Scholarship
The Lokpal of India Internship Scheme(TLOIIS)
Overview
About TLOIIS
Most listings for this internship still carry the terms the Lokpal advertised in October 2021 or in January 2024, and both rounds have been overtaken. The scheme document and the invitation circular sitting on the Lokpal's own internship page today run a longer term, set a higher undergraduate marks bar and drop the fixed number of places, and they are published as scanned pages that no search engine can read (internship opportunities). That is why the copies of this scheme circulating online disagree with each other.
An intern here sits inside the body that investigates corruption complaints against public servants, not inside a ministry that writes policy about corruption. The Lokpal was established under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, and the scheme document sets the internship against the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, which India ratified in 2011 (The Lokpal of India Internship Scheme, January 2024).
The reading list is statutory rather than general. Interns are told they will see how the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, the Prevention of Corruption Act, the Central Vigilance Commission Act and the Delhi Police Establishment Act are implemented, and how the Lokpal, the Central Vigilance Commission and the Delhi Police Establishment sit alongside one another (scheme document).
The work has never been purely observational. Both advertised rounds required interns to submit reports on the topics given to them (advertisement of January 2024), and the 2021 round asked applicants to attach a 500 word write up on one of two set topics before anyone read the rest of the file: the evil effects of corruption in society, and measures to root out corruption in India (October 2021 advertisement). The Lokpal's annual report files the scheme on the establishment side of the house, next to its policy for engaging young professionals, and describes what it offers as exposure to the internal workings of the institution (Lokpal annual report).
What the current documents changed is the shape of the placement. The term is now up to 3 months, where the round advertised in January 2024 fixed it at six weeks (myScheme record; advertisement of January 2024), and the intake is no longer a printed figure: the current scheme leaves the total to the response received, administrative requirements and exigencies (current scheme document).
Who runs it
Provider
The Lokpal of India
Central Government
The Lokpal of India
At a glance
Key details
| Level | Central |
| Scheme type | Central Sector Scheme |
| Category | Education & Learning, Skills & Employment |
| Beneficiaries | Individual |
| Benefit type | Composite |
| Application mode | Offline |
| Direct Benefit Transfer | No |
| Tags | Financial Assistance, Student, Internship, Stipend |
| Source record | myScheme, 2026-07-08official-site· 2026-07-08 |
Calendar
Important dates
There is no annual calendar to diarise, and the deadline rule itself has been rewritten. The January 2024 scheme said vacancies for each financial year, once approved by the competent authority, are notified on the Lokpal's website, and that an application has to reach it within one month of the advertisement being published or issued (scheme document). The document now in force carries neither clause: it says only that applications are considered as vacancies become available (current scheme document).
The October 2021 round ran on a different clock again, and it is the one that rewards planning: an applicant could write in at any point in the financial year proposing their own start date, as long as the application reached the Lokpal at least three months before it (October 2021 advertisement).
The place to watch is the Lokpal's own internship opportunities page, which carries the scheme document and the invitation circular side by side, and the news page where a fresh round would be filed (internship opportunities). Neither holds a standing form to fill in the meantime.
| Cycle | Stage | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Current | Applications open | 2024-04-01 |
Who can apply
Eligibility criteria
The filters are academic, not financial. No document the Lokpal has published for this scheme sets an income ceiling or reserves places by category, so a household means test never enters the file in either direction.
The discipline list has not moved since 2021: the same seven fields, from law through to human rights, on a regular undergraduate or postgraduate degree at an institution affiliated to a recognised university in India (October 2021 advertisement). Class 12 has carried the same bar throughout, a minimum of 75% or equivalent, and a postgraduate applicant is still asked for an aggregate of 55% in graduation (advertisement of January 2024).
