Why in news?

The Cabinet cleared the new Karnataka Youth Policy that promises interventions in education, training, employment, health and sports programmes for youngsters, besides a dedicated budgetary outlay.

Highlights:

• R Balasubramaniam, was the chairman of the State Committee on Youth Policy,
• In alignment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Karnataka Youth Policy 2022 will be operational for a period of eight years until 2030.

The need for the policy

• According to data shared by the department, in Karnataka, presently, of the 7.5 crore population, 30 per cent are youth, or 2.11 crore.
• The new youth policy needs to be aligned with various national and state level policies such as industrial policy, skill development policy, NEP, start-up policy and sports policy. Hence the state government has adopted the new policy

Policy recommendations:

• The policy recommends re-organisation of the Youth Empowerment Department and evaluation of programmes meant for the youth.
• It says that the main intention is to develop youth, who account for 30 per cent of the total population.
• It sees youth from two dimensions: as individuals and also as a part of society and therefore focuses on both youth development and youth for development. Therefore the policy claims that it focuses on education and training, jobs, entrepreneurship, health, sports, restructuring youth empowerment and evaluation of the youth programme.
• It identifies six focus areas — education and training, employment and entrepreneurship, health and well-being, sports and fitness, arts and culture — and recommended an action framework for each of them.
• The education section focuses on filling gaps through skill training programmes. It suggests introducing a ‘Yuva’ budget in the annual budget and the formation of a Youth Advisory Group.
• On health section the policy suggests on insulating youth from addictions to social media, tobacco, alcohol, and narcotics. The policy recommends restructuring the department and establishing two separate directorates for youth empowerment and sports.
• It also states the state needs to set up a system to collect data about youth development which will be known as Karnataka Youth Development Index and use the index to monitor and evaluate the progress of youth-focused schemes and programs besides creating a base of evidence for future programs and policies.

• Establishing a state-level convergence committee for youth empowerment and a three-level operational review are among other recommendations.