SRINAGAR: National Conference on Sunday stated that report titled “Periodic Labour Force Survey April-June 2021” released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is in stark contrast to the ‘false realities’ projected by the Central Government on fostering employment in J&K after the reading down of Article 370 and punctured a hole into their claims.
In a statement Party’s State Spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said the Data published by the premier government agency flies in the face of the Central and incumbent J&K government’s claims on swelling employment opportunities in Jammu and Kashmir. “The report hasn’t caught us by surprise. We have been saying this all this while that the unemployment charts have soared since the reading down of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. What is worrying here is that the figures have made a quantum jump from previous levels,” he said adding that the magnitude of the joblessness can be assessed by the fact that the key recruiting agency, the JKSSB has collected Rs 77 crore as examination fees between March 2016 and September 2020 from job hunting candidates, according to an RTI application.
The response of the people to the job applications, Imran said can be gauged from the fact that when JKSSB advertised around 8000 jobs for Class IV employees, more than half a million aspirants applied for the jobs, with many among them holding post-graduate degrees and doctorates. “Private sector on the other hand, which had taken baby steps to establish itself during the Omar Abdullah led government, has been dealt severe blows due to successive lockdowns, clampdowns in the last three years. Government indifference towards the artisans, tourism players, marginal traders, manufacturers have further choked the employability in the local private sector. The already meek private sector has been in a free fall since 2016 but the situation post Aug 2019 has been exceedingly grim,” he said.
“The figures reveal that J&K has the second highest unemployment rate in the country with a staggering 46%.The report has shown mirror to GOI and the incumbent J&K government. The myths which are being peddled day in and day out stand deflated. The report has confirmed our stand,” he added.
