Adolescents in Rajasthan 2012: Changing situation and needs

Several national policies and programs formulated since 2000 have underscored India’s commitment to addressing the multiple needs of youth. The Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) program launched in 2014 helped provide the framework for services for young people’s health in general, and their sexual and reproductive health, mental health, and prevention and care of noncommunicable diseases, in particular. The earlier Youth in India: Situation and Needs 2006–2007 study was the first-ever subnationally representative study conducted to identify key transitions experienced by married and unmarried youth in India. Data have now become available from a repeated survey conducted in 2012 in one state, Rajasthan, about the situation of unmarried 15–19-year-old adolescents from the same sites as in the 2007 survey, offering an opportunity to assess changes in the situation of adolescents over a five-year period. In this report, the situation of adolescents in Rajasthan in 2012 is compared with that reported in 2007 in the Youth in India study. The goal of the 2012 study was to shed light on the situation and needs of adolescents and youth some five years following the earlier study