Calls for revitalization of Entrepreneurship Development Institute
Srinagar: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) MLA Waheed Ur Rehman Para has raised serious concerns over the management and effectiveness of Jammu and Kashmir’s flagship entrepreneurship scheme, YUWA, calling for a reassessment of its implementation and oversight.
In a detailed tweet, Para pointed out that despite being home to one of the region’s most prominent institutions dedicated to nurturing entrepreneurship—the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI)—the institution has been pushed into near dormancy over recent years. He questioned why the government has not entrusted the YUWA program, a ₹2700 crore initiative aimed at creating 1,37,000 new entrepreneurial opportunities, to EDI, which has a proven track record.
“Instead of building a genuine entrepreneurial ecosystem, the scheme appears to have been reduced to distributing short-term loans,” Para stated. He criticized the credibility of the scheme’s reported achievements, noting that many of the supposed new ventures seem to be existing startups being counted to inflate numbers. Furthermore, he expressed doubts about the data collection process, which was conducted by government employees under the supervision of the Labour Department, raising questions about its methodology.
He also questioned the decision to appoint the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), primarily an academic institution, as the nodal agency for the scheme, instead of leveraging the expertise of EDI, which has demonstrated transparency and effectiveness in the past.
Para emphasized that if the government’s goal is truly to foster entrepreneurship and address rising unemployment, it must restore the responsibility for startup development and schemes like YUWA to EDI. He concluded by urging the authorities to focus on genuine entrepreneurship development rather than merely displaying statistics.
“JK deserves real progress in entrepreneurship, not just numbers,” Para stated.