With the tagline “Pehli Naukri Pakki” (first job is assured), the “right to apprenticeship” is one of the marquees promises in the Congress’s election manifesto, putting the issue of unemployment at the centre of their campaign against the Narendra Modi government.
The party proposes to organise a one-year apprenticeship programme, with government, public or private sector organisation with a stipend of ₹1 lakh a year, for all persons under 25, who are college graduates or hold a diploma.
“What is our current approach to deal with unemployment? Give them petty cash in the form of unemployment allowance. It is a lazy strategy. What we are promising is making our youth employable, by giving them on job training. This provides with an income, which they have earnt with dignity,” All India Professionals’ Congress chairperson Praveen Chakravarty is among the key members of the Opposition party’s manifesto committee explained. He further argued that this will equally benefit the business which will get labour at reduced cost since the government will share the cost of the stipend and they will get skilled workers.
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Based on the Congress’s estimate Mr. Chakravarty said the scheme will be extended to 20 lakh youth. When asked, whether the Congress’s estimate is too low, Mr. Chakravarty said, “It is like MNREGA, once we unroll the scheme we will know the demand. Even if it is more than 20 lakh there are 10 lakh private businesses that as per the GST data who have a revenue of more than ₹5 crore annually can afford to participate in the programme”.
This idea, Mr. Chakravarty said, came after consultations with more than two dozen economists and policy experts across the country and the world. The idea also existed in the form of the Apprenticeship Act, 1962 which mandates firms to hire apprentices and as of date, 45,000 companies are enrolled under the law. “The voluntary apprenticeship programme is successfully running in many Scandinavian countries and Germany. In fact, we studied the Netherlands model in detail. But ours is unique because it makes it a right, just like we brought in MNREGA,” he added.
To take the idea to the young electorate and especially the first time voters who in the last general elections have voted for the BJP in significant numbers, the party has mandated Youth Congress to deliver guarantee cards across the country.
