A perverse plan
At a time when the entire political establishment is working together to dismantle fiscal barriers between states and create a common market, Karnataka has chosen to go the other way. The state plans to reserve for locals all blue collar jobs in private companies which have sought government aid. This is a perverse move which will act as a barrier to labour movement in India. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah must refrain introducing this policy, which will not only hurt Karnataka’s economic prospects but could trigger similar steps in other states, hurting Karnataka further.
Demand for job quotas is a symptom of governance failure. A good education is the single most empowering endowment an individual can get and one which governments across India have failed to deliver. Siddaramaiah’s government is now trying to offset this failure with a dangerous short cut. This short cut will jeopardise the state’s industrial policy which aimed to generate an industrial growth rate of 12% and enhance the contribution of the manufacturing sector to the state economy from about 17% to 20%. Potential investments in Karnataka will be diverted if an onerous new condition such as 100% job reservation for locals kicks in.
It is not as if Karnataka government is unaware of the danger. Hence the draft proposal has chosen to leave the information technology and biotechnology sectors out of the ambit of reservation. But what is sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander: other industries too create jobs and growth, they do not deserve stepmotherly treatment. Private companies, in any case, have a bias for local hands. If the government wants to boost local employability further, it can do so by improving skills and education in the state to a high level.
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