BENGALURU:Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is scheduled to present his record tenth budget on March 13, is expected to raise the reservation for women in government jobs from the present 30 per cent to 33 per cent.
According to official sources, the chief minister is learnt to have obtained information on the present proportion of women employees in the government.
According to the status report, the 30 per cent target has been met in the Group C category of posts.
Siddaramaiah, in his reply to MLC Jayamala in the Council recently, had assured the House that he would look into the issue and ensure higher representation for women.
Speaking to Express, Jayamala, who had taken up the issue, said, “It was Siddaramaiah, who as finance minister of the state in 1996, had earmarked 30 per cent reservation for women in government recruitment.”
She said the state government had brought the necessary changes to the Karnataka Civil Services Rules to this effect. “However the statutory 30 per cent quota is not being maintained,” she said.
She said with an increasing number of women getting access to higher education and other professional courses, there is a need to raise this quota. “I have plans to meet Siddaramaiah in a day or two and press for the cause,” she said.
She said of the 5,56,299 state government employees, women account for 1,60,547 (about 28 per cent). Of the 15,333 Group A employees, women account for only 2,988 (19.48 per cent), way below the required quota of 30 per cent. Again, of the 41,333 Group B employees, women number just 9,279 (22.40 per cent), and in Group D their number stands at 13,079 out of 54,881, accounting for 23.83 per cent.“Only in Group C there exists the required quota of 30.39 per cent among the total number of 4,44,752 employees,” she added.
Refusing to divulge his plans on the issue, Siddaramaiah said, “Wait till the presentation of the state budget....”