Abstract
India's five year plans, from 1951 to date, analysed to ascertain the place of ‘youth”, show a number of lacunae, among them, the failure to consistently define who constitute the target group and who do not and policy fuzziness on whether we are aiming at the welfare or development of youth. The duplication that arises when ‘youth’ is taken as a category for which planning is done with respect to housing, education etc., and the emergence of new programmes that duplicate the elements of the old are other concerns. There is a need to emphasise the implementation of present schemes, with suitable modification after monitoring and evaluation. Notwithstanding the limitations, the various plans show one consistency, namely, the recognition of youth as a creative and important resource in national development.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.