Ladakh’s unique conditions like high altitude, extreme climate, vast geographical area and inaccessibility have long hindered the employability and entrepreneurship prospects of its residents, most of whom had to move out of their homes to different parts of the country in search of better opportunities. Ever since the reorganisation of the region, the UT Administration has paid special attention on skill development of the youth to keep up with the market demands of skilled personnel, further boosting their employability prospects, besides boosting the employment opportunities in more than one ways.
Floriculture and Horticulture trades were introduced in the Industrial Training Institutes in 2022 and the Institutes saw a remarkable increase in enrolment. Short Term Skill Courses were imparted in Homestay, Solar Technician trade, Beauty and Wellness, Mobile Filmmaking, Screen acting, Voice artist training among others to increase the employability of youth.
To address the concern over unemployment, UT Administration conducted recruitment for 797 vacant divisional cadre posts through Staff Selection Commission and 622 district cadre posts have been referred to District Staff Selection Boards for recruitment. Opportunities have also been provided to youth by engaging them on outsourcing. Around 768 such engagements have been made so far.
The administration was able to look beyond the challenges and focus on untapped potential of Ladakh to generate employment for youth and significant monetary gains, by inculcating and promoting entrepreneurship skills among the residents through Apprenticeship Mela, Self-Employment Fair etc. Various schemes of the government have helped budding entrepreneurs. Ladakh has witnessed success stories of young entrepreneurs in the field of retail, food processing, handloom, fashion industry, food craft, travel and tourism in the past three years.
The major achievements of Ladakh UT include:
- As many as 1858 MSME registered in three years. The total number of registered MSME stands at 3320 in 2022, against 1462 in 2019, an increase of 127%.
- SSC conducted exams for 797 Divisional/UT cadre vacancies
- 613 District cadre posts filled up through District Boards.
- 210 youth recruited by the Police Recruitment Board as Constables.
- 622 vacancies referred to DSSRB for recruitment
- 768 outsourced staff engaged
- 45 probationary officers recruited by J&K Bank
- Subordinate Recruitment Rules of 48 Departments notified
- Floriculture and Horticulture trade introduced in ITIs in 2022
- Enrolment in ITIs increased by 25% in 2022 over 2019; enrolment in polytechnic Colleges doubled in 2022 vis-a-vis 2019
- Collaboration with Art of Living, Beauty & Wellness Sector Skill Council, B&WSSC for state of the Art workshop
- 119 youth trained under Short term training in 2021-22.
- Youth trained through FTII in Voice artist training, mobile filmmaking, film appreciation, screen acting
- Screenwriters Fair held for Filmmakers of Ladakh
- 26 entrepreneurs, Farmers, SHG members were sent to NIFTEM, Kundli, Sonipath in August 2022 for training on food processing technologies.
- 20 entrepreneurs and SHG members were sent to CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (CSIR-IHBT), Himachal Pradesh in August 2022 for training on value addition on ODOP products.
- Thinles Norboo (Founder of Ladakh Basket) awarded in Y20 Summit 2022, Indonesia
- Kaushal Mela, Apprenticeship Mela and Self-Employment Fairs were organized to give a start of skill development.
