In a bid to provide young academic talent some hands-on experience working in the government sector and ideate innovative solutions in policy matters, the Manohar Lal Khattar Government in Haryana has come up with an “internship policy 2021”.
The policy launched by the State Government on Thursday aims to give an opportunity to students to secure firsthand and practical work experience and become aware of government functioning besides contributing to the policy formulation.
The decision to launch the policy was also taken after numerous requests were received by the State Government from reputed academic institutions for providing internships to their students.
While the interns will not be entitled to any honorarium, certificates will be awarded to them upon satisfactory completion of their internship and on submission of their work report.
The interns will be required to sign a confidentiality agreement with the State Government prior to the commencement of the internship. Under this, the interns shall be required to maintain confidentiality of all the documents or reports and any other information received during the internship period and shall not reveal to any person or organization any information regarding Department, work or policy.
The State Government has also launched a web portal for maintaining digital records of the internship process. Upon acceptance of internship, each intern will have to register on the state internship web portal and submit required documents.
According to the internship policy, academic institutions shall sponsor students for internship which shall range from two months to one year. The interns will be working with the Joint Secretaries, Directors or any other relevant officials in the Government Department or District Administration. They will primarily work in areas like agriculture, data management and analysis, economics, education, energy, governance, foreign trade, health, women and child development,industry, environment, social media among other sectors.
However, the interns will not be given any accomodation or logistic support, by the State Government.
A letter regarding the internship policy was sent by the Chief Secretary's office to all the Administrative Secretaries, Heads of Departments and other senior officers on Thursday.
Asking all Departments, Boards, Corporations and District Administrations to implement the policy, the letter stated that a number of academic institutions have been approaching Haryana Government for providing internship to their students hence the government decided to notify an internship policy.
The young academic talent should be provided with the opportunity to become aware of government functioning and develop understanding of policy measures undertaken by the Departments to bring about social and economic development, the letter stated.
Notably, the BJP Government had during its first term in Haryana launched Chief Minister's Good Governance Associates (CMGGAs) Programme engaging young talent for the successful implementation of in-principle approved government schemes in coordination with the local administration.
