Jammu and Kashmir is looking up and rising from decades of turbulence and fear created by terrorists from across the western borders and misleading and indoctrination by some local anti-national elements.
Now as the peace and normalcy has resumed, the J&K youths have started giving resounding performances at national level competitive examinations and proven that given a conducive environment they could achieve great feats. This hope and confidence is also notable in areas like entrepreneurship and sports.
Sixteen J&K youths have figured in the final result of the Indian Civil Services Examination 2022, conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. The selected candidates from the UT secured good ranks, some figuring at top of the list with rank 7, 11, 32, 82, 164, 228, 231, 314. The 7th rank holder Ahmad Bhat, a resident of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district is a Civil Engineer from NIT Srinagar.
Other contenders of the UT who made it to the CSE included Prasanjit Kaur, Nitin Singh, Naved Ahsan Bhat, Memam Ahmed Bhat, Irfan Chaudhary and Nirvanahu Hans. Ranks 476, 505, 565, 749, 811, 852 also went to J&K contenders.
The success of these youths indicate two very positive developments; one that the Kashmiri youths have started earnest efforts to discover their destiny and fulfill their aspirations and two, that there is remarkable improvement in the law and order and peace. The successful J&K youths would inspire many local youths to carve a niche for them in future with the new found confidence.
This year, the performances of J&K youths have been remarkable in other all India level competitive exams as well. One of the coaching institutions, viz. RISE in Srinagar alone saw success of its 13 students in JEE advance in 2023.
RISE, led by Salman Shahid, an IIT Kharagpur graduate, has been helping the Kashmiri youths for almost a decade to crack one of the toughest examinations in India. Mubeen Masudi, an IIT Mumbai graduate and cofounder of RISE was bristling with confidence as results of JEE advance were out and said, “In a few years from now we will have 100 students making it to IITs every year.” In all JEE main 2023 was cleared by 28 J&K students who would be eligible to seek admission in prestigious engineering colleges.
The break up shows that out of the total 28 successful candidates, nine were from South Kashmir, 10 from North Kashmir, seven from Kargil and Ladakh and two from Jammu region.
J&K is on the path of resurgence. It is not only because of establishment of prestigious institutions like IIT and IIM in the UT, which is inspiring the youths of J&K to seek their dream education and career, but also because hope has been rekindled due to resumption of peace and normalcy as well as increase in business activities due to greater tourist footfall.
Established in 2016, IIT Jammu has been one of the inspiring developments which has induced the J&K young school students to work hard to get tech education in reputed institutions like IITs and NITs. The same year the Indian Institute of Management was established in Jammu, an institution of repute for managerial studies. These developments are attracting J&K students to quality education. The latest addition to the list of prestigious institutions took place in 2019 with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi laying the foundation stone of the All India Institute of Medical Science in Samba district of J&K.
In recent years, the youths of J&K have got more opportunities for higher education due to remarkable improvement in education infrastructure. By 2022, 25,000 new seats for admission were created in 50 new colleges of the UT. For the holistic development of school children, the J&K government has not only launched 84 new school buildings, but also taken initiatives to set up sports infrastructure in 100 schools. The J&K government has extended technical and financial support to around 6 lakh youth to help them become entrepreneurs. In the last three years, the government of the UT has filled in 30,000 vacant job positions.
Taking advantage of incentives offered by the government, about 400 startups have been registered in J&K in the last three years in e-commerce, horticulture, agriculture, food industry and crafts. According to an estimate, J&K startups are spread over 70 types of activities. The top startups of J&K include Easy Housing, Gofindd, Azzi Inc., Web Cycle, Sulail Mushtaq, the entrepreneur, Wani Agro Tools Plant, Truevet Animal Nutrition Private Limited, Orchardly, SID07 Designs and One. Today, the youths of J&K are enthused by the entrepreneurship spirit because they are not only seeing opportunity but also because of various incentives of the government. The ecosystem for start ups is gradually improving in the UT.
There are several young sports persons from J&K who have earned accolades at the national and international levels. In cricket, while Rasikh Salam became the third player from J&K to get an IPL bid, Abdul Samad has already played in IPL and Umran Malik plays for Indian national cricket team in international matches. Other cricketers like Bandeep Singh, Parveez Rasool Zargar, Samiullah Beigh, Shubham Khajuria and Ian Dev Singh have also made name in national cricket. In other sports areas also J&K players have carved out a mark, e.g., Chain Singh in shooting, Jasia Akhtar and Iqra Rasool in girl’s cricket, Mehrajuddin Wadoo in football, Arif Khan and Haya Muzaffer in Skiing. Today, J&K youths are seeking their role models in these stars.
The youths of J&K are today full of enthusiasm and determination for self discovery, realising their potential and making life better as peace prevails. Government is also doing everything to maintain peace and provide incentives to help realize the dreams of the youths of the UT. J&K still has a long road to go, but the zeal and enthusiasm of the youths is an assurance of making a new image of the UT that was more in news in the past for disturbances rather than achievements.
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