FARUKH SHEHZAD

Munaza Kazmi

Saladin the name that needs no introduction. The greatest of the warriors, the keeper of faith, the defender of Jerusalem, Sultan Saladin Ayyubi.

He was the man who unified the Arab and Muslim world for the holy cause, he with the grace of Almighty saved the Medina from the evil of infidels.

Although he died hundreds of years before, but the soil of Muslim land gives birth to him after each period for uniting the Muslim world to stand against the all wrongs of infidelity and for empowering the nations.

Pakistan, a South Asian country, a land once lush and beautiful inhabited by people with amazing intellect and skills, thawed by the tales of extremism, corruption which made its image as a horrified old black and white movie, and mostly known as a lonely planet.

However, the country shed its old torn clothes and emerged as a twinkling star from the darkest of mountains under the charismatic leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Imran Khan, born October 5, 1952, Lahore, Pakistani cricket player, politician, writer, philanthropist, and Prime Minister of Pakistan who became a national hero by leading Pakistan’s national team to a World Cricket Cup victory in 1992 and later entered politics as a critic of government corruption in Pakistan.

Here I relate him with Sultan Saladin since Sultan was the one who united the Arab and Muslim world to regain Jerusalem so here is our Imran Khan who’s striving hard to improve the image of Pakistan in the global community, also struggling towards the unity of the Muslim community not in Pakistan but around the world and not ignoring the Palestine cause.

The very next day of Palestine massacre Imran Khan had met the secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and called for the OIC to take a stand on it and raise the issue in the UN.

His call for unity with King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia that "we should raise our voice regarding the injustice against Palestinians and what happened in Al Aqsa.

In the scenario of Pakistan Imran Khan’s voice like Saladin echoes in every corner that “He will never let his nation let down”. For youth Khan have initiated different empowering projects and scholarships which are helping in shaping Niya Pakistan.

In the time of early COVID, Khan have aided the community with a stipend in the flagship of the “Prime Minister Fund”. Early he has launched a project under the name of “EhsasProgram” for helping the poor community in the way that they become self-sufficient. Moreover, the fame of “Shokat Khanum Cancer Hospital” is a lot much familiar.

Imran Khan came with change, change of politics, change of the old norms with a new colour of transformation.

He is transforming Pakistan, to say the province of Gilgit-Baltistan, making the transportation and communication channels improved, digital library, safeguarding of eco-diversity and a lot more.

Khan is also known by people as Tsunami Khan reasoning his ruling of plantation of 10 billion trees that’s why Pakistan hosted World Environmental Day this year, according to the eye-witness he has transformed much weather and condition of the KPK which was his first spot.

More to say our Prime Minister had outdone the black and white picture of Pakistan by giving it a new colour of emergent Tourism, Pakistan came in the 2020 Best Holiday Destination then the recent royal visit from Cambridge, these all accompany in making a colourful and brighter picture of Pakistan.

People are coming and going back with a suitcase full of memories of hospitality and amazing tales to tell, much thanks to our today’s Saladin.

It is true that Pakistan is facing difficulties but as said by Almighty verily, that, along with every hardship is relief”. I believe if we forget about Punjabi, Sindhi, Pathan, Balochi or Kashmiri and stand together as Pakistani who could stand in front of us, in front of the league of Saladin.

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Munaza Kazmi has recently done Master of Philosophy from Bahria University Islamabad. Her debut novel is Unrequited Love.

She’s an author, columnist writing in different newspapers and a researcher having seven publications till yet, she’s been writing since 2016.

You can connect to Kazmi at twitter @munaza_kazmi or on research gate as munaza kazmi.

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ISLAMABAD, JUN 21: Ambassador of Japan Kuninori Matsuda met Federal Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz in Islamabad, on Monday.

During the meeting, both leaders exchanged views on further enhancing bilateral cooperation in multiple sectors.

Matters relating to science and technology also came under discussion.

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Khalid Taimur Akram

Russia is among one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Progressive and sustainable in its development goals, the country has been constructively working to bring nations together via an enhanced regional integration. 

In contemporary times, Russia’s global outreach amid 2030 targets has been efficaciously adding for its socio-economic and political development. 

Russian foreign policy has been strengthening up to its present expansive phase. Moreover, its ambitions reflect through its foreign or regional policies, objectives and targets. 

It relies on more advance and transforming goals. Since the adoption of 2030 goals, Russia has reaffirmed its commitment to fulfilling the targets and advanced its civil society through progressive measures. 

