Bengaluru: The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government in Karnataka has cleared a bill that proposes reservation for “locals” in shops, factories and other establishments as well as penalties for failure to comply with the new law.
According to the provisions of the Karnataka State Employment of Local Candidates in the Industries, Factories and Other Establishments Bill, 2024, cleared by the state cabinet Monday and expected to be tabled in the ongoing legislature session, employers will be mandated to appoint 50 percent local candidates in management roles and 75 percent in non-management positions.
According to the bill, which ThePrint has accessed, the penalties for contravention of the provision of the proposed law “shall be not less than ten thousand rupees, but which may extend upto twenty five thousand rupees (sic)”. It further states that a penalty of Rs 100 per each day will continue for the duration of the contravention. The bill applies to any entity that employs over 10 persons, widening its scope to include IT, services, manufacturing, shops and other establishments.
Industry bodies and professionals have asked that the government reconsider this “retrograde bill”.
“It’s a very retrograde bill for a state that is really India’s IT capital,” said one IT industry professional and a senior functionary at a pan-India IT industry association, requesting anonymity.
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the chairperson of Biocon, said Wednesday that talent cannot be compromised for language.
“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,” said Shaw in an X post Wednesday, tagging the chief minister and the IT minister.
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. @siddaramaiah @DKShivakumar @PriyankKharge https://t.co/itYWdHcMWw
— Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (@kiranshaw) July 17, 2024
The bill follows a pattern among successive governments in Karnataka, ceding to demands by pro-Kannada groups, even though many of these have fallen through the cracks in recent times.
The bill continues a trend among Karnataka governments to address demands from pro-Kannada groups. In 2022, the Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government had introduced the Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Bill, which has since become an act. This legislation requires the use of Kannada in Karnataka, provides reservation for Karnataka students in education, and links industrial incentives like cheaper land and tax breaks to compliance with the language requirements. Earlier this month, pro-Kannada groups protested in Bengaluru and other areas, calling for 100 percent reservation for non-management positions in private companies.
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah has earlier said in a post that nearly 100 percent of ‘C & D’ level jobs would be mandated to go to locals, as against 50 & 75 percent, as mentioned in the bill. He later deleted this post.
IT bodies want govt to ‘reconsider’
The government has changed the terminology in the present draft of the bill from ‘Kannadiga’ to ‘locals’, or ‘local candidates’.
According to the bill, a ‘local candidate’ means one who is born in Karnataka, domiciled in the state for a period of 15 years and “who is capable of speaking, reading and writing Kannada in a legible way, and has passed a requisite test conducted by the Nodal Agency”.
Under appointment of local candidates, it states; “Provided that, candidates not possessing secondary school certificate with Kannada as a language shall pass a Kannada proficiency test as specified by the nodal agency”.
Pro-Kannada groups in Karnataka are a powerful force, especially when it comes to issues related to ‘Nela, Jala, Bashe’ (land, water, and language), whether it is advocating for reservations for Kannadigas, resisting Hindi imposition, protesting against releasing Cauvery River water to Tamil Nadu during droughts, or addressing border disputes or threats to Kannada identity. While the issue of language does not carry much political wight in terms of getting votes during elections, but has seeped into government policy like the reservation for locals.
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Industry leaders and associations, though, have asked the state government to reconsider.
NASSCOM, the apex IT industry body, is expected to release a statement on the proposed bill later this week.
The Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), too, wants the government to rethink the bill.
“They should reconsider the penalties. They should not make such harsh laws because, after all, we are creating jobs in the private sector…we are the ones who are creating jobs,” Ramesh Chandra Lahoti, the president of FKCCI, said to ThePrint.
Karnataka, particularly Bengaluru, is the fourth-largest technology cluster in the world, home to 400 out of the 500 fortune companies and referred to as the ‘start-up capital of India’.
‘Escape clause’
Siddaramaiah’s first political position after entering the Karnataka legislature in 1983 was being made the first president of the Kannada Kavalu Samithi (Kannada Surveillance Samithi), set up to supervise the implementation of Kannada as an official language in the state.
Siddaramaiah himself is a strong opponent of Hindi imposition and has even, in his earlier stint as CM between 2013-18, made it a point to cash in on language issues to target the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its imposition of Hindi.
But the bill he proposed also has certain exemptions, or ‘escape clauses’.
“No court shall take cognizance of any offense under this Act or any rules thereunder, unless complaint thereof is made within six months from the day on which the offense is alleged to have been committed,” the bill states under its ‘Limitation of Prosecution’.
The bill adds that if there are no qualified or suitable local candidates, the industry, factory or establishment, with the active collaboration of the government or its agencies, will take steps to train and engage locals.
It also states that in shortage or unavailability of qualified or suitable candidates, the relaxation shall be not less than 25 percent for management category and 50 percent for non-management categories.
The IT professional cited above said that they don’t even “understand how you can execute something like this”.
“You (government) are not even saying if this is for existing staff or new staff. You’ve not provided those clarifications,” the person added.
Lahoti said that the FKCCI, one of the oldest and premier industry bodies in Karnataka, were “not consulted” before drafting this law.
He added that he wasn’t aware that such a law was being drafted, nor was he called for any meetings.
However, he says that most industries, shops, factories in Karnataka have locals working in their respective establishments and an imposition of such a law is “not necessary”.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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