Number of registered jobless goes down

Amir Karim Tantray

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 31

The state government has failed to meet expectations of the unemployed youth, who now show a little interest in getting themselves registered with the Employment Department.

During the first year of the previous government and amid the hype created by the Sher-e-Kashmir Employment and Welfare Policy for Youth (SKEWPY), the figure of the registered unemployed youth had crossed the six-lakh mark, but the number has now come down to 2.22 lakh. Replying to a question raised by BJP MLA Satpal Sharma, state Labour and Employment Minister Haseeb Drabu said before the introduction of the SKEWPY, 1.06 lakh youth were registered with the Employment Department in 2008-09, but the written answer did not mention the data of 2009-10 and 2010-11 when the number went beyond six lakh.

In the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on skill development and employment generation, it was mentioned that more than 6.04 lakh youth were registered with the Employment Department after the introduction of the SKEWPY. “But there was an overall fluctuation between 6.04 lakh to 2.40 lakh between March, 2010, and March, 2014,” the CAG reported pointed out.

After every three years, unemployed youth have to renew their registration with the Employment Department but it has been observed that the youth have shown a little interest in the registration process. The Secretary, Labour and Employment Department, had told the CAG that during 2009-10, registration had shown steep rise which was due to the introduction of Voluntary Service Allowance (VSA) scheme. Under the SKEWPY, the state government had to provide employment to five lakh youth in different categories, including government sector, but it failed to do so. “In past several years, only 40,461 gazetted and non-gazetted posts have been filled in various departments,” the government said in its reply without properly mentioning the period.