SIDRA CHEEMA
THE YOUTH Festival held recently at the Expo Centre in the Punjabs metropolis has turned out to be a grand event of the province as it has become a major platform to showcase as well assess the level of talents of the young minds in various fields especially science and technology with innovations.
The grand science and technology exhibition, the major segment of the Youth Festival, was organized under the aegis of Ministry of Science and Technology, which pulled a large number of visitors comprising students, government officials, representatives of various private sector companies and the general public.
Several other government and private educational institutions, including National University of Science and Technology, Pakistan Engineering Council, PCTS, National University of Oceanography, Pakistan National Accreditation Council, CAMB, PSQCA and National Institute of Electronics Islamabad, took part in the exhibition.
“The popularity of the festival 2014 is increasing day by day as this time it has covered various sectors including prisons and special people of society, education and art sectors,” said an official of the organising committee while talking to this scribe.
He said that thousands of students of as many as 47 universities have arranged 75 stalls at the exhibition.
Hundreds of students from TEVTA institutions also showed their keen interest in the exhibition with models of dams, bridges, important national buildings, roads and electronics.
On the sidelines of the exhibition, a large book fair was also arranged where a large number of academic, religious, historic and scientific books of hundreds of publishers including a digital Quran were put on display.
Main feature of the exhibition was an eye-catching electronic bicycle made by a student M. Tauseef of Government College of Technology Sialkot, which attracted a large gathering on the opening day.
A remarkable development of the science and technology exhibition was the first public appearance of the Tech TV as its management had set up a stall, which did attract large visitors and earned appreciation not only from the government authorities but also from representatives of IT companies and other science and technology institutions of the country.
The Tech TV enjoys the distinction of being the first web TV not only of Pakistan but also the whole Muslim states across the world, with the core objective of promoting science and technology.
In his remarks on the occasion, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Zahid Hamid welcomed this web TV and hoped that it would be a milestone also in taking forward the governments endeavours for the promotion of science and technology across the country.
Dr. Mudassar Asrar, Chairperson of Pakistan Council for Science and Technology, who personally visited the Tech TV stall at the exhibition, was of the view that a web TV particularly on science and technology was the desperate need of the hour in Pakistan at this critical stage. She appreciated the management of the web TV for envisioning this initiative at a time when the government is focusing on popularizing the significance of SandT for achieving national progress.
Sayyed Paras Ali, Chief Operating Officer of Tech TV ad Editor Technology Times, while appreciating the remarks of the government authorities about the web TV, said that their remarks would prove to be a source of inspiration and encouragement for them. He pledged that their TV would explore all available resources to become a representative platform not only of the Pakistani people but also would showcase the achievements done by all other Muslim states.
It is to be mentioned here that the PCST has already announced to enter a joint collaboration with the Tech TV for the promotion of science and technology across Pakistan.