SRINAGAR: Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo, in a special address during the inaugural session of a two-day conference themed ‘Accelerating Employment Avenues through Entrepreneurship in JK’, expressed his vision to foster over 50,000 successful entrepreneurial ventures in the region within the next five years, a DIPR Statement said.
The statement reads that the conference, jointly organised by the Labour and Employment, Skill Development Departments, and Mission Youth, serves as a platform for subject experts from various sectors, including local administration, academic institutions, financial organisations, and other stakeholders, who have made significant contributions in their respective fields.
During his address, Chief Secretary Dulloo highlighted the UT’s efforts in enhancing infrastructure and formulating policies to attract investments, thereby creating employment opportunities for local youth. He cited several mega infrastructure projects, including highways, tunnel projects, rail lines, hydro power projects, and the Jal Jeevan Mission, which have collectively generated numerous job opportunities for youth.
Furthermore, Dulloo emphasised the significance of leveraging key economic drivers such as tourism, agriculture, and handicrafts to bolster employment prospects. He cited the substantial increase in tourist arrivals, the initiation of the Holistic Agriculture Development Programme, and efforts to double exports in the handicrafts sector as pivotal initiatives in this regard.
Dulloo stressed the importance of creating an enabling ecosystem to facilitate the establishment of enterprises across JK. He called upon all stakeholders, including the administration, credit lending institutions, and other organisations, to simplify their processes and provide necessary support and guidance to aspiring entrepreneurs. He urged the development of a strategy tailored to the UT’s unique needs to foster an environment conducive to entrepreneurship among its talented youth.
In his keynote address, former Bureaucrat and Advisor to PM, Amarjeet Sinha, emphasised the importance of professional knowledge in nurturing enterprises and discouraged the focus on subsidies over comprehensive solutions for enterprise development.
Former IAS Officer DK Singh highlighted the importance of supporting motivated job seekers in becoming entrepreneurs, while Principal Secretary Finance, Santosh D Vaidya, called for equitable development and sustainable growth to address livelihood challenges.
