PAHALGAM: An extensive community awareness programme was organised in Pahalgam to sensitise local residents about various welfare, skill-development, financial assistance and self-employment schemes available through the Department of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and the Department of Handicrafts.
Social entrepreneur Neetu Bali played a key role in the outreach programme, helping connect government initiatives with the local community at the grassroots level.
Detailed information was shared on maternal and child welfare programmes, vocational training, handicrafts, skill enhancement, financial assistance and self-employment opportunities.
A major focus of the programme was the limited livelihood options available to local youth during the winter months.
Speaking on the occasion, Neetu Bali stressed the need to equip young people, especially girls and women, with market-oriented skills so that they can pursue sustainable, dignified and locally accessible livelihoods.
She said skill development, entrepreneurship and handicrafts could become important instruments of economic empowerment by enabling women and youth to convert traditional skills and local talent into sustainable sources of income.
The initiative received an encouraging response from the local community, with residents appreciating the effort to bring information about government schemes and livelihood opportunities closer to them.
The programme underlined the importance of moving from “awareness to empowerment” by ensuring that welfare schemes reach the grassroots and create pathways for skills, self-reliance, entrepreneurship and economic independence, particularly among women and youth.
