Fill vacant posts, create more jobs

As the newly elected government in Jammu and Kashmir is keen to fill the vacancies and come up with the recruitment policy, the figures have brought an utter shock, revealing that over 3.52 lakh youth are registered with the Directorate of Employment (DoE) in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in the first quarter of 2024. The reports suggest that 1.09 lakh among them are graduates and postgraduates, comprising 31% of the total. It has come to the fore that in the last quarter of 2023, the department registered 99,322 unemployed graduates and postgraduates—an increase of 10,000 over previous figures. The J&K government’s 2023 Economic Survey presented contrasting data, indicating a decline in unemployment from 6.7% in 2019-20 to 5.2% in 2021-22. The survey also noted a quarterly urban unemployment rate (UUR) of 13.5% for October-December 2022, compared to the national average of 8.2% for the same period, per Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data. With the figures revealing that a large chunk of population still are moving from pillar to post to seek employment, the time calls for immediate measures by the government to pace up the recruitment process in Jammu and Kashmir. In this regard, the Chief Secretary has recently directed the Service Selection Recruitment Board to resolve the issues of delays and pace up the recruitment process. The newly elected government, in the first instance, should identify all the vacant posts and ensure that these posts are filled at the earliest so that the deserving and unemployed youth can get a chance to fill these gaps. Besides, more posts need to be created for the educated but unemployed youth, so that the number of youth registered with the Department of Employment in Jammu and Kashmir is reduced and the people heave a sigh of relief.