On June 17, 2021, the Union Minister of State, Santosh Gangwar, Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoL&E) signed a Statement of Intent with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide a platform for cooperation between them to implement solutions to tackle the employment and skilling challenges for adolescents and youth in India.
- Focus: Vulnerable population including – young people with special needs, youth leaving care institutions, migrant youth, victims of child labour, violence, child marriage and trafficking, etc.
- The collaboration intends to empower the young generation of India to gain relevant skills and guidance, and enable them to contribute and shape the country’s future.
India’s commitment Towards Youth Empowerment:
i.The government(govt) is improving the employment outcomes of all youth as every 5th person in India is a youth (15-24 years) (According to Census 2011).
ii.The National Career Service (NCS):
- The minister mentioned NCS, which was launched in 2015 to provide a variety of employment-related services to youth like career counselling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, apprenticeship, internships etc.
- A Special link for Online Training and Work from Home Jobs has been created on the NCS portal to give direct access to job-seekers free of cost.
- Over 200 Model Career Centres have been established under NCS to provide Career Counselling, Vocational Guidance, Skill Gap Analysis, and organizing Job Fairs.
iii.He stated the govt’s number of policies and schemes have been undertaken in India for the upliftment of the youth through skills development, employment generation, and entrepreneurship programs.
UNICEF’s Participation:
In the next 3 years, UNICEF and MoL&E were expected to make great achievements in the empowerment of Indian youth’s future.
YuWaah, GenU:
i.UNICEF with its public and private sector partners established the YuWaah, Generation Unlimited (GenU) as a partnership in India for Children. GenU is a global multi-stakeholder platform that aims to prepare young people to transition to productive work and active citizenship.
ii.List of YuWaah’s objectives to be fulfilled by 2030 in India:
- To build pathways for 100 million young people to aspirational economic opportunities.
- To facilitate 200 million young people to gain relevant skills and the future of work.
- To partner with 300 million young people and develop their leadership.
Note – MoLE may integrate and exchange the database of candidates under the various categories of NCS Portal with YuWaah.
Participants: Apurva Chandra, Secretary (Labour & Employment), Anuradha Prasad, Special Secretary (Labour & Employment) and DGE, and Dr Yasmin Ali Haque, Country Representative of UNICEF, participated in the occasion.
Recent Related News:
UNICEF in partnership with WHO, UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) has released a report called ‘Direct and indirect effects of COVID-19 and response in South Asia’. It anticipates India to record the largest increase of deaths among children aged 5 years (15%) & Maternal deaths (18%) among 6 South Asian Countries in 2020 due to pandemic.
About United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF):
Executive Director – Henrietta Holsman Fore
Headquarter – New York, USA
About Ministry of Labour and Employment (MoL&E):
Minister of State (Independent Charge) – Santosh Kumar Gangwar (Lok Sabha – Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh)
