The five-member expert committee that has revised the three-decade-old Dr. Sarojini Mahishi Committee Report insists on the presence of a government representative on the appointment panel of all institutions that employ over 100 people.
This is one of the significant recommendations of the committee that is set to submit its 80-page report to the government on Wednesday. The presence of the government representative is intended to ensure that local people get primacy in appointments.
According to sources, the committee has made 14 important recommendations to the State government and seven recommendations to the Centre, the focus being on ensuring primacy to regional language “to protect the federal character of the country”.
The Sarojini Mahishi committee appointed by the Janata Party government headed by Ramakrishna Hegde in 1986 made 58 recommendations, including 100% reservation for Kannadigas in all State government establishments and public sector units.
However, considering that the Sarojini Mahishi committee report has become “obsolete” to a certain extent after economic liberalisation in 1991, five-member committee headed by L. Hanumanthaiah was set up to revise it in 2016. It is currently headed by S.G. Siddaramaiah, chairman of the Kannada Development Authority. The need of revisiting the report arose as IT and biotechnology sectors and startups significantly have changed the employment scenario.
“If implemented, the revised report will also set an example on how to protect the interests of linguistic States in a federal structure,” a member of the committee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. Keeping in mind the legal hurdles that may come in the way of implementing the recommendations, the committee has taken “every caution possible”, he said. The report will be submitted with an appeal to the government to “implement it through a legislation”.
The revision committee has also recommended bringing out Employment News in Kannada by the Information Department on the lines of the Centre and develop an online portal for providing information on employment opportunities in the State.
The other members of the revision committee are Go.Ru. Channabasappa; writer, B.L. Shankar, former Minister for Industries; Hemalatha Mahishi, legal expert, and Ra.Nam. Chandrashekar, Kannada activist.
