Jammu and Kashmir was still struggling to come to terms before the covid-19 pandemic announced its arrival. With the coronavirus and the lockdown imposed to curb its spread, the situation became more wobbly for all shades of life and ages. While most of the businessmen accrued more losses, the situation turns out to be more challenging for the youth. Those who had started to get some kind of job lost it while those struggling to get one continue to fight in despair as employment avenues dry up not only in J&K but across India as well as globally.
New data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), an independent body that measures and tracks economic indicators, has said that salaried jobs took a big hit during the COVID-19 lockdown, with the total loss estimated to be at 18.9 million during April 2020-July 2020.
The plight of salaried employees has worsened since the lockdown, with a loss of 17.7 million salaried jobs in April, additional 0.1 million jobs in May, followed by a gain of 3.9 million jobs in June and then again a loss of 5 million jobs in July, it said.
There is need to brace up for the challenge before things literally crumple. When the world is faced with the challenge of the pandemic, J&K is crushed under the weight of several troubles, mainly on account of the pandemic as well as instability in terms of politics and governance.
Given the situation when the normal processes of recruitment have come to a halt, one can only imagine the amount of hardships people are up to especially in J&K.
The creation of government jobs remains enigma, notwithstanding claims by the administration. The space for private entrepreneurship has squeezed as no meaningful investments are coming from anywhere. On top of it, the traditional sectors of tourism and handicraft are on the skids. In this backdrop, the government needs to come forward and develop human resources. True, there are limits to the creation of jobs within the government departments but the posts lying vacant can be filled up. Also, there is a need to give local businesses a boost and create an atmosphere which will help grow them.
Some kind of solace in terms of providing unemployment allowance is needed to be announced especially for those who are more badly situated. The government is a beneficiary state and it has to do all that can help citizens overcome this crisis especially the present one thrown by the pandemic.
