YOUTH SERVICES IN WEST BENGAL

Instilling New Vigour

If one has to name a single department of the State Government that works with and for arguably the most sensitive, creative and agile section of the society, it is the Youth Services Department. Adopting and implementing policies and projects in the best interest of the youth—that is, the people of the age group of 15 and 35 who, in general terms, constitute the one-thirds of the population—the department has, in every sense, got its job cut out.

The decade of 1960s especially the later part of it, had seen a certain trend of volatility, often suffused with raw and mis-directed anger finding expression in mindless violence, among the youth the world over.

That paved the way—or, one may say, laid the groundwork—for overhauling, worldwide, the nuances in dealing with the problems and crises of the youth. Likewise, in West Bengal, with the objective of reaching out to the younger generation, the State Youth Services Department was constituted in the year 1972.

From 1972 to 1977, owing to infrastruc-tural and financial stringency, the department could never actually peak up from the first gear. Only 40 block youth services offices were set up in those five years. But since 1977, with a lot healthier budget allocation, the State Youth Services Department has not only been raring to go on a full swing, it has been flourishing too in such a way as to spread right to the grassroots level all over the state. At present, youth offices are there in all the 19 districts of the state. And West Bengal can well claim to have been the pioneer in the country in providing the Youth Services Department with such a wide and elaborate infrastructure. Backed by this wide and elaborate infrastructure, and of course with the positive will of the State Government, the Youth Services Department has been working relentlessly for all round development including material and cultural nourishment of the state's youth force.

In order to make sure that the younger section of the population chipped in their positive and effective input towards building up a healthy and prosperous society, the primary pre-requisite has to be their material sustenance. Realizing this, the State Youth Services Department has attached topmost priority to see to it that the youth became financially self-reliant.

With this end in view, the State Youth Services Department launched the Bengal Self-Employment Scheme for the Urban Youth in the financial year 2000-01. The scheme has assumed special significance against the backdrop of the recent wave of industrial resurgence in the state. Any unemployed youth below the age of 40 and coming from a family with total family income of less than Rs. 15,000 per month can avail of this scheme. The scheme offers financial support to small units with the cost of Rs. 10 lac at the most in the sectors like agro-industries, horticulture, animal husbandry etc. The support is meant both for setting up of new units as well as expansion and revamping of existing units. Under the project, there come two subschemes called (i) Atmamaryada for individual entrepreneurship and (ii) Atmasamman for group entrepreneurship of maximum of five entrepreneurs residing in the same urban area. In both cases, 10% of the project cost has to be accumulated by the entrepreneur or entrepreneurs. The Youth Services Department bears 20% of the cost as subsidy, the upper ceiling of this being Rs. 50,000 for the Atmamaryada sub-project and Rs. 1·25 lac for the Atmasamman sub-project. The rest 70% of the cost comes from the banks or financial institutions as loan. To run the project smoothly, a body called Society for Self-Employment of Urban Youth, West Bengal, has been formed.

It is to be mentioned here that since the financial year 2006-07, the scheme has been extended to the rural areas of the state as well. Of late, the charge of running of the scheme has been transferred from the State Youth Services Department to the Department of Self-Employment Schemes & Self-Help Groups, newly set up by the seventh Left Front Government.

Training programmes for the youth

With the proclamation of the new Industrial Policy of the State Government in 1994, imparting computer training to the youth assumed much greater importance. Gauging the newly emerging situation, the Youth Services Department floated-at first, experimentally—a computer training centre on joint venture at the State Youth Centre in Kolkata. The department, though, did not shed its responsibility with just opening the centre.

Keeping tab on the norms of admission of students and allied expenditures, the department ensured that the poor and meritorious sections of the state's youth could avail of this training. The success of this centre made way for many other joint venture computer training centres in the districts of the state, too. Of late, such centres are being opened even below the sub-division level in many districts as well.

Another major programme of the Youth Services Department is imparting vocational training, which plays a crucial role in terms of employment and self-employment of the youth. With the passage of time, many new vocations are also coming up such as interior decoration, still photography, video photography, TV repairing and servicing, silk screen printing, computer hardware servicing, packaging and the like. The Youth Services Department has been running regular training courses in all these disciplines.

These apart, Youth Services Department has also been providing financial assistance for coaching centres that impart training for competitive examinations. To aid the unemployed youth, the department also runs career guidance centres at the block level. Equipped with employment news material, career guidance literature and a lot more, these centres provide complete career guidance for the rural insolvent youth.

Science awareness campaigns

To spread science awareness and for instilling a temperamental bent for science among the youth, the Youth Services Department has been taking up regular programmes since sooner or later it had come into being. These programmes include holding seminars, symposia and contests on science subjects at the school level, organizing science fairs with the logistic support of the Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM). Apart from the Eastern Zonal Science Fair, organized jointly with the BITM, the Youth Services Department also holds annual State Science Fair, which has gained immense popularity among the state's youth folk.

