Seeks roadmap for educated unemployed youth
SRINAGAR: Prominent social and student rights activist Er. Ehtisham Khan has expressed grave concern over what he described as the Jammu and Kashmir Government’s “contradictory and self-defeating employment policy,” questioning how the administration intends to address the aspirations of thousands of educated unemployed youth while simultaneously issuing recruitment notifications that progressively narrow their employment opportunities.
In a strongly-worded statement, Khan said the recent recruitment notification issued by the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) for 288 Warder posts in the Home Department, prescribing “Maximum 10+2 Qualification” as an eligibility condition, reflects a deeply flawed understanding of Jammu and Kashmir’s unemployment crisis. “Jammu and Kashmir already suffers from one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. At such a time, a responsible government should be expanding opportunities for educated youth, not creating artificial barriers that exclude graduates, postgraduates, and professionally qualified candidates from competing,” he said.
Khan observed that the development comes at a time when the government continues to make recruitments under the same reservation framework which it had publicly promised to rationalise months ago. “It is astonishing that while the government repeatedly assures the public that reservation rationalisation is under consideration, every fresh recruitment continues under the existing framework without any corrective intervention. Promises remain frozen, but recruitments continue uninterrupted. This contradiction exposes a serious lack of political intent,” he remarked.
Referring to the JKSSB notification, Khan questioned the rationale behind prescribing an upper educational limit instead of encouraging merit. “Education cannot become a disqualification in a welfare state. It is difficult to comprehend how acquiring a graduation degree, a postgraduate qualification, or professional education can become a reason for exclusion from public employment. Such policies send a disturbing message—that the youth are being penalised for investing in education,” he said.
Calling the move administratively irrational, Khan said the government appears to have no comprehensive employment strategy for the educated population of Jammu and Kashmir. “Where are graduates expected to go? Where should postgraduates, engineers, lawyers, management professionals, and research scholars seek employment if government jobs themselves begin shutting their doors on higher qualifications? If education is not rewarded, what exactly is the message being conveyed to society?” he asked.
He urged the administration to immediately review the eligibility condition prescribing a maximum educational qualification for the Home Department Warder posts and simultaneously place before the people a comprehensive employment roadmap addressing the concerns of graduates, postgraduates, and other qualified unemployed youth.
Concluding, Khan said: “A government must never place its educated youth in a position where academic achievement becomes a liability instead of an asset. The future of Jammu and Kashmir cannot be secured by limiting aspirations; it can only be secured by expanding opportunities. The youth deserve transparent policies, equal opportunities, and a government that treats education as a strength—not as a reason for exclusion.”