Urban learning internship programme launched for engineering graduates

New Delhi, June 4

The Centre, on Thursday, launched an urban learning internship programme — TULIP — for fresh engineering graduates, who will get an opportunity to work for 4,400 urban local bodies and 100 smart cities in the country.

Housing and Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ jointly launched an online portal of The Urban Learning Internship Programme, which will allow applicants internship for up to one year in areas like urban planning, financing, environmental engineering, sanitation and infrastructure.

Puri said urban services in the country were very comprehensive and this programme offered on-ground experience for fresh engineering graduates, asserting that ‘it is a dynamic model”.

He said both ULBs and smart cities could utilise the fresh ideas of the young people in improving services and making local bodies effective.

Pokhriyal said the government aimed to provide internship to one crore youths in the next five years.

Housing and Urban Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra said the Ministry was working on producing “specialised cadre” that could be utilised in different sectors.

He said the online portal would provide a common platform to interested candidates, ULBs and smart cities, who would post details of their requirements.

“This is a flexible programme. We have set a target of providing 25,000 fresh engineering graduates in the next one year. An applicant will also have liberty in choosing his or her subject like sanitation, urban planning, infrastructure and financing,” Mishra said.

He said the government was soon going to launch “Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0” where water management will be in focus.

According to the government, the new programme would lead to infusion of fresh ideas and energy with engagement of youth in co-creation of solutions for solving India’s urban challenges.

It also said it would further government’s endeavour to boost community partnership and government-academia-industry-civil society linkages.

An MoU has also been signed between the MoHUA and the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) as per which technical support for the platform shall be anchored by the AICTE and the programmatic non-technical support shall be anchored by the MoHUA.

A Steering Committee chaired by Secretary, HUA, including AICTE chairman and other officials from the MoHUA and the AICTE, has also been constituted to review the progress of the programme on a periodical basis.

The plan to introduce the programme was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the budget speech.

“Such a programme will help reap the benefits of India’s demographic dividend as it is poised to have the largest working-age population in the world in the coming years. India has a substantial pool of technical graduates for whom exposure to real world project implementation and planning is essential for professional development. General education may not reflect the depth of productive knowledge present in society. Instead of approaching education as ‘doing by learning,' our societies need to reimagine education as ‘learning by doing’,” the HRD minister said. PTI

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