Nitish calls for 'meaningful' debate on introducing job quota

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today favoured reservation in the private sector and called for a "meaningful" national debate on the introduction of a job quota in the non-governmental areas where the employment opportunities were growing fast.
"Employment opportunities are growing far more in the private sector. Therefore, it is essential to have a meaningful debate on introducing reservation in this sector," he said at a function here.
"A job quota will provide an equal opportunity to the marginalised sections of the society," the JD(U) chief said, replying to a query while taking part in the "Rising Bihar 2017", a programme organised by a private television channel.

"A balanced growth of all sections of the society is an ideal enshrined in the Constitution. Reservation is one of the many ways through which we try to achieve that," Kumar, whose recent decision to introduce reservations in outsourced services has been widely talked about, said.
Earlier, delivering his speech, the chief minister said, "The migration of workers from Bihar is not a sign of any shortcoming. People have the capacity to work and hence, they travel to all parts of the country, seeking the best possible remuneration for their skills, which is also their constitutional right.
"What our government is trying to do is provide them with better opportunities back home, so that they are in a stronger position to bargain in the job market."

Replying to another query, Kumar who is running the Bihar government in alliance with the BJP, said he did not see the saffron party facing "any difficulty" in retaining power in Gujarat in next month's Assembly polls in that state.
"We must not forget that the prime minister hails from that state (Gujarat). It is a sentiment which will influence the voters' choice. We may even see the BJP winning a higher number of seats this time than it did in the 2012 Assembly polls," he said.
Asked whether his joining the BJP-led NDA had not diminished his prospects of emerging as a prime ministerial candidate in the 2019 general election, the national president of the Janata Dal (United) said, "I never thought of myself as a contender for that post. This was only a media speculation, aimed at creating a sensation.