Sunrisers Hyderabad survived a late assault by Punjab Kings batsmen Shashank Singh and Ashutosh Sharma to win by two runs in an IPL thriller on Tuesday.   Nitish Kumar Reddy, a 20-year-old batting all-rounder, pulled Hyderabad out of early trouble to guide them to 182-9 after being invited to bat first at Punjab's new home Mullanpur.   Punjab looked down and out at 114-6 but Shashank (46) and Sharma (33) put on an unbeaten stand of 66 off 27 balls to give Hyderabad a scare as Punjab ended on 180-6.   Hyderabad's Pat Cummins looked a relieved captain after left-arm quick Jaydev Unadkat just about defended 29 runs in the last over, which witnessed three dropped catches in the deep.   Cummins, who was paid $2.5 million by Hyderabad in the auction, praised Reddy for his batting, one wicket and a catch as well.   "He was awesome, fantastic debut last week," Australia's World Cup-winning captain said.   "Straight to the top for the order, fantastic in the field, bowled three overs too. To get us to 180 off his bat, it was amazing."   Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two wickets to play a key part in Hyderabad's third win in five matches to stay fifth, above Punjab in the 10-team table.   But Reddy set up victory with his 37-ball 64 laced with four fours and five sixes as he put on a key 50-run sixth-wicket stand with Abdul Samad, who hit a 12-ball 25.   Punjab quick Arshdeep Singh struck twice in the space of three balls to send back Travis Head, for 21, and Aiden Markram, for a duck, before Reddy took charge.   Reddy rebuilt the innings as he stood firm despite wickets falling around him and mixed the right dose of caution and aggression.   Arshdeep again struck twice in an over as he sent back Samad and Reddy but Shahbaz Ahmed steered the team to a total which eventually proved enough with his unbeaten seven-ball 14.   Sam Curran and Harshal Patel took two wickets each but leaked runs.   Punjab wobbled early in their chase after Cummins took down Jonny Bairstow for a three-ball duck and soon slipped to 58-4 when Curran departed on 29.   Zimbabwe's Sikander Raza hit 28 but it was number six Shashank and number eight Sharma who took on the chase only to finish two short. "There was always the hope that they could finish the game. Hats off to them that they brought it this close," Punjab skipper Shikhar Dhawan said after their third loss this season. "Gives us confidence and hope for the next game. We have to do better in certain areas and improve."   Source: BSS

The All Government Employees Grand Alliance (AGEGA) Punjab announced a strike in all educational institutions of the province until the cancellation of the leave encashment notification. AGEGA Punjab has been holding a sit-in outside the Civil Secretariat for the past two days to protest against the proposed privatisation of public schools, amendments to pension regulations, and the cessation of leave encashment. They initiated a protest campaign against the government on Tuesday. A total of 34 organisations representing employees from various Punjab government departments, including health, education, and higher education, along with members of the All Pakistan Clerks Association, are participating in the sit-in. Throughout the day, protesters chanted slogans against the caretaker government and Caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi. The Punjab government has erected barricades outside the Civil Secretariat and deployed police on the Lower Mall. AGEGA Punjab office bearers conducted a meeting outside the Civil Secretariat since no government representative approached them to address their concerns after two days had passed. AGEGA leader Tariq Zaidi told Dawn that the meeting had resulted in the decision to close all educational institutions in protest, with no teachers attending classes. He said that they had previously engaged in a partial strike, but the government had not approached them to address their demands. Zaidi criticised the government for pursuing anti-worker and labor policies, vowing not to permit such actions.

