New Delhi, Sept 11: The Union Cabinet today approved an employment package for Jammu and Kashmir under which one lakh jobs would be created in different economic sectors and regions in the state during next two years with an estimated cost of Rs 3000 crore. The central ministries and departments would be given a target of 1.5 lakh employment which have been classified into three categories including self-employment 38.17 per cent, waged employment 45.18 per cent and regular salaried employment 16.65 per cent, an official spokesman said. He said pursuant to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's announcement on April 19 this year at Srinagar, a task force was appointed under the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary to holistically assess the scope of employment generation in different economic sectors and regions. The task force set up nine core groups which were tasked to study in detail the perspective of growth and associated employment generation.

The employment package would have a financial requirement of Rs 2988.23 crore out of which budget support from the government would be Rs 2697.60 crore and bank credit of Rs 290.63 crore.
An amount of Rs 1896 crore had already been sanctioned for ongoing scheme in various sectors.

Based on the recommendation of the core groups, 1.5 lakh employment opportunities had been identified for creation in different sectors during the next three years.

Bureau Report