Around 100 unemployed youths attended the meeting called by All Ladakh Unemployment Youth Association (ALUYA) at Colony Park, Leh on October 11 over the issue of rising unemployment in Ladakh. 
 
Apprehensions among Ladakhi youths, especially on employment generation and recruitment after Union Territory set-up are increasing as the administration has so far not issued any notifications related to jobs. Youth from Ladakh alleged that the much-promised UT status has created more chaos and confusion among them. They complained that youth are facing a crisis as there are limited job opportunities in the new Union Territory set-up. 
 
President ALUYA, Tundup Thinlas said, “Unemployment is becoming a major issue in Ladakh. It’s been two years now and so far not even a single job has been opened. Many students are getting overaged and are still looking and hoping for a job opening. There is no positive development and we are requesting UT administration and Hill Council to take the issues seriously and initiate necessary steps”.
 
He threatened to come on the roads and protest if the administration does not take any action and further delay the process.
 
At present, the UT administration is understaffed and most of the officials are looking after 3 to 4 departments. Staff is outsourced to meet the requirement which seems to be the only alternatives for now. 
 
President ALUYA said, “We have been raising our voice against such outsourcing from the very beginning since the whole process of recruitment has no transparency and the company has no physical presence in Ladakh. Everything is happening online. It seems exploitation of unemployed youth in Ladakh.”
 
He further added that the Lieutenant Governor has assured that such recruitment will not happen in the future, but the process is still in continuation. “Even a few days back some recruitment was done in few departments. The most unfortunate thing is that our elected representatives remained silent on the issue”, he added.
 
On one hand, the youths continue to shout for jobs but on other hands, the elected representatives choose to be a mute spectators on the issue. So far in every public gathering, leaders are only seen counting the number of job vacancies.
 
Lack of concrete data on unemployment is also a concern. President ALUYA said that he has appealed to all the youths to register them in the employment office so that the actual can be accessed.
 
The unemployed youths of Ladakh seek support from everyone.