india

Updated: May 22, 2015 00:23 IST

If you are between 20 and 29 years of age, spare one year for the nation, suggest solutions to its problems and get a certificate or diploma from the government.

The Modi government is set to roll out a plan, with the tagline ‘Ek saal desh ke naam’ (one year for the nation), to harness “youth power” for the nation in a month or two.

The Nehru Yuva Kendra will soon make an announcement that youth who are in the age group — whether graduates or not — are welcome to take an all-India examination in Hindi or English and go through an interview process to make the cut for the initiative.

They will be paid a stipend — expected to be about Rs 25,000-30,000 a month — through the year.

The applicants should also be endorsed by an educational institution or a voluntary organisation working among youth, said a source in the government.

The plan is both a move to associate the youth with the Modi government and harness their energies to seek ways out of the many problems India faces -- be it high dropout rates in schools, poor sanitation, infant and maternal mortality or the problems plaguing agriculture.

An advisory committee headed by BJP leader Vinay Sahasrbuddhe has been put in place to chalk out the details. “The idea is harnessing youth power which after Modi ji’s rise is more in a mood to work for the country,” he told HT.

The selected youth — about 350 in the first year of the scheme — will be trained by the government for two months — of which 10 days must be spent in remote or border areas — and then sent to a tehsil to study its problems and offer their solutions in the form of a written report or dissertation.

At the end of the year, the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development at Sriperumbudur will award those who put in one year a certificate.