Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said that new voters will define and contribute to the making of India in 2047, when the country completes 100 years of its independence.
Addressing new and young voters here, he said that Uttar Pradesh is home to about 55 million men and women in the 18-30 age group, which is approximately 37 per cent of the total voters in the state.
"The new voters will define India @2047, and with the active young years on their side, they have the privilege and opportunity to contribute to the making of century India as envisaged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi," Singh, the minister of state for personnel, said.
The Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government are jointly planning to hold 'Yuva Vijay Sankalp Rally' in every corner of the state to make youth aware of the developmental initiatives and achievements of the "double engine sarkar", he said.
Singh told the youth that a few days ago, Prime Minister Modi launched the 'Rozgar Mela' -- a recruitment drive for 10 lakh personnel in government services -- and during the event, appointment letters were handed over to 75,000 newly inducted appointees.
In the near future, the target of 10 lakh government jobs will be completed in mission mode, the minister said.
Singh also appealed to the youth to strive for other means of livelihood through lucrative startup ventures and innovative entrepreneurship as it is next to impossible for any country to provide government jobs to all, according to a Personnel Ministry statement.
Referring to the prime minister's focus on job-intensive areas such as agriculture, private sector and micro, small and medium enterprises, he said that today, under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, a huge campaign is going on to train the youth according to the needs of industries.
Singh added that 1.25 crore young people have been trained so far all over the country.
The minister pointed out that initiatives such as liberalising the drone policy, opening up the space policy and Rs 20 lakh crore worth of loans under the Mudra Yojana have opened new opportunities for the youth, the statement said.
In the 2019 polls, 133 million young adults got the opportunity to vote and of them 70 million were young men and 63 million young women, and over 72 per cent of them were living in villages, he said.
The minister said that this number could touch 140 million by 2024 and this is India's demographic dividend that should not be allowed to go to waste.
Singh reminded the youth and also the administration that the Election Commission (EC) in July announced that those above the age of 17 years can apply in advance to get enrolled in voters' list and not wait until the voting age of 18 years.
The commission has directed chief electoral officers and electoral registration officers of all states to work out tech-based solutions to enable the youth to file advance applications concerning three subsequent qualifying dates - April 1, July 1 and October 1, and not only just January 1.
The minister said the move will boost the EC's efforts to enrol new young voters who turn 18 in a year and for this an amendment was recently made to allow quarterly registration of voters.
-With PTI Input
