J-K requires start-up fillip to change ‘sarkari naukri’ mindset: Jitendra Singh

NEW DELHI: Union minister of state science and technology Jitendra Singh said Jammu and Kashmir requires a start-up fillip to change "Sarkari Naukri" mindset. He was inaugurating a ‘Youth Conclave’ organised by Council Of Scientific And Industrial Research–Indian Institute Of Integrative Medicine (CSIR–IIIM).

At the event, the minister said “this is the best times happening in India as the successful launch of Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya has sparked global aspirations among Indian students”.

“India’s Youth today is no longer the prisoner of aspiration as this generation has aspirations in abundance and avenues in tons, with numerous opportunities knocking at their doors in the form of start-ups which are now the engines of economic growth,” Jitendra Singh said.

He said that the National Education Policy (NEP 2020) is one of the revolutionary steps taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which supplements the start-up ecosystem and boosts entrepreneurship opportunities for students in India.

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He also said that the multiple entry and exit options in higher education will have a positive impact and provide academic flexibility to students.

Jitendra Singh said that “linking degrees with education has taken a heavy toll on our education system and society as well. One of the fall-outs has been an increasing number of educated unemployed” adding that the objective of NEP 2020 is delinking degrees from education.

He claimed that the number of space start-ups sky-rocketed from merely 4 to 150 and most of them were being led by science students, researchers and entrepreneurs.

“There were just around 350 start-ups before 2014, but after PM Modi gave the clarion call from the ramparts of the Red Fort in his Independence Day address and after rolling out special start-up scheme in 2016, there has been a quantum jump with over 1.25 lakh start-ups now with more than 110 unicorns,” the official statement read.