Yojana Magazine: Summary of all important articles

Table of content

• Indian Youth: Emerging Power
• Job Creation: Challenges and Way Forward
• Making a Nation of Job Creators
• Youth: A Change Agent
• Distance and Online Entrepreneurship Education in India
• Quality Education for Empowering Indian Youth
• Bringing Youth to mainstream
• North East Diary

Indian Youth: Emerging Power

• UNESCO defines ‘Youth’ as “the period of transition from the dependence to
  independence and awareness of our independence as members of a community.”
• India is a very young nation with around 65% population under the age of 35, thereby compelling even political parties to cater to its needs – 2014 elections was a significant event in this particular regard when its role was aptly considered.
• The inherent nature of youth is its potential which has to be tapped by substantial policy orientation and support.
• In recent times, youth defined the public discourse on matters as diverse as LGBT movement to women emancipation to environmental sanctity to human right.
• Hence youth is acting as an emerging pressure group beyond the confines of traditional political mores.
• The fact that it acts as bridge between two generations and filters knowledge amply on the two sides, therefore creating new social thinking and political activity

Digital Empowerment of the Youth

• The emergence of alternatie platforms through digital transformation of media has empowered the youth with new information and ideas while also enhancing their learning capabilities as a whole.
• The faster communication has also created avenues in connecting geographically alienated regions and people, therby facilitating mutual exchange of values, norms and understanding.
• It has functionally enabled equal opportunities in matters of accessibility of knowledge resources.
• The vantage point is this that the youth has been particularly well co-opted to this new technology, which in turn has also strengthened the spirit of entrepreneurship and start-ups.

National Youth Policy

• According to the Annual Report 2016-17, “The National Youth Policy 2014” reiterates the commitment of the entire nation to the all round development of youth of India so that they can realise their full potential and contribute productively to the nation building process.

Other government initiatives

Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan –

Mandated to develop and engage youth in nation building activities.

National Service Scheme (NSS) –

• To develop the morale and humanistic personality through voluntary social service.

Skill Upgradation Training Programme –

• Aims to develop vocational training to help generate extra income and boost self confidence

Promotion of Folk Art, Culture and Yuva Kriti –

• Opportunity for rural youth to showcase their talent and culture

Mahatama Gandhi Yuva Swachta Abhiyanand Shramdaan Karyakaram –

• To engage youth in contributing to the cleanliness drive and water conservation

Life Skill Training for Adolescents –

• Training youth to enable them to cope with pressure and make healthy life choices
• To sensitise the adolescent about reproductive sexual health and issues involved which concerns their health

Tribal Yuva Exchange Programme –

• Pick up potential youth for left wing extremism affected areas and tour them to parts of the country
• Nationalise their mindset

Challenges

• Youth today is prone to ill effects of urban culture and therefore oten resort to illegal activities to make a living
• The disparity between availability and accessibility is the major reason behind the alienation of the youth, which needs to be fulfilled, as only digital empowerment cannot be complete.

Conclusion

• The transforming youth shall be the torch bearers of a much sensitized, conscious and harmonious world
• The importance of the youth and its indomitable spirit has been exemplified by Swami Vivekananda’s words – “Arise! Awake! And stop not until the goal is reached”.

Schemes used in the article

Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangahan –

• It is an autonomous organization of the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports, within theGovernment of India.
• It was established in 1987-88 to provide rural youth avenues towardnation building, as well as opportunities to develop their personality and skills

National Service Scheme (NSS) –

• National Service Scheme(NSS) is an Indian government-sponsored public service program conducted by the Department of Youth Affairs and Sports of the Government of India.
• Popularly known as NSS, the scheme was launched inGandhiji’s Centenary year, 1969.
• Aimed at developing student’s personality through community service, NSS is a voluntary association of young people in Colleges, Universities and at +2 level working for a campus-community linkage.

Skill Upgradation Training Programme –

• Under the direction of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi, the Skill Upgradation Training Programme is imparted in the Academy to officers  inducted into IFS from SFS since September 1996.
• This is done  to give an All India perspective of the service and update the knowledge and skill of the officers.
• The Academy has already conducted 18 such training courses. The contents of this module cover a wide area of forest management to update their knowledge and develop skills.

