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'Won't hire male candidates from UP, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh': Bengaluru entrepreneur's post sparks debate
The founder announced the decision in a post on X, saying the company had decided not to hire male candidates from the four states.
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A Bengaluru-based entrepreneur has sparked debate on social media after saying that his company would not hire male candidates from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, citing an alleged incident involving a former employee.
Karthik SG, founder of A1 Sports World, announced the decision in a post on X, saying the company had decided not to hire male candidates from the four states following “lengthy discussion and quarrel”.
“Im sorry for this… but today we have made it very clear after lengthy discussion and quarrel… We will not hire any male candidates in our company who come from these 4 states in north india… 1. Uttar Pradesh, 2. Rajasthan, 3. Bihar, 4. Madhya Pradesh. We do have 1 Rajasthani already working for us. She has 100% supposed this,” Karthik wrote.
In a separate post, the entrepreneur offered additional context for his decision. He said that the decision followed the firing of an employee from one of the four states about two weeks earlier. He said that the employee had allegedly been abusive towards female employees despite receiving two warnings and had allegedly tried to force himself on one of them.
“We work with quite young kids,” Karthik wrote, adding that the safety of his team and the children they work with was more important than running the business.
Karthik said that his company has 32 employees, including 14 women, and claimed that 20 employees are from other states, including 12 from non-southern states. He also said that the company employs people from different religious backgrounds.
“I’ll definitely stand by this decision,” he wrote in another post, claiming that the former employee was an MBA graduate whose resume and background appeared clean before he allegedly displayed abusive behaviour after two months at the company.
(Also Read: Bengaluru founder reflects on car-dependent life after trip abroad: ‘I now understand value of good footpath’)
How did social media react?
The decision drew mixed reactions on social media. Some users questioned the move to exclude candidates based on their state of origin, while others expressed support for Karthik’s stated concerns about workplace safety.
one user wrote, “Imagine being so bad at hiring that instead of screening individuals for competence and character, you blacklist entire states. And then use one employee as a certificate of approval. This post says far more about your hiring process than it does about UP, Rajasthan, Bihar or MP.”
Responding to this, Karthink wrote, “Do you think female abusers come on resume? Or does actual police background check work... ₹500 to a constable, even a sex offender will get a good report mate.”
“I love the idea of casting aside almost 40% of the population just because of a few disgusting men, people don’t get to choose where they are born. I've been hired nationwide and faced behavioral issues, but that just improves my screening process for next time. Simply avoiding these men means they will just carry their toxic behavior to the next company they join. Only protecting your immediate team is like catching a thief in your store and just quietly kicking them out so they can rob the store next door, instead of calling the police. Women’s safety is the absolute priority, which is exactly why we need to take action against the individuals responsible instead of just banning their home state. Honestly, just banning entire groups of people feels incredibly irresponsible,” commented another.
“I am sorry for saying this, but this is extremely ignorant, unprofessional and bigoted towards fellow Indians. This kind of mentality and bias should have no place in a professional environment. A person should be screened based on their competence and, if necessary, their character, but generalising entire states is madness. Some states may have a higher prevalence of certain issues, but blanket banning people from such huge and diverse populations is psychotic. Whoever came up with this idea is not fit for employment anywhere, let alone to hire anyone. If you choose to go down this path of regional racism, then you lose any right to complain when you eventually get your share of the same treatment,” wrote a third user.
