Viksit Delhi CM Internship Programme: On Monday, September 16, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta announced that 87 students have been chosen for the Viksit Delhi Chief Minister Internship Programme, a three-month initiative that places students directly inside the machinery of governance. They will not simply observe from the sidelines. They will work with officials, contribute to projects, and test whether youthful energy can translate into meaningful change.
The numbers underline the scale of competition. Nearly 9,000 students submitted applications. After a rigorous process involving online tests, essay writing, document checks, and boot camps filled with workshops and interactive sessions, just 87 made it through. The government insists that transparency was absolute. “As many as 9,000 students applied (for the internship programme) and 87 students were selected. There was complete transparency in their selection. They will undergo a three-month internship programme with the Delhi government,” Gupta said.
Each intern will be paid a stipend of Rs 20,000 a month. That figure may sound like a token amount to some, but the Chief Minister framed it differently. It is not merely money in hand; she called it “a symbol of youth empowerment, self-reliance, and inspiration.”
A First in Delhi’s Governance History
Gupta did not hold back from stressing the historic character of the initiative. “For the first time in Delhi’s governance history, the government has provided young people with a direct platform to engage in administration and policymaking. This initiative will allow youth to play a meaningful role in shaping the capital’s future,” she declared at the launch event in the Delhi Secretariat.
Offer letters were distributed on the spot to students from colleges across the city. In the coming weeks, they will be placed with various departments and senior officials. The design of the programme ensures exposure to the hard realities of governance. Interns will not be shielded from the messier, more frustrating parts of bureaucracy. Instead, they are expected to wrestle with those realities and think in terms of solutions.
Gupta did not want the programme to be mistaken for a symbolic gesture. She called it “not merely a programme, but a co-creation of the city’s future.” She insisted that the government itself would learn from these young participants. According to her, the partnership will advance Delhi towards “paperless governance, data-driven administration, smart policymaking.”
Linking with the National Vision
The Chief Minister deliberately tied the initiative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas.” She positioned the internship as part of the larger push for nation-building, with Delhi’s youth playing a frontline role. “This internship will make youth active participants in nation-building,” she said, adding that it lays the foundation for a Viksit Delhi. Today’s interns, she argued, will shape tomorrow’s leadership.
Gupta reached back into her own student days, recalling how she introduced the Common Admission Form at Delhi University, an initiative that streamlined admissions for thousands. Her anecdote served as proof of her broader point: that real change begins not when people complain endlessly but when they step into the system and take responsibility for fixing it.
The government’s hope is that the energy, ideas, and stubborn optimism of these students will do more than freshen the corridors of administration. The Chief Minister called them “a defining force of Delhi’s future and a key driver of India’s development.” She went further, insisting that their involvement would act as a catalyst for new thinking, technology adoption, and administrative reform.
