The recent attack in Pahalgam, orchestrated by elements within the Pakistani military establishment, has once again highlighted Islamabad’s persistent use of instability as a tool of policy in Kashmir.

In contrast, the Indian Army is investing in a different approach — focusing on economic development, skill-building, and community resilience. Nowhere is this more evident than in the work of the Chinar YUVA (Youth Upliftment and Vocational Assistance) Centre in Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir.

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Founded in 2016 through a collaboration between the Indian Army’s Chinar Corps, ONGC, REACHA and now the Aseem Foundation, Chinar YUVA was envisioned as a platform to equip Kashmiri youth with employable skills and encourage entrepreneurship.

Since its inception, the Centre has trained over 5,800 young people, including 680 women, across a variety of sectors including hospitality, IT, retail sales, creative arts, and digital literacy. More than 1,000 graduates have secured employment in public and private sectors across India and abroad, while over 50 have established small businesses of their own.

This strategy directly addresses one of the valley’s chronic vulnerabilities: the lack of sustainable employment opportunities, which in the past has left young people susceptible to radicalization.

In April 2025, the Chinar YUVA Centre received the Sustainable Product Innovation Award at the Climate Action & Sustainability Conference & Awards (CASCA 2025) in New Delhi.

Chinar YUVA’s approach aligns skill development with sustainability — an increasingly important priority in regions affected by both political instability and environmental stress. By training young people to think about entrepreneurship and environmental responsibility simultaneously, the Centre is fostering a generation better prepared for the economic demands of the future.

Other recognitions to the centre in 2025 alone include the Best CSR Award for Skill Development at the ASM CSR Summit held at Pune and recognition at the Kashmir CSR Dialogue 2025 organized by the University of Kashmir at SKICC, Srinagar. These awards reflect a growing acknowledgment of the Centre’s contribution to community development.

Unlike many external interventions, Chinar YUVA prioritizes local leadership. Faculty are recruited from Baramulla and surrounding areas through a rigorous selection process, ensuring community ownership and cultural familiarity. Training domains are chosen based on market research and local needs, increasing the probability that students will find employment or create their own ventures.

A strong emphasis is also placed on parental and community outreach. Regular interactions with students’ families have helped demystify the Centre’s work and build broader social acceptance — a critical factor in an environment where mistrust of official initiatives has historically been high.

In addition to its core training programs, the Centre hosts a Drug De-Addiction Facility, providing psychological counselling services and creating opportunities for psychology students to gain practical experience. This integrated approach acknowledges the overlapping social, economic, and health-related challenges facing Kashmiri youth.

The contrast between the two approaches at play in Kashmir today is significant.

While Pakistan continues to invest in exporting instability, initiatives like Chinar YUVA represent a longer-term, development-oriented strategy aimed at addressing the root causes of disenfranchisement.

It is increasingly clear that a majority of Kashmiri youth prefer viable economic futures over continued confrontation. Access to training, employment, and platforms for creative expression offers tangible alternatives to violence and alienation.

One of the more notable aspects of Chinar YUVA’s evolution has been its integration of sustainability into vocational training. In addition to traditional trades, the Centre has introduced programs focusing on recycling initiatives, climate-resilient agriculture, and eco-conscious product design.

This move recognizes that environmental vulnerability in Kashmir — from glacier loss to unpredictable agricultural cycles — will be a key factor shaping the region’s economy and social stability over the next decades.

By embedding sustainability into youth development, Chinar YUVA is preparing its students not just for immediate employment, but for the evolving demands of both the Indian and global job markets, while also “cleaning up the Jhelum” and ridding Baramulla of unwanted single use plastics, that are turned into beautiful, sustainable, hand crafted products.

The Centre has come a long way in ensuring peace in the valley, thus achieving a feat which was believed to be impossible in the recent past. It has proved at every bend that “Where there is a Will, there is a Way”. The replication of similar models across other districts could multiply the positive effects, provided they remain sensitive to local conditions and needs.

Today in Kashmir, two contrasting approaches are visible.

One seeks to perpetuate instability through violence, while the other invests in long-term social and economic development. Initiatives like the Chinar YUVA Centre demonstrate that, given meaningful opportunities, young people overwhelmingly prefer pathways toward education, employment, and entrepreneurship.

The situation remains complex, and significant challenges persist. However, the evidence increasingly shows that sustainable engagement, rather than coercion or militancy, offers the more credible foundation for stability and progress in Kashmir.

Maj Gen Ranjan Mahajan was commissioned in 1987 into 4th Battalion of the Rajputana Rifles. Out of his eight tenures in J&K, he has operated four times in Kashmir Valley fighting terrorists. He commanded a Rashtriya Rifles Battalion in an intense Counter-Insurgency area in the South Kashmir Valley (2005-2007) where he was also a Company Commander (1996-1998). He also had the privilege to command an Infantry Brigade on the volatile Line of Control in North Kashmir (2013-2015) and a Division on the Western Borders (2020-2021).