 Early Times Report
JAMMU, Mar 6: A delegation of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Jammu Chapter, headed by its Chairman Rahul Sahai, along with Anil Sharma, Ashish Jain, and Zeeshan Azad, interacted with Sh. Harvinder Singh, IAS, who has recently taken charge as Director Employment J&K and Director Mission YUVA, to discuss avenues for strengthening enterprise mentorship and apprenticeship opportunities for youth in Jammu & Kashmir. During the interaction, Harvinder Singh emphasized that the department wants prestigious trade and industry bodies to come forward and support youth who approach Mission YUVA by providing 10-day enterprise mentorship programmes. He highlighted that established enterprises, particularly in sectors such as food, kirana, apparel and retail, can play a significant role in guiding aspiring young entrepreneurs. Through such collaboration, a strong student-enterprise connect can be established, ensuring proper hand-holding and practical exposure for unemployed youth. He further informed that the department has a scheme under which enterprises that undertake mentorship and hand-holding will receive financial support from the department on a batch basis. To make the programme more inclusive, the department is also considering relaxing norms by abolishing the requirement of enterprise registration for participation in apprenticeship, thereby enabling more businesses to contribute.
Harvinder Singh noted that a large number of youth coming to the department express interest in starting ventures such as kirana shops, clothing showrooms, and food joints, and enterprises operating in these areas can greatly assist them through mentorship and real-time guidance. He also informed that Mission YUVA will soon collaborate with Mission Skilling, which will allow the manufacturing sector to actively participate in training and employing youth under various government schemes. He further shared that the department is planning to organize a convention shortly, bringing together enterprises, trade associations, students, and government stakeholders to deliberate on employment generation and skill development. Explaining the process, he said that once a student identifies the sector they wish to work in, a Detailed Project Report (DPR) is prepared, after which chartered accountants and industry mentors provide hand-holding support, and eventually trained departmental mentors will also guide them.
Speaking on the occasion, Rahul Sahai, Chairman ICC Jammu Chapter congratulated Harpinder Singh on recently taking over as Director Employment and Mission Yuva and appreciated his proactive approach and dynamism as administrator. Sahai added that the Indian Chamber of Commerce is more than willing to enter into any collaborative initiative with the directorate of employment and mission Yuva. Sahai reiterated ICC's commitment to contribute towards the progressive initiative of the J&K Government towards employment generation and entrepreneurship development in Jammu & Kashmir, and assured that ICC members would remain at the forefront in supporting such initiatives. He described the scheme as well thought out and expressed confidence that its proper implementation would yield excellent results. |
