INTRODUCTION :

Youth, in all ages, has been in the vanguard of progress and social change. Thirst for freedom, impatience for quicker pace of progress and a passion for innovation, coupled with idealism and creative fervour, saw the youth in the forefront of the freedom struggle in our own land. If our youth was inspired by the call of the Father of the Nation in the first half of this century, the youth of today face the challenge of economic development and technological progress with social justice.

The youth of India, representing a third of our population, constitute a vital and vibrant human resource. They have a right, as well as an obligation, to participate actively in national development and in shaping the Destiny of the nation which is, in point of fact, their own destiny. Their problems are many and varied and their aspirations naturally high, in a country with a great past and greater promise for the future. The need, therefore, is to create increasing opportunities for them to develop their personality and their functional capability and thus make them economically productive and socially useful.

Such opportunities have to be created on a large scale, to cover a wide spectrum of areas of human endeavour; and they have to be made available to youth of all strata of society, particularly the disadvantaged. All national programmes should be directed to enable the youth to become a productive, self-confident and committed force for national development. These programmes must create adequate facilities for the all round development of youth and assist in their striving for excellence in all fields.

This calls for an integral and their-disciplinary approach, involving both government departments and organisations and sectors outside the Government such as the family, educators, leaders, voluntary agencies and youth organisations. The Central and State Governments have to provide adequate mechanisms supportive of this process.

It behaves the Nation, therefore, to assist youth in getting their due share in the country's life and progress, while equipping them to meet their obligations adequately. It is not an easy task, but it is a necessary task, in which not only the Government but the whole nation, including individuals, institutions and organisations, have to be brought together in a spirit of creative enterprise, as envisaged in this National Youth Policy.