US upgrades Pakistan on 'human trafficking index'
Washington, June 30 : The US has moved Pakistan from a watch list to another group of countries that have taken significant steps to curb human trafficking, a report has revealed.
"The government of Pakistan does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so," Dawn news quoted the State Department report as saying on Friday.
"The government demonstrated increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period, therefore, Pakistan was upgraded to Tier 2."
Tier 2 on the State Department's list includes countries that do not fully comply with these minimum standards, but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance.
The move comes two days after an international financial watchdog placed Pakistan on its monitoring list - known as the "grey list" - for allowing terrorist groups to collect funds.
"Modern slavery has no place in the world, and I intend to ensure, through diplomatic engagement and increased action, that the United States government's leadership in combating this global threat is sustained in the years to come," said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo while releasing the report.
The report notes that the Pakistan government demonstrated increasing efforts by raising the number of victims it identified and investigations and prosecutions of sex trafficking, Dawn reported.
The provincial government of Punjab increased investigations, prosecutions, and convictions for bonded labour, the country's largest human trafficking problem.
The governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh reported operating two additional women shelters and three additional child protection units, respectively.
The report, however, points out the Pakistan government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas including the overall law enforcement efforts on labour trafficking remained inadequate compared with the scale of the problem.
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No merit lists, divisions in CBSE Class 10, 12 board exams; certificates to top 0.1 pc students
New Delhi (PTI): The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Tuesday said that it neither announces any merit list in Class 10 and 12 board exam results nor divisions are awarded to students to avoid any unhealthy competition.
The results for the Class 10 and 12 exams of the board were announced on Tuesday.
While over 93 per cent students cleared the Class 10 exams, the pass percentage in class 12 exams stood at 88.39 per cent. Girls outshone boys in both exams.
"As per an earlier decision by the board to avoid unhealthy competition amongst students, no merit list is prepared and declared by CBSE. Also, the board has not awarded first, second and third division to its students," CBSE Examination Controller Sanyam Bhardwaj said.
"The board will issue merit certificates to the top 0.1 pc students who have scored the highest marks in the subjects. The merit certificates will be available in Digi-Locker of the students concerned," Bhardwaj added.
CBSE merit lists were also not announced in 2020 and 2021 because the board adopted an alternate assessment scheme since some or all the papers were cancelled due to COVID-19. The board permanently discontinued the policy in 2022.
