Explainer: What is National Employability Enhancement Mission (NEEM) ?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 10, 2019
The Government of India launched National Employability Enhancement Mission (NEEM) in 2013. What is the mission about? What are its features? Here is an explainer.
As indicated byvarious agencies, India has a significant advantage of the growing economiesbecause of the demographic dividend. To serve the dual purposes of generatingemployment and meeting skilled labour shortage, the Ministry of Human ResourceDevelopment launched the National
Employability Enhancement Mission (NEEM)in 2013.  Through this mission,opportunities are provided to the youth to gain practical job training whichwill help in developing skills, thereby increasing their employability.
The objective ofthe mission as per official notification is as follows;
‘To offer on the job practical training to
enhance employability of a person either pursuing his or her Post
Graduation/graduation/diploma in any technical or non-technical stream or has
discontinued studies after Class 10th to enhance his/her employability.’
In other words,NEEM is an apprenticeship program which helps those enrolled in educationalinstitutes gain first-hand experience of working in an industrial set-up.
The mission isbeing implemented through the All
India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the regulatory agency for technical & management education in thecountry.
Who
is a NEEM facilitator?
A NEEM
Facilitator is a medium between thecompany and students. The company/industry and the facilitators sign an MoU. Thefacilitator offers skill development programs to the students as per thecompany’s requirements. Based on the performance, the employer may or may nothire the candidates. The mission does not guarantee employment and no grant isprovided to the facilitator.
Any society or trust or company which is registered under Section 25 of Companies Act 2013 is eligible to apply for registration as facilitator. The company should have been in the field of business training for at least five years. Capacity to place students in registered companies and annual turnover in the previous three financial years as given below is an important criterion for any organization to become a NEEM facilitator.
If theorganization meets the above-mentioned criteria, the company or society canregister with AICTE and become an approved facilitator. At the time ofregistration, a fee of ₹5,000 is to be paid along with a processing fee of ₹ 50,000. If anymember of the company/trust is facing a criminal investigation by police, thecompany will not be eligible to apply.
The registrationis valid for three years from the date of issue. After three years, theperformance of the facilitator is reviewed. However, fresh registration as NEEMfacilitators is currently on hold.
Who
are eligible to be enrolled as a Trainee?
NEEM Trainee is astudent or any person who has registered themselves under NEEM. They shouldhave a minimum education up to Class X and between 16 to 40 years of age. Thefacilitators must pay trainees a stipend on par with the minimum wages fixedfor unskilled category. The enrolled trainees should be supervised by the facilitator.Their working hours leaves, and holidays should be as per the company’s policy.AICTE will issue certificates to the trainees on successful completion of thetraining. Monthly reports and attendance should be uploaded by the company inthe AICTE portal.
The list ofindustry trades in which trainees can be enrolled is also provided in the NEEM
regulations issued in 2017. Thesetrades range from automobile industry, pharmaceuticals to food processing andfinancial sector. A total of 23 industries have been listed in thenotification. Their details are below.
The training underNEEM should be for a minimum period of 3 months and can last as long as 3years. The training must be compliant with National Skills
Qualifications Framework (NSQF). Thisframework organises all qualifications in ten levels on the basis of knowledge,skill and aptitude.
What
is the status of implementation?
A total of 43facilitators across twelve states have been approved by the AICTE as on date. More than 4 Lakh trainees have enrolled under NEEM inthese twelve states. The maximum number of trainees and facilitators are in Maharashtra followed by Karnataka. Maharashtraaccounted for 56% of the total number of trainees and 44% of the facilitatorsapproved as per a Lok
Sabha answer in November 2019.
As per the sameanswer in the Lok Sabha, 21 NEEM facilitators were regularized, and 2574trainees were placed in their trainee company after completing their trainingunder the NEEM.
The mission issimilar to the apprenticeship since trainees get a platform to work and earnwhile learning. Undergoing such practical training will help the trainees to bein a better position than those who only come with theoretical knowledge.
However, the uneven number of facilitators & trainees across states indicates that the mission was not promoted adequately. Also, no other data than the broad numbers is available in the public domain for anyone to objectively analyse the mission. Since the mission allows for the trainees to be engaged for up to three years, there is a possibility of the trainees being exploited since they provide low-cost source of labour for the company.
Featured Image: National Employability Enhancement Mission