New Delhi, May 31
The UPA government has virtually shelved its move to bring in legislation for providing reservation to SC/STs in private sector after a hard bargaining by the corporate sector.
Instead, the corporate sector has promised to provide quality education, facilities for skill development and creating a culture for entrepreneurship among the SC/ST youth.
This commitment by the corporate world, signed by Tata Chairman Ratan N. Tata and 21 other leaders of industry and business, was described as a “historic breakthrough” by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Meira Kumar today.
She said “this is the first step in the long journey to see how best the private sector can fulfill the aspirations of the SC/ST youth.”
Meanwhile, the newly elected CII president Y. C. Deveshwar, told reporters that “though the industry supports the objectives of reservation, it does not see eye to eye with the government on mandatory reservation in the private sector.”
He said there was a need to devise a long-term productive strategy by closer coordination between the private sector and the government to facilitate job creation.
Ratan Tata in a letter to the minister stated that “we are reassured to learn from the government that it has no intention of resorting to the legislative action to impose a statutory obligation of reservations on industry.”
To a specific question whether the government did not intend to introduce a Bill in this regard, the minister said the government would abide by the parameters laid down in the
National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP), which did not have any reference to legislative action.
According to the NCMP, “the UPA government is very sensitive to the issue of affirmative action, including reservation, in the private sector. It will immediately initiate a national dialogue with all political parties, the industry and other organisations to see how best the private sector can fulfill the aspirations of the SC and the ST youth.”
Even the Lok Sabha members, cutting across party affiliations, have demanded that the government bring in a legislation to provide reservation to the SCs and the STs in the private sector.
She said it was imperative to note that they (industrialists) had started recognising the fact that merit was not a natural phenomenon but was shaped by social circumstances.
“We will also conduct training in housing as well as in partnership with IITs and vendor development programmes. We will do this through credible NGOs and self- help groups. In these and other ways, we shall implement in letter and spirit a programme of affirmative action to empower those who are socially and economically backward.” the joint statement said.
The need was not just to provide jobs but also incubate the emergence of a robust entrepreneurial class of youth from the SCs and STs, it added.
She said after her meeting with Tata, a group of like-minded captains of industry, endorsed the government’s commitment to provide greater economic opportunities to the SCs and STs.
Industry committed to expand their current activities for SC/ST persons with regard to scholarships, company run private schools, partnership with government schools, vocational training, and vendor development programmes, she said, adding the CII had already worked out a skill upgrading and higher skill development programme.
The joint statement was also signed by industrialists, including Mr N. R. Narayan Murthy, Mr Azim Premji, Mr Rahul Bajaj, Mr Deepak Parekh and Mr Tarun Das.
