nutrition International partnered for pilot project – ‘Effectiveness of Adolescent Nutrition Conditional Cash Transfer”, aimed at addressing anaemia among adolescent girls aged 13 to 19. The 2023-25 pilot project has reached more than 100,000 adolescent girls with Weekly Iron Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFAS), complemented with nutrition education and quarterly conditional cash transfer (CCT) to their parents. The pilot project implemented in six districts achieved high coverage
Rawalpindi: The dengue spread in Rawalpindi district has started taking shape of an outbreak as in the last 24 hours, another 20 individuals have tested positive for the infection that is the highest number of dengue cases reported in a day from the district this year so far. Data collected by ‘The News’ on September 10 has revealed that the confirmation of another 20 patients positive for dengue fever has taken the total number
PESHAWAR: Chairman of Frontier Foundation, Sahibzada Muhammad Haleem, has said that a lack of awareness about genetic diseases, delayed and limited access to screening and treatment, and the high rate of consanguineous marriages significantly increase the risk of thalassemia and other hereditary disorders. He said that eliminating thalassemia, a genetic blood disorder, was their mission to protect future generations, said a press release. Speaking during a meeting with parents of children suffering from thalassemia,
Punjab has begun formulating its long-term Forest Vision 2050, aiming to prioritise forest conservation and ecological balance rather than treating forests solely as a source of timber. The initiative seeks to make forests a central pillar in tackling climate change and strengthening ecological resilience. To draft this vision, the Punjab Forest Department has partnered with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which organised a two-day planning workshop in Lahore. The event brought
WE in South Asia are the children of the monsoon, as described by David Jiménez in his 2008 book. While governments may not always recognise it, we are bound by an ecosystem that inextricably links our resilience through shared climate realities from one end of South Asia to the other. Shared ecosystems 1) Rivers: The Indus River system serves as a central artery for India and Pakistan, comprising six major tributaries: eastern (Beas, Ravi, Sutlej) and western