By laksh5382 
The Standing Committee on Finance, headed by BJP MP Bhartrihari Mahtab, has urged the Central government to reconsider and remove the condition that bars candidates from families of regular government employees from applying for internship under the Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme (PMIS). Takes out.
The panel, in its report on the MCA tabled in Parliament, said, “The Committee recommends focusing solely on the income limit of ₹8 lakh and eliminating the exclusion of permanent/regular government employees to make the scheme more inclusive and equitable. Strongly recommends revising the norms.” Friday.
The report on the demands for grants of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) for 2024-25 highlights two key provisions of the eligibility criteria of the scheme – if any member of their family earns more than ₹8 lakh per year or is a regular government employee. If there are employees, exclude the candidates.
The parliamentary panel is of the view that complete exclusion of regular government employee families is unfair as many earn less than ₹8 lakh and may need support under the scheme.
ambitious vision
The parliamentary panel appreciated the ambitious vision of PMIS, which aims to provide internships to 1 crore youth in five years with an estimated outlay of Rs 63,000 crore.
The panel report said the pilot phase, targeting 1.25 lakh internships in FY 2024-25, successfully integrates skill development, financial assistance, insurance coverage and transparent processes through the PMIS portal, empowering youth. Demonstrates a commendable effort to create and bridge the skills gap. ,
The committee found that ₹2,000 crore was allocated in BE and ₹380 crore in RE for FY 2024-25. It said that these funds are sufficient for the pilot phase, but dynamic reassessment of financial needs is important to move forward.
The report said that while these features are commendable, challenges remain with respect to inclusivity, monitoring, stakeholder involvement and post-internship outcomes, impacting overall budget efficiency.
While the PMIS is in its pilot phase, the Standing Committee stressed that the internship-to-employment conversion rate should be a key success indicator.
Therefore, the committee recommended setting up a robust system to monitor and track this metric, thereby ensuring that the program effectively creates career opportunities and aligns with industry demands.
The parliamentary panel felt that the monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) framework of the scheme is important for transparency and timely reforms.
The Committee believes that while collaboration with the Top 500 companies through CSR funding is a key strength, broader engagement with SMEs, startups and regional stakeholders is essential to ensure inclusive regional and geographical representation.
It said digital portals and multilingual outreach increase reach but require targeted campaigns for remote areas.
Risks such as company abuse and inadequate internship oversight should be mitigated to safeguard the results, and there should be a mechanism to monitor them.
The Committee also felt that it is important to address the challenges faced by candidates from remote or underserved areas to ensure equitable access to internships. The Committee felt that without adequate support for living expenses, these candidates may be unable to participate, hindering the inclusivity of the program and its ability to attract a diverse pool of talent.
The parliamentary panel further recommended that host companies align training programs with industry skill requirements to ensure that trainees are industry ready. The Committee urged for periodic independent evaluation for transparency and suggested relaxation of eligibility criteria for marginalized and economically weaker candidates to enhance inclusivity.
Under the pilot programme, 280 corporates among the top 500 CSR spenders had offered 1.28 lakh internship opportunities. PMIS has received a total of 6.2 lakh applications and the window for youth registration was closed on November 15. The first group of trainees has started their internship journey on 2nd December.