CHAPTER 12


Our Policy for India's Youth

 

Yuva Shakti for Rashtra Shakti

OUR youth are the strength of the family, village, locality and the community. They are also the biceps or triceps of the nation. They are the most idealistic, inspired and energetic section of our nation. But in the absence of a driving national vision and a credible national leadership, their energy has remained dormant or got misdirected. Today, the youth of India see the BJP with great hope and we see them with equally great hope as the inheritors of India in the 21st century.

The BJP recognizes their immense creative potential to effect positive social, cultural and political changes. We pledge to create a conducive environment and a supportive policy framework for the full realization of this potential.

Towards this end, we will unveil a National Youth Policy, for the implementation of which our Government will set aside substantial budgetary resources. A permanent National Youth Commission will be set up to monitor the implementation.

Promotion of a Robust Sports and Physical Culture

SPORTS has been neglected since Independence and the blame must be shared by both the Government and society. Also neglected is the development of a hardy physical culture, which alone provides the necessary basis on which a nation can promote excellence in sports. It is a national shame that India, the second most populous country in the world, almost never finds a place in the medals tally in the Olympic Games. It is a sad commentary on our sports culture that, in a country of nearly one billion people, we have not more than 2,000 top-ranking sportsmen and women. To promote Indian sports to attain international recognition and to develop a sports ethos in India, the BJP will:

1. Make physical education and sports coaching compulsory up to the +2 stage.

2. Make a substantial budgetary allocation for instituting methods to identify and train sports talent.

3. Look for sports talent outside the educational institutions, particularly in villages and in coastal areas.

4. Promote traditional Indian sports and, in association with neighboring countries, make them international sports.

5. The functioning of sports bodies will be immediately freed from all bureaucratic and political interference.

6. A yearly Rural Sports Meet and (depending on the concentration of tribal population) a Tribal Sports Meet will be held in each village, taluka, district and State.

7. With regard to India's participation in the Olympics and other international games, a well-conceived, long-term policy will be evolved to achieve success.

Bharat Punarnirman Vahini

THE BJP Government will unveil a nationwide scheme to tap the spirit of voluntary service among the youth and channel it for the realization of twin goals: Self-growth and Nation-building. The scheme envisages the setting up of a Bharat Punarnirman Vahini, whose youthful voluntary members will devote one year of their life for national reconstruction. They will take part in diverse activities such as rural reconstruction, water maintenance social forestry, public health, environment protection, social harmony, adult literacy and preservation of traditional knowledge systems. Initially, this scheme will be taken up on an experimental basis in a few pilot districts from different parts of the country.

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