The government of India has launched the Prime Minister’s internship scheme on a pilot basis from October 3. The scheme, which aims to offer internships to one crore youth in the top 500 companies over five years, has been registered by 111 companies, including Mahindra & Mahindra, Alembic Pharma and Max Life Insurance as of Thursday. The registration portal for companies will be open till October 12 and thereafter the candidates will be able to apply for various internship positions.
Youth aged between 21 and 24 years who are not studying full-time and are not employed full-time will be eligible to apply. Additionally, candidates who have passed high school, higher secondary school, have a certificate from an ITI, or are graduates with degrees such as B.A., B.Sc., B.Com., BCA, BBA and B.Pharma are eligible to apply under the scheme.
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“By prioritising students from ITIs and Kaushal Kendras, this program will give them a crucial entry point into the formal workforce, equipping them with the necessary skills to become employable and build sustainable careers,” said Neeti Sharma, CEO, TeamLease Digital. The scheme will also benefit in preventing dropout rates that often result from a lack of support or relevant knowledge, she added.
The eligible candidates can go to www.pminternship.mca.gov.in and register from October 12 onwards. However, graduates from IITs, IIMs, national law universities, IISERs, NIDs and IIITs or those having qualifications such as CA, CMA, CS, MBBS, BDS, MBA, and master’s or higher degrees will not be eligible to apply under the PM internship scheme. Candidates who have family members earning over Rs 8 lakh income in the financial year 2023-24 will be ineligible under the scheme. Additionally, candidates who have family members working as permanent government employees will not be eligible.
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The selection process of candidates by the companies will be completed by November end, and the internships are likely to commence in December. A stipend of Rs 5,000 will be paid to the candidates, including Rs 4,500, which will be paid by the government through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and the remaining Rs 500 by the companies as corporate social responsibility.
The internship programme will have the same reservation structure as government jobs for SCs, STs, OBCs and disabled in the internship scheme.
The Unemployment Paradox: India's Educated but Jobless
Unemployment in the country became one of the pressing issues during the 2024 general election. During an election campaign in May this year, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra pointed out that “Today, inflation and unemployment are the two biggest problems for the country.”
Additionally, the India Employment Report 2024, jointly released by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Institute of Human Development (IHD), revealed nearly 83 per cent of the unemployed population in India is comprised of youths. The share of educated youth with secondary-level or higher education stood around 65.7 per cent in comparison to 54.2 per cent in 2000.
“If you look at India’s projections in terms of population growth, India will have to create anywhere between 60 million to 148 million additional jobs cumulatively between now and 2030...we are already in 2024, so in a short period of time we have to create a lot of jobs,” said Gita Gopinath, the IMF’s first deputy managing director at an event at the Delhi School of Economics.
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Addressing the alarming rate of unemployment in the country, the Modi 3.0 government introduced major schemes and initiatives for job creation in the country.
The PM internship scheme was announced by the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in the union budget 2024-25. Sitharaman during her budget speech, highlighted nine priorities areas that would help the country to march on the “pursuit of ‘Viksit Bharat’”. One of those nine priorities was employment and skilling. Additionally, she announced three schemes for ‘Employment Linked Incentive, particularly focusing on first-time employees.
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