Karachi: The prices of chicken and chicken meat have experienced a sharp increase in the city of Karachi and other cities throughout Pakistan, local media reported.
The current price of chicken in Karachi is Rs 490 per kg, while the price of chicken meat has reached Rs 720 per kg, Samaa TV reported.
This price hike is due to the closure of several poultry businesses due to a shortage of feed, Samaa TV reported.
Poultry business owners have hinted at this being the reason behind the skyrocketting prices, with a kilogram of poultry meat selling for as much as Rs 720 in Karachi.
In Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and some other cities, the price of chicken has also reached an all-time high, with a kilogram of poultry meat being sold for Rs 700-705, Samaa TV reported.
Meanwhile, in Lahore, the second most populous city in the country, the price of chicken meat is hovering between Rs 550-600 per kg.
These rising prices have been a cause of concern for many consumers, who rely on chicken as a staple source of protein.
The government is currently investigating the cause of the feed shortage and looking for ways to provide relief to consumers affected by these rising prices.
The poultry industry is a vital part of Pakistan’s economy, and any disruptions to its supply chain can have a significant impact on the country’s food security and economic stability, Samaa TV reported.
The government is working to ensure that the supply of poultry products remains uninterrupted and that prices remain stable.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Friday the object was flying at 40,000 feet “and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of the civilian flight.” President Joe Biden, following the Pentagon’s recommendation, ordered that the object be shot down.
Kirby said the object was much smaller than the Chinese spy balloon — about the “size of a small car” as opposed to the “two or three buses size” Chinese balloon.
The object was spotted Thursday night and the president was briefed shortly after. According to a senior military official, the military picked up the object using a ground-based radar and F-35 fighter jets to observe it.
On Friday, U.S. Northern Command on Friday scrambled two F-22 fighter jets to intercept the object over northeastern part of Alaska, near Canada. It was shot down around 1:45 p.m. Eastern time. Efforts are underway to attempt to recover the debris where it fell onto a frozen region of territorial waters.
Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said after the military determined the object was not manned, one of the two F-22 jets fired a Sidewinder missile to take it down. It was the same type of jet and missile that took down the spy balloon last Saturday.
One senior administration official, who also asked to remain anonymous, said that once the military finds whatever is left of the object, a better identification might be possible. “They need to see it up close, it’s so small. We will get more clarity.”
Neither Kirby nor Ryder would venture to guess what the object was, or who launched it. “We don’t have any information that would confirm a stated purpose for this object,” Kirby said.
Kirby said Biden’s primary reason for ordering the military to shoot the object down “was the safety of flight issue.” The Chinese spy balloon last week flew much higher, around 60,000 feet, well above the altitude for commercial air traffic.
Kirby emphasized the differences between this object and the Chinese balloon, noting repeatedly the smaller size of the new object and that it was over water when Biden ordered to shoot it down. The president faced criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for the delay in shooting down the Chinese balloon, which flew over Canada and the U.S. for a week before the fighter jet shot it down over water.
“As I’ve been doing for the past week, including in a classified briefing with senior Pentagon officials yesterday, I strongly encouraged the NORTHCOM Cmdr this morning to shoot down this latest unidentified intrusion into Alaska air space. I commend them for doing so today.”
On Friday, the Biden administration unveiled its first official retaliation against Beijing for sending a spy balloon over U.S. territory, adding six Chinese aerospace companies to a commercial blacklist for their support of government surveillance programs.
The Commerce Department announced that U.S. companies would be barred from doing business with the six listed companies unless they receive special licenses.
The Chinese companies were slapped with the designation “for their support to China’s military modernization efforts, specifically the People’s Liberation Army’s aerospace programs including airships and balloons and related materials and components,” the Commerce Department said in a statement. The agency noted that the People’s Liberation Army is using high-altitude balloons “for intelligence and reconnaissance activities.”
