Affirmative Action

Subhash Gakkhar

Agenda

• Introduction

• Trigger Points

• Salient Features

• Some Experiences

• Roadmap Ahead

INTRODUCTION

• Affirmative Action is a national issue today

• Supreme Court is seized of the matter

• PMO: Committee set up on 16 Oct 2006

with Principal Secretary to the PM as the

Chairman to report within one year

• Under consideration in the Parliament

INTRODUCTION, contd.

• Industry and commerce associations deeply involved– FICCI– CII– ASSOCHAM– PHDCCI – and others

• Academic Institutions• Media debate: ongoing

Triggers and straws in the wind

• Growing economic progress: sharing the

cake

• Differential development and islands of

prosperity

• Dwindling employment opportunities in

traditional avenues: government, PSU’s,

private sector

Triggers, contd.

• Shrinking manufacturing base:

manufacturing contributing only 17%

towards GDP as against 47% in 1990-91.

(China’s figure is 35%, Malaysia’s 31%)

• Lure of fast growing services sector,

contributing more than 35% towards GDP:

white collar AC jobs

Triggers, contd.

• Dependency syndrome: government

expected to play God always

• Socio-cultural baggage: least preferred

avenues – self help, entrepreneurship etc.

More of knowledge workers or processors

than knowledge creators/generators

Triggers, contd.

• Missed opportunities with back to the future? Corporate social responsibility? Community participation. Not seeing the writing on the wall.

Affirmative Action - Plans

• Affirmative Action: Implies positive steps designed to eliminate existing discrimination, to remedy lingering effects of discrimination and to create systems and procedures to prevent future discrimination. Empowering these disadvantaged groups to realise their full potential. It also affirms social will to rectify unjust structures and practices and treat everyone as equal in all respects.

Affirmative Action - Plans, contd.

• Innovative solutions needed to induce

private sector to perform public service

and create win-win situations

• New paradigm for responsive solutions for

environmental sustainability and social

inclusion. Inclusive social development

possible and desirable.

Affirmative Action, contd.

• Correcting social imbalances without

sacrificing merit. Reservations: a discount

on merit? Filling up with lesser merit?

Keep vacant for years?

• Reservation is only a subset of affirmative

action

Affirmative Action, contd.

• Start from basics and provide level playing field and equality of opportunity to all

• Affirmative action helps in building national talent pool through access to – Quality education– Capital and other financial resources– Market distribution dynamics– Employment avenues…for all.

Affirmative Action, contd.

• Enhance employability through relevant

capacity building efforts and value addition

as well instead of focussing only on

employment

• Policies should be integrative and not

encouraging quarantining

Affirmative Action, contd.

• There should be a sunset clause for any

benefits/incentives

• Supreme court ruling (25 Oct 2006) Article

335 to be read with Article 46. Special

care and efforts to be strengthened.

Some Experiences

• Special efforts taken for inducting candidates from socially disadvantaged categories

• Wide publicity countrywide, including regional language newspapers

• Involving associations, welfare organisations in spreading the message

Some Experiences, contd.

• Waving off application fee and providing train fare for taking exams

• Exams and interviews conducted nearest to their place of residence

• Special recruitment drive in areas with large population of such categories: Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Assam etc.

Some Experiences, contd.

• Selection board to have at least one

member from such groups

• Interviews facilitated in regional languages

• Placement also nearest to the state of

residence

Some Experiences, contd.

• Special preparatory orientation for new

inductees

• In some cases, even one year’s remedial

training, fully paid, for bringing them up to

the normal knowledge and skill levels

Some Experiences, contd.

• No hindrance in movement to the Central

Government Services or other PSU’s.

• Integration through common training,

hostels and work teams

Some Experiences, contd.

• Adoption of villages, with support for quality education through scholarships, books and other facilities

• Support to ITI’s and other schools: technical, managerial, material resources in nearby areas

• Preference to students passing out of such schools/ITI’s for apprenticeship training

Some Experiences, contd.

• Multiple opportunities for upgrading skills, placement and synergising with teams (Cultural baggage unloading)

Roadmap Ahead

• Since reservation is a subset of affirmative

action with a narrow focus, a combination

of many factors will be needed to achieve

equality of opportunities and inclusive

growth and development of all citizens

Roadmap, contd.

• Long term employment generation and

sustainable development through

investments in infrastructure: Power,

Transportation – Railways, Road and

Ports and Communication – connectivity

Roadmap, contd.

• Set an irrevocable date, say 2020 for ending all protectionist measures, move to explore all avenues of affirmative action with utmost sincerity backed by both positive and negative incentives and achieve complete social empowerment (Article 334 – 20 years (1969), 23rd Amendment 1969, 45th Amendment, 62nd Amendment, 79th Amendment till 2010 and then 104th amendment for educational institutions)

Roadmap, contd.

• Multi-pronged approach including

– Education

– Capacity building

– Employability enhancement

– Entrepreneurship development

Roadmap, contd.

• Education: Tier 1: Primary and secondary education, like the Kerala model: No child should miss the opportunity for quality education. Arrest dropout rates in some groups up to 50% at primary level and up to 70% at secondary level

• Public-private partnership: Zero dropout target. Industry should adopt 100 schools in each district with significant SC/ST population

Roadmap, contd.

• Vocational education: Tier 2: Workforce development - Support to ITI’s, managerial, technical and other resources and create centres of excellence with active participation by industry

• Industry-institution linkages: Provide high quality vocational education and training and provide assured employment to a pre-determined set of such trainees

Roadmap, contd.• Higher education: Tier 3: Admission through

Multiple Index Related Affirmative Action (MIRAA) model which was adopted by JNU successfully for some time

• Provide scholarships, financial support, soft loans, help for preparing for competitive exams. (In UK, loan interest rate is 3-4%, in the US, 5-9%, in India, 10-13%. Payback period 10-30 years, in India 5-7 years with collateral security)

Roadmap, contd.

• Capacity building and skill upgradation for the existing workforce

• Strengthen HR efforts, enhance access and opportunities to applicants from reserved groups

• Develop advocacy and information sharing on various policies to ensure greater participation in programmes for capacity building

Roadmap, contd.

• Encourage entrepreneurship development through easy access to

– Capital

– Technology

– Market distribution channels

And extend preferential terms to such enterprises for the gestation period for government purchases, contracts etc.

Roadmap, contd.

• Last Economic Census (1998) 30.4 million enterprises, approximately 40% owned by such groups giving employment to approximately 84 million persons. Nearly 80% of all such enterprises were self-financed. So focus on Entrepreneurship Development, even for employment generation 1:3

Roadmap, contd.

• Promotion of Industrial development in

districts with significant SC/ST population

(more than 40%). FICCI has identified 27

such districts. Such enterprises can be

helped with lower taxes, capital investment

subsidy, transport subsidy etc.

Roadmap, contd.

• Code of conduct for strict compliance by the industry for greater inclusiveness, concrete time-bound steps and affirmative action without sacrificing competitiveness.

• Positive and negative incentives for strict compliance or otherwise, monitoring by an Apex Council like Quality Council. Non-compliance would debar qualification for government contracts etc.

Roadmap, contd.

• Self-regulation is the best regulation after

all

• Anticipate/Proactive/Adaptive strategies

for survival and growth

Thank You