PM Modi Urges Students To Take Up Swachh Bharat Summer Internship

During his 43rd ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio programme on Sunday, PM Narendra Modi urged college students, NCC, NSS, Nehru Yuva Kendra youth and all those who want to ‘positively contribute’ to the society, to participate in the Summer Internship programme linked to the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan. ‘Swachh Bharat Summer Internship –100 Hours of Swachhata’ aims to ‘integrate youth in the community service in rural areas in the run-up to the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.’ It will be jointly organised by Ministries of Sports, HRD and Drinking Water and Sanitation (DWS).

PM Modi mentioned that cash awards, recognition and incentives like ‘two credit points each, by the UGC’ will be given to the best performers and this ‘opportunity to experience life anew’ will give a ‘sense of fulfilment.’ The awards will be given to the best three teams or individual interns at the university level (Rs 30000, Rs 20000, Rs 10000), state level (Rs 50000, Rs 30000, Rs 20000) and the national level (Rs 2 lakh, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 50000). All participants will get a Swachh Bharat Internship Certificate on successful completion of their internship after approval by the parent institution.

A new portal in MyGov has been launched for this initiative. Interested students can register on the portal, individually or as teams (maximum ten members). Registration process started from 25th April and will end on 15th May 2018. The activities as part of this 100-hour internship can be grouped into three clusters, namely, Information-Education-Communication activities, Solid Waste Management related activities and Support in Toilet Construction. Selected candidates will be required to visit one or more villages and carry out tasks related to rural sanitation and village development. They will submit their reports online within 15 days of completion of fieldwork, which will then be authenticated by the respective nodal officers (parent institutions).

The time period of this internship will be at least 100 hours between May 1st and July 31, 2018. After online registration, Nodal Officer at the parent institution will approve and notify the selected candidates. This program is applicable only for the village list given on the portal. A candidate can select villages for an internship either from their State/UT of permanent address or from State/UT of their institute. The responsibility for the well-being of the interns during village visits lies with the parent institution. Thus the location should be chosen after due consideration and liaison to be done with local administration.