Sakeena Itoo Pushes Support for Women Entrepreneurs in J&K

By: Women Entrepreneurs Review Team | Tuesday, 13 October 2026

Sakeena Itoo, Minister of Social Welfare, Education, Health and Medical Education, presided over the 31st meeting of the Board of Directors of Jammu & Kashmir Women’s Development Corporation Limited (JKWDC) in SKICC yesterday. During the course of her address, Sakeena highlighted the need for an increase in the operational efficiency and transparency in the delivery of welfare and development programs for the eligible women entrepreneurs.

According to the minister, it is necessary for the stakeholders to build strong institutional mechanisms and make the administrative process simple so that women entrepreneurs can easily get financial assistance and self-employment opportunities along with various other support services.

Key Highlights:

• JKWDC strengthens support for women entrepreneurs through improved welfare scheme delivery
• Sakeena Itoo calls for greater transparency, financial discipline, and faster loan recovery
• Board approves the 2026–27 budget and 2024–25 financial statements for audit

The minister highlighted that the welfare interventions have to produce positive changes in the socio-economic status of the beneficiaries. With a beneficiary-centric approach, the minister urged the Jammu & Kashmir Women’s Development Corporation to create more engagement channels for women entrepreneurs, beneficiaries and community members.

The emphasis was placed on keeping a communication channel open to know about the evolving requirements and problems faced. This would help make the welfare initiatives more beneficiary-specific with regards to their financial and livelihood requirements.

“Welfare interventions should translate into tangible improvements in the socio-economic conditions of beneficiaries, particularly through initiatives that encourage entrepreneurship, sustainable livelihoods and economic self-reliance”, the Minister commented.

During the meeting, financial accountability and loan recoveries were also discussed. The Board advised the corporation to ensure that the loan recovery efforts were intensified, especially for the amounts which have been outstanding for a long time now.

The Board also passed the Budget Estimate of the year 2026-27 covering the requirements of the corporation both from the revenue and the capital point of view. The budget is meant to be helpful in executing the developmental and welfare programs of the corporation. Further, the Board has passed the financial statement of the financial year 2024-25, which will now be presented for audit.

The Board once again stressed the importance of financial discipline, loan recovery, and the timely execution of the programs approved by the corporation. It also pointed out the need to execute programs effectively so that the assistance available under different programs is availed of by women entrepreneurs.

Present on this occasion were Dr. Doifode Sagar Dattatray, Social Welfare Secretary; Purnima Mittal, JKWDC Managing Director; the Planning & Finance Departments' representatives of Jammu & Kashmir; and representatives of Apex Corporations of New Delhi. The Board deliberated upon important administrative, financial, and policy issues related to the functioning of the corporation with several suggestions to improve its operations.