SRINAGAR: Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti on Thursday said skill development in traditional arts and crafts of Jammu and Kashmir would be incentivised to keep these treasured crafts alive and create employment avenues for the local youth.
“Jammu and Kashmir has to capitalize on its competitive advantage especially in traditional arts and crafts for sustained economic growth and arming the local youth with adequate skills will be the key component of this process,” the Chief Minister said while intervening during the reply of a question on New Industrial Policy in the Legislative Council. She said the skill enhancement in heritage arts like shawls, carpets, paper machie, wood carving, Basohli crafts and Ladakhi craftsmanship will be incentivized so that the new generation of the State’s youth is motivated to take up these high-value crafts as a means of livelihood and at the same time contribute towards J&K’s economic growth. “We have to develop localized skill strategies so that the skills supply matches the skills demand. It is not just the supply of skills which needs to be addressed, but also the demand for skills and the utilization of skills in the local workplaces,” the Chief Minister said. “The government has asked the Education Department to start part-time skill development courses in traditional crafts in schools and colleges to attract the youth towards distinct heritage arts of the State,” she added.
Making it clear that nobody will be allowed to fiddle with J&K”s Special Status, the Chief Minister said, the New Industrial Policy is completely in tune with the Industrial Policy promulgated by the then Chief Minister, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah in 1975. “Article-370 is our strength and our honour. We enter this august house by swearing on the State Constitution and it is empowering for all irrespective of the party grouping,” she said and added that nobody should harbor any misconceptions that there is any threat to J&K’s special status by the Industrial Policy. “We have decided to review the policy to remove any misconceptions in this regard,” she said.