JAMMU AND KASHMIR: A statement released by an official from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) administration said that they will cover over 35,000 youths for entrepreneur skill development under the Accelerated Transformation of Aspirations and Livelihoods for Youth (ATAL) Yojana within a duration of four years between 2021 and 2024. While chairing a meeting with officers of J&K Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) and Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), Manoj Sinha, Lieutenant Governor of J&K, said, “J&K administration is focussing on creating a robust ecosystem in the union territory for growth and empowerment of entrepreneurs, and laying a strong foundation to nurture entrepreneurship abilities in youth.”
The project aims to create 10,000 Conventional Tiny Enterprises (CTE) and more than 1,000 Impact Making Enterprises (IME), covering 20 districts to generate around 1 lakh direct or indirect employment. The Lieutenant Governor asked the officers concerned in the meeting to identify potential sectors for growth and expansion in entrepreneurship. The EDII will provide area-specific technical expertise and handholding for entrepreneurship development solutions for the youth of J&K in talent, tradition, tourism, trade and technology, thus playing a significant role in the implementation of the initiative. The J&K government is hoping that the initiative will make a big impact in mainstreaming entrepreneurship among local youth, strengthen community development, help in employment generation, boost economic growth by introducing new technologies, innovation and services. The spokesperson mentioned that the initiative will include entrepreneurship-orientation-cum awareness program, skill-preneurship programmes on various products/ enterprises, training-of-trainers programmes on entrepreneurship development, capacity building of stakeholders and NGOs, and innovation-based entrepreneurship certificate programme.