Offers for government internship program exceed target, vacancies until December 2nd | Latest News India

In her Budget 2024-25 speech on July 3, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced worthwhile job creation and education plans $$1.48 lakh crore, which included a paid internship program for 10 million eligible youth in 500 leading companies over the next five years.

The total number of apprenticeship vacancies listed by private sector companies is slightly above the target of 125,000, one of the officials said. The government has processed about 60,000 applications so far. Job seekers can register on a government portal for one-year internships until October 25.

“The internship program will give our young people a unique opportunity to work in world-class companies. They will be exposed to best corporate practices and will be able to imbibe its work culture, which will help them find employment opportunities in downstream industries,” Labor and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said last month.

The government will screen applications and match skills and suitability to available positions using software based on generative artificial intelligence, or AI, a second official said.

Under the scheme, interns will be remunerated $$5,000 per month for a year, plus a one-time grant of $$6,000. The government will pay $$4,500 while $$500 will be paid by the company from its corporate social responsibility funds.

The number of companies joining the initiative has reached the target of 500, including major companies like Maruti Suzuki India, Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Jubilant Foodworks, Tech Mahindra and Hero Motocorp.

Candidates with a minimum qualification of 10th grade, who do not carry out full-time professional activity and are aged between 21 and 24, are eligible for selection. Postgraduate individuals, students from reputed institutions like IIT, NIT and IIM as well as MBA, CS, CA and MBBS graduates are not eligible for this internship.

Overall, India is not creating enough good quality jobs for its growing workforce.

According to the government’s Economic Survey 2024, India needs to create 7.85 million non-farm jobs every year by 2030 to absorb its expanding workforce, much higher than the current employment rate.

Figures released last month by the statistics ministry showed that India’s annual unemployment rate remained stable at 3.2% in the period from July 2023 to June 2024 compared to the previous year.

“In addition to many other things, adherence to these programs will depend on the suitability of skills for the positions available in companies. Much of the unemployment among the educated youth in our country is also due to the fact that their educational qualifications do not match the jobs on offer,” said Ishwar Aravind, an economist at Delhi University.