In Kashmir, police to fight radicalisation through startups

To counter the indoctrination of youth towards militancy in restive Kashmir, police have found a novel way to engage the young minds towards career-building.

The khaki ranks are inspiring the unemployed youths to be entrepreneurs by offering them opportunities to launch their own startups.

In a first such development, the police have formally allied with the Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) to offer career counselling and subsequent assistance to the youth.

The first such counselling session was held on March 19 at the District Police Lines (DPL) in southern Shopian, otherwise seen as a hotbed of new-age militancy, where a large number of youths attended the programme.

According to officials, more such programmes are in the offing in the coming days.

By virtue of the specialised counselling, the youth are not only being informed about the opportunities for startups, but the police is offering "complete assistance through a single window system."

For Faisal (name changed), a computer graduate, life had come to standstill since completion of studies in 2016, when the killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani, pushed Kashmir to months of unrest.

Sitting idle at his home in Shopian, Faisal said he thought that his career was ruined before it could take off, as he could not get settled anywhere, while the situation around looked hostile.

"Amid so much of favouritism in the government sector, there are no job opportunities for non-influential youths like me, while starting a business looked equally impossible due to complexities of formalities. But since the day I attended the counselling session, my dreams to start a software business have started coming true," he told DH.

Faisal is one among the many youths availing the benefits of this counselling.

Seen as the brainchild of Deputy Inspector General of Police south Kashmir Amit Kumar, the startup initiative offers assistance to aspiring entrepreneurs even through police stations.

Each of the concerned police stations have been asked to coordinate with the JKEDI, industries and other concerned departments for hassle-free processing of the cases.

"Frankly speaking we didn't want to keep an interaction with the youth limited to any day-long event, rather we want to go hand in hand with them till the day their venture starts functioning and their dreams are realised," the DIG said.

He said apart from assistance, the police is looking ahead to invite leading entrepreneurs from big cities like Mumbai and Bengaluru for interaction with their budding counterparts here.

"Real-time exchange of ideas from industry players does play a role," he said.

The police took this lead a few days ahead of Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba's Kashmir visit when he pitched similar ideas.

On March 27, during a three-hour meeting with the police and civil administration, Gauba asked the top officials of various security agencies "to engage the local boys in various developmental activities to keep them away from joining various militant outfits."

"We will provide full support to all of you in engaging youth in various developmental activities so that they are kept away from militancy," Gauba reportedly told the meeting.