MHRD announces Swachh Bharat summer internships. Apply now
What's the story
To achieve its lofty ambition of making India open defecation free by October 2019, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has launched a Swachh Bharat summer internship for college students across India. Registrations opened yesterday. You can apply till May 15, 2018. The internship requires participating students to give at least 100 hours to rural sanitation between May 1 and July 31. Here's more.
Objective
Training them young
According to the programme's official website, through the internship, the Indian government aims to: -Help the youth know more about sanitation, the ground-level challenges plaguing rural India and their solutions. -Give them a platform to make a significant contribution to the 'swachhata revolution'. -Integrate them in community service in villages in the run up to Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary.
Details
All you need to know
Any student enrolled in a recognized college/university can apply. Students are free to participate individually or in teams. The villages and team size (maximum 10 members) will be decided by the nodal officers. Assigned by the institution and registered on the website, they would guide students throughout the internship. Candidates need to take up sanitation-related activities of their choice in one or more villages.
The work
You either help clean or raise awareness
Participants can engage in either of the two categories of work: -Information-education-communication activities: Conducting awareness campaigns, organizing swachhata melas, taking out village/school-level rallies and sensitizing locals through movie screening, wall paintings, street plays. -Solid waste management related activities: Organizing waste collection drives, segregating non-biodegradable/biodegradable waste, making compost pits, transporting household waste to disposal sites, helping panchayats formulate plans for biogas plants, cleaning streets/drains/alleys.
Rewards
You can win cash awards up to Rs. 2 lakh
On successful completion of their internship, participants will be given a certificate and two curriculum credits. Moreover, the best three interns/teams at the university, state and national levels will be felicitated with the following cash awards: University level: Rs. 30,000, Rs. 20,000, Rs. 10,000 State level: Rs. 50,000, Rs. 30,000, Rs. 20,000 National level: Rs. 2 lakh, Rs. 1 lakh, Rs. 50,000