Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Mar 20: National Conference (NC) today stated that the report titled “Periodic Labour Force Survey April-June 2021” released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is in stark contrast to the ‘false realities’ projected by the Central Government on fostering employment in J&K after the abrogation of Article 370 and punctured a hole into their claims.
In a statement, the Party’s spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said the Data published by the premier Government agency flies in the face of the Central and incumbent J&K Government’s claims on swelling employment opportunities in Jammu and Kashmir. “The report hasn’t caught us by surprise. We have been saying all this while that the unemployment charts have soared since the reading down of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. What is worrying here is that the figures have made a quantum jump from previous levels,” he said.
Dar added that the magnitude of the joblessness can be assessed by the fact that the key recruiting agency, the JKSSB has collected Rs 77 crore as examination fees between March 2016 and September 2020 from job hunting candidates (according to an RTI reply). He said the response of the people to the job applications can be gauged from the fact that when JKSSB advertised around 8000 jobs for Class IV employees, more than half a million aspirants applied for the jobs.
“Private sector on the other hand, which had taken baby steps to establish itself during the Omar Abdullah led Government, has been dealt severe blows due to successive lockdowns, clampdowns in the last three years. The already meek private sector has been in a free fall since 2016 but the situation post August 2019 has been exceedingly grim,” he said.
Dar said the figures reveal that J&K has the second highest unemployment rate in the country with a staggering 46%. The report has shown mirror to Government of India and the incumbent J&K Government. The myths which are being peddled day in and day out stand deflated and the report has confirmed our stand,” he added.
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