PART – II
The magnitude of the unemployment problem among educated youth is reflected from the media reports of thousands of educated youth applying for a small number of advertised government jobs, often much below their educational qualifications. The Economic Times (31/1/2024) reported that in the Uttar Pradesh more than 93,000 candidates, including 3,700 PhDs, 5,000 graduates and 28,000 postgraduates, applied for 62 posts of ‘peon’ in Police Department, although the job required only a minimum eligibility of education till Class 5. The SSC MTS 2023 recruitment examination conducted in May 2023 in Uttar Pradesh received a staggering 5.5 million applicants for group D jobs (such as peon, watchman, gardener etc).
Among the applicants, many candidates had high qualifications, such as B. Tech or M. Tech, MBA, M.A or M.Sc. degrees (India Today 7/6/2023). Fifteen vacancies for peons, drivers and watchmen in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh had nearly 11,000 unemployed young people with graduate, post-graduate, engineer and MBA or PhD degrees, and even civil judge aspirant law graduates applying – and not just from within the state but also the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh (NDTV 29/12/2023).
Sometimes, such a rush for job applications leads to violence. Millions of youth had applied in 2022 for about 150,000 jobs with the Indian Railways in Bihar and the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh. Bihar experienced massive protests when thousands of jobless youth hit the streets in the last week of January 2023 over the alleged irregularities in the results published by the Railway Recruitment Board for the non-technical popular categories examination. There was widespread violence, with agitators pelting stones at train compartments, blocking railway tracks and even burning bogies of trains (as reported by media at that time). Although such reports are more frequent from less-developed (northern) states, this rush, although on a smaller scale, has also been reported from developed states. In June 2022, for instance, about 1.7 million people applied for 3,400 jobs requiring a minimum qualification of Class 10 in the developed state of Gujarat (India Employment Report 2024).
Jammu and Kashmir is no exception. Although, the estimates for the unemployment rate specifically among the educated are not available, CMIE data 2023 revealed that J&K has the highest unemployment rates in India at 23.1% against a national average of 7.8% but the MoS for Home Affairs while replying to a question in Rajya Sabha in June 2023 stated that unemployment rate among the people of Jammu and Kashmir in the age group of 15-29 years was 18.3 per cent. It is also reflected in the disproportionately large number of applications for the fewer government posts whenever these are advertised.
In 2022, 97793 graduates and above appeared in the examination conducted by the JKSSB for 1200 sub Inspector posts in J&K Police Department which was subsequently annulled. In the same year, 1.36 lakh candidates (graduates and above) appeared in the JKSSB examination for 972 posts of Accounts Assistant (Finance). Surprisingly, in June 2024, more than 1.0 lakh candidates appeared in the examination conducted by JKSSB for 186 posts of Supervisor in Social Welfare Department. In J&K Higher Education Department around 15000unemployed candidates with PhD/NET/JRF or PG/NET/JRF, some with Post doc from IITs/IISc or world’s prestigious universities abroad, applied for contractual teaching positions in colleges for the academic session 2024-25 against a meager monthly remuneration of RS 28000.
Although J&K Government’s 2023 economic survey has revealed a declining trend in unemployment, claiming that unemployment rate reduced from 6.7% in 2019-20 to 5.2% in 2021-22, the situation on the ground does not commensurate. Data reflects a grim state of affairs. In 2024 alone, 3.65 lakh youth registered with the J&K Directorate of Employment with 1.09 lakh of them graduates and post graduates (jakemp.nic.in).
Getting a job at the right time is not only socially important but economically feasible. After attaining the age of 37-40 the educated unemployed person, if employed, is left with slightly little time to contribute with full potential because it has been medically demonstrated that everyone loses muscle with age, typically about 3-5% each decade after the age 30. The loss can be more noticeable and starts to speed up at around the age of 60 when the individual experiences loss of muscle mass, strength and function, a condition known as ‘Sarcopenia’ (Chen et al 2014, Cruz-Jentoft et al 2019, Bhasin et al 2020, Coletta& Phillips 2023) which is associated with reduction of physical fitness. The person develops fatigue just after a couple of hours of rigorous work and needs more recovery time, thereby impeding the progress of work and becoming a liability upon the organization/system.
Crime rates of various countries reveal a positive correlation between unemployment and crime. An individual lacks a source of legitimate income when he/she is unemployed, so resorts to criminal activities like homicide, kidnapping, extortion, drug peddling and property crime to make an income. When young people remain unemployed for a long time, they lose hope of getting employment leading to depression, a common mental disorder (WHO).Therefore, unemployment and crime mostly affect people who are under the age of 40(Swathi, 2024 in IIJSR).
