Bihar govt launches paid internship scheme to support youth employment

Business Standard

a day ago

The Bihar government on Tuesday launched the 'Mukhya Mantri Pratigya' scheme to provide financial support to youths for carrying out internship programmes after clearing their class 12 board examination.
The decision to launch the paid internship program, which aims to address youth unemployment and enhance industry readiness among students, was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday.
"The Cabinet approved the 'Mukhya Mantri Pratigya' scheme on Tuesday. Under the scheme, youths aged between 18 and 28, having either trained under skill development programme or those who have passed Class 12 Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) diploma, graduate and post-graduate will get financial support for availing internship training," Additional Chief Secretary (Cabinet Secretariat) S Siddhartha said.
The youths during their internship programme will be given financial support for a period ranging from three months to 12 months.
Those who have cleared the higher secondary exam will get Rs 4,000 per month for internship. ITI diploma pass candidates will get Rs 5,000 per month while graduate and postgraduate youths will get an internship of Rs 6,000 per month, he said.
Apart from this, youths who will go for internship programmes out of their home district will get an additional Rs 2,000 per month as livelihood support while those doing internships out of the state will get additional Rs 5,000 per month.
The livelihood support will be available for a maximum period of three months, Siddhartha added.
The payment of the internship amount will be sent directly to their bank accounts, he said, adding that a committee has been constituted in this regard.
The panel will be headed by the Development Commissioner, while members of industries will be part of it, the officer said.
In another decision, the cabinet approved a proposal of the Art, Culture and Youth Department to give a pension of Rs 3000 per month to the artists under "Mukhya Mantri Kalakar Pension Yojana", he said.
Pension will be given to those artists who have given at least 10 years to traditional classical visual and performing arts in order to help preserve the state's rich cultural heritage.
"The criteria for availing this pension are that the artist's age should be at least 50 years while their annual income should not exceed Rs 1.20 lakh," he said.
The cabinet also approved "Mukhya Mantri Guru-Shishya Parampara Yojana" in order to preserve, promote and develop the state's rich cultural heritage including its rare and endangered arts, the officer said.
Under this scheme, talented youths will be given a two-year training by gurus (teachers) to preserve the rare and endangered arts besides publicising them, he said.
"Under the scheme, gurus will be given Rs 15,000 per month as an incentive, while musicians will be given Rs 7,500 and pupils will be given Rs 3,000. A total of Rs 1.11 crore has been sanctioned for the current financial year," Siddhartha said.
The cabinet also gave its approval to the labour resources department's proposal to amend the Bihar Factory Rules 1950 that allowed women, except pregnant and lactating mothers, to work in factories which are considered hazardous, he said.
The cabinet also decided to extend the benefit of giving grants from "Mukhya Mantri Chikitsa Sahayta Kosh" to the elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions.
As per the details of the decision taken in the Cabinet meeting, the elected representatives suffering from cancer would get from Rs 80,000 to Rs 1.20 lakh for surgery, while heart patients would get between Rs 60,000 and Rs 1.80 lakh for various ailments.
Besides, they would get Rs 3 lakh for brain surgery, Rs 20,000 to Rs 40,000 for eye surgery, Rs 1.80 lakh for spinal surgery, Rs 3 lakh for kidney transplant, Rs 1.70 lakh for total hip replacement, Rs 1.50 lakh for total knee replacement, Rs 1 lakh for trauma/accident/brain haemorrhage.
The cabinet also approved "Retired Chief Justices and Judges Domestic Help(s) Rule and Other Benefits Rules, 2025" to provide domestic help and telephone reimbursement to retired chief justices and former judges of the high court and former Supreme Court judges.
"The high court shall provide a consolidated amount of Rs 55,000 per month to a retired Judge or spouse to engage domestic help(s)/driver(s) and Rs 60,000 per month to a retired chief justice or spouse or retired judge who has been elevated as a judge to the Supreme Court or their spouse," the rules said.
Besides, chief justice, judges or their spouses or retired judges elevated to Supreme Court judges or their spouses will be paid Rs 15,000 per month for cell phone, landline expenses, internet service, secretarial and security services etc.