A two-day capacity building cum training programme on design and manufacture of leather goods was organized at CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine at its branch Srinagar under the Atal Incubation Centre (AIC-IIIM) and CSIR-Integrated Skill Initiative.

Dr. Zabeer Ahmed, Director, CSIR-IIIM, Jammu who is ex-officio Chairman of AIC-IIIM Bio-Innovation Foundation, inaugurated the programme in which more than 60 participants were provided knowledge and imparted training on the different avenues of income and livelihood generation in the domain of leather technology through production of value-added products. The two day programme included practical demonstration for manufacturing leather goods like pouches, sling bags and other range of products.

In his inaugural address, Dr Zabeer Ahmed, Director CSIR-IIIM informed that the training and capacity building programme is a part of AIC-IIIM Skill Development initiative in the area of leather technology which envisages to provide the pivotal support to the artisans in the sector for their enhanced economic upliftment and generation of livelihoods opportunities to the aspiring entrepreneurs.

He further said that the mandate of Atal Incubation Centre has been focusing in the areas of production of medicinal mushroom, value addition of essential oils, fermentation-based products etc., keeping in view the richness of natural resources in the region and available expertise, so as to provide ideal incubation support to the local budding innovators. Er. Abdul Rahim, Head CSIR-IIIM (Br.) Srinagar and Vice Chairman, AIC-IIIM Bio-innovation Foundation in his address at the event emphasized for greater participation of the local entrepreneurs to take full advantage of the various funding opportunities offered by the Govt. of India under different skill based schemes for scaling up their startups. Expert from CSIR-Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai, V. Karthik, Senior Scientist and Mr. Amit Kumar Prajapati, Technical Officer, delivered technical lectures and conducted hands-on sessions during the two-day event.

Earlier, Dr. Syed Muzamil Ahmad, Principal Investigator, Atal Incubation Centre, in his welcome address, informed that a series of similar training programmes in other focus areas like medicinal mushrooms and value addition of essential oils have been planned and will be conducted in future. He expressed his gratitude to the Director, CSIR-IIIM and Head, CSIR-IIIM (Br.) Srinagar for their continuous support and encouragement in conduct of such programes. Prominent among others present at the event were Dr. Fayaz A Malik, Dr. Zahoor Ahmad Parry and Dr. Syed Riyaz -Ul Hassan (Senior Principal Scientists). The proceedings of the programme and the vote of thanks to the dignitaries and the participants was presented by Syed Abdul Basit Andrabi, , Coordinator AIC-IIIM.

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