India Inc's action plan: Caste no bar

Sanjay Anand / TNN / Apr 23, 2006, 00:04 IST

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Industry leaders are keen on taking initiatives that would ensure that the underprivileged get better education.

NEW DELHI: The JJ Irani panel report on affirmative action, which is to be finalised within a couple of months, is not expected to be drastically different in its philosophy and approach from CII's strategy paper on the issue that was released last year.
The panel, whose members are yet to be finalised, has been set up by CII in response to the government call that industry should evolve a comprehensive strategy to ensure that economically backward and SC/ST people get jobs either through reservations or affirmative action.
Indian industry, including CII, is largely opposed to reservation. Industry leaders are however keen on taking various initiatives that would ensure that the underprivileged get better education, enhance skills, improve their chances for getting jobs in the private sector and so on, as espoused in last year's strategy paper.
This was reflected in CII's strategy paper on affirmative actions, released last year. It called for providing scholarships, enhancing vocational-training facilities, setting up of training centres and self-help groups, involvement of NGOs, etc.

The paper laid special emphasis on revamping the financial system for promoting entrepreneurship. "The objective should be to make people at the bottom of the pyramid �� irrespective of caste, creed or religion �� not only more employable, but also more capable and more enterprising, so that they are encouraged to set up self-sustaining ventures."
So when the Irani panel gets down to finalising the action-plan, that strategy paper would form a crucial input for it. On whether there is expected to be any fundamental difference between the strategy paper and the Irani report, CII DG N Srinivasan said, "CII is of the view that reservations won't solve the problem, affirmative action will."

He added, "The action-plan document will get into the very specifics of the implementation issues. Its USP will be 'How to do it'. The broad philosophy guiding that will be the strategy paper."
By and large industry leaders believe that it is in their best interest to promote affirmative action and support government's concern over the possibility of a vast majority being left out of India's rapid growth.
"There has to be a right balance on this issue," said Bharti Enterprises CMD Sunil Mittal, who has taken over as the deputy president of CII.
"The country's political leaders need to demonstrate that industry is working towards employability of the underprivileged segments of the society, and the industry needs to take a serious note of this desire of the political leadership. All actions should however be voluntary."
Industry leaders believe that in regions across the country, industry already employs a lot of people from SC/ST groups. For example, businesses in states like Bihar, North-East and Orissa would be already employing underprivileged.
Same businesses in Delhi may not be doing that because of different job requirements and manpower availability. Said Mittal, "The industry might not be taking affirmative action right now, but I believe that nobody is doing any active discrimination either.
Forced action, on the other hand, is likely to bring in a lot of job contractors into play, who may not be concerned with the long term welfare of workers. There is a greater chance of exploitation of labour in such cases."

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