National Youth Policy: Here Are 6 Ways The Government Can Make Youth Matter

By Anshul Tewari:

A glance at the National Youth Policy Draft 2012 will tell you how poorly done the piece of policy is. With very little focus on enforcing other ministries working with the youth to implement their strategies and recognize different diversities of youth, or implement their programs, the policy formation process is at question. Does holding a bunch of consultations with organizations working with young people qualify for enough representation of the youth? I do not believe so. Moreover, most of the people involved in the consultation process for the formation of the policy come with their respective experience baggage and are not youth themselves – as per how the Indian Government defines young people.

There is a need for a deeper understanding of the needs of young people and a more cohesive process needs to be put into place for the formation of the national youth policy.

Below are 6 ways through which the Indian Government can form a better, more informed and more consultative National Youth Policy in India.

1) Urban youth outreach through social media: If the PMO can reach out to Twitter users for recommendations for a 5th year plan, and if the Justice Verma committee can make use of emails and Facebook for public recommendations on the rape law, the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs can definitely create channels through social media to seek mass recommendations from young people across the country through Facebook and Twitter. Putting out a series of questions that are simplified and put forth in layman language through a period of time can enable various sections of young people to engage with the Ministry and share opinions on what the needs of young people are.

2) Using volunteer forces to do offline consultations: If the Commonwealth Games can create a cohort of over 10,000 volunteers in Delhi alone, I am sure the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs can create a channel of at least a 1000 volunteers in 28 states, who target 100 young people each for a survey with multiple questions. The ministry can make use of Government colleges, Municipal schools and universities to create channels for these volunteers to engage with young people and seek recommendations from them.

3) A team of young researchers for data assessment: Once the data is collected through online and offline channels, a team of young and talented researches who come with the latest knowledge of data assessment can be put to use to analyse this data and come up with the top 20 recommendations that have been most talked about by a majority of young people. Once these recommendations are set in place, they can be worked upon from a policy level, and the National Youth Policy can have more specific expert consultations on these topics to finalize 10 to 15 final inclusions in the National Youth Policy, and put out the draft for review.

4) Regional review groups: Once the draft has been put out and the recommendations have been given to various ministries, central and state governments, the Government can make use of the same volunteer force, or recruit a small regional staff with more expertise who work on a state by state level to review whether the state governments are implementing the policy at their level or not. The sole task of this review group will be to monitor the functioning of the youth ministry cells at the state level and review and asses their performance on an yearly basis. At the end of every year, this group can file a review report to the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs about the situation in the respective states, and give suggested solutions to be implemented for a better functioning of the youth policy recommendations.

5) Awareness drive through national, regional and community media: Last but not the least, out of the funds that the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs receives, it should set out a chunk of it to invest in awareness drives through national media, regional media as well as community specific media to reach out to young people across the board and inform them about their rights, the facilities offered to them, and the recommendations by the Ministry, and generate interest in civic participation and various other aspects of the National Youth Policy. As is evident from the poll conducted by Youth Ki Awaaz here, nearly 80% young people have no clue that something like the National Youth Policy even exists.

6) Consult youth organizations on setting indicators: This is precisely where experienced youth organizations and NGOs can be consulted. The National Youth Policy needs to work on certain indicators and criteria for the survey, and the above 5 points should be used to collect the exact needs of young people against these indicators.

It’s high time young people are given opportunities and platforms to become better and more informed stakeholders in the way the democracy functions.

Do you know that India has a National Youth Policy?