LAHORE Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that a mechanism of transparent accountability of all corrupt without discrimination is the need of the hour to steer the country of the present quagmire and put it on the road to progress, prosperity and development. He was addressing a ceremony held in honour of students of LUMS selected under revolutionary programme of Punjab Educational Endowment Fund at the CM Secretariat here on Saturday. The programme has been started jointly by LUMS and Punjab Educational Endowment Fund. Provincial Minister for Finance Tanvir Ashraf Kaira, Provincial Education Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, MNAs, MPAs, LUMS Chairman Syed Babar Ali, Punjab Educational Endowment Vice-Chairman Dr Amjad Saqib, vice-chancellors of universities, scholars, columnists, teachers, students and their parents attended the function. Shahbaz Sharif said that the only way to get rid of poverty, slavery and begging was to equip the builders of the nation with quality education so that instead of becoming clerks, they should put the country on the road to progress and rapid development by serving in various fields including science and technology. He said that gap between rich and poor would have to be eliminated by ensuring judicious distribution of resources for making the country in accordance with the ideals of Quaid-e-Azam and Poet of the East Allama Iqbal. He regretted that the politicians practiced corruption of billions of rupees on the national wealth and sent the looted money to their accounts abroad but they made hue and cry when the public funds were spent on imparting quality education to the youth. He said that criticism was being made on Danish Schools and other welfare programmes of the government as these were meant for poor only but those criticising these projects, why not criticized those who robbed the Bank of Punjab and got waived off billion of rupees of the country. He announced that the number of scholarships for LUMS and FAST would be increased in the next year, and 50 talented students each of these institutions would be given scholarships from Punjab Educational Endowment Fund. He said that young generation was not only our precious asset but was the custodian of the bright future of the country. He said that Rs 4 billion had been provided in this fund so far whereas this amount would be increased to Rs 10 billion during the next five years. He said that thousands poor talented students after getting education through this fund would play their full role in the development of the country. He said that after giving scholarships to the hardworking and intelligent students through Punjab Educational Endowment Fund we could make this claim that now no intelligent student would be deprived of higher education due to poverty. The CM said that when he decided to send the children of poor parents in prestigious institutions like LUMS and bear their expenses by the government, his some colleagues differed with him initially but later they agreed with his opinion that we would have to provide admission to the talented students in best educational institutions of the country by removing the gap between the rich and poor. He said that we were providing resources to such an institution for the welfare of the poor which was playing key role for brightening the future of the country whereas on the other hand previous rulers with the help of dictator looted the resources ruthlessly. He said that had the loans of billion of rupees not waived off in the history of the country, all facilities of life would have been available to the poor today. He said if we wanted to reform the society and take the country forward then we would have to enforce the transparent and strict accountability system. He said that under the leadership of Quaid PML-N Mian Nawaz Sharif, concrete steps had been taken for bringing the deprived segment of the society into national stream and such welfare programmes had been started which are helping in removing the poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and ignorance. He said that criticism was being made on setting up of Danish schools project of the Punjab government only for the reason that children of the poor would benefit from this project whereas nobody criticised on establishment of Aitchison, Grammar School, Cadet College and other prestigious institutions as these were for the elite. Shahbaz said that the government had promoted merit and discouraged those who had usurped the right of deserving students by eliminating self-finance scheme from the educational institutions. He said that we would have to make the country, a great welfare state by utilising all our resources and energies and the elected representative should implement such welfare programmes. He said that we would have to make untiring efforts for achieving lost image of the country and hardworking, dedication and honesty would have to be adopted as our motto. LUMS Vice-Chancellor paid rich tributes to the CM Punjab for starting programmes for the encouragement of talented students and improvement of education sector in the province. Punjab Educational Endowment Fund Vice-Chairman Dr Amjad Saqib informed that during the first phase of the fund, 5,326 talented students had been given scholarships on the basis of results of matric and intermediate 2008 and scholarships would be given to 5,000 more students this year. He further informed that scholarships of Rs 12 crore had been given to the students under this programme so far.