Karnataka Youth Policy: Draft outlines 10 focus areas for empowerment

The Karnataka Youth Policy envisages for all-round development of youth and to empower them to bring about constructive societal change

R Balasubramaniam, chairman of the State Committee on Youth Policy, on Thursday submitted a draft of the Karnataka Youth Policy (KYP) 2022, to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.

The policy would be placed before a State Cabinet meeting for its approval. It has 10 focus areas.

The focus areas of the policy include education and training, employment and entrepreneurship, health and well-being, sports and fitness, arts and culture, value-based leadership development, restructuring the department, yuva budget, youth advisory group, and three C’s approach — fostering coordination, cooperation, and collaboration — to ensure convergence; and establishing a state-level convergence committee for youth empowerment.

The policy envisages for all round development of youth and empower them to bring about constructive societal change. It also focuses on building human and social capital in a sustainable manner. “Sustainable development is the guiding principle of the KYP 2022,” the draft policy said.

This will make the policy implicitly inclusive and ensure that social, economic and environmental realities guide its implementation.

In alignment with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the KYP, 2022 will be operational for a period of eight years until 2030.

The policy focused on new challenges such as technological progress and humanitarian crises like COVID and the need to rethink the state’s approach to youth development.