Jammu
The Minister for Information Technology, Technical Education, Youth Services and Sports, Imran Raza Ansari today said that education, skill building, and sports are the core means for empowering youth and the State government is making targeted efforts to empower youth by way of imparting them with requisite proficiency to achieve this objective.
The Minister said this while replying to the Discussion on Demand for Grants of Technical Education, Information Technology, Youth Services and Sports and allied Departments in the Legislative Assembly, here today.
“All interventions that are being made, whether it is Sports, Skill Development, Technical Education or Information Technology, are aimed at youth welfare by facilitating skill development, encouraging entrepreneurship besides promoting sports and cultural exchanges”, the Minister said.
The Minister informed that the network of ITIs and Polytechnics in the State are witnessing 100% admissions while as ITIs have seen 97% admissions in the state and are producing skilled manpower of about 25,000 persons annually. He informed that 78 new job-oriented trade units have been introduced in ITIs on self-financing basis, besides new Polytechnics have been established in Samba, Kathua, Reasi, Ganderbal, Anantnag, and polytechnics in Doda, Kishtwar and Udhampur will be made functional soon
In a mega recruitment drive conducted at Auqaf-Islamiy at Samba, 250 trainees were selected for 13 national/multinational companies.
The Minister informed that the government has established smart classrooms in K G Polytechnic Srinagar, Govt. Polytechnic Jammu and Govt. ITI Pattan, besides approving the establishment of Incubation cum Placement center for training of pass-out students to enhance their employability and improve their entrepreneurial skills.
Enumerating achievements of Jammu Kashmir State Board of Technical Education (JKSBOTE), the Minister said the result of 6th-semester regular students May-June 2017 session was declared within 48 hours after the conclusion of the examination process.
The Minister also informed that for the promotion of Youth Services and Sports (YSS), the state government has taken various path-breaking steps to create world-class sports facilities for the youth.
The Minister informed that several competitions were held in the State that saw participation from 85,955 players from Jammu and 1,38,540 from Kashmir, besides 1,878 players participated in National School Games hosted by J&K.
“The Department also hosted 62nd and 63rd National School Games, besides awarding sports scholarship worth Rs 27.65 lakh to 1,208 players who won medals in 62nd National School Games”, the Minister said.
The Minister further informed that the department is organizing football tournaments in 199 zones under “Let’s Play” co-branding with ‘Khelo India’ programme in which 54,702 youth have registered online for their participation in the said tournaments.
To increase the reach of sports, YSS has started construction of a new campus for College of Physical Education Teacher at Gadoora, Ganderbal at the cost of Rs 30.39 crore and would take up the execution of Phase II costing Rs 43.533 crore during 2018-19, the Minister said.
Further, 109 development works for the improvement of sports infra in the state are being undertaken to the estimated cost Rs. 223 lakh.
“The Department is mulling to construct Volleyball Court in each district of the state at the aggregate cost of Rs. 176 lakh”, he added.
Additionally, projects for construction of 22 Indoor Sports Stadiums, one in each district, under PMDP are also being finalized and would be constructed soon.
He informed that the department has engaged 124 Physical Education Teachers through SSB and would engage 3,000 ‘Rehbar-e-Khels’ in the near future.
The Minister said that for further development of Sports culture in the state, State Sports Council engaged noted sports personalities including ace cricketers Parvez Rasool and Abdi Nabi, footballer Mehraj-ud-din Wadoo and noted gymnast Mitali Dogra to further boost and allure more sports enthusiasts.
Also, the Council awarded Rs 5 lakh to shooter Chain Singh for winning six gold medals at 2016 South Asian Games, besides providing special sports training to 200 budding sportspersons at prestigious National Institute of Sports.
State Sports Council has also trained more than 24,000 young boys and girls in the field of self-defense, he added.
The government has also opened football academies in every district in which international sportspersons including Mehraj-ud-Din Wadoo, Ishfaq and Saajid are imparting training to the budding players. More than 40 coaching camps were held during 2017 for football training under different age groups, the Minister informed.
More than 89,612 players participated in various sports tournaments organized by the State Cricket Academy in all the districts.
With an initiative to encourage women in sports, the academy organized its first T20 Women’s Cricket Championship and Chief Ministers Women’s XI team later on also participated in Indian Women’s League, he informed.
The Minister said that Jammu and Kashmir State Skill Development Mission (JKSSDM) was created in September 2017 with a mandate to integrate skill development programmes, providing training to semi-skilled and unskilled youth, connecting them with the job providers, besides implementing and monitoring the policies and programmes under NSDM and SSDM.
Under the mission, 47,000 youth will be trained in different crafts in next three years, he informed.
“JKSDM headed by Chief Minister has also launched State Engagement Component of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) 2.0 in which 47,302 persons would be trained till 2019-20 and a target for the current financial year has been kept at 14,900”, he said.
A micro level skill gap analysis is also being conducted to provide a roadmap for skill development in the state.
Later, the House passed the grants amounting to Rs 70044.41 lakhs to defray the charges which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March 2019 for Technical Education, Sports & Youth Services and Departments with a voice vote.
Meanwhile the opposition members already walkout, the grant was passed in absence of opposition members.
