Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Oct 21 : Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today held a detailed meeting on Japanese collaboration for the new Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh as well as for the Northeast.
The Minister had an elaborate discussion with the Japanese representatives led by the outgoing Japanese Ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu, who called on him for a farewell cum professional meeting before relinquishing office as Ambassador tomorrow, after a 3 years and 11 months tenure in India, during which period there was huge Japanese engagement and investment witnessed in the North Eastern States like Manipur and also an unprecedented transformation in Indo-Japan relations under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Dr Jitendra Singh lauded the Japanese collaboration in Northeast during his tenure as the Minister for Northeast (DoNER) and proposed that the same could also possibly be replicated in J&K and Ladakh. Like in Northeast, he suggested that in the new union territories coming into existence after 31st October, Japan could contribute to infrastructural projects and also in food processing with relation to apple, cherry and Ladakh berry.
During the meeting, Dr Jitendra Singh mentioned the recent training of Nursing Care Workers (NCW) from J&K under the Technical Intern Training Programme (TITP), as a result of which 12 candidates from Jammu have been selected by Japanese companies at an initial salary of around Rs 90,000 per month. The Ambassador assured to extend TITP programme further in J&K and North Eastern region with participation of the Government of Japan.
The Minister proposed that in future, 100 students can be taken under TITP programme as Nursing Care Workers from Ladakh as well, with 50 each from Leh and Kargil respectively.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, Japan shares a special emotional and historical relation with India, especially North East India where it had lost over 30,000 of its troops during Second World War. He appreciated Ambassador Hiramatsu for his contribution in establishing the India-Japan Act East Forum which is an important mechanism for synergising India’s “Act East Policy” and Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy”.
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