Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked the youth of Kashmir to leave old challenges and take full advantage of new possibilities.

The PM was addressing a gathering at the Jammu & Kashmir Rozgar Mela via video message organized at KICC, Srinagar.

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Throwing light on the significance of this decade of the 21st century in the history of Jammu & Kashmir, the Prime Minister said, “Now is the time to leave the old challenges behind and take full advantage of the new possibilities. I am happy that the youth of Jammu & Kashmir are coming forward in large numbers for the development of their region and the people.”

“Jammu & Kashmir is the pride of every Indian. Together we have to take Jammu & Kashmir to new heights. We also have a huge goal of a developed India of 2047 and to fulfil it we have to engage in nation-building with strong determination”, the Prime Minister said.

Modi underlined that it is our youth who will write a new story of development in Jammu & Kashmir thereby making the organisation of Rozgar Mela in the Union Territory, very special.

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister marked today as an important day for the bright youth of Jammu & Kashmir. He congratulated all three thousand youths that received appointment letters to work in the government in 20 different places in Jammu & Kashmir. He informed that these youths will get opportunities to serve in various departments like PWD, Health Department, Food and Civil Supplies Department, Animal Husbandry, Jal Shakti, and Education-Culture. The Prime Minister further highlighted that preparations are in full swing to hand out more than 700 appointment letters in other departments in the coming days.

Remarking on the continuous development of Jammu & Kashmir by a new, transparent and sensitive governance, the Prime Minister said, “For fast pace of development, we have to work with a new approach, with new thinking.” He said that about 30,000 recruitments on government posts have been done since 2019,  out of which, 20,000 jobs have been handed out in the last one and a half years.

The Prime Minister said, “more than 10 lakh appointment letters will be given by the central government in the next few months in the first phase.” He said that the government has expanded the scope of the business environment in J&K to boost employment.

He gave examples of projects that boost connectivity to Kashmir from trains to international flights. The Prime Minister pointed out that international flights from Srinagar to Sharjah have already begun. He further added that farmers here have also benefited a great deal from increased connectivity as it is now easier for the apple farmers of Jammu & Kashmir to send their produce outside the region. The Prime Minister also pointed out that the government is working towards promoting transport through drones.

Throwing light on the record increase in the number of tourists witnessed by Jammu & Kashmir, the Prime Minister noted that the tourism sector in the Union Territory received a boost due to the infrastructural developments and increased connectivity.

He said people of Jammu and Kashmir have always emphasised and appreciated transparency. The Prime Minister urged the youth who are coming into government services to make it a priority. The Prime Minister recalled, “Whenever I used to meet the people of Jammu & Kashmir earlier, I always felt their pain. It was the pain of corruption in the system. People of J&K hate corruption.”

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha expressed gratitude to the Prime Minister for addressing the Rozgar Mela.