Sunday 27 May 2018

Where are jobs created in Uttarakhand?


Written by Anil Singh
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Unnecessary development is costing us our trees, cultural heritage | Opinion

The question being put to answer today is : If Uttarakhand is generating jobs, then where these jobs are being created?

The question is important for many reasons.

Firstly, the rate of unemployment in India is 50 percent. That is half of all persons in employable age are unemployed. For the state of Uttarakhand, the rate of unemployment is 70 percent. For urban areas (cities, towns in Uttarakhand) it is 32. That is 32 out of every 100 young man or woman is unemployed. For rural areas (Villages in Uttarakhand), the rate of unemployment is 81 percent.

Secondly, tourism is often called Uttarakhand's main job provider. If the sector is actually providing jobs, then what may be the reason behind high unemployment rate in the state. There may be two reasons, as far as I can tell -- The jobs are either too small in number; or they are not well paying.

That said, if Uttarakhand is not creating that many jobs, then are we focusing too much on tourism?

Asking this question because even a common person can tell that a significant number of people do visit Uttarakhand for various tourism purposes -- Religious, adventure and leisure tourism. People influx means money influx (arriving in) as well. But whenever successive Uttarakhand Governments are asked about lack of jobs in the state -- They tell people, that the state is resource or money starved.

Is there a possibility that religious tourism is not bringing much income to the State?

This can be a real possibility, as religious institutions are not taxed, the way businesses are.

Finally, this brings us to the all weather road for char dham yatra tourism in Uttarakhand. What purpose, this all weather road will truly solve?

In the one yer of the new Govt. in Uttarakhand, all we are hearing is about the all-weather road. RTE admissions have been cut, and Uttarakhand residents will better judge what useful in being done in their lives.

To conclude, it is important to think over these job related questions because it is also a real possibility that we may be witnessing unnecessary development which is costing us our trees, cultural heritage and revenue sources.

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