Category: Information Technology

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, chaired a meeting of the National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) today.

The National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) reviewed the price trends of the essential commodities namely, wheat flour, sugar, tomatoes, onions, vegetable ghee, potatoes, and chicken, on a weekly basis.

The Finance Secretary, while presenting the price trend of essential commodities, informed that according to the latest SPI released by PBS, there is a decline in the prices of wheat flour, sugar, and onions. However, the prices of tomatoes, potatoes, and chicken have slightly increased. It was noted that the prices of vegetable ghee have remained unchanged. The committee was also informed about the price variation among the Provinces, and the profit margin between wholesale and retail.

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The Chairman held a detailed discussion with the Provincial Chief Secretaries regarding the position of wheat and sugar stocks in the Provinces. NPMC was briefed that sufficient quantities are available across the country. Adviser Finance emphasized that the provincial governments and all other concerned authorities take immediate proactive measures to control the increase in prices.

During the meeting, Advisor Finance urged the representatives of the Provincial Governments to strictly monitor the difference between retail and wholesale prices in various commodities to ensure the availability of the essential items for the consumers at affordable prices.

Chief Secretary Sindh informed that wheat flour and sugar prices have declined in the province, which would further stabilize in the coming weeks. He also briefed that the Sindh government has established fair price shops to provide relief to the general public. However, chicken prices are slightly increasing, and they are taking corrective measures accordingly.

Additional Chief Secretary Punjab informed that the prices of tomatoes are fluctuating due to seasonal factors, but it will stabilize in the coming weeks. He further briefed that the prices in the “360 Sahulat Bazar” are lower compared to the open market. He also informed that the government of Punjab is releasing wheat as per policy, which has stabilized the wheat prices.

Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa informed that they are releasing five thousand tons of wheat daily, which has reduced the prices of wheat flour per bag by Rs. 20 to 30. It was also informed that tomatoes, produced locally in KP, have started coming into the market. It is expected that in the coming weeks, the supply of tomatoes will increase significantly, which will bring a significant decline in the price.

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Punjab and Sindh Governments also briefed regarding the new crushing season of sugarcane and informed that the price of sugar would further reduce due to the availability of the local produce in the coming months.

MD, USC apprised NPMC about the sufficient stocks of sugar and wheat at the Utility Stores across Pakistan at a subsidized price.

Minister for Industries and Production, Hammad Azhar, Adviser to PM on Commerce, Abdul Razaq Dawood, SAPM on Revenue, Dr. Waqar Masood, Federal Secretary Finance, Federal Secretary National Food Security and Research, Secretary Industries and Production, Secretary Commerce, Chairman TCP, Chairperson CCP, and Managing Director Utility Stores Corporation also participated in the meeting. The Provincial Chief Secretaries joined the meeting through a video link.

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One of the fastest-growing retail chains in Pakistan, Imtiaz, has opened the doors of its second Megastore for the people of Islamabad. Conveniently located in Islamabad’s fast-developing commercial and residential destination Gulberg Greens Expressway, the store is now delivering an unmatched shopping experience to the residents of the capital city.

The launch of the new Imtiaz Megastore right in the heart of Islamabad was highly anticipated as the store was set to house its own clothing and food brands – such as Sabiha’s, Ponam, Brio’s, etc. – alongside other local and international products. The opening ceremony saw a crowd of shoppers and festivity with a lucky draw for exciting prizes starting the same day.

For over a decade, Imtiaz has ruled the roost in Karachi’s highly competitive retail market and become a household name for budget quality shopping. The convenience, competitive pricing, and an enormous variety of items that it offered made Imtiaz an immediate success among the masses that had not experienced such value shopping before.

In August this year, Imtiaz refreshed its brand identity and announced that it was all set to spread its wings nationwide. Although it had some presence outside of Karachi for a while, Imtiaz announced plans of targeting the Punjab region and opening new branches in Lahore and Islamabad. The launch of the Gulberg Greens Megastore is part of the same expansion plan.

“With this new Imtiaz Megastore in Gulberg Greens, we want to give the people of Islamabad a taste of economical, convenient, and diversified shopping experience,” said Mr. Kashif Imtiaz, Director at Imtiaz. “We have brought the lowest prices to the capital and are geared to become the city’s go-to store that serves all of its people’s shopping needs and delivers an experience that turns them into our loyal customers.”

Backed by more than 7000 employees and a huge customer base alongside 14 branches nationwide, Imtiaz is the biggest retail chain in Pakistan accumulating massive sales and customer trust. Starting as a small kiriana shop in Karachi, it has worked itself up acquiring immense growth as the fastest-growing retail chain in the country.

Seeing the hard work the brand has invested in to earn its current market repute, Imtiaz’s fast-forward growth comes as no surprise. The brand is geared to further expand its nationwide footprint with plans to open more branches in the future in different parts of the country. Meanwhile, the Gulberg Greens branch has begun to serve the capital city with an extensive selection of brands and items to choose from.

