Youth left in lurch, rising unemployment a grave concern: Omar

Srinagar, Mar 17: National Conference Working President Omar Abdullah on Saturday said the youth of Jammu and Kashmir had been left in lurch by a brazenly nepotistic and anti-youth Government.
Addressing a one-day Youth National Conference Provincial Body Meet at National Conference Headquarters, ‘Nawa-e-Subha’ in Srinagar on Saturday, Omar Abdullah said hard-working, meritorious and qualified youth of the State were being pushed against the wall because of open political patronage to nepotism and an unprecedented chaos in recruitment, competitive examinations and at service commissions.
The National Conference Working President expressed dismay at the continuation of SRO-202 while the kith and kin of leaders of the ruling alliance were being directly accommodated into gazetted jobs through the backdoor. “We have highly qualified, talented youth who have given their sweat and blood to be equipped with great academic credentials and this Government seems hell-bent to alienate them after robbing them of their merit and rights”, the NC Working President said.
The National Conference Working President said the deteriorating law and order situation and the instability in the State in the past three years had a direct bearing on the future of the youth. “It is the youth that suffers the most due to the Government’s inability to preserve and nurture peace and stability. It affects their studies, robs them of employment opportunities and creates a sense of hopelessness that is dangerous considering the circumstances in the State. The biggest injustices with the youth are being perpetuated while the Government has precious little to offer apart from rhetoric and photo opportunities”, the NC Working President further added.
Omar Abdullah said rising unemployment in the State was a matter of grave concern and was a telling indictment of the failed policies of the present Government. “Our unemployment numbers are rising and could well have crossed a million unemployed skilled and unskilled young men if an objective analysis is undertaken. With the complete collapse of the Tourism Sector and zero headway in encouraging a private sector growth, diminishing jobs in the Public Sector have created an alarming situation. Especially how even those limited jobs in the public sector seem to be reserved for the kith and kin of the ruling alliance leaders”, Omar Abdullah said in his address.
The National Conference Working President asked the Party’s Youth Wing to reach out to the youth and empower them politically to become opinion-makers and stakeholders in finding solutions to these problems. “Be it the aim of curbing nepotism, of fighting corruption, of holding the Government accountable or of ushering the State into a corrective era of growth, peace and progress — our youth hold the key. They have the answers to the problems that plague our State and their voice should be amplified and represented at every policy level”, the NC Working President added.