Education and employment for youth were and will be the ministry’s main focus alongside unleashing their sporting spirit
Photo by Chandradeep Kumar
The youth, or those aged between 18 and 29, number 261 million, or 22 per cent of India’s population—larger than the population of Pakistan. The ministry of youth affairs and sports has a crucial role in guiding this demographic dividend to the country’s advantage. The ministry has prepared a new draft National Youth Policy (NYP), an upgrade of the 2014 edition. The draft envisages a 10-year vision for youth development. Aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations, it seeks to “unlock the potential of the youth to advance India” by catalysing action across five priority areas—education, employment & entrepreneurship, youth leadership & development, health, fitness & sports, and social justice.
COVER STORY | The challenges ahead
Sports is an integral part of any policy aimed at supporting the youth. Currently, the Department of Sports runs the following schemes to promote sports in India: Khelo India, assistance to national sports federations, special awards to winners in international events and their coaches, national sports awards, pension to meritorious sportspersons, Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay National Welfare Fund for Sportspersons, National Sports Development Fund and sports training centres through the Sports Authority of India. In the past three years, Rs 6,601 crore was allocated to these schemes.
Information & Broadcasting
In the second term of the Narendra Modi government, the ministry of information and broadcasting has been in the news mostly for all the wrong reasons. There were massive showdowns between the government and big tech companies. A new law was enacted to prevent the proliferation of misinformation and misuse of social media and OTT platforms. A TV channel was banned for allegedly hurting national security interests and several YouTube channels blocked for their alleged anti-India content. Critics and rival political parties called these moves government censorship. Worse, India was ranked 142 among 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters without Borders in 2021. Dismissing this ranking by a “foreign Non-Government Organisation”, I&B minister Anurag Thakur said that the findings were based on a very small sample size, a questionable and non-transparent methodology was adopted and there was lack of a clear definition of press freedom. But beyond the high-decibel debates, the ministry took several positive steps such as preserving and digitising regional films and constituting a committee to review existing guidelines on the Journalist Welfare Scheme.
