PM launches Kamyab Jawan Sports initiative

Competitions will be held for children aged 11 to 25 to select them for world-class professional training

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday launched the Kamyab Jawan Sports Drive after lighting a torch at an impressive ceremony at Jinnah Stadium in Islamabad.

The government initiated four projects under the drive, worth Rs4 billion, to keep the youth engaged in extracurricular and sports activities.

The premier stated that the talent hunt program is aimed at preparing the youth for international competitions and added that centres of excellence will be established to polish the talent of Pakistani youth in different fields.

Imran said a new sports policy has also been formulated to rid the old system of mafias.

The premier said that about 70 per cent of the country's population is younger than the age of 30 and it has been decided to spread the network of grounds across the country and playgrounds will be established in each union council.

He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has established three hundred playgrounds and in Punjab two hundred and sixty grounds have been established.

The prime minister further said the government is also making efforts to provide better education facilities to the youth.

The Kamyab Jawan Sports Drive, in its first phase, consists of 12 games including hockey, cricket, football, handball, wrestling, weightlifting, squash, volleyball, ski, judo, boxing and Athletics.

Under this drive, sports competitions will be held for children aged 11 to 25, including girls across the country.

The government plans to select 10 million youth in these competitions for world-class professional training.

Also, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday approved the concept plans for the “ecological restoration of the Indus basin for a climate resilient future” and the accelerated “innovative green financing for” development projects in the country.

Chaired the fourth meeting of the Committee on Climate Change, the prime minister was briefed that air pollution problems, starting from November affected most areas of Punjab, besides the violations of the Indus Water Treaty also adversely impacting the biodiversity of the Indus River basin in the country.

The concept plan comprises conservation and pollution control measures to be taken in upstream, Indus plain and downstream of the Indus River basin, providing an action-based framework to integrate current initiatives and developing new initiatives to fill the gaps.

Imran directed that a detailed plan be completed within four months for approval and implementation. He also approved the concept proposal for “nature policy-based budgetary support” by the World Bank that would accelerate innovative green financing for the development projects in the country.

The prime minister directed for urgent long-term planning for urban areas, where environmental issues, including loss of green cover, sewerage treatment, solid waste management, and air pollution needed an immediate solution.

“Climate change adaptation measures are required to provide a safe environment to our coming generations,” Imran said. “The government’s Clean & Green Pakistan initiative was launched with our youth in mind and that the responsibility of providing a clean future lies with the present generation.”

The prime minister highlighted that Pakistan’s contributions to global environmental pollution sources were negligible but the impacts of climate change were huge. “Pakistan is not part of the problem yet we want to be part of the solution,” he emphasised.

Earlier, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam updated the meeting about the outcome of the Conference of Parties (COP) 26 held in Glasgow recently. He said that the international community acknowledged Pakistan’s environmental conservation programmes.

At the Kamyab Jawan Sports Drive ceremony, Imran highlighted the importance of sports and expressed his government’s resolve to spread a network of sports grounds across the country.

He said that sports gave the youth a mental strength to fight the challenges in life. “When you learn to compete in ground, you also learn to win and also learn to face defeat…When there comes a difficult time in the life of a person, he or she faces that challenge with courage,” he told the gathering.

He said that New Zealand, a country of just 5 million population, had more sports grounds than Pakistan – a country of 220 million people. “The present government is striving to develop sports grounds in every village, town, tehsil and districts across the country.

The government, he added, was also focusing on education and had disbursed Rs47 billion in scholarships to 6.3 million youth, the highest number of scholarships in the country’s history.