Around 300 million youth have no access to basic civic amenities in the country.'

UNIC director Shalini Diwan said: 'The number of young parliamentarians and state legislators has increased significantly in the recent elections. We have as many as 26 MPs in the 25-35 years age group.'

'The question we need to ask ourselves is whether the imagination, energy, idealism and enthusiasm of the youth is being channelled towards a common sustainable future - or are we on the edge of wasting this marvellous opportunity with more unemployment worsened by global recession turning the youth into disillusionment, crime and worst of all, terrorism?'

She also shared UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki-Moon's theme for this year's observance as 'Sustainability: Our challenge, Our Future'.

'Addressing climate change is crucial. Therefore, when the leaders of the world discuss a climate change treaty at the Copenhagen Summit in December, young people have to raise their voice to urge them to endorse the UN secretary-general's call for the summit to 'seal the deal',' Diwan said.