J&K Startups to Receive Many Gifts Through One Stop Dashboard
To assist agri-startups with project registration, monitoring, and funding, the J&K administration will launch the Agriculture Apex Monitoring Dashboard. J&K Government approved 29 projects for the agri sector totaling Rs 5,000 crore that will be governed by the AAMD platform.
Lalita Singh 
The Kashmir valley is currently covered in freshly bloomed tulips, which has encouraged many local farmers, including those in Leh-Ladakh, to think about starting a tulip farm. Tulips are a sign of hope for agricultural startups in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), as they will soon have access to an efficient system for registering, overseeing, and funding various projects.
The J&K administration intends to introduce a technologically advanced Agriculture Apex Monitoring Dashboard (AAMD) that will be available to both farmers and agricultural startups in an effort to improve the ease of doing business for startups in the state.
The government of Jammu and Kashmir has approved 29 projects totaling more than Rs 5,000 crore for the comprehensive development of the agricultural and related sectors. A roadmap has been developed for the agriculture apex monitoring dashboard (AAMD), which will be a cutting-edge technology-driven platform, to oversee these projects.
What exactly is AAMD? Agri-Startup Single Window Dashboard.
According to Atul Dulloo, Additional Chief Secretary for Agriculture Production, the AAMD will provide farmers, allied projects, and agri-startups with everything they need, from registration to education.
The dashboard will meet all of the users' needs, including those for online registration, financial aid, integration of centralized programs, guidance, education, and skill-building. It will have a chatbot powered by artificial intelligence to assist farmers and a learning management system with specific courses for the provinces of Jammu and Kashmir.
The 29 projects cover a variety of topics, such as the development of a chain for seed and seed multiplication, the promotion of specialty crops, the bolstering of agriculture marketing, the promotion of beekeeping, and the cultivation of nutri cereals. The dashboard will also act as a platform for education and skill development, with university-issued certificates.
New Startup Policy & Portal Coming to J&K
We are reviewing our start-up policy, according to Mr. Vishal Ray, Regional Coordinator (Jammu) and In-Charge at the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Business Modeling (CIIBM) of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI). Hopefully, we'll be releasing a new startup-specific portal and policy document soon.
According to Mr. Ray, the Agriculture Production Department collaborates closely with the universities on agricultural projects. They are building this dashboard in their own portal, which is not connected to the J&K startup dashboard.
In order to have everything integrated into a single platform, he continued, "in the next meeting we will be taking this up with the Principal Secretary of Commerce Department." The Jammu and Kashmir government established JKEDI in March 1997 to effectively support the growth of entrepreneurship in the region.
J&K startups require more support and angel investors.
The state's business leaders claim that while the state government and PMO are eager to develop this industry, there are still a few things they can do to strengthen the state's startup ecosystem.
In an interview, Mr. Lalit Mahajan, President of the Bari Brahmana Industries Association (BBIA) and the Federation of Industries, Jammu, said, "The government is taking a lot of steps to strengthen the startup ecosystem in the state. This is being discussed extensively in New Delhi. The startups here, however, require funding and incubation.
There are no angel investors in the state, he said. The young people in this area have innovative business ideas and launch them, but what will they do with those ideas if there are no investors?
Mahajan continued, "Some start-ups operate on their own terms to some extent. However, startups eventually require marketing and manufacturing assistance, particularly when they have creative ideas. Some startups require high-technology assistance for their creative concepts. These are some areas where the State Government and PMO can collaborate and provide support because they are both very interested in helping start-ups.
