The Karnataka cabinet approved a bill mandating 100% reservation for Kannadigas in private sector Group C and D posts. The bill also requires local candidates for management (50%) and non-management (70%) roles.
Those without a secondary school certificate with Kannada as a language must pass a Kannada proficiency test specified by the ‘Nodal Agency.’
If qualified local candidates are not available, establishments, in collaboration with the government or its agencies, must take steps to train them within three years. Even then, if they are not available, the concerned establishment should take an exemption from the Government.
The bill has to be passed by the state assembly and that should not be difficult.
The Congress Government in Karnataka touched a hornets’ nest with this move.
Several MNC companies including those of IT companies consider this bill as very regressive.
If implemented strictly, there are several Telugu youth working in Bengaluru, Mysore, and other areas of Karnataka and they may be at the receiving end if the bill is applied retrospectively.
It is a problem even if implemented with the new appointments as the companies would not like to prefer language status over talent.
We may see the companies moving to other states. Telangana and Andhra Pradesh can make use of this situation.
Telangana has the necessary ecosystem to woo such disgruntled companies but the Revanth Reddy government seems to be not so proactive in attracting the investments.
Andhra, on the other side, lacks the necessary ecosystem but there is a very pro-active government with Chandrababu Naidu at the helm.
In the short-term, people maybe impacted but AP can be benefited in the long-term by attracting the investors.
