Prime Minister launches scholarship program
Presently PM Imran Khan in Pakistan launched the Rehmatul-Lil Alameen scholarship program for intermediate and undergraduate students in Islamabad. It is said that the scholarships would be available to all the people in the country counting non-Muslims.
Statistics show that the federal government will yearly offer Rs 5.5 billion for 70,000 scholarships. PM Imran said that a total of 350,000 scholarships would be provided during the next 5-year at a cost of Rs 28 billion under the initiative. The Provincial governments of Punjab and KPK will also separately offer scholarship to the students. Imran Khan reaffirmed the commitment to build Pakistan as a great nation on the state of Madina’s principles of rule of law and focus on education. Without education, no nation can make progress. The Present government of Pakistan is chiefly focusing on the education sector with the aim that Pakistani (our) youth learn from the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) Khatim-un-Nabiyeen. Imran Khan also said that under the umbrella of the Ehsaas program, various programs had been started for the relief of under-privileged segments of the society. The network of Koi Bhooka Na Soye will be enlarged to the entire country.
PM also commended the governments of Punjab and K-P for planning to provide universal health coverage to the people. The struggle launched for supremacy of law will be won by us. No country can move forward without bringing the powerful people under the ambit of the law. It is said Rehmatul-Lil Alameen scholarships are a countrywide program and it will be implemented in one hundred and 29 universities in Pakistan. Total 50 percent of scholarships will be given to women whilst 2 percent to the disabled persons. A mechanism has been developed so that the students can apply for the scholarship from their homes. The Provincial government supports the federal government’s initiatives aimed at uplifting the education sector. According to World Bank’s recent estimates, 10 percent of the world’s population or 734 million people lived on less than $1.90 a day. In the wake of COVID-19, World Bank estimates that 40 million to 60 million additional people will fall into extreme poverty (under $1.90/day) in 2020, compared to 2019, depending on assumptions on the magnitude of the economic shocks. Under the pandemic, the global situation of poverty may become worse due to job loss, rising prices, disruptions in supply chains, loss of remittances, education, and health services, etc. In Pakistan, owing to the government’s welfare orientation and commitment towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), social protection has gained high priority, and the government is determined to prepare and implement all-inclusive social protection policies that have transparent and manageable targeting system. In the post devolution scenario, both federal and provincial governments are jointly working towards the achievement of optimal social protection and minimum social exclusion. Pakistan’s multi-sectoral poverty reduction strategy encompasses targeted interventions, such as the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), alongside private philanthropy and improved access to microfinance. Key social safety initiatives include Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal, Zakat, and Ushr programmes, Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI), the Worker’s Welfare Funds (WWF) and provincial Employees’ Social Security Institutions. On the other hand, a festive spirit was witnessed at over 100 nationwide Panahgahs where hundreds of thousands fasting labourers and daily wage earners broke their fast. Iftar and Sehar are being served at Panahgahs amid strict adherence to the anti-coronavirus SOPs. Sources record that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s poor-friendly initiatives are paying dividends as thousands of poor citizens are not only getting food from Panahgahs, but also from the mobile kitchens distributing nutritious food boxes at special routes of main cities in the country. It is also said that the mobile kitchens, launched as a pilot project under PM’s koi bhuka na soyega programme, were serving meals to the poor in major cities like Faisalabad, Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, and Rawalpindi. Plans are also underway to replicate the programme in Pakistan to reach a larger number of people with nutritious food. The Government of Pakistan feels that it is its obligation and duty to rise up to the issue and relieve hunger, particularly in this holy month of Ramazan.