Jammu, Mar 4: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today said she hoped that the Centre would continue its support to enable the state to provide best opportunities to youngsters and create an atmosphere to nourish their talent.
She was speaking at the 17th Convocation of the University of Jammu, in which Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was the chief guest.
Degrees were conferred to 185 candidates who have qualified for the award of doctor of philosophy in 2015-16 up to December 31, 2016, besides 59 students were awarded gold medals, cash awards and certificates of merit.
“We hope to receive continuous support from the Union government in building the foundations for what I describe as Jammu and Kashmir 2.0,” the Chief Minister said.
“For me, Jammu and Kashmir 2.0 is fundamentally about providing the best opportunities to the young people of this state and creating an atmosphere in which their talent can be nourished,” Mehbooba said at the convocation ceremony.
Mehbooba, the pro-chancellor of the varsity, said her government has recently launched a “knowledge Initiative” with the sole objective of creating an atmosphere in which the talent of young people in the state is honed and they are provided the best opportunities.
“Built on the three pillars of education, employability and empowerment,” she said, the Initiative represents the goals in this regard.
Terming education and learning as vehicles for human betterment, Mehbooba Mufti said the pursuit of knowledge requires a continuous process of testing, reassessment, challenge and debate.
She said there should be recognition of the fact to know more and be open to ideas and new perspectives and even possibilities. This, she said, requires to work with courage, generosity and humility to create an intellectual community.
Noting that majority of awards at the convocation were conferred on women students, she said, “The Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign is going great as far as the Jammu university is concerned.”
“I was pleased to see girls being awarded degrees and medals one after the another. Boys were also there, but majority belonged to the girls today… Jammu and Kashmir will show a way for women-led development rather than development for women,” she said.
Mehbooba said, “We are committed to education and learning as vehicles of human betterment and as essential foundations for the democratic institutions.”
Lauding the people of Jammu for being “inclusive, tolerant and accommodative”, she said, “I think there cannot be a better example of a place than Jammu.”
Minister of State in PMO, Dr. Jitendra Singh; Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Nirmal Singh; Ministers; Advisor to Chief Minister, Prof. Amitabh Mattoo; legislators; Chairman, State Accountability Commission, Justice B A Khan; Vice Chancellors of all the universities in the State; senior officers; faculty members of Jammu University besides scholars and students were present on the occasion.
