The problem of unemployment in Ladakh not only persisted but also worsened after it was declared a separate Union Territory (UT) carving out of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir on 5th of August, 2019. Today as we are witnessing one year of UT, we find that not a single recruitment examination has been done to fill the much hype created gazetted post and group C, D of around 6000 vacancies in various departments. Meanwhile, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has already conducted many recruitment examinations such as JKSSB Panchayat Accounts Assistant, J&K Bank PO etc. Given below is an extract taken from Daily Excelsior showing how successfully JKSSB has conducted the test.

The UT administration Ladakh claims absence of a recruiting agency and a proper policy for the delay in filling the vacancies. Now we ask when such agency and policy will come. Initially, we were given an assurances to wait until the general council election in Leh is over. Now it’s been almost one and a half month since the election, there is no tentative schedule from the administration as to when such agency and policy will come and conduct free and fair exams in order to fill the advertised vacancies.

Moreover, in the recent past, orderly and contractual employees under UJALA and NOOR societies of erstwhile State of J&K, who have been working since fifteen or sixteen years in the education department were served with an order without any prior notice stating discontinuance of their jobs? They were also deprived of their salary for the past one year after Ladakh became a UT. This is totally unjust and not fair. While on the other hand, their

Counterparts in UT J&K, who were recruited same year under the same scheme are continuing their jobs with timely salary. How the crisis of unemployment in Ladakh will improve, if things go like this. This will only add to the already built up pool of unemployed youths. Following is a video taken from a Gulistan News Ladakh. It is showing dissatisfaction by those sacked employees.

However, later after repeated requests, Hon’ble MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal gave assurances that their jobs will not be discontinued. Now It is a matter of time to see, how the things would turned out to be.

On the other hand, manpower are being outsourced from Jammu and Kashmir and other areas to meet daily requirement. What is the need of outsourcing when highly qualified youths in Ladakh are already unemployed?

The callousness shown by the administration is unjustified. It is now over one year of UT, but we cannot see any positive results. How the people of Ladakh especially in Leh district welcomed the decision of the central govt. to form a separate UT cannot be forgotten. How the leaders cutting across the party lines expressed their happiness though with cynical gesture is noteworthy. We celebrated the move signifying our victory over the long pending demand of a UT status. However, we knew that it was only a half-hearted move by granting a UT status without legislature contrary to our original demand. The people of Ladakh posed immense faith in the present dispensation.

The sole purpose of making Ladakh a separate UT was to usher in transformational changes in all sectors of the economy. Creating jobs for youths is one of them. We cannot afford to set the clock back.