Young Leaders Connect concludes in Itanagar

ITANAGAR, NOVEMBER 1: The fifth edition of Young Leaders Connect (YLC) was held at Itanagar during October 28-29 with the theme “Start-Up North-East, Stand-Up North-East”. The event is an initiative of a local Nagaland-based NGO, the YouthNet. It is an annual conclave where “leaders” from diverse fields like business, politics, academia etc come together “put their heads and hearts together to plan where they would like to see India vis-à-vis Northeast in the future,” a press release from the organizers informed on Tuesday. Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who was the chief guest, said in his address that in ‘In the past six decades in this country, we have put too much weightage to education. We have created a huge manpower of unemployable people, thanks to our short sighted education system.’ “If we can provide a 12 week skill development training with 12 years of school education to every student, nobody can stop them from getting jobs ever,” the press release quoted him as having said. Rudy also said that the central government was ‘already looking’ at the northeast as a potential hub of skilled manpower and in the coming days, steps will be taken to harness these resources to their optimum potential. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, who is a member of YLC, said in his address that Arunachal Pradesh hosting the event was ‘a defining moment in the history.’ “I believe that entrepreneurs have to take our country forward. Before independence, northeast India was the most prosperous region in the country However, sometimes abundance of resources make people lazy. The youths of the northeastern states must start working early and look beyond government jobs which has not become a good reason to stay unemployed,” the press release quoted him as having said. The chief host of the event, Arunachal Pradesh’s Chief Minister Pema Khandu spoke about the unemployment scenario in his state. ‘There are a large number of unemployed youths in my state and the northeast. It is not possible for me to accommodate all of them in the government sector. So, herein is the importance of entrepreneurship,’ the press release stated. ‘Entrepreneurs who start businesses also create jobs for other people. We have huge potential in tourism, construction and sectors that we specialise and hence we need to build our entrepreneurs.’ On the second day, Rewaj Chettri from Sikkim was declared as ‘The Entreprenur-3.’ He won a cash prize of Rs. 5,00,000 sponsored by Juptier Capital. This is an annual competition and the first one across the northeast. The previous competitions were held in Nagaland. The event was followed up by football match between YLC and Arunachal CM team at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Naharlagun.