Democratic Youth Federation of India


Democratic Youth Federation of India is a political organisation in India that is an associated youth wing of the Communist Party of India. It was founded in its inaugural conference held from 1–3 November 1980 at Shaheed Kartar Singh Saraba village in Ludhiana, Punjab.
DYFI identifies itself to be an independent organisation, however a number of leaders of the CPI, including former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee who was a former secretary of Bengal fraction, and a founder Central Committee member of DYFI, Manik Sarkar - the former chief minister of Tripura - was a vice president of the organisation, and M. Vijayakumar who was the speaker of Kerala legislative assembly was once former all-India president of DYFI.
As of 2012, DYFI had a membership of 2.2 million which rose from 1.4 million in 2011. The annual membership fee of DYFI is a meager Rs. 2 and is open to all youth between the age 15 and 40 irrespective of their political ideology.

Affiliations

DYFI is a member of World Federation of Democratic Youth.
The DYFI affiliate in Jammu and Kashmir is called Jammu & Kashmir Democratic Youth Federation. In Tripura there is a separate body, affiliated to DYFI, called Tribal Youth Federation.

History

The organisation was formed on 3 November 1980 from its inaugural conference held at Saheed Kartar Singh Saraba Village, Ludhiana, Punjab from 31 October to 3 November.
On 25 November 1994, five members of DYFI were killed after being shot by state police force during a protest against the commercialisation of higher education at Koothuparambu in Kannur district, Kerala, while one was paralysed.

Publications

At the national level, DYFI publishes the magazine Naujawan Drishti. On the state level there are various publications, such as Jubashakti in West Bengal, Yuvadhara in Kerala, and Yuvasangharsh in Maharashtra.'izhaingar muzhakkam' in Tamil Nadu.