RANCHI: Days after the Jharkhand cabinet led by Hemant Soren approved proposals related to the domicile policy and a 27% reservation for OBCs, the CM has ordered a job quota scheme for locals in the private sector from next month.
In a series of review meetings held on Monday with various departments, Soren directed officials to implement the scheme providing for 75% reservation to the locals with a monthly salary of up to Rs 40,000 in the private sector.
The state assembly had passed the Jharkhand State Employment of Local Candidates in Private Sector Bill, 2021 in September last year. A select committee of the Assembly had earlier cleared the bill with some changes. The panel, chaired by Labour Minister Satyanand Bhokta, had added words “private sector” in the amended bill, changing its name from ‘The Jharkhand State Employment of Local Candidates Bill, 2021’ to ‘The Jharkhand State Employment of Local Candidates in Private Sector Bill, 2021’.
The amended legislation increased the salary limit to Rs 40,000 from the earlier Rs 30,000. According to a communiqué from the Chief Minister’s office, Soren has directed officials to implement the Act passed earlier by the Assembly from next month. “Stressing that his government was committed to protecting the rights of the tribal and local people, the Chief Minister has directed officials to implement the job reservation scheme for locals by next month,” said a source in the state government.
The statement from the CMO said that after making progress in defining domicile policy, the CM wanted to move ahead with the employment plan. The Act ensures that “during the process of employment of local candidates, attention is given to the representation of the displaced due to the establishment of the institution concerned, local candidates of a district and all classes of the society.”
It also provides for formation of a committee headed by a designated officer that will include the local MLA, Deputy Development Commissioner (DDC) and the Circle Officer (CO) to supervise the employment procedure and issue directions to the employer concerned as it may deem fit. The proposal giving priority to the local youths in private jobs was a part of the manifesto of JMM in the 2019 Assembly elections. The decision came in view of a large number of migrant youths returning to their homes during the Covid lockdown in 2020.