This National Youth Day, Young India Foundation aims to go beyond just the political rhetoric on young people by launching the YIF Campaign Video which covers the efforts of our organization in making politics accessible and inclusive to young Indians.
The aim of this video is to ensure that Indians, young or old, can understand the legitimate crisis of young Indians, and help seek more youth representation to alienate the severe issues that young people deal with. As of December of 2018, we have helped four female candidates and three male candidates, all below the age of 25, in their Panchayat elections all the way from Kashmir to Punjab. All our candidates are independent and Young India Foundation functions as a non-profit and nonpartisan organization with the singular goal of empowering young people.
What is YIF?
Young India Foundation is a non-profit organisation which is committed to change India at its deepest level: from the Panchayat to the Parliament. YIF facilitates the process of bringing fresh ideas, concepts, energy and thus creating a sustainable and efficient mechanism to enable young people to participate in India’s democratic governance process and to make Indian politics more inclusive and accessible to India’s youth. The team consists of entrepreneurs and activists from Columbia University, Stanford University, Lady Shri Ram College, University of Oxford among others, who have been actively involved in youth-oriented development programs, policies and mobilisation.
Why are we doing this?
According to Commonwealth Youth Programme, India’s Youth Development Index is 0.58 which is at 133 out of 180 countries. The Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says 30% of India’s youth is neither in education nor in employment.
Don’t believe us? Ask the Government itself. In the National Youth Policy of 2014, the Ministry admits: “Youth organisations in India are fragmented, and there is little coordination between the various stakeholders working on youth. There are no systematic channels for engagement between the government and young citizens and no mechanisms for youth to provide inputs to government.”
It is from a deep sense of concern and unease about the state of the youth in the world’s largest democracy, that YIF came into being. At its very core, YIF is about helping the young people of India, achieve the change they desire to see in our country’s politics.
What YIF does?
Young India Foundation aims to empower young people, raise awareness on youth rights and solve India’s gerontocracy by trying to make representation more accessible and inclusive to India’s largest demographic.
- ELECTORAL CAMPAIGNS: Find, recruit and support candidates for Elections all over India
- OUTREACH & ADVOCACY: Educational discourse, campaigns, network/ partnerships, rural India dialogue all centered on youth rights and awareness.
- DATA & RESEARCH: Lead India’s first think tank focussed on India’s Youth to enable actionable research for policy making on youth centric issues
How do we support our candidates?
- Legal Support
- Campaigning
- Media Outreach
- Booth Analysis & Management
- Leadership Development
- Social Media
Current Reality
- Team of 50+ people across 10 divisions
- 50+ candidate applications
- Four candidates success stories (including Panch Jagbir)
- Active regional teams in Delhi, Haryana, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune and Chennai
The most recent campaign of Young India Foundation was working with Inderpreet Kaur, a 21-year-old B.A.L.L.B student, who contested in the Panchayat elections to become the youngest Sarpanch of her village Sattowali, Jalandhar (Punjab). She lost the election by a very small margin. Our second candidate Harshpreet won the elections to become the youngest Panch from Ward 4, Kotla Tapprian (Rupnagar), Punjab.
For more details, please contact:
Sudhanshu Kaushik,
Founder, Young India Foundation
+91972969000
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