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Jammu and Kashmir’s Back to Village scheme to fund 50,000 youths this year: L-G
L-G Manoj Sinha said the idea was to turn unemployed Jammu and Kashmir youth into job providers instead of job seekers.
Jammu and Kashmir’s lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha has set a target to turn 50,000 youngsters in the union territory into entrepreneurs this year by providing them financial assistance under the Back to Village program. The administration claims to have loaned ₹340 crores to as many as 19,600 youth from across the UT under the first two phases of the programme till now.
“Jammu and Kashmir Bank advanced more than ₹340 crores to as many as 19,600 youth from across the UT, against the target of about 8800 youth. These youth were granted financial assistance, making them not only financially independent but also a source of livelihood to other families,” said an official spokesman of the J&K administration.
The L-G announced during a high-level meeting of district development committee (DDC) chairpersons, administrative secretaries, and district development commissioners on Wednesday that the idea was to turn unemployed youth into job providers instead of job seekers.
“Last year, our target was to pick up two unemployed boys and girls from each panchayat to make them entrepreneurs. The youth of Jammu & Kashmir have immense talent and till date, we have provided this opportunity to more than 19,000 boys and girls. This year our aim should be to reach out to 50,000 youths so that they can become entrepreneurs,” he told the participants.
He added that 18,000 posts have been advertised by the Service Selection Board for recruitment in various departments in line with his administration’s promise to provide 25,000 jobs in the public sector.
Chairman DDC Srinagar, Aftab Malik said he “hoped” that the promise of empowering 50,000 youngsters through the scheme will be fulfilled.
Block development council (BDC) chairman of Narvaw block in Baramulla, Mir Iqbal said that some government programmes started for the youth in rural areas had run into obstacles. “Recently, the government announced to provide D class cards to jobless youths in every block, unfortunately the scheme requires the card holder to have property in his/her name, the project has therefore hit a roadblock.” He claimed that several government schemes were included in the Back to Village program and said it would be better if there was a “separate” scheme for the youth.
