NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the establishment of an autonomous body named as ‘Mera Yuva Bharat’ (MY-Bharat), the objective of which is to promote youth-led development. Mera Yuva Bharat will be an autonomous government body that will provide the country’s youth access to resources and connection to opportunities, and help them become community change agents and nation builders.
Briefing about the Cabinet decisions, Union minister Anurag Singh Thakur said that Mera Yuva Bharat will serve as “an overarching enabling mechanism powered by technology to provide larger opportunities to youth, which will benefit individuals in the age group of 15-29 years, in line with the definition of ‘youth’ as per the National Youth Policy.”
In case of programmes specifically meant for the adolescents, the beneficiaries will be in the age-group of 10-19 years. Thakur said Mera Yuva Bharat will be a “phygital platform” — comprising physical activity as well as an opportunity to connect digitally. “To accomplish the objective of this, youth will be connected through different schemes and programmes,” the minister said, adding that the body will provide equitable access to youth to actualise their aspirations and build a ‘Viksit Bharat’ across the entire spectrum of the government.
Under the new arrangement, with access to resources and connection to opportunities, youth would become community change agents and nation-builders, allowing them to act as the “Yuva Setu” between the government and citizens. It seeks to harness the immense energy of youth for nation-building, the minister said, adding that it will help achieve youth-led development through ‘Kartavya Bodh’ (sense of duty) and ‘Seva Bodh’ (sense of service) during ‘Amrit Kaal’.
Besides this, the Cabinet also approved royalty rates for three minerals: 3% each for lithium and niobium and 1% for rare earth Elements. The approval will enable the Centre to auction lithium, niobium and REE blocks for the first time in the country. The royalty rate on minerals is an important financial consideration for bidders during auction of mines. Further, the method for calculating Average Sale Price (ASP) of these minerals has also been prepared by the Centre which will allow determining of bid parameters.
“The Union Cabinet has approved amendment of Second Schedule of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act) for specifying rate of royalty in respect of three critical and strategic minerals, namely lithium, niobium and Rare Earth Elements,” the minister said in a statement. The Union Cabinet also approved three three separate memorandums of understanding India has signed with Papua New Guinea, France, and Trinidad and Tobago in the field of digital technologies.
The agreements are likely to enhance bilateral cooperation in digital technologies in the G2G (government-to-government) and B2B (business-to-business) domains. The Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) has been mandated to promote international cooperation in the emerging and frontier areas of information technology under a bilateral and regional framework of cooperation.
