Special status for RG institute in TN

Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development in Tamil Nadu has been accorded the status of institution of national importance through a Parliamentary legislation.

Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development Bill, 2012. The Bill has already been passed in Lok Sabha. The institute is based at Sriperumbudur, where the former prime minister was assassinated in 1991. Set up in 1993, it conducts advanced study in youth related activities.

The report of the Mentor Group of the Ministry of Youth Affairs recommended its conversion into an institution of national importance.

The institute is to work as a resource agency and think–tank for youth programmes, policies and implementation strategies keeping in view social harmony and national unity.
Participating in a debate in Rajya Sabha on the bill, members from different parties supported the bill. The bill was moved by Youth Affiars Minister Ajay Maken.

Mani Shankar Aiyar (Cong), N Balagopal (CPM), D Raja(CPI), Derek O’Brien (Trinamool) and Ram Kripal Yadav (RJD) participated in the debate.