Attention has been focused in the recent past on the need for development of youth services as an integral part of national development planning. The question one might feel prompted to ask is, “Is there any justification for a youth service and, if so, what should be the rationale behind the same?” In a monistic society, when there was adult consensus about norms of belief and behaviour, older people were considered to be able to teach youngsters all they needed to know. The motto “A Scout is loyal and a Scout obeys” enjoined on a Boy Scout was observed as a categorical imperative, but in the pluralistic society of today, where all beliefs and behaviour have been called into question and the entire system of values is subject to a searching scrutiny, it will be difficult to predict if the above motto could hold any longer its sacrosanct spirit.