Two lakh jobless in Saurashtra

RAJKOT: When the Gujarat Panchayat Service Selection Board received 40,000 applications for 70 vacant posts in Kutch, it highlighted the magnitude of the problem of unemployment in the region.
Over two lakh jobless people have registered themselves with employment exchanges in the eight districts of Saurashtra and Kutch.
Out of the 2, 36,084 people seeking jobs, as many as 10,180 are postgraduates.The number of postgraduates seeking jobs is the highest in Rajkot district ��� 6,792. According to official statistics, the number of jobless seeking employment is the highest in Junagadh district at 45,245 and the lowest in Porbandar district at 10,320.
Rajkot district ranks second when it comes to the overall number of jobless after Junagadh.
The number of unemployed in Rajkot district is 43,075, followed by Bhavnagar with 38,342. Surendranagar and Kutch are almost in the same bracket with the former registering 27,054 and the latter 26,438.
Similarly, Jamnagar has 24,101 and Amreli has 21,509. The plight of the educated unemployed is compounded with denial of loans under various schemes.
The figures reveal that nearly 85 per cent cases were rejected. Under the 'Deendayal Sankalit Swavlamban Yojana' alone, as many as 7,245 people had applied for loans to become self-employed, but only 1,074 applications were approved.
The rejection of loan applications under banks' scheme was the highest in 15 talukas of Saurashtra and Kutch region. The talukas which registered less than 20 per cent of loan sanction were Mundra and Rapar in the border-district of Kutch.
The plight of job-seekers was identical in Lodhika, Jam Kandorna, Padhdhari and Kotda Sangani talukas in Rajkot district, Jaffrabad taluka in Amreli district, Sayla, Chotila and Halvad taluka in Surendranagar district, Visavadar, Mendarda and Talala talukas in Junagadh district, Dhrol, Okha, Jodia and Lalapur talukas in Jamnagar and Ranavav taluka in Porbandar.