Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, chaired 8th Executive Council meeting of Jammu & Kashmir Rural Livelihood Mission (JKRLM).
The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary, Agriculture Production Department, Principal Secretary Finance Department, Secretary Rural Development &Panchayati Raj, Secretary Health and Medical Education, Mission Director JKRLM, Additional Mission Director JKRLM and other officers.
During the meeting, various important issues pertaining to the implementation and operation of the scheme viz institutional building and capacity building, financial inclusion of Self Help Groups, farm and non-farm livelihoods and others were discussed in detail.
The Chief Secretary emphasized on engaging the SHGs into gainful livelihoods interventions to ensure appreciable improvement in their income on a sustainable basis.
He said that JKRLM has a readymade support base in the form of SHGs and has a potential of generating entrepreneurs. He said that it is a big platform and the Mission should capitalise on its resources to derive maximum benefits.
He stressed to focus on convergence with the line departments for availing benefits from all existing government schemes.
During the meeting, assessment of existing manpower working in the Mission came up for discussion and various suggestions were put forth for rationalization of human resource for their optimum utilization.
Mission Director gave a brief about the action plan and activities being undertaken by the JKRLM.
She said that JKRLM is a significant initiative in the region focused on enhancing rural livelihoods and empowering women. She added that JKRLM’s impact is significant with over 7.13 lakh households having been mobilized into 90864 SHGs. She further added that the Mission has expanded its reach across all 285 blocks, bringing together rural women into a network.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary chaired a meeting to review the Youth Skill and Entrepreneurship App.
Besides, Additional Chief Secretary Department of Forest, Ecology and Environment, the meeting was attended by Principal Secretary, Higher Education Department, Vice Chancellors of Jammu/Kashmir University, Central University Jammu/Srinagar, SKAUST Jammu/Srinagar, IUST Kashmir/SMVDU Jammu, BGSBU Rajouri, Cluster University Jammu/ Kashmir, Commissioner Secretary to the Government, IT Department, Director, IIM Jammu, Mission Director, Skill Development and other officers. Senior officers from BISAG also attended the meeting through video conferencing.
Chief Secretary laid stress on enhancing the features of the App and said that it has to be way better than what is available to match the present day needs.
He said that the App should be able to assess various aspects related to the skills possessed by youth, including technical skills, soft skills, and other competencies relevant to their personal and professional development.
Maintaining that career counselling plays a critical role in development of youth, CS said that there should be adequate number of counsellors available to provide guidance to the youth. He said that universities, colleges and other departments should identify resource persons who can provide quality guidance and handholding to students.
CS further said that the App should provide knowledge about the opportunities available in the ecosystem to match the prospective people.
In order to promote skill development and vocational education, Dulloo said that the aim of the mobile application is to mobilise large number of youths across the UT for various skill development programmes, courses offered, details of admissions, employment opportunities, course advisors, knowledge management.
