Rameez Makhdoomi
Srinagar, Jan 10 (KNB): Unemployment is among the gravest problems confronted by the state of Jammu & Kashmir with 88,040 unemployed youth registered in various district employment and counseling centers in the state, the government said on Tuesday.
During the current Assembly session, replying to a query by MLA Sat Paul Sharma during the question hour, the minister for labour and employment Haseeb Drabu divulged the figures of unemployed youth registered up to December 2017. As a worrying fact, The Jammu and Kashmir state had earned a distinction to have the highest number of unemployment rate in entire North India, revealed a survey sometime back. 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.
On December 5,2009, that time state government announced with much fanfare Sher-e-Kashmir Employment Policy on the occasion of birth anniversary of former chief minister’s grandfather Shiekh Abdullah .In this much talked scheme, the government had promised to give five lakh jobs to unemployed youths including one lakh government jobs with four lakh employment opportunities in various other sectors , but despite this and many other schemes the problem of unemployment has not been addressed to desired expectations.
Many voices opine that 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.
Jaffer Alllie, a career Expert stated – “We have from time to time witnessed the successive governments making lofty claims that they have devised magical policies to fight the problem of unemployment but on the ground zero results are very few . The youth continue to suffer on account of lack of meaningful employment opportunities in the state especially valley of Kashmir. 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. More focus should be on skill based education as well.” (KNB)
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