Aimed at engaging different stakeholders in skill building, entrepreneurship and grassroots innovations, Jammu and Kashmir government today hosted first ever Skill-Innovation-Entrepreneurship conclave themed as ‘TALAASH’.The two-day event was inaugurated by Minister of IT, Technical & Higher Education & Chairman, Governing Council JKSDM, Molvi Imran Raza Ansari and Minister of IT, Technical Education, Punjab Government, Charnjeet Singh Channi at SKICC here.The maiden conclave ‘TALAASH’ is themed as “Building Human Capital: Skill-Innovation-Entrepreneurship".The conclave, organised by Jammu and Kashmir Skill Development Mission (JKSDM), is being attended by some top innovators and industry captains like Sonam Wangchuk of Ladakh-based SECMOL and Mohammad Mutahir, Head Business Development, McDonalds India, besides some states and centre government skill mission and innovation centre heads, bureaucrats and J&K ministers.Speaking at the inaugural session of the Conclave, Ansari said that the conclave is aimed to engage around 400 skill development stakeholders including senior state and central government functionaries, innovators, entrepreneurs, artisans, business leaders, intellectuals and civil society actors to different aspects of skill development, grassroots entrepreneurship and innovations development.“We want to create a job market and facilitate our youngsters to take it up in and outside Jammu and Kashmir,” he said. “We are inherently talented people but we need to go out of our comfort zone and contribute and enhance employability sector for the State,” he said.
Minister of IT, Technical Education, Punjab, Charnjeet Singh Channi lauded the role of Jammu and Kashmir for hosting the conclave. He said that Punjab government has initiated various programmes and hoped that both the States would collaborate with each other for creating job market across the State. He said that the government of Punjab is mulling to create a Skill University and Government of Jammu and Kashmir must also start a process in this regard.“We will be happy to give our inputs and collaborate in such initiatives,” he said.Mission Director, JKSDM, Dr Peer Ghulam Nabi Suhail, on the occasion, said that Talaash – Skill and Entrepreneurship Conclave 2018’ is aimed to create an interface between the administration, innovators and industry to brainstorm ideas and foster linkages for the skill building of Jammu and Kashmir, said director JKSDM.He said that Finance Minister Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari and Social Welfare Minister Sajad Gani Lone would also participate and chair different sessions in the two-day conclave.He said that besides six brainstorming sessions, there will be a skill exhibition including local innovations and crafts and award ceremony for the state participants of India Skill Competition 2018.The Conclave includes the felicitation and the valedictory ceremony of the winners of the India Skills Competition 2018, who will proceed further to participate in the regional level skill competition being held in the last week of May 2018 at Lucknow.