Reservations are always a ticklish issue. There’s the right side and the wrong side. So too with the move by the Congress government in Karnataka to reserve jobs in the private sector for natives. The state cabinet has given the nod for reservation of 70 percent non-management private sector jobs and 50 percent management-level positions for Kannadigas, but the decision has been frozen due to dissent and protests. The Congress party cannot afford to be promoting parochial feelings.
Karnataka’s main economic strength is its IT sector, from which it earns huge sums by way of taxes, including duty for large-scale export of software. Adjoining Telangana also earns majorly this way. This principally oils the economy of these states, and the revenue from IT is used to develop these states and even feed the welfare schemes. Every individual is thus benefited. Thanks to the burgeoning IT sector growth, large-scale developmental initiatives are made and employment opportunities generated across Karnataka. Bengaluru city itself has several lakhs each of taxis, auto-rickshaws, trucks, etc mostly driven by Kannadigas. Nearly three lakh taxis were registered in the city this year alone. Non-transport vehicles’ registrations there for the year crossed a crore.
The thriving hotel and restaurant business employs several lakh people. Almost every house in Karnataka has someone working in Bengaluru and sending money home. Real estate market is thriving in Bengaluru and across the region due to the massive growth of the city in the last 20 years. All these are thanks to the IT sector, where however non-Kannadigas enjoy prominence by virtue of their engineering degrees or business instincts. As the city grew, there’s an increasing influx of people from other states, including from the Hindi belt, North-East etc. Big businesses are largely in the hands of the Marwaris, who dig in where wealth is. There is growing resentment that Kannadigas are becoming second-class citizens in the state capital. This feeling is more so among the lower, uneducated segments of the society. Their ‘anguish’ prompted the Siddaramaiah-led government to take this controversial decision. The main power behind the Congress win in the last assembly polls was the state’s ordinary people, the Dalits and Muslims. The chief minister is keen on retaining their support. At the same time, the concept of India being a nation and the states being its parts, needs to be upheld and promoted. Notably, educated youths from the North-East find employment in major cities across the country today. Such situations promote the ideal of national integration. Using the huge earnings from the IT sector to help provide higher education to those from disadvantaged segments of Kannadigas can help create a level playing field there, rather than ethnicity-based reservations. One cannot afford to kill a goose that lays golden eggs.
