Empowering Youth through Entrepreneurship: The CMEY Model of Employment Generation in Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

Young people are a major force in the contemporary world. The future of any country depends to a large extent on the lines the youth are moulded to accept responsibility of a divorce nature. The role of youth has been long recognized by the international agencies like the United Nations, ILO, UNDP etc. Unfortunately evidence all over the world suggests a precarious position for the youth. India is no exception to this fact. The problem of rising unemployment strikes the most among the youth of contemporary India. Policies and programs are thus directed towards tackling the same and also empower the youth through entrepreneurship. Government of India has initiated a number of action oriented programs to promote entrepreneurial skills. The states followed suit and one of the successful models of employment generation and promoting entrepreneurship is the CMEY model in Andhra Pradesh. Evaluation of the program by external agencies revealed success but the need for a stock taking from a scholarly perspective for objective assessment calls for studies which are empirical in nature. This paper is an attempt in this direction and aims at the perception of the program from the beneficiary perspective. The study confirms the success of the model as per the opinion of the target group. Implications and inferences are discussed in the study.