Digital solutions help rural Pakistan recover from floods
BEIJING, Oct 12 (APP): As the flash floods recede in Pakistan, the country welcomes the first smart IoT farm in Pakistan. Satellite navigation autopilot, robotic fertilizer applicator, agricultural UAV, climate and soil monitoring stations, solar-powered water pump. The deluge-ravaged land is recovering by virtue of digital solutions.
This is just a beginning, Liu Yang Sloan, Secretary General of the Preparatory Committee, Organization on Developing Countries Revitalization (ODER), a sponsor of the program, told China Economic Net (CEN), adding, Agriculture, which has an important bearing on people’s livelihood, shall be our priority in helping Pakistan recover from the aftermath of the floods.
By employing digital means in rural revitalization, we can not only empower rural revitalization, but also help local communities coordinate international assistance and investment in post-disaster reconstruction, Liu Yang Sloan explained.
The first step is macroeconomic and geospatial modeling. The population, total area, arable land area, GDP, and the industry mix in the affected areas shall be simulated. In addition, based on GIS technology, geospatial modeling shall be carried out for the residential, agricultural and industrial areas in the affected region.
With economic and geospacial data, a blockchain database model will be constructed that describes the economic activities of a region from five dimensions: crop, livestock, aquatic, mine, and non-agricultural industries.
This lays a foundation for the essential supporting system for digital rural revitalization projects: rural cooperatives.
After decades of attempts, Pakistan has not been able to form a set of effective mechanisms for rural cooperatives. We found through investigation that the core reason is that local people lack confidence in obtaining ideal returns from their investment in land and human resources, and there is no real-life success story in Pakistan for them to refer to, said Liu Yang Sloan.
But in fact, local people’s cooperative can be transformed into a commercial entity that is of investment value to domestic and foreign investors, so that capital from different channels can go into the disaster-stricken areas more efficiently.
According to Liu Yang Sloan, a very relevant example for Pakistan is Liupanshui, Guizhou, a once impoverished city in southwestern China. By capitalizing on the local arable land, woodland, natural scenery, and other ecological resources, villagers as stockholders of the industrial enterprises have contributed their strength to and shared the dividends of development. In this way, over 600,000 locals were lifted out of poverty.
For Pakistan to make better use of the aid funds and investments, locals should also be mobilized to become part of the post-construction endeavors. In addition, we will work with local mobile operators and banks to empower rural industries and cooperatives based on digital payment systems that are already in operation. In each area, we will allocate a certain number of young people to help locals access the digital currency system. For villagers who do not have smart phones, we will help them out. In particular, we have designed the interface for developing countries to connect to the world’s mainstream central bank digital currency (CBDC). In Pakistan’s post-disaster reconstruction, crops like rice, poultry like chicken and sheep husbandry, and motorcycles are the likely scenarios for the application of CBDC, he added.
APP/asg
SC to view NAB law amendments as per int’l standards: CJP
ISLAMABAD, Oct 12 (APP): The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of a petition of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) challenging the recent amendment in the NAB Ordinance till October 18.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, heading the three-member bench which heard the case, remarked that the top court would look into the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance amendments as per the international standards and local laws.
He asked the petitioner’s lawyer Khawaja Haris to point out the facts that how the amendments had impacted the basic rights of the public.
The CJP observed that the decisions were used to be taken in the cabinet and working development parties. Whether all the members of cabinet or committees should be named as accused on the decisions, he questioned and said if that were the case then who would take the decisions.
He remarked that if every thing was discussed by the parliament then the decision making process would slow down.
He noted that the liquefied natural gas (LNG) case was prepared without going into the facts, adding that such agreements were signed at government level.
CJP Bandial observed that many bureaucrats were acquitted in the NAB references, though they had faced imprisonment.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah asked whether the accused, who had escaped from the NAB law, could be tried under any other law. The legislators were responsible to introduce the laws and bring changes in them, he added.
He asked whether it was not a violation of basic rights when the NAB law was introduced in 1999.
Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan remarked that the amendments in NAB law could promote corruption as the same had permitted undue financial benefits.
Petitioner’s lawyer Khawaja Haris said that there was no other law to deal with the cases pertaining to assets beyond known sources of income. After the NAB law amendments, action against accused could be taken if availing of the financial benefit were proved against them. However, no case could be made against the children and front men of public office-holders for availing financial benefits.
BISP distributes over Rs 65 bln among flood affectees
ISLAMABAD, Oct 12 (APP):A total amount of Rs 65,097,025,000 have been disbursed so far among 2,603,881 affected families under Prime Minister’s Flood Relief Cash Assistance through Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).
Under the initiative financial aid of Rs 25000 has been provided to every flood affected families in the flood hit areas of Pakistan, said a press release on Wednesday.
In this regard special payment centers have been established by BISP in the flood affected areas through which till to date 201,230 affected families have received Rs 5,030,750,000 in Balochistan; 1,787,027 families have received Rs 44,675,675,000 in Sindh; 294,858 families have received Rs. 7,371,450,000 in KP, 320,324 families have received Rs.8,008,100,000 in Punjab and 442 families have Rs11,050,000 in Gilgit Baltistan respectively.
Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety/Chairperson Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Shazia Marri has stressed upon the concerned staff who is present at the campsites to fully cooperate and facilitate the female beneficiaries in their respective regions.
BISP urges affected families to forward their CNIC number to 8171 for registration in Flood Relief Cash Assistance program and upon receiving payment message they can visit their nearby campsite to receive their payment.
A control room has also been established at Benazir Income Support Programme headquarters with cells at provincial level to ensure smooth payments.
RCCI to organize 2nd Food Fest on Nov 11
RAWALPINDI, Oct 12 (APP): Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) will organize the second Pindi Food Fest (Food Mela) at Ayub Park Rawalpindi.
RCCI President Saqib Rafiq, in a statement issued here Wednesday, said that the fest would be held from November 11 to 13.
He informed that more than 40 stalls of different types of food would be set up in the three-day festival, adding that the purpose of organizing the food festival was to promote SMEs and introduce regional flavors.
Saqib said a musical evening would also be organized to entertain families during the food festival.
A vendor displaying seasonal dry fruit at his hand cart at Old Fort neighborhood
First fleet of 20 coaches from China to reach Pakistan in October: NA told
ISLAMABAD, Oct 12 (APP): Parliamentary Secretary for Railways Kiran Imran Dar on Wednesday informed the National Assembly that the first fleet of 20 state-of-the-art coaches from China would arrive Pakistan at the end of October 2022.
During the question hour, she said Pak Railways procured 230 new passenger coaches from China to provide comfortable journeys to the passengers as per international standards.
She said Pakistan Railways was rigorously perusing ML- 1 project under CPEC to upgrade its track which was delayed during the last four years.
The speed of the train, she said, will increase from 65- 105km/h to 120 – 160km/h. The journey time will be reduced by half after the implementation of this project.
She said the signaling system of 44 stations had been automated by Computer Based Interlocking (CBI) over Shandadpur-Mirpur, Mathelo and Lodhran- Shandara Bagh sections. This has considerably improved punctuality owing to swift operation in the automated section.