Huge investment opportunities available in J&K: Sinha

Govt to make UT paradise for investors

Excelsior Correspondent

SRINAGAR, July 22: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said today that there were huge investment opportunities available in Jammu and Kashmir and the Government intends to take a leap forward in making the Union Territory an economic paradise for investors.
“Sectors like tourism, film tourism, horticulture and post-harvest management, agro and food processing, mulberry production for silk, health and pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, IT & IT enabled services, renewable energy, infrastructure and real estate, handloom and handicraft and education offer great growth opportunity to all stakeholders,” Sinha said while inaugurating the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Jammu’s Online orientation programme for second batch of PhD and sixth batch of MBA.
While congratulating all incoming students for making it into the academic programs of IIM Jammu, the Lt Governor advised them to adopt new strategies to deal with future challenges of business environment in the post-pandemic era.
“In the post-pandemic era, business landscape is changing at a faster pace. Digital economy, evolving consumer behaviour and enterprises agility are going to shape the new career paths in the management,” he remarked.
The youth must continuously keep inventing the world around, meeting challenges, and evaluating opportunities that come in the way.
Best products and services are defined by the people, the human customers. Young business leaders will have to build a people-centric culture in management to meet future challenges.
“Cross-functional collaboration, deprogramming, and making leadership roles a shared responsibility are important factors to tap opportunities, help in the growth of institutions and individuals in today’s hyper-connected world,” he said.
Opportunities, growth, impact, and mission- will shape the management career and future of our country, enabling to build any skill set to lead an organization or a company, he added.
The Lt Governor called upon the youth to stand up for India and find change-makers in them. Always follow the principle of ‘Dignity of Difference’ and respect the different views on marketing, research, or innovation, he added.
“With immense talent pool, business-friendly ecosystem and the trust that we can deliver on the promise leaves more scope for growth in modern technologies needed for Industry. I would like to invite all the budding managers to take the lead in participating in this process of development,” Sinha affirmed.
Underscoring the innovative and reformative measures taken by the UT Government to address the unemployment issue of youth in the long run, he remarked:”We are putting the spotlight on manufacturing, services, technology, innovation, and diversification in agriculture. Our focus is more on re-skilling and up-skilling of youth to meet the challenges of emerging market and become successful entrepreneurs”.
In recent times, the higher education sector has seen a major expansion in the UT with pioneering institutes catering to the needs of qualitative higher education for individual beneficiaries. Jammu & Kashmir will be among few of the UTs/States that have their own IIM, IIT, and AIIMS under the same jurisdiction. Along with the above three, we have also added NIFT to the list. With the introduction of New Education Policy, we shall be able to bring a holistic approach in the education system for all-round development.
“Continuous reform is the key to transformation. The appropriate and timely action on different sectors with meticulous plans to meet the challenges will decide the future,” he stated.
Re-energizing manufacturing and service sectors is one of the major challenges. “We have identified 25 sectors for manufacturing, design, and innovation. The big push in the next few years would be to invite Original Equipment Manufacturers and Original Design Manufacturers to set up shops in Jammu & Kashmir that will also generate employment. The scaling up of infrastructure will be a great move for the big companies to set up manufacturing facilities here” he maintained.
Sinha further advised the students to start thinking from people’s perspective, strive to provide personal service in a professional manner, introspect and see how their decision in today’s environment is shaping the agenda of public policy.
Remembering his tenure as Telecom Minister, the Lt Governor shared the reforms made in bridging the gap between Urban and Rural India, besides improving the access to under-served areas through various digital initiatives. He also spoke on the ground-breaking strategy adopted for financial inclusion of common man, through India Post Payment Bank.
“Challenges bring integrity and larger national interest in a person and help in building a superstructure to facilitate sustained growth. Always try to build an ecosystem where innovation and knowledge should become inclusive, reducing social and regional disparities,” the Lt Governor advised the students.
Sharing some of his experiences as Lt Governor of J&K, Sinha stated: we have introduced many reforms working day and night, with a solution-based approach to overcome the biggest challenge in J&K i.e eliminating the legacy of delays, and ushering in a development-oriented change, besides empowering the youth to take our UT and the great nation forward.
We have introduced over 150 new initiatives and reforms in a short period of time and evolved a pattern of sustained growth that is evident from the fact that in the last one week, around 100 projects were dedicated to the public. And, many of these projects ensure that our youth become effective partners in the developmental journey.”
He said the new industrial development scheme aims to take the industrialization attempt to the block level to transform the lives of local communities. “In order to tap the vast talent pool, we are expanding programs and schemes that will ensure that every youth is engaged to build a modern Jammu Kashmir,” he added.
“My approach to management has been rooted in looking at challenges as opportunities and solving them through innovation and creativity. Creating a better future for the youth of J&K and ensuring that they have plenty of opportunities and engagement with the stakeholders is one of our focus areas,” said the Lt Governor.
“With solution-based approaches, we have effectively dealt with the pandemic. The UT administration’s prompt response to the second wave of COVID-19 can be attributed to its experience and investment made in the health sector and emergency preparedness immediately after the first wave impact subsided in August- September,” he noted.
Dr. Milind Kamble, Chairman, Board of Governors, IIM also addressed the students on the occasion.
A video representing the virtual tour of proposed campus of IIM, Jammu was also showcased to the students.
Professor Shakti Gupta, Director, AIIMS, faculty members, besides distinguished guests from Corporate sector, Academia, UT Administration and large number of students attended the event through virtual mode.