J&K: National Youth Corps protesters call off strike

The National Youth Corps (NYC), who were on a fast unto death for nearly two months, today called off their strike after J&K government pledged budgetary allocations for them in the forthcoming state assembly session.
The assurances in this regard came from Minister for Finance Haseeb Drabu who visited Pratap Park here where the protests were being held.
"This is not the issue of just NYC, this is the issue of 7,000 Kashmiri families. The government is keen to resolve your issue in a manner which is sustainable. We do not want it to recur," he said.
The minister promised to raise the issue in the next assembly session, scheduled to begin in January next year.

A group of youth under the NYC scheme, have been demanding implementation of the previous governments decision to resume their services.
The scheme was launched in 2010, to enable youths of the age group 18-25 years, to serve up to two years in nation-building activities, for which they were paid suitable honorarium.
The state Finance Minister noted that a road map will be chalked out to solve the problem once and for all.
The government has hopes with the package that central government is likely to announce when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the state next month, he added.