 "The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is likely to open the internship scheme for applicants in mid-October, according to people in the know. The first round of shortlisting of candidates will be conducted using artificial intelligence (AI), they s")
Illustration: Ajay Mohanty
The Centre’s reservation policy for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Caste, and persons with disabilities will apply to the internship positions offered under the Prime Minister Internship Scheme, launched on a pilot basis on Thursday, high-level sources in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) said. The scheme aims to provide 125,000 internship opportunities to youth aged 21 to 24 in FY 2024-25 with a budget of Rs 800 crore.
“We have to ensure that the reservation rules are followed in the overall implementation of the scheme. This is a pilot that will help us learn and refine the scheme going forward,” a top official said.
The pilot project of the scheme will be funded with MCA’s available resources. “When the full-fledged scheme is launched, it will need cabinet approval,” the senior official added.
The internship portal is being managed by Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics (BISAG), a national agency under the Government of Gujarat.
The top 500 companies, based on their average Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spend over the last three years, will participate in the scheme. These companies can also tie up with entities in their forward and backward value chains, such as suppliers, customers, and vendors, and participate in the scheme voluntarily. Other companies can also participate with MCA’s approval.
For the week ending October 10, companies can submit information on the number of interns they can place via the internship portal. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs will open the portal for candidates to apply between October 12 and October 25.
Several shortlists will be prepared using Artificial Intelligence and shared with the companies, which will make their selections between October 27 and November 7.
Candidates will have a week from November 8 to 15 to accept or reject the internship offer. Candidates may receive two additional offers if they reject the first one.
The actual internships will start on December 2. So far, MCA has onboarded 111 companies from sectors such as agriculture and allied industries, automotive, and pharma, and has familiarised them with the details of the programme. Companies including Alembic Pharma, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Max Life Insurance have enrolled in the scheme.
A call centre in several regional languages has also been launched by the ministry to provide youth with information about the scheme. So far, 44 per cent of those who called the centre were graduates, 13 per cent were postgraduates, 11 per cent had passed the 12th grade, 3 per cent were 12th pass with a diploma, 3 per cent were 10th pass, and 1 per cent were class 8 pass. The rest were in the miscellaneous category.
The eligibility criteria for internship candidates require them to have passed high school, higher secondary school, hold a certificate from an Industrial Training Institute, have a diploma from a polytechnic institute, or hold a graduate degree. The candidates must also be Indian nationals who are not fully employed or engaged in full-time education. Those enrolled in online or distance learning programmes are eligible to apply.
Candidates can browse internships based on their preferred sectors, roles, and locations, and apply for up to five opportunities.
The MCA will provide a direct benefit transfer of Rs 6,000 to the intern upon joining and cover them under the PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima and PM Suraksha Yojana. Financial assistance of Rs 5,000 per month will also be provided to the intern, with Rs 4,500 disbursed by the government and Rs 500 paid by the company from its CSR funds.
Companies may provide assistance over and above Rs 500 if they wish to do so from their own funds.
The internship scheme was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as part of the government’s job-push agenda in her budget speech on July 23.
The shortlisting process will include weeding out ineligible applicants such as chartered accountants, certified management accountants, and those with degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) or Indian Institute of Management (IIM). Applicants whose family income exceeds Rs 8 lakh for FY 2023-24 or who have a family member working as a government employee will also be ineligible.
The government aims to skill one crore youth in India’s top companies over five years through the internship scheme. The youth will gain 12 months of exposure to real-life business environments, varied professions, and employment opportunities.
First Published: Oct 03 2024 | 6:24 PM IST