Joins public celebrations on GST at Lal Chowk
Suhail Bhat
SRINAGAR, Sept 25: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology and Earth Science Ministries, Dr Jitendra Singh, today said the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) aims to support the youth of Jammu and Kashmir in making them torchbearers of India’s journey towards a “Viksit Bharat.”
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Speaking at the launch of the ATL Sarthi and Frontier Region Programme of AIM at the University of Kashmir, Dr. Jitendra Singh said this mission signifies mainstreaming of J&K into India’s growth journey. “The main objective of AIM is making J&K youth entrepreneurs by establishing StartUps. Jammu and Kashmir is strategically and resourcefully placed to contribute to India’s economic growth, As India’s economy moves from rank 4 to rank 3 and beyond, value addition will come from regions and resources hitherto underexplored, and Jammu and Kashmir qualifies on both counts,” he said.
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Under the Frontier Region Programme, the Minister announced the establishment of 500 new Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) in Jammu and Kashmir, the largest share among the 2,500 labs sanctioned for frontier regions, with an investment of Rs. 100 crore. These labs will expose school students to robotics, 3D printing and artificial intelligence, enabling early innovation.
Highlighting India’s technology-driven growth, Dr Jitendra Singh said the country’s space economy has expanded from near zero to $8 billion and is projected to reach $40–45 billion within a decade, with over 400 startups already active. He emphasized other sectors, including Biotechnology, ocean exploration, and Himalayan resources, as key drivers of economic value addition.
Dr Jitendra Singh underlined that India’s economic growth over the past decade has been propelled by technology-driven sectors, including space, Biotechnology, oceans, and the Himalayas, which will continue to drive value addition. “We have to plan on how we would be adding the value addition. It sounds very romantic and flattering to say that we will become mixed, but the actual roadmap is something that requires certain indices. So one has to order where the value addition will come from,” he said.
Speaking on India’s global contributions, he added, “Living up to the true spirit of what the Prime Minister keeps saying, Vishwa Bandhu Bharat, some of the experiments conducted by Subhash Vishwakarma, particularly related to life sciences, myogenesis, the effect of gadgets on mental faculties, and similarly in plant biology, are going to be the first of their kind and benefit the entire world. So an Indian doing experiments for the benefit of the entire world is actually the true translation of Vishwa Bandhu Bharat.”
He further highlighted India’s oceans: “We have about 11,000 km of coastline across 12 States. We are the only country with an ocean called the Indian Ocean. We have a huge wealth of metals, minerals, and fisheries.” He also pointed to biotechnology, noting India was first to develop a DNA vaccine for COVID-19, and stressed the Himalayas as an underexplored source of aroma and other resources.
Dr Jitendra Singh emphasized that the global economy is shifting from manufacturing to regenerative, recycling, and genetically driven processes, citing Gulf countries’ transition from petroleum. He said public-private collaboration has been key, citing structures like in space for space and BIRAC for biotechnology. “This has led to vaccine development, gene therapy trials, and global recognition for India,” he said.
On Jammu and Kashmir’s opportunities, he said, “This is an unexplored sector, yet our mindset is still living in yesterday. The youth have moved on. That is why I spend more time with children to learn from them. The purple revolution, born in Gulmarg, has not been widely reported. Today, 3,500 lavender StartUps are active. Floriculture missions are creating new avenues where children can order red, black, or white roses.”
He stressed parental awareness and early industry linkage: “In all such cases, please ask one parent of each child to come next time. All your efforts goes to waste if the parents are not aware. Children leaving corporate jobs are a positive signal, showing income potential. This is why the Atal Innovation Mission targets these boys and girls. By 2047, they will be in their 30s and 40s and become torchbearers of Viksit Bharat, with Jammu and Kashmir already contributing to India’s journey towards development goals.”
Later, Dr Jitendra Singh along with local BJP leaders visited Lal Chowk Srinagar to join public celebrations on GST.
Talking to reporters, he said like other parts of the country there is an atmosphere of happiness in Srinagar and the parts of Valley also on PM’s announcement on GST. He said our friends in Lal Chowk complimented PM Narendra Modi for this great step.
He said J&K is in the priority list of Modi and during the floods of 2014 which created havoc in Valley, Prime Minister instead of celebrating the first Diwali after taking over as PM of the country at his residence decided to celebrate it with the people of Kashmir sharing their pain and agony who were marooned in flood waters.
Dr Jitendra Singh said Modi Government gave lot of attention to J&K since 2014 in restoring peace and taking it on the path of progress sand development so that this region does not lag behind other parts of the country. He termed the decision of PM on GST reduction a great step as on some good, the GST has been reduced to zero percent.
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