The State Government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann gave a gift to the youth clubs of the state on the occasion of National Youth Day, in the form of an amount of Rs. 1.50 Cr which was released to 315 youth clubs. Youth Services Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer today called on the representatives of 20 clubs at Punjab Bhawan and handed over the cheque. This amount has been divided district wise by the youth services Department to distribute to the clubs.
Meet Hayer said that on the instructions of the Chief Minister, an amount of Rs. 1.50 Cr has been given today in the first phase and another amount of Rs. 1.50 crore will be given in future in the second phase. He further said that the selection of 315 youth clubs has been made keeping in mind the grassroots activities of the last two years.
Meet Hayer made another big announcement for the youth clubs and said that in the new youth policy, annual awards are being started for the youth clubs. By choosing the awards at the district level, the clubs coming in the first three places will get Rs. 5 lakhs, Rs. 3 lakhs and Rs. 2 lakh cash respectively. The activities of the clubs will be the basis for the selection for the award.
Inviting the youth clubs to come forward to eradicate the environmental and social evils, he added that youth clubs must come forward to stop the trend of stubble burning. Similarly, people's participation is most important in drug prevention campaigns. Development and promotion of villages through rural youth clubs such as social activities, blood donation camps, environment maintenance, plantation, cleaning of village/city streets and drains, cleaning of grounds, and parks should be done.
The awards will be based on the marks obtained by combining all the activities. The Youth Services Minister contacted the representatives of each club directly and asked for suggestions, during which a very meaningful feedback was received in the discussion.
The sports minister said that the state government is going to establish 1000 sports nurseries under the new sports policy. He asked the youth clubs to make efforts to promote National Style Kabaddi as this sport is a part of the Asian Games and National Games.
Meet Hayer said that all possible efforts are being made to realise the dream of the Chief Minister to make the state Rangla Punjab and for the all-round development of the youth of Punjab. State Youth Training Development Youth Workshop, Youth Mela, Schemes like teacher training camp, youth leadership training camp/hiking tracking/mountaineering course, and state tours are being started for the youth.
He said that the amount released today will be given to the clubs by the committee formed under the chairmanship of the deputy commissioner at the district level. He said that a maximum of Rs. 50,000 will be released per club. He also said that this amount should be spent transparently as per the financial rules. Special Chief Secretary Youth Services Sarvajit Singh, Special Secretary Anand Kumar and Assistant Director Rupinder Kaur were also present on this occasion.