Srinagar, July 26: Over 29,000 youth have secured government jobs in Jammu and Kashmir since 2019, the Union Home Ministry informed the Parliament.
The unemployment rate in Jammu and Kashmir was 18.3% among those aged 15 to 29, according to the ministry of home affairs (MHA) in Parliament on Wednesday.
It further told the Rajya Sabha that over 29,000 vacancies in J&K have been filled since the repeal of Article 370 in 2019.
Union minister of state for home Nityanand Rai was replying to a query from Congress member of Parliament (MP) Akhilesh Prasad Singh regarding the union territory’s unemployment rate and job creation.
In response to a question about whether the unemployment rate among educated youth in J&K has reached 46.3%, Rai wrote in his response, “From the results of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), estimates of unemployment rate are not available specifically for the educated youth in Jammu and Kashmir for the period April-June 2021.”
“However, from the PLFS conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) during July 2020-June 2021, estimate of unemployment rate according to usual status among the persons of age group 15-29 years for Jammu and Kashmir was 18.3%,” he added.
Rai replied that “after abrogation of article 370, large scale recruitment drive has been carried out and the government of Jammu and Kashmir has filled 29,295 vacancies.”
“Recruiting agencies have advertised 7,924 vacancies and examinations in respect of 2,504 vacancies have been conducted,” he said, while adding that identification of vacancies in the government and recruitment is a continuous and on-going process.
“The same is taken up under accelerated recruitment drive. The government of Jammu and Kashmir has taken various initiatives to bring down un-employment by implementing various self-employment schemes through different departments by providing subsidized loans for establishment of their own sustainable income generation units. A number of self-employment schemes like Mission Youth, Rural Livelihood Mission, Himayat, PMEGP, Avsar, Tejaswani are being implemented for providing employment opportunities,” he said. On August 5, 2019, the Centre abrogated Article 370 and 35(A) (special status) and bifurcated Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories – Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
