In the past few years, many young people from the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir have proven their mettle in different fields, one such person is Javaid Masoodi from Budgam’s Chadoora district who overcame several hurdles to become a floriculture officer.
A floriculture officer at the Mughal Gardens in Srinagar, Javaid Masoodi qualified for the job in 2010 after he passed the Public Service Commission exam at a much younger age than others who had previously qualified.
“I studied at the Jammu and Kashmir Sainik School till Class 12 and then did my BSc at the Sher E Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology (SKUAST). I worked as an agricultural officer for five years after that but later took the public service commission exam and qualified as an in-service candidate. My parents were particular about my studies and even if they were not highly educated, they never compromised on my and my brother’s schooling,” Masoodi said.
“This field was not a choice, I just happened upon it. I started to like it and now floriculture is my passion. This job consists of several parts: the upkeep of gardens, landscaping, cleanliness, heritage structures,” he said.
“There was a significant generation gap between myself and other people in similar ranks as I reached the top levels quite young. By God’s grace, I was always treated well by my seniors. We have almost 100 per cent achievement of centrally sponsored schemes and have recruited several unemployed youths and trained them,” he added.
Masoodi said it was important to encourage people in the valley to learn more about commercial floriculture as this field has a lot of potential and the government can only support a certain number of people.
“The attraction for government jobs is not there anymore. They don’t have enough jobs for all of us. So, it is important to enhance the private sector. In the floriculture industry, several people with graduate and post-graduate degrees have done well for themselves. There are several entrepreneur development and self-employment schemes. We need to inculcate the culture of self-sufficiency. The government here is already over-burdened and doesn’t have the capacity to take care of so many people. These things have to be explored,” he added.
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