Tribal Yuva Exchange Programme

• It aims to sensitize the tribal youth to rich cultural heritage of the Country and to enable them to appreciate the concept of unity in diversity, to expose them to development activities and technological/ industrial advancement in other parts of the country, to enable them to develop emotional linkage with the people in other parts of the country and to develop their personality by enhancing their understanding of the core life skills, identifying their skill development needs and providing them necessary career counselling.
  

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Job Creation: Challenges and Way Forward

• Indian Youth can be harbinger of economic growth of India if they are efficiently absorbed in the labour market.
• As is already stated in the previous article that India is experiencing youth bulge which needs to be tapped.
• It needs to be noted that this is much more pronounced in the northern and eastern states which are incidentally backward
• But the prospects for the youth in the job market are not bright as the jobs which are being created are not sufficient to absorb the huge chunk of the youth.
• Since the attracting factor of the agriculture is diminishing for various reasons, not to mention the economic dwindling returns, they are more slated to join sectors such as construction, manufacturing and trade relating service activities.
• The shift from agriculture is albeit a good sign, but the jobs outside remains cruel to the expectations of the youth

Unemployment

• It is higher in urban areas than in rural areas where people still become disguised unemployed through agriculture.
• Females are largely unemployed post 1991 as per ILO because definite gender roles assigned became prominent when incomes increased in middle class.
• The discrimination against women also persists when it comes to hiring them as they are considered less productive or are presumed to be simultaneously engaged in reproductive and household works. The recent amendments in Maternity Act which mandates employees to provide crèche facilities may also create some hindrance, as suggested by some.
• It is also generally accepted that the lack of suitable infrastructure facilities such as transport, crèche facilities, etc which facilitate women’s access to jobs is a major reason in limiting the women to job market.

Government initiatives

Start-up India

• It is based on an action plan aimed at promoting bank financing for start-up ventures to boost entrepreneurship and encourage start ups with jobs creation.
• It is focused on to restrict role of States in policy domain and to get rid of “license raj” and hindrances like in land permissions, foreign investment proposal, environmental clearances.
• It was organized by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion
• The government has already launched iMADE, an app development platform aimed at producing 1,000,000 apps andPMMY, the MUDRA Bank, a new institution set up for development and refinancing activities relating to micro units with a refinance Fund of ₹200 billion

Stand Up India

• It aims at promoting entrepreneurship among SCs/STs, women communities.
• Rural India’s version of Startup India was named the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Swaniyojan Yojana

Pradhan mantri Mudra Yojna

• It is under theMicro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank, which is a new institution being set up by Government of India for development and refinancing activities relating to micro units.
• It was announced by the Finance Minister while presenting the Union Budget for FY 2016.
• The purpose of MUDRA is to provide funding to the non corporate small business sector.
• It emphasises that the government wants youth to be job creators and not job seekers

Startup Village Entrepreneurship Programme

• The above initiatives intend to encourage entrepreneurship amongst the youth.

Conclusion

• India is going through a phase of demographic transition due to which the proportion of youth in the total population is increasing.
• An increasing number of youth require good education and a steady creation of suitable jobs.
• Employment creation needs to be a part of macro and other economic policies.
• There is a need to accelerate the process of job creation and therefore different ministries can include job creation in all their programmes and policies.
• Regional inequality needs to be corrected so that local youth are able to get employment in the regions itself as demanded by regional behemoths in Maharashtra.
• There is a need for suitable policies and programmes so that more and more women get employment
• The country needs to move fast so that it realizes the demographic dividend. If it fails, the demographic dividend will turn into demographic disaster.
  

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Making a Nation of Job Creators

• The requirement of India in the field of job creation is huge, approximately one crore jobs an year.
• Therefore it is imperative that a fair way is sorted out which can create jobs matching the requirement.
• It is found out that they are the start-ups which create new jobs in any country than the large enterprises.
• As start-ups are build around the idea of innovation and therefore they are deemed to create large number of jobs as the idea succeds and grows.
• Startup India scheme was launched with the very aim to foster entrepreneurship and promote innovation by creating a conducive ecosystem.
• The objective as stated by PM often is to make India a nation of job creaters instead of job seekers.

