Pakistan certifies first organic cotton bale
Balochistan on Wednesday marked the certification of Pakistan's first organic cotton bale at a ceremony held at Kot Sabzal. Balochistan's Minister for Agriculture Engineer Zamrak Khan said the provincial
Dawn (Pakistan)
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Health dept to supervise anti-polio campaign
The Sindh health department will field its own team of senior officials to monitor the special anti-polio vaccinations to be administered to children in various districts of Sindh during the mop-up campaign planned to be conducted in 14 districts of the province from May 26, it was learnt on Wednesday.
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Unregulated quarrying poses a threat to biodiversity
Hamidullah, Abul Waheed and Ashraf, along with 10 others, do not know that the World Biodiversity Day is being observed on Thursday. They remain busy taking out huge stones from mountains in an isolated area some 10 to 15 kilometres off Cape Monze near Hub.
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UK, Australia to help improve healthcare
Britain and Australia on Monday pledged Rs13.7 billion for improving mother and child healthcare facilities in Pakistan. According to a press release, an agreement to the effect was signed here on Monday. It aims to help save 30,000 women and 350,000 children. The UK's Department for International Aid (DFID) will provide Rs11.7 billion over five years and the Australian government Rs2 billion. The initiative will help train 12,000 midwives and strengthen obstetrics and newborn care in district hospitals across the country.
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Over 2.2m suffering from hepatitis in NWFP, Fata
More than 2.2 million people in the NWFP and Fata have been infected with hepatitis B and C. This was revealed at an awareness seminar held here on Monday to mark the World Hepatitis Day. Dr Ihsanullah Turabi, provincial coordinator of the hepatitis control programme, while speaking on the occasion urged preventive measures against the deadly disease, saying that more than 700,000 people in NWFP and 124,000 in Fata suffered from hepatitis B. "In Frontier, an estimated 1.1778 million people while in Fata about 0.19 million had hepatitis C,' he added.
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First polio case of the year in NWFP
A polio case has been reported in the district, which is the first this year in the Frontier province. The victim is 18-month-old Niamatullah, son of Musa Jan, of the Azakhel village, Nowshera. Health officials said the stool sample of the child had been sent to laboratory on April 27, and the report confirmed the child positive for polio. The provincial health department has announced to conduct a three-day mop up campaign from May 22 in areas surrounding the Nowshera district, including Mardan, Peshawar, Swabi, Malakand region and the Khyber Agency.
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Water conservation: case for change of lifestyle
Every morning when Sohail Maqbool Malik turns on the overhead shower, he can't help marvelling at the travails that the first tiny drops coming from his shower must have gone through to make it to his home. "I see that every drop that hits my face has a connection with the glaciers in the Himalayas which travels from the mountain, along the plains and into the Indus, fights sea-intrusion and survives
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Water scarcity hits cotton sowing
An acute water shortage has hit cotton sowing on 200,000 acres with Nawabshah growers facing heavy financial losses. Dad and Nusrat irrigation divisions are in water rotation schedules for last couple of months. Growers of four talukas are facing the onslaught as standing sugarcane, banana, and vegetable crops are not being supplied with water. Growers have held several demonstrations demanding irrigation minister and concerned officials to ensure regular water supply but in vain.
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Shortage of water sparks protests in Sukkur
People of different localities of Sukkur held demonstrations on Sunday in protest against unannounced loadshedding and shortage of water, which has almost paralysed normal life in the city.Irked by hours-long loadshedding and scarcity of water, hundreds of citizens held demonstrations in New Pind, Mughal Colony, Old Sukkur and other areas while shouting slogans against Hesco and the taluka municipal administration.
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Another blackbuck dies in zoo
With the death last week of a blackbuck, the species' population at the Karachi Zoological Gardens has been reduced from 28 to a mere three over five years, and there is little hope of any increase since the remaining females have no mates. The female blackbuck was discovered dead about a week ago. It was assumed that she died after colliding with the fence whilst running, since the animal had been healthy and no other reason was apparent, said a source. Zoo officials failed to respond to Dawn's inquiries about the real cause of death.
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CNG: a rare commodity in Balochistan
Hard pressed by soaring fuel prices, people in Blochistan, the main provider of domestic natural gas, are unable to get the relatively low-priced compressed natural gas. There are only three CNG stations in Quetta and one in Hub and these are unable to cope with the demand. Like in other parts of the country, people in Quetta are fast adopting to alternative fuels, specially CNG.