سر زمینِ سیالکوٹ صدیوں کی انسانی تہذیب و تمدن ،ادب و ثقافت اور فنونِ لطیفہ کا عظیم الشان گہوارہ ہے۔اس دھرتی کے تاریخی آثار ایک طویل مدت سے مورخین و ماہرین آثارِ قدیمہ کی دلچسپی کا سامان رہے ہیں۔اب بھی اس کی عظمت رفتہ کے قصے اہلِ تحقیق کو ورطۂ حیرت میں ڈالے ہوئے ہیں۔سیالکوٹ بہت قدیم شہر ہے۔اطہر سلیمی اس کی قدامت کے حوالے سے لکھتے ہیں:
سیالکوٹ کی تہذیب ٹیکسلا او رموہنجو ڈارو کی تہذیبوں کے ہم پلہ ہے۔(۲۴)
اس عظیم شہر کے رخ سے اگر ماضی کی تاریخ کے گہرے پردے کاٹے جائیں تو ہمیں اس کی تاریخی عظمتوں کا اعتراف کرنا پڑے گا۔سیالکوٹ نے قدیم شہر ہونے کی وجہ سے سینکڑوں روشن اورتاریک رخ دیکھے ہیں۔اس شہر کے سینے میں ہندوراجاؤں ،تاتاریوں اور مغلوں کے تاریخی افسانے پوشیدہ ہیں۔اس کے ذرے ذرے میں ہزاروں ہنگامے پنہاں ہیں۔سیالکوٹ کی ابتدائی تاریخ کی ورق گردانی کرنے پر سب سے پہلے ’’مہابھارات‘‘میں ہمیں اس کا ذکر ملتا ہے۔تقریباً پانچ ہزار سال قبل صوبہ پنجاب کے بہادر راجہ پانڈو خان کے بھتیجے راجہ سل نے اس شہر کو تعمیر کروایا تھا۔یہیں اس نے ایک قلعہ بھی بنوایا اور اپنے ہی نام پر اس کا نام سلکوٹ رکھا۔(۲۵)یعنی سل کا قلعہ جو بعد میں بگڑ کر سیالکوٹ کے نام سے مشہور ہوا ۔اس ضمن میں آتش لدھیانوی رقمطراز ہیں:
یہ راجہ سیاذات کا تھا۔ کہتے ہیں کہ اپنی ذات کی نسبت سے اس جگہ کا نام سیالکوٹ رکھا۔(۲۶)
جیسا کہ اوپر ذکر ہوا ہے کہ اس شہر کا ذکر ہندوؤں کی مذہبی کتب ’’مہابھارت‘‘ اور’’یران ‘‘ میں بھی آیا ہے۔محمد دین فوق نے بھی اس سلسلے میں لکھا ہے:
اس زمانے میں سیالکوٹ کانام شاکل...
The financing operations of conventional microfinance institutions are usually based on interest (Usury/Riba) which is strictly prohibited by the Shariah of Islam, therefore, some Islamic microfinance institutions were set up in Pakistan to provide micro credit and other financial help to the deserving people based on Shariah compliant mechanism. The aim of this paper is to evaluate and compare the social and financial performance of these microfinance institutions in Pakistan. Two separate samples containing two microfinance institutions each, representing conventional and Islamic microfinance institutions has been selected for this study. Four stars, Wasil Foundation and Akhuwat from Islamic microfinance institutions while Asasah and Community Support Concern (CSC) from conventional microfinance institutions, rated by Mix market have been selected for this research paper. The social and financial performance based on outreach, profitability, efficiency/productivity, and portfolio quality of both these microfinance institutions were studied and compared. The study revealed that Islamic MFIs were more cost effective compared to conventional MFIs based on cost per borrower (CPB) and operating expenses to assets (OEA), while on the basis of financial efficiency conventional MFIs performed well. Though the financial and social performance of both Islamic and conventional MFIs have improved over the passage of time, still they have to struggle hard on various fronts especially to improve their profitability based on ROA and ROE measures to make the institutions profitable and sustainable. This study reveals that the successful operation of Akhuwat and Wasil Foundation for the last more than a decade latterly proves that Islamic MFIs are viable and sustainable even in the absence of charging interest from their clients. So, the society and the government should encourage and promote these Shariah compliant organizations in order to help the extremely marginalized people of the society.
Studies on evaluating the potential of boron application in improving the performance of water saving rice cultivation were conducted in the Seed Science Laboratory, net house and Agronomic Research Area, Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan. In the lab and net house studies, rate of boron application as seed priming, foliar treatments, seed coating and soil application was optimized to improve the performance of rice cultivars Super basmati and Shaheen basmati following completely randomized design in factorial arrangement with five replications. In the field study, experiment was conducted in randomized complete block design with split plot arrangement having net plot size of 8 m x 2.2 m with three replications. Seed priming in 0.001 and 0.01% B solutions improved the time to 50% germination, germination energy, final germination percentage, mean germination time and germination index, leaf emergence and elongation and tiller appearance. Leaf chlorophyll contents were significantly improved by boron especially with 0.001% concentration. Similarly, water relations and different yield contributes of rice cultivars were also improved by boron priming. Boron seed coating also improved the leaf emergence and elongation, and tillering in both rice cultivars. Leaf chlorophyll contents were significantly improved by boron seed coating. Similarly, water relations, growth and yield contributing parameters of rice cultivars were also improved by seed coating with 2-3 g boron kg-1 seed. Soil and foliar applied boron also improved the growth, leaf elongation, tillering, leaf chlorophyll contents, water relations and yield related traits of both rice cultivars. However, soil application at 1 kg ha-1 and foliar application of 0.75 M boron were more effective. Pre-optimized boron treatments, including priming with 0.001% boron, soil application at 1 kg ha-1 and foliar application of 0.75 M boron solution, were applied to rice crop raised by conventional flooding, aerobic culture and alternate wetting and drying. Boron application methods improved water relations, chlorophyll pigments, leaf area index, leaf area duration, crop growth rate, net assimilation rate, different growth and yield related traits of both rice cultivars. Boron application also accelerated the phonological events of both rice cultivars. In addition to improvement in growth and yield, boron application also improved the kernel quality of tested rice cultivars. Normal kernels, kernel length and kernel water absorption ratio were improved by boron application. Similarly boron application substantially enhanced the net benefits and marginal rate of return. Boron application methods improved the efficiency of different production systems, however, soil application in flooded rice, foliar application in alternate wetting and drying and seed priming with boron were more effective.