Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will visit Jammu on Thursday. He will be the Chief Guest at 8th convocation of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST), Jammu.

During his visit to the Union Territory, the Vice President will also be the Chief Guest at the inauguration of the Biotech Startup Expo at Kathua.

He will inaugurate a Mega Expo under the theme ‘Emerging StartUp Trends in North India’ at Kathua, the border town sharing its boundaries with Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State, will be present on the occasion. He said that the Kathua Mega Expo will not only promote StartUps in North India but will also promote B-Town outreach as far as the StartUp culture is concerned.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the government is doing everything to ensure that the StartUp ecosystem in the country is sustainable.

The Minister said that from over 350 in 2014 the number of StartUps in India today is more than 1.30 lakh and number of unicorns more than 100, while India is rated at number 3 in the world in its StartUp ecosystem.

He said that equal participation of all stakeholders and early industry linkage are necessary to ensure sustainable StartUps. He urged the media community to help spread awareness about the enabling StartUp ecosystem in the country.
Kathua Mega Expo will not only promote StartUps in North India but will also promote B town outreach as far as StartUp culture is concerned, said Dr Jitendra Singh.

Referring to the back-to-back success of ISRO including Chandrayaan 3, Aditya Mission and recently launched XPoSat, the Minister said that even though talent was never lacking in the country, the enabling environment was created in the last 10 years under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi.

The Minister also said that the government is working on multiple levels to boost the startup ecosystem. He said that startups can become large scale entrepreneurship, making use of such schemes.

The Startup Expo under the theme “Emerging Startup Trend in North India” is being organized jointly by Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), DBT 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 would be showcasing their innovations and products.

After inauguration, the Vice President would also interact with the gathering of traders, academicians, technocrats and members of the civil society, including the representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) of the region.