Russian President, Vladimir Putin has been stressing to actively work on 2030 goals, cooperating with regional countries, and implementing joint progressive projects to ensure sustainable growth,foster economic integration, and upgraded industrial & transport infrastructure. 

Moreover,Russia has been actively expanding its capacities through foreign assistance and facilitation to developing countries. Broader assistance is also one of the essential parts of the 2030 Agenda.

Therefore, the study essentially highlights Russia's startling policy framework for sustainable growth. The article also discusses the development strategies of Russia and its constructive input in sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The 2020 Strategy and May Decrees:

Russia has adopted a well-structured and cohesive policy framework. It can be envisaged that the country under its visionary leadership will continue to pursue efficacious strategies for industrial development, environmental sustainability, technological transformation and other priorities over the decade. 

While discussing Russia’s beneficial adapted strategies, it is significant to highlight theMay Decrees.  In 2018, Russian President, His Excellency, Vladimir Putin signed a decree setting the national development targets to 2024. 

The documents set certain significant goals to be adopted for the socio-economic well-being of the state.  The Decrees’ goals reflect some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as well. 

The ambition is amid achieving broader goals, i.e., to ensure economic growth rates above the world’s level while keeping macroeconomic stability. 

The 2024 goals also include stabilizing and securing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure for high-speed transmission, processing and storage of data bank easily accessible to all organizations and households.

In this aspect, the government is highly ambitious to establish and strengthen the digital economy's legal regulation system, relying on a feasible approach in each domain.

The 2017 program of ‘’Digital Economy of the Russian Federation” was designed for 2024. It is based on five aspects, i.e., normative regulation, robust education program, cybersecurity, establishing research competencies and Information Technology (IT) infrastructure. 

Most of these initiatives and broader targets have been already implemented to empower Russian progressive civil society. 

Russia’s National Project is an exceptional roadmap of state-driven investment across 12 major areas. The outlined five development goals are as follows:

·         Maintaining the population (health and well-being)

·         Providing a safe living environment

·         Facilitating effective workforce

·         Ensuring feasible business climate and enhancing entrepreneurship 

·         Technological transformation

Integration of Trilateral Dimensions of Sustainable Development and Policy Coherence:

A well-functioning, modern infrastructure is a central requirement for inclusive economic development and sustainable growth.  

The three dimensions, i.e., social, environmental and economic,have been reflected by a profound analysis of the May Decree. In this regard, Russian federal ministries and agencies are well coordinated with one another and with regional authorities to execute the adopted programs. 

Russia is a social state and always endorsed and encouraged Human and civil rights and freedoms. Since 2012, many trends have been advanced in Russia for sustainable development. 

The country has been working hard to achieve the Global SDGs by 2030. Therefore, the structural reforms have given new impetus to many sectors, especially the agriculture sector, to sustain food security. 

Therefore, as the world’s leading strategic hub and growing economy, Hunger is not an issue for Russia.According to the estimation of 2014 onwards, domestic agriculture capacity and production has been growing. 

Therefore, the country ensures not only its food security but also provide other countries with massive assistance. According to the Federal Customs Service of Russia (FCS), in 2018-2019, vegetable products’ exports were approximately$14.5 billion, weighing more than 69 million ton. This ratio indicates that the export in this sector would be further increased in the near future.

One of the Sustainable development targets is to maintain plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. In this aspect, Russia has strong expertise. 

The genetic diversity of seeds is preserved due to the Vavilov seed bank and Kuban genetic bank of seeds. Russia has the world collection of plant genetic resources, including 400 thousand samples. 

Therefore, the research institute, Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry (VIR) facilitates the production of hundreds of new species and hybrids annually. Moreover, Russia has been assisting other countries with shared knowledge through its huge expertise in the research and development (R&D) sector. 

Certain accomplishments by the Russian federation are pertinent to highlight in this area:

·         Under the prudent and dynamic leadership of President Vladimir Putin, the federation has adopted robust legislative amendments ensuring societal well-being.

·         Allocating special grants for the industrial composting of food waste.

·         Providing pervasive assistance to farmers and rural communities and advancing the agriculture sector.

·         Establishing warehouse logistics and the industrial processing of agricultural commodities, construction of storage networks.

·         Mobilizing efforts to mitigate adverse impacts of climate change on socio, political and economic fabrics of society.

·         Ensuring implementation of SDGs and maintaining low carbon footprints.

·         Supporting funds that assist vulnerable social groups.

