A two day consultation on ‘Approach to Youth Policy’ was organized on 7th – 8th November 2016 in the Institute of Development Studies seminar hall. The workshop was organized by the Ajit Foundation, Jaipur. The participants were drawn from organizations working with youth, NGOs and civil society organizations as well as academic institutions. A number of young men and women also participated. India enjoys a large ‘demographic dividend’ as nearly 60 percent of the country’s population is the age group 16-34 years. Hence, a very large productive workforce is available in the country and two proportions of non-working people in the age group 60 and above is much less. This is said to be the ‘demographic dividend’ enjoyed by the country. However, the advantages that India has are more in terms of potential. The reality is not that encouraging. The main objective of the Consultation was to discuss the dilemmas facing this large population and unravel the potential. It is evident that the present education system, apart from several other defects, does not encourage a ‘work culture’, if anything it discourages manual work. In this context recent emphasis on skill development is welcome but without a sound base of elementary and secondary education, skill development by itself is not adequate. The rate of job creation is highly inadequate and even worse for those who are illiterate, semi-literate and are unskilled. Due to unemployment a large number of youth face bleak future prospects and are driven towards drug addiction and anti social activities. The workshop explored possible approaches to sound education, enhancement of employment opportunities and to inculcate a sense of purposefulness and social responsibility among the youth.

Prof Kanchan Mathur presented a paper titled ‘Exploring Education, Employment and Citizenship: A Case Study of Youth in Rajasthan’ and Dr. Mohana Kumar presented a paper on ‘Problems and Prospects of Youth in Kerala’.