Government focussed on youth-led development

The Narendra Modi government is focussed on youth-led development of the country, Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Sarbananda Sonowal said on Wednesday.

"The government firmly holds the view that the youth should be active drivers and not just passive recipients of the development process," Sonowal told the first Asia Region Commonwealth Youth Ministers' meeting here.

"Facilitating youth participation at all levels of governance is one of the key objectives of the current national youth policy of India," he said.

Sonowal said the participation of youth in the governance process was an article of faith for the government.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted youths to give suggestions on wide-ranging issues of governance.

"A National Youth Advisory Council is being set up to advise the government on youth issues. The council will have youth representation from every single state and union territory."

Stating that there was a global realisation that the youth have a key role to play in the development process, the minister said: "The youth have made a valuable contribution to the shaping of the 'Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda' through participation in the MyWorld Survey, national consultations etc."

He pointed out that the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit in Ufa, Russia, earlier this month was preceded by a BRICS Youth Summit and said the youth from the BRICS nations provided valuable inputs to the leaders of these countries.

The three-day Commonwealth Asia region meeting in New Delhi, the first such, will end on Thursday.