J-K: Sharp increase in employment rate ahead of G20 Summit, say reports

SRINAGAR: The union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed a sharp decline in the unemployment rate since August 5, 2019, but a drastic improvement in the employment avenues has been happening with booming tourism season after the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A, said a recent survey report.

According to the Economic Survey Report released by Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir UT, Arun Kumar Mehta in April this year, the unemployment rate among youth has declined from 6.7 per cent in 2019-20 to 5.2 per cent in 2021-22.

The report stated, "This year the gains achieved in the past three years are expected to reach new heights as the historical G20 Summit is taking place in three days' time. Moreover, the third record-breaking tourist season can bring big positive social change in the lives of people of Jammu and Kashmir."

The report read that a healthy work environment was being created for youth by providing an integrated platform for greater facilitation of job seekers and job providers through systematic interventions including counselling and awareness campaigns.

"During the current fiscal, 678 community career counselling and 82,369 individual counselling sessions were organized", read the government's report. The report further said, "More than 1 lakh youth were registered as job seekers on the employment portal. A total of 51,004 units have been established under various Self-employment Schemes (SESs) and thereby direct employment avenues were provided to 2.03 lakh young boys and girls."

Further, it read that 33.81 lakh unorganized workers were registered on the eSHRAM portal in a targeted manner for creating a comprehensive National Database for Unorganized Workers. "PARVAZ, MUMKIN, TEJASWINI initiatives have been introduced with an aim to provide a vibrant medium for engagement and empowerment of youth through systematic interventions in Livelihood Generation, Education, Skill Development, Psychotherapy, Social engagement, Sports and Recreation for which interactive sessions are being conducted regularly," the report read.

As per the report, during the last 2 years, more than 70,000 youth have been provided with livelihood generation means, directly or indirectly, under various livelihood generation and skilling initiatives of Mission Youth in high employability potential sectors