VP Dhankhar to inaugurate biotech startup expo in Kathua on Jan 4

Jammu, Jan 03: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will inaugurate a biotech start-up expo in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday in a bid to develop the district along the international border with Pakistan as hub for budding entrepreneurs.
The expo titled ‘Emerging Startup Trends in North India’ at the Biotech Park in Kathua will see the participation of 25 startups comprising 11 from Jammu and Kashmir, six from Gurgaon and Noida, three each from Chandigarh and Kanpur and one each from Dehradun and Roorkee, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said.
Making a strong pitch for the youth to take up entrepreneurship instead of pursuing government jobs, Singh said the bio-diversity rich region of Jammu was home to numerous startups in the biotech sector focusing on plants such as lavender and mint.
“We are developing Kathua Biotech Park as a hub for startups as it offers land at competitive rates to entrepreneurs from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh,” Jitendra Kumar, Managing Director of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) said.
Six women entrepreneurs are also scheduled to participate in the expo where the Vice President will also interact with startup innovators, entrepreneurs, academicians, scientists and local representatives.
Singh said the government would focus on promoting start-ups in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and make them realize that the start-up does not mean information technology and areas such as agriculture, healthcare, aroma, vaccines too had shown great potential for entrepreneurs.