The State Cabinet today approved the Meghalaya Youth Policy (MYP), 2021.
The vision of MYP is to create pathways for Meghalaya’s youth in achieving their fullest potential and becoming engaged, skilled, creative, responsible and empowered members of the local and global community.
The policy will be notified by the government soon.
Drafted by the Sports and Youth Affairs Department, the policy is aims to transform Meghalaya to be amongst the top 10 states in 10 years in GSDP per capita and SDG ranking.
It also aims to address major issues and concerns of the youth based on nine identified key thrust areas that includes Education, Health & Wellbeing, Counselling & Mentoring, Employment Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Sports, Cultural & creative industries, Engagement & Leadership, Inclusion and Environmental Consciousness.
Through the policy, the government plans to implement 45 programs that would be measured by 54 performance monitoring indicators, which have been mapped to 10 departments to be measured quarterly, bi-annually and annually.
Announcing the approval, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said, “The policy provides a systematic framework for youth engagement and provides equal opportunities to all young men and women for their socio-economic development, and in turn contribute in enhancing the per capita income of the state and in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals of the state.”
He said the implementation and success of the policy is based on various performance indicators under each thrust area that includes infrastructure creation and upgradation, human resource development, awareness campaigns implemented and other parameters.
Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Banteidor Lyngdoh said, “The policy is our endeavor to provide a concrete and progressive framework, that addresses the current issues, challenges and concern of our youth towards their growth and development. We have framed this policy with an objective to provide holistic approach to engaging youth in development activities, thus in-turn channelizing their energy positively.”
The policy includes planned interventions covering lifecycle of a youth in its entirety that includes early childhood interventions implemented through various plans and policies like Early Childhood Education Mission, Meghalaya School Improvement Plan (MSIP), Health upgradation programs like FIT India, sports infrastructure upgradation, setup academies of excellence in the area of arts and culture, and recognition of key achievements in sports, arts and culture.
As per the latest estimates, Meghalaya has a population of approx. 38.29 lakh people, of which over 74 per cent i.e. 28.48 lakhs are under the age of 35 years. While the primary focus remains on youth (belonging to ages of 15- 29 years), critical issues and programs relating to the age group of 5-14 years will also be emphasized and made part of the overall youth development framework.
