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Lahore: In a historic and strategically significant visit, Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz recently concluded her official trip to China, aimed at fostering bilateral cooperation and driving transformative development for Pakistan. This visit not only underscored Pakistan’s commitment to strengthening its long-standing friendship with China but also opened new avenues for collaboration across multiple sectors. The visit was marked by a series of high-level meetings with Chinese officials, business leaders, and industry experts. CM Maryam Nawaz spearheaded discussions that culminated in several landmark agreements, focusing on infrastructure development, technology transfer, and economic cooperation. Some of the key outcomes include: 1. Renewed Focus on CPEC: The visit brought renewed vigor to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), with both sides agreeing to expedite ongoing projects and initiate new ventures. These projects aim to enhance connectivity, energy capacity, and industrial growth in Punjab and beyond. 2. Infrastructure Investment: An MoU was signed for the development of smart cities and modern transport systems in Punjab. This will include state-of-the-art urban planning and public transportation initiatives, contributing to sustainable urbanization. 3. Technology and Innovation Partnerships: Chinese tech companies expressed interest in collaborating with Punjab’s IT sector, focusing on digital transformation, AI applications, and e-governance solutions. 4. Agricultural Collaboration: Agreements were reached to introduce advanced farming techniques and technology to increase productivity and sustainability in Punjab’s agricultural sector. 5. Educational and Cultural Exchange Programs: The visit also paved the way for increased exchange programs, enabling Pakistani students and professionals to gain access to China’s world-class educational and technical expertise. The Sharif family has long been a cornerstone in fostering Pak-China relations. From the visionary leadership of Mian Nawaz Sharif, who initiated several foundational projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, to Shehbaz Sharif’s relentless efforts in implementing these projects during his tenure, and now Maryam Nawaz’s proactive role in furthering this partnership, the Sharif family has upheld and strengthened this generational legacy. This enduring commitment reflects their dedication to fostering economic growth and diplomatic ties with China. The outcomes of this visit are poised to deliver substantial benefits for Pakistan. Key impacts include: · Economic Growth: The influx of Chinese investments and technology will catalyze job creation and industrial development, contributing to Pakistan’s GDP growth. · Energy Security: Agreements to enhance renewable energy projects under CPEC will help address Pakistan’s energy challenges and promote sustainable energy use. · Urban Transformation: Smart city initiatives will not only modernize urban centers but also improve the quality of life for citizens in Punjab. · Agricultural Advancement: The adoption of innovative farming methods will boost agricultural yields, ensuring food security and opening up export opportunities. · Youth Empowerment: Enhanced educational and cultural exchanges will empower Pakistan’s youth with knowledge, skills, and global exposure. A hallmark of CM Maryam Nawaz’s visit was her emphasis on fostering people-to-people ties. She participated in cultural events and met with Pakistani students and professionals in China, highlighting the shared values and mutual aspirations of the two nations. CM Punjab’s visit to China reflects a visionary approach to diplomacy and development. By strengthening ties with one of the world’s leading economies, Maryam Nawaz has reinforced Pakistan’s strategic partnership with China, ensuring long-term benefits for the nation. As these initiatives begin to take shape, the people of Pakistan can look forward to a future defined by economic prosperity, technological advancement, and a stronger global standing. This visit stands as a testament to the potential of collaborative efforts and visionary leadership in shaping a brighter tomorrow for Pakistan.Hyperchanging Tech Markets Demand Smarter Procurement and Agile Evaluation, Says Info-Tech Research Group
L arge sections of the once-authoritative Indian parents of the 1980s and 1990s who were fiercely dedicated to raising children with strict discipline and traditional values now have professional home nurses to take care of them. Children move overseas, leaving ageing parents to negotiate old age without their support. Deep-rooted cultural values shaped Indian parenting in the 1980s and 1990s. The children were taught responsibility, respect for elders, and social conventions. Parents who prioritised discipline led their children to choose secure, respected occupations, believing it would lead to better futures for their family. Thus, children from these families excelled academically and earned opportunities in engineering, medicine, and technology, which allowed them to study or work overseas. Parents viewed migration as a sign of