HRD ministry releases first draft of policy to boost student entrepreneurship: All you need to know about new scheme

The Ministry of Human Resources on Thursday released the first draft of the 'National Innovation and Start-up' policy, which aims to encourage entrepreneurship among students through facilities provided by higher education institutions in the country.If the proposal is implemented, it will require the institutions to set up provisions for the fledgling businesses like attendance waivers and academic credit to work on business models, CNN-News18 reported.What is the National Innovation and Start-up' policy?The HRD ministry's latest push for start-ups is in line with the Centre's focus on entrepreneurial projects, as outlined by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Union Budget speech in Parliament this year.The HRD ministry, headed by Ramesh Pokhriyal, will also direct the institutions to provide attendance waivers and allow student entrepreneurs to take up to a semester or year off from the course to work on their businesses.In return, the institution will be given intellectual property rights of the business and also a certain percentage of the equity of the business.A minimum of one percent of the institution's budget is to be allocated to nurturing businesses on-campus, the report said. However, this allocation can increase, depending on the discretion of the institution.Additionally, all colleges will be required to set up facilities for the "incubation" stage of the business, through which the student entrepreneur can approach the institution for all support necessary. The college will also be asked to hire staff with experience in starting businesses to aid the students.