Jammu and Kashmir has secured a substantial share of formal employment incentives with ₹25.42 crore transferred directly into the bank accounts of 304 employers across the Union Territory. Concurrently, 1,522 local employees received a total of ₹74 lakh under the Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana (PM-VBRY), marking a shift toward expanding formal job placement and social security coverage in the region.Under the operational guidelines of the PM-VBRY, eligible first-time employees receive a month’s wage up to ₹15,000. (HT File)The regional events were broadcast live across multiple venues in J&K on Friday, including Lok Bhavan in Srinagar, the Convention Centre in Jammu, NIFT College at the SIDCO Industrial Complex in Ompora Budgam, and the Bari Brahmana Industrial Association in Samba.Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha said that J&K capitalised well on the central scheme. Currently, more than 3,300 local establishments are registered under PM-VBRY, introducing over 22,500 youth into the formal employment network for the first time. Over 31,000 regional job openings have qualified for incentives, driving a positive economic transformation for more than 53,000 citizens.Sinha said that before August 2019, workers in J&K were deprived of comprehensive social security protections.“After the implementation of the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, in the Union Territory in November 2019, lakhs of regional workers were integrated into the national social security fold for the first time,” Sinha said, adding the scheme embodies the resolve to make formal employment the baseline standard for the region’s youth.The allocations in J&K were part of a larger, nationwide rollout executed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi. The PM disbursed a total of ₹2,400 crore to more than 15 lakh beneficiaries across 200 simultaneous locations in India.“This is much more than an employment scheme,” Modi said of the flagship Employment-Linked Incentive (ELI) initiative. “It is an initiative designed to strengthen the aspirations of young people entering their first jobs while creating a robust bridge between industry and the workforce.”Under the operational guidelines of the PM-VBRY, eligible first-time employees receive a month’s wage up to ₹15,000. Employers are granted incentives for two years for generating fresh job openings. To incentivise sustained personnel retention in labour-intensive segments, the manufacturing sector remains eligible for extended support for an additional two years.