Seed capital of Rs 26 crore has been released in favour of 800 entrepreneurs. The next year’s target of utilization of the Seed Capital Fund is Rs 50 crore, involving a targeted 3,000 entrepreneurs and including off-bank financing of unemployed youth under the newly launched ‘Youth Start-up Loan Scheme’.
About 32,000 unemployed educated youth have been brought under the purview of the Voluntary Service Allowance. An expenditure of Rs 40 crore has been anticipated under the Voluntary Service Allowance (VSA) scheme during the next financial year.
The programme of skill development for the youth has been taken up in a Mission Mode to prepare our youth to get skilled and highly skilled jobs in the growing, but highly competitive, job markets.
The skill up-gradation programme is being supplemented through ‘Rural Self-employment Training Institutes (RSETIs)’, which are being operationalised by the J&K Bank and State Bank of India, for all the districts of the state. The training centres, run by the Directorates of Industries and Commerce, Handicrafts and Handlooms and a host of other government and non-government organizations, and their syllabi, are proposed to be standardized under the Skill Development Mission.
The State Self-employment Scheme has a target of setting up over 9,000 enterprises in the current financial year. The Prime Minister’s initiative in training 8,000 unemployed youth of the state annually in centres of excellence outside the State for a period of five years is already under implementation.
The report on employment generation in Jammu and Kashmir, prepared by the Expert Group, headed by Dr. C Rangarajan, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council of the Prime Minister, envisages an action programme, involving an expenditure of Rs 761 crore, aimed at facilitating the absorption of educated youth of the state in the job market. The programme has been rolled out already through schemes like ‘Himayat’, ‘Udaan’ and others. The government has also fast tracked the recruitment process against the vacancies, arising in various government departments from time to time. During the last three years, selection of over 39,000 educated youth has been made by the PSC, J&K SSB and the Police Recruitment Board.
This figure excludes a very large number of educated youth, engaged under ‘NRHM’, ‘Rehbar-e-Talim’ and other schemes, which are outside the purview of our recruitment agencies, meant for making selections for regular appointments under the State government.
Additionally, recruitment to a large number of Class-IV posts has been going on through the Departmental Committees.