The first challenge of Entrepreneurship

• In India, the focus on entrepreneurship and start-ups is a recent phenomenon.
• Therefore it needs an early recognition that startups fail more often than not and hence the entrepreneur should be prepared to face failures.
• It is advised that the start-ups should be shared with the “help” and inputs of mentors who have been through similar process of business experience

Challenges

The major challenges are

Funding

• About 90% of funding for start-ups comes from foreign venture capitals

Patent

• The process of registration is long

Creation of Intellectual Property

• There is lack of incentive for research and development
• That is why most start-ups are domiciled abroad
• Around 95% of the new businesses fail during first year of operation primarily because of lack of funding.

Funding options

• Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana.
• Bootstrapping or self funding.
• Crowd funding.
• Angel investment.
• Venture capital.
• Business incubators and accelerators.
• Microfinance providers or NBFCs.

Conclusion

• Start-up companies are the most dynamic economic organisations on the market, since they provide additional dynamics and competitiveness to any economic system.
• Indigenous start-ups will not only make the lives of the people easier through their affordable and convenient services but will also act as a major booster for the development and the progress of the Indian economy.
  

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Youth: A Change Agent

• Indian demographic transition is uniquely placed with 65% population in the working age group of 15-59.
• It therefore offers a unique opportunity for India to become skill capital of the world.
• It will in turn open avenues for the ageing economies as well to mmeet the skilled manpower requirements.
• National Youth Policy 2014 acknowledges that the young persons in the age group of 15-29 is very diverse with varying requirements, needs and aspirations and has to be dealt accordingly.
• It is high time to empower youth to achieve their fullest potential and enable India to become leader in supply of skilled labour.
• However it needs to appreciated that demographic advantage of India is not uniformly distributed.
• Mobilisation of youth for vocational education or skill development beyond the confines of caste occupations is difficult.
• Also there is lack of willingness to migrate, inability to pay for training, low literacy or lack of awareness etc which hinders the desired aim.

Youth and Labour market

• There has been a decline in labour force participation rate for all age groups irrespective of gender and spatial distinction.
• Still this decline is steep for the rural females which could be attributed to the absence of jobs in rural areas.
• The challenge is to address the problem of working poor, insecurity at the workplace, lack of market linked skills, information asymmetry, poor perception about skill development.
• Hence there is a need to

1. Match supply to current demand for skills.
2. Help workers and enterprises adjust to change.
3. Building and sustaining competencies for future labour market needs.

Government initiatives

• National Skill Development Mission together with new National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship was launched in 2015
• It focuses upon
• Creating a pipeline of skilled people.
• Upskilling and reskilling to align supply for demand.
• Advocating National Skill Qualification Framework to facilitate certification according to global standards.
• Matching supply and demand and catalyzing the entrepreneurship.
• Further there is a renewed focus on reorienting the school education by vocalising it from class 9^th It seeks to create both capacity and quality improvement.
• There will be involvement of industry in course curriculum, practical training and reforming industrial training institutes.
  

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Distance and Online Entrepreneurship Education in India

• Open and Distance Learning System in India has emerged as a convenient, flexible and viable alternative for making education accessible to diverse population who do not have access to formal education.
• Information and communication technology has blurred classroom boundaries both spatially and temporally.

Growth of Distance and Online Education

• It aims to universalise education by leveraging the potential of available educational technology with Information and communication technology.
• The virtual learning environments have the enormous potential to reach the masses.
• They provide them with access to quality contents.
• The learning support opens up to wider sections of the public and therefore
  is considered a significant part of ODL.
• Entrepreneurship education has received special attention from the central government
• The role of young entrepreneurs in a globalised economy such as ours has been aptly recognised by the government and the educational institutes

Conclusion

• In a fast paced corporate environment, people in jobs are felling a constant need to upgrade their skills.
• Therefore there is also a need to invest in entrepreneurship education and training using ODL.
• If India has to capitalise on the prospective dream of reaping the fruits demographic dividend in the upcoming decades, we ought to endow our efforts and attention into leveraging the entrepreneurial energies of the youth.

