It was heartening to see the country’s top court coming to the rescue of a young girl who was denied financial aid by the J&K administration through a corporation from which she has sought a loan to seek admission in a college in Bangladesh to study medicine. While the Supreme Court has dismissed the plea of the J&K administration, it has ruled in favour of the girl by stating that if the plea is accepted then that would negatively impact the education of the girl.
Even though the case pertains to an individual, it has set precedence for others. The Court made remarks stating that there is a need for promoting the youth of J&K by educating them. The SC went on to state that Kashmiri youth need to be brought into the mainstream and there is a need to promote the youth of J&K by educating them. While these are welcome comments made by the Court, there is a need for understanding the ground situation too. There are youngsters in Kashmir who are highly qualified but are without jobs and are in turn getting exposed to several pressures.
If we talk of the literacy rate in Kashmir, it is far better than several states of the country, but at the same time, the growing unemployment is turning out to be a monster, destroying the mental peace and tranquillity of youngsters across Kashmir. If not entirely, but to some extent, the root cause of the increased drug menace is unemployment, because to escape the reality, the highly qualified youngsters—as they have nothing to look up for—end up becoming victims of drug addiction.
No matter the issue of unemployment is prevalent pan-India, things are quite different in Kashmir. The private sector—if it is not booming—is well established in several other parts of the country, leaving some scope for the youngsters to opt for the private sector in case they get nothing out of the public sector. In J&K, that option does not even exist. There are cases, where the youngsters with PhDs have been seen working on posts meant for graduates—such is the state of affairs prevalent and amid that the comments of SC make the entire scenario seems hilarious.
As of now, the Government has not been able to create jobs and perhaps the responsibility lies with the Government to ensure that the educated youth who are jobless get the necessary assistance for sustenance. They are educated, they are ready to serve, but the failure is on the part of the Government which should be now come up with a plan for ensuring ex-gratia to youngsters who do not have jobs.
