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.
PTI’s poverty alleviation & KP LB polls
Why did the PTI lose the first phase of the LB Polls despite measures to counter the difficulties of the vulnerable such as the launch of the Ehsas Programme? With our dependence on IMF loans, the freefall of the rupee against the dollar and the spike in petrol and LPG prices, the common man has been badly hit by high food inflation along with unaffordable electricity and sui-gas bills. To top it off healthcare and medicines are both beyond the reach of the masses.
Financial assistance under the programme was meant to help the common man to buy rations. The programme was meant to cater to more than 15 million families with a total budget of Rs.203 billion, which comes to Rs.12,000 per family. The Ehsas Emergency Cash Programme was launched by the Prime Minister in April 2020 to resolve the economic hardships faced by the vulnerable due to the coronavirus pandemic. An SMS campaign has become the starting point for identifying potential beneficiaries.
To put roofs over the heads of the underprivileged, the Roshan Apna Ghar low-cost housing scheme was launched. Furthermore, in November this year, to counter the devastating effects of food inflation, PM Imran Khan was to provide a thousand rupees a month for purchasing staples like dal, sugar and atta from designated stores to families with monthly incomes less than Rs.50,000.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa many people have benefitted from health cards issued for the poor. Despite introduction of the aforementioned measures, why did the PTI recently lose LB polls in the first phase to JUI (F)? After three long years, the efforts seem futile as a case of too little done too late. It could be down to the choice of candidates rather than inflation.
SAAD MAQBOOL BHATTY
Islamabad
KP LB elections
Is it the reality that humiliating defeat in the KP LB elections was solely because of the wrong selection of candidates, and had nothing to do with the way the PTI is running the country and the province ?Are ever soaring dearth and rising Unemployment not the main cause of defeat. The effectiveness of the provincial government should have been brought under scrutiny, but was not.
It would have been valid to ask why a party which had become the first to win a second successive term three years before, had bombed so badly in the local body elections. True, local body polls the world over are used by voters to send signals to the government, but if so, the message from KP was not a good one for PTI, which is in power since last 8 years.
It is an other fact that nepotism and preferring wealthy persons to sincere workers brought bad day for Imran Khan and his party. Always blaming other parties doing family politics the results of elections proved that nepotism had also crept in PTI not lesser than other parties.
Perhaps Imran Khan’s main problem is that he is not in a position to punish anyone. The PTI MNAs who have violated party discipline by supporting candidates other than the PTI’s cannot be acted against, because Imran Khan’s majority is so narrow. Imran Khan has to compromise on his party’s undisciplined politics and the narrowness of the ruling majorities, especially by those ‘electables’ who saw the light in the run-up to the election. Political analysts also predicted that results of next phase of LB elections would be more disappointing for Imran Khan and PTI.
QAZI JAMSHED SIDDIQUI
Lahore
MSG is safe after all?
As a homemaker, I wish to provide nutritious and healthy food to my family and like to read articles on the same. In the last few years, having seen a lot of people suffering from cardiac issues and hypertension, I am concerned about the health and well-being of my family.
I have come to know that salt added in food is one of the biggest factors behind the growing high BP issues. So, I have tried to limit the use of table salt in our food. However, my family complains that the food does not taste good. During one of my daily internet browsing activities, I stumbled upon scientific studies that found MSG could be a good substitute for salt. MSG has lower sodium level than table salt and can be substituted without impacting taste.
I also read at US FDA’s website and other scientific studies which found MSG in food products don’t make people sick and concerns about MSG are mere assumptions, as against all the fuss its ban created a few years ago. I feel confident when a reputed organization like FDA classifies MSG as safe and I would not hesitate in considering MSG as an alternate to table salt.
HABIBA BATOOL
Karachi
Make the environment clean
I would like to use the columns of your widely circulated newspaper to bring to the attention of the higher authorities to the alarming air pollution problem that the world is currently experiencing, as the consequences of mishandling of industrial effluents.
Air pollution dreadfully deteriorates the environmental aesthetics and imposes fatal impact on the area’s inhabitants as well. Industrialization has reached its pinnacle which is why the installation of factories has also increased for the manufacturing of goods.
It is becoming a matter of concern because these factories are responsible for discharging the immense stack effluents despite considering the devastating effects on the environment. If it is going to happen persistently, then everybody will strive hard to get fresh air for breathing but it would certainly be difficult to have it because the whole world will be completely surrounded by the deadly gases.
The main solution to this issue is that the industries must purify the impure gases before discharging them into the environment. Another point to keep in mind is that the industries must be built away from the residential and commercial vicinity. The intent behind writing this piece is to request the authorities so that they take appropriate steps to overcome the current issue of air pollution.
USBA FAYYAZ
Lahore
