Goemkarponn Desk
DELHI: The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Department of Youth Affairs today confered the National Youth Award (NYA) to Gunaji Mandrekar for excellent work and contribution in different fields of development and social service such as health, promotion of human rights, active citizenship, community service.
The objective of the awards is to motivate young persons to achieve excellence in the field of national development and social service, to encourage young people to develop a sense of responsibility to the community and thus to improve their own personal potential as good citizens and to give recognition to the outstanding work done by voluntary organizations working with the youth for national development including social service.
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in collaboration with United Nations Volunteers and United Nations Development Program had launched the S.O.L.V.E.D Challenge in December 2020 for youth from rural, sub-urban and urban India, to identify and nurture innovative, youth-led entrepreneurial solutions in the agri-food value chain. Over 850 youth applied from across India and after many rounds of contests and training, 10 winners emerged from a spread of states including Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Gujarat.
Total 22 National Youth awards were given in individual and organisations categories. Total 14 awards were given for NYA 2017-18, which includes 10 awards in individual category and 4 awards in Organization category. Total 8 awards were given for NYA 2018-19 which includes 7 awards in individual category and 1 award in Organization category.
The award comprises of a medal, a certificate and a cash prize of Rs 1,00,000/- to individual and a cash prize of Rs. 3,00,000/- to organization respectively.