Day: November 13, 2021

Posted on

WhatsApp will Soon Let You Hide Your Last Seen From Specific Contacts

WhatsApp is working on a list of new features for the chatting app and the latest one leaked today aims to improve Last Seen. As always, the leak comes from none other than WABetaInfo, the team of developers known for leaking upcoming WhatsApp features.

According to their newest leak, WhatsApp will soon let you hide your Last Seen status from specific contacts. Currently, you can only hide your Last Seen from all your contacts or none of your contacts.

This feature should improve privacy and anonymity on WhatsApp even further. Let’s admit, we all have nosy contacts that stalk our last seen and bother us about it. It could be your colleagues, bosses, overly strict parents, your little cousins, extended family members that have nothing better to do, or anyone else.

This new feature should be ideal for those who only want their Last Seen hidden from a few annoying contacts.

The new Last Seen option is being beta tested by a limited number of users at the moment. There is no official word on WhatsApp yet so it is unclear when the feature will roll out for everyone.

The news comes shortly after WhatsApp announced a major update to the chatting app called Multi-Device Support. This keeps your WhatsApp Web or WhatsApp Desktop online even if your smartphone has gone offline or died from low battery. You can log into 4 different devices without having to keep your phone online.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Posted on

PDM wants to obstruct the country’s progress & prosperity: Fawad

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain has said that the nation is united under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan and the protesting elements want to stop the journey of development which will never happen.

Responding to Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s speech at the PDM gathering today [Saturday], he said that his plans A, B and C have already failed.

Fawad Chaudhry said that the job of PDM is only to mislead the people but they will not take participation in any long, short march or quick march.

The Information Minister advised the PDM to wait for two years for elections and then for another five years as the PTI will win next general elections.

He said the opposition is relying on each other to save their corruption and PDM wants to obstruct the country’s progress and prosperity.

Source: Radio Pakistan

Posted on

Several Major Universities Are Underperforming: Higher Education Commission

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) informed a Senate panel on Friday that the performance of many renowned universities has been observed to be dissatisfying.

Senator Irfan Siddiqui chaired a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Federal Education and Professional Training at the Parliament House, during which HEC officials revealed that 32 universities had performed poorly in 2018-19.

These universities include Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), the University of Karachi (KU), the University of Peshawar, the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), Islamia College University Peshawar, Government College University Lahore, and the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE).

“This is something shocking and alarming. Institutions which are otherwise known for their good reputation are under-performing,” Senator Siddiqui said.

He said that HEC must work on improving these institutions and directed it to instruct them to justify their low performances.

The senator also highlighted that fake journals are being published in many universities that are promoting low-quality research. He constituted a subcommittee headed by Senator Rana Maqbool to review the articles published by various universities, including QAU, the University of Punjab, the University of Peshawar, the University of Balochistan, and KU.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Posted on

Pakistan Railways Reports a Whopping 97.6% Deficit for 2020-21

The percentage of Pakistan Railways’ deficit as compared to revenue increased from 73.87 percent in 2017-18 to 97.68 percent in 2020-21, while income declined from Rs. 49.58 billion to Rs. 48.65 billion during this period.

This was revealed by Railways Ministry in a written response in the National Assembly here on Friday.

The percentage of the deficit as compared to revenue as of 30th June 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 is 73.87 percent, 60.11 percent 105.39 percent, and 97.68 percent. Pakistan Railways income was Rs. 49.576 billion in 2017-18, Rs. 54.514 billion in 2018-19, Rs. 47.588 billion in 2019-20, and Rs. 48.652 billion in 2020-21. The percentage of punctuality of trains for the period June 30, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 was 71 percent, 70 percent, 63 percent, and 74 percent.

The Lower House was further informed that in pursuance of the policy of the Federal Government, Pakistan Railways has outsourced some of its trains under Public Private Policy (PPP). According to the policy decision given by the Railways Board Ministry of Railways, the bids more than the Railways earning will be accepted. The decision has been made to minimize the loss of Pakistan Railways by bridging the gap between earning and expenditure.

Under this policy Pakistan Railways has introduced outsourcing of commercial management of passenger and freight trains, luggage/brake vans, dining cars etc. Pakistan Railways is getting fixed amount per annum from these activates through private sector without any complicity.

It further informed that the private sector can earn more from the above-mentioned activities as compared to Pakistan Railways. In order to attract the customers, private sector can vary fares according to the market dynamics on daily basis whereas PR cannot adopt the same procedure due to policy constraints.

Similarly, the private sector can plug the leakages more effectively. Modern marketing techniques and provision of door-to-door (home delivery) facility have also helped the private sector in enhancing the earning.

It is pertinent to mention that only the commercial management of different activities has been outsourced to the private sector. Whereas the operation of all such activates is performed by the Pakistan Railways. Essential categories are the ones that are directly linked with the operation of PR. The recruitment made in recent years were to recoup the shortage of only essential categories to ensure smooth operation of PR.

Source: Pro Pakistani

Posted on

Govt is Yet to Remove Fixed Sales Tax on Local Smartphone Production

The government has not implemented a majorly approved recommendation of Mobile Device Manufacturing Policy of removal of fixed Sales Tax on CKD/SKD manufacturing of mobile devices above USD 200 category.

This was revealed by the Ministry of Industries and Production in a written response to the National Assembly.

Replying to a question that whether the government has implemented all approved proposals mobile device manufacturing policy, the Ministry responded that all approved recommendations regarding Mobile Device Manufacturing Policy have been implemented except the removal of fixed Sales Tax on CKD/SKD manufacturing of mobile devices above the USD 200 category.

The Ministry further stated that this Division forwarded the above non-implementation at (a) vide summary on 4th December 2020 to ECC which in Case No. ECC-452/ 61/ 2020 dated 16-12-2020 approved, in principle, the said proposal at 2b of the summary i.e. removal of sales tax on locally manufactured phones of value more than “USD 200” with the direction that modalities shall be finalized by the Ministry of Industries and Production in consultation with Finance Division, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and relevant stakeholders.

However, due to the legal framework, instead of implementing above on CKD/SKD, FBR has maintained the gap between CBU and duty in flat rates for six different slabs according to the import value of the cellphones vide FBR SRO 840(I)/2021 dated June 30, 2021, thus encouraging local mobile phone manufacturing.

The National Assembly was further informed that so far Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has issued manufacturing licenses to 26 companies.

Source: Pro Pakistani