Among the various types of unemployment we are confronted with, the most common being Keynesian unemployment – a situation where the number of job seekers is more than the number of jobs available at a prevailing wage rate, and Structural unemployment – a situation where there is mismatch between the jobs offered and jobs needed, caused by disparity between skill levels, geographical location, sectorial shifts in the production pattern of a country and other similar structural factors (Towards the right to work by ILO, 2012).
The unemployment rates in general, irrespective of age and education, across Indian states in 2022-23 shows that the highest unemployment was seen in Goa (10%) – more than three times the National average (3.17%) (PLFS 2022-23). All northern states – Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh – have unemployment rates higher than the National average, as do all southern states with the exception of Karnataka. In J&K unemployment is around 4% falling at serial number 11. These figures appear to be less scary because they are general and never reflect unemployment figures in educated youth which are far higher.
Globally, the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the growth engine and backbone of economy, play a crucial role in employment generation. It is estimated that MSMEs employ over 2.2 billion people globally that is around 50% of the total employed workforce. MSME are the second largest employer of human resource after the agriculture sector (Economic survey, 2011). In India, it constitutes a vast network of over 63 million units and employs around 111 million people and the share of MSMEs in overall GDP is around 30 per cent (GOI, 2018). There are 2.57 lakh MSME operating in J&K dealing with small-scale and cottage industries such as carpet weaving, silks, shawls, basketry, pottery, copper and silverware, paper-mache, dyeing, cricket bat and walnut wood, fruits (fresh and dry), and cuisines. Considering the significance of MSMEs in the growth and development, particularly in employment generation, there is a great need to reduce the regulatory barriers and hardships faced by MSMEs and to help them by giving adequate and timely support.
A major challenge emerging in the labour market stems from the rapidly changing technologies that will increasingly have major implications for the various aspects of the labour market and employment. For example, artificial intelligence has created opportunities as well as major challenges. The labour market is being – and will further be impacted – by climate change, which seems to be occurring more rapidly than was forecasted by climate scientists only a decade ago (Nicholas Stern 2015). India can potentially create about 3.4 million jobs in the solar and wind energy sectors by installing new capability to achieve the targeted non-fossil electricity generation capacity by 2030.Speaking at the inaugural session of ‘Wings India 2024’, a civil aviation conclave and exhibition, Union Civil Aviation Minister said that India will need around 3000 new aircraft and 41000 pilots as well as 47000 technical staff in the next 20 years to cater to the needs of domestic passengers which is expected to surge to 300 million annually by 2030 from 153 million in 2023 (Economic Times 18/1/2024).
All the above figures discern enough about the future employment landscape in India and the necessary steps required to be taken. NEP 2020, while discussing the need to reconfigure curriculum in line with market demands and make it globally competitive, has emphasized upon the doctrine that children not only learn but learn how to and what to learn to increase the employability especially among youth venturing into higher studies.
The year 2023 was full of disappointment for the unemployed educated youth of J&K as it saw a lot of demonstrations by our youth who remained on roads throughout the year, sometimes demanding the government to advertise vacant posts in various departments or releasing final selection lists of various recruitments and sometimes against alleged wrongdoings in several recruitment processes. Although the reservation quota was capped at 50% by 1992 Supreme Court verdict but as appeasement politics it has been enhanced to 70% in J&K. The enhancement while helping a part of population is seriously hurting others. It is sure to promote unemployment in general category besides escalating hatred among communities in future.
National Conference strode to power with the overwhelming support of people especially the young voters who constitute 25% of the total electorate of JK (UT). Most of the young voters are educated unemployed who voted aggressively for NC with a hope that they will get the chance of applying for jobs. They will never reckon the performance of the government through the lens of doling out free electricity, or increasing the number of subsidized cooking gas cylinders and many more concessions as promised in election manifesto, although important, but they are gazing at creation of new jobs and filling up of already existing vacancies. The government has to take bold decisions to reduce the unemployment rate among educated youth, especially those with higher qualifications.
We must bear in mind that education and skill levels among young individuals prepare the way for their transition to the labour market. The jobless world class human resource equipped with knowledge and skill are sufficiently available in J&K, waiting in employment queue for economic growth and structural transformation. Reaping the full benefits of NEP 2020 would require infusion of fresh blood and passionate and skilled human resource into the education system, especially higher education; otherwise the targets envisioned in the NEP will never be realized. During my routine morning walk I have been observing a sudden surge of young boys running on the roads since the formation of popular government, to keep themselves fit for road race, if any, an important prerequisite for appointment in police and paramilitary forces. What is it? It is simply hope, a transcending expectation.
To conclude, I would like to urge the policy makers to re-read. Article 23 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states, ‘Everyone has the right to work and to protection against unemployment’ and translate it into action.
(Concluded…)
(The Author is Principal (Rtd) J&K Higher Education Department. Feedback: Feedback: [email protected])
