Cabinet approves Udaan scheme till 2019-20

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval for extension of time period of the "Special Industry Initiative for J&K" (SII J&K) Udaan scheme till 2019-20.

Initially, the time period of Udaan was up to 2015-16.

Udaan provides exposure to the youth of Jammu and Kashmir to the best of corporate India and corporate India to the rich talent pool available in the State. So far, 67 leading corporates have partnered with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under Udaan with a commitment to train youth from the state covering Organized Retail, Banking, Financial Services, IT, ITES, Infrastructure, Hospitality etc.

More than 19,000 candidates have been selected, more than 15,000 have joined training, out of them, 8700 candidates have completed training and 6,838 have been offered jobs.

It is expected that the target of the scheme, to train and enhance employability of 40,000 graduates, post graduates and three year engineering diploma holders, will be achieved by 2019-20. To accelerate the pace of implementation, mega selection drives have been introduced, in which around 8-10 corporates participate in a drive.

It has significantly improved the number of selections. 67 mega selection drives have been held so far covering all districts of the state.

Udaan is a national integration scheme with the goal to mainstream J&K youth with rest of the country. The scheme not only provides skill enhancement and job opportunity but also leads to counter - radicalization and weaning away youth of Jammu and Kashmir from militancy.