Draft National Youth Policy 2021
The Government has reviewed the existing draft National Youth Policy, 2014 and prepared a new draft National Youth Policy (NYP).
- The draft NYP envisages a ten-year vision for youth development that India seeks to achieve by 2030.
- It is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and serves to ‘unlock the potential of the youth to advance India’.
- The draft NYP seeks to catalyse widespread action on youth development across five priority areas viz. education; employment & entrepreneurship; youth leadership & development; health, fitness & sports; and social justice.
- Each priority area is underpinned by the principle of social inclusion keeping in view the interests of the marginalized sections.
Five Priority Areas and Action Imperatives of the Draft National Youth Policy 2021
| Priority Areas | Action Imperatives
|
| Education
(‘ensure access to equitable and quality education’)
| - Make the education system relevant for the youth – incorporate 21st-century skills, value-based education and large-scale delivery of vocational education linked to employment
- Support the NEET Youth (youths not in education, employment or training) through retention and reintegration efforts, physical or online access expansion, and targeted learning programmes
- Build an inclusive education system for the marginalised and disadvantaged youths through targeted schemes, inclusive resources and pedagogies, and appropriately trained teachers and counsellors
|
| Employment and Entrepreneurship (‘empower youth to grow enterprises and find sustainable employment’)
| - Revitalise the rural economy and retain youth with attractive income opportunities within agriculture and agriculture-allied areas
- Generate employment in urban/peri-urban areas with micro-region-specific employment strategies that promote district-specific industries and SME cluster development
- Strengthen youth entrepreneurship with necessary investments in entrepreneurship education, mentorship and support systems, and targeted support for social entrepreneurs
- Support informal and gig economy workers, and enable gig sector growth with adequate social security provisions and leveraging demand-supply matching technology
- Drive overall employment by reforming skilling, rationalising all schemes basis outcomes, and providing specific support to urban migrants and marginalised youth segments
|
| YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND LEADERSHIP (‘empower youth to be the leaders of tomorrow’) | - Strengthen the youth volunteering ecosystem through streamlined opportunities, mentorship, and due rewards and recognition
- Invest in youth leadership development through targeted programmes, opportunities to engage with issues of governance and politics, and broader exposure to raise aspirations
- Mobilise a one-stop youth enablement platform to achieve youth volunteering and leadership goals
- Develop leadership capacities in marginalised youths through specific inclusion measures
|
| HEALTH (‘ensure health and wellbeing of all youths’) | - Strengthen preventive healthcare practices among youth through integration with the education curriculum and large-scale awareness campaigns
- Strengthen healthcare for mental health issues, substance use disorders and sexual and reproductive health concerns
- Track youth health metrics, and use data and technology to improve access and quality of treatments
- Undertake specific measures to provide quality healthcare access for all marginalised youths
|
| FITNESS AND SPORTS (‘develop a culture of fitness and sports, and achieve eminence’) | - Build a culture of sports and fitness among youth
- Enable holistic development of sportspersons through comprehensive talent searches, quality coaching, equitable investments in sporting infrastructure and long-term support beyond sporting careers
- Undertake special efforts to include marginalised segments in sports and fitness programmes
|
| SOCIAL JUSTICE (‘create a safe, just and equal society for the youth’) | - Empower and safeguard the youth through various measures including value-based education, provision of safe spaces with support services, increasing awareness regarding rights and legal-aid and specific efforts to address cybercrime
- Enable faster delivery of justice and strengthen juvenile rehabilitation
- Review and strengthen all social protection schemes to ensure social justice for marginalised and vulnerable youths
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