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‘If Haryana can, why not Goa’: MLA drafts bill for 80% pvt job quota for Goans
Goa Forward Party chief and former deputy chief minister Vijai Sardesai said if Haryana and Gurugram could introduce a 75% quota rule for the private sector, there was no reason why Goa cannot
PANAJI: Vijai Sardesai, the lone legislator of the Goa Forward Party, has proposed to introduce a bill to reserve 80% of jobs in the state’s private sector for local residents, saying the bill was designed to end the “marginalisation of local youth from employment opportunities.”
The proposed bill comes weeks after state industries minister Mauvin Godinho insisted that the demand to reserve 80% jobs for local residents was “practically not possible.” To be sure, Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant had spoken about the 80% quota in 2019 and promised to formulate an employment policy within six months.
Sardesai, who put out his communication to request permission to move the Goa State Employment of Local Candidates Bill, 2022, rebutted Mauvin Godinho, arguing that if Bharatiya Janata Part-ruled Haryana could reserve jobs for locals, there was no reason Goa could not.
The monsoon session of the Goa legislative assembly begins on July 11.
“This is a proposed move to avoid an exodus of meritorious Goan employment-seeking youth from Goa. This has a precedent in Haryana. So, what is possible in Gurgaon is certainly possible in Goa!” Sardesai said, urging all political parties to support this private members’ bill “to protect the interests of their young voters”.
“The marginalisation of local Goan youth from employment opportunities in Goa must end. No Goan must be forced to abandon their home to seek work elsewhere,” Sardesai said, adding that the lack of local opportunities was forcing youth to seek employment elsewhere.
The demand for 80% reservation for jobs in local private industries has been a long-standing demand that was taken up by the Goa Forward Party as well as other parties.
Turning down the demand earlier this month, Godinho said the new industrial policy intended to incentivise industries that recruit local youth.
“Whatever incentives will accrue to them from the government it will be done only if they employ locals. So, this is what will be done which is very much on the table part of the new industrial policy,” Godinho said. Existing government policies such as the state’s information technology policy promise tax breaks and incentives to IT industries set up in the state provided they employ 80% Goans and provide proof of the same.
In 2019, Fadnavis responded in the assembly to demands for reservations for locals. “The truth is the state does not have an employment policy. There is no labour policy. It is necessary to finalise an employment and labour policy for Goa,” Sawant said. “In the interest of the state’s youth, who mainly are employed on a contract basis in various industries, if we are to ensure 80% jobs are given to Goans and to secure their jobs, then the policy will have to be finalised at the earliest. We will need at least six months to do this,” he added.
