Central Govt to recruit MBA interns from IIMs to fight coronavirus

NEW DELHI: The Government of India has sought interns from the Indian Institutes of Management, or IIMs, to aid the empowered groups at the forefront of combating the spread of coronavirus.

The interns will be employed for a duration of eight weeks for critical “data analysis” and to provide “evidence-based policy inputs” required by the government. The IIMs and other knowledge partners have been asked to propose the name of interested candidates.

According to Hindustan Times, the central government has constituted 11 empowered groups for a strategic response to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Top institutions like Indian School of Business in Hyderabad and Mohali, the Management Development Institute in Gurgaon, The Energy and Resources Institute, or TERI, in Delhi, the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Centre, Delhi, and the Indian Institute of Public Administration in Delhi, have been asked to contribute, Hindustan Times further reported.

Students studying in such institutions will be recruited after an assessment based on remotely conducted interviews and experience.

Work remotely

The official statement released by the Department of Personnel and Training said: “The Empowered Groups will assign tasks and get outputs as required by the group from the intern assigned, who will be working remotely on the work assigned to them.

The app SLACK will be utilised to “manage the collaboration” between interns and the expert groups.

The recruited students, upon completion of their internship, will also be awarded a certificate by the secretary of DoPT. However, the internship will not be a paid one.

‘Silver lining’

The decision to recruit interns is likely to benefit scores of students who could not join summer internship programs due to the lockdown.

In many management institutes, summer internships were either cancelled, deferred, or cut short due to logistical issues. The placements have also been revoked in several IIMs.

Correction: An earlier version of the copy said the partner organisation was APJ Abdul Kalam Foundation in Rameswaram. It is Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Centre, Delhi. The error is regretted.

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