Articles and letters may be edited for the purposes of clarity and space. They are published in good faith with a view to enlightening all the stakeholders. However, the contents of these writings may not necessarily match the views of the newspaper.
Benefits of outdoor play
Many of the developmental tasks that children must achieve—exploring, risk-taking, fine and gross motor development and the absorption of vast amounts of basic knowledge—can be most effectively learned through outdoor play. These activities help children improve their physical, emotional, social and mental health. Thus, it is essential to give children the opportunity to explore the outdoors, play with other kids and expose them to real-life situations.
It gives them an opportunity to learn new things. It can help in their physical development and boost their creativity. It can help them acquire social skills, developing a positive attitude and personality. It improves the attention span in children. Children learn how to work successfully as a group. They also learn teamwork, leadership and communication skills.
Makes them competitive, learning working in groups, giving a sense of freedom, learning social skills, learning to appreciate nature, increased Imagination, gain knowledge and learning about world, self and environment. Children need opportunities to explore, experiment, manipulate, reconfigure, expand, influence, change, marvel, discover, practise, dam up, push their limits, yell, sing and create. Some of our favourite childhood memories are also outdoor activities.
HAFSA NADEEM
Islamabad
Natural calamities
The people of Sindh face an onslaught of natural calamities each year, and each year the story is the same. Countless homes are lost, children die or go missing, livestock is decimated. But alongside natural disasters, manmade hazards have brought about a whole new host of problems that have destroyed the entire ecosystem. Dadu district is vulnerable to natural disasters caused by downhill water stream from Kirthar range, heavy rainfalls and flooding in the Indus River.
Another persistent source of frequent flooding is the poor maintenance of agricultural drainage system. A 100-feet wide rupture in the Kalach branch in Garhi Khero, Jacobabad, deluged thousands of acres of fields, destroying rice crop and causing huge financial losses to farmers. Residents complained that the irrigation staff had acted behindhand, adding that a prompt response when the breach was only a few feet wide could have saved their lands.
Moreover, the rural population depends on farm economy such as crop growing, livestock and fisheries. The major agricultural crops of Sindh are: sugarcane, rice, wheat, bananas, dates, mangoes, cotton etc. Over the years, locals have only seen an increase in their daily struggle. When they are safe from natural calamities, the manmade hazards come in the way of their prosperity. People are suffocating as there is no one listening to their concerns and miseries. The government has failed to react and respond quickly.
SARFRAZ SOOMRO
Shikarpur, Sindh
Once the bread basket of the region
It is painful people in Zimbabwe are struggling food, electricity, water, shortage of money in the banks, no medication in hospitals, beds for patients they are sleeping on the floor in hospitals. The roads are full of potholes, no ambulances, people are using wheelbarrows to go to the hospitals. Nurses are crying reputation which the ZANU-PF government knows that they are paying peanuts to the civilians. The struggle for independence, land and power runs throughout Zimbabwe’s modern history. Late veteran President Robert Mugabe dominated the country’s political scene for almost four decades after independence from Britain in 1980.
Once the bread basket of the region since 2000 Zimbabwe has struggled to feed its own people due to severe droughts and the effects of a land reform programmer that saw white-owned farms redistributed to landless Zimbabweans, with sharp falls in production. The fall of Robert Mugabe in 2017 freed up politics and the media, but the country remains cash-strapped and impoverished. The ZANU-PF government is clueless, careless and corrupt the only solution is for the world to force President Emmerson Mnangagwa to resign.
KUDZAI CHIKOWORE
London
Russia claims corona vaccine
AS countries race to produce the first Corona vaccine, Russia’s claim that it has approved such a vaccine has been met with serious scepticism — and for good reason. Russia announced this week that the Sputnik V Coronavirus has been given the green signal for extensive use and that the country was for forging ahead with manufacturing and immunisation plans to kick off vaccination as early as October.
President Vladimir Putin said the locally developed vaccine was given regulatory approval after less than two months of testing on humans, but that it had purportedly passed all the required checks. To silence naysayers, he added that his daughter had already been administered a dose. Worrying, the head of the country’s sovereign wealth fund said there are international agreements to produce 500m doses and requests for 1bn doses from 20 countries. The announcement has sparked legitimate fears among experts, who said the Russian vaccine has bypassed ‘phase 3’ — a crucial trail stage which mass-tests an under research vaccine on thousand of people to observe its efficacy.
Professors and medical experts from reputable institutions have expressed concern over several aspects of this vaccine, and called into question the process through which it was approved. Some fear it is difficult to know how safe or effective it will be given that the work that went into its development was not transparent. The WHO has said vaccine must go through all stages of testing before being rolled out. Multiple experts have said vaccines that have not been properly tested can be detrimental in many ways, negatively impacting health or creating a false sense of security. What is more dangerous is that they can undermine trust in all vaccines.
SIKANDAR SAJJAD MANGI
Larkana
Trafficking
in persons escalates
World Day against Trafficking in Persons is held every year on July 30th. Thousands of men, women and children end up in the hands of traffickers every year, often through being tricked and misled to believe that they are being taken to work that will make their family better off, or through force, kidnap, or even through very poor families selling children in order to survive. There are many ways that people get caught up in trafficking, but the result is the same, they lose their rights and identity and are used and abused.
Pakistan has been downgraded from ‘Tier 2 Watch List’ in the 2020 TIPR by the US State Department. Pakistan does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking this year, the conviction rates remained inadequate when compared to the magnitude of the problem. Almost 19,954 trafficking victims were reported in Pakistan. Our government has significantly decreased investigations and prosecutions against sex-trafficking. Due to steep rise in unemployment, overseas employment promoters entrap Pakistanis in sex trafficking and bonded labour.
How long will our government turn a blind eye on the plight of victims? We as a Pakistani should combat human trafficking through public awareness, outreach, education and advocacy campaigns. Protect and assist victims by providing shelters health, psychological, legal and vocational services and lastly by prosecuting human trafficking, the traffickers must be incarcerated for the rest of their life. We all have a responsibility to advocate for a more equal world that doesn’t allow slavery of any kind to exist.
SYEDA RUQIYA FATIMA
Karachi
