Karnataka state Assembly session at Vidhan Soudha in Bengaluru.
| Photo Credit: PTI
As a draft Bill cleared by the Karnataka Cabinet mandating reservation for locals garnered adverse reactions from industry heads and trade bodies in the State, the government late on Wednesday announced that it had been “temporarily withheld” and a decision would be taken after a review.
Announcing the U-turn of his government on social media platform X on Wednesday night, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the Bill that aimed to provide reservation to Kannadigas in the private sector was “still in an initial stage.” He said a decision on the Bill would be taken after wide-ranging discussions on it in the next Cabinet meeting. “The Bill is withheld until further consultations and due diligence. Industry leaders need not panic as assured,” Minister for Large and Medium Industries M.B. Patil said.
What the Bill said
The Karnataka State Employment of Local Candidates in the Industries, Factories and Other Establishments Bill, 2024, was cleared in the Cabinet on July 15. It mandated that industries, factories, and other establishments appoint local candidates in 50% of management positions and 70% in non-management positions.
The provisions were met with stiff opposition from industry heads, while Kannada organisations welcomed the move.
Earlier in the day, following industry responses against it, Mr. Patil and IT and Biotechnology Minister Priyank Kharge had been on the defensive. Mr. Patil promised that a team comprising the Law Minister, the IT and Biotechnology Minister, the Labour Minister, and himself would discuss the issue with the Chief Minister before passing the Bill.
“There is no doubt that protecting the interests of Kannadigas is of paramount importance. However, industries also need to thrive. It should be a win-win situation for both. Keeping this in mind, any confusion will surely be addressed,” he said. Taking a similarly conciliatory tone, Mr. Kharge had said that “no detrimental rules or laws will be enforced without due consultations with stakeholders.”
‘Discriminatory, regressive’
Industry leaders, including Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Mohandas Pai and industry bodies like NASSCOM and FKCCI had opposed the provisions.
“As a tech hub we need skilled talent and whilst the aim is to provide jobs for locals, we must not affect our leading position in technology by this move. There must be caveats that exempt highly skilled recruitment from this policy,” remarked Ms. Mazumdar-Shaw on X.
Mr. Pai, who also took to X to air his views, called the Bill “discriminatory, regressive, and against the Constitution”. He said: “This is a fascist bill as in Animal Farm, unbelievable that @INCIndia can come up with a bill like this – a govt officer will sit on recruitment committees of private sector? People have to take a language test?”
NASSCOM said it was “disappointed” and “deeply concerned”, while FKCCI said that although they welcomed the aim to provide jobs for the locals, the legislation required greater consultation. Karnataka being a technical hub has been enjoying a lead position in the global technology industry and therefore the State required skilled talent to maintain this leadership, the trade body said. In this connection, it is necessary that the proposed job quotas for Kannadigas should be reconsidered, it argued.
Kannada outfit’s stand
Karnataka Rakshana Vedike president T.A. Narayana Gowda, who had met the Chief Minister before the draft Bill was withheld and thanked him for the decision on reservation to Kannadigas in private firms, has come down heavily on corporate firms and industry leaders opposing it. The Kannada outfit has now said that it will wait and watch till the next Cabinet meeting on how the government takes the issue forward.