·         Facilitating working group and leading commissions

·         Monitoring the provision of societal well-being.

Russia, one of the leading ideas of state policy is the modernization of education. Education provides easy access to education and improves its quality and efficiency. Furthermore, society’s demeanor to the future changes is cooperative and optimistic. 

Thereby, the society has welcome to extend the sphere of the educational system, focusing on the best foreign practices while adhering to sustainable development goal four ‘quality education’.

Russia and Pakistan Broader Cooperation: Prospects for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

Since the start of the new millennium, the strategic graph of Russia-Pakistan bilateral relations has followed an upwards trajectory. Russia’s outlook towards South Asia has dramatically evolved in the past decade. 

Moscow has highlighted its “Pivot to Asia'' strategy as a central part of its Foreign Policy objectives. These objectives aim at diversifying diplomatic and economic relations with the Asian states. 

In the contemporary era, the global pendulum of the economy has shifted its course towards the Asian region.

The contemporary geopolitical setting appears to be immensely encouraging in terms of the Russia-Pakistan relationship. 

There are multiple sectors such as geo-economics, defense, information technology, counter-terrorism in which both countries can extend their cooperation and extract maximum benefits out of the alliance. 

Russia and Pakistan recognize each other's geopolitical significance, especially regarding the Afghanistan conflict's durable solution. 

Moreover, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) provides yet another opportunity to strengthen Pak-Russia relations. Russia has announced its full support for the CPEC program. By the above mentioned profound analysis of Russian global outreach and agenda 2030, it has been clear that the country can pave the way to attain common goals together and assist Pakistan in this regard.

Therefore, Pakistan can extend its partnership with Russia to achieve global SDGs and add constructively into global alignments and cooperation. Collaboration to achieve the sustainable development goals would provide a new impetus for Pakistan and Russia to enhance their bilateral ties and foster people-to-people connectivity. 

The result-orientated policies by the visionary Russian leadership have ultimately proved to be a driving force for the amicable resolution of common global challenges and move towards regional cooperation.

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Admissions Open in Bahria University 2021 Open For New Programs Fall 2021. MPhil Anatomy, Pathology, Pharmacology.

16 years of education with MBBS/BDS From PMDC/HEC recognized university/institution With Minimum CGPA 2.5/4.0 or 50% marks if CGPA is not given.

HEC attestation on the candidate’s local degrees (on the back of original degrees), HEC equivalency certificate for the candidate’s foreign degrees, GAT General score with minimum 50% cumulative score or BU Test (50% minimum passing marks) Result to be submitted at the time of application in case of GAT (General) or GRE (General).

Get Highly Demand Certificate by getting admission in Bahria University. Bahria Has best E-learning system and High Qualified staff .

How to apply

Admissions to Bahria University are advertised in the leading national dailies and on the same website, in the period of June/July and Nov/Dec every year for Fall Semester but for Engineering programs which are advertised in June / July for Fall Semester (only one intake per year).

Prospective students are required to fill the online application form and apply for the program before the closing date.

COURTESY smartjobs.pk

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Besides taking their own government to task over poor allocation for the agriculture sector, some treasury members also expressed concern over law and order situation, electricity loadshedding and price hike in the country.

Even Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed demanded that electricity charges should be reduced and steps must be taken to reduce price hike.

Most of the members made rhetoric and political speeches as the opposition members termed the budget a “fraud with the people of Pakistan” and the treasury members dubbed it “the best and growth-oriented budget” in the present scenario amid Covid-19 pandemic.

In their speeches, the members mostly talked about the issues of their constituencies and criticised the performance of each other’s governments in the provinces.

The opposition members belonging to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan lashed out at the governments of the two provinces whereas the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) members, mostly from Karachi, criticised the performance of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government in Sindh.

Lawmakers mostly raise constituency-related issues during budget debate

The most hard-hitting speech was delivered by the ruling PTI member from Rajanpur, Riaz Mazari, against his own party’s federal government and provincial government in Punjab. He said poor people had been “crushed” under price hike, adding that either it was because of the previous governments or because the incumbent government had no capacity to resolve the issue.

“I will request the government to bring down price hike,” he said.

Mr Mazari said that his constituency had become a “no-go area” as though five IGs of Punjab police had been changed, the robbers were still roaming the area freely. He said a number of operations had been conducted in the area, but without any result. He said even the Rangers had conducted an operation, but the people of the area were still at the mercy of the robbers.

