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Journalism of Courage
Even though the general consensus across the industry about the government’s announcement to create internship opportunities for a crore individuals at hundreds of top companies in the country was largely one of optimism, a number of questions around how the scheme would actually be operationalised on the ground has tempered the sanguine mood.
The scheme is part of the central government’s larger focus in the Union Budget 2024 on creating employment avenues for the country’s youth, and comes after the issue became a hot button during the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year.
To fill the talent void and also generate initial employment for young people, the government will launch a scheme for providing internship opportunities in 500 top companies for one crore youth in five years, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. An internship “allowance” of `5,000 per month along with a one-time assistance of Rs 6,000 will be provided. Companies will be expected to bear the training cost and 10 per cent of the internship cost from their corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds.
The scheme is expected to cost about `66,000 crore, with each company having to shell out over `13 crore for the government’s plan, corporate circles said.
However, a section of the corporate sector is uncertain about the implementation of the scheme. There are doubts within the industry whether all the companies will be ready to execute the plan. Clarity on these fronts is expected in the next few days.
“There are a lot of fine print details needed to understand how successful the internship scheme can be. For instance, the government has said that it will provide internship opportunities at top 500 companies. But, what are these companies going to be? Is the government going to decide it? Is there going to be a bureaucratic hurdle or delay in the decision making process?” Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder of staffing firm TeamLease Services, told The Indian Express.
Naushad Forbes, co-chairman of Forbes Marshall, told this paper that with the scheme, the government could be trying to “incentivise lower end job creation, and is a reasonable attempt”. “We’d have to see what impact it has and whether Indian entrepreneurs warm up to it. These jobs can be created in sectors such as garments, leather goods, electronics etc. and if India has to create lower-end jobs, these are the sectors that need to be targeted,” he added.
While the industry has largely welcomed the internship scheme, some concerns have emerged over the eligibility criteria for companies that would be selected as part of the plan, whether it will be mandatory and the basic qualifications an individual needs to have to qualify as a beneficiary.
“We are waiting for the fine print of the scheme. How will they select the companies? Is it on the basis of market capitalisation? Is it mandatory for a company to implement the scheme? The big question is whether it’s workable,” an official of a Mumbai-based firm, said.
Chakraborty also flagged whether these internships can fall under the Apprenticeship Act. “From a labour law perspective, anything that is not an apprenticeship falls under employment. Apprentices receive stipends and employees receive a salary. But the term used in the Budget is allowance. It is unclear what an allowance means in that context,” she said.
A senior executive from a major industry group said that the scheme should also clarify the individuals who could be eligible to be beneficiaries. “Are these people going to be undergraduates, graduates, or even school dropouts? A lot of clarity is needed,” they said.
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