Seeks Investors, Industry Experts Support In Creating Employment Avenues
Srinagar: A day-long workshop on Youth Engagement and Outreach in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir organized by J&K government was today inaugurated by Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha at SKICC here.
The Workshop was attended by top Industry Heads from Ashok Leyland, ICICI foundation, Bombay Stock Exchange, Universities, IIMs/IITs and Policy Analysts from across the country.
The outreach programme is aimed to create opportunities and infrastructure for engaging youth, addressing their issues and concerns and empower them in entrepreneurship, self-employability and create livelihood for the youth in a well curated and holistic manner.
Addressing the gathering of Policy Analysts and Corporate heads of different organisations during the inaugural session of the event, the Lt Governor said that the idea behind this Youth Engagement and Outreach workshop is to create institutional mechanism to empower and groom our youngsters and to make them valuable for J&K as well as the country.
He remarked that in the past many initiatives were taken to engage the youth here but all of them somehow fell short of meeting all the requirements so there is a need to have an umbrella programme that dovetails all the resources meant for this purpose to achieve the goal of youth empowerment and youth development.
“I believe in concrete plans and immediate execution. My idea of Institutional Mechanism under Mission Youth is to ensure that we have a concrete framework and a definite time-line to execute it on the fertile ground that we have prepared”, he added.
On the occasion, he also announced that a seed fund of Rs 200 crores has been earmarked for creating initial infrastructure and institutional support for meeting the initial needs of this programme. This amount, he said, would be used to create a ‘Centre of Excellence’ and infrastructure in districts to realize our goals of making youth the leaders of success.
The Lt Governor also beckoned the industrial leaders to partner J&K in formulating and implementing the programme successfully on ground as he assumed that best designs are not what looks good on paper but what works best when implemented on ground.
He sought support of the national-level investors and industry experts in creating robust infrastructure and employment avenues for the youth of the UT. “We not only need your investments but your expertise as well, which will help us realize the dreams of prosperity”, he add said, adding, “It is my aim to truly create a stable policy and regulatory ecosystem to business so that they can build for scale and create a thriving startup ecosystem which is inherently entrepreneurial in approach, creating local jobs and employment”.
In the domestic Ease of Doing Business ranking and State Reform Action Plan, he said, “we are moving up. By minimizing regulatory burdens, J&K have scored over states like Kerala and Odisha in September’s ranking by the central government.”
Highlighting UT Government’s efforts in promoting entrepreneurship; the Lt Governor said that within one month, two aspiring entrepreneurs from each 4290 panchayats of J&K were selected for handholding and about 10 thousand people have been provided loans through the J&K Bank to establish their businesses.
We believe in Uniqueness of Youth Energy and providing Equal Opportunities for them to build a Modern, Equitable & Sustainable Society & the Nation. To bring changes to a society, the youth needs to be transformed at first. And this transformation needs to be thoughtful, he observed.
He also stressed upon the need to create a major platform to cater to our talent pool and resources to our industrial, skill and modern technological gaps.
Almost 65 percent of Jammu Kashmir population is under the age of 35 years. So, on one hand we have a demographic dividend like the rest of the country, but on the other we have faced many challenges; systemic unemployment and joblessness along with the absence of holistic development of the youth, the Lt Governor maintained.
The Youth of J&K will be benefited from the programme through creation of opportunities in the field of Sports, Livelihood generation, Recreation, Education, Counselling to effectively support and encourage young individuals to shape their future as per their aspirations, he added.
“Kashmir offers abundant raw material for Agro & Food Processing, strategic location which is truly blessed by nature in its abundance, home to handloom and handicraft, responsive governance, minimum government, timely policy reforms & rapid single window clearances and industrial infrastructure”.
It also has strategic advantages which includes-an area Spread over 2 lakh square kilometres with the country’s major tourist and spiritual destinations, including Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine, Gulmarg, Patni Top, Shri Amarnathji Shrine; three perennial rivers Chenab, Jhelum and Ravi; leading producer of- Apple, Walnut, Almond, Saffron; Major producer of – Wool, Figs, Berries, over 57 industrial estates; International airports, 65% of the population in the age group between 15-59 years; over 7 lakh MSME units, over 10.25% of India’s total Hydel Power production; Major handloom and handicraft industry with total exports of over 5000 crore over the last 5 years.
We have so much to offer and there is a lot that I expect this group to contribute for accelerated economic growth, the Lt Governor maintained.
The Lt Governor said that the UT Government is aiming to build a robust infrastructure for our youth in all 6 identified focus areas and to create more favourable factors to bridge the gap between alternate scenario and current growth rate in this Union Territory. We need both your investment and expertise to achieve this.
In comparison to the national average unemployment rate of 13.8%, J&K has a 25% rate, which is almost double the national rate. To fix the lag, we have before us Mission 2025 under which we have to bring opportunities to 80% of our J&K youth, he added.
The Lt Governor expressed the desire to conduct student knowledge and tech hackathons and to do a collective truly bottom up solutions approach consultation powered by the Corporate heads present there and with institutions of excellence like IIMs and IITs to create white papers and host multi-stakeholder roundtables for a positive agenda. I am also looking at each one of you to address both the shortages of intellectual and investment capital, said the Lt Governor.
You are all welcome to Jammu & Kashmir for an unprecedented revolution with public participation. The four sectors in which we are focussing our energies in J&K are Industry & Services, Technology & Innovation, Infrastructure, Agriculture & Allied Sector, he added.
The Lt Governor observed that valuable contribution and investment made today, will give dignity to the youth and it will restore their pride and will make Jammu and Kashmir truly a piece of art in the Country’s economy.
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