Sindh cabinet approves first-ever agriculture, youth policies

KARACHI: The Sindh Cabinet has approved new agriculture policy, new youth polices and also establishment of two new universities, Shaikha Ayaz University at Shikarpur and Begum Nusrat Bhutto Women University Sukkur.

The Sindh Cabinet met here under the Chairmanship of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and taking important decisions.

The agriculture policy was presented in the cabinet which is complimented by a series of background studies in the areas of macroeconomic factors, poverty and gender; climate change; value chain enhancement; resource use efficiency; nutrition and fiscal space utilization, in addition to consultation with farmers and stakeholders.

The time horizon of agriculture policy would be until 2030 to along with the international agreed Sustainable development Goals. However, the various legal, regulator, institutional and expenditure-related changes set out in the policy would be implemented over a period of two years, 2018-19 to 2019-20.

Minister Home & agriculture Sohail Siyal gave details of the action point under the new agriculture policy.

YOUTH POLICY

The Sindh Youth Policy is the central tool to systematically integrate, implement and evaluate all youth development work in the province. It aims at building a youth who are economically sound, socially progressive and politically and politically engaged and who possess appropriate skills and tolerant values of good citizens. Like agriculture policy it has been formed in consultation with all stakeholders, experts and academicians.

The highlights of the youth policy include establishment of a youth development commission; establishment of district structure of youth affairs department; centralized information system on youth development and job data base; formation of job bank; establishment of Institute Placement Bureaus through IT interface; establishment of youth venture capital fund, annual innovation competitions and formation of small incubation centers at the universities; entrepreneurship training at universities by private sector, crash programme of technical education; devise models of elected student councils, exposure trips, reactivation of students union, establishment of artisan support programme, reactivation of boys and girls guides at school and such others.

The cabinet discussed various aspects of the policy and approved it.

TWO UNIVERSITIES

The cabinet also decided to upgradate Shikarpur Campus of Shah Abdul Latif University as full-fledged university. The new university has been named after the name of Shaikh Ayaz, a renowned poet and educationist from Shikarpur. The cabinet approved the draft of Shaikh Ayaz University, Shikarpur Act, 2018 and referred to the Sindh assembly for further approval.

The cabinet also approved to establish Begum Nusrat Bhutto Women University draft Bill, 2018. The university is being established for Rs2710.6 million at Sukkur.

The land for the university has been donated near Arts Council, Sukkur and its compound wall has been constructed. The construction work is in progress and its vice chancellor, Ms Parveen Munshi has been appointed to look after the establishment work. The approved draft bill has been referred to Sindh assembly.

PROSECUTOR

The cabinet approved appointment of Ayaz Hussain Tunio as new prosecutor general. In the last cabinet meeting Fiazul Hassan was appointed but his notification was stopped as his age was short of the required age of 45 years.