Unemployed youth cling to held Kashmir elections for hope

HELD SRINAGAR, INDIA: Ayaz Nabi Malik from the Pulwama district in India’s Jammu and Kashmir region has a master’s degree but has been unemployed for nearly a decade.

Like many others in his situation, the 30-year old is looking towards the local assembly elections on Sept. 18 to Oct.1 -- the first in 10 years -- with some hope after political parties put tackling youth unemployment at the heart of their campaigns. With unemployment in the region running at 18.3%, nearly double India’s national average of 9.2%, the situation is desperate, say locals. There is a lot of competition for government jobs given the development of the private sector has been limited by decades of conflict and unstable governance. A 28-year-old man from Srinagar who graduated in civil engineering in 2021 told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that the situation had gotten so bad that he was now suffering from anxiety and depression. “I’ve been struggling to get a government job ever since I completed my degree, but I haven’t been able to secure one. Now, without a job, I find myself battling suicidal thoughts every day,” said the man, who will remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue.

To address these deepening economic and social problems, the contending parties, including India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and regional parties Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), are promising to create jobs for young people and upskill workers.

With an estimated 600,000 people currently out of work in the Jammu and Kashmir region, those policies can’t come soon enough, said Javid Ahmed Tenga, president of the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI).

The territory had a population of around 12.5 million in 2011, according to the latest census available. “As the elections approach, it’s crucial that the next government introduces policies that bolster the private sector and promote skill-based initiatives to effectively tackle the unemployment crisis,” he said. Nearly 9 million people are registered to vote for the legislative assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The decision to hold regional elections for the first time in a decade comes after India’s Supreme Court upheld a decision by the government to scrap the region’s special status.