National Young Leaders

The Central government is focused on youth-led development. In order to enable youth to play key role in nation-building, it launched a new scheme, namely, ‘National Young Leaders Programme (NYLP)’ in December 2014.The scheme has the following 5 components, namely: a Neighbourhood Youth Parliament: To develop the platform of youth clubs of NYKS (Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan) in the shape of vibrant ‘neighbourhood youth parliament’ to educate the youth club members about contemporary socio-economic development issues and to involve them in debate/ discussions on such issues; b) Youth for Development Programme: To channelise the immense youth energy towards the nation-building, by involving them in Shramadaan (voluntary labour) on a large-scale all over the country; c) National Young Leaders Awards: To motivate the youth to strive for excellence in their respective fields by recognising and rewarding the outstanding work done by them; d) National Youth Advisory Council: To seek active involvement of the youth leaders as well as other stakeholders in the decision-making process on the youth related issues; and e) National Youth Development Fund: To mobilise funds for youth development from non-Government sources like CSR funds.

Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan(NYKS) was set up as an autonomous organization and it is the largest grassroots level voluntary organization; one of its kind in the world. It channelizes the power of youth who are in the age group of 13-35 years on the principles of voluntarism, self-help and community participation.

The implementation of the National Young Leaders Programme started in last quarter of the financial year 2014-15. The full impact of the Scheme will be felt in financial year 2015-16 only, but the benefits of the Scheme have started flowing. During 2014-15, 4,640 Block Youth Parliament Programmes were organised, in which 3.71 lakh members of NYK affiliated Youth Clubs participated.

In these programmes, the youth debated on important contemporary issues of significance to the community in general and youth in particular. The local administration and local bodies are actively involved in these programmes. The impact of these programmes is to actively involve the youth in governance process. Steps have also been initiated for implementation of other components of the programme as well.