Andhra Pradesh Passes Bill Reserving 75% Private Jobs For Locals

If locals are deemed unskilled then companies will have to train them with assistance from the government.

This policy was a poll promise made by present Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy when he was seeking election to the office earlier this year.

(Photo: PTI)

The Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Monday, 22 July, passed an act which reserves 75 per cent jobs for Andhra locals (domiciles) in all private industrial units and factories, irrespective of whether these companies receive aid (financial or otherwise) from the government.

This makes Andhra Pradesh the first state in the country to reserve jobs for locals in the private industry. Reservations for locals in jobs was a poll promise made by sitting Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

On Friday, 19 July, the Reddy cabinet had approved the draft bill of the Act which also guarantees jobs to those who lost their land to industries.

WHAT IS THE ACT?

The Andhra Pradesh Employment of Local Candidates in Industries/ Factories Act, 2019, reserves 75 percent of private jobs across categories for domiciles of the state, which include factories, industrial units, joint ventures, and companies which are in a public-private partnership.

The law further states that if domiciles do not possess sufficient skills to be hired for a job then they must be trained by the companies (in association with the state and the government) and then hired.

Companies will have to comply with these regulations within three years of the commencement of the Act and will have to provide quarterly reports of local jobs generated to a nodal agency.

Those companies which are included in the First schedule of the Companies Act are liable to be exempted from the Act. A decision on the same will be taken on a case-by-case basis after the eligible companies file an application for exemption.

DEMAND FOR RESERVATION IN JOBS FOR LOCALS IN OTHER STATES

The demand for reservations in jobs for domiciles has found a voice in many parts of the country.

• In Februrary, the Congress government in Rajasthan under Chief Minister Kamal Nath said it was “mulling over” a 70 percent reservation for domiciles in the private sector soon after coming to power.
• Around the same time the Karnataka Cabinet also decided to introduce recommendations made in the Sarojini Mahishi Committee report of 1986 to give 100 percent reservation to Kannadigas in Group C and D jobs of private establishments.
• In 2018, the Gujarat government planned to introduce a law that would make it mandatory for manufacturing and service sector entrepreneurs to hire 80 percent of their workforce from domiciles of the state.
• In 2008, the Maharashtra government introduced an 80 percent reservation for locals in private industries that seek state incentives and subsidies. For private companies that don’t, however, this law was only indicative.

There are multiple reports that suggest that such acts often remain on paper and are difficult to implement.