Can the Goa government ensure job reservations to locals in the private sector? No? It’s time to learn lessons from Andhra Pradesh which became the first state to pass an Act to ensure 75 per cent job reservations to locals in all private industrial units and factories.
The Andhra assembly passed the Employment of Local Candidates in Industries/Factories Act 2019. Besides job reservations in the private sector, the act also encompasses openings in projects undertaken in Public-Private partnership. Interestingly, the law will put the onus on companies to train probable candidates in specific skills before absorbing them. There will be a nodal agency which will monitor the intake of locals.
Successive Goa governments have failed to take such initiatives and all we have seen are empty Goemkarponn slogans doing the rounds over trivial issues. Unemployment is a pressing issue for every State, and more especially for Goa. The much-talked about Goan identity is fast losing its sheen only because locals are migrating in search of jobs.
Figures presented in the ongoing Legislative Assembly cut out a very sorry figure. Picture this: Between 2016 and now, 3,228 students passed out of engineering colleges while the government could ensure jobs for only 89. This means that the remaining 3139 students are left to jostle for the few openings available elsewhere. The scene in the teaching community is equally bad. There is not a single permanent post created for students passing out of Diploma in Elementary Education (DElEd). There are 225 students passing out every year. The chief minister’s assurance of employing 180 primary teachers on the rolls within a week is a welcome gesture, but the gap is huge to bridge.
While former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and the current incumbent Pramod Sawant’s budget laid emphasis on employment, the ground realities are very different. Sawant’s statement that engineers and highly qualified candidates are applying for LDC jobs tells us the story.
Having said this, the government cannot be in a state of helplessness. Parrikar, during his regime admitted his failure to bring in job reservations for locals in the private sector. There are others who swore by Goemkarponn at every stage, but never did anything significant on jobs. The only effort that was made was by Luizinho Faleiro who sought 80 per cent reservations for locals in industries during his tenure as Labour minister.
The precarious job scenario and the complete failure in tackling unemployment is the reason why Goans have migrated in search of jobs. If Pratapsingh Rane has heard that Goans are cleaning toilets abroad, he must stand up and show what he did to retain Goans with jobs?
Job reservation for locals is the only way forward. Andhra Pradesh is a much larger State in comparison to Goa and they have shown the way. It has a population of over 9 crore in comparison to 15 lakh of Goa, yet Andhra has protected the interests of its locals. Lessons on Goemkarponn are here to learn.
