India's National Youth Policy-2014

The Union Cabinet today gave its approval for introduction of the National Youth Policy-2014 (NYP-2014), replacing NYP-2003 currently in force.

The vision of NYP-2014 is to empower youth to achieve their full potential, and through them enable India to find its rightful place in the community of nations. For achieving this vision, the Policy identifies five well-defined objectives and 11 priority areas and suggests policy interventions in each priority area. The priority areas are education, skill development and employment, entrepreneurship, health and healthy lifestyle, sports, promotion of social values, community engagement, participation in politics and governance, youth engagement, inclusion and social justice.

The focused approach on youth development and empowerment involving all stakeholders, as envisaged in NYP-2014, would result in development of an educated and healthy young population, who are not only economically productive, but are also socially responsible citizens contributing to the task of nation-building.

It will cover the entire country catering the needs of all youth in the age-group of 15-29 years, which constitutes 27.5 per cent of the population according to Census-2011, that is about 33 crore persons.It will replace NYP-2003, to take care of developments since 2003 and future policy imperatives.

The NYP-2014 proposes broad policy interventions for the youth consistent with the 12thPlan priorities and does not propose any specific programme/ scheme, having financial implications. All concerned Ministries/ Department would be requested to bring focus on youth issues within the framework of their plans/ programmes/ schemes etc.

Background:

India is one of the youngest nations in the world and is expected to have a very favourable demographic profile in the near future. This is a great opportunity as well as a challenge. NYP-2014 seeks to suggest a framework for appropriate policy interventions by Government and non-Government stakeholders, to empower the youth to enable them to realize their full potential as also to contribute to the progress of the nation.

Useful link http://www.youthpolicy.org/nationalyouthpolicies/

Fall in love

And I want to inspire you, too. I want to be able to push you. To stretch your limits and make you step outside of your comfort zone. Because inspiration is like a weed when you have the right amount. It grows wildly and quickly, and spreads throughout the surface. When it works, when it really works, we feed off of each other. We make each other better. We consistently try new things and pursue higher heights. That’s…well, that’s inspirational.

And that’s what I hope for. Maybe it’s a bit far-reaching but maybe it really isn’t at all. Must read...

Thanks Satya Nadella (now CEO Microsoft)

Thanks Satya Nadella (now CEO Microsoft) for proving that even those who don’t get into IITs and those who pay capitation to get their degree… can also shine ahead of the rest…

He “possibly” did not get into IITs; He “probably” paid capitation to get into Manipal BUT He most definitely has gone right to the top… I celebrate Satya Nadella’s success not just because he is an Indian (or Indian origin) but one who has set to rest several stereotypes from the Indian education system.

One such is highlighted by a firstpost article where it states
Our system is designed to keep people out, not get them in. The true value of an IIT or IIM is not the intellectual capital they produce, but their filtering expertise – which keeps all but the superlisters out of these institutions. When the people entering the institution are the best among the best, they will shine no matter what the quality of faculty or the curriculum.

Nadella did not get into the IITs “possibly” but still made it.

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Ravi Lochan Singh's Blog

Power Women

Charu Sharma is an Indian explorer, writer, performer and entrepreneur. With 5 National Awards, she was enlisted as a "Power Woman" alongside such notables as Oprah Winfrey, Sonia Gandhi, Melinda Gates and Devita Saraf by Youth Incorporated magazine in March 2012. In 2003, Charu and brother Chinmay were awarded the National Bravery Award by the Prime Minister of India for fighting train robbers and saving lives of women. Charu went on to achieve black-belts in Karate and Taekwondo, represented India in Taekwondo in South Korea, and has been an advocate for self-defense training for women. At 21, she is currently studying Physics and Economics on a scholarship in Massachusetts at Mount Holyoke College, the first institution in the US where women could get college education. Charu has sailed twice with Semester at Sea, and her unexpected encounters with people and cultures around the world have inspired her to pen a travel memoir.

Creativity Becomes an Academic Discipline

Creativity Becomes an Academic Discipline - NYTimes.com

Once considered the product of genius or divine inspiration, creativity — the ability to spot problems and devise smart solutions — is being recast as a prized and teachable skill. Pin it on pushback against standardized tests and standardized thinking, or on the need for ingenuity in a fluid landscape.


Traditional academic disciplines still matter, but as content knowledge evolves at lightning speed, educators are talking more and more about “process skills,” strategies to reframe challenges and extrapolate and transform information, and to accept and deal with ambiguity.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/09/education/edlife/creativity-becomes-an-academic-discipline.html?smid=fb-nytimes&WT.z_sma=US_CBA_20140205&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1388552400000&bicmet=1420088400000&_r=0

Internal brain drain

The flight to campus is not always beyond the seas. The comfort of being close to home is driving several young Indians to different Indian states to pursue an education.
In the last 10 years, a total of 37 lakh moved to get a degree, showing that a discouraging academic landscape near home is no longer keeping its youth from travelling to the brighter lights elsewhere.

Departure rate among young men wanting to pursue an education is higher, for 26 lakh shifted as compared to 11 lakh women. Of those, 6.2 lakh youths (or 17%) moved to a new state; 16.8 lakh shifted to another district within their home state in the last 10 years. Karnataka received the largest exodus — 1.8 lakh — from other states and Uttar Pradesh sent out most students — 1.1 lakh.

A January 2014 research paper, Internal Migration for Education and Employment among Youth in India, commissioned by UN-HABITAT's Global Urban Youth Research Network, begins a conversation on whether Indian states must worry about internal brain drain.

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We need a system to transform higher education

By 2030, we need a system that delivers both excellence and inclusiveness.
Mahatma Gandhi while addressing the fourth FICCI AGM in 1931 had entrusted industry with the duty of being the trustees of society. By virtue of this, it becomes the moral responsibility of my generation to create a vibrant nation that is socially, economically and politically stable and prosperous.
This can be achieved only by educating and empowering our youth through a sound education system with a clear vision and a time-bound roadmap. We have seen our neighbouring countries like China, Korea and Singapore, transform from developing to advanced economies in a short span of time owing to a larger vision that correlated economic development to reforms in the education sector, in particular higher education and research.

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