The Urban Learning Internship Program (TULIP) by MHRD and MoHUA

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) jointly launched a first of its kind initiative- The Urban Learning Internship Program (TULIP). TULIP is a program for providing internship opportunities to fresh graduates in all Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and Smart Cities across the country. An online portal has been launched for this program.

An MoU has also been signed between MoHUA and AICTE. The MoU lays down roles and responsibilities of AICTE and MoHUA over a period of 5 years. Technical support for the platform shall be anchored by AICTE and the programmatic non-technical support shall be anchored by MoHUA. 

Any graduate who have completed B. Tech, B. Arch, B. Plan, BSc etc.  can apply within 18 months from date of its graduation at: https://internship.aicte-india.org/module_ulb/Dashboard/TulipMain/index.php

While the project will start immediately at 4,400 urban local bodies (ULBs) and 100 smart cities, it will be scaled up to all government departments at the national and state levels in the next few years.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Ramesh Pokhriyal , Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) said, “the TULIP program will be instrumental in laying the foundation of New India as it will provide practical experience to our students and will help infuse fresh ideas and innovative thinking into the working of Urban Local Bodies and smart cities.”

Mr Hardeep. S. Puri, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) said “it is expected that 25000 fresh graduates will receive the opportunity of internship in the first year itself. This will not only help the interns get hands-on experience in the vast activities of urban local bodies but will also help to create a resource upon which the industry can draw easily for hiring.”

TULIP- The Urban Learning Internship Program

• TULIP would help enhance the value-to-market of India’s graduates and help create a potential talent pool in diverse fields like urban planning, transport engineering, environment, municipal finance etc. thus not only catalyzing creation of prospective city managers but also talented private/ non-government sector professionals. 
• TULIP would benefit ULBs and smart cities immensely. It will lead to infusion of fresh ideas and energy with engagement of youth in co-creation of solutions for solving India’s urban challenges. More importantly, it will further Government’s endeavors to boost community partnership and government- academia-industry-civil society linkages. 
• TULIP would help fulfill twin goals of providing interns with hands-on learning experience as well as infusing fresh energy and ideas in the functioning of India’s ULBs and Smart Cities.
• The digital platform powering TULIP enables discovery, engagement, aggregation, amplification and transparency. The platform is customizable and provides immense flexibility to both ULBs/ Smart Cities and interns to enable convenient access. Security features have been thoroughly tested and the platform has been made scalable, federated and transparent by design.
• For ease of implementation, Guidelines have also been formulated which spell out the objective, eligibility conditions, duration of internship, terms of engagement, logistics and other operational features of the programs etc. These Guidelines also provide illustrative roles for interns which can be further refined at the level of ULBs and smart cities at their discretion. 
• A Handbook for ULBs/ Smart Cities and interns has also been prepared for ease of implementation. MoHUA has also agreed to allow use of administrative expenses under its Missions/ programs for the payment of stipends/ perks under the program.

Also read: Government of India to conduct skill mapping of citizens returning from overseas https://nationalskillsnetwork.in/government-of-india-to-conduct-skill-mapping-of-overseas-citizens/

This launch is also an important stepping stone for fulfillment of MHRD and AICTE’s goal of one crore successful internships by the year 2025. If the program goes well, it will be nearly 30 times bigger than the current apprenticeship scheme.