Omar sets up Committee under CS

Emphasises fast tracking Skill Development Mission

JAMMU: Emphasizing fast tracking of Skill Development Mission initiatives to train 4 lakh youth annually in various skills, Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah Tuesday directed for constitution of a Committee of Administrative Secretaries headed by the Chief Secretary for concretizing the action plan to achieve the target.
“The State has embarked upon a huge programme of training as many as 40 lakh youth in different job-oriented skills during next 10 years to give new dimension to employment generation”, he said adding that coordinated approach by all the 17 departments concerned is need of the hour.
The Chief Minister asked the Committee to come up with a befitting and viable action plan along with broad contours of the strategy so that all the departments involved work as one unit to achieve the stupendous task. He fixed one month’s period for formulation of this strategy and the action plan.
The Chief Minister was reviewing the status of Skill Development Mission launched in the State to address the unemployment crisis and broad base the employment ambit for youth.
Minister for Industries, S. S. Slathia, Minister for Higher Education, Abdul Gani Malik, Economic Advisor to the Government, J. A. Khan, Principal Secretary Finance, Iqbal Khandey, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, B. B. Vyas, Principal Secretary R&B, K. B. Agarwal, Principal Secretary Industries, Umang Narula, Commissioner Secretary School Education, Naseema Lankar, Commissioner Secretary Higher Education, Tanveer Jahan, Commissioner Secretary Health, G. A. Peer, Commissioner Secretary Technical Education, B. A. Runiyal and various secretaries were present in the meeting besides representatives from Chamber of Commerce and Industries.
The Chief Minister directed for early constitution of Skill Development Councils in the thrust areas of Tourism, Agro-Food Processing, Heritage Craft and Industries. He asked the Administrative Secretaries of these departments to complete this task within next 10 days.
Omar Abdullah stressed on full utilization of available capacity in various departments for training youth and upgrading skills. He said asset bank available in the State should be taken best use of besides roping in the services of training providers in private sector. He said the skills upgradation should be planned as per the requirement in the industrial and other sectors so that trained youth are easily absorbed in the job market.
Commissioner Secretary Technical Education, B. A. Runiyal in a PowerPoint presentation presented the status of various measures put in place for successful implementation of Skill Development Mission in the State. (KMW News)