social advancement and felt joy in their children’s achievement. Pride is often tempered by the fact that elderly parents must adjust to a new caring system based on professional nurses after their children move abroad. Separation from children hits many parents emotionally. Members of Indian families have traditionally lived together or close by. Children are the family’s emotional centre and caregivers for their parents in old age. However, the migration of children has altered this expectation. As their children succeed far away, parents frequently feel lonely and abandoned. Distance from everyday encounters and infrequent video chats cannot totally bridge the emotional gap. Children can send money or hire home nurses for their elderly parents, but the emotional emptiness is hard to fill. With children overseas, home nurses are a sensible choice for many elderly parents who require support with health, everyday tasks, and personal care. This provides a much-needed safety net, especially for people with chronic illnesses or mobility limitations, but it also presents emotional challenges. Previous independence and control over family affairs have been replaced with a loss of dignity and privacy for many parents. A home nurse may cause a deeper emotional change for individuals. Parents who thought their children would care for them like they did may feel guilty or unhappy. Children’s migration may cause them to suffer a loss of conventional family relationships and struggle to adjust to outside caregiving. While parents and children are sometimes far apart, technology has helped preserve contact. Virtual family communication includes video conversations, messaging apps, and social media. Tools can only do so much. Having a child by their side throughout illness or daily life is invaluable for elderly parents. Children migrating and using home nurses are cultural and generational shifts for Indian families. Professional care improves health and safety, but ageing parents’ emotional needs are often neglected. Parents who accept home nurses may feel relieved but still miss their families. These strict, devoted parents of the 1980s and 1990s now find themselves in a new situation where their children living overseas cannot provide traditional care. Home nurses can provide practical assistance, but they cannot replace parental love. This generation of parents’ experiences illustrates Indian families’ evolving dynamics between tradition and modernity as they age. rinugeorge57@yahoo.com Published - December 08, 2024 01:47 am IST Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit
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The former Labour PM said the death of his newborn daughter in 2002 did “not convince me of the case for assisted dying; it convinced me of the value and imperative of good end-of-life care”. In a rare intervention ahead of the Commons debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on Friday, November 29, Mr Brown shared a glimpse of the time he and his wife Sarah spent with their baby, Jennifer, who died when she was only 11 days old. Writing in the Guardian newspaper, Mr Brown said: “We could only sit with her, hold her tiny hand and be there for her as life ebbed away. She died in our arms. “But those days we spent with her remain among the most precious days of my and Sarah’s lives.” While he acknowledged that at the heart of the assisted dying debate is a “desire to prevent suffering”, the former Labour MP called for a commission on end-of-life care to be set up, instead of the law change which MPs will consider. This commission, he said, should work to create a “fully-funded, 10-year strategy for improved and comprehensive palliative care”. “When only a small fraction of the population are expected to choose assisted dying, would it not be better to focus all our energies on improving all-round hospice care to reach everyone in need of end of life support?” he said. Mr Brown added: “Medical advances that can transform end-of-life care and the horror of people dying alone, as with Covid, have taught us a great deal. “This generation have it in our power to ensure no-one should have to face death alone, uncared for, or subject to avoidable pain.” Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP sponsoring the assisted dying Bill through the Commons, said she was “deeply touched” by Mr Brown’s decision to share his story. The Spen Valley MP said she agreed completely with his calls for better end-of-life care. But Ms Leadbeater added: “He and I agree on very many things but we don’t agree on this. “Only legislation by Parliament can put right what Sir Keir Starmer calls the ‘injustice that we have trapped within our current arrangement’. “The need to address the inability of the current law to provide people with safeguards against coercion and the choice of a better death, and to protect their loved ones from possible prosecution, cannot wait. “So for me it isn’t a case of one or the other. My Bill already includes the need for the Government to report back to Parliament on the availability and quality of palliative care, and I strongly support further detailed examination of its provision. We need to do both.” Though Ms Leadbeater made reference to the Prime Minister as she set out her difference from Mr Brown’s position, Sir Keir has opted not to say whether he will support the Bill. MPs will be given a free vote on the legislation, meaning their political parties will not require them to vote for or against it, and it will be a matter for their personal consideration. