Odishatv Bureau

Bhubaneswar: The state Cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday approved the Odisha Youth Policy-2013.

Sources said the state’s Sports and Youth affairs Ministry will act as a nodal agency to supervise the policy implementation. 

The policy has categoried boys and girls in the age group of 13-35 years into three different categories.

The proposed policy would target the youth of different sections – girls and women, ST/SC communities, migrant youth, slum dwellers, dropout students, differently-abled persons, victims of social stigma and inmates of orphanages.

The main focus of the policy is to provide education, skill development, training and employment, health and wellbeing, sports and physical education, active citizenship and community engagement, environment and safety, heritage, culture and diversity, gender justice and equality.

The policy has scholarship provision for SC and ST girls who want to study technical education. Every year 10,000 students from SC, ST and BPL categories, who have completed secondary education, would be given laptop and pre-paid data card.

To provide employment opportunities to youth every district will have Youth Counselling Centers. Every university will also have Youth Entrepreneurship Development Agency that will encourage self-employment among educated youth.

Apart from that every district will have young women hostel. Girls from BPL categories would get Rs 40,000 scholarships annually to get trained in vocational education.

The state government will open six regional coaching and training centers for SC and ST youth.

For overall development of sports the state government has planned to set up the Sports Authority of Odisha. A new Sports Academy for Women will come up soon in Bhubaneswar.

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