MODI’S FOCUS IS ALSO DEPICTED IN HIS COUNCIL OF MINISTERS, AS KEY PORTFOLIOS HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO YOUNG TURKS
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it clear that the NDA government will focus on the youth. After inducting many young leaders in his council of ministers, a new wing has been created for skill development and entrepreneurship.
It is the first time that the two departments have been clubbed together and brought under youth affairs and sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal with an aim to have a focused approach to job creation.
While entrepreneurship will be hived off from finance ministry, Sonowal will get skill development from labour and HRD ministries. Ministry officials say the newly carved department would get sufficient monetary support in the budget to be tabled in the session starting June 2.
Though the previous UPA government had created a national skill development authority under the finance ministry, it had failed to ensure requisite training to youth for the job market. Modi’s focus on youth is also depicted in his council of ministers, as key portfolios have been given to young Turks with independent charge. 38-year-old Smriti Irani is the new HRD minister with a Cabinet rank. Piyush Goyal, one of the leaders behind Modi’s election campaign, got ministries of power, coal and new and renewable energy — all held by Cabinet ministers earlier. The idea behind giving key ministries to young leaders is to prepare them for bigger roles in the future. “Modi does not want to hang on to the old guard as the Congress did,” a BJP leader said.
Modi’s high-pitched campaign, inspiring youth to vote for the BJP in large numbers, would find a reflection in the government, which is expected to come out with a new policy on skill development and entrepreneurship.