IASbhai Daily Editorial Hunt | 8th Sep 2020

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.– Maya Angelou

Dear Aspirants
IASbhai Editorial Hunt is an initiative to dilute major Editorials of leading Newspapers in India which are most relevant to UPSC preparation –‘THE HINDU, LIVEMINT , INDIAN EXPRESS’ and help millions of readers who find difficulty in answer writing and making notes everyday. Here we choose two editorials on daily basis and analyse them with respect to UPSC MAINS 2020.

EDITORIAL HUNT #126 :“Youth Empowerment is Must | UPSC“

C.R. Kesavan & K.R. Vignesh Karthik

Youth Empowerment is Must | UPSC

C.R. Kesavan is a former Vice President of the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development. K.R. Vignesh Karthik is a doctoral researcher at King’s College, London

HEADLINES:

Empower the youth first

CENTRAL THEME:

A focus on India’s youth is the first step towards self-reliance

SYLLABUS COVERED: GS 3: Human Resource

MAINS QUESTION:

Realizing the backbone of our country i.e Youth population needs a relight post pandemic. Discuss -(GS 3)

LEARNING:

Youth Empowerment
Data concerned to Youth population
Revival Scheme

INTRODUCTION:

In today’s India, we can achieve that goal of self-reliance only if we enhance our citizens’ capabilities.

Given our demographic composition, we must begin by empowering our youth.

BODY:

ARE WE INVESTING IN OUR YOUTH?

THE DEFINITION : The 2014 National Youth Policy (NYP) defined youth as persons between 15 and 29 years.
NET POPULATION This cohort accounted for 27.5% of the population then.
STATE EXPENDITURE : The state spends about ₹2,710 per youth on education, skill development, employment, healthcare and food subsidies.-NYP report
FUNDING : The total amount is pegged at more than ₹90,000 crore.

NET INVESTMENT : Assuming that States spend an equal amount, the total investment in our youth would be under 1% of the GDP, hardly commensurate with their population and potential.

REPORT

A report pegged the projected cost (read: loss) of not investing in children and youth at 4% of the GDP every year.Of this, the costs of unemployment account for 0.6%.-World Bank report

YOUTH PARTICIPATION : As of 2017-18, youth participation in India’s labour force was 38.3%.
UNEMPLOYMENT RATES : The youth unemployment rate to be at least 18.3% (3.47 crore youths).-2018 State of Working India Report.
SKILLED UNEMPLOYMENT : About 30% of youth fall under the ‘neither in employment nor in education’ category and 33% of India’s skilled youth are unemployed.
FRESHERS : Further, around 50 lakh youth are expected to be entering the workforce annually.
TUBULENT NUMBERS : These numbers, coupled with impending grim implications of the pandemic, have landed us in uncharted turbulent economic waters.

LEARNING FROM MGNREGA

MGNREGA : The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has been very effective in providing rural livelihood security and social protection.
IMPACT : Yet only about 4% of youth in the labour force have been impacted by it.
NEW SCHEMES : Rural youth employment should be instituted alongside MGNREGA.
STRUCTURAL CHANGES : IYG needs to be implemented across the country to address youth unemployment particularly given the rapid structural changes in the economy.

MONITORING TOOL

The Youth Development Index (YDI) in India serves as an advisory and monitory tool for youth development.

SIGNIFICANCE : It helps recognise priority areas, gaps and alternative approaches specific to each State.
NEW DIMENSIONS : The index also packs a new dimension of social inclusion to assess the inclusiveness of societal progress due to prevalence of systemic inequalities.
VITAL ROLE : In short, YDI can be revisited and deployed to play a vital role in crafting a region-specific IYG.
A focus on our youth is the first step towards self-reliance.

It is time we summon the political will to guarantee our youth a viable future.

IASbhai Windup:

THE WAY FORWARD

FUTURE OF INDIA : The aspirational younger generation born after 1991 invariably hold the key to India’s economic and political future.
REALIZING DEMOGRAPHIC DIVIDEND : India has just a decade’s time to seize the opportunity and realise this youth demographic dividend.
MOST NEEDED SCHEME :Therefore, it is an appropriate time to launch an Indian Youth Guarantee (IYG) programme, akin to the European Union Youth Guarantee (EU-YG) but tuned to our country’s context.

EU-YG emerged in 2010 at a time when youth unemployment rates were soaring above 20%.

FRUITFUL ENGAGEMENT : An IYG initiative, with statutory backing, can function as a facilitatory framework for ensuring gainful and productive engagement of youth.
SPECIAL COMPONENT PLAN : At a time of fiscal stress, one way to allocate budgetary resources would be to create a Youth Component Plan, earmarking a specific percentage of funds for the Scheduled Castes and the Tribal Sub-Plan.
FUNDS OUTLAY : The Youth Component Plan would be formulated by States/Union Territories/Central Ministries to channelize flow of outlays and benefits proportional to the percentage of youth population based on sub-regional requirements.

IYG should not be just another budgetary scheme.

STRATEGIC GOAL : It should be there to ensure that within a fixed time frame, young people graduating from college or losing a job either find a good quality job suited to their education and experience or acquire skills required to find a job through an apprenticeship.
DECENTRALISATION : An important aspect of IYG should be to rope in the district administration and local bodies for effective outcomes.

Existing youth schemes and skilling infrastructure need to be dovetailed and streamlined while leveraging industry to enable an in situ empowerment of youth.

SOURCES: THE HINDU EDITORIAL HUNT | Youth Empowerment is Must | UPSC

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