JI Amir calls on PM
LAHORE, Apr 15 (APP): Amir of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Siraj ul Haq along with a three-member delegation on Saturday called on Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif.
During the meeting, the current political situation in the country and the judicial crisis were discussed, PM Office Media Wing said in a press release.
The leaders agreed that issues should be resolved with collective wisdom.
Minister for Economic Affairs Division Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Minister for Railways and Aviation Khawaja Saad Rafique were also present during the meeting.
World Creativity, Innovation Day to be marked on April 21
ISLAMABAD, Apr 15 (APP): World Creativity and Innovation Day will be marked on Friday, April 21 across the globe including Pakistan. The concept is open to interpretation from artistic expression to problem-solving in the context of economic, social and sustainable development. Therefore, the United Nations designated 21 April as World Creativity and Innovation Day to raise the awareness of the role of creativity and innovation in all aspects of human development.
The creative economy too has no single definition. It is an evolving concept building the interplay between human creativity and ideas and intellectual property, knowledge and technology. Essentially, it is the knowledge-based economic activities upon which the ‘creative industries’ are based.
Creative industries, which include audiovisual products, design, new media, performing arts, publishing and visual arts– are highly transforming sectors of the world economy in terms of income generation, job creation and export earnings. Culture is an essential component of sustainable development and represents a source of identity, innovation and creativity for the individual and community.
At the same time, creativity and culture have a significant non-monetary value that contributes to inclusive social development, to dialogue and understanding between peoples. Today, the creative industries are among the most dynamic areas in the world economy providing new opportunities for developing countries to leapfrog into emerging high-growth areas of the world economy.
Creativity drives our ideas and emotions, as well as our ability to connect, to question and to be understood. But culture and creativity are a lot more than an expression of our identities, they are livelihoods, careers, and economic opportunities for millions of people around the world, especially women, youth, and vulnerable groups. The creative economy has the power to drive sustainable development.
On World Creativity and Innovation Day, the world is invited to embrace the idea that innovation is essential for harnessing the economic potential of nations. Innovation, creativity and mass entrepreneurship can provide new momentum towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
It can harness economic growth and job creation, while expanding opportunities for everyone, including women and youth. It can provide solutions to some of the most pressing problems such as poverty eradication and the elimination of hunger. Human creativity and innovation, at both the individual and group levels, have become the true wealth of nations in the twenty-first century.
Culture and creativity account for 3.1 percent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 6.2 percent of all employment. Exports of cultural goods and services doubled in value from 2005 to reach US$389.1 billion in 2019. Besides being one of the youngest and the fastest growing economic sectors in the world, new and ongoing challenges also make the creative economy one of the most vulnerable sectors that is often overlooked by public and private investment.
The 2022 UNESCO report, Re-shaping Policies for Creativity,, addressing culture as a global public good offers insightful new data that shed light on emerging trends at a global level, as well as putting forward policy recommendations to foster creative ecosystems that contribute to a sustainable world by 2030 and beyond.
Achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 SDGs, the most ambitious development agenda in human history requires both creativity and innovation. Green technologies, those used to produce goods and services with smaller carbon footprints are growing and providing increased economic opportunities but many developing countries could miss them without decisive action. Through its Technology and Innovation Report 2023, UNCTAD calls on governments to align environmental, science, technology, innovation and industrial policies.
PM visits Shahdra hospital to review medical facilities
LAHORE, Apr 15 (APP): Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday visited Shahdra hospital to review the medical facilities provided to the patients.
The prime minister, accompanied by the relevant authorities, took round of different departments and inquired about the issues.
He also met with a number of people and talked to them.
G-20 meeting: India attempting to dupe world with fake normalcy in IIOJK
ISLAMABAD, Apr 15 (APP): India has recently released a list of upcoming Group 20 (G-20) meetings it will host in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) as this year’s president of the group in an attempt to fake normalcy.
“However, by other measures, little has changed. In the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley, public anger with New Delhi remains rife. The region remains heavily militarized, with continuing crackdowns on the right to protest and freedom of speech,” writes Michael Kugelman, in Foreign Policy’s weekly South Asia Brief.
Kugelman is a writer and a director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington.
He said that one Kashmiri contact, who requested anonymity out of concern for their safety, said that India’s G-20 meeting in Srinagar was just an “attempt to fake normalcy.”
Press restrictions in Indian-administered Kashmir were especially draconian.
The space for media has “drastically eroded” since 2019, the writer said, quoting a Kashmiri journalist.
“Newspapers are reduced to ‘extensions of the government’s PR department,” another said.
A source confirmed that last Thursday marked the beginning of the trial of journalist Fahad Shah, editor of the Kashmir Walla and a previous Foreign Policy contributor.
Shah was arrested on terrorism charges in February 2022 for publishing what police described as “anti-national” material and faced potential life imprisonment if convicted.
Kugelman further said that Kashmiris were also grappling with electoral uncertainty. Jammu and Kashmir hasn’t had elections since 2014.
The G-20 meeting will mark the first international event in the disputed region since August 2019, when India revoked IIOJK’s special autonomous status, he added.
The writer further opined that contrary to the facts, New Delhi also probably wanted to signal that IIOJK was stable, peaceful, and ready to engage with the world after the 2019 decision.
He further regretted lack of world’s focus on the serious issues in IIOJK by saying “When it does, it’s increasingly seen through a lens of opportunity.”
Woman with her girls purchasing jewelry during Eid shopping in preparation of upcoming Eid-ul-Fitar at cloth market Latifabad
