Mumbai: In a first, a state-appointed committee has recommended making internships mandatory for all industries receiving govt incentives in any form. The committee has proposed integrating the requirement into the state’s upcoming New Industrial Policy. While the state’s higher and technical education (HTE) department had already issued the internship resolution for universities and its affiliated colleges, it has been realised that the objective cannot be achieved without active industry participation. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 mandates internships for students from across courses, and not just for professional ones, as was the case before. The idea was to give them hands-on experience and enhance their employability.Since the state’s industrial policy is revised every five years, fresh requirements from several departments, including HTE, were sought even as the older policy from 2019 expired last year (and was given an extension), said a source. The HTE, too, formed a committee with members from the education sector, along with a representative from the industries department. While the committee has submitted its recommendations to the department, it is still under review.It is learnt that under the proposal, industries would be required to report the number of internships offered in their annual audit reports submitted to the govt. The committee also recommended a system where the number of internships offered could be linked to the size of the industries’ workforce — suggesting an ‘x’ percentage of the total manpower. “There are multiple incentives through which the govt supports industries, such as subsidies, tax breaks, licensing or even infrastructure, to promote economic and industrial growth. If each of them offers internships to university students, the govt will be able to successfully implement the NEP mandate,” said a source. The initiative, if implemented, will also benefit the industries as they will help in creating a pool of trained graduates, he added.An official from HTE said they have been thinking of various ways to involve the industries, but the decision-making process will also have to involve participation from the industries’ stakeholders. He added that nothing has been finalised yet.“The recommendation is also to mandate internships in smaller firms, such as CA firms. If they have only 50 employees on board, they can still absorb about 10% of our commerce students. Larger industries such as the IT firms, engineering industries, automobile industries can take in more students. The requirement of internship ranges from two months to six months in different programmes under the NEP 2020,” said the source, adding that the department has recommended looking at companies beyond the scope of the Industrial Policy as well.When asked, industries secretary P Anbalagan said that making internships mandatory for all major industries is a thought process. “But the state is effectively looking at collaborating with higher education and skill education departments to create skilled manpower not only for our industries, but also for the national and international workforce. The state has the highest percentage of employable graduates, but it has not attained it’s optimum level and by tweaking the industrial policy, we are looking at bridging this gap. We are looking at ways in which we can make internships compulsory for industries, from mega and ultra mega ones, at the same time being considerate to their requirements, as it will involve some form of compensation. Revamping skilling will be one of the many components of the New Industrial Policy. The older policies already talk about incentivising training assistance and apprenticeship in industries, which can be tweaked. The state also provides higher incentives for start-ups and new-age, emerging sectors,” he said.
