Fawad Chaudary Might Be Set On Revamping The Science And Technology Sector Of Pakistan

When Fawad Chaudary’s appointment as the Federal Minister for Science and Technology was announced, there were some extremely mixed reviews from the nation, but almost none that were positive. Most people felt like the rather short tempered politician was not the best fit for the job especially since he has no expertise in the field.

Just recently, he came under fire and ridicule when he confused NASA with SUPARCO. Crazy right?

He somehow thought it was the Pakistani space program that sent the Hubble Telescope to space.

The ex-Minister for Information and Broadcasting is also no stranger to controversy and drama as his latest announcement has made him the worst enemy of Mufti Muneeb and the rest of the Ruet-e-hilal committee. Chaudhry, wants the country to rely on hard scientific facts to conduct moon sightings, a duty that has been quite a religious phenomena since the country’s inception.

He announced a five-member committee that will consist of selected officials from his own ministry and from SUPARCO that will come together to create a 10-year calendar that will end the year old moon sighting controversies that arise with each Islamic event.

Needless to say, shots have been fired with Mufti Muneeb  fighting back. He even went as far to state in an interview that, “The minister is unaware of the system and if he is interested, we can make a 100-year lunar calendar for him.”

Damn. That’s got to sting!

However, and really hear us out on this one, Chaudary’s plans to upgrade a decidedly outdated system might not be such a bad thing. There is nothing wrong with modernizing already existing structures and processes to make them more efficient and reliable.

And this might not be the only good thing that comes out of Chaudary’s appointment.

In a tweet he posted today, Fawad Chaudary announced the launch of a new government initiative that will gauge, screen and eventually provide loans to tech based business ideas in order to help the nation’s tech entrepreneurs.

آپ کے پاس ٹیکنالوجی کاروبار کا آئیڈیا ہے، آپ کو لگتا ہے،آئیڈیا میں دم ہے، جولائ میں اپنا آئیڈیا وزارات سائینس و ٹیکنالوجی کو رجسٹر کروائیں اگر ہمارے ماھرین بھی آپ کے آئیڈیا سے متاثر ہوئے تو ہم آپ کے آئیڈیا کو ستر سے سو فیصد تک سرمایہ دیں گے ، تیاری پکڑیں #PakScienceFair2019

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) May 15, 2019

This is absolutely great news!

If you have any tech based business Idea and you want sponsorship, we will give you seventy to hundred percent loan for execution of your idea, get yourself registered for evaluation of your Ideas in July, get ready #PakistanScienceFair2019

For a country lagging behind on government support for tech based ventures, this could be the start of an amazing opportunity for countless Pakistani citizens who want to start their own business and will encourage more tech business incubators and fairs in the country. Before the announcement of this initiative, the minister tweeted that Pakistan would have it’s first state level Science Fair in Islamabad.

پہلا پاکستان سائنس فیئر PAk Science Fare اگست میں اسلام آباد میں منعقد ہو گا ، جولائ سے اس میلے میں شرکت کیلئے Entries لی جائینگی، آپ نے کچھ بھی ایسا Innovate کیا ہے جو آپ پاکستان کو showcase کرنا چاہتے ہیں تیار ہو جائیے۔

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) May 9, 2019