Will new AP govt repeal 75% quota in pvt jobs?

No local quota please:

• No quota policy will attract country’s best talent
• New investments will generate jobs for locals as well
• Jobs quota may not impact much
• 75% AP quota confined to monthly salary upto Rs30,000

Visakhapatnam: With Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh opening the gates to investors after the nod by the Karnataka Cabinet to reserve executive and clerical jobs in the private sector for the Kannadigas and the subsequent backlash over it, there is buzz in business and industrial circles across AP whether the TDP-led NDA government will repeal the law enacted by the previous YS Jaganmohan Reddy-led government mandating 75 per cent jobs for locals in private sector.

The Andhra Pradesh Assembly passed the Andhra Pradesh Employment of Local Candidates in the Industries and Factories Act, 2019 in July 2019.

When opinion was sought among a few captains of various industries, IT Association of AP (ITAAP) president Lakshmi Mukkavilli told Bizz Bizz that merit should be the criterion for jobs in the corporate sector. She said opportunities should be given to all those meritorious from pan India with a preference to the locals.

The entrepreneurs and corporate executives said whether there is a law or not, the employment to locals will always help them in preventing attrition as long as talented manpower is available.

Rushikonda IT Park Association (RITPA) vice-president O. Naresh Kumar welcomed the initiative taken by Lokesh and said “this should be followed by an actual meeting with the tech CEOs in Bengaluru and offer them free ready-made space for two years. Besides vacant space in Millennium Tower, space should be allotted in IT SEZ at Kapuluppada and request Adani Group to start work on their data park project in Visakhapatnam.”

In a candid view, Sravan Shipping Services MD G. Sambasiva Rao said: “Jobs must be given on merit basis, not on any reservations. There is no need to say 75 per cent jobs to locals. If talent is available, entrepreneurs will even give 90 per cent of jobs to locals.”

While the protest by Nasscom and others forced the Siddaramaiah Government in Karnataka to put the decisions under hold; in AP, the controversial bill reserving 75 per cent jobs to the locals was adopted into a law when YSRCP was in power. AP quota was confined to a monthly salary of Rs30,000 and below. Identical legislation in Haryana was struck down by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on a complaint filed by Faridabad Industries Association. The Jharkhand Government passed a domicile bill for reserving 100 per cent class III and IV jobs to locals, which was returned for reconsideration by Governor CP Radhakrishnan.

Rolling out red carpet to investors after the Karnataka government’s announcement, Lokesh, son of AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, in his post on X (formerly Twitter), said: “We understand your disappointment. We welcome you to expand or relocate your business to our IT, ITeS, AI, and data centre at Visakhapatnam.”

Since Nasscom, businessmen, and several investors have raised objections over the conditions imposed on them in the new Act in Karnataka, Lokesh promised to turn the atmosphere in favour of the State.

Lokesh said that the State is ready to offer best-in-class facilities for the investors, uninterrupted power supply, infrastructure and the most suitable skilled talent for the IT units with no restrictions, whatsoever from the government.