Hundreds of villages in various areas of Pakistan’s Punjab have submerged under water due to low to medium floods in the Ravi, Sutlej, and Indus rivers, Dawn reported. Dawn is a Pakistani English-language newspaper. Several dozen people in Chiniot and other districts have been displaced, and several small dams along the banks of River Sutlej in Arifwala have been washed away. Evacuations have also begun in the katcha areas of South Punjab as the water level rises in Chenab and Indus rivers in Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghazi Khan, and Rahim Yar Khan. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority has reported low to medium-level flooding at Tarbela, Kalabagh, Taunsa, and Chashma in the Indus River, low at GS Wala, and medium at Sulemanki in the Sutlej River. Meanwhile, the Ravi and Chenab rivers are flowing normally, as per Dawn. Punjab caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited Samal village in district Chiniot, where around 50 villages were affected by the floods, resulting in the destruction of houses and property. The chief minister ordered the construction of an embankment in the area and warned that the flood level might increase in the coming days, urging people to take precautionary measures. Naqvi oversaw rescue operations and assessed the damage to houses. He directed the administration to provide fodder for the animals of flood-affected people and reported that 90 per cent of the evacuations in flood-affected areas were completed. The continuous rain in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur has raised the possibility of flooding in the hill torrents of the region. There could be an increase in water level at Tarbela and Kalabagh in the Indus River, with a moderate flood observed at Chashma and Taunsa, according to Dawn. In Rajanpur, a flood emergency has been declared due to the heavy rains in the Suleiman range. Source: ANI

In a remarkable turn of events, kinnow growers in Punjab now have a reason to celebrate. The fruit they once considered waste is now being eagerly purchased by the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation (PAIC) to be transformed into a delightful citrus gin. The first batch of this gin, aptly named Oregin, has already hit the shelves in Goa, Mumbai, Delhi, and Chandigarh. Priced at Rs 1,800 for a 750 ml bottle, a staggering 25,000 cases of gin have already been distilled, with 13,000 bottles sold exclusively in Goa.  Mangal Singh, the Chairman of PAIC, expressed his enthusiasm for the success of this venture. Kinnow, a crucial horticultural crop in Punjab, as well as neighboring states like Haryana and Rajasthan, has traditionally faced the issue of undersized fruit (C and D grade) being discarded as waste, while only the top-grade fruit is sold to retail customers. “After the initial attempt to extract and market juices from these undersized kinnows, it became clear that the taste did not appeal to consumers due to its slight bitterness,” explained a senior PAIC official. To find an alternative and valuable use for such kinnows, the PAIC sought the expertise of a French sommelier.  After two years of refining the recipe, which incorporates kinnow, juniper, and other spices, and conducting extensive tasting sessions, the PAIC decided to proceed with the commercial launch.  The manufacturing of the gin is being carried out in collaboration with a craft distillery in Goa, with a patent already filed for the unique blend. PAIC officials state that the low-grade kinnows will be purchased from farmers at existing market rates, with a minimum base price of Rs 8 per kg.  As the brand gains popularity, PAIC anticipates procuring up to 50,000 quintals of kinnow each year to meet the demand for gin production. Promoting value addition in agricultural produce, Ramandeep Singh Mann, an agricultural expert, emphasized the significance of such initiatives.  He noted, “Value addition to all horticultural crops is the need of the hour,” highlighting that successful endeavors like this could inspire farmers to consider diversification from the conventional wheat-paddy monoculture. With Punjab Agro Industries Corporation’s ingenious approach, what was once considered waste has now become a profitable venture, benefitting both farmers and gin enthusiasts alike.  This transformative endeavor not only showcases the potential for innovation in the agricultural sector but also paves the way for a more sustainable and prosperous future. Source: khalsavox.com

