PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet on Thursday approved an internship policy to help young graduates develop professional skills.

The cabinet met here with Chief Minister Pervez Khattak in the chair and ministers and administrative secretaries in attendance.

The internship policy was prepared by the Performance Management and Reforms Unit (PMRU) working at the chief secretary’s offices.

Initiative to benefit 5,000 graduates every year, promises Rs25,000 monthly stipend for one year

The PMRU will prepare an online portal to receive internship applications and register internees, while the planning and development department will be the custodian of the portal.

The policy says the planning and development department will ensure an appropriate number of internship slots in every new project’s PC-I, create up to 5,000 positions in the annual development programme and make sure that the sponsoring departments upload approved number of internship slots on the dedicated portal and fill them in line with the criteria.

Under the policy, the sponsoring departments will include an appropriate number of slots in each new PC-1 and to publish approved slots on dedicated portal.

They will notify the internship management committee headed by the project director or head of the planning cell and consisting of two members, including a representative of the planning and development department.

Also, the semiautonomous organisations will place the policy before their respective boards for action and ensuring creation of an adequate number of internship slots from their own resources.

The district governments will also strictly follow it.

The internees require 16-year, HEC-recognised degree, three years diploma of associate engineer, paramedic/technician course, KP and Fata domicile, and age up to 29 years.

The internship will last one year with the internees getting on-station monthly stipend of Rs25,000 each.

The cabinet also approved amendments to the Child Protection and Welfare Act 2010 to further strengthening the law.

A statement issued here said under the amended law, child protection units will be set up at district level that would be headed by the district officers (social welfare).

The provincial chief protection officer would oversee the issues at provincial level and would empower officers on district level to register FIR against involved in assaults on children.

The cabinet also approved the KP Human Rights Policy, which would integrate provincial government previous legislations.

The policy proposes to increase budget for the human rights protection, imparting human rights training to police personnel, curbing torture and legislation to control custodial deaths, training of investigations officers regarding women rights, protection of human rights defenders and training of transgender.

The cabinet also approved a grant of Rs228 million for the Swat Water Supply and Sanitation Company.

The cabinet also approved risk allowance for the police officer at the rate of 1.5 per cent of their basic pay for the police officers and directed the home, administration, establishment and finance departments to chalk-out mechanisms for this.

It approved technical allowance for the engineers and directed the departments to resolve restructuring issues of the engineers on their payroll at departmental level.

The cabinet approved a policy regarding of agriculture department land for other purposes and decided that though the unused land might be utilised for other purposes, its ownership would remain with the agriculture department.

It also approved the extended agreement lasting to 15 to 20 years with pushcart owners displaced by the government.

The cabinet said the displaced pushcart vendors didn’t have to seek the revival of permit every six months and would be issued permits for 15 to 20 years.

It also approved the KP Cultural Tourism Amendment Act, 2018, and the establishment of the Civil Aviation Directorate.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2018