Bengaluru, July 17 (Representative) Prominent business leaders have fiercely criticised the recently proposed Private Jobs Reservation Bill by the Karnataka government, calling it discriminatory and detrimental to the state’s economic growth.Former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai strongly opposed the Private Jobs Reservation Bill, calling it discriminatory, regressive, and unconstitutional. He criticised the idea of government officers on private sector recruitment committees and mandatory language tests, likening the bill to fascism.“This bill should be junked. It is discriminatory, regressive, and against the constitution. Is the government to certify who we are? This is a fascist bill as in Animal Farm. Unbelievable that the INC can come up with a bill like this – a government officer will sit on recruitment committees of the private sector? People have to take a language test?” he said on X. Biocon Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw expressed concerns about the impact on the technology sector. “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,” he stated.ASSOCHAM Co-Chairman RK Misra criticized the bill as a short-sighted move by the Karnataka government, highlighting that mandating local reservation and appointing government officers in companies will scare away Indian IT and GCCs. “Another genius move from the Government of Karnataka. Mandate local reservation and appoint a government officer in every company to monitor. This will scare Indian IT and GCCs. Short-sighted,” he said. These remarks come in the wake of growing concerns among industry leaders about the potential negative impact of the bill on Karnataka’s economic landscape, especially in sectors like IT and biotechnology.
The proposed legislation mandates industries to reserve 50 percent of management positions and 75 percent of non-management roles for local talent. Someone born in Karnataka, who has lived in the state for 15 years, and is proficient in Kannada defines a local candidate and he and she must have a secondary school certificate with Kannada as a language or pass a Kannada proficiency test. The bill allows exemptions if qualified local candidates are unavailable, but establishments must apply to the government for relaxation. Failure to comply may attract penalties ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000, with additional daily penalties for continued violations.