Chitral: A short history of Pakistan is well encapsulated in this urdu stanza. Credit goes to the poet who wrote this evergreen couplet for Pakistan.

OUR brain is the most important/vital organ in our body. It contains billions of neurons that make trillions of their connection networks.

Neurons are responsible for carrying information throughout our body. They use electrical and chemical signals to coordinate all functions of life.

Your brain is the command centre for all that you think, feel and do. The left side of the brain is involved in analytical thinking, whereas the right side is involved in creative activity.

Both sides of the brain become highly active when anyone is engaged in the game of chess which is an activity of enormous potential for our mind.

It develops mental activities that are used throughout life. Several studies have shown the advantages of chess in education.

Chess teaches basic life skills that all kids should know to lead a successful and productive life.

There are so many benefits for kids who learn and play chess. Some of these are:

1.Can help to deepen focus: Kids who play chess regularly significantly improve their visual memory and concentration.

2.Develops creativity and critical thinking: Chess makes kids to be able to think through changing variables and possibilities.

These skills are very important for the game and hence for life. Chess requires kids to use cognitive skills such as thinking, reading and analysis.

Robert Ferguson, who is Executive Director of American Chess School in Pennsylvania, has discovered that kids who play chess develop 35% higher creative and 15% higher critical thinking than kids who do not play chess.

3. Builds up confidence and improves memory: Dr Diane Horgan, Dean of the Graduate School of Counseling and Educational Psychology at University of Memphis in Tennessee, established that chess not only improves visual memory but also helps enhance reasoning ability.

4. Develops problem-solving skills: Research studies have shown a strong correlation between chess and math’s scores.

Even a short time practice of chess is very effective tool to enhance kid’s mathematical abilities.

So chess can be used as an instrument to enhance problem solving skills.

4. Teaches us Foresight: Chess teaches us foresight by forcing us: (a) to make a plan ahead, (b) to be vigilant (c) to keep watch over the entire chess board (d) to restrain from making hastily moves (e) increases Intelligence Quotient (IQ) levels.

It has been proved that the game of chess increases brain power and enhances IQ levels. One study in Venezuela has shown that 4000 grade-II students showed marked improvement in overall IQ scores in just 4 months of play. So, chess indeed raises a child’s IQ significantly.

5. Reduces the Risk of Developing Degenerative Brain Diseases Research has shown that playing chess can help to reduce the chances of mental illnesses such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Chess promotes brain growth and healthy stimulation of neurons. Thus, it can make brain stronger and faster.

Chess can provides kid’s the opportunity to enjoy a mentally entertaining quiet game. It is more entertaining and beneficial than any other game.

It keeps kids away from loud, violent and4 often silly online games. Chess is in the school curriculum in about 30 countries worldwide.

In USA, Russia and all the countries which were part of USSR etc, the game of chess is mandatory part of primary school curriculum.

Since 2011, all the children in Armenia from 6 to 8 years have had compulsory chess lesions.

Armenian authorities say teaching chess in schools is about building character, a sense of responsibility and organization among school children.

Chess develops important array of intellectual skills. Chess fosters independent strategic thinking among future generation at school, at work and in society.

International Chess Federation (FIDE) and European Chess Union (ECU) have issued a survey report on May 28, 2021 about chess in schools.

According to this survey, 25,600,000 children are participating in chess activities in school environment.

Out of these 15,000,000 children are in India, 5,000,000 in China and 5,600,000 in rest of the world.

This report will be used to suggest an operational and financial plan for FIDE 2021-2025 concerning chess in schools.  .. Source

Kodak was established 135 years back in 1888. It enjoyed a market share of 80% in photography in 1970. However, it failed to scan the changing environment of digital photography and ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 2012. In fact the first digital camera was invented by a Kodak employee Stevan Sasson.

Nokia, founded in 1865 was the largest cellphone maker in 1988 but its CEO Stephen Elop ended his speech saying, “we didn’t do anything wrong, but somehow, we lost.” Upon this conclusion, he and the entire management team publicly wept on the sunset of Nokia.

Pakistan, a nuclear state, is facing its Kodak moment. Historically it thrived on participation in conflicts and developed a War Economy. It has not planned for a Peace Economy, ie, how will we get dollars when there is peace? Not surprising that the nuclear weapon country is threatened by a looming default today.

On the other hand, Dubai, a mini sheikhdom on sands is thriving. 4000 global millionaires have thronged to Dubai recently. KSA has reinvented itself and has shunned exporting Wahhabism. Qatar population is equal to a middle size district of Punjab like Sahiwal or Okara but is hosting FIFA World Cup this year.

Pakistan needs to reinvent and reorient itself. It needs a paradigm shift from drawing mileage out of a conflict to one where we reap benefits from peace. It has to devise ways and means to gain dollars without participating in a conflict.

Lewis Bentley once said, The light bulb did not come from the continuous improvement of candles. A strategic paradigm shift is warranted to escape our Kodak moment. .. source: courtesy internet

JERUSALEM, Israel — A fountain-of-youth drug could soon make the problems of aging a thing of the past. Researchers in Israel say they have identified a group of molecules that repair the damaged parts of cells which break down over time. That discovery may also lead to a new pill that prevents age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem note that modern medicine has helped to increase the average life expectancy worldwide. However, as people live longer, they face more and more problems associated with old age. With that in mind, the team set out to balance the benefits of longevity with a better quality of life in our later years.

During their study, the researchers developed a drug which protects human cells from damage, making it possible for a person’s tissues to retain their proper function for a longer period of time.

