For a decade now, the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has stood as one of the flagship projects in Beijing’s far-reaching Belt and Road Initiative. Promising much-needed enhancements in transportation, trade, and energy infrastructure, this ambitious venture, primarily financed by Chinese loans and investments, has sought to revamp Pakistan’s economic landscape. The colossal undertaking comes with a substantial price tag, slated to cost upwards of $60 billion. Along its route, small villages like Kanda in the Mala region of Pakistan have witnessed notable transformations. Kanda stretches along a 120-kilometer highway built under the aegis of CPEC. Since the highway’s completion in 2019, this area has seen a burgeoning of new businesses and a surge in property prices. Guza Banda is emblematic of many villages and towns across Pakistan that have experienced heightened economic activity, all due to their proximity to CPEC projects. However, despite these localized successes, Pakistan, on the whole, has struggled to leverage CPEC for inducing industrial growth, leaving its historically fragile economy teetering on the brink of collapse in recent times. While the project’s initial aim was to enhance infrastructure and connectivity, potentially leading to higher exports, the expected industrial expansion never materialized. A Stunted Vision Amar Habib Khan, an economist, shared insights into CPEC’s intent, saying, “The objective of CPEC was essentially improving infrastructure and connectivity that could have resulted in higher exports, but this didn’t happen because the expected industrial growth did not materialize.” In this respect, Pakistan’s poor domestic economic policies have played a significant role in stymying the growth of local businesses, particularly those in the manufacturing sector. Analysts have identified various hurdles that have hampered CPEC’s realization of its full potential. These obstacles include bureaucratic red tape, political turmoil, security risks within Pakistan, and the disruptive influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, all of which have collectively deterred Chinese investors from wholeheartedly engaging with CPEC. In particular, these factors have caused significant delays in the implementation of CPEC’s phase two. Reimagining Industrial Growth Under CPEC’s phase two, China had originally planned to relocate its power-intensive industries to Pakistan. Khalid Mansoor, former Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on CPEC, stated, “This is the main power-intensive industry which has become quite unviable in China. So, these industries are going to be located not only in Gwadar but other special economic zones, and we have started to talk to a lot of joint ventures.” Regrettably, only four out of the 13 planned special economic zones (SEZs) under CPEC have made any meaningful progress. The rising value of the US dollar has driven up the cost of importing equipment and raw materials, making it prohibitively expensive for Pakistan to set up production units. While Pakistan offers cheap labor, accommodating the vast demands of large Chinese factories can be a considerable challenge, primarily due to the scarcity of essential infrastructure. In light of these challenges, CPEC’s SEZs have struggled to gain momentum. Their future growth prospects remain uncertain, with the current trajectory suggesting that they may not even take off in the coming years. Despite the immense potential of CPEC, issues like the scarcity of electricity continue to plague businesses in many areas. Matiullah, a local entrepreneur in Kanda, remains optimistic, hoping for a brighter future as he observes the increasing traffic on the CPEC-built road. Yet, experts argue that for Pakistan to fully capitalize on CPEC’s potential, Islamabad must reimagine its approach to doing business and address the underlying issues that have hindered the realization of this ambitious initiative. Source: english.pardafas.com

Bandipora district in North Kashmir, India, is enriched with natural heritage. Bandipora offers various destinations for the trekkers in the mountains surrounding the district by three sides with Wular Lake covering its vast expanses too. A one-day trek to Datewas village in Mansa district, is lately gaining popularity among the amateur and occasional trekkers, who battered by back-to-back lockdowns are up to catch some fresh air apart. Datewas which falls in this north Kashmir range is a very small but lush green valley located in the foothills of Harmukh mountain range of the Himalayas. It is a source of various glacial freshwater streams cutting across Bandipora and Ganderbal districts, among them is river Arin. The place is accessible via the upper reaches of Serender as well as Chittay Banday. “We haven’t seen this much rush of locals trekking to the place before. Lockdowns in the plains is forcing people up for fresh air,” Yaqoob Bani, a middle-aged tribal at Detewas said. “Many people are coming here mostly for the day.” Yaqoob is moving up to the wider pastures with his cattle and so are another handful of tribals living in the valley in log houses. The tribals carry a special pass from the Army for hassle-free pasturing across the mountains. “In my 10 years of trekking, it’s a rare sight witnessing amateur trekkers or just anyone without proper knowledge scaling these mountains to reach here,” said Amir who leads a group of regular trekkers from nearby Argaam village. With ease in the restrictions and no mandatory permission for the short treks in less volatile areas and quite a distance from LoC, the exploration is gaining popularity. Datewaas has remained hidden for quite long but, as per the locals, the place has its history and until the early 2000s, much of the wood contracted by the government would be transported from here and even has a road for off-road expeditions now left unused. However, the frontier Gurez valley, which shares the Line of Control with Pakistan administered Kashmir and further connects with Kargil or Drass region of Ladakh has mostly remained out of bounds for the trekkers. However, lately the place has been witnessing an influx of tourists as the government officials began campaigning for attracting more people to the destination. The visits by actors like Akshay Kumar and other officials in the administration have brought it under the spotlight. Source: India Blooms B.M./Rtv

