Pak, India should continue steps to improve relations: US

WASHINGTON: Pakistan and India should continue with efforts to mend their relations as improvement in relations is vital for the South Asian neighbours, a State Department spokesperson said.

Broadly speaking we believe that India and Pakistan should continue steps to improve the relationship between the two countries, Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said.

Her comments at the daily briefing came in the backdrop of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's travel to New Delhi where he held a bilateral meeting with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi after attending the new Indian leader's inaugural ceremony.

Obviously it is incredibly important for them to do so the spokesperson said when asked about Washington's position on improvement in relations between Islamabad and New Delhi.

Harf however did not have more specifics about what that should look like or what it might entail. The spokesperson agreed with a reporter who saw hope in future relations between the two countries in view of an early meeting between their leaders and the exchange of gifts between them.

 

Pakistan, Russia to improve ties

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Russia have decided to improve their multi-dimension ties and for the first time, Pakistan’s parliamentary delegation led by its speaker SardarAyaz Sadiq is proceeding to Moscow next Sunday on a bilateral visit.

The six-member delegation is undertaking the visit on the invitation of Chairperson of Federation Council Ms Valentina Matviyenkov, who is in order of precedence, comes after president and prime minister of her country. She is an experienced diplomat and of Ukrainian origin. Well placed sources told The News that the Foreign Office will provide special briefing to the members of the delegation before embarking for the trip.

Former federal minister Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, who is member of the National Assembly from Peshawar, will accompany the speaker as deputy leader of the delegation. Haji Bilour, belongs to the Awami National Party (ANP), that has the history of having close association with the Russian leaders. The parliamentary delegation will also have meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has expressed his keenness to improve relations with Pakistan.

Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq will convey message from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the Russian leader, the sources said.The occasion will help strengthening relations between parliaments of the two countries. The delegation from Pakistan will also visit State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament. The delegation will be meeting the Chairman State Duma and will watch the proceedings of the two houses of the Parliament during its stay in the Russian capital.

The delegation from the Russian Parliament will also undertake return visit to Pakistan later and for the purpose an invitation would be extended by Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq. The delegation will stay in Moscow from 21st of this month till 23rd, and its members will also visit St Petersburg before returning home, the sources said.

US company working on iPhone 5s, Samsung Galaxy S4 cases that improve audio quality

AudioCase will work with iPhone 5s, 5c

To put it mildly, smartphone audio quality is horrible. Even as companies bring in Full HD screens and start thinking about 4K, they have not really been able to improve sound quality.
There seems to be a solution in sight. US-based Prescient Audio is planning to launch an audio-enhancing smartphone case through Kickstarter. The Illinois-based company is the developer of the ThinDriver TD-12, the world’s thinnest, lightest, coolest-running 12″ subwoofer. Its Prescient AudioCase will be a sleek new audio-enhanced smartphone case for iPhone 5/5s and Samsung Galaxy S4.
“Crowdfunding is the perfect way for a cutting-edge company like ours to launch this newest product,” said Prescient founder and CEO Paul Niedermann in a release. He said the AudioCase will bring the highest quality audio possible to “people who care about smartphone sound – without awkward external speakers”.
A $99 Kickstarter Campaign pledge allows individuals to be among the first to own the AudioCase, a smartphone case featuring both TrueVoice and ThinDriver technology to enable high quality, high-volume, two-way audio. Kickstarter backing affords a significant discount to the planned retail price of $149.

Need to improve agri yields

Pakistan's yield per acre of gram has dropped by 50 percent: from 5 maunds per acre to 2.5 maunds per acre, according to Ibrahim Mughal Chairman of the Agri-Forum Pakistan. This statistic would surprise no one in the wake of a 2011 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) 2011 report that revealed that Pakistan was behind regional as well as global yields per acreage for nearly all crops including wheat, rice, sugarcane and pulses.

The report added that while Pakistan is one of the ten major producers of wheat in the world, around 24 million tons, with 24.5 to 25 million tons of total output projected in the current year, yet our per acre yield is only 2.6 tons per hectare while India's yield is 2.8 tons and China's 4.7 tons per hectare. The highest wheat yield is in the UK at 7.7 tons per hectare; however, its cycle is spread over one year against five months in Pakistan. Wheat exports have varied - from 52.7 million rupees in July-April 2012-13 to 112.7 million rupees in 2011-12.

Rice yield in Pakistan was calculated at 3.1 tons per hectare with a total output of around 9 million tons making Pakistan one of the ten largest producers of the crop world-wide. Rice exports have accounted for as high as 11 percent of our total exports accounting for almost 1.7 billion rupees in 2011-12. In contrast, India's yield per hectare is 3.3, Bangladesh's 4.2 and Sri Lanka's 4.1. China has the highest yield - 6.5 tons per hectare.

Pakistan's sugarcane yield per hectare is 52.4 tons, in comparison to India's 66.1 tons which is the regional leader followed by China's 65.7 tons per hectare and Bangladesh's 43.8 tons per hectare. Brazil is the world leader at 79.2 tons per hectare. In coarse grains, Pakistan's yield is 2.2 tons per hectare, India's is lower at 1.2 tons per hectare and Italy has the highest yield at 7.6 tons per hectare. Pakistan's yield for pulses is 0.6 tons per hectare, India's per hectare yield is 0.7 tons, Bangladesh's 0.9 tons per hectare and the highest yield in pulses is in the UK at 3.9 tons per hectare.

Pakistan, however, has the highest per acre yield of 21.6 tons per hectare in roots and tuber production, India's yield is 20.6 tons per hectare, China's 17.8, and Bangladesh 17.7. However, Pakistan is far behind the US registering where per hectare is 42.1 tons.

The FAO report highlighted the reasons for the low yield in Pakistan in comparison to regional countries as well as globally: water shortage, absence of high yield varieties of seeds and lack of research and development. However, in this context it is relevant to note that FAO's data takes account of the national average while the yield per hectare of different crops varies from province to province. Punjab remains the food basket of the country and its yield is on average higher than the national average. Additionally, within provinces yield varies markedly between subsistence farms and those operated by the rich landlords whose yield per acreage is closer to the regional average.

Be that as it may, it is also relevant to note that the Indian Punjab has a higher yield per hectare in most crops relative to the Pakistani Punjab. What is perhaps required is for the provincial governments, given that agriculture is a provincial subject, take cognisance of their farm sectors and initiate appropriate measures based on studies in high yield countries on how to increase yield. Assistance in this regard can be sought from China, the US and the UK as well as Brazil the world leaders in yields in specific crops.