Know Your Rights: Here's how you can participate in Youth Parliament Programme

The objective of the Youth Parliament is to strengthen the roots of democracy, inculcate healthy habits of discipline, and tolerance of the view of others and enable the student community to know about the practices and procedures of the Parliament.

To promote the Youth Parliament programme of the Ministry, a dedicated web portal has been developed by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. This portal contains various e-training resources in the form of tutorials, literature, training videos, etc, for e-training and self-learning of the participants. The portal will be used for implementing and monitoring the Youth Parliament programme of the Ministry.

Participation

All recognised educational institutions of the country are eligible to participate in the ‘Portal-Based Youth Parliament Programme’.The registration of participation shall be done through the Youth Parliament portal. The schools/institutions shall be able to register themselves through the Aadhaar credentials of the Principal/ Head/ Registrar/ Dean or as may be prescribed from time to time.

Subjects for discussion and duration of the Youth Parliament

The subjects to be selected for discussion in Youth Parliament should be as far as possible non-controversial. Matters raised in the Youth Parliament may relate to welfare activities, defence of the country, social justice, social reforms, economic development, communal harmony, education, government, welfare schemes, health, student discipline, etc. No direct or indirect remarks may be made in the speeches to cast aspersion on the political parties or leaders/ persons etc. Every year a common theme on government policies and programmes may be fixed for Youth Parliament. The duration of the sitting of the ‘Youth Parliament’ should not exceed one hour.

Venue

Each institution shall hold the Youth Parliament sitting on its premises.

Number of Participants in the Youth Parliament.

Each Youth Parliament sitting may consist of about 50-55 students.

Selection of Students

Kishor Sabha: Schools shall select students of class IX to XII with the approval of their principal for Kishore Sabha of Youth Parliament.

Tarun Sabha: Similarly, Universities/ Colleges shall select students of Under Graduate and Post Graduate levels with the approval of their Registrar/ Dean for Tarun Sabha of Youth Parliament.

Outline of the programme

The programme envisages Kishore Sabha for the students of Class IX to Class XII and Tarun Sabha for the students of Under Graduate/ Post Graduate level.

All recognized educational institutions of the country, willing to participate in the Youth Parliament Programme, have to register themselves on the web portal. After successful registration, they will be able to conduct a youth parliament programme in their respective institutions.

To ensure effective implementation of the scheme, the participating institutions may invite an MP/ex-MP/ MLA/ Ex-MLA/ MLC/ Ex-MLC or a Person of eminence as the Chief Guest who would oversee the performance of the Youth Parliament sitting of the institution.

The institutions shall upload the reports and photos/ videos of Youth Parliament conducted by them on the web portal for scrutiny and verification by the Ministry.

Certificates

If reports and photos/ videos of Youth Parliament are found to be in order after scrutiny and verification, participating students will get digital “Certificate of Participation” and teachers-in-charge / head of institutions will get digital “Certificate of Appreciation” for the programme

Online Portal: https://nyps.mpa.gov.in

Contact: Youth Parliament Section

Ministry Of Parliamentary Affairs

97, Parliament House, New Delhi-110001

Phone: 011-23034759

Email: sorc.pa@nic.in

(The writer is a Vile Parle-based social activist)