News
Tuesday, January 08, 2013
President asks BISP to send 150,000 skilled youth abroad
KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday tasked the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to make plans for generating overseas jobs for 150,000 youth and train them in different trades and vocations.
The president directed that the task should be accomplished in consultation with the Ministries of Overseas Pakistanis and Foreign Affairs. He was addressing the graduation ceremony of the Waseela-e-Rozgar scheme of the BISP whereby 10,000 youth have been equipped with vocational skills to enable them to make their own living in a respected manner.
He also asked BISP Chairperson Farzana Raja to expand the programme’s coverage not only to more areas of the country but also to launch new initiatives under its umbrella. The ceremony was held at the Bilawal House and was attended among others by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, federal and provincial ministers, parliamentarians and others besides the beneficiaries of the Waseela-e-Rozgar scheme.
The president congratulated the boys and the girls who had completed training in different trades and said the skills acquired by them will help them earn decent living and become productive citizens. He said it was part of the strategy of the government to provide jobs to the people and to take the poor people out of the generational poverty traps. Complimenting the BISP chairperson, the board members of the programme and all other involved with the programme, the president said every system and all programmes take time to fully develop. He said the BISP has developed into a comprehensive social safety net with the flux of time.
Zardari said it was a matter of pride that the programme was progressing and has become a comprehensive social safety net. He said it has attracted worldwide appreciation for its transparency, objectivity and efficiency and was reaching out to over seven million families in a short span of four years.
He termed it a major achievement and said that it was very rare that a programme which was designed locally keeping in view the indigenous requirements of the population has gained acceptability and recognition not only at national level but also at the international forums due to its objectivity, fairness, outreach and effectiveness. He said that BISP has achieved significant progress in reaching out to the poorest of the poor and extricating people from generational traps of poverty, however, in view of the booming population much more needs to be done as the programme has a great scope to be further expanded and strengthened.
The president said that the BISP was a realisation of the dream of Benazir Bhutto. He said that the vision of the PPP leaders continues to guide us to make Pakistan a truly welfare state. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk