Govt gets industry support on quota

Prasad wrote the letter after the first meeting of the group of ministers on affirmative action headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on November 3. Officials said the basic idea of the letter was to sensitise the industry as well as seek their suggestion for future implementation.

Besides, the Government, following the CMP, has also directly started a dialogue with the industry captains, including TATA chief Ratan Tata and Videocon group. Sources said that both have apparently supported the Government initiative. Prasad told Express, ‘‘This is an ongoing dialogue with the industrial associations…There will be affirmative action.’’

The November 18 letter states: ‘‘What is sought to be done now is to meet the aspirations of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe youth and provide them with assured avenues of employment.’’ ‘‘This has become necessary,’’ the letter states, ‘‘because of the perception that with disinvestment in the public sector, the number of opportunities in the public sector is declining.’’

‘‘The future engine of expansion and growth of employment is the private sector and it should carry with it the marginalised sector of society…The private sector is in a position to take on its social responsibilities in a focussed manner,’’ it stated.

Once the Social Justice Ministry gets the complete feedback from the industry associations, it will forward those suggestions to the GoM as an input to the final recommendations to the Cabinet.