Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue 2026 Engages Youth in Shaping Vision for Viksit Bharat @2047
Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue 2026 Engages Youth in Shaping Vision for Viksit Bharat @2047
The Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue (VBYLD) 2026 was organised as part of the National Youth Festival with the objective of providing a national platform for youth to deliberate on ideas and solutions aligned with the vision of Viksit Bharat @2047. The Dialogue aimed to engage youth in public affairs, encourage leadership and innovation, and promote meaningful participation of young people in nation-building.
The Dialogue brought together youth from across the country through a merit-based, multi-stage selection process conducted through the MY Bharat and MyGov platforms. Participants deliberated on key national development themes across multiple tracks, particularly under the Viksit Bharat Challenge Track, covering areas such as innovation and entrepreneurship, sustainable development, agriculture productivity, cultural diplomacy, women-led development, youth participation in democracy and building a future-ready workforce.
As an outcome of these deliberations, youth participants presented their ideas and solutions through structured team presentations at the national-level event held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi during 9–12 January 2026. The Dialogue also provided participating youth an opportunity to present their ideas and policy suggestions before the concerned Hon’ble Ministers of the Government of India. The key ideas and recommendations emerging from the Dialogue were subsequently presented before the Hon’ble Prime Minister during VBYLD 2026.
The suggestions and ideas emerging from the Dialogue were shared with the concerned Ministries/Departments of the Government of India for appropriate consideration, so that relevant suggestions may be examined for possible incorporation into existing or future policies and programmes.
Inclusive participation was ensured through a combination of structural, technological and thematic measures. The entry level competition ‘The VBYLD Quiz’ saw nearly equal participation from young men and women, with 51% male and 49% female representation, further reinforced by a dedicated core discussion theme on “Women-Led Development: The Key to Viksit Bharat”. To reach even the remotest areas, the MY Bharat Portal was linked with Common Service Centres (CSCs), and over five lakh Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs), youth in villages could register and take the quiz from their nearest CSC, ensuring that rural and geographically marginalized youth were not excluded. Essays could be written in any of 22 Indian languages, while the quiz itself was available in 12 languages, removing linguistic barriers for youth from marginalized communities. A district-level competition structure mandated State Governments to ensure balanced representation across all districts, including aspirational ones created a bottom-up pathway for youth, and the Cultural Track also gave youth from tribal and traditional backgrounds an equal and distinct entry point into the national-level dialogue.
Youth leaders for Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue (VBYLD) 2026 were selected through a merit-based multi-stage process conducted across the country. The process commenced with the Viksit Bharat Quiz hosted on the MY Bharat and MyGov platforms, which witnessed participation from more than 50 lakh youth from all States and Union Territories. Subsequently, 39,463 youth submitted essays through the MY Bharat portal. The third stage, the State-level PPT Challenge further shortlisted participants based on their leadership qualities, clarity of vision, and collaborative abilities, and approximately 3,000 selected youth were invited to participate in the national-level Dialogue held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi during 9–12 January 2026.
VBYLD 2026 also included a Diaspora Youth Track, under which 78 Indian Diaspora youth participated through the Know India Programme (KIP) of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). To ensure merit-based participation, the Department of Youth Affairs conducted an Essay Writing Competition among eligible applicants of the 85th and 86th editions of KIP, and the shortlisted candidates were identified in consultation with MEA. The selected Diaspora youth represented 22 countries and were mapped to various themes under the Viksit Bharat Challenge Track for participation in thematic deliberations. The MY Bharat platform served as the primary digital interface for registration, participation and submission of entries across different stages of the selection process.
This information was given by the Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on Thursday.