“My mission in life is not merely to survive but to thrive and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.“-Maya Angelou. She has earned many names like “giant slayer”, “David”(of the David and Goliath fame), “the underdog”, etc. but the most significant and fitting one is “the Pad-woman of Amritsar”, Jeevan Jyot Kaur, better known as the superwoman who defeated heavyweights like Majithia and Siddhu in 2022 State Legislative Assembly from East Punjab seat. Nonetheless, she is not just another politician with a political agenda. She has been a social activist and philanthropist since she was younger and, in her heart, still continues to be one today! “Back in school, I used to be a good orator. I was an all-rounder who loved taking decisions for me and my companions”. A post-graduate in English Honors, Jeevan Jyot completed her LLB from Chaudhary Charan Singh University and subsequently joined her parents’ NGO as a volunteer. S.H.E Society (Shri Hemkunt Educational Society) works in the sphere of education, health, and women empowerment. Currently the chairperson of S.H.E, the activist-turned-politician has the aim of educating girls about menstrual health and removing taboos around the subject. She reminisces about a school visit to a backward village in Punjab where the girls were shocked at being talked about periods and were extremely hesitant to broach the subject. “We surveyed hundreds of schools in the interior of Punjab to study menstruation-related problems among teenage girls. We found the majority of them could not afford to purchase a sanitary pad”, says Jeevan Jyot. This struck her hard and she began campaigning to provide free-of-cost sanitary pads to schools, women’s jails, and old-age homes, earning the sobriquet of ‘Pad-woman’. In this inspirational quest, she also collaborated with EcoFemme, a Swiss firm that is based in Puducherry that manufactures reusable, organic, and anti-bacterial pads for women. “We produced a two-hour-long menstrual program and launched a project called EcoShe-Revolution. We have covered around 500 schools, and distributed the sanitary-napkin kit free of cost”. Since then, this project has traveled from Punjab to Haryana to Bihar and a presentation was also made in the House of Common in London. The S.H.E Society is a non-profit, non-political, voluntary organization founded in 1995-96 under the dynamic leadership of Mrs. Jeevan Jyot Kaur. It works for the upliftment of poor and disadvantaged sections of society through developmental projects in order to create a self-reliant community. Their major strife is for women’s empowerment and creating a drug-free society. The primary aim of this ‘Sanstha’ is to make the youth healthy, both physically and mentally, to make them socially productive, and educate them to preserve the culture and secular traditions of India. The Chairperson, Jeevan Jyot Kaur, wants to continue working for these underprivileged people because she strongly believes that through proper guidance, in terms of counseling and vocational training, they can be rehabilitated. Although it is a mammoth task, she believes in her cause and is hell-bent on providing them with appropriate opportunities. Talking more about ‘EcoShe-Revolution’- it is an all-woman initiative – of the women, by the women, and for the women. This project promotes and revitalizes menstrual practices that are healthy, affordable, and ecological. In an interview, Jeevan Jyot said that this project was born when she saw slum women using unhygienic and dangerous methods for their menstrual cycle. She said, “The ones which are available in the market are made of plastic hygienically dangerous in the long run. I also have a team of doctors with me vouching for the same. Moreover, there is no commercial motive behind this step, it is just to ensure that women are & adopting correct methods.” Kaur’s Twitter bio calls her ‘Pad-woman of Punjab’. Rightly so because she is, undisputedly, the first woman of Punjab to have addressed this issue with so much vigor. Just like her philanthropic endeavors, her political journey has also been inspiring as she stood against stalwarts like Navjot Singh Sidhu and Vikramjeet Singh Majithia and defeated them. She maintains that her party’s main agenda is to focus on neglected issues that are affecting the masses like poor civic infrastructure in slums and lack of adequate healthcare and sanitation. After her debut as an MLA, she vows to continue her activism. “I would work to make our women financially independent by boosting skill development programs and self-help groups in Punjab.” From a never-ending web of drugs to unemployment and mass exodus of youth to countries like Canada and the UK, Kaur has a daunting, uphill climb ahead of her. Nevertheless, she says, “there are no smooth roads in life; all you need is the determination to chart your own way forward”. Jeevan Jyot Kaur’s unwavering commitment and pioneering initiatives have inspired a wave of change across Punjab. She has fostered a cultural shift, sparked open dialogue and broken down the walls of silence about so to say “women’s issues”. Her efforts have led to greater awareness and acceptance, enabling women and girls to embrace their natural bodily functions without shame or guilt.  

