Karnataka minister tries balancing act between IT industry & laid-off staff

Priyank Kharge says he also needs to consider employers' side of story, calls for re-skilling staff

Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge has been making attempts to work out a solution acceptable to both, employers in the IT services space, and affected employees who have complained of layoffs by these companies.

The Bengaluru chapter of the Forum for IT Employees (FITE) met with the minister last week to seek his intervention. The forum, set up originally in Chennai by former IT sevices employees, had demanded an inquiry into the overall effects of the layoffs as well as how it affected women employees.

“I cannot make a rule or a policy only for one stakeholder. So