The Hindu : Trust's drive to awaken rural youth

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 14, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam

Trust's drive to awaken rural youth

By Our Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM, JAN. 13. BBhagavathula Charitable Trust (BCT), a non-government organisation working for rural development in Visakhapatnam, has launched a drive to educate rural youth to demand the leaders of all political parties for jobs.

Kicking off the programme at Haripuram in Rambilli mandal on the occasion of Swami Vivekananda's birth anniversary on Monday, the BCT founder, B.V. Parameswara Rao, said that youth in about a 100 villages were being motivated to explore employment opportunities in villages and corner political parties on the issue.

"Unfortunately, everything is politicised in India and, therefore, we have decided to launch the movement before the elections. But it will not end with elections. As a culmination of the movement, the BCT is planning to set up academies for livelihood in four districts in the State to create employment opportunities for youth,'' he stated.

"Employment generation alone is the right parameter for measuring India's economic growth and all the euphoria over the country that it is progressing is of no consequence if rural youth are not gainfully employed.''

On the BJP's promise to create one crore jobs a year, Dr. Parameswara Rao, a nuclear scientist who left a lucrative job in the US about 30 years ago to return to India and set up the trust, felt that self-employment should be encouraged in villages as the farm labour in the country did not have work for about 200 days in a year.

He said that importance was not being given to rural development and recalled that 4 per cent of the budget in the First Plan was allocated for cottage industries which had now fallen to below one per cent.

The BCT founder, however, maintained that his organisation would continue to be apolitical and urged the youth to vote for any party which would provide them jobs.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh

News Update

Stories in this Section

BC loans to others at behest of TDP

Free liver transplantation for children

Trust's drive to awaken rural youth

It's chaos out there at Aseelmetta

Man ends life

Math founder's birthday celebrated

Call to protect heritage buildings

Around the City

In Visakhapatnam Today