Jobs: Locals First Policy

In News: Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates BiIl, 2020, provides 75% reservations to local people in private-sector jobs that offer a salary of less than Rs 50,000 a month.

About Haryana State  Employment of Local Candidates Bill, 2020

• The act covers the whole of the State.
• It will be in effect for 10 years.
• It applies to “all the Companies, Societies, Trusts, Limited Liability Partnership firms, Partnership Firm and any person employing ten or more persons and an entity, as may be notified by the Government, from time to time”.
• Time period of three months is available for compliance. Non Compliance will attract a fine of between ?25,000 and ?1,00,000.
• For availing benefit, the Domicile candidates need to register on a designated portal from which recruitments will be done.

Reservation in Private Jobs

• Other States which reserved the private jobs for locals are
  • Madhya Pradesh (70% reservation to locals)
  • Andhra Pradesh (75% private jobs reserved)
  • Karnataka (70% of private Jobs and 100% Government Jobs reserved)
• State Government’s Power: As the bill violates Article 14 and Article 19, the bill despite being approved by the Governor will require Presidential Assent.
  • Loopholes in Constitution: Following arguments and loopholes are exploited by state governments to reserve jobs for locals.
    • Article 16(3): It provides residence as criteria for Public Employment.
      • Public Employment (Requirement as to Residence) Act, 1957 was passed by Parliament to abolish Residence as criteria for job.
      • Few exceptions were made for Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, and Himachal Pradesh.
    • Article 16(2): As the language is not mentioned as criteria of non-dicrimination, states have mandated knowledge of State Language.
    • Article 371: Special powers have been awarded to few states. Eg.
      • Andhra Pradesh, under Section 371(d), has powers to have “direct recruitment of local cadre” in specified areas.
    • Constitution Talks about Government Jobs: As per Haryana Government the recent act is constitutional as it deals with jobs in Private Sector.
• Judicial verdicts:
  • Dr Pradeep Jain v Union of India, 1984: Legislation for “sons of the soil” was termed unconstitutional but did not expressly rule on it as the case was on different aspects of the right to equality.
  • Sunanda Reddy v State of Andhra Pradesh, 1995: Supreme Court affirmed the observation in Pradeep Jain to strike down a state government policy that gave 5% extra weightage to candidates who had studied with Telugu as the medium of instruction.
  • The Supreme Court invalidated the appointment of government teachers in Rajasthan in 2002 in which the state selection board gave preference to “applicants belonging to the district or the rural areas of the district concerned”.
  • In 2019, the Allahabad High Court struck down a recruitment notification by the UP Subordinate Service Selection Commission which prescribed preference for women who are “original residents” of the UP alone.

Need of Reservation for Locals in Private Job

• High Unemployment rate: The February unemployment rate in Haryana was over 26% against a national average of less than 7% according to the Centre for Monitoring India Economy.
• Loss of Livelihood of Locals: With growth in industries, the locals suffer the most whether it is displacement due to land acquisition or loss of agricultural opportunities.
  • It was the argument forwarded by Andhra Pradesh.
• Prime Victims of Pollution: The locals are the first victims of pollution or industrial hazards  and hence they should have first right over jobs.
• Reservations are granted on other Grounds like Caste, Gender: The locals who suffer from industrialisation also need to be brought in the net of positive descrimination.
• Responsibility of Democratic Government towards their Citizens: The

Criticism

• By Companies:
  • Poor Ease of Doing Business: Companies and Assocham have raised concerns regarding difficulties in hiring right talent at right pay due to such steps
  • Profit Margins shrink: Due to Suboptimal Human Resource, productivity and  profit margins go down.
• By Locals and Employment Seekers:
  • Companies may move out or not invest any further thus causing even more job loss for locals than before.
• By Government Officials or Politicians
  • Lesser Tax Collection due to companies moving out and due to lesser profit or income.
  • Irreversible Move
• Threat to unity: This step would create friction among locals and non-locals in the implementing states and against the residents of that state in the other states.
• Against constitutional provisions: These laws are against Article 16 and 19 that provide fundamental rights to Indian citizens to work anywhere in the country.

Way Ahead

• Reservation as last Resort: First the options to increase the number of Jobs should be explored.
• Skill Upgradation of locals.

Source: Livemint