The undergraduate bar is the one that moved, and it is the reason listings disagree. The October 2021 and January 2024 rounds both asked undergraduates for an aggregate of 55% in the years completed by the date of application (October 2021 advertisement); the documents now in force raise it to 60%, with at least two years of the course completed (current scheme document; terms of the current round). Because that figure exists only inside a scanned page, myScheme's copy of the eligibility list prints the percentage sign with the number missing, and listings built from the older advertisements still show 55%.
| The applicant should be a student. | |
| The applicant must be enrolled in an institution affiliated with a recognized university within India. | |
| The applicant should be pursuing a regular undergraduate or postgraduate degree course in the field of law, political science, public administration, public policy, management, economics, or human rights. | |
| The applicant must have secured at least 75% or equivalent marks in the 12th class.1. The undergraduate student must have completed at least two years of study in the undergraduate course. | |
| The undergraduate student must have a minimum aggregate of % or equivalent marks in years completed till the date of application. | |
| The postgraduate students must have a minimum aggregate of 55% or equivalent in the graduation course. | |
| The applicant must have his own laptop for the internship. |
Who cannot apply
Exclusions
No scheme document or advertisement the Lokpal has issued carries an exclusion list. What removes applications is procedural: a file that does not arrive recommended by the head of the applicant's institute is not a complete application (advertisement of January 2024).
One wording in the current circular is worth reading closely before you ask for a signature. Where the January 2024 scheme wanted the recommendation from the institute of the applicant (scheme document), the circular now in force asks for it from the Law Institute of the applicant, while the eligibility clause immediately below it still opens the scheme to economics, management and public policy students (current invitation circular).
Continuation
Renewal conditions
There is nothing to renew. The internship is a single term, no published round mentions extending or repeating one, and nothing in the scheme converts an internship into a law clerkship or any other engagement at the Lokpal. The nearest thing to flexibility was the 2021 round, where an applicant named the length they wanted inside a six to twelve week band (October 2021 advertisement); the current document sets a ceiling instead and says nothing about a second stint.
What you get
Award & benefits
The stipend is Rs 10,000 a month and it is paid backwards, a completed month at a time. The January 2024 scheme softened that with a proportionate payment for part of a month (scheme document); the documents now in force withdraw the concession, and a month that is not completed in full is not paid for at all (current scheme document; terms of the current round). The official question and answer set published alongside this scheme still gives the older proportionate answer, so plan around the circular rather than around the listing.
| Document | Term | Places | Stipend rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scheme and circular now on the internship page | up to 3 months | not printed; decided on response and administrative requirements | Rs 10,000 a month, per completed month; an unfinished month is unpaid |
| Scheme and advertisement dated 4 January 2024 | six weeks | four | Rs 10,000 a month, proportionate for part of a month |
| Advertisement dated 25 October 2021 | six to twelve weeks, proposed by the applicant | not more than four at any one time | Rs 10,000 a month on successful completion |
Beyond the money and the certificate, the office provides a desk, an internet connection and the facilities that go with them, and the laptop is the intern's own (scheme document). Nothing in either document provides for travel or accommodation, which is worth costing out early, because the internship is served in person at the Lokpal's Vasant Kunj office.
- A stipend of ₹10,000/- per month.
- The Lokpal of India gives a certificate to the interns completing the internship successfully.
- The Lokpal of India provides working space, internet, and other appropriate facilities to the interns.
What to prepare
Documents required
The file is assembled by hand, and the proforma annexed to the current circular is short enough to mislead: name in block letters, date of birth, name of the institute, full residential address with PIN code, telephone, email, educational qualification, a photograph in the box at the top, and a signed line confirming that the terms have been read and are acceptable (current invitation circular). What sits behind that page is the real work: self attested copies of the identity, recommendation and marks documents, and the originals of all of them to be produced for verification when asked (terms of the current round).
Two earlier requirements are worth keeping ready even though the current circular does not spell them out. Both advertised rounds asked for a summary of marks from Class 12 onward and self attested copies of the mark sheet for every year or semester of the course being pursued (advertisement of January 2024), and the letter of recommendation has its own annexed format: a single certified paragraph naming the student as a bonafide student of the college and recommending them for the duration proposed in the application, signed by the Dean, Principal or head of department under the institution's seal (October 2021 advertisement).
Step by step
How to apply
The application does not start with you. It starts with your institute: you fill the annexed proforma, your head of department, dean or principal recommends it, and the file goes on from there (advertisement of January 2024). There is no portal, no online form and no account at any stage.
