BW Communities

Reserved Opinion

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) wants to give affirmative action a fresh burst of energy. It wants the private sector to voluntarily reserve jobs for underprivileged sections of society, apart from the steps it has taken so far. At the Conference of State Ministers of Welfare and Social Justice, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that while results were encouraging, "more needs to be done". He used the term ‘affirmative action', but he focused more on compulsory reservation.   Affirmative action has been close to the UPA's heart right from its first innings (2004-09); it is part of its Common Minimum Programme. India Inc., too, views it as a better way to foster inclusion than reservation. Industry chambers said 1,500 of their member companies have a voluntary code, which hinges around four Es — employability, education, entrepreneurship development, and employment. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) says nearly 20 per cent of its member companies' staffing is accounted for by those who fall in the category of scheduled tribes and castes. CII, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (Ficci) and Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) point out they have between them adopted 559 industrial training institutes, imparted technical training to a few thousands and also employed them. Ficci and Assocham have ombudsmen to oversee the implementation and progress in this field by member companies; CII is set to follow suit. Yet the Prime Minister's Office is not impressed, admitted an industry representative who met T.K.A. Nair, principal secretary to the Prime Minister. Sources in the Coordination Committee on Affirmative Action in the Private Sector indicate that the UPA government is keen to push for a 5 per cent job reservation in the private sector. The thought process behind this is akin to the one that seeks companies to set aside a fixed amount towards corporate social responsibility — it becomes a mandatory part of doing business in India. Over the past five decades, affirmative action (read reservation) in government jobs has paid mixed dividends. It has provided many jobs, but year after year, a hefty percentage of these remain vacant. You just cannot find enough good hands to fill up the reserved posts: the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, D. Napoleon, told Lok Sabha last November. And special efforts have to be made to fill up such vacancies. The real problem, which the government refuses to recognise, is that it is easy to reserve jobs, but more difficult to find enough skilled workers. A more sensible approach is for India Inc. and the government to forge a partnership on the issue of lack of skilled manpower. Skill shortage, after all, is plaguing both. And there is no point in reserving jobs if the only means of filling them would be by forcing unskilled workers on an unwilling industry. CII has made it clear that competitiveness is not negotiable; it must be achieved and maintained through knowledge and competence — "Institutions must have autonomy and flexibility in order to create and expand jobs for all sections of society." Job reservation is the last stage of an affirmative agenda; the focus should also be on the three other Es. If India Inc. has shown a willingness to walk even a quarter of the way on voluntary affirmation, it is better that the government looks at what more can be done likewise rather than go down the legislative road. (This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 27-06-2011)