Lack of Budget stalls activities of Youth Services Department

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 10

Though Youth Programme Objectives and Participation aims to establish youth services to channelise their energy on constructive lines and meet their physical, mental, cultural and spiritual needs. For the past two years, the district Youth Services Department failed to implement the welfare activities under various schemes.

There are a total of eight schemes registered under the youth services programme and surprisingly only one scheme is running currently and that too National Service Scheme (NSS) which runs at school and college level. As per the information received from the district Youth Services Department in-charge IS Dhami, due to the shortage of budget as well the formation of new government, the work on every scheme has been stalled. Other than organising a camp under youth leadership training camps, none of the proceedings has been initiated on other schemes.

Youths who have applied for the Shaheed-E-Azam Bhagat Singh State Youth Award are awaiting their excellence certificate for the past two years. Notably, this award is conferred to give recognition at the state-level to the outstanding work done by the youth of the Punjab in youth programmes. In addition, the department also failed to equip the teachers of various schools and colleges with the tools and techniques of organising youth programmes as none of the teachers training camps were organised.

Moreover, updation of the village youth clubs that looks after the development works in rural areas is also pending. Applications for the same are restricted to files only. From its inception the total clubs are only limited to 1,040 for the whole district.

Neither the students from schools nor from the colleges were sent to inter-state tours to enhance their knowledge apart from their studies. Reportedly, as per the claims by the officials of the department, the budget and grants for all the schemes have not been transferred to the youth services departments account.

On this Dhami said, all the boarding and lodging expenses of the applicants were taken up the department only. If there would not be the required budget, how would the developmental programmes be conducted.