Relief material recoveries put several Trinamool leaders under scanner; many arrested, others face protest
Blankets, tarpaulins, food grains and other disaster-relief supplies allegedly found at homes and offices of party leaders
"RELIEF" · 총 312건
필터 보기현재 지수
50.3
0 = 부정 우세
50 = 중립
100 = 긍정 우세
최근 7일 기준 86,328건을 분석한 결과, 뉴스 심리지수는 50.2(균형)입니다. 긍정 4,281건(5.0%)·중립 79,917건(92.6%)·부정 2,130건(2.5%)이며, 중립 비중이 뚜렷하게 높습니다. 성향 지수는 종합 14.9(중도 균형)입니다.
Blankets, tarpaulins, food grains and other disaster-relief supplies allegedly found at homes and offices of party leaders
One kg of yarn with high counts rose to ₹400, from ₹300 and textile industry sources say the removal of import duty on yarn by the Centre has brought partial relief to the units in Tiruppur
QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court on Friday suspended the implementation of a first information report (FIR) registered against Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Mehmood Khan Achakzai, while admitting his constitutional petition for regular hearing. A BHC division bench, headed by Chief Justice Muhammad Kamran Mullahkhail, heard the petition challenging the FIR lodged against Mr Achakzai by police in Qila Abdullah district. Following preliminary arguments, the court ordered the suspension of the FIR’s implementation and issued notices to the provincial government and other respondents for the next hearing. A team of senior lawyers, including Muhammad Riaz Ahmed, Senator Kamran Murtaza, Advocate Habibullah Nasar, Ayaz Mandokhail, Rahib Buledi and others, represented Mr Achakzai, who is also Chairman of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, before the court. The FIR was registered at Gulistan Police Station in Qila Abdullah district, accusing Mr Achakzai of allegedly spreading hatred against a state institution and criticising the current government during a public gathering. Several other political leaders were also named in the case. According to the FIR, the charges stem from a speech allegedly containing harsh, insulting and provocative remarks against a state institution. Authorities further alleged that the speech incited the public and promoted hatred. The petition challenges the legality of the FIR and seeks judicial relief against the criminal proceedings. With the court’s interim order, any action based on the FIR will remain suspended until further proceedings. The case is expected to be taken up again on the next date of hearing after responses are submitted by government authorities concerned. Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2026
“The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease” — Sir William Osler (1849-1919) IN 1986, Carlo Petrini founded the ‘slow food’ movement in Italy to counteract the so-called ‘fast food’, by promoting local food cultures, traditional cooking and sustainable farming. Inspired by this, the concept of ‘slow medicine’ took birth: a patient-centred approach to healthcare that prioritises time, listening, and comprehensive care over rapid, high-tech, intensive interventions. It emphasises quality, the patient’s context and shared decision-making to avoid hurried, unnecessary, harmful treatments. There is no doubt that modern medicine is revolutionising healthcare. In emergency situations diagnoses are generated in minutes. Imaging technologies are replacing exploratory surgery. Algorithms now identify patterns invisible to the human eye. This advancement has saved countless lives. Yet amid this relentless drive for efficiency, questions are emerging: what do we lose in this fast-paced medicine? Most health challenges are the result of an imbalance in our lives, and most quick-fix solutions actually exacerbate these imbalances. The slow medicine approach focuses on identifying the root cause of our health challenges, creating a thoughtful, step-by-step and long-term response to restore balance in our lives, because good care requires time, attention, and reflection. It reminds us that patients are not just a set of signs and symptoms to be fixed, but individuals whose illnesses are embedded in social, psychological and cultural contexts. For countries like Pakistan, slow medicine is particularly relevant. Slow medicine is built on three principles: careful deliberation before intervention; minimal necessary treatment rather than maximal possible treatment; and respect for the patient’s lived experience and values. It asks physicians to pause and think before acting. In medicine, as in life, acting quickly is not always acting wisely. The concept has gained attention in response to the global problem of overdiagnosis, overtreatment and rising costs of healthcare. As diagnostic tools become more sensitive, medicine increasingly detects abnormalities that may never cause harm. Small lesions, borderline results and incidental findings often mean further tests and interventions, leading to unnecessary physical, psychological and financial stress. Slow medicine offers a different approach. It suggests that not every abnormal result or every symptom requires a battery of tests and immediate action. Observation, patience, context and careful history-taking can be more valuable in many situations. Although the principles of slow medicine can be applied