Mumbai: Amid widespread drought and talks of budget cuts, the state’s sports and youth welfare department has approved Rs 7.5 crore for a national-level ‘ Viksit Bharat 2047 Youth Conclave ’ to promote brainstorming, innovation presentations and skill development.




The date of the event has not yet been decided. Officials said it is to be held under the 2012 youth policy, which lapsed in 2022. The department is headed by deputy CM Sunetra Pawar .




Sports and youth welfare commissioner Deepak Singla said the youth conclave will be held only after discussions with the CM’s office, while keeping in mind the drought situation and the state’s finances.




He said of the Rs 7.5 crore, the state will bear Rs 6 crore and Rs 1.5 crore will be raised through corporate social responsibility funds.




A govt resolution issued by the department said since the conclave was not accounted for in this year’s budget, it was decided to grant administrative approval to this unplanned expenditure as a ‘new item’.




Singla said a new youth policy is being drafted and will be rolled out soon. CM Devendra Fadnavis had last year sanctioned Rs 10 crore for a new policy and Rs 35 lakh has so far been spent on administrative expenses. But a committee of MLAs/MLCs formed to draft the policy has met only a couple of times. Committee members have said the department isn’t serious about the policy and some of them are set to resign since they haven’t been consulted.




The demand to sanction Rs 10 crore for a new policy was made by Independent MLC Satyajeet Tambe . He said the money was approved to allow for a statewide stakeholder consultation and to take inputs from youth on what they want in the policy but none of these plans has been executed. “Three sports and youth welfare ministers have changed since the policy’s announcement, but it still hasn’t seen the light of day. None of our inputs has been taken. The policy that will come out will be irrelevant to the youths’ aspirations since it is being drafted by officers sitting in air-conditioned chambers,” said Tambe.