Every Panchayat in J&K to have a Youth Club to address all the concerns of Young Generation

Srinagar: In order to increase the presence of Youth engagement at the Panchayat level, Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha today directed for establishing Youth Clubs in every Panchayat across Jammu and Kashmir for constructive activities and addressing all the concerns of young generation.

In first phase 22,500 Youth from 4290 Panchayats to be engaged in the Youth clubs, with Government incurring expenditure to the tune of Rs.12 Crore for this initiative. These Youth clubs to be the nerve centres for all youth programs; community involvement; IEC, Sports & Cultural activities, observed the Lt Governor.

The Lt Governor was chairing the Governing body meeting of Mission Youth at Civil Secretariat, wherein approvals were accorded to a host of schemes, to be launched soon, in various sectors which will make a greater impact on the Youth engagement and Livelihood generation programmes in the UT.

The meeting also decided to start two state-of-the-art coaching centre in Jammu & Srinagar to impart coaching for Civil Services and other competitive exams under PARVAAZ, a livelihood generation scheme.

The Government, through Mission Youth, will provide financial assistance to dental surgeons to start their own clinic. In the first phase, 400 dental surgeons and 800 paramedics will be selected for a specially tailored self-employment scheme, the Lt Governor maintained.

Emphasizing on effective execution of the programme, the Lt Governor directed the concerned officers to put dedicated focus on effective implementation of youth-oriented schemes on-ground. He further called for convergence and linkages of existing schemes with the proposed ones to yield better results.

“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.

Underlining the importance of Market-driven Training for youth of J&K, besides imparted Soft Skill Training to the youngsters, the Lt Governor suggested for roping in reputed Organizations/ Corporate Houses, Centre for Invention, Innovation, Incubation and Training (CIIIT) at Baramulla and Jammu for up-skilling of the youth.

The Lt Governor asked the CEO Mission Youth to establish Mission Youth Centres with recreational facilities in Jammu and Srinagar, besides setting up digital libraries in coordination with the Education department in every district. Directions were also passed for setting up One-stop facilitation centres for guiding youths regarding benefits of different schemes and establishment of District Youth Centres.

Stressing on the need to extend Psycho-Social Support to the youth, the Lt Governor instructed for establishing Counseling Centres in 8 districts, four in each division.

Laying special emphasis on the welfare of youth with disabilities, the Lt Governor directed for organizing Mega camps in the UT. Under Mission Youth, 5000 Youth with Disabilities in age-group 18-35 to be covered and provided with access to existing schemes; skilling, connect with digital world, livelihood support, link-up with banking and financial institutions, he added.

For the promotion and development of Community Based Entrepreneurship, the Lt Governor set the target for the establishment of 50 Model Community Entrepreneur units during 2021-22.

Addressing the need for enhancing the skills of the youth in clinical management, directions were passed to train at least 1000 youths through various technical courses in the respective field.

Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Chief Executive Officer, Mission Youth, highlighted the key features of the Annual Action Plan of Mission Youth for the Financial Year 2021-22.

He gave a detailed overview of thrust areas of the plan, besides objectives, targets, and future course of action of the proposed schemes.

The CEO informed that under specially tailored self-employment scheme for empowerment of young women of J&K- TAJASWANI, 2000 young women will be facilitated to establish a sustainable livelihood. Besides, the extension of benefits under self-employment schemes like MUMKIN will be done for the benefit of the youth.

Under Recreation and Social Engagement, LG’s Rolling Trophy will be held in sports like Cricket and Football from Block to UT level covering all 20 Districts of J&K, it was informed.

Sh. Farooq Khan, Sh. Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar and Sh. Baseer Ahmad Khan- Advisors to the Lieutenant Governor; Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary; Sh. RK Chhibber, Chairman J&K Bank; Sh. Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor; Administrative Secretaries, besides other senior officers participated in the meeting, in person and through video conferencing.