The Silent Exodus
Future of Youth in Jammu & Kashmir
| STATISTIC | FIGURE | NATIONAL CONTEXT |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Unemployment Rate (2025) | 6.1% | National average: 5.2% |
| Urban Unemployment Rate | 10.6% | Nearly double rural rate (5.1%) |
| Youth Unemployment (15-29 years) | 46.3% | 2nd highest in India after Kerala |
| Female Unemployment | 20.2% | National avg: 3.7% — nearly 6x higher |
| Registered Unemployed Youth | ~3.6 lakh | 2 lakh Kashmir, 1.5 lakh Jammu |
| Educated Unemployment Rate | 23.9% | Highest among all categories |
| Post-Graduates Unemployed | 21,205+ | Registered as of June 2021 |
Let that sink in. Nearly half of J&K's educated youth are unemployed. Not underemployed. Not waiting for the right opportunity. Unemployed. In a region where education was once the only ladder out of poverty, the ladder now leads nowhere.
The Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board (JKSSB) collected ₹77 crore as examination fees between March 2016 and September 2020. Seventy-seven crore rupees from job-seeking candidates — many of whom are post-graduates and Ph.D. holders applying for Class IV (peon) positions.
In 2022 alone, JKSSB advertised 8,000 Class IV jobs. Over 5 lakh aspirants applied, including post-graduates and Ph.D. holders. Think about that. A person who spent 20+ years in education, who holds a doctorate, is competing for a peon's job. This isn't a failure of the individual. This is a systemic collapse.
- Rote Learning Culture: Students memorize concepts rather than understanding them. Critical thinking is punished, conformity is rewarded.
- Degree Inflation: Every parent forces their child into higher education — not because it's needed, but because it's a "mark of social status." The result? A flood of graduates with degrees that have zero market value.
- No Vocational Training: Courses are purely conventional. A B.Com graduate knows accounting theory but can't operate Tally. A B.Tech graduate knows formulas but can't code.
- Government Job Obsession: 80% of educated youth seek government jobs. Why? Because the private sector is virtually non-existent. Because entrepreneurship is a distant dream. Because in a conflict zone, a government job is the only "secure" future.
Research shows that in J&K, dropouts often earn more than post-graduates. How? Because dropouts start earning at 18, work in tourism, horticulture, or multiple seasonal jobs simultaneously. A post-graduate starts earning at 30, is "unidimensional," and only fit for organized sector jobs that don't exist.
The education system isn't empowering youth — it's entombing them in unemployment. Parents who sold land to fund degrees watch their children compete for peon positions. The dream of education as liberation has become a trap.
When a child leaves, the family doesn't just lose a member — it loses its future. Parents who spent their life savings on education watch their children pack bags for Bangalore, Delhi, Dubai, or Canada. The house becomes quieter. The parents grow older alone. The family shifts — sometimes physically, following the child, leaving behind ancestral homes and graves.
For those who stay, the psychological burden is crushing. A scholar in Srinagar explains: "An unemployed woman begins to question everything once she finds herself without any job after having studied so much. She internalises the idea of being a burden."
Wamiq's story is every Kashmiri youth's story. His friend Musaib texts from Dubai: "Don't worry, brother. It gets easier." But Wamiq wonders — is that a promise or a warning? The valley is still breathtaking. The Jhelum still flows. But the people who should inherit this beauty are leaving — not because they want to, but because staying has become a luxury they can't afford.
- Depression and Anxiety: Rampant among unemployed youth who see no future
- Substance Abuse: Drug addiction is rising alarmingly, especially in Kashmir Valley
- Suicidal Ideation: The feeling of being a "burden" drives many to dark thoughts
- Post-Traumatic Stress: Every shutdown, every encounter, every dead body on the street adds to the trauma
When Ifrat Rashid completed her Master's in Education from Kashmir University in 2018, she was the first in her family to do so. She was confident it would lead to a government job. But her applications were rejected. Then came the August 2019 lockdown. Then COVID. Then more lockdowns.
In 2019, she enrolled in a tailoring course — not because she wanted to, but because "waiting indefinitely for a government job wasn't an option." She was worried about what people would think. She avoided telling anyone. But when she joined, she was surprised to see highly qualified women doing the same.
"The highest-qualified student I have taught so far has two Master's degrees."
This is what trauma looks like. Not dramatic. Not cinematic. Just quiet, grinding despair. A generation that fought through conflict to get educated, only to find that education has no value in the marketplace.
- 80% of recruitment exams announced by JKSSB and JKPSC are delayed or challenged in court
- Thousands of posts lie vacant across health, public works, and education departments
- December 15, 2025: J&K government terminated 103 employees of Fire & Emergency Services after large-scale irregularities
- Over 1 lakh daily wagers work across departments without job security or benefits
- Contractual Trap: Regular recruitment replaced by contractual hiring. Young people work for years on contracts, hoping for regularization that never comes
The government job was once the golden ticket. Now it is a mirage — visible from afar, unreachable up close. Youth spend years preparing for exams that get cancelled, challenged, or delayed. Their prime years dissolve in waiting rooms and coaching centers.
| METRIC | J&K FIGURE | CONTEXT |
|---|---|---|
| Large & Medium Industries (2012) | 15 units | Minuscule |
| Large & Medium Industries (2016) | 86 units | Still tiny |
| SSI Units Financed by Banks | 19,621 | 16.06% are sick |
| Sick Industrial Units | 3,151 | ₹4033.74 crore stuck |
| Industrial Contribution to GSDP | ~6% | Should be much higher |
Even if a young person wants to start a business, the system is designed to fail them:
- Collateral Requirements: Banks demand property or third-party guarantees. A poor unemployed person has neither.
