Mumbai, Nov 1 (IANS): Debutante and former Miss World 2017 Manushi Chhillar has been roped in by Unicef for a youth campaign. She says there is an urgent need to connect young people to 21st century skills and livelihood opportunities, while engaging them as change-makers effectively.

About the initiative, Manushi said: "Youth are like a spark that can light lamps. We are the future, and whatever we sow today, we are going to reap a lot more of it in the future. India has more than 300 million young people, and by preparing them for the transition to work and engaged citizenship, the potential for India's progress would be unlimited."

Manushi, who is all set to make her Bollywood debut opposite Akshay Kumar in the period drama 'Prithviraj', lays down the roadmap to achieve important goalposts for India's transformation by actively engaging the youth from here on.

Manushi said: "There is an urgent need to connect young people to 21st century skills and livelihood opportunities, while engaging them as change-makers effectively. Young people bring fresh ideas and a new outlook to the most pressing problems, and we need to provide them with platforms to take their ideas forward.

"This is something I experienced while participating in Miss World as well, where everyone would bring forward an idea - no matter how big or how small, and organisations that have the necessary resources to enable these ideas will step up to support.

"This will not just help the society at large, but also be a learning experience for that young person.

"For far too long, adults have made the decisions for young people, and the time is now to involve them in decision-making, especially about them and their future."

'Prithviraj' will release theatrically on January 21, 2022.