Mr Mazari said he had taken up the issue with Prime Minister Imran Khan and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar in the presence of the inspector general of police, but to no avail. He said the IG was even unable to provide information about the arrest and killing of robbers.

“There is no writ of government in the area,” he said. “Feeling insecure, the people have started migrating from the area.”

He then made a very interesting suggestion, that the money to be spent on operations should be given to the robbers so that they did not loot the people.

PTI MNA from Charsadda Fazal Mohammad Khan blasted his own party’s government in KP, saying the local officials had issued him completion certificates of 10 development projects in his constituency, but on ground only three projects had been completed.

“Where has the construction material of these projects gone?” he asked.

Mr Khan said the government had announced setting up of a medical college and a cadet college in his constituency but no funds had been allocated for them.

PTI MNA from Peshawar Arbab Sher Ali asked the government to take notice of the sit-in by the people in Janikhel area, saying that “these are faultlines.”

Agriculture

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Bashir Virk regretted that except Yaseen Wattoo in 1980s, no person affiliated to agriculture sector had become the country’s finance minister. He said Mr Wattoo had eliminated power theft by fixing tariff for tube-wells.

“This is the house of agriculturists. But we make decisions after taking dictation from bureaucrats and technocrats,” he said.

PTI MNA from Multan Rana Qasim Noon endorsed Mr Virk’s views and said Rs12bn allocation for agriculture in the budget was insufficient. He called for imposing “agriculture emergency” in the country.

“Regrettably the government has done nothing for agriculture. The nation is awaiting an agricultural policy,” Mr Noon said. Speaker Asad Qaiser had formed a committee on agriculture, but there was no outcome, he said.

“The policy makers are requested to please abandon anti-farmer policies. Enmity with the farmer means enmity with Pakistan,” he added.

Mr Noon said the farmers were not given loans and they had now stopped cultivating cotton. He also called for increasing the budget for health and education and said there must be the trickle-down effect of the budget on the masses.

The PML-N’s Nadeem Abbas said the government’s policies would force the farmers to commit suicide.

Khurram Dastagir of the PML-N said what kind of bumper crop of wheat the country had produced when flour price was going up and up and the government was now planning to import wheat. He alleged that wheat was being smuggled out of the country, saying the government was a “combination of incompetence and mafias.”

“The government claims that we have bumper crop of sugarcane but the price of sugar is constantly increasing,” he added.

The PPP’s Hassan Tariq regretted that no subsidy had been announced for seeds and fertilisers.

The National Assembly will meet again on Monday noon.

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 COURTESY DAWN NEWS

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ISLAMABAD, JUN 19: Iqra University planning to create 25,000 jobs and 2,500 startups in the next 10 years. The university has a fund of half a million dollars in venture capital to assist its student entrepreneurs and young start-ups in growing their businesses.

This announcement was made at a virtual online launch of Iqra University’s Business Incubation Centre held on Saturday.

The inauguration saw panel discussions about the challenges young entrepreneurship face including copyrights, seed financing and the importance of venture capital investors for pioneers.

“Our Business Incubation Centre’s vision is to change the lives of people. By supporting young businesses through their early and fragile stages of growth, we believe that our fund, as well as our technical expertise and physical facilities, will create a domino effect on the incubation and startup space,” said Dr Wasim Qazi, the vice-chancellor of Iqra University.

Panellists at the launch event included Zouhair Khaliq, member of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on IT and Telecom; Jehan Ara, founder and CEO Katalyst Lab; Asim Sheryar, CEO Ignite, Misbah Naqvi, co-founder Invest 2 Innovate; Omer Ghani, head of commercialization and startups HEC; Omer Abedin, director National Incubation Centre; and Zeeshan Hasib Baig, CEO Careem

“The Incubation Centre is going to be working at the very intersection of innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship.

Pakistan has a creative and entrepreneurial youth that needs to flourish. We plan to be there for just that, by helping our youth improve their skills, increase their access to finance and markets, and foster their sustainable growth.” said Dr Wasim Qazi.

According to a 2019 global entrepreneurship survey conducted by Gallup Pakistan, 55% of people from Pakistan agreed that there were good opportunities for starting a business in their area.

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Today 80% of small business owners think that graphic design is critical to the success of their business. 

They understand that graphic designs are not only meant to entice customers. You will be surprised to know that there are countless advantages of graphic design for companies. 

Graphic design can help attract, educate, inform your target audience and increase brand awareness, trust and sales when used efficiently. 

