Following the Haryana government, Jharkhand’s cabinet approved an employment policy on Friday obliging private sector units to reserve 75% of jobs (up to a salary of Rs 30,000 per month) for local populations, reported The Indian Express. Previously, the Haryana government had developed a similar policy.
According to reports, Chief Minister Hemant Soren will likely announce the new policy on March 17 at an assembly session. “The CM will announce the new policy next week of the Assembly session, probably on March 17th. Some modalities still have to be decided; they will be announced to the assembly, ”IE said, citing one of the key sources.
The decision on the new policy comes days after Soren traveled to Delhi to discuss a draft Jharkhand industry and investment promotion policy, 2021 with various stakeholders. The state government also signed a memorandum of understanding with the FICCI on the sidelines of the event.
The chief minister had said earlier that the state government was considering a reservation policy for the local population.
Several other proposals were reportedly approved at the cabinet meeting on March 12, but officials have yet to give details.
The state’s unemployment rate gradually fell to 11.3% in January 2021 after hitting 59.2% at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in May 2020, the Economic Survey revealed. In January 2020, the unemployment rate was 10.6%.
Roadblocks in the local reservation policy
A major problem likely to arise when implementing the local reservation policy is the identification of beneficiaries. Questions surrounding the definition of a “Jharkhandi” led to the resignation of former chief minister Babulal Marandi in 2002, and governments subsequently refrained from addressing the issue.
In 2016, the state government (then under the reign of former chief minister Raghubar Das) notified a “relaxed domicile policy” which listed six ways in which a person could be treated as a state domicile. . The policy has, however, been criticized for not prioritizing tribals.
A sub-committee will be formed to decide who will be treated as a “Jharkhandi” and on the basis of this, the local employment policy will be promulgated, a minister said.