The Centre on Thursday rolled out the much talked about PM Internship Scheme (PMIS), aiming to initially implement a pilot project that seeks to bring 1.25 lakh unemployable youth as corporate interns in top 500 CSR spending companies by December 2.
The pilot project will involve an outlay of ₹800 crore and will be administered by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) through an online platform vendor.
Vendor appointment
Centre has appointed “BISAG-N” as the vendor of the pilot project, which will also include reservations for SC, ST, OBCs and disabled categories for prospective internship applicants, top sources in MCA said. All reservation rules that apply to Central Government jobs will apply to the 1 crore youth internships (in the next five years), they added.
Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG-N) is the vendor for the newly launched centralised platform —www.pminternship.mca.gov.in. This online platform on Thursday received responses from 111 companies (till afternoon), including major players such as Mahindra&Mahindra, Alembic Pharma and Max Life Insurance, MCA Sources said. The industries expressing interest in hiring interns include Agriculture, Pharma and automobiles.
Portal launch
The portal has been opened to partner companies from October 3 to October 11 and for aspiring interns from October 12, which is an auspicious day. As of today, as many as 1,077 offers have been received in the portal from various companies. Enquiries from aspiring interns have primarily come from four States — Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Telangana and Gujarat (in all 7 districts from four States).
The portal will be opened to intern applicants between October 12 and 25. The companies have to make the selection of interns (from the shortlist) between October 27 and November 7. Candidates will be given time between November 8 and 15 to accept offers, sources said.
Youth empowerment
The first batch of selected interns will commence work from December 2. The pilot project is not a job scheme but is aimed at enabling “unemployable youth to gain exposure to the real-life business environment, across varied professions and employment opportunities,” sources said.
When asked about the types of skills that corporates seek from unemployable youth, sources said that competencies on the shop floor related to production and maintenance were the primary requirements of India Inc.
The MCA is very confident that the pilot project will be a big success and will help it achieve its goal of upskilling 1 crore unemployable youth in over next five years.
Cabinet proposal
Based on the learning from the pilot project, a final cabinet note will be floated for the internship scheme. The Centre is open to expanding the scope of partner companies beyond top 500 CSR spenders, sources said.
MCA sources said that the Government is committed to filling the reservation slots under the internship scheme and will not allow infilled slots to be taken by those from the non-reserved quota. “We will go the full way to fill the reservation slots under the PMIS scheme. No laxity in that and reservation to SC, ST, OBC and disabled people cannot be avoided and is non-negotiable”, sources said.
The PM internship initiative was announced in this year’s Budget as part of Modi 3.0 government’s ₹2 lakh crore ($24 billion) spending plan for job creation and skilling for 4.1 crore youth in the next five years.
The PM Internship Scheme is part of the Prime Minister’s package of five schemes and initiatives to be rolled out to facilitate employment, skilling and other opportunities for these youth.
The PM Internship Scheme, which is being administered by the Corporate Affairs Ministry(MCA), will have an internship duration of one year and will be open to Candidates between 21 and 24 years old, not engaged in full-time employment. Youth who are class 10 pass and above can be part of the internship. Also, individuals from families with government jobs are excluded, sources said. The scheme will not be available if the income of any of the family members of the candidate exceeds ₹ 8 lakh for 2023-24. MCA Sources said that the PM Internship Scheme is primarily targeted at supporting those in the economically weaker section (EWS) and there is no scope to relook at this income norm.