The Karnataka government, led by the Congress party, its Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the state's all-powerful deputy, CM DK Shivkumar, approved a plan to implement reservations in the state's sprawling private sector.
This, however, did not go down well with many, as an uproar resulted in the government taking a step back. The government has put the bill on hold and has said that it will review the bill.
Despite this, the criticism and profound scrutiny of the bill and the larger idea behind it have continued incessantly.
One techie on the social media site Grapevine laid down their criticism of the whole move and deemed it brain-dead. The user's post (a comment on the post) on the site became the fastest post to get 200 likes on the site because of its relevance.
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The screengrab of the post |
The post was concerning the new government bill that made reservations for locals or Kannadigas, in the private sector. The post read that the Karnataka cabinet has approved the draft State Employment of Local Candidates in the Industries, Factories and Other Establishments Bill, 2024, mandating job reservations for Kannadigas.
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The original post on Grapevine. |
- The bill requires 50 per cent of management jobs and 75 per cent of non-management roles to be reserved for local candidates, with a Kannada proficiency test for those without a secondary school certificate in Kannada."
Lets Get Real
To this, the user under the handle Informal Tool Founder sardonically started the response by saying "Very very nice, let's focus on this now :)"
The user later goes on to enumerate the nitigrities of what it would mean and says, "Let's get real: Tech contributes 25 per cent of Karnataka's GDP. That's Rs 3.5 lakh crore annually. Watch half of that evaporate with this braindead move. (It's a rant, don't come at me verifying the data) Global tech giants aren't here for our dosas. It's the diverse talent pool, genius."
Highlighting the counterintuitive nature of the bill, the user said, "Now you want to slap a "Kannada Only" sign on it? We're already bleeding talent to Hyderabad and Pune. This? This is handing them our workforce gift-wrapped. I've spent a decade building my company here. Now I'm eyeing Chennai."
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Linguistic Chauvinism And Political Myopia
The use then sardonically signs off by marking the death of the IT Industry by saying, "RIP Bangalore tech scene, 1990–2024. Cause of death: linguistic chauvinism and political myopia".
Many others on the platform also reflected on and echoed the same concerns. One of the users commenting on the news said, "Companies will definitely move to other cities, it's good that the government think about their local people, but at the same time you can't force private companies to put the reservations for them."
The government's decision to put the bill on hold can only be seen as a knee-jerk reaction and whether this will do the necessary damage control, is something that remains to be seen.
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