Youth is the power of human society: Union Minister

Hyderabad, Sept 11 (INN): Youth is the power of human society and being a youngest nation in the world, India is going to make wonders in the future, said Union Minister of State for Youth affairs and Sports Sarbananda Sonowal at the 'Youth Convention on Universal Brotherhood Day' here on Friday.

He said that the convention is being held on the occasion of 122nd anniversary of the Chicago Speech of Swami Vivekananda on the occasion of parliament of religions. 'The present generation may not know that Swami Vivekananda visited Hyderabad city on 13th February, 1893 before leaving Chicago to address the parliament of religions on 11th September, 1893. When Swamiji arrived here on February 10, 1893 by train, about 500 prominent people from all the communities welcomed him at the Railway Station', he said. Swamiji left for Madras which is Chennai now, leaving great impression on heart of the people of this city.

India is one of the youngest nations in the world and is expected to have a very favourable demographic profile in the time to come. In India, youth in the age-group 15-29 years constitute 27.5% of the population. It is expected that by the year 2020, the population of India would have a median age of 28 years only as against 38 years for US, 42 years for China and as high as 48 years for Japan. This 'demographic dividend' offers a great opportunity. Therefore, the challenge before the nation is to develop and empower its huge youth population as productive work force.

Appreciating Perala Shekhar Rao, Vice- Chairman NYKS, for conducting the event he said that the ministry will positively consider setting up an Athletic track in Warangal town soon. Speaking on the new scheme, Sri Sonowal said -National Young Leaders Programme (NYLP). 'This is a Central Sector Scheme and has been devised in tune with the promises made to the people. The scheme has five programme components namely Neighbourhood Youth Parliament (NYP), Youth for Development Programme (YFDP), National Young Leaders Awards (NYLA), National Youth Advisory Council (NYAC), National Youth Development Fund (NYDF)'.

The purpose and objective of the scheme is to develop leadership qualities in the youth to realize their full potential to motivate youth to strive for excellence in their respective fields, to bring them to the forefront of the development process and to harness the immense youth energy for nation building. He asked the participating youth to spread the message of brotherhood of Swamiji. 'The young participants who have assembled here today to work together and strive to build a strong nation which is free from illiteracy, poverty, unemployment and other social evils, he said.

Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said that the religion which doesn't have humanity should not be considered as religion. He asked the youth to spend at least an hour in the play grounds for the healthy life. Sri Dattatreya assured the authorities to bring more central funds for the welfare of the youth.

Secretary Rajiv Gupta, Telangana Youth Services Minister T. Padma Rao, Major General Dilawar Singh-NYKS Director General, Dr. G.K Tuteja- NSS Director and B.V Papa Rao, M. Shyam Sundar, SAI Regional Director were present at the inaugural function.