Srinagar, March 4: As Haryana government is all set to implement a controversial 75% job reservation law for the state’s domiciles, professionals from Jammu & Kashmir working in various private companies in Gurugram (Gurgaon) are anxious about their jobs.
Haryana Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya, on March 2, 2021, gave assent to the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Bill, 2020, which Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on Thursday called “regressive straight-jacket” that will force the industry to look beyond the state.
FICCI further said that the Haryana government’s decision will “spell disaster” for private investment and industrial development in the state.
The Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act, 2020 reserves seventy-five percent jobs for locals and the industry is now bound by law to employ 75 percent of people domiciled in the state for jobs that pay up to Rs 50,000, and register such jobs in a portal in the next three months. Failing to do so, will now also attract penal provisions in the law. However, rules for implementation are yet to be put out by the state government.
There are an estimated 1200 professionals from Jammu & Kashmir working in various companies in the IT/ITES sector in Gurugram.
Sameer Ahmed Khan, an software engineer, who is working in Gurugram for the last eight years, told Ziraat Times that that this sudden development has left professionals from J&K deeply worried for their jobs. Mr Sameer, who is part of a social media network of J&K professionals in Gurugram, further said that some of the professionals are already reporting formal communications from their companies about a possible retrenchment.
Nitin Jagat, an IT professional believes that this latest measure may simply make companies shift their base from Gurugram to either Delhi or Noida, and that jobs may not get affected.
“It will be difficult for companies to replace the existing skilled Human Resources with equally skilled local recruits. Under such circumstances they might simply shift their base from Gurugram. As such J&K professionals need not worry”, Mr Nitin told Ziraat Times Delhi office.
However, there are others who sound less sanguine.
“Even as companies may shift their base from Gurugram, it is likely that many J&K professionals might not find it easy to shift base. Or companies might simply have to adapt to the job rules of the new states and even cut salaries to finance the cost of base shift. What worries us more is that the job market is already very bad and it might not be easy for us to find new jobs”, Shazia Shakeel, who works in a BPO in Gurugram said.
Meanwhile, industry body NASSCOM has said that while the move to reserve jobs for locals in Haryana is aimed at creating employment, it will impact the business-friendly image of the state and be detrimental to Gurugrams’s growth trajectory as an IT-BPM hub.
“Nasscom has already raised the industry concern with the state government and highlighted the such a move will not achieve the intended objective. The growth of the IT-BPM industry is closely intertwined with the availability of talent on demand and such restriction will be limiting for the industry,” said its statement.
Anupam Varma, Partner, J Sagar Associates says only the Designated Officer can exempt the employer if local candidates of the desired skill, qualification, or proficiency are not available.
“The vesting of authority in a State Government to decide the qualification, skill, etc. of employees of a private employer will be inimical to the Ease of Doing Business initiatives of the Central Government,” he said.
