DRAFT NEW NATIONAL YOUTH POLICY FORMULATED ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MINISTRY OF YOUTH AFFAIRS AND SPORTS

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According to the Annual Report of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, a draft new National Youth Policy has been formulated. It was decided to draft a new National Youth Policy to cater to the fast changing socio-economic scenario in the country and also to address the emerging concerns of youth. The process to formulate a new National Youth Policy was initiated in consultation with various State Governments, Youth Wings of Political Parties, Members of Parliament, Youth Organisations, Youth Representatives as well as other concerned agencies. The salient features of the draft new National Youth Policy are: - 1. Proposed lowering of the defining age of youth from the present 15-35 years to 13-35 years in order to cover a large segment of the adolescent youth population and to chalk out specific programmes/schemes for catering to their needs. 2. The policy identifies four thrust areas - Youth Empowerment; Gender Justice; An inter-sectoral approach; and An Information and Research Network. 3. The policy also outlines the privileges as well as the responsibilities of youth and emphasis on certain priority target groups. 4. Key sectors of concern to the youth for special attention have been identified by the draft National Youth Policy. These are - Education, Training and Employment, Health, Environment, Sports, Recreation and Leisure, Art and Culture, Science and Technology and Civics and Citizenship. 5. The draft new National Youth Policy contains a statement of the rationale for as well as the objectives of the new policy. It also provides for creation of an implementation mechanism with the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports acting as a nodal ministry for all youth related programmes.