Uzbekistan Life & Culture - The Times Of Central Asia

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Tashkent Teacher at Center of Political Debate Arrested for Second Violent Outburst

The Times of Central Asia previously reported that оn September 23, a teacher at a school in Tashkent’s Chilonzor district was filmed slapping a student when the child asked for the Russian language class to be taught in Russian. The Children’s Ombudsman of Uzbekistan, Surayyo Rahmonova, has begun an investigation into the incident. The spokesperson for Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, said that she was worried about the content of the video published online, and asked Uzbekistan to make a legal assessment of this incident. In response, Alisher Qodirov, the leader of Uzbekistan’s Milli Tiklanish (National Revival) party and deputy speaker of the lower house of parliament, urged Russia not to interfere in Uzbekistan's domestic affairs, commenting that “it would be better for [Russia] to deal with their own affairs [which are] full of problems than to deal with our internal issues." Russian Senator Andrei Klimov reponded to Qodirov’s statement, saying that “inter-ethnic relations are very delicate” between Uzbeks and Russians. He called the teacher’s actions “an offense, maybe more” and expressed bewilderment at Qodirov’s remarks. The teacher has since committed other offenses. On September 24, she went to her daughter’s school in another district of Tashkent, where she argued with the school administration and used physical force against the deputy director. When officers from the National Guard and the Interior Administration intervened to restore order, the teacher resisted their demands. She was later sentenced to seven days of administrative detention and fined.

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Uzbekkosmos and NASA Unite for World Space Week Celebrations in Uzbekistan

The Uzbekkosmos agency has announced a series of events in celebration of World Space Week, which will take place in Uzbekistan from October 4 to 10. This global event, commemorated in nearly 100 countries, was established by a UN General Assembly resolution in 1999, recognizing the importance of space exploration. As part of the World Space Week festivities, Uzbekkosmos is launching several major initiatives. A key highlight is a special exhibition on space history at the Tashkent City Mall Trade and Entertainment Center, which will open its doors on October 4. In addition, on October 5 and 6, Uzbekkosmos, in collaboration with NASA, will host the NASA Space Apps Challenge 2024 hackathon. This event will take place at the Turin Polytechnic University in Tashkent, where over 200 young innovators, organized into approximately 40 teams, will showcase their creative projects.

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Big Fire at Top University in Uzbekistan; No Casualties Reported

Firefighters in Uzbekistan have extinguished a large blaze that broke out at the Tashkent State Agrarian University, a leading institution in Central Asia that has extensive international links and whose sprawling grounds include offices of some Uzbek government agencies. Videos of the fire on Monday evening showed flames almost completely engulfing a building and burning on other structures as well. Smoke billowed into the night sky. Sirens were heard as emergency responders converged on the area. “No information has been received about any injuries or fatalities as a result of the incident,” Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a statement. Firefighting crews received a report of a fire at the university at 8:10 p.m. and were on the scene at 8:17 p.m., according to the ministry. It said the fire was completely extinguished by 10:10 p.m. and that its minister, Maj. Gen. Abdulla Kuldashev, personally oversaw efforts to put out the fire. There were no immediate reports on the cause of the blaze. The fire started on the roof of the Forestry Agency building and affected three buildings in total, according to Gazeta.uz reporters who were on the scene. The Uzbek media outlet said the 28-hectare campus is also home to Agriculture Ministry offices and facilities of some international organizations. Forbes Ag, a North Carolina-based agricultural consulting firm, said last week that it was assisting the “bright young minds” at the Tashkent State Agrarian University on issues of sustainable farming. USAID said in August that seven students from the Tashkent university were in a two-month research program at the University of Missouri. Last week, a member of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization visited the campus to discuss dangerous chemicals and pesticides, and a university delegation was traveling in China. The university has had contacts with numerous other countries. In a statement, Bobur Tolaganov, spokesperson for the Tashkent Regional Department of Internal Affairs, said that a criminal investigation has been launched into the cause of the fire.

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British Museum Opens Silk Roads Show – With Help from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan

The British Museum opened Silk Roads to the public on Thursday, delivering a highly anticipated exhibition about the vast, interlocking routes that connected cultures across Asia, Africa and Europe for centuries and includes ancient chess pieces and other items on loan from Uzbekistan as well as Tajikistan. The show, which runs until Feb. 23, 2025, aims to get beyond traditional notions of spices, camels and sand dunes, as well as the misconception that there was one “Silk Road” - a single pathway that ran across Central Asia, linking traders in the West with those in the East. While the Silk Roads network lasted for millennia, the British Museum is focusing on the period between AD 500 and 1,000, when contacts accelerated and religions and technology flourished across far-flung regions. “Rather than a single trade route from East to West, the Silk Roads were made up of overlapping networks linking communities across Asia, Africa and Europe, from East Asia to Britain, and from Scandinavia to Madagascar,” the museum says in its introduction to the London show. The British Museum worked with 29 national and international partners on the exhibition, which includes objects from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan that have never been on display in Britain and highlight the importance of Central Asia to the continent-sweeping saga of the Silk Roads. Uzbekistan, home to Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand and other sites associated with the ancient network, is a big player in the exhibition. It is lending “the oldest group of chess pieces ever found” and a six-meter-long wall painting from the ‘Hall of the Ambassadors’ in Afrasiab, an ancient spot in Samarkand, according to the Uzbekistan Art and Culture Development Foundation. “The painting evokes the cosmopolitanism of the Sogdians from Central Asia who were great traders during this period,” the state foundation said. Saida Mirziyoyeva, a daughter of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and a senior presidential aide, attended the exhibition roll-out this week. “A must-see for anyone passionate about Silk Road history!” she said on X. The National Museum in Tajikistan, which started working with the British Museum on plans for Silk Roads in 2022, has said it is lending items “related to the Buddhist culture of the 7th and 8th centuries, found in the monuments of Ajinateppa, Kafarnihon, and Vakhsh.” Objects on display include a Buddha figurine found in Sweden; an Islamic-style map drawn for the Christian king of Sicily; a Chinese ceramic dish found in a shipwreck in Indonesia; a gilded silver cup whose components indicate links between Scotland and West Asia; a gold shoulder clasp with Indian garnets that was found at the Sutton Hoo ship burial in Suffolk; and a gold bowl found in Romania that was linked to the Avars, an originally nomadic group from the northeast Asian steppe. The exhibition is not just about physical objects. There are also stories about an African king, a Chinese princess and other characters whose lives were connected to the Silk Roads, and insights into religious encounters and the spread of...