Kirby on Friday defended that decision to wait to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon, saying the Pentagon knew the airship’s basic flight path and was able “significantly curtail any intelligence ability that the Chinese could get from the balloon.”
He said the information gleaned from surveilling the balloon did not provide insights for the detection and track of the new object on Friday.
“At this time, all I can tell you is it did not appear to have the ability to independently maneuver,” Kirby said. “We’ll attempt recovery and see what we can learn more from.”
Alexander Ward, Lara Seligman and Gavin Bade contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Srinagar, Feb 10: Citing security of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir, the authorities on Friday ordered that no vehicle will be allowed to enter the court premises without a valid parking pass.
In an order, copy of which lies with the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), Registrar Judicial Srinagar said that the security in charge High Court will also ensure parking of the vehicles in the designated parking slots in the premises.
“In the interest of security of High Court and in order to regulate the entry of vehicles into the court premises, Srinagar, in charge security High Court, Srinagar, is hereby directed not to allow any vehicle to enter into the premises without holding a valid parking pass although valid upto 31.12.2022/authorized letter issued by the competent authority,” reads the order.
It reads he is further directed to ensure parking of the vehicles in the designated parking slots in the Premises.
The order stated in case any deviation in implementing the order is found, it will amount to disobedience and shall be dealt sternly—(KNO)
The association faced widespread criticism after the Palm Beach Post reported that the organization asked student athletes about their menstruation history and was considering making it mandatory.
During the meeting, a lawyer present with FHSAA read dozens of letters opposing the inclusion of the menstruation questions. The feedback included comments from outraged parents and community members who stated: “This is so out of line … you idiots are sick” and “I thank god I do not have a daughter because I would never allow her to play sports under these standards.”
Chris Patricca, one of two members who voted against changing the form, told the board members she continued to object to the elimination of the menstrual cycle questions.
“Many of today’s comments in my opinion could have the impact of further stigmatizing this perfectly normal bodily function — implying that menstruation is in any way shameful is an archaic notion,” Patricca said. “What is controversial is the political pressure that has been placed on the association to look at this through the lens of political hot button issues.”
The questionnaire caused an uproar in Florida and beyond, in part because parents and others believed it was an invasion of privacy and worried the information could be used to prosecute teen athletes who received abortions outside of the permitted time frame. Florida last year banned women and girls from getting abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for victims of rape and incest.
Some LGBTQ advocates also feared the disclosure of an athlete’s menstruation history would stigmatize transgender students. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2021 signed a bill outlawing transgender women and girls from competing in women’s sports.
John Gerdes, president of the association, said he wanted to make it clear that DeSantis and his office had nothing to do with the decisions made by the board.
“We felt no pressure from them, they did not contact us,” Gerdes said. “This was our issue to deal with.”
After the association voted, Florida Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book released a statement thanking the board for rejecting the “bizarre, outrageous, and inappropriate recommendation regarding mandated period tracking for female athletes — and for not only soliciting but actually listening to public testimony.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday adjourned hearing in a plea seeking a declaration of PM CARES Fund as “State” under Article 12 of the Constitution of India, to April 20.
Due to the unavailability of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the matter was adjourned.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on December 31 told the High Court that the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund is not a public authority according to the Right to Information Act, 2005 and not a “State” under Article 12 of the Constitution of India, but a “public charitable trust”.
A division bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad was dealing with a plea moved by Samyak Gangwal, seeking a declaration of PM CARES Fund as “State” under the Constitution. It would attract consequential directions for disclosing the Fund’s audit reports periodically, disclosing the Fund’s quarterly details of donations received, utilisation thereof and resolutions on expenditure of donations, it added.
The affidavit stated that the plea is based on “apprehensions and suppositions” and that a constitutional question should not be decided in a vacuum.
Filed by the Under Secretary of PMO to the court, the affidavit said: “This Trust is neither intended to be, nor is in fact owned, controlled or substantially financed by any government nor any instrumentality of the government. There is no control of either the Central government or any state governments, either direct or indirect, in the functioning of the Trust in any manner whatsoever.
