Feedback to the Draft National Youth Policy 2021 by Young Voices National Movement
Posted on July 15, 2022
The Young Voices National Movement’ (YVNM) welcomes the Draft National Youth Policy (NYP) 2021 as an important tool to ensure young people’s leadership and participation in making key decisions that impact their lives and contribute to India’s progress towards the SDG goals. We also welcome the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYAS) open invitation to young people and civil society organisations to give feedback on the same.
We are a collaboration of 2500 young people (15-25 years) and 95 civil society organisations (CSOs) from 15 states of India that came together in 2020 during the first wave of COVID 19 as the ‘Young Voices National Movement’ (YVNM). Together, we shared feedback in the form of a Young Voices National Report to the Government Task Force (headed by Dr. Jaya Jaitley) that was deliberating on an amendment to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) 2006 to increase the minimum age of marriage (AOM) of girls from 18 to 21 years , and were invited to make a virtual representation and also to submit our report. Our girl representatives made a strong case against the proposed amendment, asserting that the minimum age of marriage for both boys and girls should be 18 years. They strongly demanded the right to be heard and the right to participate in decisions by their families and by their government on issues that are directly impacting them.
Keeping this demand in mind, the YVNM came together once again to disseminate the draft NYP 2021 among young people and share their appreciation, their concerns and most importantly their suggestions to MOYAS. Their observations and recommendations are hereby enclosed in the submission titled DRAFT NATIONAL YOUTH POLICY 2021: RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE YOUNG VOICES NATIONAL MOVEMENT (YVNM).
This submission consists of 4 parts:
Part A: Detailed feedback on specific sections of the draft NYP 2021 by a collaborative of Young People and CSOs.
Part B: A Note outlining how Policy commitments can uphold participation of young people (explicitly and/or implicitly) including: Rights based Youth Participation Principles; A Participatory Framework and; Examples and links to some outstanding models of adolescent and youth participation in India.
Part C: State Reports from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Gujarat.
Part D: List of Participations in the draft NYP Consultations
Kavita Ratna
Convener – The Young Voices National Movement (YVNM)
NYP2021_FeedbackfromYoungPeopleandCSOs_YoungVoicesNationalMovement
