Bhubaneswar, April 6: Odisha cabinet today approved the state youth policy which has its focus on employment and confidence building among young men and women.

Sources said the policy would be formally announced by chief minister Naveen Patnaik tomorrow coinciding with his party’s youth wing convention here.

The policy, according to sources, is aimed at benefiting men and women in the age group of 16 to 35 who need direction and guidance to channelise their energy in a constructive manner. The youth will be divided into three specific categories depending on their age and inclinations with specific goals assigned to them.

Sources said the thrust of the policy would be on self-employment of youth by building up their confidence. The government started working on it following a growing clamour for such a policy.

The drafting of the policy involved prominent people from different walks of life who sat down to decide its basic framework following consultation with youth groups in different parts of Odisha. The groups included representatives from women, scheduled tribes and scheduled castes apart from the differently abled.

Sources said the ruling party started thinking in terms of a youth policy after watching Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi’s growing emphasis on youth and the response that he was generating among youngsters. Even during his visits to Odisha in the last one year, he chose to interact with youngsters drawn from schools and colleges while emphasising the importance of youth within his own party.

With Rahul laying so much of emphasis on the youth, even Odisha's Congress leaders started according special attention to this section of the populace.

This was responsible for rise into prominence of former state youth Congress president Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra alias Lulu, who alongwith three other leaders, has now been entrusted with drafting a plan for the revival of the party in the state.

The BJD, having suffered reverses in the recent elections to three notified area councils, requires a similar strategy to revive its fortunes. The youth policy is expected to provide that thrust to the party and the government.