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| Employment Package | | Will Jammu get its legitimate share? | | Neha
JAMMU, July 9: New Delhi on Thursday announced a Rs 1,000-crore special package for imparting training to 40, 000 graduates, post-graduates and professional degree holders for Jammu and Kashmir. The package would be implemented in five years. According to reports, the scheme aims at "enhancing employment opportunities in the state" and formulating "a job plan involving public and private sectors, especially for the youth." Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs cleared the scheme. According to one report, the package, when implemented in its entirety, would "accommodate 500,000 unemployed youth."
Now that the authorities in New Delhi have announced a special package for the state, it is appropriate time to discuss the scale of unemployment in Jammu vis-à-vis Kashmir so that the policy-planners are able to dispense justice to the region that deserves justice. As per the official figures, the number of unemployed youth in the state is about five lakh. Accepted that the figures are correct. Then the question arises which of the two regions - Jammu and Kashmir - has more unemployed youth? The answer is not far to seek. According to the official figures, the number of unemployed youth in Jammu province is more compared to Kashmir. To be more exact, the assembly records show that while the unemployment rate in Kashmir province is less then 30 per cent, it is more than 69 per cent in the Jammu province. Again, it would not be out of place to mention here that out of a total of about 4.5 lakh employees working in the government and the semi-government establishments in the state, approximately 70 per cent belong to the Kashmir Valley with Jammu province to remain content with the remaining about 30 per cent.
If the official data is any indication, then it can be said also be said that the people of Jammu province had a very little representation in the civil secretariat, the seat of power. According to the report, which the State Government presented to the Assembly on January 22, 2007, the number of employees from Kashmir, who were working in the civil secretariat, was three times that of Jammu. As for the cold-desert and far off Ladakh, it virtually had no representation in the civil secretariat. Its share was a paltry 12. In other words, the share of Ladakh was just 0.68 per cent.
As per the official report, the number of employees working in the civil secretariat was 1715. These include gazetted, non- gazetted and fourth class employees. The number of gazetted officers was 199. The share of Kashmir was 118 and that of Jammu 81. As for the number of non-gazetted officers, it was 1041 (767 from Kashmir and 274 from Jammu). The number of fourth class employees was 363. While the share of Kashmir was 256, the share of Jammu was 107.
In other words, the share of Jammu was nearly 44 per cent as far as the gazetted posts were concerned. The share of Kashmir was almost 56 per cent. As for the share of Jammu in non-gazetted positions in the civil secretariat, it was 26.23 per cent. In contrast, the share of Kashmir was 73.67 per cent. Likewise, the share of Jammu as far as the fourth class employees were concerned, it was 29.48 per cent, as against the Kashmir's 70.52 per cent.
That the youth of Jammu has not been given its due share in the employment sector can also be seen from other official figures. The figures from the employment exchanges located in the Kashmir's six districts showed that they had till September 2006 registered 35,329 unemployed youth. The position in Jammu province was just the opposite. The Jammu province-based employment exchanges had registered as many as 63,613 unemployed youth. In other words, the number of unemployed youth in Jammu province in September 2006 was nearly two times that of Kashmir.
As for the number of unemployed post-graduates in Kashmir, it was 2,474. Contrast to this, the number of such unemployed youth in Jammu province was 5,421. This means Jammu province had 2,997 more unemployed post-graduates as compared to Kashmir, including Leh and Kargil. Ladakh is part of Kashmir province administratively. As far as the number of unemployed post-graduates in Jammu district was concerned, it was 4,444. In Srinagar district, the number of unemployed post-graduates was only 605. That means the unemployed post-graduates in Jammu district were seven times more than those in Srinagar district. However, the number of unemployed graduates in Kashmir was slightly higher. While in Kashmir the number of unemployed registered graduates was 7786, it was 7250 in Jammu.
The story of neglect of the Jammu district-based technocrats was no less pathetic. There were 8,327 unemployed technocrats in Jammu district. In Srinagar district, the number was 1,511. That means the Jammu district had 7,826 more - over five times more - unemployed technocrats, as compared to Srinagar district. The region-wise break-up was: Jammu 11,861 and Kashmir 6,370 - a difference of 5,491 between the two provinces. Likewise, the total number of registered unemployed persons in Jammu district was 27,738. In Srinagar district, the number of such unemployed persons was 10,648. In other words, Jammu district had 17,090 more unemployed youth.
The situation continues to remain the same even today. With the result, the unemployed post-graduates and graduates and technocrats organize protest demonstrations at regular intervals in Jammu to attract the attention of the authorities so that they are absorbed in government service. Hence, it would be only appropriate if the authorities implement the Rs 1000-crore package in the right way and compensate the youth of Jammu province for the losses it has suffered thus far at the hands of what the people call "valley-centric and Kashmiri-dominated state government." Those who say that the "problem of unemployment" is one of the root causes of the turmoil in Kashmir are only speaking a lie. It's Jammu that has suffered because of the acute unemployment problem. |
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