New Delhi: In a bid to bring citizens closer to governance and place youth at the heart of public service delivery, Delhi Education Minister and Janakpuri MLA Ashish Sood on Thursday launched the ‘Youth for Governance’ (YFG) initiative, envisioning his constituency office as a full-fledged Seva Kendra rather than a centre of power.
The initiative aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to involve one lakh youth from non-political backgrounds in governance to curb nepotism and strengthen participatory democracy. Addressing the inaugural batch, Sood said the country is witnessing a deeper transformation in the philosophy of governance. “There is a deep shift in our national thought process. We are moving away from the colonial mindset of ‘Raj’ towards ‘Kartavya’,” he said. Drawing parallels with symbolic national changes such as Rajpath becoming Kartavya Path and Race Course Road being renamed Lok Kalyan Marg, Sood added, “The office of an MLA or a Minister exists solely for Seva and to bridge the gap between the citizen and the government.”
Under the programme, 12 fellows, termed the ‘Special Twelve’ or Batch Zero, have been selected from over 350 applicants through a rigorous screening process. The group includes young professionals such as medical graduates and law students, who will spend three months working on real-time civic challenges in Janakpuri. Their assignments range from sanitation audits along Pankha Road to identifying poorly lit areas for streetlight installation.
Explaining the core philosophy of the fellowship, Sood said YFG is built on participatory governance and root cause analysis. “You must go beyond temporary fixes and identify systemic problems, whether it is a rotten water pipeline or a recurring sanitation issue,” he told the fellows. The Minister also cautioned against confusing online visibility with real governance outcomes. “This is not a visibility exercise; it is about impact and resolution rates,” he said, urging fellows to act as the “human interface” between citizens and the government. “Your job is to ensure that every citizen feels that ‘Sarkar sun rahi hai’,” he added. The 12-week YFG fellowship aims to create a replicable model of youth-led governance, strengthening grassroots problem-solving and fostering a more responsive administration in Janakpuri and beyond.