The addressee has changed with every round, and it is the detail people get wrong. The 2021 advertisement routed applications to the Deputy Secretary at Plot No. 6, Phase II, Vasant Kunj Institutional Area, New Delhi 110070 (October 2021 advertisement). The January 2024 round named the Deputy Secretary (Admn.) at the same address and took the file by post or by email at lokpal.us@gov.in (advertisement of January 2024). The circular now in force names the Under Secretary (Establishment) at 6, Vasant Kunj Institutional Area, Phase II, and prints no email address at all, so the current route is a posted file (terms of the current round).
Getting hold of the right documents is its own small obstacle. The two links published for the guidelines and the application form on the national scheme listing no longer resolve, and the working copies of both are on the Lokpal's own internship opportunities page, under About (internship opportunities).
Where the Result Actually Appears
Nothing in the Lokpal's documents gives an applicant a way to check on a file. No acknowledgement is promised, no candidate number is issued, and the file number printed on these documents, A-42/2/2020-LOKPAL, belongs to the scheme rather than to your application, so there is nothing to quote when you ask (scheme document). Both advertisements settle the question the same way: the final list of selected interns is displayed on the Lokpal of India website and on its notice board (October 2021 advertisement; advertisement of January 2024).
In practice that list is an office memorandum. The one closing the 2021 round is dated 7 March 2022, names the selected candidates with a brief address each, and asks them to report to the Lokpal within 15 days of the letter; it is issued to the person concerned and to the National Informatics Centre for uploading on the website, so the same page both tells the selected candidate and publishes the outcome (office memorandum on selected candidates). Expired notices are not deleted from the Lokpal's news page either, they move into its archive, so a round's advertisement and the memorandum that closed it can both be pulled up long afterwards (Lokpal news).
- 1Apply offline
The official links on this page lead to the application portal.
How winners are picked
Selection process
Selection is a committee decision taken on paper. A committee appointed by the Chairperson of the Lokpal picks the interns, and the scheme names exactly two criteria, the course pursued and academic performance (scheme document). No round has published an interview, a written test or a statement of purpose, and applications are weighed against the vacancies actually available rather than against a fixed annual quota.
The one round whose outcome is public gives a sense of both scale and reach: five names, and the addresses printed beside them run from Vasant Kunj and Zakir Nagar in Okhla to Hathras in Uttar Pradesh and Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh (office memorandum on selected candidates). Studying outside Delhi has not been the filter people assume it is.
Fine print
Terms & conditions
This is an office internship in south Delhi, not a remote one. Interns attend on all working days and bring their own laptops, and the office supplies the desk, the internet and the rest (scheme document). The report an intern writes on the topics they are given is a requirement of the advertised rounds rather than of the scheme document, which does not repeat it (advertisement of January 2024).
Walking out early costs twice over. The certificate is issued by the Lokpal only to an intern who completes the internship successfully (scheme document), and under the rule now in force the month left unfinished is not paid for either (current scheme document).
Get help
Contact
The internship is administered from the Lokpal's own office at 6, Vasant Kunj Institutional Area, Phase II, New Delhi 110070, and the number the Lokpal publishes for that office is 011-26125013 (Lokpal of India). Address the file itself to the Under Secretary (Establishment) named on the current circular.
The direct lines on the older papers belong to the officers who signed them rather than to a permanent internship desk: 011-26125024 sits under the signature of the Under Secretary who issued the January 2024 advertisement, and the same number appears on the March 2022 memorandum over a different name (advertisement of January 2024; office memorandum on selected candidates). The circular now in force prints a different direct line again, on its last page, under the Under Secretary who signed it.
Source
Official links
Questions
TLOIIS – FAQ
Frequently asked questions
From the official scheme FAQ (myScheme)
Read this
Disclaimer
Disclaimer
Scheme details are compiled from myScheme, the Government of India’s official scheme-discovery platform, and are reproduced without alteration. Amounts, deadlines and eligibility change between cycles, so always confirm on the official links above before applying. Expertie does not process applications or charge fees.
References
Sources
- internship opportunities – lokpal.gov.in
- The Lokpal of India Internship Scheme, January 2024 – web.archive.org
- myScheme record – myscheme.gov.in
- terms of the current round – lawof.in
- PM Internship Scheme – pminternship.mca.gov.in
- Lok Sabha internship – sansad.in