31st Langpangkong Students’ Conference-cum-Sports Meet underway at Tuli
Imrongkumba Aier
Tuli, January 13
Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday said the challenge before the nation is to empower and develop youth into a productive work force.
“Youth in the age group of 15-29 years constitute 27.5 per cent of the population which represents the most dynamic segment of the population and are the future of the nation,” Sonowal said at the 31st triennial conference-cum-sports meet of Langpangkong students at Tuli, Mokokchung.
The challenge before the nation is to develop and empower its huge youth population as a productive work force, he said on the second day of the programme. The Union Minister also highlighted some of the flagship programmes initiated by the Prime Minister of India.
“The digital India, the skill India and the Make in India, the flagship schemes initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the greatest turnaround in history of India,” Sonowal said.
He also highlighted about the National Young Leaders Programme (NYLP) launched by his ministry in December 2014. Sonowal stated that the NYLP is a central sector scheme and has been designed in tune with the promises made to the people.
He said that the scheme has five programme components namely Neighbourhood Youth Parliament (NYP), Youth for Development Programme (YDP), National Youth Advisory Council (NYAC), and National Youth Development Fund (NYDF).“The purpose and objective of the scheme are to develop leadership qualities in the youth to realize their full potential to motivate the youths to strive for excellence in their respective fields, to bring them to the forefront of the development process and to harness the immense youth energy for nation building,” the Union Minister asserted.
In this connection, the Union Minister also urged the youth to organize youth parliaments in Nagaland also so that development and other issues can be tackled from the grassroots level.
Quoting Swami Vivekananda, Sonowal said that ‘all power is within you. You can do anything and everything. Believe in that; do not believe that you are weak. Stand up and express the divinity within you’.
In this regard, Sonowal said that youth represent the most dynamic segment of the population and are the future of the nation.
“India is one of the youngest nations in the world and is expected to have a very favorable demographic profile in the time to come,” he said.
Encouraging the youth to take up sports seriously, Sonowal also maintained that ‘sports is a way of life, apart from being just a medium of fun, also imparts life skills that come in handy throughout the journey of life.
“sports is a way of bringing everyone together towards a common goal. We must respect this level of union. We must use sports as a channel to bring about unanimous approach towards national pride and loyalty,” said the Union Minister.
On his arrival, the people of Tuli sub-division accorded a warm welcome where number of senior officials and the public where present. Earlier, the chief guest unfurled the LKM flag. The programme was chaired by former president of NSF, Tongpang Ozukum.
Among others, Deputy Commissioner, Sushil Kumar Patel and SP Mokokchung, Aotemsu also attended the programme.
A host of dignitaries from state government including parliamentary secretary for industries & commerce, Amenba Yaden also attended.
More than 2000 delegates from nineteen villages under Langpangkong range are participating in the four-day conference-cum-sports meet which commenced from Tuesday evening. The programme will conclude on Thursday with parliamentary secretary for veterinary & animal husbandry, S Chuba Longkumer as the guest of honor. The conference is being held on the theme ‘Resilient foundation’.