to any clinical interaction, there are at least four areas where they are most relevant. Chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease evolve over years, shaped by lifestyle, environment and stress. Managing them effectively requires careful and thoughtful history-taking, a good doctor-patient relationship, continuity of care and gradual adjustment. Understanding why the condition exists in the first place is more important than simply making changes to the prescription. Secondly, mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety and trauma are closely related to relationships and social contexts. In healthcare systems like Pakistan, mental health consultations are brief, fragmented and heavily reliant on medications. Very few psychiatric consultations end without a prescription. Yet psychological healing often depends on something more essential: being listened to and understood — things that cannot be rushed. Geriatric care is another area. Older patients frequently have multiple conditions, medications and vulnerabilities. Aggressive interventions may prolong life but at the cost of dignity and comfort. Slow medicine shifts the question from ‘what more can we do?’ to ‘what is worth doing?’ In many cases, less intervention results in better quality of life. End-of-life care perhaps represents the most profound expression of slow medicine philosophy. The goal is no longer cure but care: relief of pain and suffering, preserving dignity, and respecting patients’ and family’s wishes. This requires patience, tolerance and time and cannot be rushed. For countries like Pakistan, slow medicine is particularly relevant. Many of the country’s health problems are shaped by societal conditions: poverty, unemployment, rampant inflation, political uncertainty, violence, etc leading to medicalisation of social distress. Patients and physicians both get trapped in seeing these problems through the biomedical lens, ie, quick assessment in which patients’ complaints are addressed through various lab and radiology tests, followed by medicines, while the root cause of their complaints are hardly ever asked about or addressed. Doctors are neither trained nor feel comfortable enquiring about social factors as most wonder that even if they inquire about them what can they can do about it. No wonder the burden of almost all conditions — communicable and non-communicable — is extremely high in Pakistan. Ultimately, slow medicine is not about rejecting urgency where it is necessary — emergencies demand rapid action, and modern medicine excels in such moments. It is about recognising that much of healthcare does not occur in emergencies. It unfolds over time — in chronic illness, in mental health, in ageing and in recovery. In these areas, haste can do more harm than good. At its heart, slow medicine is a reminder of what medicine has always aspired to be: not just a technical but a human one — one that demands not only scientific advancement, but also wisdom, humility, compassion and humanity. It asks clinicians to see beyond the scan, the lab report and the prescription pad, and to engage with the person behind the patient. It reminds us that the true practice of medicine is in caring for people. In 1953, Sir Robert Hutchison wrote A physician’s prayer: “From inability to let well alone; from too much zeal for the new and contempt for what is old; from putting knowledge before wisdom, science before art, and cleverness before common sense; from treating patients as cases; and from making the cure of the disease more grievous than the endurance of the same, Good Lord, deliver us.” More than 70 years later, his prophetic words remain strikingly relevant to modern medicine. The writer is professor emeritus, psychiatry, Aga Khan University. mmkarticle@gmail.com Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2026
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Vadakara Revenue Divisional Officer appointed nodal officer to coordinate evacuation and relief camp operations, while Vadakara Tahsildar will serve as assistant nodal officer. District Police Chief (Kozhikode Rural) asked to deploy sufficient personnel to support evacuation plans and ensure security at relief camps and evacuated houses
Rural hospital closures are the result of failed policies that ignored economic realities, and regulatory relief is the solution to make rural healthcare more sustainable.
High Court quashed an advisory that required Parliament dissolved, ruling it unconstitutional and not binding, in dispute over gender rule enforcement.
Before the year is out, the United Nations must appoint a new secretary-general. This is an opportunity to be seized, not a misfortune to be endured — precisely because multilateralism is navigating heavy headwinds. The U.N. must rediscover its core mission: guardian of peace and provider of humanitarian relief at the intersection of national sovereignties. […]
[Nile Post] Residents of Nsasa and Nabusugwe cells, located along the boundary between Mukono Municipality and Kira Municipality, have welcomed the government's decision to commence construction of a bridge at the Nakiyanja River crossing, ending a long-standing challenge that has disrupted transport, especially during the rainy season.
