‘EC has to decide Assembly poll dates’
Avtar Bhat
SAMBA, Jan 29: Maintaining that there is utmost need to create awareness about Startups in J&K, Union Minister of State with Independent Charge of Science & Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh today regretted that the job avenues created by Narendra Modi Government for the youth of the country under various Startup programmes could not be implemented in the J&K earlier due to certain barriers and impediments.
Dr Jitendra Singh was talking to reporters here during his visit to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Jammu for the inspection of the upcoming new blocks and inauguration of recently developed facilities. He said that after the removal of these barriers, there is need to create awareness among the youth about the Start-ups in the J&K. He said in entire country the Startup culture got up in a big way while the J&K youth could not take its full advantage and maximum youth in the UT still hanker for Government jobs not knowing that the job avenues created under various Start-up schemes are much lucrative than Government jobs.
Dr Jitendra Singh hoped that with the Constitutional barriers of the past having been done away with in case of Jammu & Kashmir, the administration and the management will make all efforts to attract the best of the faculty from different parts of the country.
Dr Jitendra Singh, in reply to a question, said that BJP is a party which is 24×7 ready for elections as party is throughout the year in election mood. “But it is the prerogative of Election Commission to announce the poll dates and I suppose the elections will be held soon after the Delimitation process is over”, he said, adding Home Minister, Amit Shah has already reiterated this in Lok Sabha.
Regarding restoration of Statehood to J&K, Dr Jitendra Singh said that Home Minister had already said that at an appropriate time the Statehood will be restored to J&K.
He said “Both IIIM (CSIR), Jammu and AIIMS, Vijaypur are dedicated to medical research and I am of the view that both institutes will have a good synergy and start focused research in this field”.
He said that both IIIM Jammu and AIIMS , Vijayur can collaborate in more fields and he expressed the hope that AIIMS Vijaypur will get its separate identity in the country.
He said the Purple revolution which has been started all over country can be an alternative Start-up to provide lucrative jobs to youth. It was earlier started by CSIR Jammu which has been founded much before the independence of the country, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh made it clear that no Government can provide jobs to all its youth but every Government is duty bound to create avenues of employment for the youth. He said in Gujarat no youth hankers for a Government job as other alternative sources of employment are available there. He made it clear that when the youth will come to know that there are more avenues available under Startups they will come out of the mindset of a Government job.
He said though COVID created some problems in execution of work but praised the workforce saying 3500 workers continuously were engaged on the construction of the institute.
Addressing the function at AIIMS Vijaypur, Dr Jitendra Singh said that Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Medicine are critical to future healthcare.
He suggested that in order to develop an exclusive identity for the institution, the focus should be on these futuristic areas. Tele-Medicine and Robotic Surgery have already taken over in a big way and the indispensable utility of these new options was realised during the pandemic times, he added.
The Minister announced that AIIMS Jammu will function in close collaboration with CSIR-IIIM Jammu. An MoU was signed in the presence of the Minister, between Director AIIMS Jammu, Dr Shakti Gupta and Director CSIR-IIIM Jammu Dr. D. Srinivasa Reddy, on behalf of the two institutions.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, it is an irony that CSIR-IIIM Jammu and Government Medical College Jammu existed in the close vicinity of just about four kilometers from each other and even though both the institutions were dedicated to medical research, there was hardly any collaboration between the two in the past. He said, every effort would be made to bring in closer integration of IIIM with GMC and also between IIIM Jammu and AIIMS Jammu, both of which happen to be the Central Government institutions.
Dr Jitendra Singh noted that IIIM Jammu is one of the oldest CSIR laboratories in the country and even today it is conducting pioneering research in Cannabis Medicinal Products and host of other drugs, which makes the institute a natural ally of the AIIMS which has also the mandate of research and medical education.
While appreciating the progress made during the brief period since Dr Shakti Gupta took over as the Director of AIIMS, Dr Jitendra Singh suggested that in order to develop an exclusive identity for the institution, the focus should be on futuristic areas like Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and AIIMS could be a pioneer in North India in developing AI based healthcare infrastructure.
The Minister said it is because of the personal indulgence of Prime Minister, Narendra Modi that Jammu has, in the recent years, developed major Centrally funded academic institutions in close vicinity of each other, thus making it an important educational hub in the region. He called for greater integration at different levels, that is among the science institutions, then between scientific institutions and non scientific institutions and finally among all these educational institutions put together and the industry and Startups for sustainable growth, development and livelihood.
District Development Commissioner Samba, Anuradha Gupta was also present during the function.
The Minister was briefed that the OPD will start immediately, while the classes of the first two batches will start in the Campus itself from June this year.
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