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Pathway to Prosperity: Uzbekistan’s Ambitious Plan to Halve Poverty by 2030

A presidential decree, "On taking measures to reduce poverty and increase the population's well-being to a new level," has been adopted in Uzbekistan. Lifting half a million people out of poverty in the remainder of 2024 and a further million in 2025 was defined as the primary task of the state's socioeconomic policy and state bodies and organizations at all levels. The “From Poverty to Prosperity” program will be implemented based on the positive results of poverty reduction from past national experiences and international practices. The program will be implemented from November 1, 2024, based on the doctrine of “Seven Opportunities and Responsibilities for Poor Families.” Within the framework of this program, systematic work is carried out to achieve stable employment and higher incomes, education and vocational training, access to the use guaranteed state medical services, social services, and an overall improvement in living conditions. The “Uzbekistan – 2030” strategy also includes steps to reduce poverty in the country. It was stated that the Ministry of Poverty Reduction and Employment in Uzbekistan will work with Chinese experts and international organizations to develop a strategy for reducing poverty from 2024 to 2030. This will aim to halve poverty by 2026, raise the income of 4.5 million people at risk of falling into poverty by 2030, and lift three million young people out of poverty by utilizing their labor skills. According to data, at the end of 2020, approximately six million people in Uzbekistan lived below the poverty line. While evaluating the results of the transformation programs aimed at solving the problems of poverty, it was noted that in 2023, the poverty rate in Uzbekistan decreased from 17% to 11%, meaning such programs have already helped lift almost two million people out of poverty. It is planned that the poverty level in Uzbekistan will be reduced to 7% in the next three years. This work to reduce poverty has been lauded at the international level. Dr. Ambar Narayan, Manager of the Global Poverty and Equality practice of the World Bank in Europe and Central Asia, for example, has recognized that large-scale work on poverty reduction has been carried out in Uzbekistan since 2020. Naravan believes that prioritizing investment in economic mobility and developing opportunities for vulnerable sections of the population, including youth, women, and inexperienced workers, will help create more productive jobs and reduce hardship. Geoffrey Ijumba, acting head of the UNICEF office in Uzbekistan, has also praised Uzbekistan’s efforts to develop a nationwide action plan to end child poverty. “Prioritizing the problem of child poverty, as well as the development of appropriate measures and programs, will allow Uzbekistan to achieve its goals of reducing poverty, as stated in the ‘Uzbekistan – 2030’ strategy. It will also help achieve the MDG (Millennium Development Goal) targets of ending child extreme poverty and halving it according to the national definition,” Ijumba stated. Global Finance published a list of the poorest countries in the world in 2024 based on the International Monetary Fund's data. Kazakhstan...

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Uzbekistan Leads Central Asia in World Happiness Report

The World Population Review has announced this year's list of the happiest countries in the world. Since 2002 the World Happiness Report has used statistical analysis to determine the probable wellbeing of countries. To determine the happiest country in the world, researchers analyzed Gallup poll data collected from 143 countries over the past three years. The index looks at six categories: gross domestic product per capita, social support, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, generosity of the general population, and perceptions of internal and external corruption levels. The seven happiest countries in the world for 2024 are all in Europe, with six of them being in Northern Europe. Finland is in first place, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Israel, the Netherlands, and Norway. Afghanistan ranked as the least happy country in 2024, placing 143rd. This is due to factors like low life expectancy, low GDP per capita, and the impact of the Taliban takeover. Uzbekistan takes 47th place in the ranking and is the happiest country in Central Asia. Kazakhstan is next, in 49th place overall, falling from 44th last year. Kazakhstan’s relatively slow population growth will allow the country to continue makihttps://timesca.com/uzbekistan-leads-central-asia-in-world-happiness-report/ng economic progress and reduce poverty in the coming decades. Tajikistan ranks 88th on the list. The World Happiness Report says: “Tajikistan’s population boom threatens its economy and resources. The government has implemented laws in the past to encourage contraception, and while this has helped bring down the birth rate, the country still has a long way to go.” The report doesn’t provide information about Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan this year. According to the most recent data for them, Turkmenistan was 78th in 2022, and Kyrgyzstan was 62nd in 2023.