Apprenticeship In India: A Skill Statement

The objectives of the apprentice act enacted in 1961 lay guiding framework for apprentices in India. It also has a provision which bounds the employers in specified industries to provide obligatory apprentice training. An apprentice gets exposure to real work conditions alongside advanced machines and gets a chance to learn industry-specific best practices. The knowledge acquired helps them get self-employed; along with this, an apprentice is provided with a stipend during the course of training at prescribed rates.

Categories of apprenticeship
Graduate apprentices
• A person who holds a degree and is undergoing apprenticeship training
• Stipend: - Rs 4984/-per month
Trade apprentice
• A person undergoing apprenticeship training in any government specified designated trade
• Eligibility: - 8th, 10th, 12th standard and ITI pass
• Stipend: - 1st year- 70% of the minimum wage of a semi-skilled worker as notified by the government. 2nd year- 80% of the minimum wage of a semi-skilled worker as notified by the government. 3rd year- 90% of the minimum wage of a semi-skilled worker as notified by the government.
Technician Apprentice
• A person with a diploma undergoing apprenticeship training.
• Stipend: - Rs 3542/- per month
Technician (vocational) apprentice

• A person undergoing apprenticeship training with a vocational course certificate recognized by the All-India council.
• Stipend: - Rs 2758/- per month
National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS)
Launched in December 2016 the national apprenticeship promotion scheme has a budgetary allocation of 10000 crores and aims to provide training to 50 lakh youth.
 The main takeaways from the scheme are:-
• 50% of the apprentice training expenditure will be born by the government
• The government will pay 25% of the apprentice stipend (maximum of 1500INR)
• It will give direct support to basic apprentice training.
The scheme is the brainchild of Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) enacted with the sole purpose of creating more jobs.

ITI apprenticeship
Industrial training institute (ITI) are institutes which provide industrial training, admission into ITI is merit-based under the guidelines of NCVT (National Council for vocational training), its sole purpose is to enable skill development and facilitate self-employment.
ITI graduates can undergo apprentice training after passing out from the institute to gets their hands on real working conditions. ITI graduates undergo 1-year training in contrast with the 3-year training obligatory to non-ITIgraduate.
Latest apprenticeship vacancies in India
• Western Railway
  Vacancies - 5718
  Post- Act Apprentices (Fitter, Turner, Carpenter, Painter, Mechanic, Wireman, Plumber etc.)
• North Central Railway Allahabad
Vacancies - 1149
  Post- ITI Apprentices
• SJVN Limited
  Vacancies-230
  Graduate Apprentices, Technician (Diploma / ITI) Apprentices
Apprenticeship training portal is available online for registration of apprentices and establishments. A placement portal is also available for apprentices to seek jobs as well as for job-providers to recruit.
There has been a lot of buzz about skill development in India and hence apprentice supportive policies have come up to ensure that a significant number of people join the skilled workforce, these policies will also help in bringing down the unemployment rate and equip many with self-employment.