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K-Electric (KE) and the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) organized a joint session where the publicly-owned DISCOs were briefed about KE’s journey and experience as the first DISCO to implement Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) on an end-to-end scale.

Inaugurating the event, Amer Zia, Chief Distribution Officer (CDO) KE, said, “Recently KE has made significant in-roads towards automation at various front-end and back-end levels. AMI has been in the pipeline for over ten years. We are very appreciative of NEPRA and all the DISCO representatives for taking the time out to be here and learn from our experience.”

While speaking at the joint session, Mazhar Iqbal Ranjha, Director NEPRA, said, “Energy companies across the globe are moving towards service automation. A move towards AMI can help introduce greater efficiencies while also providing a better user experience for our valued customers.”

NEPRA is continuously emphasizing real-time monitoring and that such automated systems can be helpful in monitoring and enforcing regulatory instruments in their true letter and spirit.

AMI system has smart meters as core devices. KE representatives briefed the attendees about the long-term advantages associated with moving towards AMI. This includes automated meter reading (the first step towards auto-billing), power quality monitoring, and load management through the availability of timely and accurate information.

AMI would also help to enable improved customer experience. Current challenges connected with the implementation of AMI were also discussed, in particular national demographics. During the session, a brief overview of KE’s Geographical Information System (GIS) was also given to the attendees.

The audience was told about KE GIS which enables the utility to capture and analyze geographical data to improve asset monitoring and management.

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vivo held the 2020 Developer Conference at the Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center this week. The leading smartphone manufacturer launched a new operating system based on Android named OriginOS, sharing its strategic approach in products and services, ecosystem, and being a bridge between users and the digital world.

At the event, Shi Yujian, Senior Vice-President at vivo, said the company is retracing its roots to focus on the origin of core user needs as its strategic approach for the future. He laid out a three-pronged approach, centering around products and services that appeal to consumers, a collaborative ecosystem that fosters mutual benefits with developers, and ultimately becoming the bridge between users and the digital world.

vivo Reveals OriginOS
In recent years, vivo has served different consumer groups through a complete product line layout. With diversified products including smartphones, smartwatches, and wireless earphones, vivo has been enhancing its offerings amid the evolving needs of consumers. vivo has also worked with TV, PC, and vehicle brands to provide a holistic multi-screen interactive experience for users.

Going forward, vivo will continue to develop AR glasses as well as other additional intelligent devices to complement user experiences, addressing all aspects of their daily needs.

The continuous improvement of consumer experiences cannot be separated from the joint efforts of vivo and its partners. vivo has been promoting deeper integration into the digital world to achieve greater win-win scenarios and has constructed an ecological system of applications, content, and services. To enhance the bridge that will connect users to the digital world, vivo has also put forward a series of specific measures for empowering developers, enhancing the platform and technical capabilities, and constructing the IoT ecosystem.

At the 2020 vivo Developer Conference, vivo also revealed OriginOS, a new Android operating system that offers an array of original features combined with different customization options, further demonstrating its strategy of developing products and services that move consumers.

The genesis of OriginOS centers around three frontiers based on smartphone consumer demands design, smoothness, and convenience. Currently, smartphones can preoccupy our daily lives, increasing the seriousness of modern problems such as information overload and homogenous aesthetics.

This points towards a need for the smartphone operating system to provide an even higher degree of control to the consumer, acting as an effective medium to help users express themselves. Therefore, OriginOS repurposes familiar features with new exciting designs to create the ultimate smartphone experience.

vivo OriginOS’ desktop
The smoothness of OriginOS was showcased at the event, flaunting a series of comprehensive software updates that allow users to run complex multi-faceted processes on their vivo device in an effortless manner, assimilating into all aspects of their daily lives.

OriginOS is equipped with an advanced desktop information management system that provides users with convenience and clarity in the services they desire on a day to day basis. This newfound simplicity within the smartphone infrastructure can be utilized by vivo partner developers to create original scenarios for efficient usage and empower problem-solving for a broad group of common users.

At the event, vivo also delivered its latest update and strategy on application services, mobile games, business partnership, open technology development, and IoT ecosystem.

The post vivo Launches OriginOS at its 2020 Developer Conference appeared first on .

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The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has warned the Government of Pakistan that the forced repatriation of overseas Pakistani workers due to the COVID-19 crisis will put a huge dent in the economy, and has requested the creation of a calculated strategy to deal with the situation.

The SBP recently released the State of Pakistan’s Economy 2019-20 which revealed that the government does not have a comprehensive long-term plan to deal with the issue of the forced repatriation of overseas Pakistani workers.

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“While the short-to-medium-term focus seems appropriate given the abruptness of the COVID-19 crisis, the government must also frame a long-term view and adopt a comprehensive national migration policy,” the SBP remarked.

