Govt proposes 'Youth Connect Programme' to implement NYP-14

For the effective implementation of the National Youth Policy-2014, the Government of India has recommended that all the relevant ministries should set up a mandatory "Youth Connect Programme" to educate the youth about the various schemes and programmes available to them that are administered by the concerned ministries.
Given the fact that youth comprise 27.5 per cent of the population, and represent a large proportion of the target segment of most of the ministries, it is important to ensure that the key ministry departments communicate with the youth and must work in a coordinated manner to facilitate holistic youth development.

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and Sports Minister Jitendra Singh had, on Friday, unveiled two ambitious projects -- 'National Youth Policy 2014' and 'Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan' -- which focus on education, skill development, employment, entrepreneurship and health.
The NYP 2014 is a comprehensive policy document that states the vision of the Government of India for the youth of the country and also how this vision is sought to be realised by the government. NYP-2014 caters to the needs of the youth in the age-group of 15-29 years.
The 'Youth Connect Programme', as per the policy document, can run offline through a combination of workshops, briefings and information sessions or online using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and social media, tailored to the relevant scheme.

The outreach material and information from these programmes can also be fed into the more broad-based Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MoYAS) youth engagement portal.
"The youth development is not an activity that can be performed in isolation by MoYAS. One key mechanism for ensuring that all ministries work towards mainstreaming youth development and participation is to identify linkages between MoYAS and other ministries and incorporate these into the respective Result Framework Development (RFDs)," the document said.