Empowerment Of Youth, Women And Weaker Sections Through Cooperatives
Empowerment Of Youth, Women And Weaker Sections Through Cooperatives 
EMPOWERMENT PERSPECTIVES
Youth empowerment is the outcome by which youth, as change agents, gain the skills to impact their own lives and lives of other individuals, organizations and communities. Women Empowerment on the other hand refers to increasing and improving the social, economic, political and legal strength of the women, to ensure equal-right to women, and to make them confident enough to claim their rights. Weaker section is an indicative term and includes people with poor socio-economic and political background.
YOUTH EMPOWERMENT
It is said that the quality of its youth determines the kind of future, the nation will have. Therefore, if we want to ensure a bright future for our country, we first need to strengthen and empower our youth. The youth of any nation are the potent change makers for the economic and cultural dynamics of a nation.
Empowering the youth at the individual level is exercising power over their own life by helping them being skilled, critically aware, and active in creating community change. At a social level, youth empowerment is creating a culture, vision and system that is conducive to individual empowerment. The process of strengthening the skills of youth to make them employable and enhance their confidence, and making them aware of their duties and responsibilities towards contributing to the nations growth along with providing them the platforms for decision-making participation in creating community change is youth empowerment in real sense.
Many cooperative are involved into the holistic process of Educational attainment, access to Information and Communication Technology, poverty eradication, social empowerment of youth, employability, political empowerment, Environment protection and youth Entrepreneurship along with the strategies for overcoming the hurdles in the way to empowering youth.
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
There still exists a deep rooted gender inequality in some sections of society and women are under-represented in political, social and economic decision-making processes and not covered by any kind of financial services. Cooperatives are making tailor suited programs for financial inclusion for women as well as promoting the scope and opportunity for them to participate in operations and decision making the society. Cooperatives with their expanding scope through access to credit, welfare services and training for empowerment are providing women a platform where they unite, discuss and empower themselves towards a bright future.
Women have their basic rights like a sense of self-worth, respect and dignity. They should get the freedom to make their own choices and decisions, have equal rights to participate in social, religious and public activities, and have equal social status in the society. They should be allowed to exercise financial and economic choices, get equal opportunity for education, and get equal employment opportunity and safe working environment.
EMPOWERMENT OF WEAKER SECTIONS
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, hence, human dignity needs to be restored amidst the weaker sections, education being the key to real source of power. India is a developing nation and has made encouraging progress by halving its official poverty rate, from 45 percent of the population in 1994 to 22 percent in 2012. This is an achievement to be celebrated—yet it also gives the nation an opportunity to set higher aspirations.
Empowerment in its totality should fulfill eight basic needs—food, energy, housing, drinking water, sanitation, health care, education, and social security—at a level sufficient to achieve a decent standard of living rather than bare subsistence. Education, employability, entrepreneurship and sustainable economic resources can be the only answer to achieve it. Cooperative Banks and Micro finance institutions are engaged in funding the weaker sections to be able to make their position dignified in the society.
NYCS AND EMPOWERMENT
Empowering the youth, powering the nation has been NYCS’s motto. The youth and weaker sections form more than half of India’s population. Their development will be the nation’s development. The country should thus be investing heavily in education particularly towards career options of young men and women and equip them to grasp opportunities for jobs and other income generating activities. Infusing them with necessary skills or training to make them inventive, venturesome and enterprising is the need of the hour.
NYCS under its KOVIDA project is supporting the PMKVY Scheme of the Government and is running various skill development courses that will enhance the employability skills of the youth. Special programs for women like sewing, tailoring and fashion designing are being conducted by NYCS too for women. NYCS JANANIDHI provides capital to the youth, women and weaker sections to start small ventures resulting in self employment thus contributing to nation’s economy. Also, in NYCS GAIL Raftaar project equal opportunities are shared with girls to bring their hidden talent to forefront and take a chance at bringing glory to the nation in Olympics 2020/24.
NYCS celebrated the 63rd All India Cooperative Week between 14th to 20th November. The date of 19th November had a theme dedicated to empowerment of youth, woman and the weaker sections through cooperatives. We believe in equality and will strive hard to provide equal opportunities towards better life to everyone irrespective of caste, gender or their economic backround.