Businesses in Karnataka plead against full local reservation

Rather than cancelling all concessions to private sector companies for employing workers from other states in blue-collar jobs, Karnataka should increase the incentives to promote employment of locals, say business heads and chambers.

The state government is planning to introduce 100 per cent reservation for Kannadigas in blue-collar jobs in the private sector. For this, it has issued a proposed amendment to the Karnataka State Employment rules.

“Promoting local employment is something that every state must do and Karnataka doing it is a very good move. This will make sure that the state grows and people are also happy,” said T R Dwarakanath, past president of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry

Others say reservations could create a bottleneck in growth due to a dearth of skilled labour. More, every state provides incentives for investment; such a rule could make Karnataka a less attractive state in this regard.

The information technology and biotechnology sectors have been exempted from the proposed amendments; they do not come under the Industrial Employment Rules.

Mohandas Pai, chairman of venture capitalist firm Aarin Capital, said the rule should not be mandatory; companies employing locals should be further incentivised. “If they have something over and above the current policy, more companies will keep coming to the state and to get more incentives, they will employ more locals,” he added.

“The skill set of locals needs to be developed to match the standards of various sectors. The government should look at bridging the gap and in preparing for the industries that are coming in. The government should push local colleges and local institutions to focus on developing these skill sets, “said N Muthukumar, chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry, Mysuru region.

The IT and biotechnology sectors have been exempted from the proposed amendments; they do not come under the Industrial Employment Rules