Kashmir Digits

In an alarming piece of news the unemployment rate in Jammu and Kashmir has risen to 18.3 percent for the month of May.

According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) figures, J&K has an unemployment rate of 18.3 percent unemployment rate, which was 15.6 percent during the month of April.

The unemployment rate in Jammu and Kashmir is higher than that national average and contrary to the downward trend across the country.

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During the month of May, the unemployment rate in India was 7.3 percent which is twice the joblessness rate in Jammu and Kashmir.

“Though the Lieutenant Governor’s administration is working tirelessly to bring down the unemployment rate, it will take some time for investments to fructify and yield results,” said a government official adding Govt is hopeful that with the number of investments coming up, J&K would soon witness a private sector boom which would create ample opportunities for youngsters.

The higher unemployment rate in J&K has been a cause of concern for the administration in the past as well.

The unemployment rates are produced by CMIE using its Consumer Pyramids Household Survey machinery.

“Self-employment is the only solution to get rid of unemployment in Kashmir. The government needs to handhold the business community and introduce measures to promote entrepreneurship among youngsters so that the growing unemployment rate is tamed,” said President, Kashmir Young Entrepreneurs Federation, Babar Chowdhary.

The rising unemployment rate in J&K continues to be a lingering problem for the youth who are forced to run after government jobs in absence of a strong private sector in J&K.

Besides these official figures, there are other data sources that indicate the severity of unemployment in J&K. For example, the employment registration carried out by the Directorate of Employment in 2020 witnessed three lakh registrations by postgraduates and Ph.D. degree holders.

J&K Service Selection Board advertisement for 8000 class IV posts saw a whopping 5.4 lakh aspirants applying.

As per the official figures, the New Industrial Policy is expected to create 4.5 lakh jobs in J&K.

The new policy has a spending outlay of Rs 28,400 crore (Rs 284 billion), the largest incentive to date, on the industrial development of Jammu and Kashmir for the next 15 years. “It is expected to generate an investment of Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) and employment of 4.5 lakh over the plan period.” said an official.

Similarly, under Mission Youth, the Government has launched a Youth data Portal for creating a database of youth so as to map their support requirements as per their needs and aspirations.

A provision for the assistance of youth in reputed coaching institutes for UPSC and state psc exams under the aegis of the Parvaaz Scheme has also been established under Mission Youth.

The most important scheme under the Mission Youth is Mumkin through which small commercial vehicles are provided to beneficiaries, with banking partners extending loan facilities up to 100 percent of the vehicle’s on-road price.