The prime minister has launched Kamyab Jawan programme with a lot of publicity and fanfare. This programme is geared towards providing low markup loans to young entrepreneurs between ages 21 and 45 to start businesses and projects.

The government claims that the programme will change the fate of the country by generating economic activity. Though it seems a well-intended and charming scheme, I am afraid it has all the ingredients of falling prey to corruption and scandals like similar programmes launched by governments in the past.

Be it the yellow cab scheme, prime minister/chief minister youth programmes, the laptop scheme, or the BISP, every programme was supposed to change the fate of the country.

However, these schemes end up in a mess because the rich and the powerful misuse such schemes.

They exploit the poor and the vulnerable who need such loans. Even the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister, Dr Sania Nishter, acknowledged this in the case of the BISP where high-ranking government officials benefited from the programme using fake names.

I request the prime minister to put in place a foolproof system that ensures merit and transparency.

Involving the opposition in this initiative would further strengthen transparency. Otherwise, I am afraid this might be one more initiative that may fail and lead to corruption.

A Pakistani
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2020