Lok Sabha Question No. 1616 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-21
Subject: Youth Co:Lab
Ministry: PLANNING
Asked by: Ravi Kishan Shukla, Shantanu Thakur, Nayab Singh, Gitaben Vajesingbhai Rathva, Pradeep Kumar Singh, John Barla

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PLANNING

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1616

TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.09.2020

## YOUTH CO: LAB

## †1616. SHRI RAVI KISHAN:

SHRI SHANTANU THAKUR:

SHRI NAYAB SINGH:

SHRIMATI RATHVA GITABEN VAJESINGBHAI:

SHRI PRADEEP KUMAR SINGH:

SHRI JOHN BARLA:

Will the Minister of PLANNING be pleased to state:

- (a) the  manner  in  which  Youth  Co:Lab  is  encouraging  the  youth  in  the  field  of entrepreneurship and innovation along with the steps taken in the States, particularly in Haryana in this regard;
- (b) the types of innovation on which it focuses along with the number of youth to whom employment has been provided in the country, particularly in Haryana; and
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  provided  for  loans  thereunder  and  if  so,  the  details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION

## (RAO INDERJIT SINGH)

- (a) The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) in partnership with UNDP launched Youth Co:Lab,   to  empower  and  invest  in  youth.  This  is  done  to  accelerate  the implementation of the  Sustainable  Development  Goals  (SDGs)  through youth leadership, social innovation and entrepreneurship.

Youth Co:Lab attempts  to  create  a  network  of  networks  and  engage  the  diverse stakeholders so that young people are empowered to become social entrepreneurs and thus contribute in meeting the SDGs.

Youth Co:Lab via its  challenge  based  approach  offers  capacity  building  workshops, design  thinking  workshops,  mentoring  support,  networking  opportunities,  corporate connections and peer learning within India.

The efforts of UNDP and AIM, NITI Aayog are directed at supporting young people with an emphasis on the following overarching priorities: catalysing youth innovation, empowering young people via technology, fostering youth inclusion, promoting youth leadership, and promoting social entrepreneurship.

Youth Co:Lab leveraged  the  nation-wide  network  of  Atal  Incubator  Centres  (AICs) and Established Incubator Centres  (EICs) in 2019 to conduct a series of sub-nationals in states and the top 30 teams were identified via these sub-nationals who moved on to the National Youth Challenge.

No sub-national was held in Haryana last year as we were conducting the National Youth Challenge in Delhi itself.

- (b) Launched  in  India  in  2019,  Youth Co:Lab focussed  on  identifying  and  scaling solutions on select SDGs -
-  SDG 5 (Gender Equality)
-  SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation)
-  SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy)
-  SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth)
-  SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production)
-  SDG 13 (Climate Action)

This year, the theme is to focus on youth led innovation for COVID-19 recovery to #BuildBackBetter on issues that are important, now even more so as COVID-19 has deepened inequalities impacting India's SDG progress.

Youth Co: Lab India invites social enterprises and innovative non-profits that are 0-3 years  old  since  registration.  This  year,  the  solutions  shall  be  focussed  on  Youth Innovation for  Education, Skills  and Employment, Youth  Innovation for  Improving Access, Youth  Innovation  for  Green  Economy  and  Sustainable  Cities,  Youth Innovation for Mental Health and Youth Innovation for Gender Equality.

As  these  are  new  ideas  being  supported  the  employment  via  these  startups  may happen in the next 3 years.

- (c) AIM, NITI Aayog has not provided any loan/monetary support via Youth Co: Lab.

The idea of  Youth  Co:Lab has  been  holistic  in  nature  which  includes  nurturing  the startups via the existing incubation ecosystem of India by conducting initiatives that help  in  building  partnerships  and  bring  international  collaboration  opportunities  for the benefit of its direct beneficiaries and the entire ecosystem.

Youth Co:Lab is  an  effort  made  in  partnership  with  UNDP  where  open  innovation challenges will be launched each year to focus and support India towards meeting the SDGs.

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