India Inc Not Pleased
The state government has not stated who will be considered a Kannadiga. But it is likely that only those who have lived in Karnataka for at least 15 years and can speak, read and write Kannada reasonably well will qualify as Kannadigas.
This definition was used by the committee headed by former union minister Sarojini Mahishi. The committee, which submitted its report in 1986, recommended a slew of quotas for Kannadigas, including 65-100% in state and central government departments and public sector units, and all jobs in the private sector except in senior and skilled positions. This is not the first time the state government has introduced such a policy.
Earlier, there was an 80% quota for locals but it was not monitored. K Ratna Prabha, additional chief secretary, commerce and industry, Karnataka, says the pressure for jobs has been increasing, and the government is no longer in a position to give jobs. “So we have dovetailed reservation for Kannadigas in our industrial policy to ensure local Kannadiga youth are employed by industries to which the government is giving incentives and concessions,” she notes.
The corporate sector, expectedly, is not pleased with the new policy. Shekar Viswanathan, vice-chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, says quotas such as this do a disservice to the locals because companies quite often export the local talent to other parts of India or the world to help them gain exposure.
“So, instead of being rigid about the percentages, the government should see whether we are broadly compliant with the spirit behind employing local people. We are here to ensure that the best people get employed, and it is in our own interest that we employ locals,” he adds.
VJK Nair, Karnataka state president of Centre of Indian Trade Unions, which opposed the Sarojini Mahishi Committee report, says recruitment is the company management’s prerogative: “The process will become corrupt if we have these quotas. You should consider the employability of the labour that is available to you.”
TV Mohandas Pai, former HR head of Infosys and now chairman of Manipal Global Education Services, believes there are more jobs than people available to do them in some sectors.
“The garment industry itself is short of two lakh skilled workers while the security industry needs one lakh more people. Investors as well as workers will stop coming to our state (Karnataka) if the government starts harassing them like this,” he observes.
Karnataka is hardly the only state that has attempted to please locals by giving them preference in employment. Odisha in 2010 said 30% of jobs at the managerial level, 60% of skilled jobs and 90% of unskilled and semiskilled jobs would be for locals, and is reportedly planning to extend reservation to coal mining projects, too.
Dilip Kumar Das, general secretary of the Odisha arm of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, says the policy has not been implemented: “Most locals are hired only as contract labourers.” About 90% of India’s workforce is in the unorganized sector. Das says the only reservation that should be given is to those whose land and homes may have been purchased for a factory.
