Ladakh recently completed three years as a Union Territory, a journey that has seen massive push in terms of development of all sorts, besides a steady increase in opportunities in terms of employment and entrepreneurship.
In the three years of formation of new UT, there has been a major focus on increasing internal and external connectivity through black topped and all-weather roads aided by new tunnels, bridge and top notch snow clearance mechanism, new helipads and helicopter services. Once distant from any type of mobile coverage, now the farthest corners of Ladakh have access to telecommunication networks, enabling the residents in remotest of villages to access various digital services.
Ladakh’s unique conditions like high altitude, extreme climate, vast geographical area and inaccessibility have long hindered the employability and entrepreneurship prospects of its residents, most of whom had to move out of their homes to different parts of the country in search of better opportunities. Ever since the reorganisation of the region, the UT Administration has paid special attention on skill development of the youth to keep up with the market demands of skilled personnel, further boosting their employability prospects, besides boosting the employment opportunities in more than one ways.
Official statistics claim that 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.
Urgyan Dolma, working in the water testing laboratory of Public Health Engineering Department in Leh is one of employees who have benefited from this refocussed energy on boosting employment opportunities for Ladakhis.
In an exclusive conversation with Indus Dispatch, Urgyan agrees that the developmental works are happening across the union territory at an unprecedented pace, while employment opportunities have also increased ever since Ladakh became a union territory.
Watch the video interview to know more.
