Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Saturday, 13 June 2026, credited the 12 years of the Narendra Modi-led central government with a structural transformation in youth empowerment, citing flagship initiatives including Skill India, Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), Startup India, and Khelo India as cornerstones of this shift.

Context

Posting under the hashtag #12YearsOfYuvaShakti, CM Saini wrote that since 2014, India has witnessed an 'unprecedented and structural transformation' in the direction of youth empowerment and development. He credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'visionary leadership and strategic vision' for converting youth potential from mere possibility into 'active creative energy.' The post is part of a coordinated BJP communication campaign marking the completion of 12 years of the Modi government at the Centre.

Saini specifically highlighted that the Skill India Mission and PMKVY have built a 'robust ecosystem,' while Startup India has redefined traditional employment paradigms by positioning young people as job creators rather than job seekers.

Policy Backdrop

The Skill India Mission was launched in 2015 as an umbrella programme aimed at training over 400 million people in industry-relevant skills. Its flagship component, PMKVY, also launched in 2015, provides short-term vocational training and certification to youth across sectors.

The Startup India initiative, announced in January 2016, introduced tax benefits, simplified compliance norms, and funding support to encourage entrepreneurship among young Indians. The Khelo India programme, introduced in 2017, was designed to build grassroots sports infrastructure and create a structured pipeline for identifying and nurturing athletic talent at the district and state levels. CM Saini noted that Khelo India has expanded 'institutional excellence and high-performance culture' in sports, positioning India as a competitive force on global sporting platforms.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of these schemes are Indian youth — aspiring entrepreneurs, vocational trainees, and athletes. The central government's integrated approach has linked skilling, digital infrastructure, and entrepreneurship promotion to leverage India's demographic dividend as an economic asset.

Haryana, under CM Saini's administration, has been among the states that have adopted and adapted central youth-focused schemes as part of national-state policy coordination. The post also invokes the #ViksitBharat ('Developed India') vision — the government's overarching goal of making India a fully developed nation by 2047 — framing today's youth as the primary agents of that ambition.

What's Next

The #12YearsOfYuvaShakti campaign signals continued political messaging around youth policy as the BJP reinforces its governance record ahead of future electoral cycles. State-level implementation reports of Skill India and Startup India in Haryana and other BJP-governed states are expected to follow as part of the broader communication push.

Possible new guidelines or enhanced budget allocations for Khelo India ahead of upcoming international sporting events could further cement the programme's role in India's global sports ambitions. The convergence of skilling, entrepreneurship, and sports policy under the Viksit Bharat framework suggests that youth empowerment will remain a central pillar of both central and state-level governance narratives.