Reserving Private Sector Jobs For Locals Is Bad Policy
By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2020-11-09 16:23:04
About the Author
Of all the destructive policies that Indian politicians come up with from time to time, the policy to force private employers to reserve jobs for "locals" is one of the most obnoxious. This is so because it violates several constitutional rights guaranteed to citizens, gives discretionary powers to bureaucrats leading to harassment of businesses and corruption and is against meritocracy. It also has the effect of driving out industry from the state as businesses are unlikely to allow government policy to dictate hiring processes as they will not be able to hire the best available talent.
Haryana assembly has passed a bill to reserve 75% of the jobs below the salary of Rs 50000 for locals. This will have adverse effect on the IT and IT-enabled services in Gurugram and the numerous thriving big, medium and small industrial units in various parts of the state. Rather than allow their units to be filled by probably sub-standard employees due to the quota, these units will think of shifting to states that do not have such policies. Hiring good employees costs money and is time-consuming. No company will like to hire anyone but the best they can get in the salary they offer. Putting such restrictions will make Haryana an unfriendly investment destination.
Further, the officers assigned to enforce the quota will resort to corrupt practices to fleece the companies. This will work both ways - they will take bribe to allow certain companies to bypass the quota while harass and impose penalties on those that will refuse to grease their palms. No company will want officers to have a say in their hiring policies.
Lastly, the Indian constitution guarantees equality (Article 14), non-discrimination based on place of birth (Article 15) and the right to work anywhere in India (Article 19) to all its citizens. The Haryana bill violates all these rights and is unlikely to pass legal scrutiny. The state must withdraw the bill out of its own volition. If not, the Centre must impress upon it to scrap it as it parochial, discriminatory and anti-business and will bring India down on the ease of doing business index.
