Jaipur, October 06, 2021. 

The Rajasthan government has been making refreshed efforts to bring about a robust education system, therefore, making the youth ready for more job opportunities and entrepreneurship ideas. These were the views expressed by an eminent panel at a webinar on Youth Ideathon and Entrepreneurship in Rajasthan on the side lines of the ongoing India@75 Youth Ideathon, a festive competition of innovative entrepreneurship ideas by school students of classes from 6 to 12 being held across the country from 21^st September 2021 till 13^th November 2021. Students can participate for free in the competition on the website www.youthideathon.in and submit as many ideas as they want.

The Youth Ideathon is being organised on the occasion of the 75th year of Independence by ThinkStatup in partnership with Management Entrepreneurship Professional Skills Council (MEPSC) under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and Bajaj Allianz Life. MEPSC has announced creation of Super 50 cohort for each state participating in the Youth Ideathon. Other partners include Crompton Greaves, Macmillan Education, Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), IIM Visakhapatnam, sheatwork, EDF Renewables, Toppr, Law Sikho, Skills Trainer, CISS, Care and Allied Services, Olive Heritage and Ginger Webs. It has also been recognized by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).

The competition is expected to see lakhs of students participating from which 500 young innovators will be shortlisted and further narrowed down to top 100 finalists through video interviews. The winning ideas of the India@75 Youth Ideathon will be developed into prototypes/products and there are exciting prizes in the form of cash awards, mentoring, incubation and learning support to participating students. Besides the cash award for the winners, there will also be a special award for the best performing female student from sheatwork and certificates for the top participants along with mentoring programs, etc. for ideas in different domains and fields.

Speaking at the webinar, Col. Anil Kumar Pokhriyal, CEO, MEPSC said "Entrepreneurship is a journey to nurture and actualise your dreams. Young children are the powerhouse of great many ideas. And these Ideas multiply given the encouragement by the family and society specially the school teachers. All it needs is to allow these young children to think out-of-the-box and support their ideas. Only then, such initiatives like Youth Ideathon would reach their mission mandate and will keep the children dreaming big. Seeing the interest being generated around the Youth Ideathon we at MEPSC create Super 50 cohort for each state for Youth Ideathon.”

Dr. Lalit K Panwar, Chancellor, Vivekananda Global University said "Youth Ideathon is a unique initiative to foster the entrepreneurial mindset amongst young children. This initiative will surely help build on the critical thinking skills of the children. Institutions/Schools should empower the young minds to participate in such unique and commendable event. Youth Ideathon would be a platform for great ideas which can help strengthen Indian Economy by creating more and more Job-givers."

Paresh Gupta, Brand Ambassador, Rajasthan Government said “India is facing a serious challenge of harnessing demographic dividend. This can only be tapped by encouraging our youth to seriously look at entrepreneurship, otherwise there is a risk of demographic disaster. Youth of India is full of ideas and they are carefree with no boundaries. It is critical for us to harness these ideas and nurture them young to make this nation shine.”

Sanjeeva Shivesh, Founder, The Entrepreneurship School said “Entrepreneurship is a 21^st century skill. Events like India @75 Youth Ideathon has power to create new career pathways for the next generation. The mantra is catch-them-young. Encourage students to identify real world problems and try solve those. This problem-solving mindset can be embedded in every subject, however the curriculum needs to change.”

The state of Rajasthan has around 1.05 lac elementary schools and reports to be the one with the lowest literacy rate of around 60% in the country. Initiatives like India@75 Youth Ideathon will act as an enabler to give a boost to the state government’s vision to prioritize education and help to empower the students to participate and also nurture the young minds to come up with innovative ideas of their own.