Quota in pvt sector gets a thumbs down

The Affirmative Action Committee, set up under the chairmanship of J J Irani by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), has given the thumbs down to the government's suggestion of reservations in the private sector.

The committee, which was set up in April this year after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for the promotion of employment of the marginalised sections in an affirmative manner, submitted its report to him on Wednesday, six weeks behind the original schedule.

Sources said the report opposed any law from the government that curtailed an organisation's freedom of employment and said the freedom to employ and competitiveness of enterprise were non-negotiable issues.

It has proposed several benefits for disadvantaged groups of society, including SC/STs, but not OBCs. These sops aimed at helping create employment includes help to create 100 SC/ST entrepreneurs by large firms, setting up of coaching centres in 10 universities for 10,000 students belonging to the lower strata of society apart from the setting up of 10 coaching centres that will cater to 5,000 students preparing for professional and technical courses.

The report also outlines setting up 50 scholarships in premier institutes like IITs and IIMs for SC/ST students and focus on 104 districts that have an SC/ST majority. Collection of an education cess would go towards developing educational institutes in these districts in collaboration with select non-governmental organisations.

The report says that these initiatives should be voluntary and self-regulated, while mandating participating companies to make disclosure of their progress in their annual reports. CII will appoint an ombudsman and Assocham will setup an oversight council to oversee the implementation of these initiatives.

The report also says that companies may consider reserving seats for SC/ST candidates in educational institutes run by them and also look at providing scholarships for these students in private schools.

It has set a target of October to begin implementing the code of conduct for Indian industry. While it is understood to apply to large and medium firms, the report says that small scale industries may apply affirmative action "according to their own limited abilities".