New Delhi, Oct 11 (IANS): As India continues its journey towards becoming the skill capital of the world, the employable percentage of final-year and pre-final year students increased from 33.9 per cent in 2014 to 51.3 per cent in 2024, the government said on Friday.

With one of the youngest populations in the world, India can realise its demographic dividend through a workforce that is trained in ‘employable’ skills and is industry-ready, according to the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

One of the main initiatives aimed at skilling youth is the Prime Minister’s Internship Scheme. The scheme for FY 2024-25 aims to provide extensive internship opportunities to one crore youth over the next five years in India’s top 500 companies.

Announced in the Union Budget 2024-25, the initiative offers 12-month internships to help young people gain hands-on experience in real-life business environments, bridging the gap between academic learning and industry needs.

A pilot project launched on October 3 aims to 1.25 lakh internships for the fiscal 2024-25, with top companies identified based on their CSR expenditure.

The scheme operates independently from existing skill development programs and emphasizes enhancing employability through practical experience. The portal of the scheme will be opening for candidates on October 12.

The internship scheme offers a 12-month internship aimed at providing young individuals with real-world job experience.

Interns receive Rs 5,000 per month for 12 months. Of this, Rs 500 is contributed by the company through its CSR funds, and Rs 4,500 is transferred by the government to the intern's Aadhaar-linked bank account.

A one-time grant for incidentals of 6,000 will be disbursed to each intern by the government through Direct Benefit Transfer, upon the intern's joining at the internship location. Expenditures associated with the training of interns under the Scheme, would be borne by the company from its CSR funds, as per the extant rules.

Insurance coverage will also be provided to each individual intern under insurance schemes of the government. In addition, the company may also provide additional accidental insurance coverage to the interns.

Another skill development effort is the Indian Institute of Skills. An Indian Institute of Skills was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai recently.

IIS is designed to cultivate an industry-ready workforce for Industry 4.0, offering training in areas like factory automation, digital manufacturing, mechatronics, artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, and additive manufacturing, according to the ministry.