National Internship Programme interns stipends

Over 6,000 interns without stipends for four months
Karachi, Jan 7: Over 6,000 youths employed under the National Internship Programme (NIP) at different government institutions in Sindh have not received their monthly stipends for the last three to four months, it has been learnt.

It's the second time during the financial year 2009-10 that payments to interns have been delayed for such a long period.

A number of young graduates working under the NIP expressed grave concern over the situation and said delayed payments had forced many interns to leave their jobs as they could not afford their day-to-day expense.

"Most of us belong to low-income group families. We can't afford even travel expenses for a month without a stipend. The government must take notice of the issue and ensure timely release of funds," interns working at the University of Karachi said.

Dr Tariq Sheikh, who supervises the NIP in Sindh said that though he had received a letter from the ministry of youth affairs about the release of Rs144.990 million under the internship programme, no funds had been transferred to the Sindh office of Accountant-General Pakistan Revenues so far.

"I hope that funds will be available within a week and, subsequently, disbursement will start," he said.

When asked about the frequent delays in the payment of stipends, he said that he could most certainly empathise with young interns who had to face trouble due to the delays, adding that he could not offer any help as the matter was not directly related to the provincial government.

"The programme was conceived and launched by the federal government and it is responsible for the timely release of funds. However, we do take up this issue with the high-ups in Islamabad," he said, adding that the interns would receive full payment of their dues once the disbursement process started.

Dr Sheikh pointed out that some districts with sufficient funds available had paid stipends to interns for September, but those facing a shortage of funds could not make the payments for the last four months.

The NIP launched in 2007 offers an opportunity to young unemployed master's degree holders, doctors and engineers to work at a government organisation for one year at a monthly stipend of Rs10,000.

The federal government had allocated Rs3.6 billion for 2009-10 for the programme. More than 25,000 interns were enrolled under the NIP in the country till August 2009. In Sindh, 6,050 interns are working at present.

In 2007, about 26,000 interns were registered with the NIP. There were no inductions in the programme in 2008 because of the government's weak financial position. Dawn

Post your comments

Admission to Karachi degree colleges
Karachi: Admissions to degree classes in the colleges affiliated with the University of Karachi for the academic session 2009-10 will open on Jan 13 and close on Jan 30.

The dean of the faculty of arts, Karachi University, Prof Saleem Memon, said that a decision to this effect was made at the meeting of the principals of the degree colleges affiliated with the university held at the campus on Wednesday.

Mr Memon said that the colleges had been asked to provide the lists of new entrants by Feb 10, adding that the last date for the process of enrolment would be March 20. Dawn

Post your comments

SZABIST graduate batch
Karachi: The first batch of the Film and Video students from the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) Media Sciences department in Karachi graduated last week after the screening of their thesis projects in front of industry professionals.

A total of 12 films were screened ranging from 20 to 30 minutes in duration. Shoaib Mansoor and Sarwar Moosave, two of the media industries biggest names graded the films.

The SZABIST Media Sciences department started in 2006 with the aim to inculcate film and video as part of the curriculum. At the inception of the department, parents and students had concerns over the future of this programme, but now things have changed for them. "When I joined Media Sciences I was not very sure about the future because a lot of experiments were being done on us. Being the first batch, there was a lot of uncertainty regarding our future but in the end it paid off," Faraz Iqbal, a Film and Video graduate from SZABIST said.

Being the first batch of film makers from Karachi, the graduates have a greater responsibility on their shoulders and Asha Panjwani realises the gravity of situation. "We will be entering the industry at a time when film industry apparently is non existent and we have nowhere to go from here but we all plan to go for a MS in Film making and revive the industry after that", Panjwani said.

Iqbal was of the opinion that although the students have suffered a lot as three coordinators were changed in the span of four years, he still believes that his work and the work of his fellows stands out in the market.

Students were very optimistic about the scope of filmmaking and believe that within five years time, film making will flourish in Karachi. "Right now there is no film industry but Karachi will be the new hub in Pakistan because we have the most number of institutes here. If batches like ours keep on graduating, then this whole process won't take much time and we can set new standards. All we want is the support of the market because we will only contribute to the market and not ruin it," Iqbal said.

Najaf Bilgarami, a renowned figure in the Pakistani media industry and also the newly appointed coordinator of Media Sciences has a lot of expectations from this batch and believes that educated film makers can bring up a change if they realise the change.

"We have this false notion over here that if you are creative and enterprising you will eventually end up as a director. If you are filmmaker then that means that you are film director.

A cinematographer, an editor, a screenwriter and most importantly a producer are just as important a component of the filmmaking process as the director. I foresee real filmmakers coming out of this bunch who will really contribute to the industry," he said. The news

Post your comments