Srinagar, May 13 (KNS) : The Directorate of Youth Services & Sports J&K on Wednesday hosted the 'AAROHAN 2026 National Youth Festival & Viksit J&K Young Leaders Dialogue' at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC), spotlighting the Union Territory's flagship Mission YUVA as a model for youth-led economic transformation.
The session on youth empowerment and employment, supervised by Mission Director Harvinder Singh (IAS), featured a detailed presentation by Joint Director Employment Waseem Raja on how Mission YUVA is driving grassroots entrepreneurship across J&K.
Officials said the mission aims to create over 4.25 lakh job opportunities by establishing 1.37 lakh new enterprises, marking a 27 per cent rise in registered units in the UT. It operates through the '4C' framework — Culture, Capital, Capacity, and Connectivity.
Key interventions include credit enablement with interest subvention, Small Business Development Units (SBDUs) in every district, and capacity building that has already trained over 19,000 applicants.
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In just one year, the mission has reached 95 per cent of panchayats, identified 5.5 lakh potential entrepreneurs through a UT-wide survey, and disbursed over Rs 1,000 crore in loans — leading to 5,656 new units. Officials noted that 26 per cent of applications came from women entrepreneurs.
A mobile app for AI-based project reports and a real-time dashboard are supporting the data-driven initiative.
Participants from across the country lauded the UT's efforts in motivating youth as active contributors to nation-building. The AAROHAN 2026 platform continues to foster dialogue, leadership, and innovation among young leaders, officials added. (KNS)