Pakistan

Google offers 15,000 scholarships to Pakistani youth annually

Published

7 months ago

Farwa

Scholarships to revolutionise Pakistan’s high potential IT sector.
Senator Afanullah Khan says “American tech giant wants to invest $3.5 million in Pakistan.”
Says sale of 5G licence would bring in billions of dollars in foreign exchange.

US-based global tech company Google has offered the provision of 15,000 scholarships per year to competent youth from Pakistan, aiming to revolutionise the country’s high potential IT sector, The News reported

“The American tech giant wants to invest $3.5 million in Pakistan,” said Senator Dr Afnanullah Khan, a member of the Senate’s Standing Committee on Information Technology (IT).

He said similarly, that the sale of 5G licence would bring in billions of dollars in foreign exchange, while heavy venture capital investment would also be made in the private sector. “With modest planning, Pakistan’s IT exports can easily be increased to $10 billion in the next few years,” the senator said.

He also shared that South Korea had allocated a loan of $1 billion for Pakistan’s information technology sector at an interest rate of 0.1 percent only.

“There are many areas in IT that Pakistan can focus on to emerge as an IT power in the region very soon.”

The senator further said he was trying to bring revolution in the IT sector in the country along with the government as well as individually. “I want to use my higher education in the field of information technology for the benefit of the country.”

Senator Khan has a PhD in Information Technology from Oxford University and has experience in completing IT projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars. He said the leadership of PML-N were aware of the plight of Pakistani people and wanted Pakistan to develop more in the IT sector because compared to any other sector investment in the IT sector paid off very quickly.

He said that the export of IT manpower to a country like Japan was also an important project that was currently underway. “Therefore, every effort will be made to increase the focus of the government on this sector so that the obstacles in the way of foreign investment can be removed,” he added.

Pakistan

Ramadan 2023: Sindh revises school, college timings

Published

15 hours ago

Farwa

The Sindh School Education and Literacy Department on Monday announced the revised timings for all the educational institutions in the province during the holy month of Ramadan.

All the government and private schools in Sindh will now start at 7:30am and continue till 12pm (noon) from Monday to Thursday and on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the school timings on Friday will be from 7:30am to 11am.

Office timings

On Monday, the federal government also notified timings for public offices during the holy month.

In a notification, the Establishment Division said the public offices coming under the ambit of the federal government would operate from 7:30am to 1:30pm from Monday to Thursday.

Moreover, the public offices coming under the ambit of the federal government would operate from 7:30am to 12:00pm on Fridays.

First Ramadan expected on March 23

Meanwhile, The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) forecast that there is a strong possibility that the crescent for Ramadan 2023 will be sighted on the evening of March 22 (Wednesday).

The update was shared by the Met department’s Climate Data Processing Centre. This means the first of Ramadan is likely to fall on Thursday, March 23 in Pakistan.

Pakistan

Cleric shot dead in Karachi’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar

Published

15 hours ago

Farwa

A cleric was shot dead in Karachi’s Gulistan-e-Jauhar on Tuesday after morning prayers.

According to police, Maulana Abdul Qayyum Sufi, was going back home after Fajr prayers in Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block-9 when assailants riding a motorcycle opened fire at him.

The police said that Maulana Abdul Qayyum Sufi was a member of the Pakistan Ulema Association and a prayer leader at Mohammadia Noorani Islamic Centre.

There were no further details available about the incident.

Pakistan

Ramadan 2023: Minimum Nisab set at Rs103,159 for Zakat deduction

Published

15 hours ago

Farwa

The Ministry of Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety has fixed the Nisab for Zakat deduction for the ongoing year.

According to a notification issued by the ministry, Zakat will be deducted from saving accounts, profit and loss sharing accounts and other similar accounts having a minimum balance of Rs103,159 or above, on the first of Ramadan.

The Nisab was fixed at Rs88,927 in the previous year.

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Under the Zakat and Ushr Ordinance 1980, no Zakat would be deducted in case a bank account has a lesser amount than the value announced by the ministry, added the statement.

“All the Zakat Collection Controlling Agencies (ZCCAs) are requested to deduct the Zakat accordingly,” it said.

The first of Ramadan will likely fall on March 23, this year, subject to the appearance of the moon.

To be liable for Zakat — which is one of the five pillars of Islam — one’s wealth must amount to more than a threshold figure, termed the “Nisab”.

Those who do not want Zakat deduction from their accounts can submit a “Zakat exemption” form to their respective banks.