PM Internship Scheme's pilot relaxes age criteria, increases compensation

The Prime Minister Internship Scheme pilot has widened the age band, raised stipends to Rs 9,000, and reduced duration to 6-9 months to improve participation

The Prime Minister Internship Scheme (PMIS) has revised its guidelines for the ongoing pilot, relaxing the duration of the programme to six-nine months from the earlier one year. And, the age criterion has been changed from 21–24 years to 18–25 years, according to a Rajya Sabha reply on Tuesday.

 

Candidates who have a master’s degree and students from the final year of graduation or post-graduation are eligible for the programme, according to the revised guidelines which came into effect from March 12. 

The government has also increased the monthly allowance for interns from ₹5,000 to ₹9,000. 

The scheme has adopted a rolling internship cycle allowing continuous posting, selection and onboarding, the Parliament reply by Harsh Malhotra, minister of state for corporate affairs, said.

 

A broader set of companies and organisations have been made eligible to participate in the scheme in order to increase the number of total opportunities.

 

“Based on the learnings during implementation of the Prime Minister Internship Pilot Project, the guidelines for the pilot project have been revised with effect from March 12,” Malhotra added.

 

In Round I of the PMIS pilot project, partner companies posted 127,000 internship opportunities and made over 82,000 offers to over 60,000 candidates. And, 8,760 interns had joined their internship.

 

In Round II, partner companies posted 118,000 internship opportunities and made over 83,000 offers to over 71,000 candidates. Over 7,300 interns had joined their internship.

 

An independent evaluation and feedback survey carried out by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs found that location was an important consideration, and the ideal travel distance indicated by candidates is between 5 and 10 km.

 

Another concern flagged for low acceptance and joining in the programme was that the 12-month period was considered longer than the normal skilling programmes.