‘Govt deliberating on issue’
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Sept 1: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today said that the schools in Jammu and Kashmir will be reopened after achieving 100 percent vaccination for all the students of age group above 18 years.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a function at SKICC in Srinagar, Sinha said that their priority is to achieve 100 percent vaccination for students of above 18 years of age group and after that a decision will be taken to reopen the schools, colleges and universities for such students.
He said that the government was deliberating on the issue and all the schools, colleges and universities will be reopened after students of above 18 years of age group will be 100 percent vaccinated.
“After that we will think about reopening the schools for the students of other age groups as well,” Sinha said.
He also appreciated the department of J&K Rural Livelihood Mission and its Director Sehrish Asghar for organising “SAATH” programme-cum-workshop for the empowerment of rural women in J&K.
Earlier, Sinha launched ‘SAATH’, a rural women enterprise acceleration programme here at SKICC.
Under this initiative of the Jammu and Kashmir Rural Livelihoods Mission (UMEED), the SHG women entrepreneurs will be provided mentoring and handholding through intensive training and capacity building workshops for up-scaling their business ventures.
5000 women will participate in entrepreneur workshops, 500 women will be provided enterprise up-scaling training and 100 women will be selected for business mentoring under SAATH initiative.
Speaking on the occasion, the Lt Governor observed that the specifically tailored platform ‘SAATH’ will be a major contributor to the socio-economic upliftment of women in rural and semi-urban areas.
Apart from making business ecologies thriving in the rural areas, the programme under Rural Livelihoods Mission, J&K will nurture existing enterprises into sustainable, high productivity ventures through skilling, mentoring, and market linkages, he added.
Terming economic independence of women as key indicator of women empowerment, Sinha observed that the goal of the UT Government is to make the women of J&K job creators instead of job seekers, and increase the contribution of women entrepreneurs in UT’s GDP.
“We are witnessing steady rise of women entrepreneurs in J&K. Similarly, youth entrepreneurs are transforming society in many ways and are ensuring economic security and prosperity for others.They are our role models and not the ones who are shedding innocents’ blood, and indulging in senseless violence. I appeal to the women entrepreneurs to show such misguided people the right and virtuous path,” he said.
He reiterated the Government’s commitment to provide access to capital, quality mentorship for re-skilling, new-skilling and help women entrepreneurs from SHG’s reach new markets.
“We have adopted a holistic approach to develop women entrepreneurs ecosystem to connect, collaborate, invent for scaling up business and building a strong women workforce,” he added.
The UT Government is strengthening bottom-up structures for women and youth to create super-empowered individuals in Jammu Kashmir. Their aspirations are more integrated with national aspirations now than ever before. They have resources available to create smarter enterprises and shape the community around them in extraordinary ways, the Lt Governor observed.
Highlighting the transformation JKRLM programmes are making in the lives of rural women of Jammu and Kashmir, the Lt Governor said that the inclusion of four lakh women in more than 48,000 self-help groups with easy access to capital have revolutionized women entrepreneurship at grassroot level.
Baseer Ahmad Khan, in his address, said that the JKRLM has brought new hope to rural women. This initiative will boost the entrepreneur skills of the rural women and will turn their existing livelihood activities into high order enterprises, he added.
Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary said that the programme is aimed at providing better livelihood support to women, particularly in rural areas by showing them a sustainable path to economic growth. He said the UT government is planning to establish 11,000 new SHGs taking the total number of SHGs to 59,000.
Dr Syed Sehrish Asgar, Mission Director JKRLM highlighted the essence and vision of JKRLM. She informed that 500 SHG women entrepreneurs under the programme would be capacitated and out of which 100 SHG entrepreneurs will be provided one to one mentoring support, for enhancing their competitiveness and stake in the specific trade sector.
Vinod Kumar, president India SME forum also spoke on the occasion.
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