Unemployment Crisis: Nearly eight lakh youth jobless in J-K

SRINAGAR — In Jammu and Kashmir, nearly eight lakh youth registered at the Directorate of Employment are unemployed including two lakh educated individuals.

The news agency KNO reported that at least 1,99,872 educated youth were unemployed till May 31, 2023.

According to the data revealed by the Public Information Officer (PIO) at the Directorate of Employment in a reply to the Right to Information (RTI) application, “The total number of unemployed educated registered at the departmental portal as on 31.05.2023 was 199872.”

On asking about the details of schemes in the erstwhile state of J&K for employment programs and also the details of schemes now in vogue post abrogation of Article 370, the PIO said that upto 2015-16, the department was implementing the J&K Self Employment Scheme (JKSES) for educated unemployed youth of J&K state.

“However, during the budget announcements of 2015-16, the scheme was subsumed with Seed Capital Scheme of Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Institute JKEDI,” it reads.

The PIO further informed that now, the department has submitted the guidelines under the self-employment schemes viz; Seed Capital Fund Scheme, Youth Start-up Loan for their implementation through Directorate Employment which otherwise was earlier implemented by JKEDI and also a proposal for revival of J&K Overseas Corporation. “These guidelines and proposals are under examination with the Administrative Department.”

On seeking the details of any survey conducted by the Directorate of Employment in the Union Territory of J&K to ascertain the fact of unemployment and the permanent solution to the unemployment issue, the PIO said, “The department has conducted unemployment survey in all districts of the UT during the months of March, April and May 2022 in coordination with the District Administration.”

“All the districts except Bandipora have been covered. The report reveals that there are 6,63,511 unemployed youth as on 31.05.2022 in the UT,” reads the reply.

It also states that out of these unemployed youth, about 10-15 percent are self-employed or have an agriculture-related business or have a small shop in their respective villages. The PIO said, “Therefore, the actual number of unemployed youth at the field level will be 5,639,84.”

It also said that the workforce in the UT out of the total population of 130 lakhs will be 80 lakhs. “Therefore, the unemployment rate will be 7.04 percent.”

“Further, during 2022-23, the Directorate of Employment through its District Employment and Counseling Centres has conducted employment and unemployment survey by taking into consideration one village in every tehsil as a First Stage Unit (FSU),” reads the RTI reply.

The PIO further said that on the basis of the survey conducted from 206 tehsils as per the census of 2011, the basis of the survey is that the unemployment rate is around 8.31 percent.