The government is all set to revise the definition of apprenticeship laws to widen its coverage. The government has notified to bring about changes in Apprenticeship Rules (1961). The law envisages to increase skilled manpower in the country and raise monetary compensation of apprentices.
The changes will help in widening and enhancing of apprenticeship opportunities for the Indian youth. The Apprenticeship (Amendment) Rules, 2019 will help raise the hiring limit of apprentices to 15 per cent of total strength of an establishment.
The ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship is all set to finalize the changes to the law in the upcoming 2 weeks. As per the ministry, the draft is to be put up in the public domain for comments and valuable insights from the stakeholders before being tabled in the parliament for approval.
Under the note submitted for changes with the PMO (Prime minister office), the new definition would be “any place where any trade, commerce or industry activity is taking place, including educational and training institutions. This will further expand the institutions available for apprenticeship”.
Last year, Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Mahendra Nath Pandey said significant changes had been made in the Apprenticeship Act, whereby minimum stipends had been doubled to between Rs 5,000 and Rs 9,000 per month.
He said the number of apprenticeships were expected to rise to 2.6 lakh as compared to 60,000 till 2019.
To make the laws more employer friendly, the ministry has proposed to relieve industry from the paperwork for apprenticeship. To pursue this goal, ministry has suggested to enable empanelled third party aggregators (TPAs). The TPA will help support employers in all functionalities of stipend payment, paperwork and apprenticeship engagement.
Proposals are also intending to include children under the law. It also suggested to provide online training for select IT sectors, instead of physical mode which is prescribed under the present act.
As per the amendment last year, under the new rules the minimum amount of stipend prescribed for school pass outs from grade 5th and grade 9th were Rs. 5000. Similarly, a graduate or degree apprentices were to be paid Rs. 9000 per month. The ministry hasn’t yet cleared whether the stipend is to be increased or not under the new proposed changes.
Besides, sources informed that MoUs have been signed with 21 third party aggregators and 19 states to boost apprenticeship in the country. The government has not yet cleared whether these numbers are to go up or not.
Furthermore, there will be no more monetary penalty on employers while allowing industries to send apprentices from industries registered in India abroad. This is applicable only when the health, welfare and safety of the apprentices are assured under the relevant labor codes.
The government intends to move in the direction of commitment towards skilling of Indian youth. This certainly will help IT sector amongst other sectors, for employment purposes in future.