Foreign investors purchasing Indian government bonds convert foreign currency into rupees.
The Princess of Wales, who underwent a difficult period following her cancer diagnosis in 2024, revealed she was in remission in early 2025, much to the relief of many royal fans. A month prior to Kate, King Charles was also diagnosed with cancer, and since then, the two royals have made...
British Retail Consortium figures show footfall rose in May, with consumer confidence improving after spending squeeze Greater numbers of consumers went shopping last month as spring sunshine brought welcome relief to retailers, which have faced a squeeze on spending since the US-Israel war on Iran. Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and a separate survey by the accountancy firm BDO showed a bounce-back in footfall during May, reversing a sharp decline in April. Continue reading...
EVERY June, Pakistan’s budget season follows a familiar pattern: business groups repeat their proposals for relief, the government defends its targets, and taxpayers prepare for additional burdens. Yet a more fundamental question is rarely asked — what is the budget ultimately meant to achieve, and does it reflect a clear long-term national purpose? In principle, the budget is the state’s main instrument for promoting growth, improving public services, reducing poverty and raising living standards. In Pakistan, however, it has increasingly come to resemble an accounting exercise: mobilise sufficient revenue to finance a growing state and meet fiscal benchmarks agreed with the IMF. The result is a lopsided process that remains focused on extracting more from those already within the tax net, while paying insufficient attention to the quality of public spending, the need to broaden the base, or the incentives required for investment, employment and productivity. The Tax Policy Office was expected to introduce a longer-term perspective to this debate, but that wider vision is still not evident. The burden continues to fall, predictably, on the formal economy. Corporations, salaried employees, entrepreneurs, exporters, documented businesses and investors remain the most visible and therefore the most easily taxed. What receives much less scrutiny is whether public spending is yielding meaningful improvements in citizens’ lives, particularly in a country where a large share of the population remains below the poverty line. Pakistan has absorbed much of the fiscal cost of devolution without fully realising its potential efficiency gains. This distortion has become more pronounced since the 18th Constitutional Amendment altered Pakistan’s fiscal structure. Health, education, labour welfare and other social services were devolved to the provinces, which now receive a substantial share of national revenues through the National Finance Commission Award. The logic was straightforward: provinces, being closer to citizens, would deliver services more effectively, while the federal government would gradually withdraw from devolved functions and reduce its own size and cost. That second part of the arrangement, however, remains largely unfulfilled. More than a decade later, successive governments have shown limited willingness to undertake the constitutional, administrative and institutional reforms required to right-size the federation. Pakistan has, therefore, absorbed much of the fiscal cost of devolution without fully realising its potential efficiency gains. The results are plain: weak learning, poor healthcare access, child malnutrition, low productivity, millions of children out of school, under-equipped hospitals, inadequate skills training and persistently low female labour-force participation. Yet, even against this backdrop, the provinces are expected to post a combined budget surplus of roughly Rs1.6 trillion. This surplus forms part of the consolidated fiscal framework that enables Pakistan to meet primary surplus targets under the IMF programme. Fiscal discipline is necessary; Pakistan’s record on deficits and debt leaves little room for complacency. But every rupee retained as surplus is also a rupee not directed towards schools, hospitals, technical training and local services. The balance appears to have shifted too far towards meeting accounting targets and too little towards building human capital. The irony is that while existing taxpayers are repeatedly told there is little room for relief, substantial untapped capacity exists elsewhere. Agriculture contributes nearly a quarter of GDP but remains lightly taxed, while property taxation is among the weakest in the region. Large agricultural and urban wealth holdings generate limited recurring revenue because assessment remains weak, enforcement uneven and valuations often disconnected from market reality. Since provinces have constitutional authority over agricultural income and property taxes, meaningful reform in these areas could broaden the base, improve fairness and reduce the state’s dependence on taxing the same formal businesses and individuals year after year. It would also help strengthen the sense that the fiscal burden is being shared more equitably. The next budget should therefore reset fiscal priorities. Rather than treating