New Hope: Panchayat level youth clubs in J&K; LG orders key sops for youngsters [details here]

A day after J&K LG set a whopping Rs 12,600.58 crore District Capex Budget for 2021-22, Manoj Sinha is on to another significant initiative focused on UT's youth population. The Lt Governor chaired governing body meeting of Mission Youth, which is aimed at optimally utilize the demographic dividend of Jammu and Kashmir.

Manoj Sinha issued directives for establishing Youth Clubs in every Panchayat across Jammu and Kashmir, which will address all the concerns of the young generation. In the first phase, 22,500 youngsters from 4,290 Panchayats are to be engaged in the said clubs and an expenditure budget of Rs 12 crore has been set aside for the initiative.

"It is important to incorporate young generation's perspective in government policy and ensure their participation and representation at all levels. Health, Education, Economy and Employment are some of the key areas where young people can contribute for the sustainable development of the UT", the Lt Governor said.

Highlights of Mission Youth initiatives

During the Thursday's meeting at the Civil Secretariat, a host of schemes entered around youth engagement and livelihood generation programmes in the UT were approved. Here's a look at the key initiatives under the Mission Youth that were approved by J&K LG:

1. Two state-of-the-art coaching centres in J&K to provide coaching for Civil Services and other competitive exams under PARVAAZ, a livelihood generation scheme
2. Financial assistance to dental surgeons to start their own clinic, for which 400 dental surgeons and 800 paramedics will be selected for a self-employment scheme in the first phase.
3. Effective implementation of youth-oriented schemes on-ground
4. Convergence and linkages of existing schemes with the proposed ones to yield better results.
5. Up-skilling of the youth by roping in reputed organizations, Incubation and Training (CIIIT) at Baramulla and Jammu.
6. Establishing Mission Youth Centres with recreational facilities in Jammu and Srinagar.
7. Setting up digital libraries in coordination with the Education department in every district.
8. One-stop facilitation centres for guiding youths regarding benefits of different schemes and establishment of District Youth Centres.
9. Counseling centres in 8 districts, four in each division with special emphasis on the welfare of youth with disabilities.

In addition to this, LG Manoj Sinha said that 5,000 youth with disabilities in the age group of 18 to 35 years will be covered and given access to existing schemes, skilling, connect with digital world, livelihood support, link-up with banking and financial institutions.

Sinha has set a target for the establishment of 50 Model Community Entrepreneur units during 2021-22 and train at least 1,000 youths through various technical courses in the respective field.

Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Chief Executive Officer, Mission Youth, who was also present in the meeting alongside Farooq Khan, Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar and Baseer Ahmad Khan — advisors to the Lieutenant Governor; Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary; RK Chhibber, Chairman J&K Bank; Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to LG; Administrative Secretaries, and other senior officers, highlighted the key features of the Annual Action Plan of Mission Youth for 2021-22 with a detailed overview of objectives, targets and future course of action for the proposed schemes.

Choudhary noted that 2,000 young women will be facilitated to establish a sustainable livelihood and benefits under self-employment schemes like MUMKIN will be extended for the benefit of the youth.