Jul 23, 2024 05:12 PM IST
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced an internship scheme which will provide skill development with a monthly wage for youths.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday delivered the Budget 2024-25 speech in the Parliament, where she highlighted multiple schemes under the Prime Minister’s package, aimed at boosting employment and skill development across the nation. One of these schemes was an internship program for at least one crore youths.
Sitharaman said in the Lok Sabha that the Budget 2024 proposes a comprehensive scheme for providing internship opportunities for one crore youth in 500 top companies in the next five years.
The scheme was announced as a part of schemes launched to reduce unemployment among youth, and was presented in Modi government’s first Union Budget after winning the Lok Sabha election for the third consecutive time.
All about the Budget 2024 internship scheme
The internship scheme, as announced by Sitharaman, will provide one crore young people with internship opportunities in 500 top companies in the country. The interns under this scheme will be given a monthly allowance, as well as a one-time assistance amount.
According to the scheme, the youths will get ₹5000 as monthly allowance and ₹6000 as one-time assistance. The first phase of the scheme will be for two years, while the second phase will be of three years.
The proposal says that the companies will bear the cost of training the youth, and 10 percent of their internship costs their corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds. The application process will be through an online portal, the details of which are yet to be announced.
The companies offering internship opportunities will have to provide them will actual work experience and skill development sessions. At least half the time spent on the internship should be in a job environment, and not in a classroom.
Only those aged between 21 and 24 who are not employed or engaged in full-time education will be eligible for the Budget 2024 internship scheme. Candidates who have completed their studies from Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), Indian Institutes of Management (IIM), Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) are not eligible for the internship.
Union Finance Minister Sitharaman in her Budget speech proposed the creation of employment of about 4.1 crore youth over the next five years. Towards it, the finance minister said that the Government has allocated ₹2 lakh crore.