Srinagar, September 16: More than a year after the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 was revoked; the government is yet to create even a single job. Instead it has withdrawn more than 1000 posts that were advertised under SRO 202 during the past two years.
The government’s decision is unfortunate as instead of providing employment, it is even snatching the limited opportunities. The government should revoke its decision as soon as possible.
On 28 August 2019, when Kashmir was under lockdown after the abrogation of Article 370, then governor Satya Pal Malik announced that 50,000 jobs would be made available for the youth in next three months.
Similarly, in March, the government in the Parliament announced that it proposes to fill up 50,000 vacant posts in J&K. And when the government decided to issue domicile certificates in the midst of Covid19 pandemic, it claimed that the haste was because it was planning to hold a massive recruitment drive.
However, all these promises have proved a hoax and the unemployed youth in Jammu and Kashmir continue to suffer immensely. They feel betrayed and annoyed by the repeated false promises.
The BJP government had claimed that Article 370 was an impediment to J&K’s development and its abrogation will bring investment, jobs and prosperity to the region. The reality is different on ground from what was being said by the government. After last August clampdown, the economy of J&K has virtually collapsed as tourism, trade and other vital sectors have been badly hit and whole businesses have shattered.
Those who were already earning their livelihood were deprived of it. Thousands of casual labourers, need-based daily-wagers, scheme workers and others were without wages for the last more than a year.
Over 15000 young unemployed engineers who were earning their bread and butter by working through Self Help Groups SHG in various departments like R&B, PMGSY, PHE, PDD, etc for the last more than a decade and half, have been rendered jobless due to the J&K administration decision to abolish SHGs.
Unemployment levels are rising in Jammu and Kashmir as educated youth struggle with neglect and lack of job-creation policy. In J&K, already facing turmoil over the decades, unemployment has become a serious concern and the percentage of unemployed youth is increasing with the poor absorption rate.
According to Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) reply to a parliamentary panel on February 18, there are over 84,000 vacancies in J&K, of which 22,078 vacancies pertain to Class IV employees, 54,375 to non-gazettted and 7,552 vacancies at gazetted level. What stops the government from filling up these vacancies?
