15 July: World Youth Skills Day

The World Youth Skills Day is observed every year on 15 July across the world. UNESCO’s theme for WYSD 2019 is- Learning to learn for life and work.

The day 15 July 2019 also marks 4th anniversary of National Skill Development Mission also known as Skill India Mission which was launched on 15 July in 2015. At present about 1 crore youth are being imparted skills training annually under Skill India Mission.

About World Youth Skills Day

Background: On 18 December 2014, United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) by consensus adopted, a resolution lead by Sri Lanka, and declared 15th July as World Youth Skills Day. Sri Lanka initiated this resolution, with assistance of G77 (Group of 77 Countries) & China, to highlight at global level, the importance of youth skills development.

Objective: To achieve better socio-economic conditions for today’s youth that would act as a means of addressing challenges of unemployment and under employment.

Organised by: The World Youth Skills Day is traditionally organized by Permanent Missions of Portugal and Sri Lanka, together with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), ILO (International Labour Organisation) and Office of Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth.

Importance: WYSD is important because in today’s world rising youth unemployment is seen as one of the most significant problems facing economies and societies, for developed and developing countries alike.

Way Ahead: Nearly 73 million youth are currently unemployed, with 40 million joining labour market every year. To tackle this humongous unemployment problem, at least 475 million new jobs need to be created over next decade.

Coffee Table Book launched to commemorate 50 years of partnership with UNWFP

‘The Coffee Table Book – 50 years of Partnership for Change’ was launched by Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar along with Dr. Hameed Nuru, Representative and Country Director, United Nation World Food Programme (UNWFP) in India, to commemorate five decades (50 years) of partnership between Union Ministry and agency towards addressing food and nutritional security in India.

About Coffee Table Book

It showcases key milestones achieved by Government of India (GoI) in its efforts to make the country free from hunger and malnutrition and role played by WFP in this endeavour.

The book includes some of the major turning points in India’s journey towards food and nutrition security captured in Green Revolution, White revolution (also known as operation flood), digitization of food safety nets, improvements in livestock and dairy development.

About UN World Food Programme

It was founded in 1961. It was formally established by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 1963. It is headquartered in Rome, Italy.

It is food-assistance branch of United Nations. It is also the world’s largest humanitarian organization that addresses hunger and promotes food security.

It is member of United Nations Development Group (UNDG) and part of its executive committee.

As per WFP, it provides food assistance to an average of 91.4 million people in 83 countries each year.

UNWFP is prime partners of Agriculture Ministry to achieve collective target of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-2: ending hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture.