The Rising unemployment rates in South Kashmir offer new opportunities to young professionals with higher education

Where there is a will, there is a way

Sameer Ahmad

Anantnag:   Akib Hameed Dar son of Abdul Hameed Dar , 29, is a native of Nadura Dooru area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, which lies about 20KMS from District Headquarters Anantnag.  In 2016, he earned a master’s degree in Mathematics from Uttrakhand Garhwal Central University with the goal of becoming a teacher. Prior to earning his master’s degree, Akib earned a BSC degree in non-medical from Kashmir University. It was his ambition to become a teacher or professor who would teach students in schools and colleges, but his luck didn’t favor him and he became a street vendor instead.

Akib is presently pursuing a PhD in Mathematics and his degree is under process at Rabindranath Tagore University in Bhopal.

Akib Hameed Dar son of Abdul Hameed Dar hails from Nadura Dooru area of south kashmir’s Anantnag District which lies about 20 kilometers from District Headquarter Anantnag. In addition to the SSRB exams, Akib has applied for and taken part in at least 14  exams, including the Indian armed forces exams in the BSF, police constable, and SI sub inspector. Despite passing several SSRB exams, however, he was dropped by a few points, and in the armed forces test he was dropped in the physical exams and finally Akib  gave up.

”My parents have spent almost 6 lakhs on my education while I studied outside Kashmir, I have not yet been married since I am still unemployed. As the eldest son of my family, I live with my parents in Dooru village, while my younger sister is married. My father is a constable in the police department,” Aqib told Arising State.

A large number of educated working-men and women are unemployed in Kashmir. The rise in unemployment has been particularly difficult on young minds in the past four years.

In spite of Akib’s accomplishments, his unsuccessful job hunting led him to anxiety, so one day a friend of his, Farooq Ahmad Ganie, advised him to establish a mobile business venture. “He had been teaching at Rasool Mir Memorial private school Dooru for a while before leaving due to his meager salary of Rs 1500 a month,” he said.

In response to a friend’s advice to establish their own business venture on a mobile van in Dooru area, Akib told another friend, Mohammed Iqbal Itoo ,who is also highly qualified individual and  is pursuing MPhill ,M.Ed. They both purchased a van and started an initiative selling food items on a mobile van namely Chai Dam in Dooru Anantnag.

The duo has named Mobile Van “Chai Daam”. On a mobile van, they sell food items including tea, Biryani,, and other things near Dooru Sub hospital.

”Chai Daam” is a Kashmiri word that means to drink a “tea sip” .

Mohd Iqbal Itoo 40, a friend of Akib Hameed pursued M Phil, M.Ed and completed MSc in Environmental science from Bhartiya University Coimbatore University in Tamilnadu in 2008. In order to support his  family, he hoped to become a government worker, but unfortunately, his luck also didn’t favor him and he began doing street business with Akib at Dooru Anantnag.  Mohd Iqbal also hails from Dooru village in Anantnag district and  has an 18 months old kid.

As per Mohd Iqbal, he has been continuously employed as a lecturer since 2009, and then as a trainer, teacher, and field facilitator for 5 years with an NGO.

A majority of contractual lecturers were appointed by the government as permanent before Mohd Iqbal became a contract lecturer in 2009. However, the government has changed its policy and he claims that those who are permanently employed by the government are either relatives of politicians or bureaucrats and that we have not been heard of. Iqbal is among three thousand contractual lecturers who were disengaged by the government.   There was no option other than to start something of our own,” Iqbal said.

”As a way of earning a living, my friend and I sell food items from a mobile van in Dooru market.” ‘We plan to continue this venture in South Kashmir so that jobs can be provided for others as well.   According to Iqbal, ‘young people must not shy away from starting their own small businesses to earn a living’.  Mohd Iqbal is also eldest son of his  family living with his wife, parents, and two younger brothers.

The unemployment crisis in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district is also typified by Rohail Rasheed, 25, born in Harnag area of the district.

As a Master of Computer Application (MCA) graduate from Bangalore University in 2016, Rohail planned to become a software engineer. During this time Rohail appeared in several Kashmir SSRB exams, but failed to get a seat. Consequently, Rohail developed depression for several years. Last year, he thought he would not get anything out of this depression at home, and he started his own business venture at Pahalgam.

As Rohail told the Daily Arising, ‘my parents have sacrificed a great deal for me and spent almost 30 lakhs on my education. My academic achievements include a Bachelor of Computer Application (BCA) and a Master of Computer Application (MCA) from Bangalore University’,stated Rohail.

Adding that’ I haven’t lost hope, I am still applying for the job posts advertised by the government in Kashmir’, he said.

He said that Kashmir has thousands of highly qualified youth without jobs, among whom some are averaged and some are addicted to drugs. Unemployment is the main cause of drug dependence in Kashmir.

Rohail calls the Mobile Van a “party truck”. Rohail bought his own van and renovated it into a restaurant near Pahalgam amusement park.

Rohail, who also sells food on a mobile van in Pahalgam, said the absence of an elected government in J&K leads to a disconnect between people’s aspirations and real policymakers. “The government serves as a bridge, but now that bureaucrats are making policies in isolation, they aren’t reflected on the ground,” he says. Therefore, the government needs to change its job policy in Jammu and Kashmir.”

Unemployed youth with higher education have been seen in the Anantnag district, setting up their own businesses in tourist destinations.

According to Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) figures in March 2022, J&K has a 25 percent unemployment rate, which is even higher than the national level unemployment rate of 7.6 percent recorded across India.

According to CMIE among all states, and Union Territories, UT of J&K has the second-highest unemployment rate; Haryana with a 26.7 percent unemployment rate is ahead of J&K.

Following the report of Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), Assistant Director employment exchange officer Anantnag Nawshad Ahmad said that there is not any mechanism in place on ground that finds out the real ratio of unemployed youth in Anantnag District.

According to him, we have recently received a directive from the office of the chief secretary in Srinagar to survey at the tehsil level in order to obtain a real estimate of the number of unemployed young people.  In the coming days, we will be able to get the real ratio because our teams are currently working in tehsils

According to him, there are several schemes for young unemployed people in Jammu and Kashmir that come under the mission youth. Hundreds of them visit our office every day for these schemes and we give them a platform through these schemes, he said.