PM’s Job Package

PRIME Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday passed directions to recruit 10 lakh people in “mission mode” over the next 1.5 years after reviewing the employment status in all departments and ministries. The government’s decision comes amid the rising unemployment in the country. This despite the fact that the economy has been doing fine. According to estimates, exports are at record highs. Profits of big businesses have doubled. The consumption has increased. People are spending on cars, real estate and vacations. But despite that unemployment has grown. Educated youth are struggling to find jobs. This coupled with high inflation is battering the Indians who do petty jobs to make ends meet. So, the prime minister’s intervention to start the process to recruit 10 lakh people over the next one and half year is a welcome development.

In Jammu and Kashmir too, there is an urgent need for the government to take credible steps to find employment opportunities for the thousands of educated unemployed. The growing ranks of the educated unemployed in the state is emerging as the single most threat to the social stability in the union territory. According to a rough estimate, there are around six lakh unemployed youth in J&K and only a modest proportion of them could hope to get a government job, so far the UT’s only reliable source of livelihood. But despite that the issue hardly makes it to the political discourse in the state. The political class has been traditionally shy of raising the issues of corruption, environment and unemployment.

At the same time, the issue of unemployment is very complex and difficult to resolve. J&K Government which for decades has been the sole job provider to the youth in the UT is no longer in position to do it. New jobs in the government offer paltry remuneration for several years for the new recruits before the regularization of their services. Working for a pittance for the precious five years of their life in the hope of a permanent job with a modest salary and career prospects   makes no sense for a large section of the educated youth.  But the problem is that the government has struggled to offer an alternative to the youth. It has been unable to create credible alternative job prospects within the UT. The government needs to revive the effort and make it ongoing. There is no alternative to this. In the long term, J&K needs a viable private sector if the government has to tide over the rampant unemployment in the UT.