LEH: As many as 1100 district-cadre posts will be notified in the next couple of weeks, while all-out efforts are being made to declare the Staff Selection Commission (SSC)-2022 result as soon as possible, Commissioner Secretary Ajeet Kumar Sahu has asserted.
In an exclusive conversation with Indus Dispatch, the senior IAS officer candidly discussed a range of issues surrounding the employment in Ladakh, the state of affairs in the region after becoming a Union Territory, the efforts and support towards building the entrepreneurship culture in the cold desert, and interventions made by the UT administration in developing and strengthening the tourism, food processing, horticulture and agriculture sectors.
“The Ladakh administration has referred as many as 1100 district-cadre posts for recruitment to both the Leh and Kargil SSRBs. They are already working on the modalities. Some of these posts have already been notified, while the others will be notified in the next 2-3 weeks. The youth should apply for these jobs and take benefit of the mega drive,” said Sahu, who is looking after the affairs of the General Administration Department, PHE, PWD, Hospitality & Protocol, and Estates Departments.
On Wednesday, the Leh Autonomous Hill Development Subordinate Services Recruitment Board (LAHDSSRB) advertised 280 district cadre posts (Graduate & 10+2 Level) under various Departments in the Leh District.
When asked about the pending SSC result, Sahu said the administration is making all-out efforts to declare the Staff Selection Commission (SSC)-2022 result as soon as possible.
“The SSC result is withheld only because some of the aspirants, who were ineligible as per the SSC guidelines, filed a petition in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). The SSC has prepared the result but since the matter is sub-judice, the result is not being announced. However, we are making all-out efforts in this regard. The administration has moved an Urgency Memo in the CAT pleading for early disposal of the case, so we can announce the result early,” says Sahu.
Sahu said that in terms of employment, Ladakh is doing better in the last 3 years as a Union Territory than when it was a part of Jammu and Kashmir.
“Government employment is a limited sector, not only in Ladakh, but across the country. You will find that only 2-3% of employees in the entire country work in the government sector. However, Ladakh has a lot of government jobs and people of Ladakh have got these jobs too. The situation has only improved in the last 3 years after the region was granted Union Territory status,” Sahu says.
Sahu shares statistics with Indus Dispatch to back his claims. As per the numbers, in 10 years between 2008 to 2018, when Ladakh was a part of Jammu and Kashmir, as many as 2800 jobs to youth were provided. However, in the three years of being a Union Territory, as many as 2500 jobs have either been provided or the administration is in the process of notifying the same across the UT, informs Sahu, adding that the work has been going in full flow for 1100 new posts, which have already been referred to the recruiting agencies.
“The Ladakh administration has done really great in terms of providing employment opportunities, especially if we consider the situation we started working in. We had to start from scratch. There were no rules for recruitment rules, reservation or domicile. It was not easy to formulate these rules, then notify the jobs and then recruit the people. But we have done it, and we have done it well,” smiles Sahu.
He mentions that the decks have been cleared for recruitment to the gazetted posts, which was a hurdle before.
“The UT administration has been recently empowered to frame rules for recruitment to gazetted posts in Ladakh. We have already published draft rules for gazetted posts recruitment in the Public Works Department and Public Health Engineering department, seeking suggestions as well as objections from stakeholders. The recruitment rules for other departments will be notified in the next 2-3 weeks. Once that is done, we will be able to notify the gazetted posts after consultation with the UPSC,” Sahu says.
It may be recalled that on November 2, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had authorised the Lieutenant Governor, R K Mathur for framing recruitment rules for gazetted posts in Ladakh.
Sahu speaks in detail on the other employment avenues in Ladakh and the works undertaken by the UT administration to develop and further strengthen them.
“Ladakh has a number of employment-oriented sectors with a lot of growth potential. Tourism is the biggest of these sectors with the highest employment generation. Studies say that one tourist generates employment for 5 people. The UT administration has taken a lot of new steps to bolster the tourism sector. We have developed tourism infrastructure, and opened border areas for tourists. A comprehensive chapter in Astro-tourism is opened while a night-life sanctuary is also being developed. All these efforts are reaping great results with the number of tourists visiting Ladakh doubling in the last 3 years. We stand committed to further improve the tourism sector,” he says.
Sahu notes that a lot of progress has been achieved in Food processing and Horticulture- the two sectors neglected in the past.
“We have the sweetest apricot in the world and yet we were not able to export it. Today we are sending it to all parts of the country and even internationally. This has created a lot of employment opportunities and the cost of Apricot is also shooting up fast. In Horticulture, we have a number of new entrepreneurs who are doing great with sea buckthorns, and its products such as tea, jams and juice. The government has a number of schemes providing for a huge percentage of subsidies and the people of Ladakh are taking great benefits of these schemes,” he informs.
Sahu asserts that Ladakh has undergone a complete change in the agriculture sector in the past 3 years.
“Earlier, we used to get vegetables from outside (Ladakh) in winters. Today, whoever leaves Ladakh, leaves with an organic vegetable, which is a great endorsement of the changes the agriculture sector has undergone in 3 years. This has been made possible with the Mission Organic Development Initiative (MODI) which seeks to convert the entire Ladakh region into an Organic Certified region by the year 2025. Under this initiative, a number of Green houses are being constructed across the UT, which not only is strengthening the agriculture sector but also generating a lot of employment opportunities,” says Sahu, adding that focus is also being laid on developing and strengthening the Television and Film industry in Ladakh.