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is the latest senior minister to disclose her position on assisted dying, signalling to broadcasters on Friday that she may support the Bill. “I continue to support the principle of needing change but also to ensure that we’ve got the proper safeguards and systems in place,” she told ITV’s Good Morning Britain. Asked if that meant a “yes” when the Bill comes to the Commons, she replied: “I think I last voted on this about 20 years ago and so I have supported the principle in the past and continue to believe that change is needed but we do need to have that debate on the detail and I’ll continue to follow that debate next Friday.”Google Is Funding a Space Startup -- But I Wouldn't Even Think About Investing In It
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Youths’ role essential in prevention, detection of crime: City Top CopJust over a fifth of four-year-olds have asked their parents for a this Christmas, a study has found. The survey of parents showed that 21 per cent of children aged four and five had asked for a phone that would enable them to access social media and the internet. That equates to some three million children at the start of primary school. By the age of nine, it has risen to 37 per cent, and among all under-11s, just under a third (29 per cent) have asked for a smartphone this Christmas, even though the such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok is 13. The survey by pollsters Opinium of 1,000 parents of school-age children was conducted for EE, which in August became the first major telecoms firm to advise parents and instead buy them “brick” or feature phones allowing them only to text and call. The company said that there was increasing evidence that parents were taking up the guidance with one in six (17 per cent) of parents saying they were resisting the demands of their children and . Alex Cornett, a director at EE, said: “Children under the age of 13 should not be using social media at all, and we’d encourage parents to use parental controls, as well as a family-sharing app like Google Family Link or Apple Family Sharing, to keep a watchful eye on where their children are going online.” Ofcom, the online safety regulator, found in April that one-quarter of three- to seven-year-olds have a smartphone, up from a fifth the previous year. It rose to 59 per cent of eight- to 11-year-olds and 95 per cent of 12- to 15-year-olds. An international survey of 10,000 parents, including 2,000 in the UK, found that more than half regretted handing over a smartphone to their child. They felt it impeded family engagement, hindered children’s sleep, reduced their physical exercise and limited time socialising with their friends. Ofcom is introducing a draft children’s code as part of the Online Safety Act to ensure they are not exposed to harmful content. But leading peers and campaigners have warned that its draft proposals do not go far enough and fail to enforce minimum age limits on social media sites, which are generally pitched at 13. The scale of the problem was revealed last month by Ofcom research which suggested that more than a fifth of children aged eight to 17 who were on social media had lied about their age to gain access to a platform. It showed, for example, that 25 per cent of eight-year-olds with a social media profile were on at least one platform that had a user age of 16 plus and 14 per cent were on those with a user age of 18-plus. Jon Higham, the online safety policy director at Ofcom, told The Telegraph: “What we see is 22 per cent of children are online with a profile which suggests they’re an adult because at the moment all too many platforms basically let children self-certify how old they are. “It doesn’t take a genius to work out that children are going to lie about their age. So we think there’s a big issue there.” Mr Higham said Ofcom would be setting out next month what social media platforms would need to do to verify children’s age. He said the regulator would be expecting them to use age verification technology that was “highly accurate and effective”. “The sort of thing that we might look to is some of this facial age and estimation technology that we see companies bringing in now, which we think is really pretty good at determining who is a child and who is an adult,” he said. “So we’re going to be looking to drive out the use of that sort of content, so platforms can determine who’s a child and who isn’t, and then put in place extra protections for kids to stop them seeing toxic content.” Ofcom will have powers to fine tech firms that fail to protect children from online harms up to 10 per cent of their global turnover – equivalent to £10 billion for Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – and also jail executives for up to two years for persistent breaches of the law.