The Nehru
Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) an autonomous
body of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and
Sports, Government of India was set up in
1972 as Nehru Yuvak Kendra under the erstwhile
Ministry of Education. It currently has 500
district level offices, 2.16 lakh village
level youth clubs and 80 lakh rural youth
affiliated to it in 13-35 age group. The NYKS
today prepares over 11,000 youth leaders every
year. 2551 youth development centres, one
on every cluster of 10 village youth clubs,
and 139 rural information technology youth
development centres (RITYDC) provide support
and services to the field functionaries.
The NYKS Board of Governors, led by the Minister
of Youth Affairs & Sports as its Chairman,
decides the policy and prepares roadmap for
youth empowerment. The District Advisory Committee
on Youth Programme (DACYP) chaired by the
District Magistrate / Collector finalises
the District Annual Action Plan after micro
level planning.
The national network of NYKS' 500 district
offices and monitoring mechanisms store, analyze,
direct and coordinate an awesome range of
rural youth empowerment programmes that have
won kudos from national and international
agencies. It has even provided opportunities
to rural youth to experience and benefit from
the partnerships, from such international
organization as the UNICEF, UNAIDS, UNESCAP,
UNDP, IPPF, Save the Children (UK) and the
Child Line (India) Foundation and many others.
At the national level Ministry of Rural Development,
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry
of Social Justice and Empowerment, Ministry
of Home Affairs, NACO, and many other non-government
agencies have synergized with the indomitable
network of NYKS to reach out the last person
in rural India.
NYKS has long been a rallying point for its
affiliated youth clubs and volunteers that
share its vision of a multicultural India;
an environment that unites all, irrespective
of gender, religion, caste and creed, such
as a truly secular society demands.
Visit any of the numerous NYKS centres across
the country, and you will at once see this
Nerhuvian vision translated into action -
and begin to understand why, despite so many
recent challenges, we continue to be as united
as we are diverse. We believe in the humanist
ideology of Mahatma Gandhi, father of the
Nation and his vision of India.
With nearly three fourths of India continuing
to live in its villages, the importance of
empowering its youth cannot be overstressed.
India accounts for well over 36.1% of the
world's total youth population, a large number
of which are women, as our Mahila Mandals
(women's groups) will tell you. Talk to them
- the thousands spread across the country
- and it will become clear how vocal these
previously suppressed sections have become
on our watch.
How, then, has the NYKS gained this global
reputation of being a Mass Movement? Documented
records sourced from our official archives,
as also those of the world organizations that
regularly liaise with us, show that in the
last four years alone the NYKS galvanized
as many as 1,56,000 young people into participating
in leadership training programmes. Many of
these were devoted to battling HIV/AIDS, while
other focused on employment, awareness drives,
work camps and literacy generation, and providing
comfort and other basic relief during recurring
natural calamities.
Sports, cultural activities, adventure sports
regularly provide much fillip to rural life.
Large number of the youth who received vocational
training at our centres are reaping the benefits
of gaining financial independence. There is,
however rising clamour for still more programmes
promoting computer literacy and management
and implementation skills. Accordingly, we
plan to set up 500 more RITYDCs by the end
of the next financial year to usher IT Revolution
in rural areas.
Their new found confidence enables volunteers
to contribute even more freely to the Sangathan's
welfare activities that are not tied to monetary
rewards, but which , they realize, they have
themselves been beneficiaries of.
It is this grassroots participatory spirit
that, in the first instance, led to our inception
in 1972, and continues to guide us to this
day.
