The Karnataka government on Wednesday shelved the bill related to making reservation mandatory for Kannada people in the private sector. In fact, on Monday, the Employment Bill 2024 for local i.e. Kannada candidates in state industries, factories and other establishments in Karnataka was approved by the state cabinet.
A statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office on Wednesday said that the bill approved by the Cabinet to provide reservation to Kannadigas in private sector organisations, industries and enterprises has been temporarily put on hold. It will be reconsidered and a decision will be taken in the coming days.
Earlier, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah himself had got into trouble over this. In fact, he had earlier tweeted that 100 percent of the ‘C and D’ category posts in private industries should be reserved for Kannadigas (Kannada speaking) people. When the controversy grew over this, he deleted it and posted a new tweet.
In this, he wrote, ‘In the cabinet meeting held on Monday, a bill was approved fixing 50% reservation for administrative posts and 75% reservation for non-administrative posts for Kannadigas in private industries and other organizations in the state. Our government wishes that Kannadigas should not be deprived of jobs on their own land and they should get the opportunity to live a comfortable life in their motherland. We are a pro-Kannada government. Our priority is to take care of the welfare of the Kannada people.’ However, now this bill has been withdrawn.
Why the controversy?
In fact, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said a day earlier that the Karnataka Cabinet has approved a bill making it mandatory to recruit 100 percent Kannadiga (Kannada speaking) people for ‘C and D’ category posts in all private industries in the state. He had said that the priority of the state government is to take care of the welfare of Kannada people. This bill was opposed by industrialists as well as the opposition. After this, the Chief Minister deleted his tweet on Wednesday.
Many industrialists protested
Earlier, many industrialists had opposed this bill on Wednesday. They said that it is discriminatory and feared that the tech industry could suffer. Mohandas Pai, Chairman of Manipal Global Education Services, said that the bill is fascist and unconstitutional. He said on the social media platform X that this bill should be repealed. It is discriminatory and against the Constitution. Also, Pai tagged Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh and asked whether the government has to prove who we are? This is a fascist bill like Animal Farm. We cannot even imagine that Congress can bring such a bill. Will a government official sit in the recruitment committees of the private sector? Will people have to take language exams?
