Creating employment opportunities for youth in J-K: Mehbooba

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minster Mehbooba Mufti today said her government is working on various initiatives to create ample employment opportunities for the youth and urged the Opposition parties to collectively fight against rising unemployment.
"I know unemployment is one of the biggest challenges for all of us and the government is working on various fronts to create adequate employment avenues for the youth," she said while responding to supplementaries on a related question during the Question Hour in the state Assembly.
She said instead of indulging in a blame-game over the issue of unemployment, everyone should put in collective effort to confront this challenge.

"We are not doing any project exclusively for any particular constituency. The steps taken by us are for the welfare of the people in every nook and corner of the state."
"If you have any idea which can ensure employment for our youth, please share it," she asked the lawmakers, both from the treasury and opposition benches.
Mehbooba said the state government has already made various interventions on this front.

"Besides fast-tracking the recruitment in government departments, corporate houses have also been involved in creating employment opportunities for the local youth."
"We have asked these corporate houses to train and engage the local youth through productive employment," she said, adding even private educational institutions have been asked to engage Jammu and Kashmir's meritorious sports-persons in various capacities.

"We have schemes like Udaan, but what my government has tried to do, is to get the companies to Jammu and Kashmir and train our youth here so that we are able to use their expertise in the state itself. Otherwise, the youth who are trained under Udaan mostly are employed outside the state," Mehbooba said.
Under Udaan programme, Rs 2 to 3 lakh are given to the corporate houses outside the state by the Government of India for capacity building of the youth through skill development.
The Chief Minister said the state government has also asked various corporate houses to adopt one Polytechnic college each under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for value addition of these technical institutions.

Thirty such institutions have already been identified, she said.
Maintaining that Jammu and Kashmir has huge employment potential in tourism and hospitality sectors, Mehbooba said, these sectors are getting a boost and we will be bringing in trainers to train our youth in relevant trades so that they get employment immediately.