Govt presses india Inc on jobs for SC/STs, progress report

The government wants corporate India to file a quarterly report on the number of jobs they have created for SCs, STs and other weaker sections, even as industry expressed its inability to reserve jobs for them. “They (government) want a quarterly report to be submitted to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion in the industry ministry,” industry sources said. Earlier, India Inc was required to file such reports annually.

Reserving jobs in the private sector or affirmative action was part of the national Common Minimum Programme of UPA-I. At present, the law provides for reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, among others, in government and public sector jobs, besides quotas in education. The Prime Minister’s Office, had last month called a meeting of industry chambers, including CII, Ficci and Assocham, to discuss if they would ask their members to reserve five per cent jobs for the disadvantaged sections. “Our stand is that there should not be any statutory reservation in the private sector but simultaneously the private sector’s responsibility is to fulfil a commitment that has been given to the government in writing,” an industrial official who participated in the meeting said.

During the meeting, the industry said it would be “voluntarily implementing” the inclusive growth by giving preference to SCT candidates up to the managerial level posts. Finding it difficult to enforce an employment quota in private sector, the DIPP had asked CII, Ficci and Assocham to consider giving five per cent of the jobs to weaker sections wherever fiscal incentives are given.

Industry gets a variety of fiscal sops which include export related duty credit, area specific income tax exemptions which are also extended on R&D budget of companies. The industry on it part claims that it has several initiatives for training and employment of the SCs and STs from the weaker sections of the society.

The CII has come out with several reports showing that quite a few of its member organisations have been working on affirmative action.