From Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi: Both the Centre and the State Governments are contemplating the idea of engaging the unemployed youths of the country in employable skills through sports to wean them away from insurgency and naxalism as had happened in some cases in the Northeast and other parts of the country.
Addressing a conference on youths and sports here, Deputy Chief Minister Bindo M Lanong said that as a first step, jobs in central Para-military forces and such other services should be reserved for the youths of that particular state including in the North East. At least 90 per cent of the jobs in grade three and four in Para-military forces should be kept only for local youths he added.
The Union Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs Ajay Maken said that there is need for a strong policy for youth development, their employable skill, and mass participation in sports for promotion of a strong sporting culture. In the districts affected by backwardness and left-wing extremism, anti-social elements are targeting the youth from poor families to get their recruits, which is a matter of concern, Maken added.
Lanong, who is in charge of the Youth Affairs and Sports department in Meghalaya, said that employing local youths in the troubled Northeast region will dissuade them from join insurgency and at the same time help in development of the region too. “Security forces deployed in the region like the BSF and the CRPF do not have sufficient knowledge about the region, its people, their languages and cultures,” he said.
“This is a great disadvantage and would only worsen the situation in case of an incident,” the Deputy Chief Minister said.
The lack of knowledge and communication gap only deepens the feeling of isolation which already exists in the land-locked remote region, he added.
Speaking about empowering youth with employability skills Maken stated that the Ministry has introduced Youth with Employability Skill (YES) Project in some districts of the North Eastern states with an objective to train the youths to gain employment skills. This project is being organized with the support of National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), he informed.
Year of the Youth
Meghalaya will observe 2012 as the Year of the Youth, Lanong said here on Friday. This will coincide with the Fitness Day which the whole country will observe every February. The decision to this effect was taken during the Ministers’ Conference on Friday.
