PM internship scheme for 1 crore youth to launch next month
Each intern will be paid Re 5,000 per month for one year and will also be entitled to a reimbursement of Rs 6,000.
The Union government is expected to roll out the PM Internship Scheme for the youth within the next month, and for this, top CSR spenders are expected to be favored. Top contenders are Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, ONGC, Infosys, and NTPC. Subsequently, in the budget announced by the Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman of India, she included the participation of the top 500 companies in the PM Internship Scheme, highlighting the government’s commitment to engaging the youth with leading corporations.
The scheme envisaged to provide internships to one crore youths, and they could select companies on the basis of average annual CSR spend for the previous three years ending FY 2022–23, as per the Economic Times. According to sources, “The suggestion to prioritize companies based on their CSR spending came from industry players, and the government has accepted it.”
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), which is at the helm of this scheme, is still in the consultation phase and is expected to launch the program shortly. Moreover, more interns will be hired by companies with higher CSR contributions, with an average of 4000 interns per company for five years, in which most of the costs would be borne by the government.
Objectives of the PM Internship Scheme for Youth from Underprivileged Background
A source suggested that the state-run banks who are not under the Companies Act could also be included in the program. Since the scheme is optional, the MCA is in the process of persuading larger companies to join.
According to ET, a source said, “Public-sector units will have a bigger role if private companies show less interest, though many private firms seem eager to join.”
A new portal that will be developed will enable interns seeking internships to directly submit their applications to companies. Each intern will be paid Rs 5,000 per month for one year and will also be entitled to a reimbursement of Rs 6,000. The government will bear a cost of ₹54,000 per intern, and the companies will bear the training cost and contribute 10 percent of the per-month stipend of Rs 6,000 through their CSR activities fund.
Some of the goals of the scheme include exposing the youth within the age of 21 to 24 years from poor households who are unemployed to real-life employment environments. The scheme is aiming to provide an opportunity for those who don’t have family members paying income tax and for those candidates who have not graduated from a prestigious institution like an IIT or IIM.
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