New Delhi: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science and Technology Jitendra Singh has said that the youth of Jammu and Kashmir should change their mindset to earn more as the administrative and constitutional situations have improved since August 2019.
Singh said, “Instead of wasting time in staging protest for government jobs, the youth of Jammu and Kashmir should change their mindsets and should think about startups to earn more and provide employment.”
“The administrative and constitutional cases have been improved here since August 2019, but the mindset is still the same. New startups have grown across the country but Jammu and Kashmir has not grown in this way,” he said.
Citing an example of the Aroma Mission which was started in Jammu and Kashmir, the minister said, “The Aroma Mission which is being discussed in the whole country has been started by the Indian Institute of Integrated Medicine (IIIM). But the people here are not much aware of it.”
He further slammed the youth for staging protests demanding government jobs and said, “On one hand, youth here sit on dharna demanding government jobs, while others are also earning much more with the help of Aroma Mission and new agriculture startups.”
“We have created three to four clusters of agriculture in districts like Gulmarg, Reyashi and Udhampur where around Rs 4 to 5 crores trading is being done annually,” he added.
In an effort to boost the cultivation of aromatic plants like lavender, rosemary and lemongrass and medicinal plants like ashwagandha and satavar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched ‘The Aroma Mission’ in March 2018.
The aim of the Aroma Mission was to give the farmers alternative choices in crop production viz-a-viz traditional crops, which have been giving them diminishing returns.
These aromatic plants can be very profitable as farmers can earn as much as twenty thousand rupees per Kanal, which they can never hope to get from traditional plants or crops. (Agencies)
