NATIONAL YOUTH POLICY

1. PREAMBLE:The National Youth Policy, 2003 seeks to bring about an all round development of the Indian youth so as to enable them to realize all their legitimate aspirations and ambitions. The earlier National Youth Policy was formulated in 1988 but since then the country’s socio-economic conditions have undergone drastic changes. So the National Youth Policy of 2003 aims at nurturing and galvanizing the youth to rise up to the new challenges that hinder the nation’s progress and to be proud participants of National Development. The policy attempts to recognize the various fields in which the youth can give their valuable contribution and seeks to attain effective coordination between different committees and departments which are related to the youth development policy making. It also aims at promoting personality development, instilling in the youth good qualities of citizenship and enhances the youth’s commitment to humanism and social service. The policy thus recognizes these inter-related values and principles as its basic premise.

• DEFINITION OF YOUTH:The policy aims to cover all the youth in the country that falls into the 13-35yrs category. It is estimated that the population of the said category of people will rise rapidly to approximately 50.1 crores by 2016 which would constitute over half the population of the country.

• OBJECTIVES OF THE NATIONAL YOUTH POLICY:The Youth Policy aims at instilling in the youth awareness and adherence to the principles enshrined in the Constitution. It also seeks to instill in the youth good qualities of citizenship and to increase their awareness about the nation’s heritage and culture. The policy wishes to provide the youth with proper educational facilities and to make access to information easy, to provide adequate information with respect to health services and to enhance the availability of sports and recreational facilities. The policy intends to instill in the youth the feeling of volunteerism and to promote among them a feeling of peace and to allow them to work for global peace and harmony by collaborating with various NGOs and other organizations that are out there for the common good of the citizens of the world. To promote global economic order the policy wishes to instill in the youth leadership qualities and also to channelise their abundant energies in community service so as to improve the environment and to foster inquisitive scientific thinking among them.

• THRUST AREAS OF THE POLICY:

1. YOUTH EMPOWERMENT: The poicy recognizes that for effective participation of the youth in national development adequate facilities have to be provided.
2. GENDER JUSTICE: The policy aims to ensure that women and girls are not mistreated and are provided with equal opportunities as their male counterparts. This is important for the riddance of the prevalent sex bias.
3. INTER-SECTORAL APPROACH: The policy looks to ensure proper coordination between various departments committed to the the youth development of the nation.
4. INFORMATION AND RESEARCH NETWORK: Youth development programmes in India have often failed owing to the lack of information and research. Hence the policy aims at providing information and research based facilities to the organizations committed to youth development and empowerment.

• KEY SECTORS OF YOUTH CONCERN:

EDUCATION:The policy recognizes the need to provide appropriate education to the youth which would instill in the youth a feeling of patriotism and respect towards the unity and integrity of the country. The thrust of the educational system in the early years should be to minimize the stress and strain of that is often linked to the Indian system of education. Focus should be on learning rather than qualifying in examinations and memory based tests.

HEALTH:The policy also recognizes the need to provide adequate health facilities to the youth. There are various aspects that concern health like General Health, Spiritual Health, Mental Health and awareness about HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. The policy also recognizes the ever increasing population of the country and seeks to create awareness about community programmes which would ensure smaller families which plays a vital role in national development.

ENVIRONMENT:The policy recognizes that young people and children are particularly vulnerable to the ill effects of environmental degradation and therefore have laid down the following lines of concrete action:

a) Greater emphasis should be placed on environmental education in school curricula and training programs.
b) Encouragement would be provided to youth organizations in gathering environmental data and in creating awareness amongst the youth in matters relating to environmental problems.
c) Youth organizations at the grass root levels would be given assistance and motivation and adequate training in agro-forestry and agriculture.
d) Promotion of both traditional and alternative technologies for water conservation and water harvesting

SPORTS AND RECREATION: The policy recognizes the need for sports and recreational facilities for the all round development of an individual. Hence the policy sees the need for educational institutions to make provisions for such facilities and has laid down means and methods for doing the same.

ARTS AND CULTURE: The youth should be made aware of the country’s rich heritage and culture. Inclusion of the study of the country’s rich heritage in music, dance, arts and crafts in academic curricula is also a must. A National Youth Centre should also be established where the youth of the country can express their free views with regard to art and culture. Also eminent personalities in various fields of art and culture would be encouraged to visit and impart knowledge to the students of various institutions.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Support would be provided to the youth to instill in them scientific temper and to upgrade science curricula in the various academic institutions and to promote the best and positive use of communication, data and technological facilities. They would also facilitate the linking of the scientific projects of young scientists to the actual requirement of the citizens of the country.

CIVICS AND CITIZENSHIP:The policy envisages the following strategies to prevent anti-social behavior amongst the youth:
1.Keeping in mind that human behavior is shaped by norms and values the policy wishes to instill in the youth, a feeling of deepest respect for their elders and teachers.
2.To motivate the youth to resist fragmentation of society on the basis of language and ethnicity
3.To motivate and mobilize the youth to take up strict action against corruption at all levels.

PRIORITY TARGET GROUPS:
This Policy will accord priority to the following groups of young people:
1.Rural and Tribal Youth;
2.Out-of-school Youth;
3.Adolescents particularly female adolescents;
4.Youth with disabilities;
Youth under specially difficult circumstances like victims of trafficking; orphans and street children.