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Madaris (religious seminaries). The present government had adopted 2.5 million children of Madaris – which were never taken care of in the past – and brought them into the national mainstream. The prime minister said under the Hunarmand Pakistan programme, 300 smart technical centers, affiliated with international quality institutes, would also be opened across the country. He lauded the establishment of a National Accreditation Institute, which would ensure standardization and certification of the skills and technical training centers, and help the skilled youth in getting jobs. The prime minister in this respect referred to NAMAL College Mianwali and said over 95% of the NAMAL graduates and degree holders easily got jobs due to the standard and quality of education rendered there. “We have to train and give skills to our youth so that they can get jobs and feed their families,” he said and questioned how many jobs the government could offer. The government’s job was to create an environment for job opportunities,” he added. Prime Minister Imran Khan said the present government was striving to make Pakistan a truly welfare state in line with the vision of founding fathers as well as the philosophy of Madina State, the main principles of which were justice and humanity. The government, he said, had allocated a huge amount of Rs 190 billion for the EhsaasProgramme under which efforts were being made to lift the poor and neglected segments of country for the first time. The prime minister said 170 Panahgahs (shelter homes) had so far been established in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces so that the poor and homeless people got shelter and food for free. “I have asked the patrolling police in Islamabad to check and take the poor people sleeping on footpaths and open areas during night hours, to the shelter homes,” he added. The prime minister also mentioned his yesterday’s visit to a Utility Stores Corporation outlet in G-9 Markaz and said the government had allocated Rs 7 billion as subsidy for the provision of basic commodities to low income groups on cheaper rates through the Utility Stores. He said the government had also launched SehatInsaf Card (health insurance system) for the poor under which a family having the card was entitled to spend Rs 720,000 for medical treatment. With 6 million people already benefitting from the facility, the government was committed to provide health insurance to all the poor families across the country.
