Press Release of One Day Online Workshop on Skill and Entrepreneurship Development Opportunities for Youth of J&K

Press Release
Department of Bioresources, University of Kashmir, organized a one-day online workshop (Webinar) on “Skill and Entrepreneurship Development Opportunities for youth of J&K” in collaboration with Skill Development Department Govt. of Jammu and Kashmir & JKEDI for youth of Jammu and Kashmir.
Prof. Talat Ahmad, Honorable Vice Chancellor, University of Kashmir, was the Chief Patron, Dr Asgar Samoon as Chief guest and Dr Nisar Ahmad Mir Registrar of the University as guest of honour of the workshop. At the beginning Organising Secretary of the Worshop and Coordinator, Department of Bioresources said that the main objective of this workshop was to impart awareness and knowledge to the students of J&K regarding employment opportunities and entrepreneurship avenues and to develop coordination between various skill development agencies and University of Kashmir. He highlighted the initiatives taken by the Department of Bioresources in introducing skill based and skill enhanced courses at masters and undergraduate level. There were almost 800 registerd participants for the workshop including faculty members, research scholars and students and entrepreneurs from various institutions across the country including; Kashmir university, Central university of Kashmir, SKUAST (K), IUST, Aligarh Muslim university, Cluster University, SKIMS, GMC, BGSBU, NIT, ICSSR (New Delhi) and college professors etc. Dr Manzoor opined that it is the collective responsibility of Government, the Private Sector and our academic institution to design and implement practical programmes to generate decent employment, reduce poverty among the youth and economically empower them to play a more meaningful role in the development and upliftment of their communities and the nation at large. Updating the youth in 21st century skills from a distance via technology is the best way to boost their productivity and make judicious use of this time.
Dr. Manzoor Ahmad Mir, Coordinator, Department of Bioresources and organizing secretary of the workshop welcomed and thanked all the participants for attending the workshop. He in his speech deliberated that every person possesses a unique skill. The requirement is to develop a mechanism to identify that skill. Skill building could also be seen as an instrument to empower the individual and improve their social acceptance, it is imperative to observe that ability to access global opportunities of exchange depends on how well-equipped educationally; professionally and skill-wise the workers are to take advantage of new opportunities.
The vision of our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji’s “Skill India” and “Make in India” are laudable. This can happen only if we equip our young people with skills that are required to meet the demands of our rapidly growing economy. In this context he emphasized that Department of Bioresource University of Kashmir under the leadership of our Honourable Vice-Chancellor Prof. Talat Ahamd have started online webinar series and today’s workshop is sixth in that direction. He thanked the Honourable Vice-Chancellor Prof. Talat Ahamad, Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon, Chief Guest, Principal Secretary, Skill Development Department, Govt. of J&K, Mr. Irtif Mehraj Lone, Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Business Modeling, JKEDI, Govt. of J&K, Mr. Farooq Amin, Guest Speaker, Secretary General, Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and CEO, Kanwal Foods and Spices.
Prof. Ghulam Hassan Mir, Director, Directorate of Life Long Learning, University of Kashmir the Principal speaker of the Workshop highlighted the various initiatives taken by the Directorate of Life Long Learning UoK and stressed upon that given the energy, enthusiasm and innovativeness young people of our state have the potential to contribute immensely to the socio-economic development of our nation.
Mr. Irtif Mehraj Lone Incharge Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Business Modeling, JKEDI, Govt. of J&K deliberated upon how JKEDI imparts training and provides financial opportunities for Skill and Entrepreneurship Development to the youth of J&K. He also highlighted the various schemes and training programmes offered by JKEDI and said that within a weeks time JKEDI is going to sign a MOU with Department of Bioresources, University of Kashmir for collaborative training of the students and to guide the students to start small business ventures.
Mr. Farooq Amin, CEO, Kanwal Foods and Spices Pvt Ltd deliberated on Development of successful business Models: An inspiration for skilled youth and also talked about his own professional journey of an successful Enterpreneur and the chanllehges one has to face and overcome to become a successful entrepreneur in J&K. Mr. Farooq Amin extended his full support to all the interested participants who want to establish business units and invited them to the single window clearance window Atma Nirbhar Bharat event to be held at SKUAST on 24th of November 2020
The workshop ended with vote of thanks by Dr. Abdul Haseeb Shah with a satisfaction gained by looking at around 700 plus participants working together with total social distancing. He expressed that this workshop very vividly made more than 700 participants know how to practice skill courses and use Govt. and non Govt. organizations for developing successful entrepreneurship.
Dr. Manzoor A Mir thanked entire staff of Bioresources Department especially organizing and supporting team led by faculty Dr. Bashir A. Lone, Dr. Peer Abdul Haseeb Shah and research scholar’s. The participants were informed and facilitated through different social media platforms about the workshop and all the presentations and entire recording of the workshop will be shared with all the registered participants of the workshop.

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