In a move intended to consolidate its local vote bank, the Karnataka government is planning to introduce 100 per cent reservation for Kannadigas in mainly blue-collar jobs in private sector industries across the state.
The draft amendments to the Karnataka Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Rules of 1961, released by the state’s Labour department, pledge this new move.
The 100 per cent horizontal reservation for Kannadigas is meant for all private industries. However, companies operating in the Information Technology and biotechnology have been exempted from the rule.
According to the proposed rules, the government will cancel all concessions given to industries if they fail to comply with the new guidelines.
Reports also say that the government has already drafted the amendments and it will be placed in the Assembly after going through the legality of the amendment.
"The amendment will give us the means to ensure that all private sector industries open their doors to us, to identify how many Kannadigas work in each company and rectify any discrepancies," Karnataka labour minister Santosh Lad told TOI.
The minister said the Labour department may adopt a lenient approach if the companies employed Kannadigas to 70 per cent of all white and blue-collar jobs or 100 per cent of blue-collar jobs alone.
He said, "The industry houses get lot of concession from the government, be it land cost, tax rebate etc and therefore they also need to encourage the local talent. Employers' attitude needs to be changed. We will place it before the cabinet and I am hopeful that there will be no roadblock.
