Rampant joblessness fans frustration in youth

Karachi, Rampant joblessness in Pakistan is resulting in frustration and despondency in youth, paving the way for big sociopolitical upheaval in the country on the pattern of uprisings of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Bahrain.

Abundant manpower is considered a precious economic asset for any country, but millions of jobless youths in Pakistan, their number growing every year, indicates the failure of policymakers to harness our manpower for socioeconomic uplift and poverty reduction. In all civilized states, governmental economic policies, at both macro and micro levels, are aimed at to create more job openings for citizens so as to further boost production and economy. However, in Pakistan this important sector is deliberately ignored, and economic policies are tailored on the dictation of lender institutions, who want slow growth, stagnation, social chaos, economic dependence and political instability in Pakistan. Persisting load shedding in Pakistan is the cornerstone of this evil strategy to strangulate industry, choke production and put brakes on pace of uplift. It is said that load shedding of electricity and gas alone has rendered millions of workers jobless in Pakistan.

The government is not ready to build new dams, use abundant reserves of coal for power generation and plan establishing more thermal and nuclear power plants on emergency basis. Corruption, especially politically motivated corruption, is another cause of sluggish growth. Rulers are not interested in utilizing available economic resources of Pakistan including land, labor and capital for national development, but looks for imported solutions to our homegrown problems, which only benefit foreign corporations and companies at the cost of Pakistani national exchequer. Introduction of highly controversial rental power plants in Pakistan is a classic example of this approach, based on commission and kickback culture. Worsening la! w and or der situation in the country, especially its industrial and financial hub Karachi, is another cause of growing joblessness. It is not a secret that investment goes to the areas where lawlessness and anarchy persist. Due to growing lawlessness, especially target killings and kidnappings for ransom in Karachi, investors are losing confidence in the system and shy away from invest in any new business venture.

Resultantly, new jobs are not generating while the number of job seekers rises, continuously. Pakistan is called an agricultural country, but still we have to import sugar, edible oils, powdered milk and wheat which shows our policymakers are not giving priority to agriculture sector, which has a potential to absorb millions of jobless youth. The outdated irrigation system in Pakistan needs immediate overhauling. New dams, water reservoirs and canals are urgently needed to store and optimally use available irrigation water. Agricultural universities and colleges should be opened at least on district level to train manpower in this vital field on modern lines. Highly viable livestock, fisheries, poultry and dairy sectors need immediate attention. Agro-based small industries should be opened in every nook and corner of Pakistan. Export of raw agricultural products should be banned and export of value-added agro products be encouraged to boost economy and reduce joblessness and poverty.

The government has failed to focus on manpower training. Higher educational institutions including professional colleges and universities are not imparting education and training to their students according to contemporary market needs. Resultantly, majority of our graduates lack competitive edge to be absorbed in local job market. Recently, a costly project to impart technical training to youth was initiated; however, it miserably failed to give desired result due to corruption and mismanagement. There is a dire need to focus on technical training of youth and engineering and technology universities of the country sho! uld be i nvolved in this regard, so that they could launch certificate and diploma courses in morning and evening shifts in trades and vocations with high demand in current job market. Export of Pakistani manpower is also being neglected. Resultantly, hundreds of thousands of skilled and semi-skilled Pakistani youth could not get available jobs in regional and international job markets.

It is said that governments of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Philippines are keenly focusing on export of their trained manpower and they are gradually elbowing out Pakistani manpower even from the job market of Gulf countries. The government must realize the true potential of exporting surplus trained manpower in boosting economy and poverty reduction. The government should realize the danger of growing unrest amongst the ever-growing army of jobless youth in Pakistan and take urgent steps for generating ample job opportunities before these frustrated and angry youth take to streets.