The annual report also noted the huge impact such a situation will create if thousands of migrant workers are forced to move back to Pakistan with a grim outlook. Thousands of Pakistani workers are currently employed in the Middle East and the pandemic has already cost a lot of Pakistanis their jobs.

Many workers had been in the process of moving to other countries for their jobs but the pandemic has halted such processes and around 100,000 workers have been unable to gain employment.

“Around 50,000 Pakistani migrants faced layoffs in different countries. These jobs may not be recovered in the short term, and are, thus, extremely vulnerable,” the report stated.

According to the data, as many as 60,000 Pakistanis were newly hired but were unable to join their new places of work due to travel restrictions or the unavailability of flights, thus putting their employment at risk. Additionally, 50,000 Pakistanis have returned to the country after being granted leaves by the employer.

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“Now, with the COVID-19 crisis, the demand contraction and a dull crude oil market have further weakened the economic outlook of oil-exporting economies. Under such circumstances, a complete return to pre-COVID migrant employment levels does not appear in sight, at least over the next two years,” said the report.

The report also mentioned that thousands of overseas Pakistanis are expected to be repatriated in the near future and that they will require the government’s assistance for their reintegration into the Pakistani employment structure.

“A well-planned and coordinated strategy is needed at provincial and federal levels to address social and economic consequences of mass repatriation and cater to the basic needs of the returned migrants,” the report declared.

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As the number of COVID-19-positive cases in the country increases at an alarming rate, the administration of Karachi has decided to impose smart lockdowns on four city districts and mini lockdowns on two city districts.

The decision for the lockdowns was made during a meeting that was attended by all the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of the city and chaired by Commissioner Iftikhar Ali Shallwani – the administrator of Karachi.

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The commissioner updated the DCs about the rapid rise in the COVID-19 cases and advised them to impose smart lockdowns in the highly infected areas. He said that the only way to control the spread is to impose such lockdowns in areas with high-density populations and high-positivity ratios.

He also directed all the DCs to make sure that proper preventative measures and SOPs are implemented within their districts.

It was decided in the meeting that the smart lockdowns will be imposed in the East, West, Central, and South city districts, and the mini lockdown will be imposed in the Korangi and Malir areas of the city.

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In conclusion, Commissioner Shallwani said, “A campaign being run to ensure the following of SOPs at marriage halls, restaurants and supermarkets should continue”.

The second wave of COVID-19 has hit the country hard and the relevant authorities are taking measures to contain its outbreak.

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Google is working on an innovative new artificial intelligence system that will help visually impaired and blind people run races. Project Guideline is still in its early stages, but it aims to let blind people run free without the help of any guide dogs or human volunteers.

The way it works is that the visually impaired runner attaches an Android phone to their waist with a specially designed harness. The phone is linked with the Project Guideline app that uses the phone’s camera to track a guideline on the road (typically a yellow line in the middle).

Using bone-conducting headphones, the app warns the runner with audio cues if they start straying from the guideline. The sound cues get louder in one ear if they start straying off more to one side. The app can work in a number of different weather and lighting conditions and does not need an internet connection.

Project Guideline is under development with the help of Thomas Panek, president, and CEO of Guiding Eyes for visually impaired and blind runners. The company is looking to partner with different organizations to set up courses with painted guidelines across different communities to facilitate blind runners everywhere.

Check out the video below to see the AI in action.

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The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has decided to introduce new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for international travelers to Pakistan after a huge spike in COVID-19 cases. The new SOPs will be valid until 31 December 2020.

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Countries have been placed into three categories – A, B, and C – according to their risk levels. Passengers from Category A countries are not required to provide their RT-PCR tests to the concerned authorities.

Passengers from Categories B and C will be required to provide their RT-PCR tests conducted at least ninety-six hours prior to traveling. If passengers fail to provide the tests to the concerned authorities, they will not be allowed to enter Pakistan.

Passengers from Category C countries will have to provide their negative test results before traveling to Pakistan and will have to take a second test upon their arrival in the country. They are also required to download the Pass Track application on their Mobile Phones and upload their personal details and RT-PCR tests on it before traveling to Pakistan.

If a passenger tests positive upon their arrival in Pakistan, they will have to self-quarantine according to the procedure.

Although differently-abled persons, high-level international delegations, and passengers below the age of twelve are not required to submit their RT-PCR tests or download the Pass Track application, they must submit a Health Declaration Form to the concerned authorities upon their arrival in the country.

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The guidelines also include SOPs for aircraft management, including the requirement to disinfect aircraft properly prior to the boarding of passengers.

The management is also required to keep an inventory of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including protective suits, gloves, face masks, goggles, and N-95 masks. All passengers and crew members are required to wear face masks at all times.

Countries in Category A include Australia, China, Cote D’lvoire, Cuba, Fiji, Finland, Iceland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malawi, Maldives, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.

All the countries that are not in Category A automatically fall into Category B.

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