Representative image of a protest
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The Opposition BJP and representatives of various government employees’ associations have come down heavily on the state government for extending reservation and 33 per cent quota for women in the outsourced jobs terming it “just an eyewash”.
Karnataka Outsourced Employees’ Association president S Varalakshmi told DH that this is a clear indication that the government wants to completely do away with the recruitment process.
“The decision of introducing the reservation system looks glamorous on paper. But in reality, this is another way of government saying that it will not recruit anyone and shirking away from its responsibilities of implementing reservation in recruitment,” she criticised.
She said that the association, for a long time, has been demanding the government to completely do away with the system of recruiting people on ‘outsource or contractual’ basis.
Karnataka State Government Employees’ Association president C S Shadakshari said the government could have absorbed the outsourced employees and they would have availed the reservation benefit automatically then, instead of introducing the reservation system in outsourced jobs.
“In Bengaluru alone, more than 20,000 employees work on an outsourcing basis at various levels and across the state, the number of outsourced employees may be estimated around 1.5 lakh,” he said adding that the association has not maintained a clear data about it.
BJP MLC Chalavadi Narayanaswamy said that the Congress has implemented the decision originally conceived by the BJP.
“If the Congress had implemented the BJP’s idea of reservations, it would have proved more beneficial to reserved communities. The order categorically states that the rule of reservation will be applicable to when a department hires more than 20 employees. This is the biggest loophole in the entire order. It will not ensure that the benefits are passed on to the real beneficiaries,” he said.
Former president of the Secretariat Employees’ Association P Guruswamy noted that 2,000 employees work in Vidhana and Vikasa Soudhas on an outsourcing basis.
“The intentions of this order look good on paper. But it will be very difficult to implement it. These employees are sourced from private agencies and they have not followed any reservation norms. How will this order be implemented, if employees don’t belong to certain castes?” he asked.
Guruswamy said the government’s order has created confusion among the current outsourced employees.