Punjab Agriculture Minister Naeem Akhtar Bhabha on Wednesday said that women empowerment and their effective role in socio-economic activities was prerequisite for the development and prosperity for which tangible steps were being taken on the part of the Punjab government.

Punjab Agriculture Minister Naeem Akhtar Bhabha on Wednesday said that women empowerment and their effective role in socio-economic activities was prerequisite for the development and prosperity for which tangible steps were being taken on the part of the Punjab government. He addressed a seminar on women empowerment held in connection with Intentional Women Day Celebrations at the University of Agriculture Faisalabad. UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan and other notables also attended the seminar jointly arranged by US Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security and Institute of Home Sciences, UAF. Addressing on the occasion, the Punjab Agriculture Minister said that women constitutes 50 percent of the total population. There is a need to bring them in the mainstream that will help face the challenges confronting the country. He said that Islam provides excellent and more rights to the women as compared to other religions. The government was making all out efforts to empower the women in the every sphere of life, he said, adding that women were outshining the men not only in education but also in other fields. Talking about the education, he said that Punjab government was paying its full intentions to improve quality of education in the province with a special focus on rural areas. Time has passed when some segment of society discouraged female education. We have restructured impoverish school buildings with more facilities for students. Punjab government is providing state-of-the-art facilities in schools and competent and highly qualified male and female teachers were being recruited. He said 500 years ago, the Mughals emperors had been setting up the palaces in the sub-continents whereas Europe and America had been establishing universities. He added that the education was only way to eliminate parochialism and empower women in society. He further added that Punjab government committed to ensure women presence at every field of life. He urged the scientists to pay their intentions towards research in agriculture sector in order to increase the productivity. He lauded the steps being taken on the part of the UAF for gender mainstreaming as it is having 11,000 women students. Talking about agriculture, he said that the poverty alleviation was directly linked to the agriculture sector. The farmers are facing many problems. He said that steps were afoot to improve agriculture sector. Special interventions are being given to the farmers community to address woos of farmers. Addressing seminar, UAF Vice Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said women will have to protect their own rights with themselves. He said that the women are proving their mettle in education and social economic activities in the world. He said that besides 150 female teachers and 500 women were working on administrative and supporting positions in the University. He viewed that women had been given one/third share in all the authorities of the university and this year, a female lecturer would contest for syndicate member. He said that the UAF had set up a hostel for 1000 girls with the funding of the Punjab Government. It is the largest hostel countrywide. He said that the University was making all-out efforts to provide the modern facilities to the women. The gender ratio in the postgraduate programs is 47 women to 53 men. The Day Care Centre, Women Complex comprising four hostels with state-of-the-art residential and sports facilities, Career Development Centre and working women hostel had been added. He urged the female students to grab foreign scholarship opportunities. He said that the university was promoting cycling among the women in the campus in order to narrow down their dependency. He said that after these initiatives, the gender had become irrelevant in the campus, he added. Former chief nutritionist National Institute of Health Rifat Ayesha, UAF teaching faculty members Sana Arif band Sadia Ilyas also spoke on the occasion. The University also took out a rally to mark the day in which hundreds of students participated. The Minister visited the women complex where he witnessed handball match and distributed the prizes among the girls of sports gala. Later he paid visit to Day Care Center.