New Delhi, Jan 30 : Indian youth can now get the unique identification (UID) number with the help of youth and sports affairs ministry. Ajay Maken, the minister in-charge, has decided to provide UID to 20,000 youth enrolled with National Youth Corps, in the first go. Thereafter, the young Indians with the Nehru Yuva Kendras, having about youth clubs around the country, would get UIDs.
“I have asked the officials to speak with the UID Authority of India in this regard,” Maken said. Under the UID scheme, every Indian resident will get a unique number based on biometric identification in the next three to five years.
Enrolling those in youth corps has a twin purpose. First to track whether they are actually getting Rs 2,500 every month under the national youth scheme. Second, is to find out whether they got employed with the help of skill training under the programme.
Maken said through the UID the ministry can have a large database of youth in India for whom existing programmes will be reformed.
One such initiative has been taken for youth in the north-eastern India following a suggestion from Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. “I have called a meeting of all youth affairs ministers from north-east to discuss how skills of youth there can be upgraded with the help of industry body FICCI,” Maken said.
The announcement comes at the time when one of the biggest states in the region, Assam, is going to polls. The move is being seen as a last ditch effort to woo youngsters, who have been launched a campaign against the government for over-exploitation of natural resources in the region.
Already, Right To Information activist Akhil Gagoi has launched a people’s movement against the state government for allowing a large number of dams on river Brahmaputra. The government thinks that such sort of activities can be checked if youth are given skill training for employment purpose.
Maken said if the youth are given skill training to help them in getting livelihood the problem of insurgency in the region could also be checked. The ministry has identified naxal affected areas and Jammu and Kashmir for starting similar programmes.