“According to the affidavit submitted, the PM CARES Fund is a public charitable trust accepting only voluntary donations and is certainly not the Centre’s business.
“PM CARES Fund does not receive funds or finances by the government,” it was mentioned.
However, counsel for petitioner Senior Advocate Shyam Divan had said: “High functionaries of the government like the Vice President had requested the Rajya Sabha members to make donations” and that “the PM CARES Fund has been projected as a government fund”.
In response, the PMO had argued: “The PM CARES Fund is administered on the pattern of Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF) as both are chaired by the Prime Minister. Like the National Emblem and domain name ‘gov.in’ are being used for the PMNRF, the same are also being used for PM CARES Fund.
“The affidavit stated: “The composition of the Board of Trustees consisting of holders of public office ex officio – the Supreme Court, Union Home Minister, the Union Finance Minister, the former chairman of Tata Sons Ratan Tata, former Judge K.T. Thomas, and Former Deputy Speaker Kariya Mund” – is merely for administrative convenience and for smooth succession to the trusteeship and is neither intended to be nor in fact result into any governmental control in the functioning of the Trust in any manner whatsoever.
“Besides the declaration of PM CARES Fund as ‘State’ under the Constitution, Gangwal has also sought that PM CARES Fund should be restrained from using ‘PM’ in its names/ website, State Emblem, domain name ‘gov’ in its website and PM’s Office as its official address.
“On March 27, 2020, the trust deed of PM CARES Fund was registered as a Public Charitable Trust under the Registration Act, 1908 in New Delhi.
“Keeping in mind the need for having a dedicated fund with the primary objective of dealing with any kind of emergency or distress situation, like posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, and providing relief to the affected, a public charitable trust under the name of PM CARES Fund was set up, the affidavit stated.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court collegium headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud has recommended the appointment of the chief justices of the high courts of Patna, Himachal Pradesh, Gauhati and Tripura.
The three-member collegium has recommended the name of Justice K Vinod Chandran of the Kerala High Court for appointment as the chief justice of the Patna High Court and Justice Sabina as the chief justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.
The collegium, also having Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, met on February 7 and recommended the name of Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh for appointment as the chief justice of the Tripura High Court.
It recommended the appointment of Justice Sandeep Mehta as the chief justice of the Gauhati High Court.
The collegium resolutions uploaded on the apex court website said that the office of the chief justice of the Patna High Court has fallen vacant recently, consequent upon elevation of Justice Sanjay Karol as a judge of the top court.
The collegium said Justice Chandran, who is the senior-most judge of the Kerala High Court, was appointed as a judge on November 8, 2011 and is due to retire on April 24, 2025.
“The collegium has previously resolved to appoint Justice K Vinod Chandran as chief justice of the Gauhati High Court. Since the date of that recommendation, the position of chief justices in a number of other high courts has fallen vacant, consequent of retirement and elevation of the incumbent chief justices as judges of the Supreme Court,” it said.
“Having regard to the above circumstances, the collegium resolves to recall its earlier recommendation for appointment of Justice K Vinod Chandran as chief justice of the Gauhati High Court and resolves to recommend that he be appointed as chief justice of the High Court of Judicature at Patna, as he is fit and suitable for the same,” said the resolution.
Justice Sabina, whose parent high court is Punjab and Haryana, is currently the acting chief justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court.
The collegium noted that the office of the chief justice of the Himachal Pradesh High Court has fallen vacant recently, consequent upon the retirement of Justice AA Sayed and therefore, appointment to that office is required to be made.
Justice Sabina was appointed as judge on March 12, 2008 and is due to retire on April 19 this year.
The collegium noted that by its separate resolution, it has proposed the appointment of Justice Jaswant Singh, senior most puisne judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court as the chief justice of the Tripura High Court.
It said Justice Singh is due to retire on February 22, 2023.
