Maoists youth wing to concentrate on development activities

Kathmandu, Sept 29 : The CPN-Maoist is planning to split its youth wing, Young Communist League (YCL), under two separate units which include production force and construction force to support the economic activities of the government.

Nepalnews quoted Maoist lawmaker and former YCL in-charge for the Kathmandu Valley, Chandra Bahadur Thapa, saying it was important to keep the youths employed, for the unemployed youth bulge is more than likely to drive the country to conflict again.

"We will bring reform among those youths already organised under YCL and also bring together those who are not organised yet," Thapa said.

Thapa's remarks come at a time when various political parties including the Nepali Congress and the UML are demanding that the YCL be disbanded altogether.

Thapa said 'the production force' would be mobilized for industrial work such as running factories and in herb processing, while 'the construction force' would engage in infrastructure development such as building roads and bridges.

On September 19, the Finance Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai, in his budget said the government would provide employment opportunities to some 250,000 youth in construction work for 100 days.

The budget has also made a provision to hire 35,000 local volunteers to help eradicate illiteracy in the country in two years, prompting rival parties to allege that this is just an attempt to support YCL cadres.

ANI