Kashyap, S.K.Gangwar, Renu2019-02-112019-02-112018-01http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810094372Youth are the most important segment of the population as they play quite a significant role in every country of the world. Youth population in India is 460 million, out of which 333 million (72 per cent) are literate. Youth unemployment has risen dramatically; around 40 per cent of youth population is vulnerable regarding employment. It includes 11 per cent of working poor, four per cent of unemployed and 25 per cent of not actively seeking jobs. Vulnerability increases even more in agriculture sector due to disguised employment and they have less skill for the prevailing opportunities. The realistic causes of employment vulnerability may be social, economic, psychological, administrative etc. which needs to be indentified to generate proper strategy of unemployment mitigation. Existing youth policies often do not cater for poor rural youth. Institutions and organizations that permit opportunities and possibilities of all kinds are not available to everyone. International Labour Organization (2014) is taking action to tackle the youth employment crisis through a multi-pronged approach for employment growth and decent job creation. Hence, it is important to understand the employment vulnerabilities among rural youth. Thus, to have an insight into these issues the present study was undertaken to find out the socio-economic, communication and psychological characteristics of rural youth along with employment vulnerability among them. Relationship between socio-economic, communication and psychological characteristics and employment vulnerability of rural youth as well as strategies to tackle the problem of employment vulnerability were also studied. The present study was conducted in Almora and Pauri Garhwal districts of Uttarakhand state. From the Almora district, Hawalbagh block and from Pauri Garhwal district Khirsu block were selected by using simple random sampling. Five villages from each block were selected purposively as they have large number of households. Whole youth population (male and female) between the age group of 15-24 years were selected who are permanently residing in the village at the time of data collection. Detailed pre-tested interview schedule was administered to 210 respondents for collection of data and statistical methods such as mean, frequency, percentage, standard deviation; correlation coefficient and t-test were used to treat the data for meaningful interpretation. Findings of study revealed that 51.43 per cent of the respondents belonged to young age group and majority were female (58.10 per cent). It was found that majority (78 per cent) of youth had educational qualification up to secondary level and majority was studying in Hindi medium. 38.57 per cent of the respondents belonged to small family size and majority from nuclear family (52.86 per cent). In terms of marital status of the respondents, 94.29 per cent youth were unmarried. Further, it was found that most of the youth (41.43 per cent) had agriculture and allied activities as main occupation of the head of the household and owned cultivable land. Data revealed that 54.76 per cent respondents belonged to APL category. It was also found that majority of respondents had medium level of media ownership (69.52 per cent), mass media exposure (67.62 per cent), cosmopoliteness (65.24 per cent), change proneness (64.29 per cent) and achievement motivation. Further, it was found that majority of the youth had low level of extension agency contact (74.29 per cent), social participation (60 per cent), occupational aspiration (53.33 per cent) and risk preference (45.72 per cent). This indicates that very few youth in the study area were contacted outside environment and developmental issues. However, they are enthusiastic to accept change and new practices. Data regarding human capital reveals that 46.47 per cent respondents were moderately vulnerable followed by 31.90 per cent of the respondents who were highly vulnerable and 21.43 per cent respondents were less vulnerable. Data regarding financial capital shows that 66.19 per cent respondents were highly vulnerable whereas 27.14 per cent of the respondents who were moderately vulnerable and only 6.67 per cent respondents who were less vulnerable. Data regarding social capital reveals that 51.91 per cent respondents were moderately vulnerable followed by 29.52 per cent of the respondents who were highly vulnerable and only 18.57 per cent respondents who were less vulnerable. Data regarding physical capital reveals that 69.04 per cent respondents were highly vulnerable followed by 17.62 per cent of the respondents who were moderately vulnerable and only 13.33 per cent respondents who were less vulnerable. Data regarding natural capital reveals that 56.67 per cent respondents were less vulnerable followed by 32.38 per cent of the respondents who were moderately vulnerable and only 10.95 per cent respondents who were highly vulnerable. Data reveals that most of the respondents (50.48 per cent) were highly vulnerable towards employment followed by 37.14 per cent of the respondents were moderately vulnerable towards employment and only 12.38 per cent respondents were less vulnerable towards employment. Regarding relationship of selected variables, it was found that age, gender, caste, medium of education, family size, family type, marital status, occupation of head of the household, total family income, mass media exposure, extension contact, social participation, cosmopoliteness, occupational aspiration, achievement motivation and risk preference had significant relationship with employment vulnerability of rural youth. Other variables; viz; education, size of land holding, media ownership and change proneness had non significant relationship with employment vulnerability of rural youth. It was also found that 32 per cent of the variation in the dependent variable was due to all independent variables included under present study. Vocational education, skills and training, roles and responsibilities of government, role of local leader and local institutions, resources and physical facilities, small scale enterprises, social protection and gender equality were the major strategies to reduce employment vulnerabilities among rural youth. This study will help the planners and extension policy makers to frame policies for youth.ennullThesis