Kalvimalar

New Delhi: The first-of-its-kind apprenticeship scheme announced by the Congress to woo youths ahead of Lok Sabha elections is not merely a political announcement but is about ensuring their dignity and skilling, the party said on Thursday.

Head of All India Professionals' Congress Praveen Chakravarty said the scheme has been enumerated after consultations with several experts from India and abroad and will prove as the first step in tacking the problem of unemployment.

He said it is probably for the first time that anyone come out with such a scheme world-wide as several countries offer unemployment allowance but do not ensure employment opportunities.

It is not merely a political announcement made by the Congress. It is about ensuring dignity of youth and their skilling," Chakravarty told PTI while terming the scheme as a "bold idea".

"Providing employment as a legal guarantee to youth to the best of my knowledge is the first one anywhere in the world. Several countries offer unemployment allowance but none offer a legal guarantee to employee, which the Congress has offered to the youth," he stressed.

He said the scheme would offer skills to the youth, help make them employable and help them grant dignity by offering them with jobs.

"Instead of allowance, the Congress is giving them dignity, skill and employability," Chakravarty said, adding the Congress leaders including manifesto committee chief P Chidambaram and others have spoken to various experts, industry members and have studied different models in different countries. 

Asked about further details of the scheme, he said it will be an annual programme that will be launched soon after Congress assumes power and will be applicable both in government as well as private sector.

Chakravarty said it will replace the Apprenticeship Act of 1961 and the scheme will see the involvement of around 10 lakh companies, up from the 45,000 companies that participate in the apprenticeship programme currently.

"The scheme will benefit both the industry, the government and the students as it would provide employment, dignity and skilling to youth and will help bring down the cost of labour force for companies as the government would share the cost of apprenticeship scheme," he said. 

Asked whether any cost analysis has been made for implementing the scheme, the Congress leader said, "the cost is nothing as compared to the severity of the problem of unemployment". 

He added that the cost would not be much for the central government, once implemented as it would be shared with the industry.

Explaining further, Chakravarty said the scheme offers to tackle the menace of unemployment which has reached 42 per cent among youths of 25 and below.

He said any youth under the age of 25 years under the apprenticeship scheme with a degree, diploma and above can demand an apprenticeship in either public or private sector and would be paid Rs 1 lakh per annum.

The announcement of apprenticeship scheme is part of the "justice for youth" and employment guarantee made by top Congress leadership at a public rally in Rajasthan's Banswara on Thursday afternoon.