The collegium further said it had already recommended Justice Rajesh Bindal, the first in order of seniority among the judges from the Punjab and Haryana High Court (presently Chief Justice of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad), for appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court.
“In this backdrop, having regard to the seniority of Justice Sabina, the collegium resolves to recommend that she be appointed as chief justice of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh as she is fit and suitable in all respects for the same,” it said.
The resolution for appointment of the chief justice of the Tripura High Court said, “The collegium, therefore, resolves to recommend that upon the retirement of Justice Jaswant Singh, Justice Apresh Kumar Singh be appointed as the Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court.”
It noted that office of the chief justice of the Tripura High Court has been lying vacant for some time, consequent upon retirement of Justice Indrajit Mahanty and therefore, appointment to that office is required to be made.
The collegium said that by its resolution dated January 25, 2023, the collegium has recommended the appointment of Justice Jaswant Singh, presently the senior most judge in the Orissa High Court, as chief justice of the Tripura High Court.
The resolution said the collegium has already recommended the transfer of Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh from the Jharkhand High Court to the Tripura High Court.
It noted that the state of Jharkhand is unrepresented among the chief justices of high courts.
Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh was appointed as a judge on January 24, 2012 and is set to retire on July 6, 2027.
For the Gauhati High Court, the collegium said the office of its chief justice has fallen vacant recently, consequent upon retirement of Justice R M Chhaya.
The collegium said Justice Mehta, a judge of the Rajasthan High Court, was appointed on May 30, 2011 and is due to retire on January 10, 2025.
“The Rajasthan High Court is unrepresented among the chief justices of the high courts. The collegium has previously resolved to appoint Justice K Vinod Chandran as chief justice of the Gauhati High Court. The collegium vide a separate resolution, has recommended appointment of Justice K Vinod Chandran as chief justice of the High Court of Judicature at Patna,” it said.
“Considering the above position, the collegium resolves to recommend the appointment of Justice Sandeep Mehta as chief justice of the Gauhati High Court as he is fit and suitable for the same,” it said.
While some of the increase in last year’s trade figures may be a result of historic levels of inflation, the figures remain eye opening, particularly considering the years-long U.S. tariff campaign on Chinese imports and new efforts to stop the flow of U.S. tech to Beijing. And they demonstrate just how intertwined the U.S. and China remain, commercially at least, despite efforts to effectively “decouple” their economies.
“The decisions of consumers and businesses so far have been more powerful than governments,” said Ed Gresser, former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Trade Policy and Economics. “Tariffs are basically a form of taxation. They have an influence on trade flows, but they don’t have the overwhelmingly powerful influence, or at least they haven’t so far.”
After years of steadily rising imports from China, former President Donald Trump launched a tit-for-tat trade war in 2018 that led to tariffs on more than $300 billion worth of Chinese goods. That was driven initially by concerns over Chinese trade practices that forced American companies to turn over valuable intellectual property, but the original purpose was soon lost.
Beijing retaliated by hitting around $100 billion of U.S. products, and most of the duties imposed by both sides still remain in place two years into the Biden administration.
Trump justified a number of his trade actions in the name of national security, a trend that has continued during the Biden administration, especially in the form of export controls aimed at keeping the most sensitive U.S. technology away from China’s military.
That reflects concern over Chinese President Xi Jinping’s goal of reuniting China and Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing has long viewed as part of its territory and whose strategic position would help the Chinese military dominate the region.
Still, despite talk of “decoupling” from China, U.S. imports of Chinese goods increased to $538.8 billion in 2022, only slightly less than the record set in 2018. The U.S. also exported a record $153.8 billion worth of goods to China last year.
The gap between exports and imports in trade with China was $382.9 billion in 2022, which was also the second bilateral trade deficit highest on record.
A large share of the U.S. exports to China are agricultural goods, putting farmers on the frontline of any efforts to sever or scale back trade relations.
