Harmony and Peace Education in Pakistan: Focus on Pctb Textbooks of History and Pakistan Studies

Textbooks produce specific minds so are believed the best way to promote peace and harmony in a society. Policymakers draw ideological lines for specific goals and educate the coming generations through the contents of the textbooks. Whatever agenda a nation has, peace and social harmony cannot be compromised so syllabi mean to promote nationalism along with integration. Although history and social studies textbooks address coexistence and tolerance but even then many writers share their reservations about some points. K K Aziz (1993) in Pakistan castigated the governments and the textbook authors on ‘distortion’ of the historical events and deleting important segments of history from the syllabi. Mariam Chughtai shared her reservation regarding the textbooks being published in Pakistan. Romila Thapar in India raised objections against the BJP government’s effort of ‘religionising the syllabi’ and tried her best to introduce non-communal approach based on social harmony in the textbooks while writing history books but her effort remained a mere desire because the ‘religiously’ extremist political party occupying the main corridor of the national government and having no compatibility with her ideas refused to accept the undisputed historical facts. Dr. Mubarak Ali opined while writing on the textbooks that ‘defective textbooks create a defective mindset. Ideology limits people from acquiring new knowledge in order to understand the fast changing world’ (Dawn, April 16, 2016). ‘National History’ reflects national point of view to produce a generation who represents some specific land, culture, religion, political ideology, art and social ethics. Children are taught to grow with their own culture, religion and social norms. This study finds that syllabus of the subjects of History and Pakistan Studies produced by the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB) aims at educating the ‘national interpretation of history along with respect for other religious groups’ to the posterity therefore no gaps seem in the textbooks of History and Pakistan Studies. Criticism arises mostly on the old textbooks while the PCTB had revised the textbooks massively and all the historical periods including Indus Valley Civilization, ancient India, Sikh rule, etc. Are being taught at the school and college level. The ‘history textbook’ is not a ‘history’ rather it offers interpretation of the historical events. This article further pinpoints some issues such as communal interpretations in the British India, space in the textbooks, administrative, social, political and religious narrations, and the undeniable position on nationalism and patriotism which cannot be overlooked. The textbooks are playing their role in promoting social harmony and this policy has resulted in a coexistence, tolerance and peace in the society.

Citric Acid and 5-Aminlevulinic Acid Assisted Phytoremediation of Chromium Through Sunflower

Environmental pollution caused by heavy metals are of great concern now a day as it pose a great threat to human, animals and plants by entering into food chain and living tissue. A large number of heavy metals are being under consideration worldwide due to their potent environmental effects. Chromium (Cr) is one of them causing serious environmental damages. The irrigation of important food crops and vegetables with industrial and municipal wastewater might have human and animals to a significant health risk. For the remediation of heavy metal contaminated soils and water, the most economically effective, ecologically safe and environmental friendly technique is phytoremediation. Few hyper-accumulator edible crops such as, brassica and sunflower are subject to accumulate higher concentration of heavy metal from moderate to highly contaminated soils. Keeping in view the above scenario, this research was conducted to study the morpho-physiological and biochemical mechanisms of sunflower involved in Cr tolerance. Six Faisalabad Hybrids, FH-614, FH-600, FH-619, FH-620, FH-425, FH-612 varieties were selected and one best Cr tolerant variety was chosen for further experiments. The present study was divided into four sub studies. Prior to pot experiment, a short seed germination test was run under different Cr levels (0, 10, 50 and 100 µM) in petri dishes. The selected varieties were grown in Cr spiked soil (0, 5, 10 and 20 mg kg-1) in a pot experiment under natural conditions. Plant height, root length,fresh and dry biomass of root, stem and leaves, chlorophylls and SPAD value, carotenoids, water use efficiency (A/E), transpiration rate (E), stomatal conductance (gs)and photosynthetic rate (A) were measured. The enzymatic activities of antioxidants, such as ascorbate peroxidase (APX), superoxide dismutase (SOD), guaiacol peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), reactive oxygen species such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde (MDA), electrolyte leakage and soluble proteins both in roots and leaves were also measured. Cr contents in roots, stem and leaves were determined. The best tolerant variety of sunflower FH-614 was screened and selected for further experiments. Then, same variety of sunflower (FH-614) was grown in Cr spiked soil (0, 5, 10 and 20 mg kg-1) and citric acid (CA) (0, 2.5 and 5mM) and 5-aminoluvulinic acid (ALA) (0, 10 and 20 mg L-1) with factorial arrangement to investigate the promoting role of ALA and chelating effects of CAin Cr stressed plants alone and in combinations. All morpho-physiological and biochemical attributes of sunflower were measured under Cr, CA and 5-ALA. The statistical data revealed that Cr significantly decreased the agronomic traits of all six selected hybrids along with biochemical and physiological changes. The second study (Cr +CA) showed same trend of Cr stress but the application of CA alleviated the Cr induced toxicity and also enhanced the Cr concentration and accumulation in plant tissues. The third study (Cr+5-ALA) depicts similar results to second study but the combined application of CA and 5-ALA under Cr stressed plants in fourth study showed additive effects in alleviating Cr induced toxicity and accumulation of Cr in plant tissues. In combined application, CA enhanced the mobility and solubility of Cr in soil while 5-ALA regulated the normal functioning of plant metabolism which capable plant to accumulate higher concentration of Cr and translocated it to higher parts (stem and leaves). The present study suggested that the combined application of CA and 5-ALA to sunflower plants grown in Cr contaminated soils can enhance the phytoextraction of Cr and a suitable management technique for the Cr contaminated soils. The possibility of combined CA and 5-ALA for other heavy metals and plants required more detailed studies in future to combat heavy metal pollution.