JAMMU: Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, today remarked that filling the skill gap requirements of the latest trends in the industry is the need of the hour as it will create a lot of employability avenues for the youth.
Chief Secretary made these remarks while addressing a day-long workshop on the skilling of youth at the Food Craft Institute (FCI) here.
Addressing the participants virtually, Dr. Mehta observed that giving impetus to the soft skills in the Tourism sector is crucially significant as the sector has huge potential of generating employment avenues for youth keeping in view the tourist influx to the UT of J&K.
Chief Secretary also put forth a point of digital transformation keeping in view the latest requirements of the industry and GI tagging of various products so as to enhance their product value for better marketability of the products of the UT.
In his inaugural address, Principal Secretary Skill Development Department, Dr Asgar Hassan Samoon, laid thrust on the industry requirements with the matching skill trainings so as to fill the skilled manpower requirements for the industry. He stressed upon the department of Industries and Commerce to initiate the training in respect of already identified areas during the recently concluded back-to-village programme for which a data bank has been worked out by the Department of Planning and Development J&K.
Director IIT Jammu, in his speech, emphasized on the skill trainings keeping in view the latest requirements of the industry so as to give the trained manpower as per the industry requirements. He also suggested to stress upon producing more entrepreneurs for which Principal Secretary Skill Development suggested having a joint tie-up with IIT and IIM Jammu.
Professor Jabir Ali from IIM Jammu suggested bringing out a joint curriculum for such inputs so as to produce better industry professionals/skilled manpower for their better employability.
During the workshop, a presentation was given by UNICEF and PwC teams which showcased the skill requirements in various sectors as per the study conducted by them in J&K. The presentation was followed by in-depth deliberations.
Pertinently, the workshop was organised with the aim to augment the manpower requirement of various sectors and initiate the skill development programmes in the respective departments.
Among others, Director Skill Development, Sudershan Kumar; Mission Director, JKRLM, Indu Chib; Mission Director, Skill Development Mission, Leena Padha; Special Secretary, Skill Development Department, M.A.Bhat; Joint Director Industries & Commerce, Meenakshi Vaid and other officers from various departments also attended the workshop.
