Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 18: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo today chaired the Apex Committee meeting of Mission YUVA and reviewed the progress achieved under the ambitious initiative aimed at fostering entrepreneurship, generating employment and establishing Jammu & Kashmir as a thriving hub of enterprises and sustainable livelihoods.
The meeting was attended by senior officers from different departments including ACS, Finance; Commissioner Secretary, School Education; Secretary, Labour & Employment; Secretary, RDD; Director, Employment; Executive Director, EDI representatives from J&K Bank and other financial institutions, district administrations and other stakeholders associated with implementation of Mission YUVA.
During the meeting, the Chief Secretary took a comprehensive review of the performance recorded under the four foundational pillars of Mission YUVA constituting the creation of Culture, Capital, Capacity and enhancing Connectivity for the ease and welfare of the applicants.
Besides this the Chief Secretary assessed district-wise achievements, institutional preparedness, credit facilitation, entrepreneurship development and implementation bottlenecks. He emphasized the need for coordinated efforts by the departments, financial institutions and district administrations to ensure that Mission YUVA evolves into a transformative movement for youth empowerment and economic growth across the Union Territory.
During the review, special attention was given to pendency at different stages of application processing. The Chief Secretary directed district administrations, SBDUs and banking institutions to expedite clearance of pending cases and strictly adhere to timelines prescribed under the scheme. He stressed on time-bound verification of applications, DLIC approvals and loan sanctioning to maintain the momentum achieved under the mission.
The Chief Secretary also reviewed progress achieved under the capacity-building component of the mission. It was informed that more than 21,000 applicants had completed hybrid-mode entrepreneurship training, while over 300 training centres and more than 200 trainers had been activated across the UT. Plans are also underway for collaboration with JKEDI to strengthen entrepreneurship and management training for Mission YUVA applicants.
The Secretary, L&E, Kumar Rajeev Ranjan took this occasion to apprise the meeting that Mission YUVA envisions creation of employment opportunities through nano enterprises, new MSMEs, business acceleration initiatives and neo-innovative enterprises.
The meeting especially reviewed the status of credit facilitation under Mission YUVA. The Secretary informed that over 1.07 lakh applications had been received so far, out of which more than 57,000 applications had been approved by District Level Implementation Committees (DLICs). Banks have sanctioned loans in more than 25,000 cases involving credit support exceeding Rs 1,200 Cr, while loan disbursement of around Rs 1,119 Cr had already been achieved in over 21,000 cases.
The meeting was informed that Mission YUVA has set an ambitious target of establishing 50,000 enterprises during 2026-27, including 44,000 nano enterprises, 4,000 new MSMEs and 2,000 existing MSMEs to be supported for expansion. District-wise targets and performance indicators were also reviewed in detail.
The meeting also discussed several key policy interventions and operational reforms aimed at improving mentorship support, strengthening institutional outreach and enhancing the efficiency of enterprise facilitation systems across the districts here.
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