MUZAFFARGARH: The South Punjab Secretariat, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP), has chalked out a plan to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs), poverty alleviation, increase in literacy and supply of potable water with an amount of Rs400m.

The P&D Department of South Punjab and the UNDP launched a report in this regard on Monday.

South Punjab Additional Chief Secretary retired Capt Saqib Zafar and UNDP country head Knut Ostby attended the launch in which P&D Secretary Shoaib Syed gave a briefing.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Zafar said eradication of poverty from the region was a challenge as Muzaffargarh and Rajanpur had the highest poverty rate in the province and the UNDP and the South Punjab Secretariat would succeed in achieving the SDGs.

Mr Ost by said the UNDP had set a target of achieving the goal by 2030 for reduction in poverty and raising living standards of the people of South Punjab.

GAMES: The annual Inter-District Police Games 2022 tournament between the teams of Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur and Layyah has started.

In Dera Ghazi Khan, on the first day of the tournament, competitions were held between the basketball and handball teams of the four districts.

Regional Police Officer Muhammad Waqas Nazir distributed prize trophies and shields among the winners. The tournament will feature competitions between volleyball, athletics, table tennis, badminton, football, hockey, bodybuilding, wrestling, boxing, karate, rugby, kabaddi and cricket teams.

ROSHNI: The South Punjab School Education Department has launched ‘Roshni’ -- a magazine for the schoolchildren of south Punjab -- in the printed edition.

Secretary Dr Ehtasham Anwar said Roshni started as an Urdu online magazine in September last year and now it has evolved to a printed form. With around 50,000 copies published, the magazine is one of the largest publications in Pakistan. It is being provided free of cost to the students of class VI in public schools in 11 districts of south Punjab. It will be available for purchase at bookstores all over the country.

Dr Anwar said the magazine was part of ‘Farogh’, a project initiated by his department to promote reading and writing amongst students. Contributions come from the students.

He said the first edition of the magazine was dedicated to Hakeem Muhammad Saeed. He said Roshni has the honour of not only being the largest magazine for the children but also the most colourful one too, as the entire magazine has been adorned with illustrations in bright colours.

He also clarified that the online edition would continue to remain available at Roshni.org.pk for those interested.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2022