People’s Democratic Party (PDP) legislator Waheed Ur Rehman Parra on Saturday questioned the implementation of the ₹2700 crore YUWA entrepreneurship scheme in Jammu and Kashmir, alleging that the initiative has failed to create genuinely new ventures on the ground.
In a post on X, Parra said Jammu and Kashmir already has a well-established institution dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship, the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI), but the institute has allegedly been pushed into near dormancy in recent years.
He questioned why the YUWA program was not entrusted to EDI, which he said has a proven track record in nurturing entrepreneurs in the region.
“The YUWA scheme is a ₹2700 crore initiative that promised to create 1,37,000 entrepreneurship opportunities. But where are these enterprises today?” Parra said in the post.
He alleged that instead of creating new ventures, existing startups appear to have been counted under the scheme to inflate the number of enterprises.
According to the PDP leader, the program has largely been reduced to the distribution of short-term loans rather than building a sustainable ecosystem for entrepreneurs.
Parra also raised concerns about the survey conducted for the scheme, claiming that it was carried out by employees under the supervision of the Labour Department as a formality.
He said such an approach raises questions about the credibility and methodology of the data used in the program.
The legislator further questioned the government’s decision to appoint the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) as the nodal agency for the scheme.
He argued that despite having EDI as a dedicated institution for entrepreneurship development in Jammu and Kashmir, the responsibility for the program was given to an academic institution.
“If the goal is truly to build entrepreneurs and not just circulate loan figures, the government must answer why startups and programs like YUWA were not restored to EDI,” Parra said.
He said Jammu and Kashmir requires genuine entrepreneurship development to address the growing challenge of unemployment rather than relying on statistical claims.
The PDP leader also tagged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in the post while seeking clarification on the implementation of the scheme.
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