It is my pleasure to be here with you on the occasion of the inaugural meeting of the Parliamentary Forum on Youth. This Forum is of extreme importance since youth is the strength of our nation. They have an important role to play in the social, economic and political life of our country. With their energy, vigor, enthusiasm and fresh ideas, they can take the nation to new heights. In fact, their engagement in the democratic process needs to be the primary concern of political leaders, policy makers, planners and administrators.

In a developing country like ours the contribution of youth is very crucial. They hold a great promise to growth, development and change in the society. It is, therefore, important that we must realize the power of youth and channelize it constructively for the all round development of the country.  India, with 70 per cent of its population below the age of 35 years, is truly a young nation. We have the largest population of youth in the world.  Hence we must make genuine efforts to consolidate the youth power and ensure their active and responsive participation in nation building.

During the transition from childhood to adulthood, the adolescents often find it difficult to adjust to the sudden physical, psychological and emotional changes. On the other hand, those who have already crossed adolescence face problems of economic and social insecurity. Unless these issues are addressed, the youth may take refuge in alcoholism, drug abuse, etc. and we would lose a valuable force.  If we are to achieve holistic development of our society with peace and stability, we can not allow the interests of our youth to be ignored.  

The National Youth Policy is a welcome step towards this objective.  The policy is designed to prepare the youth to rise up to new challenges, global as well as national and aims at motivating them to be active partners in national development. The Policy also affirms our commitment for composite and all-round development of youth and seeks to provide the right perspective to fulfil their legitimate aspirations and empower them to successfully accomplish the challenging tasks of national reconstruction and social changes that lie ahead. Another positive step taken in this direction is the establishment of a National Commission for Youth whose aim is to recommend to the Government measures to tackle the problems faced by the youth with particular focus on unemployment.

It is very satisfying that several initiatives have been taken in the form of various schemes for the development of youth. The Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan  and the National Service Scheme have been very useful in instilling the principles of voluntarism, self-help and participation among the youth. The role of these schemes in the areas of education and training, awareness generation, skill development and self-employment, entrepreneurial development, etc is commendable. Apart from developing the personality and skill of the youth, these schemes engage them in nation building activities in the form of community service.

However, despite all these, we have not been able to make optimum utilization of the potential of the youth power. It is very unfortunate that there is a growing apathy among today’s youth towards public life. They should come forward and take up the challenges facing the country. As responsible citizens, they should participate in the political process and contribute actively towards all round development and elimination of social evils and discrimination.

Today, we need a holistic approach and a comprehensive strategy to capture the full potential of the youth and channelize their energy towards socio-economic growth of the nation. As parliamentarians, we can play a very crucial role towards the development of our youth. We are in an advantageous position to sensitize decision makers, policy-planners and those responsible for the implementation of various programmes. As educators, parliamentarians can make people aware of the problems the youth are facing. The Parliamentary Forum on Youth, I am sure would facilitate experts and specialists to interact with the parliamentarians so that the elected representatives will be better equipped to reflect the problems related to the youth inside the Houses of the Parliament, in the Committees as well as in the international fora and find solutions.  I hope the deliberations of the Parliamentary Forum on Youth will come up with innovative ideas and suggestions to address the issues and challenges facing the youth of today.  I wish the Forum all success in their commendable endeavour.

Thank you.