- Corruption: J&K ranks among the top corrupt states. Subsidies meant for the unemployed are eaten by middlemen.
- Infrastructure: Poor roads, erratic electricity, and internet shutdowns make business impossible.
- Land Scarcity: Industrial land is limited and expensive. New estates are planned but delayed.
There is some light. Since 2022, J&K has attracted ₹14,948 crore in private investment, creating 64,515 jobs:
| YEAR | UNITS | INVESTMENT (₹ Cr) | JOBS CREATED |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-23 | 629 | 2,153.45 | 15,719 |
| 2023-24 | 234 | 3,389.37 | 29,969 |
| 2024-25 | 405 | 4,145.59 | 11,396 |
| 2025-26 (till Dec) | 184 | 5,260 | 7,431 |
Source: J&K Legislative Assembly, February 2026
But 64,515 jobs for 3.6 lakh registered unemployed youth? That's less than 20% coverage. And these are mostly low-skill manufacturing jobs — not the white-collar positions educated youth seek. The investment is welcome. The scale is inadequate.
- J&K Start-Up Policy 2024-27
- J&K Industrial Policy 2021-30
- New Central Sector Scheme (NCSS) with ₹28,400 crore outlay
- Single Window Clearance System
- 100% subsidy for DG sets, automation, pollution control
The economic unpredictability — shutdowns, curfews, internet bans — makes long-term planning impossible. A startup founder in Srinagar can't guarantee a Zoom call when the internet is throttled to 2G.
The J&K Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI) — a ray of hope — was itself burnt down during political turmoil. If the institution meant to create entrepreneurs isn't safe, what hope do the entrepreneurs have?
The policies are on paper. The ground is burning. The gap between policy and reality is where J&K's youth live — and die.
A scholar in Srinagar explains: "In our patriarchal society, education and economic empowerment are foundational for a woman to be seen as an equal of a man. Earning your own money gives much needed weight to a woman's voice. It makes her assertive."
When that voice is silenced by unemployment, women internalize their own oppression. They become dependent. They lose agency. They become, in their own minds, "burdens." The reverse migration — from service sector back to agriculture and handicrafts — is not just economic regression. It is social regression.
Parents in J&K live in a state of perpetual anxiety. They invested everything — money, dreams, prayers — into their children's education. And now?
- Stay and Suffer: Watch the child grow depressed, unemployed, and hopeless
- Send Them Away: Bear the emotional and financial cost of migration
- Leave With Them: Sell ancestral property and shift to Jammu, Delhi, or beyond
Many choose option 3. The valley loses not just its youth, but its families. The social fabric tears. Neighborhoods empty. Schools close. Markets shrink. It's a demographic death spiral.
Parents who can't afford to send children abroad or to metro cities watch them settle for daily wage work — or worse, drugs. The guilt is crushing. "We educated them to save them from this life. We ended up trapping them in it."
| SCHEME | PROMISE | REALITY |
|---|---|---|
| SKEWPY | Self-employment for youth | Poor response due to cumbersome procedures |
| JKSOECL | Overseas employment | Failed to place a single youth in 7 years |
| PMEGP | 62,224 units, 5 lakh jobs | Mostly low-skill service sector (beauty parlors, boutiques) |
| NCSS | ₹28,400 crore investment | Fully subscribed but mostly manufacturing, not white-collar |
| Holistic Agriculture Plan | 2.88 lakh jobs | Still in implementation |
The schemes exist. The money exists. The will does not. Or perhaps the will exists, but the machinery is too broken to deliver. Either way, the youth of J&K are not beneficiaries. They are bystanders in their own future.
- Make vocational education compulsory at college level
- Tie degrees to market needs — not just academic prestige
- Teach financial literacy, coding, digital marketing — not just theory
- Focus on IT, biotechnology, and skill-based courses
- Develop heavy and medium industries (only 86 exist currently)
- Fix infrastructure: roads, electricity, internet — no more shutdowns
- Create 46 new industrial estates as planned
- Attract investment beyond tourism and horticulture
- Transparent, time-bound recruitment process
- Fill vacant posts immediately — no more delays
- Regularize daily wagers — they are the backbone of governance
- Create an independent monitoring agency for recruitment
- Fully fund and protect JKEDI
- Provide collateral-free loans for youth
- Ensure internet stability for digital businesses
- Create incubation centers in every district
- Counseling centers in every college and university
- De-addiction programs with government funding
- Community support groups for unemployed youth
- Trauma-informed education and employment policies
- Women-specific employment programs
- Safe transportation for working women
- Childcare support at workplaces
- Anti-discrimination enforcement in hiring
J&K's youth crisis is not just about jobs. It's about dignity, identity, and belonging. It's about a generation that grew up with conflict, got educated despite it, and now finds itself with nowhere to go.
The valley is still breathtaking. The Jhelum still flows. The chinars still turn gold in autumn. But the people who should inherit this beauty are leaving — not because they want to, but because staying has become a luxury they can't afford.
The government has the data. It has the schemes. What it lacks is urgency and empathy. Every day of delay is a day of lost dreams, broken families, and a valley that grows emptier.