India’s most coronavirus-hit state Maharashtra went into a weekend lockdown on Saturday as the country battled exploding infection numbers and vaccine shortages. Having let its guard down with mass religious festivals, political rallies and spectators at cricket matches, the world’s second most populous nation has added more than a million new infections since late March. After a lockdown a year ago caused widespread misery and hit the economy for six, the central government is desperate to avoid a hugely unpopular second shutdown. But many states are tightening the screw, in particular the epicentre Maharashtra and its capital Mumbai, where restaurants are shut and public gatherings of more than five people are banned. Every weekend from Saturday until the end of April the state’s 125 million people are confined to their homes unless shopping for food, medicine or travelling. “I’m not for the lockdown at all but I don’t think the government has any other choice,” media professional Neha Tyagi, 27, told AFP in Mumbai. “This lockdown could have been totally avoided if people would take the virus seriously.” Cricket is now played behind closed doors — including the big-bucks Indian Premier League, which began Friday — and in many states including in the capital New Delhi a night curfew is in force. All eight teams in the IPL, which includes the sport’s top international stars, are in strict bio-bubbles and four players have so far tested positive. Raipur district, home to the capital of Chhattisgarh state, is under a 10-day lockdown with no one allowed to enter the area unless performing essential services. – Short on stocks – India’s drive to vaccinate its 1.3 billion people also looks to be hitting problems, with just 94 million shots provided so far and stocks running low. In megacity Mumbai, 25 out of 71 private hospitals administering jabs ran out of supplies Thursday, city authorities said. The situation at government-run inoculation centres was not much better, with a giant 1,000-bed field hospital turning away people arriving for their first dose on Friday morning. City authorities tweeted that the shortage was “due to non-receipt of stocks” from the national government. The Times of India reported Friday that states on average had just over five days of stock left, according to health ministry data, with some regions already grappling with severe shortages. But the central government has accused some states — run by opposition parties — of “distract(ing) attention from their failures” and playing politics. “It is not right to say that there is a vaccine shortage. Vaccines have been made available to all states according to their needs,” Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday. The CEO of the Serum Institute of India, the world’s biggest vaccine maker by volume, has warned that production capacity is “very stressed”. Poorer countries, as well as some rich nations, have relied heavily on Serum for supplies of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but last month New Delhi put the brakes on exports to prioritise domestic needs. Source: AFP/BSS AH

The short syllabuses for SSC and HSC examinations of the year 2021 were prepared due to coronavirus pandemic situation. The revised short syllabuses were published on the website on Friday. It is known that the syllabuses, prepared by National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), were sent to the heads of educational institutions under Dhaka board. The syllabuses were finally approved by Education Minister Dr. Dipu Moni on Thursday. In this regard NCTB Chairman Professor Narayan Chandra Saha said, the syllabuses prepared afresh for the SSC and HSC examinees had been approved finally. We have sent those to Dhaka education board. Earlier on January 25 Dhaka education board published syllabus for SSC examination. But many students expressed objection over that. Then decision was taken to shorten the syllabus more. On January 27 NCTB was given responsibility to make the syllabus shorter. AH  

Awami League General Secretary and Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said, dialogue may take place at short range again with Jatiya Oikya Front if they want. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has left the matter upon their decision. Prime Minister’s door is open for all time. He said these after inaugurating the visitor center of Padma bridge project service area-1 at Dogachhi area under Srinagar upazial of Munsiganj on Friday. Obaidul Quader said, on Thursday’s dialogue Oikya Front’s Mirza Fakhrul, ASM Rab led by Dr. Kamal Hossain came. Discussions took place in an open atmosphere for three and half an hours. We are hopeful about the dialogue. How the opposition reacts that is their matter. I don’t think that there is any failure. Beginning was good. From their 7-point we have no objection on three issues. He said, the long gap and distance of the long period cannot be turned to magical transformation overnight, closing is not also possible. But there were some positive development in some issues yesterday. We have told them to send the list of political cases that were filed against their leaders and activists. Fair investigation will be done according to the list. Meanwhile, after taking part in the dialogue at the Gonobhaban BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said, not satisfied over the discussion. Jatiya Oikya Front leader Dr. Kamal Hossain said, we have upheld our demand at the Gonobhaban. We have not got special solution to any matter during the dialogue except about meetings and rallies. On Thursday 20 leaders of Jatiya Oikya Front led by Dr. Kamal Hossain took part in the dialogue upholding their 7-point demand and 11 goals. On the other hand 23 leaders of ruling 14-party alliance led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina joined the dialogue. AH