* Assesses progress on Mission yuva
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Aug 7: In a significant move to strengthen the higher education in J&K, Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, today chaired a high-level meeting to take stock of the issues confronting various universities operating across the Union Territory.
The meeting aimed at accelerating the resolution of pending matters hampering the academic and infrastructural growth of these institutions.
The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Higher Education Department, Shantmanu; Principal Secretaries of the Finance, Public Works (R&B), and Agriculture Production Departments; Secretaries of Health and Rural Development; Divisional Commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir; Deputy Commissioners concerned; Managing Directors of JPDCL and KPDCL; Director General, Budget and other senior officials.
Vice Chancellors of all the major universities in J&K, both academic and agricultural, also participated.
During the deliberations, the Chief Secretary underscored the importance of timely intervention and seamless coordination between universities and line departments. He emphasized that institutions of higher learning deserve the utmost seriousness in addressing their issues, given their critical role in shaping the educational and innovation ecosystem of the UT.
He directed the Higher Education Department to document all innovative practices, including research projects, patents, start-ups and other unique academic initiatives, being undertaken across these institutions. Such documentation, he said, would help in knowledge sharing and replication of successful models elsewhere in the UT.
In a significant push for human resource development, the Chief Secretary also urged the universities to design crash courses for capacity building of Government employees across departments. He further directed for mapping of all skill development and vocational courses being offered, to help align academic offerings with market and governance needs.
Taking a university-wise assessment, the Chief Secretary engaged directly with each Vice Chancellor to understand institution-specific bottlenecks. These included issues related to land transfers, creation of academic and non-teaching posts, allocation of additional funds, infrastructure augmentation, delays in ongoing construction works and other operational challenges.
The Chief Secretary issued on-spot directions to the concerned departments for resolving these issues in a time-bound and mission-mode manner, underscoring the need for expedited action.
The participating universities included University of Kashmir, University of Jammu, Cluster University Srinagar, Cluster University Jammu, Central University of Kashmir, Central University of Jammu, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Islamic University of Science & Technology (IUST), Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU) and Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology, Kashmir /Jammu.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary had a comprehensive review of youth empowerment program, Mission YUVA (Yuva Udyami Vikas Abhiyan), initiated in J&K with the vision of establishing the region as a thriving hub for enterprises and holistic employment.
The Chief Secretary had a detailed assessment of the primary objectives of Mission YUVA aiming at generating mass employment opportunities through enterprise creation and establishing cross-sectoral business support ecosystem here. He stressed on enhancing the existing businesses to increase SGDP (State Gross Domestic Product) and create a startup ecosystem with neo-innovative enterprises. He impressed upon the Deputy Commissioners to take periodic review of the outcomes so that the mission achieves its objectives smoothly.
In his presentation, Secretary L&E Kumar Rajeev Ranjan, gave an overview of the scheme. He informed the meeting that this program aims to create over 1,37,000 new enterprises and generate more than 4,25,000 employment opportunities across various sectors.
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