Uttar Pradesh chief minister has announced a reservation policy for new industries in the private sector that includes jobs for upper caste poor.

While the Centre continues to grapple with the quota issue and private industry has recorded its disinclination to provide compulsory reservation in the sector, Mayawati has done a first in the country besides getting one up on her political rivals, including new friend Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

According to a decision taken by her cabinet, all private entrepreneurs seeking special concessions for setting up new industrial or business units in the state will have to reserve 30 per cent posts in their companies for three different categories of employees.

“This (quota) would be divided equally between Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Castes, including those belonging to the minority community, and the economically weak among upper castes,” Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh told the media.

The across-the-board reservation will ensure that Mayawati does not alienate any part of the Dalit-Brahmin combine that returned her to power with a handsome majority.

The list of special incentives that figure in the trade off include land, grant, property, tax holidays, special rebates, or any other assistance or facility that might be sought by a private enterprise from the government or from a government agency.  This policy will also be applicable to trading houses, business ventures, disinvested units as well as educational institutions.

A release from the chief minister’s office noted; “Keeping in view the meagre  employment opportunities in government sector, it is an important and positive step for creating employment”.

The policy fine print reads that it would not be applicable to existing units. Nor would it be binding on new ones. But those who do not provide reservation will not be eligible for government-provided facilities either.
At the centre, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, one of the strongest advocates for quotas in the private sector has repeatedly said that the government must take affirmative action on the issue by passing legislation. His prescription has been to begin by recruiting SCs/STs in class III and IV category jobs besides imparting training to class I and II employees.

Industry leaders have strongly opposed the move countering it with the argument that voluntary steps will work better than force.

The Union government has however given a two-year deadline to the private sector to introduce reservations for the backward classes.