Punjab caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday announced to conduct an independent audit of the free flour scheme in Punjab for the sake of “transparency and financial prudence” after baseless allegations by some Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, Dawn reported. On May 6, Mohsin Naqvi said, “We have decided to go for an immediate audit through the Auditor General Pakistan office, and simultaneously through a private audit firm of established international repute,” as per the Dawn report. He further said that a request was sent to the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau to verify if anything related to the allegations was committed by any “nefarious elements”. Punjab caretaker CM’s decision comes after the PML-N leader’s allegations. PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had alleged that Pakistani Rupees 20 billion was looted during the free flour distribution programme which was first started in Punjab, as per the news report. He made the statement last week during a seminar at Lahore’s Government College University. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had said, “Recently, Rs84bn worth of [free] flour was distributed. I am sorry to say that approximately Rs20 bn was looted. Look at it any which way. What if the poor man get for whom you spent Rs84bn?”, Dawn reported. Abbasi further said that it was not possible to deliver on the promises within the current system of governance. He called for changing the whole system and further said, “it has become so corrupt that it cannot deliver, whether in the Centre or the provinces.” Even though Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had not singled out the Punjab government. However, Punjab’s Interim Information Minister Amir Mir called Abbasi’s allegations “false and fabricated.” Meanwhile, the food department of Punjab province has denied any misappropriation, as per the news report. In March, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced free wheat flour for the “poorest of the poor” during Ramzan, Dawn reported. The scheme was first implemented in Punjab and later in other parts of Pakistan. Sharif had ordered the authorities to plan a strategy for the supply of flour to poor families at the earliest. 

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) decided on Monday that it would dissolve the Punjab Assembly in the initial phase, while the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly would be dissolved in the second phase. A local media outlet quoting sources privy to the matter reported that a significant decision about the dissolution of assemblies and resignations from the National Assembly was made in a meeting chaired by PTI Chairman Imran Khan. Initially, the Punjab Assembly would be dissolved. Additionally, the nationwide protest movement would be transformed into an electoral campaign. According to source it was resolved it the meeting that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly would be dissolved in the second phase. All the members from Rawalpindi have confirmed that they would quit the National Assembly. The lawmakers said that the country was going through worst economic crisis, adding that transparent snap elections were the only way to get out of the quagmire. Source: www.thenews.com

    Three teachers from Punjab have been selected for the National Awards to Teachers 2022. President Droupadi Murmu will confer the awards to 46 selected awardees on September 5 to honour their unique contribution to school education, officials said on Thursday.   The teachers from Punjab include Arun Kumar Garg, Vandana Shahi and Harpreet Singh.   Arun Kumar Garg (39), principal of Government Senior Secondary School, Datewas, Mansa, has completed 15 years of teaching in mathematics in government schools. He holds a postgraduate degree in mathematics and a Bolivia-based university bestowed DLitt on him last year. Garg’s colleague terms him a laborious teacher with impressive leadership qualities.   “I was never comfortable with mathematics and experienced gaps in my learning abilities with classroom teaching. Circumstances made me opt for maths at the PG level and after that, I was able to overcome my scare of the subject. I made mathematics my passion with a mission to help students understand the subject fun,” he added.   He runs a free online channel on Youtube “Abhyaas By Arun Sir” to facilitate both students and teachers.   Vandana Shahi, principal of BCM School, Basant Avenue, Dugri, Ludhiana, a CBSE affiliated private school, has been recognised for her immense commitment, innovative teaching ways and for initiating numerous community outreach programmes in the school.   Under her guidance, students got selected for NASA programmes and also won numerous competitions under the category of innovation. The school has introduced teen entrepreneur club for the students where they learn entrepreneur skills.   