Special scheme for Jammu and Kashmir on 'Skill, Empowerment and Employment'

New Delhi, May 19 (ANI): The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the proposal of Ministry of Rural Development to implement, as a special case the Skill, Empowerment and Employment special scheme as a 100 percent Central assisted scheme in the next five years to cover one lakh youth from both rural and urban areas in Jammu and Kashmir.

This scheme will cover youth both from Below Poverty Line (BPL) category and non-BPL category.

A total expenditure of Rs.235.3 crore will be incurred for Skill, Empowerment and Employment special scheme for Jammu and Kashmir.

Of the total expenditure, Rs.70.59 crore will be met from existing budget of the Ministry of Rural Development under Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) scheme to cover 75 percent cost of training rural BPL youth, and remaining Rs.164.71 crore will be covered under special scheme for Jammu and Kashmir to cover rural non-BPL, urban BPL and non-BPL youth.

The scheme is scheduled to commence from June-July 2011 and the first set of placements are likely to take place by October-November 2011.

In the first year, 15000 youth will receive training for salaried and self-employment opportunities.

An 'Expert Group' was set up by the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, to enhance the employment opportunities in Jammu and Kashmir and to formulate a jobs plan involving both public and private sectors, especially for the youth.

The 'Expert Group' submitted its report to the Prime Minister in February 2011. The report suggested a two-pronged approach to employment generation (a) identify sectoral initiatives for growth and employment generation and (b) increase employability of youth by improving skill sets.

In case of the latter (to improve the skills of the youth and create employment), the 'Expert Group' suggested a number of initiatives of which the scheme, "Skill, Empowerment and Employment in Jammu and Kashmir" is an important component.

The Skill, Empowerment and Employment special scheme for Jammu and Kashmir is a placement linked, market driven skill-training programme for youth to be implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development.

The objective of this scheme is to provide options and opportunities to all youth in Jammu and Kashmir, ranging from school dropouts to college educated, to select training programme for salaried or self-employment opportunities as per their interest.

The placements will be in the private sector both within and outside Jammu and Kashmir. It is estimated that 70 percent funds will be used to provide salaried employment linked training, and the remaining 30 percent for self-employment linked training.

The training providers for placement linked skill training will give a 75 percent placement guarantee for the trained youth. Placement for youths will be provided all over the country.

Under this scheme, different training strategies will be used for diverse groups of youth - school dropouts, dropouts of XII class level, and those who have had college education. (ANI)