The Karnataka government’s approval of a bill proposing to reserve 50% of management positions and 75% of non-management positions in the private sector for locals has sparked criticism from industry leaders.
They argue that the move is discriminatory and express concerns about adverse effects on the tech industry. Earlier on Tuesday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced that the Karnataka cabinet has passed a bill requiring full reservation for Kannadigas in the private sector for Group C and D positions.
The decision was made during Monday’s Cabinet meeting. Siddaramaiah took to X and said, ‘The Cabinet meeting held yesterday approved a bill to make recruitment of 100 per cent Kannadigas mandatory for C and D grade posts in all private industries in the state.
He said, ‘We are a pro-Kannada government. Our priority is to look after the welfare of the Kannadigas. Mohandas Pai, the Chairman of Manipal Global Education Services said that the bill is fascist and also unconstitutional.
Pai said in a post on X, ‘This bill should be junked. It is discriminatory, regressive and against the constitution @Jairam_Ramesh is govt to certify who we are ? 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 the private sector ? People have to take a language test ?
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the Executive Chairperson of Biocon Limited said that the state should not let this Bill affect its leading position in the domain of technology and there should be exemptions for highly skilled recruitment.
Shaw posted on X, ‘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’.
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