Cabinet approves Special Industry Initiative Scheme in J&K

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today approved the implementation of the Special Industry Initiative Scheme in Jammu and Kashmir, to enhance the employment opportunities for the youth involving both the public and private sectors.
The Special Industry Initiative Scheme will be a Central Scheme with 100 per cent Central assistance in partnership with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and any similarly placed institution identified for the purpose and the corporate sector.
The Scheme proposes to cover all the districts of the State of J&K.
The Scheme is to be implemented in partnership with NSDC and the Corporate Sector.
The identified companies will screen and select students from the State. After assessing the skill gap of the trainees and the need of the Corporate, the trainees will be trained suitably by the Corporate. The Corporate will be incentivised to absorb the trainee.
A total expenditure of Rs 1000 crore is proposed to be incurred under the SII J&K Scheme. The estimated expenditure is about Rs 2.50 lakhs per trainee.
The Central Government will make a provision of Rs 500 crore in the next five years from 2011-12 onwards. The cost of travel, boarding and lodging and stipend will be borne by the Central Government.
The training cost will initially be borne by the Corporate. As an incentive to the Corporate 50 per cent of the training cost would be reimbursed if the trained youth are given employment in the company.
As many as 8,000 J&K youth are proposed to be trained annually.
The total target in the scheme is to train 40,000 graduates, post graduates and professional degree holders over a period of five years. 
The Scheme is based on the recommendations of an ‘Expert Group’ set up by the Prime Minister’s Office on August 18, 2010, under chairmanship of Dr Rangarajan.