The government is mulling over a proposal to enrol 10 lakh youngsters annually in a military training programme, a report in The Indian Express has said. As per the daily, with the National Youth Empowerment Scheme or N-YES, the government aims to have a “disciplined” and a nationalist “force of youth”.

The scheme, aimed at “optimising the Indian demographic advantage”, suggests incentives to students who have just passed Class X and XII and got themselves enrolled in a college.

The attendees will get a stipend for the 12-month-long training. N-YES will be an “essential qualification” in order to secure jobs in Defence, police and paramilitary forces.

The daily mentioned sources as saying that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had convened a meeting on the proposed scheme in the last week of June.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Department of Youth Affairs, the Human Resource Development Ministry and the Defence Ministry.

During the meeting, some officers had voiced doubts regarding N-YES. This paved the way for another proposal as regards strengthening of the existing National Cadet Corps (NCC).

The proposal underlines that the N-YES will inculcate values of discipline, nationalism, and self-esteem into the youth, especially those who belong to rural areas and women.

This will eventually help make India a “Vishwaguru” and fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of New India 2022.

The participants will also be taught disaster management, vocational and IT skills, Ayurveda, yoga, and ancient Indian philosophy.