Kashmiri government SKEWPY scheme made big hype but small splash

By Raaghav G R

Posted on October 17, 2016

The corruption: Sher-i-Kashmir Employment & Welfare Programme (SKEWPY) was launched by the Omar Abdullah – led Kashmiri government in 2010 with much hype and fanfare with the promise to create more than five lakh jobs by promoting entrepreneurship in Kashmir, but so far has managed to create only three thousand odd jobs and around three hundred new enterprises in Kashmir! This has yet again plunged young Kashmiris in a muddle of hopelessness. Jammu and Kashmir are some of the most underdeveloped states in India. So agriculture and government jobs are the main source of employment of Kashmiri people. Government jobs employ around 4.5 lakh people in Kashmir. Yet there are around 2.32 lakh unemployed youth in the state. This is just a rough figure as registering in employment exchange is only optional and not mandatory for Kashmiri residents. The actual number of unemployed youth is expected to be much higher. Read Stop Buying Chinese Goods.

SKEWPY promised to promote entrepreneurship in the state by providing credit, marketing, technological and training facilities to startups. “But five years down the line, SKEWPY proved to be a skewed initiative by people living in ivory towers and handled by a heartless bureaucratic and financial set up in the state,” said economist, Prof Nisar Ali. The scheme had a target to get five thousand enterprises started. But so far, only three hundred odd enterprises have been started by the scheme. Another feature of the scheme was to provide seed capital to the aspiring entrepreneurs scaling between Rs. One lakh to Rs. Eight lakhs for establishing ‘great enterprises’, ranging from cosmetics to boutiques. But only a paltry amount of Rs. 175. 65 crores has been released as seed capital to support 9415 enterprises so far. The bureaucrats and handlers of the scheme seem to have adapted a tight fisted approach which has stifled enterprises and entrepreneurship in the state.

Our take: The government of India should ‘crack the whip’ on corrupt bureaucrats who mis-handle such noble schemes launched by the state government because their corruptness stifles startups, the option of entrepreneurship, the economy and the progress of states. As long as such bureaucrats govern any state, development and progress can never happen!More Latest News.

Kashmiri government SKEWPY scheme made big hype but small splash