BENGALURU: The State Government has constituted a 13-member expert committee to frame the Karnataka Youth Policy 2021. Most of the members have strong links with the BJP, and a few are children of former ministers.
According to the government order issued on Thursday by Undersecretary (Youth Empowerment and Sports Department) R Balasubramiam, the founder of Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement will head the committee. The members include Shalini Rajneesh (Additional Chief Secretary, Youth Empowerment and Sports Department), Commissioner (Youth Empowerment and Sports Department), Prathap Lingiah (NSS Officer) and MN Nataraj (Director, Nehru Yuva Kendra) as representatives of the government.
The remaining members include Chakravarthi Sulibele from Yuva Brigade, a strong BJP supporter and right-wing orator. Sankalp Shettar is son of former chief minister Jagadish Shettar, and Aishwarya Divesh is the daughter of late Union Minister Ananth Kumar. Channamallikarjuna B Patil was convener of the BJP Karnataka social media team, and Vinod Krishnamurthy is the current social media convener, K Naganna Gowda had earlier served as Mandya district BJP unit president, and Sports Minister Narayana Gowda is also from Mandya. Sources in the BJP said the list has been sent from the party office.
“Instead of including party workers or children of ministers, there are many youngsters who are doing exceptionally good work in the field of education, women empowerment, water, startups and other areas. Including these names would have given more meaning to the committee,’’ sources said.
Narayana Gowda, in a statement, said the panel will carry out a study and submit the report within two months. In 2012, the state government had framed the Youth Policy when Jagadish Shettar was CM. The purpose of the policy is to include youth in the overall development and build a stronger state.
The minister said the policy has not been revised since then. “There is a need to change with time, which is why an expert committee has been constituted. Young people are falling prey to drugs and other habits. The purpose of the policy is to include them in sports and skill development, and instil leadership qualities,” he said. Narayana Gowda was unavailable for comment.