Srinagar: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Sunday felicitated ‘Young achievers’ with the ‘Kashmir Young Leadership Award’ during the Kashmir Leadership Summit here at SKICC.
Speaking on the occasion, the LG congratulated ‘young achievers’ who received the award for their outstanding work in different fields and lauded their contribution for bringing positive changes in society, an official press release said.
“Young leaders facilitate creation of a prosperous society that did not exist before. The young leaders, young minds can alone solve the entire world’s great problems and generate more ideas and resources to confront the future challenges,” noted the LG.
He said that there is no better source of growth for a country than the power of youth. With the help of technology and benefits of globalization, the young population is the true maker of an advance and equal society, he added.
Youth has great powers and it has to be exercised with responsibility, values, morality, and ethics for further progression of humanity, the LG said.
“Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, J&K is moving ahead on the path of progress and development keeping in mind the expectations and aspirations of the youth. Our achievement in different fields is a sign of progress made in empowering youth,” said the LG.
He observed that youth are the focal point of UT governments’ developmental agenda and several reformative measures are being undertaken by the administration to address the concerning issues of the youth and tapping their full potential for developing a peaceful and progressive Jammu and Kashmir.
The LG observed that during the course of his regular interactions with the youth in the last 13 months, he has noted that the youth of J&K have five important priorities today – first, they should get jobs according to their qualifications; second, they should get ample opportunities and handholding to become entrepreneurs; third, access to modern education in consonance with market requirements and dynamically changing skillsets; fourth, implementation of good governance practices and elimination of corruption completely from the system, and their fifth priority is to have the opportunity to lead a healthy, peaceful, and secure life.
He assured that continuous efforts are being made across different sectors to streamline the system and provide conducive ecosystem for proper channelization of youth energies by creating a host of opportunities in the field of education, employment, healthcare, and security.
“With sustained systematic interventions like Mission Youth, creations of Youth Clubs, Women Entrepreneurship programmes like ‘Tejaswini’, ‘Hausala’ and ‘Saath’, providing access to modern education, and a host of youth-oriented schemes, the government is providing a vibrant medium for youth engagement and empowerment in J&K, facilitating them to become ambassadors of peace, prosperity and socio-economic growth,” added the Lt Governor.
The talent that UT possesses is no less than any other part of the country. “We are encouraging innovation, entrepreneurship, up-skilling, and developing scientific temper amongst the youth right from the beginning so that they can meet the requirements of the future world,” the LG said.
Government with its schemes like Mumkin, Tejaswini, Rise Together, Tourist Village Network, Parwaz, and others, “is empowering the youth capital of J&K and making them an active partner in the journey of prosperous, powerful, and self-reliant Jammu and Kashmir,” the LG observed.
“Industries were never allowed to flourish in Jammu and Kashmir before. But, now the UT is witnessing industrial revolution which will go a long way in creating sustained livelihood opportunities for the local population.
“With Rs 28,400 crores worth new industrial development scheme attracting huge investments into J&K, we are aiming at providing employment opportunities for at least 10 lakh youth. Under the Back to Village program, 20,000 young budding entrepreneurs have been empowered financially to start their own enterprise and fulfill their dreams,” added the LG.
“The government has been liberal in providing funds for education and sports. The combined budget of education and sports of Jammu and Kashmir is Rs 2386 crores, which is relatively higher than several bigger states,” Sinha said.
“We are also providing world-class sports facilities and infrastructure for the youth. The budget for youth services and sports this year is Rs 513 crore, which itself speaks about the government’s commitment to bringing out the best sporting talents to the fore,” the LG said.
He urged the youth to not fall for the conspiracy which is intended to push their future into darkness. He appealed the youth to stay away from drugs and work diligently towards contributing to the progress of nation
“Our neighboring country, which has failed in its nefarious design to disturb peace and prosperity, is smuggling drugs into J&K to disrupt growth of our youth. We need to tackle this menace collectively”, he asserted.
Remembering the words of Mahatma Gandhi — “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will”, the Lt Governor called upon the youth to use their potential for the good of the society, take inspiration from the young achievers, and contribute in nation-building.
“Challenges and struggles hone an individual’s personality, bring the best out of them,” remarked the LG.
He congratulated the young achievers who have received the award and asked them to be the flag-bearers of new ideas and change. “We are proud of our youth who are making their mark in different fields and bringing laurels to J&K and making the UT proud,” added the LG.
He also lauded the young leaders who are actively working in drug de-addiction activities and bringing back the misguided youth into mainstream life.
As many as 46 young achievers for various fields including health, education, sports, adventure sports, social work, journalism, environment conservation, art, music, women empowerment, etc., have been awarded on the occasion.
Senior government officials, prominent citizens from all walks of life; family members of the awardees were present on the occasion, the press release said.
