Hon’ble Vice President of India, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar inaugurated Mega Startup Expo at Kathua today, in the august presence of Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space and Vice President CSIR; and other top dignitaries of India Science, Academia, Industries, civil Administration, and the prominent citizenries of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory.Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar visited the stalls where the startups demonstrated their innovative products fromvaried sectors which include, agriculture, industrial biotechnology, medical & diagnostic devices, food technology, nutraceuticals, aroma and space, etc.His encouragement greatly enthused the startups. In his address he mentioned how the recent changes in policies have motivated the startups. He informed that India today has more number of unicorns than China. India is ahead of China and United States of America, in terms of digital transactions and per-capita usage of internet data, which has been a significant driver of innovation. He mentioned that the contributions of Dr. Jitendra Singh, as Minister of Science and Technology, are commendable, as several of the initiatives taken by his ministry, under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister of the country, have turned out to be game changes for the Indian economy. He listed out the recent success stores such as Covaxin, India’s own vaccine against the COVID-19, Chandrayaan 3 and landing at the south pole of moon, etc. He said that this is the best time for youth of the nation and the state of Jammu and Kashmir, as presently there is peace, harmony and stability, equality of law, accountable and transparent governance and most importantly this is the time of meritocracy and empowerment of women.

Hon’ble Vice President also interacted with the distinguished gathering comprising of traders, academicians, technocrats and members of the civil society, including the representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) of the region.Earlier, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that in 2015, when the Hon’ble Prime Minister had given raised the slogan ‘Standup India, Startup India’, there were only 350-400 startups in the entire nation, but with the supportive policies of the present government, now this number has increased to more than 1.2 lakhs. He informed that the Industrial Biotech Park, Kathua is uniquely placed at the borders of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab and can support the startups from these states. He informed that this is the first biotech park in the Northern India, north of Lucknow and hence an apt location for hosting the startup expo. He said that presence of the Hon’ble Vice President of India is immensely encouraging to the startups of this region.This Startup Expo under the theme, “Emerging Startup Trend in North India”, was organized jointly by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), DBT, GoI and CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM), Jammu, wherein a total of 25 Startup from North India, i.e. from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Delhi showcased their innovations and products. Among these were: Calm the Chaos, Srnas Opc Pvt Ltd, Acharya Kashyap Vaidyashala, Velanutrition Nutraceuticals Pvt Ltd., Gaurico, Himalayan Essential Oils Producer Company Ltd., Herbal Aura, Biotec Bees (OPS) Pvt. Ltd., This Life Matters Pvt Ltd., Nadipulse Prognostics Pvt Ltd., LCB Fertilizers Pvt Ltd., Yantram Medtech Pvt Ltd., Agronxt Services Pvt. Ltd., Manastik Technologies Pvt Ltd., QBold Iotech Pvt. Ltd., SNL Innovations Private Limited (Innofarms), Breww Therapeutics, Aishina Innotech Pvt. Ltd., B Naik Uprising Agro Industry Pvt Ltd., The Green Wealth, Gohemp Agroventures Pvt. Ltd., Jv Scan Pvt. Ltd., Saveer MatrixNano Private Limited and JK Aroma.

It was informed that this event was organized with the specific objective to create a convergence point for budding entrepreneurs and seasoned mentors, to foster innovation, collaboration, and growth. The event encapsulates the spirit of pushing boundaries, embracing change, creating solutions and ushering new opportunities that address real-world challenges During the expo, startup exhibited their products, prototypes, and services, providing attendees with hands-on experiences of cutting-edge technologies. Further, the event offered networking opportunities, allowing participants to connect with potential co-founders, investors, mentors, collaborators and industries people.

This event was valuable for the local youth, college and school students, budding entrepreneurs, young farmers, and women of the Jammu region who got acquainted with the government startup schemes, funding opportunities and various other initiatives that are meant to strengthen the youth. All these skills and information would certainly help the students, youth, farmers and women to transform their ideas into a successful enterprise. The main objective of such type of events is to encourage the youth to start a career as startup and facilitate the country to become a self-reliant.

Dr. Zabeer Ahmed, Director, CSIR-IIIM, who oversaw the organization of this event, informed the press that prominent among others who attended this event were Dr. (Mrs.) N. Kalaiselvi, Director General Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Secretary, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), MoS&T, GoI, Dr Rajesh S Gokhale, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), MoS&T, GoI, Dr Alka Sharma, Sr. Advisor DBT and Dr Jitendra Kumar, MD, DBT-BIRAC.

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