NEWS  Haryana’s new ‘75% jobs for locals’ law is a harbinger of doom.

CONTEXT  Haryana Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya has granted his assent to a law regulating private sector hiring . 

LAW PASSED- Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Act of 2020

• The law imposes onerous and contentious responsibilities on key personnel of firms in the State, including those with as few as 10 employees.
• They need to register every employee earning ₹50,000 on an official portal and employing 75% of locals in such jobs.
• Non­compliance can attract severe monetary penalties.
• Exemptions to the law, such as hiring an outsider can be seeked only when local candidates for a desired skill are not available.
• Thus, this law presumably will remove  existing non­Haryanvi employees beyond the 25% limit.

SONS OF SOIL – RECURRENT THEME NOW  

• Andhra Pradesh (AP) had passed a similar law in 2019,
• Madhya Pradesh CM has promised one to reserve 70% private sector jobs

CONCERNS

1. The law ostensibly acts against the spirit of the Constitution, especially-

• Article 19 (1)(g): which enables an Indian citizen to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.
• Article 16(2): which states that no citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them, be ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect of, any employment or office under the State.

2. Also, it can have a dreadful impact on India’s investment climate and its socio economic framework.
3. The law encourages the system similar to that existed in Inspector Raj. It not only empowers officials  to enter firms’ premises for inspections, but also to decide if a firm can hire an outsider or should train local candidates instead, till they become proficient enough.

• This could possibly dissuade employers from operating in the State, thus defeating the idea of boosting local jobs when unemployment is running high.

4. Further the law is capable of damaging to India’s already fragile reputation as a stable, trustworthy investment destination with a talented workforce, as it can disrupt the Gurgaon back office operations of a global firm or the supplies of auto components.
5. Thus this law runs counter to the Prime Minister’s ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ and ‘One Nation One Market’ slogans.
6. Rising unemployment could further spur more States to follow suit, and the logic could be extended to internal capital flows next.

• Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has already pointed out that Bihar’s deposits into the banking system are not matched by credit disbursals into the State.

WAYFORWARD

• The Centre needs to dissuade legislation which threatens to not only unleash a sort of ‘work visa’ regime for Indians within the country but also damage crucial workplace diversity.

Immobilising a much vaunted young workforce and rupturing the social fabric with this push for insularity would be the start of an unstoppable slide.

Reference:

1. https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/an-alarming-diktat-on-satyadeo-narain-aryas-assent/article34022593.ece