* Inaugurates industrial unit at IGC Samba
Excelsior Correspondent
SAMBA, Feb 24: Provincial President National Conference Devender Singh Rana on Monday said that tackling the issue of unemployment and unemployability remained focused priority of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah soon after taking over the reins of Government in 2009, which resulted in formulation of Sher-e Kashmir Employment and Welfare Programme for the Youth (SKEWPY).
“This innovative programme has brought cheer in the gloomy lives of educated unemployed, who have not only become successful entrepreneurs but employers as well”, Mr Rana said, who was inaugurating Trimurti Briquettes alongwith MLA Samba Yashpal Kundal, a private sector industrial unit set up under SKEWPY, at Industrial Growth Centre, Phase II in village Mandhera of Samba district this afternoon.
Elaborating on the scheme, he said SKEWPY envisages motivation and training of educated youth to take up entrepreneurship as a career option and generate employment opportunities not only for themselves, but also for others. He lauded the huge role being played by Jammu and Kashmir Bank and EDI in making this programme a success by enabling youth get seed capital and advancement of loans.
The Provincial President said that on his assuming as Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah sought a detailed briefing over the burgoening problem of unemployment. “He was told that only about a lakh educated youth had got themselves registered as unemployed, which by any imagination was a suppressed figure”, he said, adding that instructions were issued to have a fresh data bank on unemployment through employment exchange. With this the figurers swelled to six lakhs. This comprehensive detailed exercise was the first attempt ever made in Jammu and Kashmir to adopt a scientific, pragmatic and holistic approach to meet the challenge of unemployment.
He said this helped the Government in devising various schemes and programmes to meet this challenge. He referred to the various other programmes like Himayat and Udaan that have been put in place to assist youth getting jobs in corporate sector across the country.
Mr Rana said that empowerment of youth has been core of the National Conference agenda and the present dispensation is pursuing it with a sense of commitment. He asked the youth to benefit from these programmes and play there useful role in enhancing productivity and providing much needed jobs to skilled and unskilled work force. He said youth of Jammu and Kashmir were second to none but the foremost need was to create opportunities for them so that they can make best use of their talent.
Those present on the occasion included ex- Dy Mayor JMC Dharamveer Singh Jamwal, Naresh Amba, Deepak Khullar, Shamsher Singh Sarpanch, Sushil Randhava, Ravi Sharma, Arun Khajuria, Krishan Chander Sarpanch and others.
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