BENGALURU: The State Government is committed to pursuing legislation to provide job reservations for Kannadigas in the private sector, Labour Minister Santosh Lad said here on Thursday, indicating that the proposal, under active consideration for the past three years, would be taken forward after consultations with other departments.
Speaking to reporters at Vidhana Soudha, Lad said there had been no outright opposition to the proposal within the government, but discussions with other departments were necessary before proceeding.
“I don’t think they (IT/BT department) have objected to it. There is no objection as such,” he said. Emphasising that the proposal had not been abandoned, Lad said, “In the last three years also, it has been there, it has been actively there. We’ll implement it at the right time.”
The government’s renewed focus comes nearly 18 months after the Cabinet approved the Karnataka State Employment of Local Candidates in the Industries, Factories and Other Establishments Bill, 2024. The Bill was put on hold following objections from industry representatives over the proposed quotas and their potential impact on businesses, particularly the technology sector.
The original draft proposed reserving 50% of management positions and 70% to 75% of non-management positions for local candidates in private establishments. It also envisaged 100% reservation for Kannadigas in Group C and D posts in private industries.
Meanwhile, IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge said the government was committed to ensuring that local people secured jobs commensurate with their educational qualifications, but cautioned that the legal challenges surrounding similar legislation in other states would have to be examined before Karnataka proceeded.
“The Government of Karnataka is committed to ensuring the local people, that is our people, get the jobs based on their education qualification. We are running India’s biggest upskilling and reskilling programme to ensure that our human resource, our talent is the most employable in the world. Skilling locally, working locally is the mantra for the government of Karnataka,” he told reporters at Vidhana Soudha.
Kharge said the government would study the legal challenges faced by similar measures in other states before finalising its approach. “There are a lot of legal challenges. The Tamil Nadu government’s Bill has been challenged, Haryana has been challenged, Punjab has been challenged. So we will have to look at all those legal tangles as well, and then we’ll come up with something that will be empowering both for our people and also empowering for the investor,” he said.
