Pakistan

IT IS right in general saying that agriculture is the mainstay of Pakistan’s economy. He has spelt out in detail all the benefits that accrue to the country from agriculture as well as the many reasons for its decline. Surprisingly, he did not mention the shortage of water. There is a 24 per cent shortage of water in the Kharif period and up to 40 per cent for the Rabi period. Sindh and Punjab are both up in arms about water shortage. Why this reluctance to talk about shortage of water. Is it

PAKISTAN IS an agricultural country. Some of the major crops grown here include cotton, wheat, rice, sugarcane, maize, banana and sunflower, but how do we protect and safeguard them from harmful pests and diseases?Being a plant protectionist, I would suggest that we should apply and use all safeguard measures, which have been recommended by experts. Chemicals control is visibly giving fast results. That is why farmers and landlords use mostly chemicals compared to other controls. However,

PAKISTAN IS an agricultural country where different crops are cultivated according to the season and the region. Some of the major crops grown here include cotton, wheat, rice, sugarcane, maize, banana and sunflower. But how do we protect and safeguard them from harmful pests and diseases?Being a plant protectionist, I would suggest that we should apply and use all safeguard measures which have been recommended by experts.Chemical control is visibly giving fast results. That is why farmers and

PAKISTAN IS a country where about 37 per cent population lives in rural areas and their income source is directly or indirectly related to agriculture. Agriculture contributes about 22 per cent to country’s GDP and about 25 per cent of the country’s total land area is under cultivation. About 41 percent of the labour forces are employed in agriculture, but on the contrary, the current agriculture policy lacks some flaws that leads to multiple negative factors in agriculture sector. In fact,

HYDROPOWER IS globally recognized as a renewable, cheap and reliable resource of energy as it generates electricity with zero emission and produces no waste.  There is no requirement of fuel, operating cost is much lower and hydropower plants have longer economic lives than thermal plants. Pakistan has total installed power generation capacity of 20,456 MW. The demand for electricity is increasing at an average annual rate of eight per cent. Thus, there is gross power shortage at national level

REFERENCE TO the current debate of GM crop in Pakistan, I found that Pioneer, Syngenta and Monsanto make the following claims with reference to introduction of GM/Bt Corn in our country:1. Corn yields will increase2. Pesticide usage reduction will occur3.  Economic benefit to Pakistani farmersThe questions that regulators, farmers, media and decision-makers need to ask in this regard are;a.  Agricultural departments should publicly share Corn/Maize production data since 1999 to-date to

AS THE issue of climate change and subsequent degradation of environment has started getting worse the world over including Pakistan with every passing day, the recent studies on practicing all available options and resources regarding protection of global environment or overcoming the negative impacts of climate change are gaining strength. Organic farming has emerged as the best environment friendly option and states are increasingly getting inclined towards adopting this way of farming. India

IN THIS day and age, with predators lurking everywhere, it is very dangerous for girls to leave pictures, cell phone numbers, addresses, or any personal information for that matter, anywhere on the internet. The most common place where predators look for girls’ personal information is social networking websites, the most common being Facebook.Girls are naive and should realize the dangers that exist in leaving personal information on social networking websites. It is very easy for anyone to

IN THIS day and age, with predators lurking everywhere, it is very dangerous for girls to leave pictures, cell phone numbers, addresses, or any personal information for that matter, anywhere on the internet. The most common place where predators look for girls’ personal information is social networking websites, the most common being Facebook.Girls are naive and should realize the dangers that exist in leaving personal information on social networking websites. It is very easy for anyone to

MAN-MADE PLASTIC has been a boon in many ways and has countless uses, but it is also an environmental time-bomb waiting to explode. These plastics do not decompose easily and, hence, lead to countless health and environmental hazards when disposed of carelessly.Burning of plastic bags and items leads to the creation of noxious fumes, such as carbon monoxide. The noxious fumes have also had an injurious effect on the ozone layer, which prevents the harmful rays of sun from flowing into atmosphere

I WOULD like to draw the attention of the authorities concerned towards the mass hunting of wildlife at Goth Ismail Shikari Kharkhacho tehsil, Bela district, Lasbella, Balochistan.About 10,000 wild goats (markhor) and sheep are present in this area and people are free to hunt. Wildlife is diminishing and damaging the beauty of area.Locals d lodged a complaint with former district Nazim but of no use.I request the authorities to impose restriction and heavy penalty on hunting markhor to preserve

EVERY YEAR in winter people are promised to overcome power loadshedding, and then every year in summer they have a naked excuse by the government. This year, too, the government has played the same.Among many of their unfathomable ideas, one is to ask the commercial sector to shut down their business during their peak hours. The others include displaying a unique sense of equality and distributing the burden equally among the provinces.But this is no solution to th e problem. These are temporary

I AM writing this letter to highlight a pivotal issue which the dwellers and local businessmen of Gilgit-Baltistan have been facing since January 2010 due to the forming of artificial Attabad Lake.The people living upstream remained cut off from the rest of the district for several months, but the local businessmen provided them relief by starting a ferry service.Patients, students and other affected people were transported free of cost.The 19-km-long KKH, the sole overland connection between