 "Budget 2024: Centre announces paid internship scheme in top 500 companies")
Union Budget 2024: Finance Minister Nirmala announced on Tuesday that the Centre will launch a scheme for internship opportunities for the youth in top 500 companies of India as part of the Union Budget 2024-25.
She said that this scheme will be implemented over the next five years and is expected to benefit 100 million youth. Interns will receive a monthly stipend of Rs 5,000 and a one-time assistance of Rs 6,000. The companies will bear the cost of training the interns via the corporate social responsibilty.
The announcement made by the finance minister was a part of the package aimed at boosting employment and enhancing India’s skilling capacity.
Other new centrally sponsored schemes for young India included skilling two million youth over the next five years. This policy will be implemented in partnership with states and industry, she said.
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Policies for skills development
India, which has the largest youth population in the world, faces a key challenge of generating sufficient employment and skilled workforce for non-farm sectors.
Ahead of the Budget, several stakeholders had recommended extensive policies to focus on creating a skilled workforce to accelerate India’s economic growth and achieve the goal of becoming a developed country by the year 2047.
Sitharaman said that as part of this effort, 1,000 ITIs will be upgraded on the hub-and-spoke model.
She also announced that students will be able to secure loans of up to Rs 10 lakh for higher education to study in domestic institutions of India.
Boost for youth education and employment
Overall, the Budget 2024 provided an allocation of Rs 1.48 trillion towards education, employment, and skilling of youth. This is a substantial increase of 30 per cent compared to the previous financial year.
In her speech, Sithraman reiterated that youth, poor, women and farmers are the four main development focus areas of the Narendra Modi government.
At the start of her presentation, she said the Budget is based on nine key priorities laid out by the Centre, which include employment, social justice, urban development, energy security among other goals.