The Government of Jammu and Kashmir has come up with an ambitious project under the banner of Mission Youth in an effort to empower youth of the erstwhile state. The initiative encapsulates Livelihood Generation, Skill Development, Education, Counseling & Rehabilitation, Sports and Recreation, so on and so forth to ensure the overall development of the youth in particular. Under the mission, District youth centers are supposed to be created in each district with active involvement of youth from planning stage to management of these state-of-the-art institutions. The District Youth Centres are being envisaged as Centres of Excellence to provide a platform for constructive engagement of youth. These DYCs are aimed at providing opportunities to young people to explore and recognize intellectual and professional potentials besides extending them professional counseling and systematic assistance. Furthermore, under the Universities Collaboration Initiative- a flagship programme has also been approved by the Governing Body headed by Lieutenant Governor to provide support to youth for education ,research, innovation, sports, employment and other sectors. A scholarship programme has also been unveiled under the mission. The LG’s Super-75 Scholarship is aimed at providing financial support to meritorious students belonging to marginalised sections of society for pursuing their academic aspirations. A scheme to support coaching of students for various competitive examinations including Civil Services Examination has also been rolled out, which will be notified in coming months. The scheme will cover tuition expenses of coaching and the students selected through screening process shall be eligible to choose the institution of their choice from the list of empaneled coaching institutions of repute. In addition to that assistance of any kind will be provided to youth, to empower entrepreneurship and skill development. The mission is a welcome step however the ground level implementation is required to be sound and effective. Let’s hope that it will bring a revolution in terms of youth development and empowerment. Good hopes!
Editorial: Mission Youth
