The Telangana Cabinet has given its approval to the reservation of jobs for locals in all the new industries emerging in the state. While 80 per cent of semi-skilled jobs will be set aside for locals, 60 per cent of skilled jobs will also be reserved.
The move to ensure reservations in private jobs is worrisome for the youth of the country, who work in large numbers at the multinationals that have offices in the state.
According to the new policy on jobs, emerging industries in Telangana will be classified into Category I and Category II. The former will have 70 per cent semi-skilled jobs and 50 per cent skilled jobs reserved for locals, whereas the latter will have 80 per cent of jobs for semi-skilled workers and 60 per cent of skilled jobs set aside for locals.
Interestingly, Article 16 of the Indian Constitution clearly states that no citizen can be discriminated against on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth or residence, when it comes to eligibility for jobs.
Another decision taken by the cabinet is that the IT industry in Hyderabad should be uniformly spread all over the city, instead of being restricted to one area. It is planning to offer incentives to IT companies who establish their offices in locations other than the western region of the city.
With dearth of skills, reservation does not appear to be an ideal solution for the unemployment woes of the state. Such a policy may even discourage global multinationals who were considering setting up shop in Hyderabad.