Besides, Shahi introduced special programmes, including SARTHIS (Systematic and Robust Training for Holistic Involvement of Support Staff) for the support staff where the Class-4 employees are indulged in sports and other community activities.   Harpreet Singh (43), posted as head teacher at Government Primary Smart School, Bihla, joined the school as ETT teacher in 2003 and became head teacher in 2016.   He is known for turning the dilapidated and unsafe building of the school into smart, student-friendly and equipped with all facilities needed by students for their social and academic development with the help of locals and NRIs.   The locals and NRIs have spent ₹35 lakh on the school for converting it into a smart school. Out of it, Harpreet has contributed ₹7 lakh from his own pocket. Besides, he has also given ₹3 lakh to other government schools for the same purpose. School education minister Harjot Singh Bains has congratulated the government school teachers of the state who have been selected for the National Teachers Awards-2022. Applauding the teachers, Bains said that they have brought laurels for the state and their selection for the prestigious awards will uplift the morale and inspire other teachers of government schools to work harder.   Source: Hindustan Times  

Severe water shortages coupled with a searing heatwave have sparked grave concerns in South Punjab and Sindh, with tensions building between the two provinces over their share of the nation’s water resources as demand far outstrips supply. Life has been upturned in the desert areas of Punjab, including Cholistan, Thal and the tribal areas of Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur, where people have been forced to migrate with their cattle to greener pastures and urban centres in their desperate search for water. A heatwave there in the early days of May saw the mercury shoot up to 50 degrees Celsius in desert areas, compared to an average of 44 degrees Celsius over the past decade. In other regions, temperatures rose to 48 degrees Celsius compared to past records of 40 degrees Celsius in the same period. Unlike in the past, Cholistan also received no rainfall in the months of March, April and May, leading to the eventual drying up of rainwater ponds. The death of more than four dozen sheep due to dehydration amid the unnaturally hot weather eventually jolted the Punjab administration into action, with Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz ordering the immediate provision of water through bowsers, as well as medicines and fodder for livestock through 11 base camps set up for this purpose. Punjab’s irrigation authorities blamed the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) for worsening the crisis by apportioning the province 0.4 million acre feet (MAF) less water than its share, compared to what they believe is 0.6MAF supplied to Sindh in excess of its share since April 16th. An official claimed that Punjab had been receiving up to 26 percent less water than its due share between the April 16 and May 11 period. They alleged that Sindh had instead been receiving up to 77pc more than its share during the same period.However, an official from Sindh had the exact opposite to say, claiming that Sindh’s share is in fact being unfairly diverted for Punjab’s use. Prof Mushtaq Gadhi of the Seraiki Lok Sanjh said the situation in South Punjab has arisen due to failure to construct the Trimmu-Islam Link Canal, which was supposed to have been built by March 31, 1968 under Annexure H of the Indus Water Treaty.With a designed capacity of 20,000 cusecs, the canal was meant to mitigate the loss of Sutlej’s waters in the Cholistan-Bahawalpur region and could also have been used to feed artificial lakes in the Sutlej River valley to replenish the fast-depleting underground water resources there. Watershortages in Sindh There is anger in Sindh over its due share of water not being provided to it. The Irsa chairman, accompanied by the Balochistan and Punjab members of the authority, some members of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Water Resources, Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) representatives as well as Sindh irrigation officials, reached Sukkur on Friday evening to monitor water flows at the Sukkur and Guddu barrages. The delegation had traveled to Sukkur after the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Water Resources met under Nawaz Yusuf Talpur on Wednesday and Thursday in Islamabad.The committee had witnessed heated debate overthe two days over water shortages in Sindh, with Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro pressing for equitable distribution of water. He opposed the three-tier formula that has been the basis for inter-provincial water distribution as it places Sindh ¬— the lower riparian in the Indus River system — at great disadvantage. “Will water supply not be ensured