Karnataka chief minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday said the state government would protect technology companies from interference and moral policing, but expected them to ensure that Kannadigas formed the majority of their workforce, amid renewed demands for job reservations for locals in Bengaluru’s IT sector.
“We will ensure that no one misuses their office and that there is no moral policing. The government will protect the industry, but companies must take responsibility for ensuring that Kannadigas are employed in large numbers. We will not interfere in matters of skill. The remarks come amid a campaign by the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV) to seek employment data from IT companies in Bengaluru to establish the extent of local representation in the sector. The organisation is also pressing the state government to introduce legislation mandating job reservations for Kannadigas in private companies. The KRV has approached technology companies, including Google, seeking details of their employees as part of its data collection exercise. The organisation plans to compile the information and submit it to the state government. Its president, T A Narayana Gowda, has sought legislation to make the recommendations of the Sarojini Mahishi Committee on employment for Kannadigas enforceable. The organisation has argued that voluntary measures have not ensured adequate representation of locals in the technology sector. However, Shivakumar referred to the scale of migration into Bengaluru, saying the city could not exclude people who had moved there from other states or countries. This is a reality, and we cannot ask anyone to leave. Bengaluru is a global city, and people consider it a safe place. However, capital alone cannot build that future. “The entire world is looking towards Bengaluru. Our state is a land of talent, a sentiment shared by many, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This is Karnataka’s strength.
Gowda has put the share of Kannadigas in Bengaluru’s IT workforce at 20% to 23%. “There are two lakh foreign passport holders in Bengaluru and nearly 45 lakh people from outside Karnataka living in the city. He linked the availability of skilled workers to Karnataka’s ambition of becoming a $1 trillion economy by 2032, saying investment alone would not be sufficient to achieve that target. “Karnataka is working towards becoming a one-trillion-dollar economy by 2032. There are 1.3 million IT professionals working in India’s Silicon Valley and 2.6 million people employed across Bengaluru.
Because we have a large pool of human resources in the state, however, companies must ensure that Kannadigas form the majority of their workforce.
It is also a talent hub,” he said. A skilled human resource base is essential to achieving this goal,” he said. Global leaders visit Bengaluru before travelling to other destinations,” he said.
We will not allow anyone to misuse their organisation or the Kannada cause,” Shivakumar said, while addressing the ‘Namma Shale Namma Javabdari’ Individual CSR programme, organised at Vidhana Soudha on Thursday to mobilise corporate and individual contributions towards the development of government schools across Karnataka.
