Sabahat Nazir
Srinagar, Jul 24 (KNB): The world has a tendency to make progress which is dependent on two factors infrastructure and opportunities. For development to take place in a sustainable way, better infrastructure is the key.It includes all the parameters that lead to something constructive and productive. It includes better connectivity, buildings, clean environment, and skilled human beings. Currently there are more than half-a-million educated unemployed youth in Jammu and Kashmir. Even many talked initiatives of current government to tackle unemployment are not yielding concrete results.
Infrastructure development is of utmost importance to meet aspirations coupled with the opportunities. Education is being provided to all but it is mostly confined to scoring high grades and achieving degrees rather than acquiring knowledge and being equipped with skill and an innovative temperament. The educated youth must be made employable by providing them the requisite opportunities so that their skill and talent can be harnessed for better results.
Due to violence and turmoil unemployment problem has soared with no industrial growth and struggling key tourism sectors. To add to it, poor industrial governance, infrastructure along with the poor investment climate has left the industrial sector of Kashmir valley in shambles.
The lack of opportunities is pushing youth to the wall, forcing them towards negative vices like Drug Addiction and sometimes even towards aggressive tendencies. Highly qualified youth who have PHD and other reputed degrees are lying unemployed for years and this problem of unemployment is thus huge for youth of Kashmir and proving damaging to their intellect, mental health etc.
The opportunities in Kashmir due to the conflict have stalled, however, with the growing trend of entrepreneurship the hopes of the youth are touching the new heights. Every day the news stories regarding the opening of new ventures by the youth both boys and girls should be appreciated by our society by lending them a helping hand.
From time to time there have been much hopes that the state government’s policies to tackle the problem of unemployment would help in reducing the rates of unemployment as such more focus should be on skill based education as well as it is the need of times to devise visionary and pragmatic outlook to fight the menace of unemployment. The problem of unemployment has been killing the hope of our youth since so many decades now.
Kashmir is inundated with talent and has a plenitude of able and innovative minds. The dream of sustainable and inclusive development can be realized by providing better infrastructure and opportunities so that the youth can work wholeheartedly towards peace and prosperity. The drawbacks and repercussions of unemployment on Kashmiri youth life are quite damaging and deserve to be addressed by stakeholders especially government. (KNB)