Are you an undergraduate or just completed your graduation and looking for an internship to gain experience about the functioning of the government? NITI Aayog is offering internship under NITI Internship Scheme in 25 domains through which you can gain hands-on experience in the functioning of the government and get a chance to help NITI Aayog to work out policies. This article provides the objective of the scheme, the eligibility criteria, the application and selection procedure and other relevant points
About NITI Aayog and the internship
National Institution for Transforming India, popularly known as NITI Aayog, replaced the Planning Commission in 2015. It can be regarded as the think tank that decides on all the long-term policies to be implemented across the country by the Government of India. Keeping in mind the advancement in technology and the aspirations of people throughout the country, reform in every sector is essential and an expert body that has a vision for long-term gain in the economic front, as well as social sector, is a must.
NITI Aayog is offering internships to Undergraduates, Graduates, Post-Graduates and Research Scholars under NITI Internship Scheme to augment its analytical process by accumulating information based on actual observation. Interns get the chance to be associated with various divisions in NITI Aayog. The broad spectrum covered by NITI Aayog requires personnel having expertise in various fields and getting a chance to associate with it as an intern gives ample opportunity to know the functioning of the Government of India.
Objective of NITI Internship Scheme
The NITI Internship Scheme is for the mutual benefit of the talented young intern as well as NITI Aayog. Interns get a chance to know the functioning of the government and its various policies for development. They also help in policy formulation by providing necessary inputs through analysing and collating information on various divisions. This internship scheme is available all round the year depending upon the need of NITI Aayog.
Eligibility to apply
Undergraduate, Graduate, Post-Graduate students and Research Scholars from recognised universities/institutes in India or abroad can apply for the internship. The eligibility criteria for the internship are as follows:
Undergraduate students: Those who have completed or appeared in the final examination of the 2nd year/4th semester of their bachelor degree program can apply provided they have scored at least 85% marks in 10+2
Graduate students: Those who have completed or appeared in the final examination of the 1st year/2nd semester of their post-graduate program can apply provided they have scored at least 70% marks in Graduation
Research Scholars: Research scholars doing a PhD can apply provided they have scored at least 70% marks in Graduation
Students who have either completed or appeared in the final exam of their Graduation/Post Graduation program can also apply if they score minimum 70% marks throughout the years or semesters of their respective Graduate/Post Graduate program and within six months of the declaration of their final results
Domains for internship
The internship is offered in the following 25 domains.
The duration of the internship will be of a minimum of six weeks and can be up to six months. If interns do not complete the internship during the stipulated period, they will not receive the certificate.
Recognition of internship
An experience certificate mentioning the period of internship and the areas of work of the intern will be issued by the Adviser of the respective domain/division of NITI Aayog after the internship is completed successfully.
Procedure and rules to apply
Interested candidates have to apply online for the internship stating the area/domain in which she/he is interested to do the internship
The application has to be made within the 10th day of every month and a candidate can apply 6 months prior to the commencement of the internship program. In any case, the candidate must send the application 2 months before the start of the program. For example, if the candidate is willing to join the internship program in December, then she/he should apply from June to October. The present pandemic situation has forced NITI Aayog to suspend the program till September 2020 and new dates will be notified in their website after assessing the situation
In a particular financial year, a candidate can apply for internship only one time
Since the application process is online, if the eligibility criteria are not met, the application will be automatically rejected by the system
Candidates who are selected for the program must show their mark sheets in original and procure a NOC from their college/university to join the program
Selection procedure
The received online applications will be forwarded to the respective Heads of the domains/units for final scrutiny to select the suitable candidates
The list of the selected candidates will be made available by the respective domains on the website of NITI Aayog
Up to 3 interns can be taken in each domain/units at a time. This condition may be relaxed under certain circumstances by the CEO of NITI Aayog
The eligibility criteria, the procedure of screening the candidates for selection and the number of interns in a particular term can be decided by NITI Aayog based on the received applications for internships in the respective domain/units
Important points to remember
This internship is unpaid and interns must have laptops. The working space and internet facility will be provided by NITI Aayog along with any other specific requirement for the work in a specific domain/unit
The NOC for the selected candidates must mention that the candidate's presence in the college/university is not required for any course during the entire period of internship. At first, the candidate may have to provide the soft copy of the NOC to the respective domain for issuing the offer letter by the head of the domain/unit and the original NOC along with the documents of educational qualification has to be submitted while joining the program for verification
An attendance of 75% is must for the internship and the daily time-based attendance (mentioning in & out time) must be maintained by the respective head/in-charge of the domains. If an intern's attendance is less than 75%, the period of internship will not be extended in any case and certificate of experience will not be issued to those interns
After the completion of the assignments, the interns have to submit a paper/report about the experiences of their learning to the heads/in-charge of the respective domain/units
Contact information
NITI Aayog Sansad Marg , New Delhi 110001 Website: https://niti.gov.in/ Internship notification link: https://niti.gov.in/internship
Article by Sankalan Bhattacharya Sankalan
"Life is easier when you enjoy what you do"
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