State Youth Centre

In smooth running of the various schemes, projects and programmes of the Department, a major role is played by the State Youth Centre, situated in central Kolkata. Erected during the first Left Front Government, the centre was formally opened for the state's youth by the then Chief Minister Jyoti Basu in the year 1981.

Equipped with a 400-seat capacity auditorium, the Kolkata Youth Hostel, the Vocational Training Centre, the Computer Training Centre and the office of the Society for Urban Self-Employment, the State Youth Centre also houses the State Youth Library set up in 1983. Books on varied subjects including history, philosophy, sociology and all the disciplines of science studies, along with several career guidance literature and journals are there at the library for the disposal of the youth.

Youth Festival

But after all this said and done, addressing the question of material sustenance alone is not enough for shaping up the state's youth for a better life. Realizing this, the department organizes annual Youth Festival on an elaborate scale. The primary round of the festival is held at more than 500 centres at the block, municipality, notified area, borough area and such levels. Besides, District Youth Festivals at every district and a central State Youth Festival are also organized by the department. Nearly a million students and youth get the opportunity of displaying their talent over these festivals every year.

This apart, the department organizes annual Street Drama Festival to mark the occasion of International May Day. Like the Youth Festival, this Street Drama Festival is also organized spreading over the length and breadth of the state. More than 1,000 street drama presentations are held over 300-odd centres all over the state during this festival.

Bottomline

All in all, the State Youth Services Department, one may say, just quite embodies the spirit of youth, always active and agile, sensitive and creative, and responsible and responsive, too.

Sports

Over the last 30 years, the Left Front Government has been making a concerted effort in creating and upholding a favourable sports ambience in the state. For that, the Sports Department of the State Government has taken up various schemes for maintenance and making proper use of the existing infrastructure like stadia, swimming pools, gymnasia etc. The department has provided budget allocation for the existing schemes and projects alongside the permanent infrastructure as per their importance and significance. Since the year 1977, the department has also been providing financial assistance for various sports organizations to enable them in organizing tournaments as well as for talented but needy sportspersons for purchasing necessary sports gear and participating in national and international events.

The Left Front Government, right at the time of its inception, took a decision of erecting sports stadia not only in Kolkata but at the sub-division level, too, in every district of the state. Materialization of that policy decision is still on even today. The major ones built up in the last two decades include the Yuvabharati
Krirangan at Salt Lake, the Kanchenjungha Stadium at Siliguri, the Jadavpur Stadium, the Barasat Stadium, the Baharampur Stadium, the Balurghat Stadium, the Contai Stadium and the Suri Stadium. An indoor stadium has been set up at Dumurjala in Howrah district, to boot. Works are on for setting up three more indoor stadia at Purulia, Dum Dum and Khardah. These apart, a swimming pool is being set up in Cooch Behar. The Subhas Sarovar swimming pool at Beliaghata, Kolkata, is also being made proper use of. The Sports Authority of India, too, uses this pool for the purpose of their swimming training. Besides, the department also provides infrastructural assistance as well as financial aid for holding national and international tournaments everywhere in the state including at the Yuvabharati Krirangan and the Netaji Indoor Stadium.

The department has a scheme of monthly pension @ Rs. 600 for the needy sportspersons of the olden days. In case of death of that particular sportsperson, the pension goes to the next to the kin. This apart, there are annual scholarships for talented sportspersons, awarded by the West Bengal State Sports Council, the nodal agency of the department.

Not only as the nodal agency, the West Bengal State Sports Council also works as the advisory body of the department. Apart from chalking out sports policies, the West Bengal State Sports Council takes up the responsibility of implementing those policies through the state and district bodies, too. The council has also been running regular training camps under competent coaches in the disciplines like football, kabadi, kho-kho, basketball, swimming et al. As part of this programme, long-term non-residential training camps for football, volleyball and swimming have been under operation since 1989 in as many as 30 schools in rural Bengal. The West Bengal State Sports Council organizes sports tournaments for the street children of the state as well.

In addition to the mainstream sports, so to say, adventure sports like mountaineering and trekking are also being given proper importance to by the department. The department has formed two separate bodies for this purpose. One is the West Bengal Mountaineering and Adventure Foundation, established in 1989 for coordinating and arranging expeditions; and the other is the West Bengal State Academy of Adventure Sports for looking after adventure expeditions on land as well as in sea and sky.

The department also awards scholarships for attending training at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and the National Institute of Mountaineering. Since 1986, the department has been handing out the Tsenzing Norgay Award for outstanding achievement in mountaineering.

The Left Front Government, of late, is contemplating an enhancement in the budget allocation for sports. Plans are there to set up self-sufficient sports infrastructrure in 5,000 out of 36,000 villages of the state. The scheme calls for an initial cost of Rs. 10 lac each such set-up. To implement this scheme in a couple of years from now, the total annual expenditure will be to the tune of Rs. 250 crore. Given the limited resources of the State Government, initiatives will be there to accumulate sums of money from various state and central funds, the MP and MLA local area development (LAD) funds as well as from the commercial sector. Should it succeed, it would ensure not only a better sports ambience in the state, it would also bring forth wide-scale employment opportunities for a large number of people.