New Delhi, Feb 12: National Conference MP Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan on Thursday mounted a sharp critique of the Centre’s employment record in Jammu and Kashmir, pointing to official data that shows the Union Territory’s unemployment rate has surged to nearly twice the national average even as the all-India figure remains largely static.
Intervening during Question Hour, Ramzan as per Kashmir Convener drew on Periodic Labour Force Survey figures to contrast the divergent trajectories. Between 2022-23 and 2025, J&K’s jobless rate climbed from 4.4 per cent to 6.1 per cent and then to 6.7 per cent. Over the same period, the national average held steady between 3.2 and 3.5 per cent.
“The gap is widening, and there is no indication that this trend will reverse,” Ramzan said, seeking to know whether the government had any concrete plan to address what he termed a crisis in the making.
He placed on record that over 3.57 lakh educated youth in J&K are currently unemployed — 2.34 lakh men and 1.27 lakh women. Among them, 66,000 are graduates, 47,000 postgraduates, over 15,000 hold professional degrees and more than 10,000 have diplomas.
The MP pressed the government on whether it was considering enhanced recruitment in the armed forces, police, railways and public sector undertakings, or proposing fresh private sector initiatives specifically for J&K.
He then flagged another pressing concern. “Around 13.5 lakh people in J&K are affected by drug addiction, a significant number of them youth,” Ramzan said, adding that large-scale seizures of narcotics in recent years had failed to stem the tide of substance abuse.
“Seizures are one thing. Prevention and de-addiction are another. What is the government actually doing to stop young people from turning to drugs?” he asked.
Responding, the minister listed various skill development and employment generation schemes intended to integrate J&K’s youth into the mainstream. He said around 1.6 lakh people from the UT have been brought under the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation network in the past two years.
He also cited registrations under the Pradhan Mantri Vikas Bharat Rojgar Yojana and asserted that both the Centre and the J&K administration are working in tandem to expand job opportunities and address social challenges, including drug abuse.
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