“I think decoupling from China would be a terrible mistake,” John Bode, president & CEO of the Corn Refiners Association and a member of the Farmers for Free Trade Coalition, told reporters recently. “What needs to happen is a strategic approach to managing the relationship so that strategically sensitive information is protected.”
That seems the more likely course at the moment, despite the current diplomatic uproar over a Chinese spy balloon discovered flying over U.S. territory and similar episodes — former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan in August — that have strained the relationship.
A recent report by the Boston Consulting Group forecasts trade between the U.S. and China to decrease by $63 billion, or just about 10 percent, through 2031, as companies look to avoid supply chain disruptions by shifting production to less geopolitically risky places such as Mexico, India and countries in Southeast Asia.
Instead of abandoning China completely, many companies and countries are developing “a China-plus-one strategy” to diversify their options, Nikolaus Lang, a managing director and senior partner at Boston Consulting Group, said in an interview.
Vietnam, in particular, has benefited as American companies seek to hedge their reliance on the Chinese supply chains in a trend that predates Trump.
Two-way trade between the United States and Vietnam has more than tripled over the past 10 years, reaching a record $127.5 billion in 2022. Most of the growth has been in U.S. imports from Vietnam as companies have shifted production out of China. That has resulted in a U.S. trade deficit with Vietnam that also set a record last year at $116.1 billion.
U.S. trade with the rest of the world also hit a record high in 2022, despite a new wave of protectionism at home and across the globe. It’s a reminder that even as Covid-19 severed supply chains and geopolitical tensions prompted talk of “near-shoring,” the end of globalization may not be as definitive as some have suggested.
“You can see some shifting of sourcing — a little bit less from China and somewhat more from some other sources,” Gresser said. “But you haven’t seen that show up as the U.S. trading less than it used to be. In dollar terms, we’re trading more than we did in the past.”
The 2022 numbers include record imports of $553.3 billion from the European Union, which has complained loudly about new U.S. clean energy and technology subsidies that they fear will hurt their sales to the United States and siphon investment out of Europe.
That could be the case in the future, but it’s still too early to see the impact of the new U.S. policies on the trade data, Lang said.
In fact, imports have also risen as a percentage of the overall U.S. economy in recent years, while exports have dipped in those terms. That may be because companies have had less incentive to export because of strong domestic demand, or it could be that Trump’s tariffs boosted the cost of inputs and made U.S. products more expensive, Gresser said.
The strong U.S. dollar, which increases the costs of American goods for foreign buyers, also is a drag on exports, he added.
Despite that, the United States still had record exports to a number of trading partners, including the EU, China and more than 70 others.
One obvious exception was Russia, which the United States and its allies hit with a number of sanctions after Moscow’s further invasion of Ukraine in late February 2022. Two-way U.S.-Russia trade was less than half of the 2021 level, with both imports and exports down sharply from pre-war volumes.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Cash Transaction Notice: If you deposit money in cash, then first of all read this news. The era is of digital transactions and the government keeps an eye on all your financial transactions, in such a situation, you can get a notice from the Income Tax Department on depositing the amount in cash. Let’s know.
Cash Transaction Notice: If you are a taxpayer then there is very important news for you. Your one mistake can get you a notice from the tax department. Actually, the government keeps an eye on all your financial transactions. If you do cash transactions more than a limit, then you can get a notice from the Income Tax Department.
Actually, the Income Tax Department has to give information to banks, mutual funds, brokerage houses and property registrars if someone does big cash transactions. In such a situation, if you also do more cash transactions than digital, then you are making a mistake. Let us know about some such cash transactions that can get you the notice of Income Tax Department.
Property Shopping If you buy or sell property worth 30 lakhs or more in cash, then you will be informed about this to the Income Tax Department. In such a situation, the Income Tax Department can inquire about it from you. You can also be asked about the source of your cash.
Payment of Credit Card Bill If you also deposit the credit card bill in cash, then you can get into trouble. If you deposit your credit card bill in cash more than Rs 1 lakh in one go, then the Income Tax Department can inquire from you. If you pay a credit card bill of more than Rs 10 lakh in cash in a financial year, then you will also have to provide its source.
