IN A FIRST, NITISH WANTS QUOTA IN PRIVATE JOBS

NEW DELHI: In a major political move aimed at bringing backward votes to its fold, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has favoured quota in private jobs. Taking a lead, the Bihar government on Monday amended an earlier decision that made it necessary for any company entering a contract with his government to put aside half of the jobs created as part of the deal for backward castes. Advocating for quota in private jobs, the Bihar CM said, “If private firms are using government money and giving employment, then they have to follow the Reservation Act of the state.”

However, Kumar made it clear that he is not in favour of outsourcing and departments should hire directly. “We have made rules that if we are employing someone through outsourcing, then reservation policies should be followed,” Kumar said after tweaking the norm.

Last week, his cabinet had said any government department looking to farm out work to a private company would have to follow a 50 per cent reservation policy, which had created confusion among private firms. Clarifying about reservation policy in private jobs, the Chief Minister said that affirmative action policies would apply only if people are being recruited for the government departments, which means a contract for IT services would be exempted.

In case manpower is being directly used by the government department, the new rules will apply --- like if contract workers are hired. As an example, the Chief Minister said that when the Bihar police in 2006 formed a special auxiliary force of retired soldiers, reservation policies were followed.

The Bihar government’s announcement in this regard had incited negative feedback from the private sector and some senior BJP leaders who said upper caste workers would be deprived of jobs if a flat 50 per cent reservation policy is forced in private firms.

Last year, the National Commission for Backward Classes, formed on the Supreme Court’s request many years ago to examine which castes should benefit from affirmative action, recommended 27 per cent reservation in private firms. The government has not acted on that suggestion.