The state has been found wanting in evolving effective fiscal management as also finding ways towards resources mobilization. There being vast scope for widening the tax net in order to give a fillip to earning of revenues and building a healthy structure of resources mobilization but the same seems to have been relegated to the background. Political considerations, weakness for votes in the sense losing them in elections and dependence on centre in expectation of assured support, are all such factors which discourage taking pragmatic steps as dictated by economic factors.
Whatever revenues are generated by Jammu and Kashmir state, find their major part expended on salaries, wages and pension payments leaving practically peanuts for undertaking socio-economic development. Had Central Government not been more than liberal to the point of generousness in granting funds and financial allocations, the state would have been plunged into absolute economic backwardness.
Implementation of seventh Pay Commission recommendations has further increased the strain on very limited resources of the state. Workers are engaged on temporary or casual basis and salaries paid in erratic and irregular way. For months at a stretch, no payments are made as wages and salaries and in most of the cases, paid only after the aggrieved employees agitate. How long can this sort of arrangement be allowed to the extent of it becoming a precedent is the moot question. On the one hand, there are no fresh recruitments in vital departments for there being no budgeted allocations for the proposed new posts, while on the other, workers and employees are engaged on casual basis or temporary basis. Whatever the nomenclature, payments have got to be made on monthly basis that being the basis of the employee offering one’s labour. It is a bit confusing and bemusing that funds are “arranged” for such casual or temporary employees but those who must instead be employed on permanent basis, there are no funds allocations made.
One ambiguity and uncertainty tagged with casual or temporary employees is befogged state of temporary status up to unspecified period left to the whims of the administration. The concept of “probation” is nowhere there with these casual or temporary employees which period is to groom and train the employee to acquire the basics of the department followed by gradual learning and getting acclimatized to its workable knowledge. Another glaring perplexing aspect is employee being for years at a stretch in a department but continuing to be classified as casual and temporary. This scenario, quite unwarranted and unjustified has been viewed seriously by the Governor with instructions to initiate the process of regularization of the services of casual workers.
A few employees numbering 140 were regularized relating to PWD, PHE, I&C, Forest, Housing and Technical Education etc. This has all been done by an Empowered Committee constituted for the purpose. Governor has expressed displeasure over various departments not submitting the required documents and information in respect of many cases otherwise slated to be cleared by the Empowered Committee which has reportedly been on the job and held as many as four meetings to dispose of the eligible cases.
It is laudable and in the fitness of things that the Governor has directed Principal Secretary Finance to send him a list of all the defaulting Departments for their lukewarm response to an important subject as the one under reference. We wish that with this alternative to non submission of details, the defaulting Departments will expedite the submission of details to help the Empowered Committee take suitable decisions for regularization of the eligible casual employees.
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