Quality Education for Empowering Indian Youth

• Empowering youth is imperative for the national development.
• However the personal development is an important facet of youth development.
• It can be pursued by promoting youth rights, youth activism and their participatory and deliberative role in community decision making.
• But to realise this, the key is to educate them and make them employable.
• Significantly, sustainable development of any nation cannot be achieved without the activity of youth.

Pillars of Youth’s empowerment

It has four pillars

• Education
• Skills and Employment
• Radical temperamental change
• Government policies

Higher Education in India

• Motto of Human Resource Development Ministry is “Education for All, Quality Education” with the vision of “Transforming India”
• Gross Enrolment Rate in Higher Education in India is 22% much lower than world average of 28% and also in comparison to other nations like China – 28%, Brazil – 36% and UK – 59
  

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Bringing Youth to mainstream

• Naxalism’s Red Corridor has only spread geographically over the years with continuing violence perpetrated by angry Naxal youth.
• The youth in such areas are particularly vulnerable due to the environment they grow up in.
• Similarly the youth in Kashmir is estranged with the Indian project of democracy and has to be rescued.

Government initiatives

For the youth in Red Corridor

• Prime Minister has rightly emphasised that “Only plough on the shoulders and not guns can bring development. There is no future for violence. The future is only of peaceful means.”

Left Wing Extremism Division

• It was created in Home Ministry in 2009 to address the issue of Naxalism holistically. 

New Integrated Action Plan

• It aims to bring Adivasis in the mainstream while dealing with the security aspect simultaneously.
• Government has also launched initiatives relating to education and skill development for the youth of these areas.

Residential Schooling Facility

• It is provided to all children under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in left wing violence affected regions.

Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas

• It aims to provide affordable and elementary education for the girl children.

Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan

• It is being implemented vigorously to provide secondary education to growing children who are most vulnerable to be attracted by ideological violence.

Prayas

• It is an institute established by the government where children are being prepared for competitive exams.

For the youth in Kashmir

UDAAN

• It is a special industry initiative for J&K funded by Ministry of Home Affairs and implemented by National Skill Development Corporation
• It aims to provide corporate exposure to the youth as well as provide corporate India the talent available in the state.

Sadbhavna

• Under Sadbhavna, army runs several important programmes for the youth of J&K.
• Army Goodwill Schools which is an education initiative works to provide middle and high school level education to over one lakh students.
• Army also runs National Integration Tour under Sabhavna where students get to visit other states and get a first hand view of the culture of their fellow citizens.
• Army also runs vocational training centres and women empowerment centres spread across the state to provide practical skills to interested and deserving candidates.

Himayat

• Run under the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India’s Deen Dayal Upadhyay Grameen Kaushal Yojana the scheme endeavours to train 1.24 lakh local youth of J&K in job intensive vocational courses
  

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North East Diary

Krishi Karman Award

• The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has selected Tripura for the Krishi KarmanAward 2015-16 for commendable increase in food grain production in small category states.

NIELIT Centre

• The fifth northeast centre of the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology(NIELIT) at Tripura was opened recently.
• Government has taken firm steps to raise the rate of digital literacy to a large extent and to stopimport of electronics and IT related kits and devices by 2019.
• The government is also considering setting up one NIELIT centre in each district of the country toeducate and train youth in electronics, IT services and related jobs.

Recent initiatives in the North-East

• Naga Peace Accord.
• Promotion of Organic Agriculture.
• Developing North Eastern States as Organic capitals.
• Sikkim becomes the first fully organic state in the country.
• “IshanUday” special scholarship for NE students for general and professional degree courses.
• “IshanVikas” to provide exposure visits for talented students from the NE region for internship inIITs, NITs, and NIFTs.
• Setting up of 1st National Sports University in Manipur.