to us if the majority in Irsa decides against it?” the minister was quoted as having asked the meeting. “Sindh only wants its share. Distribution and shortage be managed as per the Accord,” he asserted. Friday also brought with it a ray of hope. The Guddu Barrage recorded a rise of 7,575 cusecs in water flows on Friday morning. It had reported a flow of 36,800 cusecs on May 12 at 6am, which improved to 44,375 cusecs on May 13. The water was late in arriving, however — a matter that had perplexed both Irsa and Sindh irrigation officials. Flows at the downstream [U1] Taunsa Barrage had already reported a constant rising trend since May 6, but that improvement had not been reflected in the measurements taken upstream at Guddu, giving rise to various questions over the delay. “It appears that since these are fresh water flows from Tarbella, they took time to develop a path in the riverbed and are now reaching gradually,” offered an irrigation officer by way of explanation. He said that their delayed arrival had justifiably worried everyone and hoped they would improve further. One official visiting Sindh for the water flow monitoring exercise said: “We will be monitoring each and every canal’s flows at the Sukkur and Guddu barrage in these two days because the deficit of flows between Taunsa and Guddu remains mind-boggling for us. We are optimistic that flows will show a rising trend.” A Sukkur Barrage official, however, remained worried about shortages in the days to come. “Flows have indeed improved at Guddu, but demand for water will keep increasing. Water is to be provided to the non-perennial Dadu and Rice canals, which are exclusively rice cultivation channels, and Balochistan’s share is to be ensured too.” ‘Stop diverting Sindh’s water’ The Sindh Irrigation Department’s director of regulations has written to the Irsa chairman, seeking an end to the transfer of water from the Indus River system to the Jhelum-Chenab system, which has serious consequences for Sindh. The letter, sent on Thursday, referred to a May 7 communication in which the province had requested Irsa to fulfil the indent of the province at once instead of storing water in dams at this critical time. “However, it is noted regretfully that Sindh’s indent has not been met by Irsa and as a consequence Sindh is facing about 61pc shortages of water at its [three] barrages. In most channels, even water for drinking is not available,” the letter said. The director stated that due to acute shortage of water, there was an uproar in the farming community. Irsa was storing water in the Chashma and Tarbela reservoirs on the one hand instead of fulfilling Sindh’s share, and on the other transferring water from the Indus River system to the Jhelum-Chenab system through C-J and Taunsa-Panjnad link canals, he believed. Source: DAWN

Jaswinder Singh Multani, an activist of the banned terror organization Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), was being questioned in Germany at the behest of Indian security agencies over his involvement in terror incidents in Punjab, officials privy to the development said today. The German Federal Police, in reply to a query by The Tribune on Multani, neither denied nor confirmed his arrest. In an e-mail communication, the press officer of the German police said as a matter of principle, they did not divulge personal information and the Indian authorities should be contacted for the purpose. A controversy had erupted earlier in the day when SFJ general counsel Gurpatwant Singh Pannu released a purported video, claiming Multani had not been arrested. He is also seen speaking with Multani in the video. Media reports from New Delhi claimed on Tuesday that efforts made by Indian diplomatic channels had led to the arrest of Multani after the Ludhiana court blast. Indian officials today chose to ignore the claims made by the SFJ. Interestingly, Pannu, in earlier video messages, had threatened different Punjab CMs and DGPs. But in today’s video, he said the SFJ believed in fighting through ballot, not bombs. Sources privy to the developments in Germany said Multani was a suspect in some recent terror incidents, with a Punjab Police dossier stating he was a “master handler” and expert in recruiting youth for terrorism and that he used to supply them money, weapons and explosives through narcotic smugglers or gangsters in the state. His name figures in two FIRs lodged in February and August in Punjab, including a plot to kill farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal to spread unrest and chaos. The police are suspecting his involvement in the Ludhiana court blast case. A controversy erupted on Wednesday when banned SFJ’s Gurpatwant Singh Pannu released a purported video, claiming that the outfit’s activist Jaswinder Singh Multani had not been arrested. He is seen speaking with Multani in the video. Indian officials chose to ignore the claims.   Source: The Tribune