The Karnataka cabinet has approved a bill mandating 100 per cent reservation for Kannadigas in private firms for Group C and Group D posts, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday.
The CM said the decision was taken in the cabinet meeting held on Monday.
"The Cabinet meeting held yesterday approved a bill to make recruitment of 100 per cent Kannadigas mandatory for 'C and D' grade posts in all private industries in the state," Siddaramaiah said in a post on social media platform X.
He said it was his government's wish that Kannadigas be given an opportunity to lead a comfortable life in their state and not be deprived of jobs in 'Kannada land'.
"We are a pro-Kannada government. Our priority is to look after the welfare of Kannadigas," the chief minister said.
According to sources in the law department, the bill will be tabled on Thursday in the assembly.
The Congress government's order faced backlash by industry leaders, with many pointing to the consequences and unavailability of skilled labour.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the Chairperson of Biocon, was the first among the business heads to respond to the decision. She said that the policy should not impact the state’s leading position in technology and also urged for exceptions for highly skilled recruitment.
“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,” she wrote on X, tagging Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar and state minister Priyank Kharge.
Businessman and philanthropist TV Mohandas Pai in a media interview, questioned the decision and urged the government to spend more money on skill development instead of quotas for locals.
Consequently, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday deleted his post saying that the cabinet has cleared 100% quota bill for Kannadigas in all Group C and Group D jobs in private companies.
Later, Labour Minister Santosh issues clarification stating that the quota is 50% and 70% quota.
"At management (level), it has been decided to provide reservation to 50% of the people. At the non-management level, it has been decided to provide work to 70%...If such skills are not available, people can be outsourced and they can be given work here. But the Government is trying to bring in a law to give preference to locally available skills - if it is available here," he said.
(with inputs from PTI)
