GiVing fillip to Young BuSineSS ownerS topS j&K goVt agenda

A whistle blowing official with the Defence Research Development Organization (DRDO) is facing harassment by his seniors, who have been transferring him frequently, despite a personal assurance from Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar that under the whistle blowers act, his service interests will be protected. Prakash Singh, a senior administrative officer with the administrative cadre of DRDO, had first made a written complaint of vigilant nature to the CVC in June 2008 and later in March 2009, informing the CVC about the deliberate illegalities being carried out in the LABs of DRDO and in DRDO HQ. As a result of the compliant, a charge-sheet was issued to one senior scientist. The complaint also led to the annulment of the services of a lady scientist who was the wife of an ex-director of DIPAS, Delhi (a Delhi based LAB of DRDO), just 12 days before her superannuation. Singh also submitted three more complaints in 2010 alleging illegalities committed by three senior director level officers of DRDO to the CBI. This action by Singh, however, did not go down well with the officials in DRDO and he was issued a charge sheet by DRDO on July 2011 for “creating trouble” and bringing DRDO a bad name. Singh was compulsorily retired from service on 31 October 2012 when he was just 49 years old. He was also not allowed to present his side during the charge sheet proceedings. Later, in August 2013, Singh was reinstated after the intervention of the then Defence Minister A.K. Antony with only a minor penalty. Singh thereafter sought protection from the CVC. In October 2015, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar quashed the charge-sheet and also ordered that the period for which Singh was compulsorily retired should be treated as duty period. He also directed the payment of allowances and his retrospective promotion. The order of the RM stated: “The competent authority has ordered quashing of the charges framed against Shri Prakash Singh. Accordingly, DRDO is requested to quash the charges framed against the officer. It has further been decided that those who trumped up false charges and committed a number of procedural irregularities with the single minded objective of harassing Shri Prakash Singh need to be identified and taken to task for their mala-fide action. Action in this regard may be taken immediately and (Vigilance) be informed the action taken in matter on the fortnightly basis”. However, despite the directions of the Defence Ministry, his harassment did not stop and on 7 January 2016 he was transferred. Following this, Singh met Parrikar on 29 February 2016 and after going through the representations of Singh, Parrikar ordered the DRDO to give him service protection under the whistle blower law. Parrikar also asked the DRDO to take action against the officials who had harassed Singh. “My father met the Defence Minister on 29 February 2016. However, as soon as this became public knowledge, the DRDO officials transferred him to Jodhpur. The officials said it was done under the instructions of the Defence Minister. We find it hard to believe this since the Defence Minister himself had assured my father that his transfer order will be cancelled. My father also requested them to show the office order signed by the Defence Minister approving his transfer, but they refused,” Shirpal, son of Prakash Singh, said.

The Mehbooba Mufti led PDP- BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir is making efforts to bring the Centre’s flagship skill development programme to the state and adapt it to suit the regional socio- economic climate, while also working to create an “ease of doing business” for young entrepreneurs. The Chief Minister arrived in New Delhi on Thursday to meet relevant officials in the Ministry of Skill Development and prepare a road-map for floating skill development initiatives and training centres in J&K.

A senior official in Mufti’s special team to support young entrepreneurs told this newspaper that the CM has been holding one-onone interactions with young people in Jammu and Kashmir, who have a demonstrated ability to float start-up business houses in the state. A detailed blue-print is being prepared to “understand their problems” and “create ventures that would enable business”.

“There are specific plans for skill development and our CM has left for New Delhi (on Thursday) to attend a meeting on this issue with the relevant people in the Ministry for Skill Development,” the source said, adding, “we are evolving a policy to how best to adopt the skill development programme in the state, as every place has its own requirements. We also want to tap the talent here, and in the next couple of years we hope to generate a real, skilled workforce.”

The source added that youngsters in Kashmir are increasingly assuming the role of entrepreneurs, and the PDP-BJP government is of firm belief that by providing the right platform and the right opportunities to these self- empowered individuals, along with adequate financial incentives, the state can create an army of successful young businessmen and businesswomen, who can also serve as an example to the rest of the youth to “join the mainstream”. “Across sections we have youngsters assuming the role of entrepreneurs. They are not confined to the traditional businesses like tourism or handicrafts. They are going beyond that. They are launching start-ups in the hospitality sector with chains of cafes and restaurants being opened by young business men and women. There are people including girls who are coming forward to do businesses in fashion while many others have taken innovative steps in agrarian ventures, food processing ventures and horticulture,” the source said.

One of the key initiatives of the PDP-BJP government is to hold a chain of interactive sessions with these young professionals. The underlying belief is that there should be a team of such debutante entrepreneurs, who can give first hand explanation of the problems they are facing, and help the government understand the ground realities and limitations of doing business from their perspectives.

“What we have done is we have started a series of dialogues wherein we get a group of entrepreneurs. In the last session, we got 3040 people coming, and our CM interacted with them in the presence of several im- portant bureaucrats, like the Commissioner of Secretary to the government for the department of industries. So we are creating an environment where everyone is there, and problems are being shared and solutions are being discussed,” the source said. Other bureaucrats present on the occasion were the Advisor to the CM, principal secretary to the chief minister and PDP youth president Waheed Parra. In these interactive sessions, the entrepreneurs listed difficulties in the allotment of land in the organised sector, uncertainty on institutional finance through banks, obtaining no objections certificates for their business ventures from various government departments as the primary roadblocks. They have also apprised the CM about the lack of support on the marketing front. In response to that, the source said, “The CM called up the concerned people to sort out the difficulties faced by these people. The telephone numbers, e-mail ids of these government officials have been shared with the business owners and we have devised strategies for better and continued communication on these issues, so that things can be taken forward.”

He added that the government is also working on creating an incubation centre for business development. A viability fund is also being created to support business start-ups.

“There will be financial initiatives but these are in the envisaging state right now. But of-course, the intent is there, and the intent is also to make it an “easy environment” for the youngsters to join in and be part of the state’s growth story.”