KD NEWS SERVICE
SRINAGAR, Mar 3: Over 4000 unemployed youth are waiting for the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) to restart the implementation of the term loan and education loan schemes of the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs.
Source said the institute has halted the implementation of the term loan scheme of the National Minorities Development Finance Corporation (NMDFC)despite availability of the requisite funds. Similarly the education loan scheme has also been put on hold by the institute and no fresh cases are being sponsored now.
Last year the institute issued an advertisement for the term loan scheme wherein the unemployed youth were asked to contact JKEDI centres for registration and necessary counselling under the term loan scheme of NMDFC, Government of India.
The advertisement evoked a very positive response from the unemployed youth who thronged different JKEDI centres for counselling and registration.
Sources said over 4000 applicants have registered themselves for the scheme so far in different districts of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
“We saw the advertisement for loan facility to start our own business ventures and contacted the EDI offices for necessary information. They asked us to register our names first for necessary counselling after some time. Now three months have passed but we have not received any response. On visiting the EDI office we were told that the scheme guidelines are yet to be received. This is injustice. The unemployed youth are being agonised even for availing a loan facility. The higher authorities of EDI must look into the matter on priority,” said Mudasir Gulzar (name changed) an applicant.
JKEDI, credited with facilitating the creation of thousands of employment generation units in the last decade by the unemployed youth has been implementing the scheme since 2011-12 in the UT as part of its host of services to generate employment.
However, sources said the ‘bureaucratic hurdles’ have become a major impediment in the functioning of JKEDI and delay in implementation of the term loan scheme is part of the same.
Except for occasional training under Tejaswini scheme of Mission Youth, the routine activities of the institute have been halted which in turn has affected the unemployed youth of J&K who intend to start their own ventures to earn livelihood.
“We have been making rounds of JKEDI Main Office at Pampore and its district offices to register under any scheme for financial linkage. Ultimately, we got a chance to avail the term loan scheme last year but it seems this too is a joke. The unemployed youth continue to be at the receiving end. Every day we ask them as to when will the institute commence sanctioning of the soft loans under the scheme but the reply is same that wait for one week, guidelines are yet to come,” said a group of unemployed youth waiting for the scheme to roll.
They alleged that the institute has been making false commitments with the youth. “Director JKEDI has been saying that he is ready to help the unemployed youth under different schemes for startups but the reality is different. There seems to be no reality in the commitments made so far,” the delegation alleged.
Aamir Akram, a member of the delegation of the unemployed youth said, “The cases of unemployed youth trained in 2021 are still pending for disbursal and have not been sanctioned so far. The approval of the loan cases is being delayed on one pretext or the other.”
An officer in the Industries and Commerce Department said, “There is everything in place like training halls and trainers, staff in district offices to reach out to the masses at the grassroots etc. but for unknown reasons no fruitful activity is being encouraged by the institute management.”
“The funds for the term loan scheme have been already released by the government but the scheme continues to be in doldrums for reasons better known to the concerned officers. In a place like J&K, where such organizations are much needed to curb the unemployment and the frustration it causes, the bureaucrats seem to have pledged to bring it down for all the good work it has done,” the senior officer in the I&C Department, wishing anonymity told Kashmir Despatch.
Commenting over the matter,a former official of the institute said,”What can the employees do in this situation? If anyone raises voice they are victimized in one way or the other. The institute must listen to the youth through effective implementation of the schemes and initiatives for employment generation.”
