Daya Sagar
After October 2018 and particularly after Manoj Sinha talking over as LG of UT of J&K on November 7, 2020 the job seeking youth and under employed youth in government services and has started sensing that the government really believes in fair treatment to the youth force of India since the process of dismantling unfair employment polices (like SRO-202 of 2015 ) and their shadows ( SO 192 of 2020 ) had started. SRO S.O. 425 on September 6, 2023 was issued repealing the unfair Jammu and Kashmir Probationer (Conditions of Service, Pay and Allowances) and Fixation of Tenure Rules, 2020 notified vide S.O. 192 dated June 17, 2020 with effect from September 1, 2022.
Governments often claim to have set among their first tasks to address the requirements of ‘one’ standing in the last row and if truthfully so , who could be the most deserving target beneficiary other than the unemployed and underemployed youth. But all these years it has been the unemployed youth , even the youth having acquired post graduate qualifications who has been / was being till recently exploited out one’s economic compulsions in J&K. It has been very well reported and admitted fact that the J&K state had very less opportunities for employment in the private sector and most of the people depended upon the employment opportunities in government services / State Public sector. For about nearly 7 decades after the Indian princely State of J&K had become a unit of Sovereign ‘Socialist Secular’ Democratic Republic of India no meaningful opportunities for employment in private sector could be created, Most of the subjects of J&K depended for socio economic security on the infrastructure creation and maintenance works being taken up by government as far as earning of their livelihood. Tourism sector did provide some employment opportunities but that too were limited by commercial value to only about to the people of less than 20% of the area of the State ; that too mostly to the areas that were that were already known to the outside world even before 1947.
Not only that as regards government services even popular governments have been making policies to exploit the economic compulsions of large mass of job seeking youth with very irrational employment rules /policies and socially discouraging terms of employment where about half the normal pay for the post was paid to the employee for even upto 5 years of first employment with no annual incremental advance. The compulsions for unemployed youth could be well sensed from the fact that even candidates with Ph.D ‘decorations’ have been applying for lower level school teacher posts.
To quote Omar Abdullah lead NC- Congress J&K Government had vide order No 257 F of 2011 on October 27, 2011 laid down ‘Modalities’ for fixed salary mode of Recruitment in Non-Gazetted categories for class-IV, III / other Non gazetted posts where under new appointee were to be paid around 1/3rd of due wages for some years with no increments / allowances. No doubt the policy was later withdrawn under decision of May 31, 2014 in view of some public awareness generated, more in Valley, through stories published in media like State Times, and sensing fears in view of forth coming 2014 November J&K Legislative Assembly elections. But the relief was very short lived since Mufti Mohd Sayeed lead PDP-State Government once again through SRO 202 of June 30, 2015 came out with J&K Special Recruitment Rules, 2015 – SRO-202 where under during first five years probation period , the appointee (all non gazetted posts and some nominated gazetted posts) was entitled only to wages equivalent to minimum of the scale of pay without any entitlement of annual increments, Dearness Allowance, House Rent Allowance, Transport Allowance, CEA, CHSA, and City Compensatory Allowance .No doubt with the awareness about bads generated by civil society the probation period was reduced during President Rule in UT of J&K from 5 to 2 years vide S.O 192/ 194 of June 17, 2020 but to add to woes of the needy the rules were then extended to even gazetted services unless a particular recruitment is specifically exempted by government. Even Doctors (Minimum Qualification MBBS) who had accepted reduced pay were appointed against substentive field posts vide Order No. 4 7 -HME of2019 Dated: January 14, 2019 ( 921 Medical Officers ( Level-9/52700-166700 with terms of probation governed by SRO-202 of June 30, 2015) and under No 938- JK(HME) of 2020 Dated December 31, 2020 ( 459 medical officers with two year probation period and other service conditions in terms of S.O 192 of June 17, 2020 probation of 2 years.}. One would well assess indirect bad affect of such policies l (i) the employers in the private sector too could exploit the job seeking youth by paying them less salary since general opportunity in government too was with low salary (ii) economic compulsions of under employed would keep him/ her under stresses which would also adversely affect the quality of the services one had to offer in a office or a school (iii) and like. Any now surely there have been very very pleasant change in the recruitment rules for government employees after 2019 in the UT of J&K & UT of Ladakh (though a little late but surely a very considerate change worth building belief in intentions of government) with the issue of SRO S.O. 425 on September 6, 2023. Ofcourse number of capital intensive projects / investment have also been promoted/ permitted / attracted after 2019 by government in all regions of erstwhile state of J&K in the private sector too which are surely going to create more job opportunities in private sector reducing dependence on government sector with better cost to company opportunities since government too has started divorcing recruitment policies that unfairly have been exploiting the economic needs of job seekers.
It is hoped that may be undoing the practices of under employing professionally qualified job seekers as also rest in schemes like Rabar e Zeerat and as in Rehbar e Taleem too may be under review , rather it should be in view of the fact that Government has been very seriously launching more & more projects also in the road infrastructure sector ( like making travel on highways like Jammu through Srinagar to Ladakh blockage free throughout the year.) as well as tourism sector in all the regions.