"I am the CHANGE I want to see” -Mahatma Gandhi
It is estimated that a little more than 40% of India’s population is youth between the age of 15 and 35 years. This is the most vibrant and dynamic segment of the country’s population, potentially its most valuable human capital. Youth has the power to shape our country from a developing nation to a developed nation. The youth hope for a country which is free of poverty, unemployment, inequality and exploitation of man by man.
A large section of Indian youth is not only unemployed but unemployable. The unemployment of youth is the biggest problem faced by the country today, with far-reaching and negative implications. All this has a psychological effect on the youth, which leads them to question their self-confidence and express bitterness about their future. Therefore, this segment of our population would require multi-dimensional interventions and programmes to enable them realise their multi-faceted innate potential.
Origin of Swami Vivekananda Centre for Yuvodaya Programmes (SVCYP) at NCRI:
With this perspective, as part of its extension services, the NCRI envisaged an assortment of programmes focused on rural youth, to empower them with core employability skills, life-skills and personal competencies, and develop their innate potential, especially those disconnected from formal / informal education or livelihood learning / training programmes.
As a start, the Youth Sensitisation Programme (YSP) was initiated in April 2009. To bring about practical insight to the YSP concept, the officials of NCRI visited several rural institutes and potential NGOs, and studied various issues pertaining to rural youth and their employability. After several visits and consultations, a pilot programme was chalked-out, scaling it up to universities, professional institutes and NGOs. In May 2009, a pilot Youth Sensitisation Programme was organised in partnership with the Infosys Leadership Institute, at Dangoria Charitable Trust, Narsapur, Medak Dist. Andhra Pradesh, which was attended by a large number of students from various institutes and colleges of Medak. Consequently, several YSPs were conducted in collaboration with Universities/Rural Institutes/NGOs, etc. covering 12 states.
As an outcome of the Youth Sensitisation Programme, the NCRI initiated a subsequent programme, namely, the Youth Campaign for Rural Advancement (YOUCRA), to mobilise youth towards social action and disaster management. The YOUCRA was launched in October, 2009, on the occasion of commemoration of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday.
Success of the above two initiatives besides many requests from rural institutes/potential NGOs across the country, paved the way for the NCRI to set-up a centre named after Swami Vivekananda to promote programmes focused on rural youth, to channelise their energies into productive, progressive-thinking and worth-while contributions towards nation building.
Objectives:
- To endow life-long learning to make the youth productive, forward-looking and worthwhile individuals.
- To make social and educational, cultural interventions aimed at enhancing employability potential and character-building.
- To build capacities to assume leadership roles in community development.
- To link youth with community to create a genuine partnership for the benefit of both youth and community.
- To inculcate the values of universal brotherhood and zeal for selfless service towards the well-being of humanity.
Target group:
a. Student youth
- High school and College drop-outs
- Students pursuing professional degree programmes
- Non-technical Students
- Students on the verge of completing their studies
- Students/youth with rural exposure
b. Non-student youth
- Youth without basic education
- Youth learning various vocational/life-skills
- Youth involved in agriculture and allied activities
- Youth trained in local arts & crafts, sports & cultural activities
- Youth involved in community mobilisation activities
c. Differently-abled youth -- students and non-students
Programmes proposed under SVCYP:
- Youth sensitisation Programme (YSP): Sensitising youth, through rural exposure particularly those enrolled in professional institutions located in urban centres. YSP focused on providing exposure to the urban youth to rural development, culture and ethos to make them understand and appreciate the potential of the rural sector and various programmes of action initiated by the government and other non-governmental agencies in building various orientations for the development of rural sector.
- Youth Campaign for Rural Advancement (YOUCRA): Mobilising rural youth towards community/social action and disaster management through intensive training camps and practical demonstration.
- Youth Rural Internship Programme (YRIP): Focusing on meeting the practice-deficit in the existing academic programmes, by providing hands-on training, extension exposure and practical experiences in different areas to enable the youth to find avenues for gainful employment or to tap their entrepreneurship potential.
- Yuvodaya Kendras (YKs): Establishing Yuvodaya Kendras to carry-out an assortment of programmes focused on rural youth especially those disconnected from formal/informal education or livelihood learning/training, for the purpose of empowering and engaging them in development of self and community. It proposes not only life-long learning and skill enhancement but also the cultural enrichment, traditional arts and sports, career counseling, mini lab, bridge courses, youth club, dramatics, folk arts, rural sports etc.
- Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR): Providing rural youth with an opportunity to study social problems through community engaged research. This research will help them to find solution to various problems and develop systematic action programmes to rectify them.
