International Youth Day being celebrated today

KATHMANDU, August 12: International Youth Day is being celebrated all over the world including in Nepal today. The day is also being celebrated in Nepal under the slogan 'Transformation in Food System: Youth Innovation for Human and Global Health'. 

On the occasion of the day, President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will deliver a video message at a program organized by the National Youth Council at 10.30 am today. Various non-governmental organizations related to youth are also celebrating the day with variety of programs across the country.

Vice-chairman of the Council Madhav Dhungel said that the day is being observed virtually due to the corona virus pandemic. The Council has been conducting youth related programs on the occasion of the day since last year. In order to address the issues of the youth, the United Nations has decided to celebrate August 12 every year since 1999 as the International Youth Day.

In Nepal, the day was celebrated for the first time in 2004 under the leadership of organizations working with youth. It has been officially celebrated since 2016 under the leadership of the Council. The government has been working on youth leadership development by forming the National Youth Council in 2015. In Nepal, youth constitute 40.3 per cent of the total population.