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“Creating employment for the Youth of J&K”
Famed for its natural beauty, rich traditions, and strategic significance, Jammu and Kashmir is the northernmost Union territory (UT) of India. Jammu and Kashmir is home to vast tourist attractions, situated in the high ranging green Himalayas. Kashmir encompasses bustling markets, sufis, and fortresses, and is also lined with windy roads and bridges made of wood and of Chinar trees. In the winter, Kashmir is covered by a smooth blanket of snow and thus draws many skiers to the region. While Kashmir may have natural beauty, it is also economically underdeveloped and during the rest of the year, there is social and political unrest in the region. Prior to the upheaval in the UT, the youth felt tremendous disconnection with the socio-political system due to a lack of opportunity in the UT to fully engage and utilize their talents. After the constitutional restructuring of 2019, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir sought to systemize and provide, in a transparent and timely fashion, the opportunities to match youth aspirations in the UT.
Finally, a novel initiative MISSION YOUTH emerged in 2020 for engagement & positive transformation of the youth involving synchronization of efforts, convergence of resources, and bringing the interests of youth to the centre of policy making. The vision was to transform the youth of J&K into ambassadors of peace and prosperity. Mission Youth is a plan that wants to give young people a strong voice. The people in charge of Mission Youth talked to everyone involved. Made sure they listened to what they had to say. Mission Youth is also called Mission YUVA. The Jammu and Kashmir government started this program to help people in the area become entrepreneurs and get the skills they need. They want to get the community involved too. This program was started around 2020. It tries to solve economic problems by getting young people to work on things that will help their community. Mission Youth was started after some big changes happened in 2019. The government wanted to stop people from feeling angry and left out in Jammu and Kashmir. Since most of the people in Jammu and Kashmir are about 69 percent of them are, under 35. Mission Youth is working with different departments to make young people leaders for peace and prosperity. Mission Youth wants to make sure that young people are happy and have what they need to succeed.
Mission Youth received the Prime Ministers Award for Excellence in Public Administration in the year 2022. The main goal of Mission Youth is to get than 10 Lakh young people involved in different activities over a period of five years. These activities are divided into six areas: helping people earn a living, education and skill development providing help, counseling, sports and things to do for fun. Mission Youth has programs like Mumkin, Rise Together and Tejaswini that help people start their businesses in areas such as farming, retail, information technology and making things. Mission Youth gives people money to help them, including subsidies and loans with interest rates with the help of partners like J&K Bank. Far Mission Youth has signed up 1.71 lakh young people and given out loans worth Rs 1,000 crore. J&K Bank has given loans to 10,000 people, which has helped them become their bosses instead of looking for jobs. Earlier we found out that than 70,000 young people got help to earn a living about 6,000 women got help through Tejaswini and almost 20,000 people learned skills that are, in high demand. In one year 4,482 young people got Rs 165 crore to start their own businesses, which created 3,615 jobs, including 1,588 businesses started by women. Mission Youth is really helping the youth by providing them with the Mission Youth programs and services.
Digital Mumkin Scheme is a winner of the Best e-Governance Scheme of the Year which enables unemployed youth to earn a stable livelihood in the transport sector by purchasing small commercial vehicles on a subsidized basis while ensuring transparency and speed through a fully digital process. Apart from digital Mumkin Scheme, the Spurring Entrepreneurship Initiative Scheme also focuses on youth, especially women, and encourages them to think outside the box, and be innovative. Designed for youth holding at least a 12th-grade certificate, this scheme seeks to financially support transforming novel ideas into self-sustaining businesses which in turn creates employment opportunities and ventures. Empowering women also falls in this category, and the scheme Tejaswani, the Radiant is ascribed to Women’s Day. With financial support of up to Rupees 5 lack, this scheme seeks to support women who have at least passed 10th standard, to start self-employment activities of their own choosing which enables them to participate in economic activities thereby fostering women’s economic independence. The SAHYTA Program assists youths who are distressed due to loss of a relative or permanent disability due to violence such as insurgency, cross-border firings, or mining accidents. Youth is provided a financial assistance of Rupees 2 lakh to help them develop livelihood units. Mission Youth is a pioneering initiative. However, it will be successful only when the youth are willing to take the plunge and let the initiative work to create a better future for themselves and the community.
The writer is a Researcher & Strategist from J&K & can be reached at fn6113739@gmail.com
