Srinagar. Women in Jammu and Kashmir are taking advantage of the available employment opportunities. According to a recent government report, the participation of women in the labor force has increased in Jammu and Kashmir. The Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) report states that the rate of working women in Jammu and Kashmir has increased from 26.5 per cent in 2018-19 to 32.8 per cent in 2021, compared to 25.1 per cent at the national level.
According to the report, the LFPR of women in the villages of Jammu and Kashmir is higher than in the cities. At least 35.3 percent of women in villages and 22.3 percent of women in cities work as laborers. The number of working women between 15 and 59 years has increased to 46.8 per cent from 36.3 per cent in 2018-19.
The most interesting thing is that more and more women are joining business to support their families and become financially independent. One reason for this is that the government has also started many schemes to make women employable. Last year women set up 3,933 micro small medium enterprise units.
Among the schemes run by the government is Hosla, a comprehensive program to encourage women in Jammu and Kashmir to start their own business, under which financial assistance of up to Rs 50,000 is given. The Jammu and Kashmir government is also helping women under the Tejaswani scheme.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha launched the program in June 2021. The main objective of this start-up funding program is to empower and establish young women and girls in Jammu and Kashmir as independent company owners. The program allows women business owners to get financial assistance of up to Rs 5 lakh from the Jammu and Kashmir Bank under the Mudra programme.
