Minority ministry works on private sector quotas

Undaunted by criticism, the minority affairs ministry is working on job reservations for minorities in the private sector.

While details of the proposed reservation scheme are not available, sources said the ministry had asked industry bodies for information on emerging jobs in the private sector to help it formulate a policy.

"The ministry has requested us to provide a list of jobs which have emerged or are emerging in the private sector after the liberalisation of the economy. This data will probably be used to identify the sectors where reservation is possible," Assocham Secretary General DS Rawat said.

The move follows a report of the Sachar Committee, on economic and social conditions of Muslims in India, which had suggested reservations in education and jobs.

The ministry had said the report would be implemented in toto. This comes at a time of an ongoing debate on job reservations for other backward castes (OBCs) in the private sector.

Industry bodies like CII, Ficci and Assocham had unanimously opposed mandatory reservations. Instead, they had advocated voluntary affirmative action by the private sector. CII and Assocham even issued a code of conduct asking its members to promote employment for OBCs.

While the government mulls reservations for minorities, studies show that the effect of the move will be minimal.

An Assocham survey shows that during 1998-2003, job creation in the organised sector declined by 4.14 per cent. And more importantly, between 1994-2000, organised sector employment accounted for a mere 3.53 per cent of the total jobs created in the country.

Also, a survey by Ficci found that the organised private sector employed just around 10 million people.