Sops to spur firms to recruit Dalits
CITHARA PAUL
New Delhi, Dec. 23: India Inc. doesn't want a job quota forced down
its throat. So the government has come up with an alternative and a
bit of wordplay — "positive discrimination" — with tax exemptions and
other benefits as carrots.
An official said the Centre was thinking of an incentive-linked scheme
to ensure better placements for Dalits in the private sector, a plan
similar to benefits it has proposed for corporate houses that employ
religious minorities on a large enough scale.
"All these affirmative initiatives should be seen in the larger
context of the proposed equal opportunity commission aimed at ensuring
equal representation for all irrespective of sex, religion, caste,
race, birthplace, descent and language," said the official with the
social justice ministry. "All these actions have the potential to
redraw the future of India."
But he made it clear it wouldn't be at the cost of merit. "We are not
asking companies to sacrifice merit. We are just asking them to give
preference to a Dalit candidate if he or she is equally good as anyone
else. It will not amount to reservation but it will be a kind of
positive discrimination," the official said.
Implicit in the words positive discrimination was the hope private
firms would find the proposal more palatable than a job quota which
industry rejected outright saying it would scuttle "meritocracy".
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had to intervene by saying affirmative
action shouldn't be "pushed down anybody's throat", though he reminded
corporate houses of their social responsibilities.
The official said the government would consider incentives like tax
exemptions for companies that give preference to Dalits and added that
the corporate affairs ministry had been assigned the task of working
out the benefits.
The ministry, he added, was in touch with industrial houses, including
the Tata group, which has reacted positively.
The suggestion, mooted by the ministry in line with the UPA
government's commitment to uplift weaker sections, follows the
minority ministry's incentive-linked scheme for corporate houses for
employing religious minorities.
Under that plan, expected to be implemented by the end of next year,
the government would train a certain number of minority job seekers
for private-sector employment at its own cost, a source in the
minority ministry had said.
Sources in the social justice department said their ministry, too, was
working on a public-private partnership model to encourage private
sector companies to step up hiring from disadvantaged sections,
particularly Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. "We are planning
to give training to candidates keeping an eye on the requirements of
the private sector job market," the official said.
While ministry officials fine-tuned the plan, a Dalit organisation
said its leaders would go on a fast-unto-death for private sector job
quota.
------------------------------------
----
INFORMATION OVERLOAD?
Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to ZESTMedia-digest@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/
PARTICIPATE:-
On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com
TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:-
If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to ZESTCaste-subscribe@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/
Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
ZESTCaste-digest@yahoogroups.com
ZESTCaste-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ZESTCaste-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
No comments:
Post a Comment