Srinagar: Describing Kashmir a political problem, the Awami Mutahida Mahaz (AMM) on Saturday said it needs a sustained and meaningful process to resolve it.
The AMM, an alliance of seven mainstream political parties after a meeting here took stock of present political situation of the state.
“We believe that Kashmir is essentially a political problem which can be resolved through a sustained and meaningful political process,” the AMM said in a statement after the meeting.
Nevertheless, the burning issues confronting people of Jammu and Kashmir particularly the unemployed youth cannot be postponed till the political part of the problem is addressed.
It said that “one of the burning issues, which we believe is adding to the atmosphere of uncertainty and alienation, is the alarming rate of unemployment in the state.”
The AMM said it was not a matter of serious concern only but we believe that any further delay in addressing this smoldering issue would make this problem worse.
“On one side the rate of unemployed youth is increasing day-by-day and on the other hand the government’s lax attitude is brewing a perception among people that recruitment drive has been deferred to meet partisan political interests in view of the coming elections,” the statement said.
According to an economic survey there are over 6.01 lakh unemployed youth who are registered in various district employment exchanges in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Government is yet to finalise operational modalities for engagement of 43,000 casual labourers.
The AMM said on one side the government shows its helplessness to engage daily wagers, casual labourers and need based workers and at the same time it was re-employing officers without any utility.
The fallout of such an extension given in Board of Professional Entrance Examination (BOPEE) is an eye opener in this regard, it said.
The credibility of recruitment agencies was already on its lowest ebb and now the BOPEE paper-leak scam has further eroded the credibility of these agencies.
The AMM leaders said, “We have been consistently demanding that marks allotted to candidates in viva voce is prone to manipulations hence these points need to be reduced and the whole examination process itself be video graphed and full details of results publicised to ensure transparency.”
An instance is that of over 8000 youth who were engaged as National Youth Corps (NYC) but soon after their absorption they were disengaged and left to run from pillar to post for their genuine demands.
Similarly, casual, need based and daily wagers working in Power Development Department (PDD), Public Health Engineering (PHE), Irrigation and other departments were not being paid their wages since long. “We ask the government that how long these youth who work on meagre wages will live on hollow promises. People who act as backbones of the centrally- sponsored schemes like ICDS, NRHM, ASHA and other schemes are being provided meagre honorarium and incentives which too are not being provided in time.
“We also express our serious concern over the failure of the successive governments in the state to initiate measures for creation of ample jobs for the unemployed youth and revival of Public Sector Units.”
“We believe the promotion of primary sectors could have been helpful in this regard. Keeping in view the financial constraints and limitations of the state government, the Centre must realise the urgency of the matter and extend its full support to strengthen the public and private sectors in the state.”
The AMM called upon the government to expedite the process of recruitment so that the unemployed youth benefit. (UNI)
Authorities must also clear the perceptions among people that this delaying tactics adopted in recruitment would benefit blue-eyed people in lieu of electoral favours. This is a dangerous tendency which should be addressed in the larger interest of an army of unemployed youth of the state, the statement added. (UNI)
