Srinagar, October 15 (Scoop News) –Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah Friday underlined the importance of creating a pool of skilled young persons through a sustained capacity building process to open new venues of employment for them. He said in order to address the challenge of unemployment, the need for enhancing employability as per the job market requirements is imperative.
“My Government’s endeavour is to take on employment crisis with a comprehensive and befitting manner”, he said adding that Sher-e-Kashmir Employment and Welfare Programme for the Youth (SKEWPY) is a flagship programme in this regard.
Reviewing the progress of SKEWPY at a high level meeting here, the Chief Minister laid stress on regular monitoring of the scheme. “Let the Chief Secretary review it fortnightly, the Finance Minister monthly while I will myself take stock of the progress of SKEWPY quarterly”, he said emphasizing the necessity of regular monitoring for the success of the scheme.
The meeting was attended by Finance Minister, Abdul Rahim Rather, Minister for Higher Education and Employment, Abdul Gani Malik, Advisors to Chief Minister, Mubarak Gul and Devender Singh Rana, Chief Secretary, S. S. Kapur, Principal Secretary Planning, Khurshid Ahmad Ganai, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, B. B. Vyas, Commissioner-Secretary Finance, Sudhanshu Pandey, Chairman, Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Mushtaq Ahmad, Secretary, Labour and Employment, G.A. Peer, Secretary, Planning, Director, Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) and other senior officers.
Omar Abdullah directed the Employment Department and EDI to develop a shelf of DPRs for various schemes and projects for the entrepreneurs and youth. “These DPRs will be available to the young persons for taking up different employment generating schemes under SKEWPY smoothly. When a shelf of DPRs is available to them, they can easily decide and select the project to venture upon”, he said.
The Chief Minister also called for a separate website for SKEWPY linked with EDI and Employment Department. “This will provide all required information to youth about the employment schemes and modus operandi of applying for such schemes”, he said.
Omar Abdullah also directed for fast tracking the construction of District Employment and Counseling Centres for which Rs. 24 crores have been made available. He said the work on these centres in all the districts should be completed within the stipulated time line and sufficient place provided to J&K Bank in each centre as per the requirement of the Bank.
The Chief Minister asked the J&K Bank authorities to ensure fast clearance of projects so that finances are timely available to the entrepreneurs to start their ventures. “I want a hassle free mechanism in place under SKEWPY to enable the youth to take advantage of the scheme positively”, he said and underlined the importance of simplifying the procedures and processes involved.
The Finance Minister and the Minister for Employment impressed upon the concerned to fast track the clearance process of projects at all levels so that the youth intending to start ventures do not lose interest in the scheme for lot of time consuming procedures.
The Chief Secretary said that attractive and different proto-type retail outlets under the scheme for interested youth should be worked out keeping in view the feasibility and demand in the particular areas. He said that the essential message from the meeting is to fast track every aspect and make SKEWPY an important mechanism to deal with growing unemployment crisis.
Assuring the fast tracking of cases at Bank’s level, the Chairman, Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Mir Mushtaq said that the Bank has recognized its service under SKEWPY as a mission and not a financial activity. “We will provide every assistance in successful implementation of the scheme”, he added.
In a power point presentation, the Secretary, Employment and Labour Department, G.A. Peer gave detailed account of the progress and performance of SKEWPY in the State. He said the modification in the guidelines of the scheme regarding Voluntary Services Allowances (VSA) has made 32,000 more candidates eligible under the scheme. He said about 3,000 applications under VSA are being cleared during this month.
The Employment Secretary also presented the resume of the setting up of DECCs in various districts. He said land for these centres has already been acquired in Anantnag, Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam, Budgam, Baramulla, Bandipora, Leh, Kargil, Doda, Reasi, Kathua and Poonch districts while the construction of these centres is in progress at Kupwara, Samba and Ganderbal. The land has been identified in the districts of Udhampur, Ramban, Kishtwar and Rajouri while the land acquisition proceedings are underway and JDA and SDA land is available for the purpose in
Peer said that during the period of one month since the MoU has been signed with Jammu and Kashmir Bank, as many as, 69 cases have been cleared by the Bank sanctioning a loan component of Rs. 6.41 crores for the entrepreneurs while Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute has sanctioned Rs. 2.61 crore worth seed money.
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