Advisor to the Prime Minister, T.K.A Nair,on Thursday emphasized the need to give further impetus to development of entrepreneurial culture in Jammu and Kashmir to address unemployment. He reiterated the importance of providing required help including training,
financial assistance and support to the youth enabling them establish their own enterprises.Nair was speaking at a meeting to review the status of Skill Development and Special Scholarship Schemes for Jammu and Kashmir.Chief Secretary, Mohammad Iqbal Khanday, Union Joint Secretary Skills Santosh Mathur, Director PMO, Raju Topno, Economic Advisor, R C Meena, Joint Secretary (k) R.K Shrivastava, Vice Chairman, All India Council of Technical Education Dr Avinash Pant, Principal Secretary Planning B R Shama, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister B. B. Vyas, state Commissioner secretaries and other senior officers were also present in the meeting.During the meeting, various elements of state policy on Skill Development were reviewed including initiatives in various sectors like Micro and Small Scale Industry, Vocational and Technical Education, Agriculture, Information Technology, Tourism, UDAAN, HIMAYAT and SKEWPY etc. It was informed that 88,440 youth were provided Skill Development training during 2012-13 in different sectors while 5774 candidates have been trained, 3138 placed and another 3100 are undergoing training under Himayat. Besides, under UDAAN till date 31 private organisations and 6 Public Sector Units have committed to provide training to as many as 47689 candidates of J&K during five years.It was informed that a mechanism to identify the skills required in a particular sector will be focussed and existing training capacities will be suitably enhanced during 2013-14 in the state to ensure more placements and successful ventures.Nair called for creating a mechanism to address routine problems being faced by budding entrepreneurs while dealing with financial institutions and other agencies. He said most often entrepreneurs are discouraged by cumbersome formalities and lack of information that could easily be addressed with right support and guidance. He said departments entrusted with this Job should ensure that youth are provided all possible support at every level to guarantee success in their enterprises.With regard to Special Scholarship Scheme (SSS), Mr Nair stressed for launching awareness campaign among the people about the objectives and benefits of the scheme. It was decided that two workshops will be held each in Jammu and Srinagar soon. It was further decided that the selection for eligible students for scholarship would take from the pool. It was further informed that Taj group has agreed for knowledge partnerships with state government in the field of vocational education, for which two ITI’s one each in Jammu (ITI Udhampur) and Kashmir (ITI Pampore) have been identified for training youth in hospitality related trades. The course is expected to start from current academic session.