Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Ahsan Iqbal on Monday said that political stability, continuity in policies and quality education were vital to make economic growth. Launching the Young Development Corps (YDC) at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, he called for utilization the knowledge and research in order to serve the humanity. He said that in 1998, there were only 350 PhDs in the country, adding that then, PML N government had taken initiative of indigenous and foreign scholarship and set of target of 5,000 PhDs under the Vision 2010 in order to convert the county as the knowledge corridor. He said that now, more than 75,000 PhDs are working in the country. He said that in this regime, the government had kicked off Pak- US Knowledge corridor under which 10,000 scholarships will be offered for the 200 US Universities. He said that they are also working on rs 3 billion Technology Innovation Research Fund that will finance innovative ideas through the Competitive Research Grant. He said that marketable research helped pave a way towards uplift of economic activities. He said that steps afoot to establish sub-campuses / universities in the every district to provide the quality education to dwellers at their doorstep. He pinned hope on universities to steer the country out of the crises with researches and quality manpower. He said that the vice chancellors of the universities works as core commander in the process of the development and prosperity He said that there was the need to identify our weakness and to play our active role in the development and prosperity. He said that this year, the economy has registered its highest growth rate (4.7pc) in the last 8 years. He said that 10,000 MW would be added to the system by 2018. He said that the government was making the heavy investment on energy, infrastructure, human resources and other areas.

He said the China Pakistan Economic Corridor was the hallmark step that will help the country to boost the economic activities. He said that the government was making all our efforts to uplift the agriculture sector and to address the problems of the farming community. He said that in the budget, the government has decreased prices of inputs and waved off GST on pesticides in order to make it available to the farming community. He said that agriculture sector had been facing many challenges including the climate change and low per acre productivity for which enhanced effort are needed to address the issue. He said that last year, the cotton crops faced the significance reduction due to climate changes.

He also said that self image of any country was very important but some elements were trying to sabotage it. He said that we have to make the upgrade the country image with the power of knowledge, hardworking and political stability. He said that they had launched the Young Development Corps in the 20 universities.

UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad khan lauded the steps being taken on the part of government to uplift the agriculture and education sector. He said that the HEC budget had risen 3 to four time as it was only Rs27 billion a couple of years ago which has now rises to Rs 80 billion. He said that UAF had developed a short duration variety of cotton PB 896. He said that the UAF had also developed hen Uni-Gold which lays the eggs all the year. He said that Korea Agri Innovation Technology Park worth 30 million dollar will be established at the varsity that will help in increasing the productivity. He said that the country was blessed with the tremendous talents. There is the need to tap the potential. He thanked the federal government for establishing a hostel of 1000 students, IT Centre, and new digital library. Federal Parliamentary Secretary Rana Afzal and MNA Akram Ensari also attended the session.

The cabinet of Young Development Corps which took the oath included Ammar Tufail President; Ayesha Inayat Vice President; Ayesha Rasool General Secretary, and Muhammad Rizwan Media Relations Officer.