WE THE PEOPLE
J&K no exception to global economic recession, so unemployment likely to assume more alarming dimensions
Hence people Urge State Govt., fill all vacancies, not raise retirement age and focus on job-oriented education
By: Ahlam Masoodi
Srinagar: Even before ongoing economic recession, most advanced countries of the world were facing unemployment problem and now it is predicted to be more uglier by end of year 2009. But the nature of unemployment in India is completely different from what is available in more advanced countries of the world today. It is definitely not the result of the deficiency of effective demand rate, but it is because the resources and the potentialities have not been fully utilized. In India there is what the economists call `frictional unemployment and also under-employment or disguised-unemployment’. It is the consequence of the shortage of the capital equipment or other necessary resources. The nature of unemployment in rural India is somewhat different from the urban places. Here in Jammu and Kashmir, the magnitude of unemployment has assumed horrendous dimensions and there is no immediate relief available to thousands and thousands jobless educated youths despite a few measures adopted by the State Government so far.
We must not forget that there are about 3.80 lakh government employees in J&K, whose annual wage bill is above Rs 4000 crores, which eats up the State’s Budget, leaving literally little sums of money for development works. It is only under several Central Government schemes that we have some developmental activity going on in the State. How far the Centre will provide such developmental funds is a moot question. The State lacks its own resources and has failed to generate power despite its rich potential. Lack of power has caused a severe setback to the industry and consequently failed to generate employment opportunities. The State has also failed to boost agricultural activities, which too have closed doors for jobless youths.
Now it disheartening to learn that the International Labor Organization (ILO) has stated that under its most optimistic scenario, this year would finish with 18 million more unemployed people than at the end of 2007, with a global unemployment rate of 6.1.
More realistically, it said 30 million more people could lose their jobs if financial turmoil persists through 2009, pushing up the world's unemployment to 6.5 percent, compared to 6.0 percent in 2008 and 5.7 percent in 2007.
In the worst-case economic scenario, the Global Employment Trends report said 51 million more jobs could be lost by the end of this year, creating a 7.1 percent global unemployment rate.
"If the recession deepens in 2009, as many forecasters expect, the global jobs crisis will worsen sharply," it said. "We can expect that for many of those who manage to keep a job, earnings and other conditions of employment will deteriorate."
Developing countries will suffer most from additional job losses, whose governing structure includes governments, employers and workers groups.
It is learnt that North Africa and the Middle East had the highest unemployment rate at the end of 2008, at 10.3 percent and 9.4 percent respectively. Most job creation in 2008 came from South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia, while developed economies and the European Union lost some 900,000 jobs on a net basis.
Hence it becomes necessary for J&K government to draw a lesson from the global scenario and devise strategies to meet the present and future challenges. Firstly it should fill up all vacant posts in a transparent manner so that the deserving educated youth get rehabilitated. Secondly, it should turn down the demand of serving employees to raise their retirement age so that more and more vacancies become available. Thirdly, it must discourage reappointment of retired employees and reframe educational policy. We need job-oriented education so that the trained youth do not hanker after government jobs but stand on their feet to sustain themselves. Such a system of education has proved very successful in the state of Mysore, where students don't’ crave for government jobs and start different enterprises without any official support.
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