Nair for development of entrepreneurial culture in J&K

Highlighting the significance of skill development in dealing with the issue of unemployment, Adviser to the Prime Minister T K A Nair today called for developing an entrepreneurial culture in Jammu and Kashmir.
"There is a need to give further impetus to development of entrepreneurial culture in Jammu and Kashmir to address (the issue of) unemployment," Nair said at a meeting to review the status of skill development and special scholarship schemes.
He underscored the need for imparting required skills among youths, besides providing them adequate financial assistance to help them gain self-employment.
Nair also batted for an effective mechanism to ensure a smooth and hassle-free clearances to the aspiring entrepreneurs.

"Most often entrepreneurs are discouraged by cumbersome formalities and lack of information that could easily be addressed with right support and guidance," Nair said.
He also called for launching awareness campaign among the people about the objectives and benefits of the Special Scholarship Scheme.

In the meeting, Nair was informed that as many as 88,440 youths of the state were provided skill development training during 2012-13 in different sectors.
While 3,138 out of the 5,774 candidates trained under 'Himayat' have received employment, as many as 3,100 youths are currently being trained under the scheme.
Similarly under 'UDAAN' scheme, 31 private organisations and six PSUs have assured to provide training to as many as 47,689 candidates of the state during next five years.

During the current fiscal, a mechanism will be evolved to identify the required skills for a particular sector, based on which the existing training capacities will be suitably enhanced.
It was further informed that the Taj Group has agreed to provide assistance in imparting hospitality sector training at two ITIs in Udhampur and Pampore.
Several state and Central officials, including Director (PMO) Raju Topno, Union Joint Secretary (Skills) Santosh Mathur and state Chief Secretary, Mohammad Iqbal Khanday also took part in the meeting.