So why not use it? Take a look at the importance of web design in digital marketing and why you must use it now!

Why graphic design is a vital marketing tool for businesses?

• Use attractive graphic design to create a powerful brand impression

Studies show that 94% of consumers leave a website in seconds that has a poor web design. Therefore, not just a great first impression but leaving a lasting impression on customers is essential to boost a brand image. 

If your audience likes what they see in the first go, chances are they will stick with your brand for a long time.

Your brand’s image depends on its logo, website design, product packaging, etc. Business owners know that an excellent graphic design, including a logo, can keep audiences hooked. For example, look at the logo of Apple. It’s simple, eye-catchy, and effective.

• Graphic design passes a brand message fast

Let’s be realistic, customers today don’t have enough time or patience to go through lengthy content written on a website. 

According to research, the usual attention span of internet users is only 6.8 seconds. 

However, a graphic design expert can convert large chunks of content into fascinating images or graphics.

These graphics can pass on valuable information in a subtle way that a user will like. Attractive graphic designs are not only pleasing to the eyes, but they make content worthy of attention. 

It won’t be wrong to say that the importance of design in digital marketing is massive. Your design elements also an important factor of your digital branding. 

If you want to understand the differences between digital branding and digital marketing, you can learn more from our article.

• Stand out with the best graphic design and build a brand identity

To establish your brand’s identity, you must have something that makes you different from other businesses. 

Did you know that 92.6% of consumers have reported that their purchasing decision gets influenced by color? Yes, unique graphic design, choice of colors, layout, etc., can make your brand stand apart from the rest.

Check out how a graphic design can help to enhance a brand identity here with this example- https://masalska.myportfolio.com/stash-fine-gin

• Convey information effectively with interesting pictures

With fierce competition in every field, impressing your clients in a minute is easier said than done. 

Often, even words cannot effectively convey information within a short time. When it comes to conveying information through graphics or pictures, the importance of web design in digital marketing is massive.

A skillful graphic design can deliver accurate information in the form of reports, charts, and illustrations. Even if you have various products, a purposeful graphic design can impart valuable info with a simple and impressive design.

• Graphic design can help you win your customers

The importance of graphic design in digital marketing is not just limited to attracting customers with intriguing visuals. 

A decent graphic design allows businesses to make their audience understand and gain confidence in their brand. Today 60.8% of digital marketers believe that visuals are a vital component of profitable marketing.

Strategic design bridges the gap between business and the user, the possibilities of making a purchase increases. Result? Good brand image, loyal customers, & more sales.

• Strategic graphic designing means higher conversion and better ROI

Today 73% of companies invest in design to help their brand stay ahead of competitors. 

Why? The answer is simple. As mentioned earlier, an outstanding graphic design for businesses can help them build trust and gain higher visibility.

Result? Better visibility means an increase in the chances of higher conversions. The equation is simple. If your customers believe in your brand and are attracted to your products, improvement in sales and revenue is certain. 

Influential graphic designs, therefore, attract more consumers to a brand’s website. Plus, they increase the probability of conversions.

• Benefits of easy navigation

Enhancing the user experience when customers visit your website is vital for your business. Customized graphic elements is a strategy that always helps in improving navigation and boosting usability. 

Along with getting aesthetic pleasure from viewing a stylish visual element, these graphics help customers easily navigate through the website and help in conversions.

•  Appealing graphic design can make your content shine

As the significance of authentic content, the importance of design in digital marketing is worth praising too. 

Professional graphic designers know that the purpose of a graphic designer is not to divert the customers’ attention to the color or design but the content.

A design should be such that the customer will read the content first. Graphic designs with multiple images or text content can appear cluttered, and reads may ignore it. Therefore, a creative graphic design always focuses on making content clear, understandable, and helpful.

• Effective graphic design can boost the visibility of your campaigns

If you surf the web, you will find hundreds of marketing campaigns running today. While some will grab your attention, you may spend less than 30 seconds on the one that is not attractive. 

Now, this means you only get a few seconds to impress the customers. Therefore, with the digital market becoming a competitive space, the only way to make your brand stand out is with stunning graphics.

By now, you must have understood the importance of graphic design in digital marketing. Therefore, do not forget to utilize graphic design in the best way possible to establish your brand identity and boost profit. 

Remember, the perfect graphic design gives tremendous support to your business. If you want to focus on web design and boost your brand online you can get help from the best online web design courses at DAN Institute.

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COURTESY daninstitute

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