The BIZ Desk
Srinagar, Nov 12: Belying the tall claims of development, the Jammu and Kashmir is slipping into the quagmire of unemployment with the rate of joblessness in J&K standing at 22.2 percent higher than any state or union territory of India.
Ironically the unemployment rate has shown a constant increase from the last three months in Jammu and Kashmir. In August the rate of Unemployment was over 17 percent, which went up to 21.6 percent in September and for the month of October it is now 22.2 percent.
According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) figures, J&K has a 22.3 percent unemployment rate, which is the worst among states/Union Territories in India.
The unemployment rates are produced by CMIE using its Consumer Pyramids Household Survey machinery. CMIE has pegged India’s unemployment rate at 7.1 percent which means J&K has much higher unemployment rate than the national average.
The rising unemployment rate in J&K continues to be a lingering problem for the youth who had yearned for a better future post abrogation of Article 370.
As per the market experts, the private investment in Kashmir and Jammu regions from outsider is negligible which is the main reason that there is hardly any progress on job creation.
Though the government claims that the huge outside investment is coming to J&K, but it is yet to have any impact on the ground.
A senior government official informed me that the reasons behind rising unemployment in J&K are many. ” One of the main reasons is the absence of big private sector in J&K. We have no industry which employes over 2000 persons which are found outside J&K.”
Officials said the unbundling and restructuring of the Power Development Department; merger of the State Industrial Development Corporation (SIDCO) and the Small Scale Industrial Development Corporation (SICOP); and revamping of the J&K Cements Limited have also resulted in fewer job opportunities.
Official figures suggested that the J&K administration has advertised around 10,000 jobs, of which 8,575 were Class IV posts — ever since the new domicile laws were introduced in May 2020, which will also allow a section of non-locals to apply. However, the results are still awaited.
According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI), the combined unemployment rate of J&K and Ladakh hit the highest 17.8% in October-December of 2020, against the national average was 7.11%. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy put the unemployment rate at 12.13% in J&K in 2017.
