Srinagar, July 17: Woes of the educated unemployed youth are increasing with every passing day as their figure in the Jammu and Kashmir is witnessing serious surge.
As per the Labour Bureau, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India (GOI), Jammu Kashmir has very high unemployment rate and as per a survey conducted by the bureau in 2015-16, Jammu Kashmir has 72 unemployed persons per thousand, which means the number of unemployed youth in the state is over 9 lakh based on the 2011 census.
Sources said that while about 41 thousand were registered in the Kashmir division, 45,669 unemployed youth were registered with the counseling centers in the Jammu division up to December 2017.
“The number could be higher as over the years the exact number of unemployed educated youth in the state was not known. As per directions of the Supreme Court, the registration with the employment exchanges was held as not mandatory for obtaining government job. The government did not have exact figures about educated or uneducated unemployed persons,” sources maintained.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party’s key election promise at national level was job creation. Criticizing the UPA government for failing to provide employment, the BJP manifesto stated that the country has been dragged through 10 years of jobless growth by the Congress-led UPA government. Under the broader economic revival, BJP will accord high priority to job creation and opportunities for entrepreneurship,” quoting BJP’s Manifesto, one of the MSC students here in University said.
He said that though reducing unemployment was a major goal of the BJP government in the country, but it has not been able to fulfill its promise of job creation in the state.
As per the economic survey of 2011, the number of unemployed youths registered in various district employments and counseling centers was 6.01 lakh.
Officials said the number would touch more than 10 lakh in 2018 as thousands of youths had been passing out from various universities in the country every year.
Sources said that despite all this the government is yet to initiate survey to know the exact magnitude of unemployment in the state.
The previous government had assured in the Legislative Assembly a survey to know the “exact number of the unemployed youth in Jammu and Kashmir”.
After the PDP-BJP government and opposition had differed on the number of educated unemployed youth in the State, former Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu had said that the government would undertake a survey in this regard. “We will undertake a survey to get the exact figure of unemployed youth,” he had said.
However sources said that nothing concrete has been done in this regard so far.”Though the government had asked the departments to convey the exact number of unemployed youth in Jammu and Kashmir, but however no formal communication has been located which contradicts the tall claim of the government to initiate the survey on this matter,” government sources said.
Sources said that the matter does not end up here as the employment exchanges across Jammu and Kashmir and also overseas employment corporation has been found nonfunctional.
It is to mention here that the Jammu and Kashmir has earned a distinction to have the highest number of unemployment rate in entire Northern India.
As per the “Annual Employment and Unemployment Survey Report released by Labour Bureau under Union Ministry of Labor and Employment, J&K has the highest unemployment rate in North India with 10% unemployment rate.
The government of India had also revealed to Lok Sabha, that nearly 40 percent youth, in the age group of 15 to 30 years, are unemployed in Jammu and Kashmir and that the number was higher than the national level.
One of the top officials of the government though admitted that unemployment was a major challenge, but said that the government is taking many steps to tide over the challenge.
