ISLAMABAD, Aug 06 (APP): The government on Friday launched a digital dashboard to make statistics of Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan Programme(KJP) public so that transparency and better decision making can be ensured while executing all of its components.
The online portal, developed by the National Information Technology Board (NITB) by using Artificial Intelligence, was launched by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Youth Affairs Muhammad Usman Dar here at the Press Information Department (PID).
Addressing a news conference, SAPM Usman Dar said it would provide all the relevant information to the media and citizens who were quite concerned about area-wise disbursement of loans under the KJP’s Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme (YES).
Initially, the statistics of YES were being made public, he said, adding data of its other components like skill development and social engagement schemes would soon be placed on kamyabjawan.gov.pk.
Usman Dar said the initiative would not only ensure transparency in the programme, but also help the KJP team use this data in decision making, which would eventually let the government to achieve its core objective.
“The core agenda of Kamyab Jawan Programme is job creation for youth through promotion of entrepreneurship culture, provision of quality professional trainings and easy access to soft loans,” he remarked.
Giving practical demonstration of the digital dashboard, he said it was quite easy to access, and provided real-time data about the KJP which upgraded after every half hour.
On visiting the website, one had to click on employment column to access the YES’s complete data including its partner banks’ information, area and sector wise statistics, and number of total jobs creation, approved, rejected and disbursed loans, he added.
Reading from the dashboard which was put on display at the screens installed at the PID, he said so far soft loans amounting to Rs 22 billion had been approved for 18,381 entrepreneurs. Out of this, Rs 16.4 billion were disbursed among the qualified youth, which helped create 28,525 jobs in different sectors including services, manufacturing and agriculture.
Around 516,203 loan applications were under process and 663,856 cases got rejected due to various reasons, he noted and said major reasons behind rejection of applications were lack of business plans, skills and ideas, incorrect information about age and other specifics of the applicants.
A review committee had been set up for those whose applications got rejected, he said, adding “This is taxpayers’ money and the government will go to every extent to check capability of an applicant.”
He also made it clear that the programme was being run on merit without any discrimination.
As regards to slow pace of loan disbursement, he said the programme was launched at the end of 2019, but the process was disrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic which in 2020 disturbed the business environment altogether.
He said Prime Minister Imran Khan had allocated Rs100 billion for youth under the YES which would be distributed among them by 2023, adding a remarkable progress was made during the last couple of months.
The SAPM urged the IT and agro entrepreneurs to reap maximum benefits of the YES as e-commerce and agriculture sectors were prioritized and loans were being disbursed in those areas on fast-track basis in line with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s directions.
Speaking of other components of the KJP, he said so far 200,000 youth had been provided technical and vocational trainings in modern and traditional trades. The main focus was laid on less developed areas under this scheme.
Under its social engagement component, he said five initiatives would be launched with a cost of Rs 4billion.
He mentioned the ambitious Kamyab Pakistan project of the government, aimed at steering a large chunk of population out of the poverty. It would cover health card, low-cost housing, entrepreneurship and skill development, he added.
On the occasion, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib said loan scheme for the journalist community was also being planned under the KJP. A mechanism was being developed in collaboration with the Press Club management for the purpose, he added.
