A state-level review meeting of the Mera Yuva Bharat (MY Bharat) programme at the Mantralaya in Raipur on Tuesday, 18 August 2026 put Chhattisgarh's youth policy squarely at the centre of the state's development agenda — and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai made clear that young people are not a footnote to the Viksit Bharat vision, but its load-bearing pillar.

What the Mantralaya meeting set in motion

The gathering focused on a comprehensive action plan to connect youth with nation-building, create platforms for their talent, and sharpen their leadership skills. As CM Sai put it: 'युवाओं की ऊर्जा, नवाचार और संकल्प से ही समृद्ध छत्तीसगढ़ और विकसित भारत का भविष्य आकार लेगा' — 'It is the energy, innovation and resolve of youth that will shape the future of a prosperous Chhattisgarh and a developed India.' The meeting drew a blueprint for a robust youth network stretching from the village level all the way to the state capital.

Sectors earmarked for new youth opportunities span education, health, sports, skill development, environment, technology, and social service — a deliberately wide canvas designed to ensure no young person is locked out by geography or background.

Bastar's youth get a specific call-up

One of the sharpest signals from the meeting was a direct mention of Bastar, the region long associated with Left-Wing Extremism and now being repositioned as a zone of transformation. CM Sai said the youth of Bastar will play a critical role in the region's 'new journey', and that MY Bharat will be the vehicle to recognise their talent and offer them new platforms for leadership — pulling them more firmly into the development mainstream. That single paragraph does a lot of political and administrative work: it ties the national youth programme to a locally sensitive, high-stakes geography.

MY Bharat and the 'Viksit Bharat' architecture

Mera Yuva Bharat, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, is designed to be a tech-enabled platform connecting young Indians aged 15–29 with volunteering, skilling, and leadership opportunities. The Chhattisgarh review meeting signals the state government's intent to localise the programme aggressively — building a layered network from gram panchayat upward under the slogan 'Sashakt Yuva, Sashakt Chhattisgarh' ('Empowered Youth, Empowered Chhattisgarh').

The framing is deliberate: by anchoring state youth policy inside the Prime Minister's Viksit Bharat 2047 goal, CM Sai aligns Chhattisgarh's governance narrative with the national BJP platform — useful optics for a state that returned a BJP government after a Congress interregnum.

The next test is execution: whether the village-to-state youth network the Mantralaya meeting envisioned actually materialises — or stays a well-worded action plan on a shelf.