Buying shares and mutual funds Be cautious if you invest in the stock market or do large amounts of cash transactions in mutual funds, debentures and bonds. If you invest more than Rs 10 lakh in these in a financial year, you can get a notice from the Income Tax Department.
Deposit in cash in FD If you deposit more than Rs 10 lakh in fixed deposits in a year, then the Income Tax Department may ask you for information about the source of these money. You deposit money in FD digitally only, so that the income tax department will have a record of your transactions and you will not face any problem.
Do not deposit cash in bank account The way you deposit Rs 10 lakh or more in cash in a year in fixed deposits, then you may be questioned. Apart from this, if you deposited an amount of 10 lakh or more in cash in a year in any bank or co-operative bank, then you will come under the radar of Income Tax Department. In such a situation, if you want to deposit any amount, do it online so that the department knows about your transaction.
Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir is all set to revolutionise its fruit industry with introduction of the High-Density Plantation (HDP) system and production of quality planting material.
The UT’s Department of Horticulture, in collaboration with Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (ICAR-CITH), have got together to provide technological intervention for the new project.
The project aims to enhance the production capacity of planting material to 111 lakh in the first five years, develop 390 hectare of nurseries in public and private sectors, rejuvenate 2,000 hectare of orchard areas, and produce planting material to cover 5,500 hectare under HDP of 12 fruit crops.
Additionally, the project aims to strengthen plant testing and quality control, tissue culture, and virus indexing labs besides building capacity by training 5,000 farmers and 150 technical manpower from SKUAST and the Department of Horticulture. The project shall create 200 new enterprises in the form of HD nurseries and provide potential jobs to 25,000 persons.
“The current lack of quality planting material in the region limits the potential of the fruit industry and costs the region approximately Rs 500 crore in imports, which also brings in new pests and diseases,” Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture Production, Atal Dulloo, said.
“The mission of the project is to domestically produce quality planting material, reduce imports, prioritize high-density plantation of fruit crops, transform old orchards into more productive orchard systems, and diversify the JK fruit industry to capture the national and international market,” he added.
“Production of Designer Plants for Promotion of High-Density Plantation and Rejuvenation of Orchards” is one among the 29 projects, which were approved by the Jammu and Kashmir administration after being recommended by the UT Level Apex Committee for holistic development of agriculture and allied sectors.
JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir is all set to revolutionize its fruit industry with introduction of High-Density Plantation (HDP) system and production of quality planting material.
The Department of Horticulture, in collaboration with Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST) and Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (ICAR-CITH), have ventured together to provide technological intervention for this new project. The goal is to make Jammu and Kashmir a self-reliant bio-economy by harnessing the economic potential of its diversified fruit crops.
The project aims to enhance the production capacity of planting material to 111 lakh in the first five years, develop 390 hectare of nurseries in public and private sectors, rejuvenate 2,000 hectare of orchard areas and produce planting material to cover 5,500 hectare under HDP of 12 fruit crops. Additionally, the project aims to strengthen plant testing and quality control, tissue culture and virus indexing labs besides building capacity by training 5,000 farmers and 150 technical manpower from SKUAST and the Department of Horticulture. The project shall create 200 new enterprises in the form of HD nurseries and provide potential jobs to 25000 persons.
technological intervention for planting material production, the project will generate inputs for apple, pear, olive, walnut, mango, citrus, guava, litchi, stone fruits, kiwi fruit, almond, and dragon fruit plantations. The promotion of these fruit crops on a large scale will not only increase productivity and returns for farmers, but also raise the income of nursery growers by around Rs. 1.0 lakh per kanal per year.
This project is a game changer for the horticulture industry in Jammu and Kashmir and will help to improve the lives of farmers and increase the overall income of the region. By focusing on HDP systems and quality planting material, the region can achieve its goal of becoming a self-reliant bio-economy.
