Just a day after the State Cabinet gave its nod to the State Youth Policy-2013, apparently a pre-poll sop from the ruling BJD, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday called upon the youth mass, a major chunk of the electorate, to cooperate with him in expediting the developmental programmes of his Government.
Addressing a gathering of over 40,000 youth here on the occasion of a State-level youth convention organised by the Biju Yuva Janata Dal (BYJD), Patnaik said his Government would make every effort for ensuring wellbeing of young people by opening new avenues to seek opportunities for active engagement of youth in social, economic, political and cultural processes.
“The newly-launched State Youth Policy-2013 focuses on promoting access to quality education, skill development and training, employment opportunities,” said Patnaik.
To make students computer-savvy all meritorious students at the Plus II level would be provided free laptops, besides special focus on girls and students belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes communities, said Patnaik, adding that career counselling centres at all colleges would be set up to guide the students to choose a prospective career. Coming down heavily on Union Government for its “step-motherly” attitude, BJYD president Sanjy Dasburma said a mass agitation would be staged in New Delhi in protest against the Centre’s negligence towards Odisha. He also said that nearly 5 lakh people would be enrolled as party members within a year.
Among others, almost all the speakers like Bhubaneswar MP Prasanna Patasani, three MlAs of Bhubaneswar Ashok Panda, Bhagirathi Badajena and Bijay Mohanty, Ministers and vice-presidents of the party like Damodar Rout, Kalpataru Das, AU Singh Deo, Prasanna Acharya and Prafulla Ghadai slammed Central Government for not giving Odisha its due in mining royalty and special category status.