This would be the right time to question the union government and the elected representative of Ladakh, MR Jamyang Tsering Namgyal for their promises which were made with the people of Ladakh on 5^th August 2019 when the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir was bifurcated into two union territories called UTJK and UT Ladakh.

Home minister on the floor of house had said the bifurcation and revocation of article 370 will bring development prosperity and employment in aforesaid union territories, On the same day our honorable member of parliament Jamyang Namgyal in his fiery speech said only Abdullah family will get effected after revocation of article 370 else will receive benefits very shortly and soon Kashmir will prosper and will have huge development,

After a few days later MP Ladakh while interacting with media persons said the Kashmir politic was Kashmir centric only their focus was towards their own community and they have been discriminative toward the people of Ladakh in every sector be it education, Health, Funding and jobs and that was the primary reason Ladakhis have been demanding union territory status to Ladakh since 1948. Then he thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for accepting and fulfilling the long pending demand of Ladakh.

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The BJP led government made some major promises with the people of Ladakh for their support to the government in bifurcation of the erstwhile State and revocation of its Special status. This writer discusses some of these promises in light of the current status in Ladakh.

The first promise was Safeguard the interest of tribal population of Ladakh. Though the decision of union government of granting union territory status to Ladakh was welcomed by people in Leh who took to the streets of playing drums and dancing to the beats in traditional attires. But a month later the fear of jobs and land protection knocked the minds of people. As a result, a new chapter began demanding inclusion of Ladakh in sixth schedule of Indian constitution. In the first anniversary of grant of Union territory he was questioned on domicile and jobs, response to it he said within in 15 days there will be domicile law for Ladakh but it was fraudulent and fictitious not more than that.

The Apex Body of Peoples’ Movement for Sixth Schedule for Ladakh was constituted to strive for inclusion of Ladakh in Sixth Schedule. On 26 of September 2020 the member of this body met with the Union Home Minister but unfortunately not made any decision related to demand of the people and no such provision has been made so for to the people of Ladakh till date.

Another promise was creation of Jobs for unemployed youth of Ladakh. It seems the Govt is bypassing this promise too. The consistent increase in unemployment rate in both districts has become a grave concern though there is no official data available on unemployment. But a recent recruitment result of teacher and class IV jobs in Kargil shows that the ratio of vacancies against the huge number of aspirants is meagre. Large number professional and academics candidates are jobless and are in hope expecting some better from the UT administration of Ladakh. But this also seems a wrong perception. It has been a year and a half of creation of UT Ladakh. Nor a single post has been advertised neither a recruitment board has been established.

A recent notification by a private firm named Net creative Mind solution pvt, Ltd for account assistant jobs in Ladakh has clearly displayed the privatization and a news among people is that the very recent notified post of medical nurses has been tendered to a private firm, this has built insecurity in the minds of educate youths as they are familiar about the consequence of privatization and indeed the private firms can exploit them in order to make profit  

Meanwhile if we look at the recruitment work of Union territory of JK from last couple of months Jammu and Kashmir Service Selection Board [JKSSB] the job recruitment engine has begun its journey by advertising massive job rallies for domicile students. In the last three days J&K UT has advertised 1700 + 1997 posts in various departments like transport, Labor and employment, election, tribal affairs and finance advertisement date of 04, 2020. And 03 of 2020 detail of the posts are in the official site of JKSSB.

On the other hand, UT of Ladakh seem freeze till date not even a single vacancy has been advertised. The educated youth in both the district are in distress and are suffering hard. Is this really what the youth and the people of Ladakh deserve? What make me more perplexed is the silence of the educate youth. Through this piece, I urge all the youths to come out and fight for your right before your age expire you.

There is urgent need for drastic reform in government policies to build the confidence of the student community the government should come out with such policies and framework which result prosperity for the young educate unemployed youths of the area.