compliant taxpayers as an inexhaustible source of revenue, policymakers should present a credible path towards relief for documented economic activity: lower excessive tax rates on salaried employees, entrepreneurs and businesses, phase out the Super Tax, remove distortionary levies, reduce cascading taxation and bring greater predictability to policy. Better incentives would support investment, exports, formalisation and job creation — the key objectives of fiscal policy. But relief must be matched by credible efforts to broaden the tax base, improve spending efficiency and mobilise provincial revenues from agriculture and property. Fiscal sustainability cannot rest indefinitely on squeezing a shrinking pool of compliant taxpayers. Provinces, meanwhile, should be judged less by the size of their surpluses than by measurable gains in education, healthcare, skills, productivity and poverty reduction. Pakistan’s fiscal debate remains confined to the narrow question of how to raise more revenue. The more important issue is how public finances can create opportunity, improve living standards and support durable growth. A budget should be more than a balancing exercise between revenue and expenditure; it should also reflect a willingness to reform the structure of the state itself. Unless Pakistan completes the unfinished agenda of devolution, broadens the tax base and channels provincial resources towards human development, it may strive to meet fiscal targets without delivering the broader prosperity its citizens are entitled to expect. The writer is a former CEO of Unilever Pakistan and of the Pakistan Business Council Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2026
• Regulator allows Rs1.19 per unit FCA collection in June bills • Grants Rs1.99 per unit reduction for three months, until August ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Thursday notified about 80 paisa per unit net reduction in national power rates for June and then Rs1.99 per unit for July and August, with a cumulative financial impact of about Rs56 billion. The unusual relief over the three months — June to August — has resulted owing to the combined effect of two concurrent tariff adjustments — one for the monthly fuel cost for April and another for quarterly tariff adjustments for the first quarter (January-March 2026). In its first determination relating to the monthly fuel cost adjustment for the consumption month of April, Nepra worked out and notified Rs1.19 per unit increase in fuel costs to be recovered from consumers in the current month’s (June) billing, with an additional fiscal gain to distribution companies (Discos) of Rs11bn. Nepra “has decided that positive FCA for April 2026 i.e (Rs1.1907/kWh)…shall be applicable to all the consumer categories of KE and XWDISCOs except lifeline consumers, Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCS) and pre-paid electricity consumers of all categories who opted for pre-paid tariff”, the notification read. It adds that positive FCA shall also apply to consumption falling under the incremental consumption package, and Discos and KE shall reflect the FCA in respect of April in the billing month of June. The Discos had demanded Rs1.74 per additional fuel cost to mop up Rs16bn more funds from consumers but the regulator scaled it down. Simultaneously, in its second determination under quarterly tariff adjustment (QTA) for the January-March period, Nepra notified Rs1.99 per unit reduction in rates with a total financial impact of Rs67bn over three months — June, July and August. The adjustments will be applicable to all consumer categories, except lifeline consumers, units billed for incremental consumption package, and prepaid consumers, the notification read. The Discos had proposed Rs64bn refund to consumers under QTA at the rate of about Rs1.75 per unit. As such and with concurrent application of both notifications, the consumers would get a net relief of about Rs56bn over three months. Practically, therefore, the consumer’s rates would be down by about 80 paisa per unit in June i.e. application of Rs1.99 per QTA reduction minus Rs1.19 per unit increase in FCA. The negative Rs1.99 per unit QTA would then continue for July and August. The net financial impact of two decisions would thus work out at Rs56bn in favour of consumers i.e. Rs67bn in relief over three months, minus Rs11bn in additional fuel cost for current month. The lower QTAs have chiefly emerged on account of adjustments in capacity charges, transmission charges and market operator fee, the impact of incremental consumption package announced by the government for industrial and agricultural consumers for three years, besides the impact of transmission and distribution losses on monthly fuel costs and variable operations and maintenance charges for the 1st quarter of CY2026 i.e. Jan to March 2026. Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2026
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KE employees working in Karachi, on January 25, 2023. — APPJune bills to reflect Re0.80 net relief after fuel charge adjustment.Rs67bn relief to be given under first quarterly adjustment.Reduction applies across country, including K-Electric consumers.The National...