Expected outcome:
- Enhancement of employability potential (through vocational / professional training, life-skills and core personal skills)
- Mainstreaming of the rural youth to pursue higher education
- Greater involvement of youth in promotion of local sports, arts and cultural activities.
- Higher level of confidence among differently-abled youth
- Increase of the practical insight, sense of responsibility, selfless service and volunteerism
- Overcoming social divides and paving a way towards for peace and communal harmony.
- Inculcation of values supportive of social responsibility, selfless service and volunteerism
Area covered under various activities of the centre:
Events:
Two youth sensitisation workshops were organised by the SVCYP during 22-26 February, 2011, in association with the Centre for Sustainable Development (CSD), Sundernagar, Himachal Pradesh. The theme of the workshops was ‘Youth Leadership and Rural Advancement’ The first workshop was held during February 22-23, 2011, at Jawaharlal Nehru Government Engineering College, Sundernagar, Mandi District, Himachal Pradesh, and the second workshop was held during February 25-26, 2011, at Abhilashi Group of Institutions, Nerchowk, Mandi District. The success of the events was heightened with the active involvement of Shri.Vijay Chandan Director, of Technical Education, Himachal Pradesh. The introductory sessions were handled by Shri S. Daniel, Coordinator, SVCYP, and NCRI. About 80 engineering and management students participated in the workshop at Sundernagar.
The students represented the following institutions:
1. Jawaharlal Nehru Engineering College, Sundernagar.
2. Government Polytechnic College, Sundernagar.
3. Sirda Institute of Engineering and Emerging Technology, Naulakha, Sundernagar.
4. Sirda Women Polytechnic College, Naulakha, Sundernagar.
Shri Vivek Basandhrai, Managing Director, Hygiea foods, Shri Vijay Patial, Managing Director, Shiva foods Pvt. Ltd., Dr. R.C.Thakur Director (Retd.), HPAU, Palampur and Shri Jitender Verma, Director, CSD, participated in the first workshop and shared their experiences. Shri Vivek Basandhrai dwelt briefly on his success and the challenges he had to face in becoming a successful entrepreneur. Dr. R.C. Thakur gave a detailed presentation on rural entrepreneurship in India and the various government schemes to promote business enterprises in rural areas. Shri Vijay Patial spoke about the chain of food-processing units in rural areas. Shri Jitender Verma explained the opportunities in rural sectors such as rural tourism, agriculture, food processing, organic farming, forestry, live-stock and producing energy out of waste.
Later in the day, the students were taken on a field visit to the Appropriate Technology Centre (ATC) at Sundernagar, to make them aware of the various local technologies like solar passive-heating, rat-trap, masonry, pine-needle briquettes, ploughs etc. Another visit to Mahadev Woolen Industry and Shiva Food Industry helped create awareness among students about the impact such industries had on the rural economy. Shri Praveen Sharma, Engineer M.L.Modgil , Principal, J. N. Government Engineering College, Sundernagar, gave away the participation certificates to all the participants and appreciated Shri S. Daniel of NCRI and Shri Jitender Verma of CSD, for organising the workshop.
The second workshop was held at the premises of Abhilashi Group of Institutions, Nerchowk, District Mandi. About 77 students of B.Tech, MBA, BBA, BCA from the T.R. Abhilashi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Tanda and Abhilashi Institute of Management Studies, Nerchowk, participated in the workshop. Other participants included Dr. R.K. Abhilashi, Chairman, Abhilashi Group of Institutions, Shri Pranav Thakur, Managing Director, USP Hydropower, Shri J.R. Bhardwaj, Senior Manager, HPSC Bank and Dr. R.C. Thakur, Director (Retd.), HPAU, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh.
The following issues were deliberated upon by the participants during the workshop:
• Pooling of resources that raise the living standards in rural areas.
• The opportunities in various rural sectors such as rural tourism, agriculture, food processing, etc. that open numerous opportunities for youth.
• Setting up of small hydro plants.
• Formation and effective functioning of SHGs.
• Rural entrepreneurship and its various components.
During the two-day programme, the students visited Himalaya Tinned Food and Vegetables and gained knowledge about various processes involved in canning, and other management processes including operations, marketing, and finance. The second visit was to Badsu Gram Panchayat where the women have organised themselves into SHGs and are producing different products like handbags, show-pieces, chutney, achar, murabba, namkeen, sira etc. At the end of the session, the students expressed their satisfaction and considered the programme to be very informative.
Contact :
Co-ordinator Project Assistant
Landline : 040-23422107 040-23422107
E-mail :cysp@ncri.in
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