Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal has said Pakistan’s huge youth bulge should be tapped to contribute towards the country’s economic progress. He said Pakistan is celebrating its 75th years of independence, but still its economy is so weak that it has to depend on International Monetary Fund bailout. He said that corruption isn’t the major reason behind the country’s economic failure, but the premature dislodging of the democratically-elected governments and their policies. It must be ensured that there is continuity of policies.

Ahsan Iqbal said that in order to empower youths, the government has launched an internship programme, under which 60,000 young graduates from across the country would get paid internships. The government would also provide information technology-based skills training to another 100,000 young people. He said the government is also offering 75 scholarships to those who managed to secure admissions in the top 25 universities of the world as a mark of celebrating the 75th years of independence.

Likewise, the minister added that 100,000 university students would also be provided laptops to make them digitally empowered. "In our previous government, we provided one million laptops that resulted in the promotion of freelancing culture among the youth," he added.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk