(The Gist of Kurukshetra) GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES FOR YOUTH IN NORTH-EAST AND J&K [JANUARY-2019]

(The Gist of Kurukshetra) Government Initiatives for Youth in North-East and J&K

[JANUARY-2019]

Government Initiatives for Youth in North-East and J&K

Government has launched scores of initiatives in the field of education and youth belonging to far flung and remote regions. On one hand, government has expedited the implementation of already available existing schemes in these regions on priority; on the other hand, several innovative measures and interventions have been introduced to meet the specific needs.

North East:

Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region is coordinating central government department’s initiatives for the North East.

The Skill Ministry has planned State Skill Development Mission for few of the North Eastern States under the Chairmanship of the CM along with steering committee with industry representatives. The mission is working to train youth with the help of government it is and private agencies. Additionally State Livelihood Mission as well as NULM schemes are also being deployed to skill the youth. The areas of training identified are as follows:

Hospitality
Tourism – Tour operators, hotels, home stay, taxis to places of attraction etc.
Nursing, Para medics
Wellness and Beauty
Fashion designing and garments, handloom weaving
Essential technicians – Electrician,
Plumbing, repair of ACs, Fridge, Mobile repair etc
Automobile – fitter, turner, mechanics, welding
Soft skills for employability in any sector
Retail Merchandising
Aviation – Cabin Crew, Air Hostess, ground crew etc

Additionally, Department of North East region along with North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd is also setting up a VC fund worth Rs 100 cr to promote startups in the North-Eastern States. Early and growth stage startups in the field of IT, ITES, Food Processing, Healthcare, Tourism, Retail, Aggregation of services would get boost with this fund. Many educational reforms through SSA and RUSA have also been introduced.

DONER Ministry is also offering subsidy incentives in NER for industrial and other units generating employment. To implement the same, DONER’s assistance to North Eastern Development Finance Corporation will have a component of higher interest subsidy for such units which give more employment.

Jammu and Kashmir:

Government of India and the state government have been working together to skill youth and create livelihood opportunities for them. Few of the popular measures are enlisted: UDAAN: The special industry initiative for J&K is funded by Ministry of Home Affairs and implemented by National Skill Development Corporation. It aims to provide corporate exposure to the youth as well as provide corporate India with the talent available in the state. The scheme has received overwhelming response and is making a considerable impact on ground.

Sadbhavna: Another very successful initiative is:

Sadbhavna which is run by the Army. Under Sadbhavna, Army runs several important programmes for the youth of Jammu and Kashmir; Army Goodwill Schools which is an education initiative works to provide middle and high school level education to over one lakh students. Presently, over 14,000 students are undergoing schooling in various army run schools in the state and over 1,000 children from the state are studying in institutions outside the state through scholarship programs facilitated by the army. Army also runs National integration Tour under Sadbhavna where students get to visit other states of the country and get a first hand view of the culture of their fellow citizens. They come back motivated to become productive citizens of the country and actively leverage the growth trajectory for personal development. So far, more than 5000 people have benefited out of the 200 tours conducted under this scheme.
Army also runs vocational training centres and women empowerment centers spread across the state to provide practical skills to interested and deserving candidates. Sourced through Army’s own budget, people friendly projects are executed year after year to ameliorate the conditions of people living in far flung regions of the state. Another important and highly beneficial initiative run in Jammu and Kashmir is by Army only. Army is associated with its training partner Centre for Social Responsibility and learning and Petronet LNG runs Kashmir Super 40 initiative for coaching Jammu and Kashmir Youth for engineering entrance exams. In fact, this year Super 40 broke all previous records when 26 boys and two girls from the state cracked the IIT-JEE Mains exam
2017. Achieving a success rate of 78 percent is the result of army’s Kashmir Super 40 being at par with the best IIT coaching centers in the country. Himayat: Run under Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India’s Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gramin kaushal yojana, the scheme endeavors to train 1.24 lakh local youth of Jammu and Kashmir in job intensive vocational courses.
(The author is currently Executive Head at Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, a United Nations recognized unique training and research institute for elected representative and socio-political activists.
By: Ravi Pokharna