Jammu & Kashmir has done it again. Launched another scheme. A shiny, ambitious, slogan-loaded mission. This time it’s called “Mission YUVA.” Very much like smart cycles.
The name sounds cool. The promises are cooler. Rs 1830 crore allocated. 1.37 lakh new enterprises. 4.25 lakh jobs. All in five years. Oh gosh, if dreams had wings, National Conference would be the international dealer to sell them.
Cue the applause. Roll out the banners. Get the cameras. We’ve launched “hope” again.
But before we get too carried away with this glittering package, can we please ask a basic, boring, terribly inconvenient question?
Who exactly is this mission for? Let’s pause here. Has anyone done a proper, ground-level, door-to-door survey of unemployed youth in Kashmir? Their educational backgrounds? Their skillsets? Their dreams, fears, and immediate needs?
No. We skipped that.
Instead, we jumped straight to launching a mega-mission. With four “pillars” – Culture, Capital, Capacity, Connectivity. Fancy. Alliterative. Impresses the press. Confuses the unemployed.
Culture? We’re told we’ll now change “mindsets” and “attitudes” of young people toward self-employment. As if the average Kashmiri youth sitting jobless for years just needs a pep talk to suddenly become a startup founder.
Capital? Yes, financial help is on the menu. Subsidies. Credit. A Rs 250 crore venture capital fund. But let’s not pretend that access to capital has never been equitable here. Ask any local entrepreneur who tried navigating a bank manager’s table stacked with files, delays, and apathy.
Capacity? Training programs, boot camps, workshops – sure. But who decided what the youth need training in? Was there a baseline study done? A district-wise sectoral mapping?
Nope. Don’t be silly!
Connectivity? Apparently, this means linking youth with market opportunities. But which markets? Where’s the demand-supply analysis? What sectors are growing? Which districts can offer what kind of growth? Silence.
You see, the tragedy is not the mission itself. The tragedy is the order of things. You don’t build the house first and then look for land.
First, you identify the unemployed youth.
Then, you talk to them.
Then, you map their existing skills.
Then, you align that with sectors that can absorb them – tourism, agri-tech, crafts, digital, renewable energy, cold chains, health tech.
Only then you launch your mission. With focus. With precision. With targets that aren’t random.
But no. We’re reverse-engineering unemployment. Create a mission. Then try to somehow fit people into it.
Worse still, no one talks about the reasons youth prefer government jobs. Stability, social respect, predictable income, less harassment. Till you address why they run after Sarkari Naukri, no scheme can “change mindsets.”
Also, Kashmir isn’t Delhi or Bengaluru. You can’t parachute one-size-fits-all policy here. You need hyperlocal insight. An unemployed BSc graduate in Budgam doesn’t need an “ideation boot camp.” He needs a roadmap to stability. He needs a job. And you are giving him a mission which he is totally clueless about.
Let’s also remember how past missions fared. Skill India? Hardly translated into jobs. Start-Up India? Most Kashmiri youth couldn’t even cross the application stage. PMEGP? Choked in red tape.
So why will Mission YUVA be different?
Because this time we’ve used more colorful infographics? Or created a dashboard that will show “progress” in graphs while the ground reality remains static?
And how about accountability? When these 4.25 lakh jobs don’t materialize by 2029, will anyone resign? Will there be a white paper on failures? Or just another mission with a new acronym and the same old problems?
Let’s be honest. What youth in Kashmir need is not more launches. They need listening. Mapping. Matching. Mentoring. Sustained handholding.
Not a 5-minute video with background music and drone shots of development.
Mission YUVA may be well-intentioned. But intention without intelligence is noise. Without real groundwork, this mission will be just another tick in the government’s PR report.
In a place where unemployment is emotionally, economically, and politically explosive, it’s criminal to treat it with templates.
Before you offer solutions, try understanding the problem.
Before you design pillars, study the ground.
Before you promise jobs, ask the youth what they even want to do.
Otherwise, in five years, Mission YUVA will be a footnote in a government report. A well-branded, poorly thought-out detour.
And the youth will still be where they were.
Waiting. Watching. Wondering if anyone really cares.
Till then, welcome to the next edition of Mission Acrobatics.
And, then, here is the stark reality that no one gives a hoot about.
Over 3.70 lakh youth have registered as unemployed on the J&K Employment Portal as of January 2025 – graduates, postgraduates, diploma holders, even 10+2 pass-outs.
Yet instead of starting with this real pool of jobless talent, the authorities chose to launch “Mission YUVA”: fancy dashboards and glossy brochures galore.
How about we rename it “Mission Clueless”? Because clearly, the government has no clue what these 3.7 lakh registered youth actually want – or can do. Instead of surveying their skills, interests, or local market demand, they rushed to promise 4.25 lakh jobs and 1.37 lakh enterprises.
That math only works if you assume every registered youth already has startup-ready skills. Spoiler: they don’t.
Imagine if, instead of parachuting in acronyms, they had first asked: “Hey, what can you do? What do you want to learn? What does Budgam or Anantnag actually need?” A little mapping exercise might have saved us from another round of PR fireworks.
So, here’s a thought: begin by surveying the existing 3.7 lakh unemployed. Match their abilities with real sectors – tourism, crafts, digital services. THEN launch a mission that’s tailored, not theatre.
An author, a communications strategist, Dr Sanjay Parva was a debut contestant from 28-Beerwah 2024 Assembly Constituency
bindasparva@gmail.com
