Editorial . . . . .
The need for skill development and entrepreneurship, particularly among youngsters in Jammu and Kashmir’s UT, has emerged as one of the most essential parameters in the context of what the J&K UT is experiencing today, which includes concerns of unemployment and economic dependency syndrome.
The rise of tech is currently transforming the labour market, leading to the automation of some jobs and tasks on the one hand and the emergence of new kinds on the other. Proactively preparing for this new reality requires an in-depth, granular understanding of these changes and their impact on jobs and employment.
As a result, both the organized and unorganized sectors of Jammu and Kashmir are in desperate need of a workforce with advanced technical knowledge and abilities. Developing such a workforce precisely is the aim and objective of the Directorate of Employment, Skill Development, and Entrepreneurship, Government of Jammu and Kashmir. This is to provide a consistent supply of competent people in various skill-related activities, as well as to improve both the quality and quantity of output and address the issue of rising unemployment.
The Industrial Training Institutes/polytechnics in Jammu and Kashmir is offering proper training on skill education in many trades, and while the job sector in the Government is getting crunched, a lot more emphasis is desired currently not only on the training but also for the Government to provide gainful employment and also ‘start-up push’ for venturing into entrepreneurship.
Though Jammu and Kashmir is plagued by issues of unemployment within a dependency syndrome, yet, J&K continues to be a land of self ‘employment’ opportunities. Government job seems to have fitted well for a ‘lazy generation’ wherein the Government sector, it is assumed that a Government employee gets a salary whether one works up to the mark or not, that the workload will not be like in the private sector where one has to really sweat out.
Coming to the human resources capital, there is no dearth of talent, but laziness seems to be a stumbling block in pursuing and expressing one’s potential. Often laziness seems to be a temporal symptom of not finding one’s interest.
While the government has a role to play in the development of skills and the promotion of entrepreneurship and livelihood, the people, particularly the younger generation, bear a higher burden. The white-collar job/Government job hangover often casts a shadow of doubt on the younger generation in expressing their real interests and potential, and which may be one reason for the failure to create a change in mindsets.
In terms of entrepreneurship, aside from talents and other resources, there is no alternative to honesty and hard effort when it comes to achieving success in any endeavour. There always is a way to sweat-struggle and slowly climb up the rungs of success rather than seeking overnight riches and transformation.
Our J&K UT still has a long way to go, and it will have to take a dedicated and collective effort to achieve employment and improve people’s well-being and quality of life. Skill development must be able to provide placement-linked, market-driven skill training to the youth of J&K. More and more efforts are needed to integrate with the industry to impart industry-specific skills to enhance the employability of the trainees besides concerned departments to periodically revise the course content of various training courses/trades in line with the rapidly evolving needs of the industry to ensure that the ITIs/polytechnics churn out the trainees which have takers in the industry/private sector. Make the youth of the UT future-ready for a range of jobs in the UT and beyond. On the job market, skills are the new currency.