Fixing the power plants of cells

Study authors say a major factor in the aging process is the drop in effectiveness in a cell’s quality-control mechanism. When this system starts to break down, it leads to a buildup of defective mitochondria — the “power plants” of the cells.

“Mitochondria, the cell’s ‘power plants,’ are responsible for energy production. They can be compared to tiny electric batteries that help cells function properly. Although these ‘batteries’ wear out constantly, our cells have a sophisticated mechanism that removes defective mitochondria and replaces them with new ones,” Professor Einav Gross explains in a media release.

However, this mechanism breaks down as people grow older. The result is cell dysfunction and the deterioration in tissue activity — which can cause diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and heart failure to develop.

The team is hopeful that their study has found an innovative compound that may help treat these diseases. Turned into an easy-to-take pill, the molecules may also act as a preventative measure, repairing cellular aging before it has a chance to trigger disease.

“In the future, we hope we will be able to significantly delay the development of many age-related diseases and improve people’ quality of life,” says co-author Shmuel Ben-Sasson.

The researchers, together with Yissum, Hebrew University’s tech transfer company, have created the startup company Vitalunga to further develop this compound into an anti-aging drug.

“Ben-Sasson’s and Gross’s findings have significant value for the global aging population,” notes Itzik Goldwaser, CEO of Yissum. “As Vitalunga advances towards pre-clinical studies, they’re closer than ever to minimizing the unbearable burden that aging-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, has on individuals, their families and our health care systems.”  .. Source

Pakistan is a ‘Banana Republic’ for its staggering position both in political and economic fields because the MNAs and MPAs have not achieved the majority votes of their constituencies and, therefore, sell votes for dollars and abuse the trust or confidence of their supporters. Why? Because in the general elections many candidates contested and got votes but all less than 50% of the total votes that were cast. Generally 50 to 55% of the voters of the electoral roll come to the polling station and the 45% is already outside this process. Now out of that turnout  for example one top scorer got 30 %, the next one 15 % and third one 7 % and the last one only the poor 3 % and that makes 55% but it rarely reaches the height of 60% turnout so the majority is not in the Assemblies but the 30% vote holder is an MPA or MNA , elected by 30% educated and 70% uneducated voters. This is not the basic concept of Democracy. Those who reach the Assemblies manoeuvre to do so by a number of unfair means, not in a transparent way.

In order to remove that discrepancy there should be a rule and criteria for success in the election that the winner should at least have secured 50% or above votes and that we can accept  true representation by a majority winner candidate. Those who fail to secure that percentage should go through a second round and then a third round. That will purify the system. Otherwise it is no democracy but a  -JISKI LAATHI oS KI BHENS – type of muddle like the one we are facing today.

With that system introduced another important step is to make democracy on some other model or this system a better one that by amendment in the Constitution:

• Only the high educated-graduates and above – should have the right to vote. The illiterate adults should be deleted from the electoral rolls and should have no voting right at all.
• The contesting candidates should also undergo the same process and the fake degree holders must by verified from the Universities concerned and clearance be mandatory.
• This will encourage literacy rate as well as motivate public to get higher education to reach the voting standard.
• Religious knowledge of the candidates be tested at the time of scrutiny or the situation will crop up again as seen a couple of years ago when one Minister could not recite a very short and well- known  Verse of the Holy Quran.
• That a Referendum system both on provincial and National level should be a basic of that system on provincial/Nations issues.
• There has to be a Single party system not the 118 at present. The One party system like Russia, Iran, China model to curb the pubic and the unbridled media. Strong discipline has to be introduced to stabilize the country and the economy. .. Prof. Rahmat Karim Baig, Chitral 29 July 2022

.. by Gulsher Panhwer Johi

SOME influential men were recently caught by locals after they killed eight Chinkara deer in Tharparkar. A young man, Utam Singh Rajput, valiantly resisted and banged his vehicle against the jeep of the ruthless hunters amid a volley of bullets to force them to surrender. The locals rushed to the location, caught three of the hunters and handed them over to police. Cruelty against animals is common in Pakistan when the world has generally abandoned the callous practice of hunting for pleasure.

Officials paid for protecting wild animals are either active facilitators of hunting or find themselves helpless against the hunters.

Tribal chieftains, who are often parliamentarians as well, are also seen posing behind hunted deer, ibex and other animals as trophies.

However, the vigilant local community, civil society and media deserve our appreciation for resisting the powerful to protect the threatened wildlife species. The late Nazim Jokhio, who lost his

life while resisting the powerful facilitators of foreign hunters from the Middle East, and Utam Singh Rajput should be hailed as heroes. They really are.

SOME influential men were recently caught by locals after they killed eight Chinkara deer in Tharparkar. A young man, Utam Singh Rajput, valiantly resisted and banged his vehicle against the jeep of the ruthless hunters amid a volley of bullets to force them to surrender. The locals rushed to the location, caught three of the hunters and handed them over to police. Cruelty against animals is common in Pakistan when the world has generally abandoned the callous practice of hunting for pleasure.

Officials paid for protecting wild animals are either active facilitators of hunting or find themselves helpless against the hunters.

Tribal chieftains, who are often parliamentarians as well, are also seen posing behind hunted deer, ibex and other animals as trophies.

However, the vigilant local community, civil society and media deserve our appreciation for resisting the powerful to protect the threatened wildlife species. The late Nazim Jokhio, who lost his life while resisting the powerful facilitators of foreign hunters from the Middle East, and Utam Singh Rajput should be hailed as heroes. They really are.  .. Source