Internship Initiatives to Match Skill Sets with Opportunity in India

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• About the Internship Scheme Announced in the Union Budget 2024-25
• Highlights of the Portal that will Enable Youth to Apply Directly for Internship

Why in News?

• Under a special package outlined in the Union Budget 2024–25, a new portal is being developed to allow youth to apply directly for internships with the nation's top 500 enterprises. 
• The portal will be made available to potential applicants once the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) releases the guidelines for the internship scheme (announced in the Budget).

About the Internship Scheme Announced in the Union Budget 2024-25:

• Background:
  • The Union Budget 2024-25 had announced the PM’s Package for Employment and Skilling with an overall outlay of Rs 2 lakh crore.
  • The internship scheme was announced (in the Budget) after the issue of unemployment became contentious during the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year.
• Description of the scheme:
  • Objective:
    • In an effort to close the skills gap and help young people find their first jobs, the government would offer one crore youth internships in 500 of the top companies in five years. 
    • The government is keen to ensure that those at the margins, especially those less skilled and less employable, are able to make the most of this internship scheme.
• Allowance: An internship allowance of Rs 5,000 per month along with a one-time assistance of Rs 6,000 will be provided to interns.
• Funding:
  • Companies will be required to use their corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding to cover the training cost and 10% of the internship cost.
  • The scheme is projected to cost over Rs 66,000 crore, and each company would have to shell out over Rs 13 crore for it.
• ○ Concerns:
  • Although the industry has generally welcomed the internship scheme, certain questions have been raised.
  • For example, the eligibility criteria for companies and interns to be selected as part of the plan.
  • Whether it will be mandatory (for companies) and the basic qualifications an individual needs to have to qualify as a beneficiary.
• ○ Solution:
  • The government plans to talk to the top 500 companies and mutually agree on a voluntary quota system for taking on board interns.
  • The quota system would be based on the CSR expenditure of these companies.

Highlights of the Portal that will Enable Youth to Apply Directly for Internship:

• How will it work?
  • The idea is not to upload any existing database of the country’s youth on the portal, because some may not want to participate in this internship scheme.
  • Rather, the employers will post their internship openings, and these will be matched with the data submitted by the candidates, enabling a free flow of information on the portal.
• Objective: The portal will facilitate matching of skill sets of the applicants with the type of internship opportunities provided by the companies.

Q.1. What is corporate social responsibility (CSR)?

CSR is a theory that asserts that businesses should act in a manner that benefits the well-being of society and the environment. The Companies Act 2013 provides that certain companies must mandatorily contribute a certain amount towards CSR activities in India.

Q.2. What is the PM’s Package for Employment and Skilling?

Announced in the Union Budget 2024-25, the PM’s Package for Employment and Skilling consists of key initiatives that will facilitate employment, skilling and other opportunities for 4.1 crore youth over a 5-year period. It will be supported by a massive central outlay of Rs. 2 lakh crores.