A proposal to drop 'Nehru' from the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, was recently discussed, but the NYKS Board could not reach a consensus, a senior member of the board today said.
The scheme, originally named as Nehru Yuva Kendra (NYK), was launched in 1972 as part of the silver jubilee celebrations of India's Independence. Named after first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, it aimed to work as a platform for personality development of "rural non-student youth".
It was subsequently registered as a society by the name of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan in 1987.
The Board of Governors, whose chairperson is the Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, discussed the proposal to replace 'Nehru' with 'National' or a similar word during a recent meeting, the senior member of the Board said.
"Representations and suggestions were made by various citizens to either rename it to National Yuva Kendra Sangathan or something akin to it as it (the scheme) has expanded in its scale. So the proposal was put up in the agenda and was briefly discussed. But, no consensus was reached that day," said the member.
The proposal could be taken up again in future, he said.
The scheme was initially launched in 42 districts across the country, and was expanded to cover 311 districts by 1986- 87 when the Rajiv Gandhi government decided to make it an autonomous organisation.
"We have now expanded to 623 districts and asked for sanction of 48 more districts. There are 1.48 lakh youth clubs running under he aegis of the NYKS. And, we have 12,000 Nehru Yuva Volunteers (NYVs) who we select for a year, extendable to one more year. About 20 members on an average are part of a club," the officer added.
He also highlighted that the NYKS is facing shortage of staff as "no fresh hiring has been done since 1994".
Talking about the changes being brought in the organisation over the past several years, he said, "Initially, it was started for non-student youth of rural areas, but the ambit was later expanded to urban areas too. And, students, aged 15-29, were also included," he said.
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