Is the job and internship scheme in the budget a copy paste from the Congress manifesto?
#News Bureau July23,2024
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a plan to provide internship opportunities to one crore youth in 500 top companies across the country over a period of five years. This opportunity will be accompanied by an internship allowance of Rs 5000 per month and a one-time assistance of Rs 6000. Regarding this scheme, the Congress has alleged that it has been taken from the manifesto released by the Congress before the elections. Rahul Gandhi has also said that this budget is a ‘copy and paste of the Congress manifesto and the previous budget’.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the Finance Minister has learned from the Congress Nyay Patra 2024. He said that his internship program is clearly based on the Congress’ proposed apprenticeship program, which we called ‘First Job Pakki’. He alleged, ‘But, in his trademark style, he has designed it to make headlines. The Congress manifesto had a programmatic guarantee for all diploma holders and graduates, while the government’s plan has set an arbitrary target (1 crore internships).
The Right to Apprenticeship programme was promised in the Congress manifesto. It was introduced by Rahul Gandhi as the first job guarantee scheme in his election speeches. The Congress said that under the Right to Apprenticeship Act, the government led by it will provide one-year apprenticeship to every diploma holder or college graduate below the age of 25 in a private or public sector company, ensuring them an income of Rs 1 lakh per year.
The Congress manifesto said, “The apprenticeship will impart skills, increase employability and provide full-time job opportunities to lakhs of youth.”
Another promise of the Congress was to ‘create a new employment-linked incentive (ELI) scheme for corporates’. The manifesto said, ‘Congress will improve the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme to target specific sectors that can create thousands of jobs by making India one of the top 5 producers in the world in that sector.’
The Congress leader said, “India’s main challenge is the lack of availability of jobs. This scheme rewards those who are already fortunate enough to have a formal job. There is no mention of job seekers who are unable to find employment – who are very numerous and who are in urgent need of assistance.” Jairam Ramesh said, “The two employer ELI also needs to be reworked. Congress had proposed to distribute ELI through tax credits, while the budget provides them through reimbursement of EPFO contributions.”
Let us tell you that Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcements include three employment-related schemes, under one of which the government will provide one month’s salary to those entering the workforce in all sectors. The second scheme will encourage additional employment in the manufacturing sector, which will be linked to the recruitment of employees for the first time.
The minister said, ‘Incentives will be provided directly to the employee and the employer on a specified scale in relation to EPFO contributions in the first four years of employment. This scheme is expected to benefit 30 lakh youth and their employers.’ He said that the third scheme will cover additional employment in all sectors.
He said, ‘All additional employment within Rs 1 lakh per month salary will be counted.’ He said that the government will reimburse employers up to Rs 3,000 per month for two years for each additional employee’s EPFO contribution