The Jharkhand Assembly on Wednesday passed a Bill, which provides 75% reservation for local people in the private sector up to ₹40,000 salary a month. Once notified, Jharkhand will become the third State in the country, after Andhra Pradesh and Haryana, to pass such law.
“The Jharkhand State Employment of Local Candidates Bill, 2021” was tabled in the budget session of the Assembly in March but it was later referred to a six-member select committee formed by Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato for detailed study.
The committee, chaired by RJD MLA and Labour Minister Satyanand Bhokta, later amended the Bill with few changes. It was named “The Jharkhand State Employment of Local Candidates in Private Sector Bill, 2021” and the monthly salary cap was also increased from ₹30,000 to ₹ 40,000.
“Every employer shall register such employees receiving gross monthly salary as wages not more than ₹ 40,000 as the limit notified by the government from time to time on the designated portal within three months of the Act coming into force”, said the Bill, adding, “every employer shall fill up 75% of the total existing vacancies on the date of notification of this Act and subsequent thereto by local candidates with respect to such posts where the gross monthly salary or wages are not more than ₹40,000”.
The Bill provides for the constitution of a committee headed by a designated officer that will include Deputy Development Commissioner (DDC), Circle Officer (CO) and the local MLA to supervise the employment procedure and issue directions to the employer concerned as it may deem fit.
“With the submission of the report, the amended Bill will be notified as an Act. The government will form the related rules and regulations to implement it. This is a landmark law. With increasing privatisation and the Central government pushing for National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), this law would prove to be a boon for the local residents of Jharkhand”, Binod Singh, CPI(Marxist-Leninist) MLA from Bagodar, said. He was one of the six members of the select panel.
Chief minister Hemant Soren had been raising the issue of reservation for local people in the private sector since long, and recently, he had asserted that his government was committed to protecting the rights of the local and tribal people.
Supriyo Bhhatacharya, principal general secretary of ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, said, “Reserving jobs for locals also help in checking people who arrive from other States and eventually settle here”.
In 2019, Andhra Pradesh passed such law, while in June last, Haryana passed law, reserving 75% quota for the local people in private jobs with monthly salary less than ₹50,000.
Published - September 08, 2021 07:40 pm IST
