Unemployed agriculture  graduates take out protest march in Sopore

Sopore, July 20: Hundreds of unemployed agricultural graduates held a peaceful protest at SKUAST campus here in Sopore on Saturday expressing deep concern over the escalating unemployment crisis faced by the agricultural graduates in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir for the last two decades.

The protesters highlighted the Govt’s lack of attention, inadequate policies and the failure to fill vacant positions in the J&K Agriculture Production Department, which have intensified the unemployment situation for agricultural graduates, post graduates, doctoral and post-doctoral students.

They said that they have submitted hundreds of grievances to the Jammu and Kashmir Government Grievance Cell, but to no avail, as the grievances were disposed of citing the ongoing reorganisation of the department as the reason from the past six years.

“The inability of the government to address the genuine concerns of unemployed agricultural graduates, despite our relentless efforts to seek redressal, is deeply disappointing,” said one of the protesters.

“The repeated dismissal of our grievances, citing the prolonged reorganisation process, is a clear indication of the lack of will to tackle the unemployment crisis particularly of the agricultural graduates."

The protesters further said that these restrictive policies and inconsistent decisions not only deprive qualified agricultural graduates of employment opportunities but also hinder the infusion of fresh talent and ideas into the Agriculture Production Department.

They called for an immediate review and revocation of SRO-442, the resumption of direct recruitment for both gazetted and non-gazetted entry-level posts as agricultural students deserve to be treated as stakeholders in the Agriculture Department.