Minister for Planning and Development, Labour and Employment, Ajay Kumar Sadhotra today called for launching a massive awareness drive to make people aware about various employment generation schemes launched by the Government for addressing the vexed problem of unemployment in Jammu and Kashmir.Reviewing the functioning of Employment Department here this afternoon, the Minister said that several initiatives have been taken to help unemployed educated youth to launch their units and become employers themselves.
The Minister hoped that the youth will benefit from these schemes and set example of being entrepreneurs in their own right. He particularly made a mention of the Self Employment Scheme, saying this has brought cheer to the lives of enterprising youth over the years. “To attract the youngsters into entrepreneurship, the government has been organizing employment fairs that have gone very well with the targeted segments of the population”, he maintained.Mr Sadhotra also discussed the registration of unemployed youth and the status of voluntary service allowance scheme. He also sought detailed information about the counseling programmes undertaken across the State.
Referring to the Self Help Group scheme, the Minister exhorted the officers to publicize the guidelines framed in this regard and ensure these are implemented in letter and spirit. He also sought convening of a meeting of EFA to discuss revised guidelines for Self Employment Scheme.Present among others in the meeting were Secretary Employment Mr B A Runiyal, Director Employment and senior officers of the department.