Jammu

The Jammu and Kashmir government on Tuesday informed the Legislative Assembly that at present, there are 32,474 vacancies in different departments of the UT government.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said in his written reply to a question by Sajad Gani Lone, MLA from the Handwara constituency of Kupwara district, that on January 31, 2025, there are 32,474 vacancies in different departments.

Of these, 2503 vacancies are of gazetted officers, while 19,214 are of non-gazetted ranks, and 10,757 are of multi-tasking staff ranks.

Since the Omar Abdullah-led government took oath on October 16, 2024, a total of 3,727 vacancies have been referred to the J&K Services Selection Board (JKSSB) and the J&K Public Service Commission (PSC).

Of the referred vacancies, 1754 are of non-gazetted rank, 1235 are of multi-tasking rank, while 738 are of gazetted officers.

The written reply by the Chief Minister also said that Rs 14.17 crore was collected as examination fees from candidates appearing in recruiting tests conducted by JKSSB and PSC.

Asked whether the government intends to make the job application forms available to candidates free of cost, the government replied that no such proposal is under consideration by the government.

It must be mentioned that because of the absence of any industrial support base for employment, seeking government jobs in J&K or moving out to other places for employment remains the only alternative for educated, trained youth if they don’t prefer to become self-employed in trade, horticulture, agriculture, IT and other avenues in services sector.

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To make the youth of J&K job givers rather than job seekers, the Government of India has started major flagship self-employment schemes wherein the educated, trained local youth entrepreneurs have friendly access to advice, financial support and technical support.

The J&K government, in collaboration with the Centre, is also running parallel self-employment support schemes that are aimed at providing self-employment avenues to the local youth interested in the revival of the traditional arts and crafts of J&K.