Entrepreneurship ecosystem gets top focus in JK

Srinagar, Apr 19: The Jammu and Kashmir government led by Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, has set in place an encouraging and conducive environment towards promoting women entrepreneurship culture in the UT with thousands of female entrepreneurs starting their business odyssey with a new vigor and vitality.
The enthused business women of the UT are climbing the ladder of success with support from UT administration in the form of numerous lucrative incentives under different schemes thus achieving highest echelons in the world of enterprise. The key initiatives launched by the administration for supporting women entrepreneurs, commensurate with their educational background and experience are proving tangible results. The government ensures that women rise as a beacon of enlightenment and become vital driver in the developmental journey of Jammu and Kashmir.
National Rural Livelihoods Mission is being run in J&K as Jammu and Kashmir State Rural Livelihoods Mission (Umeed). The UMEED (JK Rural Livelihood Mission) is turning a wheel of transformation for women to become progressive and self-employed women entrepreneurs.
The Rural Livelihood Mission aims to reduce poverty in the state by building strong grassroots institutions for the poor, engaging them in gainful livelihoods interventions and ensuring appreciable improvement in their income on a sustainable basis.
JKRLM has become a change driven movement in J&K with 60,000 Self Help Groups ( SHG) with 5,02641 women beneficiaries.
The official figures say that Rs 890.55 crore bank credit has been availed by SHGs promoted by Umeed JKRLM while Rs 273.88 crore capitalization has been availed by SHGs from JKRLM. It is quite encouraging and motivating that these SHGs have mobilized Rs 168.88 crore from their own savings.
Similarly, the Mission Youth programme of J&K government empowers youth as an important stakeholder in Participatory Good Governance. Under the programme, 4239 Youth Clubs have been constituted on Mission Mode across J&K to mark International Youth Day 2021. These youth clubs are engaging volunteers, who will get an opportunity to work through real challenges and make meaningful changes in society.
The J&K Government had taken a firm step towards making the Youth a partner in governance process and UT’s development with creation of these 4239 Youth Clubs under Mission Youth in a record time. To give sufficient representation to women in these clubs, more than 8000 women are part of these clubs.
It is pertinent to mention that J&K government has also helped 6000 young women to become entrepreneurs who were selected at the Panchayat level.
Meanwhile, Mission Director, Jammu & Kashmir Rural livelihood Mission (JKRLM), Dr. Syed Sehrish Asgar, received prestigious SKOCH award for her outstanding contribution towards economic development of rural women under the programme SAATH.
In recognition of the achievements of the JKRLM under the programme SAATH, the SKOCH Foundation has conferred the prestigious SKOCH Award upon JKRLM.
While interacting with beneficiaries from J&K under the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) Pragati and Saksham scholarship schemes, through virtual mode, LG Sinha said, “Collective efforts are yielding favourable results. During Kashmir University’s convocation, there were 94 gold medalists in 2021, of which, 77 per cent, which is 66 were girls. Similarly, during the convocation of the Islamic University of Science and Technology, the majority of gold medalists were women which is a clear sign of women empowerment,” he said.
LG Sinha stressed on proper implementation of policies and the need to focus on skill training and re-skilling of women so that they have an equal share in future economic opportunities.