By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports Secretary, Nita Chowdhury, has urged upon the youth of the State to get actively involved in mitigating various social problems afflicting the society.
Underlining the need for the youth to get involved in positive activities, she said that it is also important for the youth to take care of problems such as conflicts, drug menace and unemployment.
“I strongly feel the need to have skill development as the basis of activities for the youth,” Ms Chowdhury said while addressing the Northeastern Regional consultative meeting with various stakeholders on the draft National Youth Policy 2012, at the NEHU campus here on Thursday.
She said that it is very important to provide the youth with life skills to get jobs outside the public sector.
“In this age of electronics, we have gadgets but we don’t have trained people to repair them. To enhance the skills of the unemployed youth, vocational training would be provided for locally available employment opportunities,” she said.
Ms Chowdhury also said that there was a specific policy within the draft National Youth Policy that would cater to the youth of strife-torn regions of the Northeast and Kashmir.
She said that special skill development programmes specially designed for the unemployed youths of the region has been outlined in the draft National Youth Policy.
According to Ms Chowdhury the draft National Youth Policy 2012 has also identified youths who are in the conflict zones and are vulnerable to drug abuse.
Ms Chowdhury said that the draft policy also emphasised the need to have a Youth Development Index (YDI) which will serve as the baseline for evaluators and policy makers.
“YDI will help to measure the actual development of youth taking place through this policy,” she said.
The draft Policy will be also discussed in the Parliamentary Youth Forum and the Consultative Committee of Parliament attached to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, she informed.
The exposure draft of the National Youth Policy 2012 was unveiled by Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Ajay Maken on May 31 this year.
