Chief Secretary Dr Arun Kumar Mehta said on Monday that the youth of Jammu and Kashmir need to be skilled according to their needs and aspirations to enable them to have both gainful employment and a sense of dignity in performing it.
Dr Mehta made these comments while reviewing the progress of “Mission Youth”, an ambitious programme to empower unemployed 50,000 youth by providing them with jobs.
He said there is a need to focus on the skilling and up-skilling of youth to improve their prospects for better jobs as also to encourage their entrepreneurial spirit.
Dr Mehta said the above programmes need to be anchored in the concept of ‘learn to earn’.
He said the mission should focus on empowering youth to set up ventures /start economic activities at new and upcoming 225 heritage/tourist/trekking destinations/sites/routes.
Dr Mehta asked the Mission Youth CEO to tap youth in and around these 225 new and upcoming tourist/heritage/trekking sites/routes for skilling and assistance to enable them to make a living where it would matter to them the most.
He asked the mission to build a database of five lakh youth through youth clubs and other mission initiatives with Aadhar numbers, mobile numbers and other relevant information in an effort to map their job requirements by the end of April this year.
Dr Mehta said the facility to reach out to them through bulk SMS, mail, etc. must also be ensured by the mission, adding that it is important for the mission to know about the persons it is dealing with.
Earlier, the CEO of Mission Youth, Shahid Choudhary, made a presentation on the progress made under the MUMKIN Scheme.
He said that while 4882 beneficiaries have been provided self-employment under MUMKIN Scheme so far, 8000 beneficiaries would be provided self-employment by the end of the current fiscal year.
Under the Tejaswani Scheme, Mission Youth has provided financial support to 3447 young women entrepreneurs to take up self-employment ventures in various sectors of the economy.
Shahid said a total of 6600 young women will be covered under this scheme by the close of the financial year.
Shahid said the mission is collaborating with DDCs, EDI and departments like sheep husbandry, skill development, tourism, etc., and that it will not only meet the targets but also exceed them in some cases before the ongoing financial year draws to a close.
Saying the utility of resources can be multiplied through convergence, Dr Mehta said the mission must look to seek convergence with other departments in job creation/skill development.
He said a special task force comprising secretaries of a few departments shall be constituted to look into areas of convergence and also set out measures for creating employment opportunities in the new and upcoming 225 destinations.
Dr Mehta asked the mission to follow the aggregator approach and set up SHGs for resource/economic multiplier effect, adding that such groups can be skilled and trained to make their living using forest and non-forest produce in ways that are in harmony with nature.
He also laid emphasis on establishing forest/tribal haats for providing the marketing platforms to SHGs/young entrepreneurs for selling their products.
The chief secretary also reviewed schemes like AVSAR, Rise Together, Tourist Village Network, Parvaaz etc. under Mission Youth.