Whoever becomes the “government” will have thousands of challenges, migration will have to be stopped, employment will have to be given

Voting for the 5th Legislative Assembly in Uttarakhand has been completed on 14th February and now the results are to come on 10th March, after which the new government will be formed. The people of Uttarakhand have high hopes from the new government. In such a situation, along with the formation of the new government, many challenges are also going to arise in front of the new Chief Minister. There are many issues including debt, migration, unemployment development on the state, which the new government will have to struggle to deal with. The economy of the state of Uttarakhand is running on the fuel of debt. The CAG report confirms this. According to the report, as of March 31, 2020, the Uttarakhand government was buried under a debt of 65,982 crores. This debt graph has steadily increased in the last five years.

On the other hand, the second challenge is that 8 lakh 42 thousand unemployed are registered in the state. The report of the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) is also confirming the unemployment and low employment opportunities in the state. Nine percent employable graduate youth are roaming unemployed in the state. The unemployment rate is 4.3% in urban areas while 4.0% in rural areas. The employment and labor participation rate in Uttarakhand is the lowest in the country. According to CMIE, the employment rate in Uttarakhand was 30.43 per cent till December. This is much lower than the national average of 37.42 per cent and the lowest in the country. The geographical conditions of Uttarakhand are the main reason for its disparities. Due to lack of roads, lack of facilities like health, education, unemployment and poverty, people continue to migrate from the mountain for decades year after year. And every time it is promised in the elections that every facility including education, health, water, employment will be provided on the hills but nothing comes out of the result. Rising inflation will also be a big challenge before the new government, people are troubled by the impact of inflation.

Debt graph

Year Outstanding Debt on Government Gross State Domestic Product

• 2015-16 390699.74
• 2016-17 44,583 10.14
• 2017-18 51,831 14.20
• 2018-19 58,039 10.35
• 2019-20 65,982 3.16
  (Note: Amount in crores and percentage of Gross State Domestic Product)

In every election in the state, promises are made to the voters to increase employment, announcements are made to make the state debt free. Various campaigns are promised to stop the migration. But after the elections are over, these promises turn out to be mere announcements. This time also big political parties and candidates promised to bring new schemes to woo the youth. Some have talked about bringing new jobs, some have promised to provide employment through self-employment, see how much work is done on the promises being made to the youth after the elections are over.