Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah Deletes Post On Private Sector Reservation After Backlash From Business Community

In a recent development, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has reportedly deleted his post on the state's reservation in the private sector for local citizens or Kannadigas.

This comes after reports emerged that the government of the state, led by CM Siddaramaiah and his deputy, DK Shivkumar cleared this bill in a cabinet meeting.

This bill led to fury and outcry from the citizens and business leaders who took to social media platforms to express their concerns.

According to this bill, the state cabinet has approved a 50 per cent reservation for 'Kannadigas' in management jobs. In addition, 'Kannadigas' will also have 75 per cent of reservations in non-management categories.

It is learned that for someone to qualify for these roles in the private sector, one would need to be able to speak, read and write in Kannda, the state's local language. This reservation for 'local', that is Kanndigas has received a significant amount of backlash from the common public and opinion leaders alike.

After reports of cabinet approval of the bill emerged, some important names from the state itself reacted to the development with disillusionment.

Mohandas Pai, business personality and former Infosys CEO called the bill fascist and said,This bill should be junked. It is discriminatory, regressive and against the constitution @Jairam_Ramesh is govt to certify who we are?"

He further added and said, "This is a fascist bill as in Animal Farm, unbelievable that @INCIndia can come up with a bill like this- a govt officer will sit on recruitment committees of private sector? People have to take a language test?"

Pai was not alone, as Biocon's Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw also reacted to the development and said, "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."

This is crucial development in state, which houses the city of Bengaluru, that is one of the powerhouse metro-cities in the country with significant "outsider" population, This has seen rise in migration to the city from other states, thanks to the astronomical boom of the tech industry of the city. This tech boom has transformed the city into an IT hub and, therefore, has attracted many from across the country.