India, Mauritius relationship on a new high

If you thought that YUVA was a term limited to the youth of India or the student wing of a regional political party in West Bengal here is more to it that what meets the eye, that too overseas.

Youth United in Voluntary Action or YUVA is the fastest growing youth organization of Mauritius to which Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit served as a catalyst.

Mauritius-based organization YUVA believes that a new form of leadership is required to ensure a far better and secured tomorrow and seeks to develop international youth co-operation with Indian non-governmental organizations (NGO).

"YUVA is in conversation with several large NGOs in India to see how we can collaborate on the international front. As president of YUVA, I wish to invite the organisations in India to contact us for collaboration," says Krishna Athal, president, YUVA.

Like India, thousands of Mauritians also feel that opportunity exists for change to take place and that it is absolute essential to recognize what ignites passion in an individual. YUVA acts as a platform to achieve growth among its citizens through idealism and innovation.

YUVA, also holds nationwide interest in transformative leadership and good governance and operates to foster systematic growth among the people.

"Just as we saw this past year ahead of the general elections, public mobilization can strengthen the voice of civil society and can help to bring absolute change in the country. A natural momentum is formed when people believe in something. And that's what leaders need to do- create a strong and sustainable mechanism which make people believe in it," says Athal, who has received several leadership initiative awards from national and international bodies and who was the former chairman of the National Youth Council of Mauritius.

Initiated in January 2015, the association began as a group of young individuals and has managed to mobilize more than 12,000 young hearts, further making it the first largest NGO in the island country. The voluntary movement for the welfare of the Mauritians strives to spread social awareness and inspire every young person to spare sometime of their life to serving others, spreading happiness and extending love to all.

Interestingly, unlike most NGOs, YUVA follows a decentralised approach to social development and implementation. Be it at local, regional or national level, groups are often given the freedom to decide how they want to work in collaboration with other groups and which project they want to accomplish.

The organization runs its programs at the local, district and national level. It also has a national board where the appointed members act as policy makers of the organisation.

Under the National Board comes the district board, where YUVA has appointed a President for every district. The District Presidents work towards creating Local YUVA teams in every village/town found in their district territories. At the end, the Local YUVA Presidents become District Board members, chaired by their respective District Presidents.

"Since YUVA has a large cohort of people from every corner of Mauritius, we haven't restricted initiatives to certain themes. We have set free all entities to decide their calendar of activities throughout their Service Mandate (2 years, then renewal) and allowed them to effect tailor-made changes in their respective localities," says Athal.

Mauritius President Kailash Purryag lauded the Indian youth recently, by claiming that they were the key to success of Modi's Make-in-India project. As per a report he had said, "Make in India' will only be possible if the youth of this country are competitive and productive. I hope to see this happen and that will make India a global power in the coming years."

Economic co-operation between the two countries were strengthened when the duo signed five treaties, including in ocean economy and for upgrading infrastructure on an outer Mauritian island. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his counterpart Anerood Jugnauth during his visit to the country and offered 500 million dollars 'concessional Line of Credit to Mauritius for key infrastructure projects'.

India and Mauritius have been sharing diplomatic relations since 1948. Its history can be traced back to the 1820s, when a large number of Indian labourers migrated to Mauritius to work on sugar plantations. Over the years, Mauritius ensured that India held a signification role its foreign policies.

India's special attachment with the country was also closely reflected when Modi gave in to the plea of the Mauritian government to attend Modi's swearing-in ceremony. It must be remembered that foreign guests for the ceremony could only consist of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) members.

India and Mauritius may share strong relations and may have inked several pacts to strengthen economic and security co-operation but it is now time for the two countries to go beyond and enhance their bilateral ties in youth affairs and development, and this is just the beginning.