Vijay Goel increases number of National Youth Awards, players can apply online

Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Youth Affairs and Sports, Vijay Goel. (Image: ABP Live)

New Delhi: Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Youth Affairs and Sports, Vijay Goel announced the formalisation of new National Youth Awards, here on Wednesday.  The initiatives have been taken in an effort to make the National Youth Award (NYA) more broad-based and to promote transparency in the selection process. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports confers the National Youth Award (NYA) every year to young persons to give recognition to the outstanding work and to motivate them to achieve excellence in the field on National Development and Social Service, to encourage them to develop a sense of responsibility to the community and also to improve their own potential as a good citizen. One line application is one of the key features of the initiatives as for the first time, it has been decided that the nomination for the National Youth Awards  (NYA) should be received and processed through online mode, on the lines of the Padma Awards announced by the  Prime Minister recently, to cover the people on pan-India basis. Earlier, the nominations were received only through State/UT Governments with the restriction that they should nominate only 5 names for individuals and 2 nominations in voluntary organizations category. In contrast, an applicant can apply now online directly to the Ministry on the recommendation of the Head of the Institution/SDM/DM/DC, or any officer, not below the rank of Deputy Secretary in the Government of India. Where to apply? An online application has been developed in consultation with MyGov team.  Applicants will be given 30 days to apply online at https://innovate.mygov.in/national-youth-award/.  The final selection will be made by the 8-member Central Selection Committee, headed by the Secretary, Department of Youth Affairs and prominent and eminent personalities. The ministry has also increased the number of the awards. Earlier, only one award was given under Voluntary Organization Category, working with the youth for national development and social service. The number of awards in the Organization category has now been increased from 1 to 10 and the prize money is Rs. 2,00,000 with a Trophy and Certificate. This initiative has been taken with a view that more recognition needs to be given to voluntary Organizations working in the field of Youth development, keeping in view of the number of organizations working in the country. Further, these outstanding organizations will be partners in promotion of the different schemes and policies of the Ministry in the field of youth development in the country. The initiative is expected to expand the reach of the Ministry in programme implementation across the country. The amount of money for the Award in the Individual category has also been enhanced to Rs. 50,000/- and will be given to 25 individuals. The field of activities has also been expanded. The NYA was earlier conferred for excellent work in the field of youth development activities and social service without specifying the individual fields thereby making it more general and less focused. It has also been decided that in line with the focused approach of the Padma Award, the NYA should also be conferred for excellent work done in the specific field of activities by the Youth. Accordingly, the field of activities for conferring the NYA has been categorically specified in order to have concentrated effort in those fields. The fields of activities in the course of youth development work are health, research and innovation, culture, promotion of human rights, art and literature, tourism, traditional medicines, active citizenship, community service, sports and academic excellence & smart learning and any other similar field. In order to address the drawback of limited awareness of the NYA, it has been decided that a pan-India colour advertisement, seeking nominations for the Awards should be released in all the major and regional newspapers. Also the advertisements will be put on Mygov portal and Ministry’s website. The advertisements inviting nominations for the award will be released on May 10, 2017.  This initiative, combined with the online application, will be a game-changer for the NYA.