On the lines of the Haryana government, the Jharkhand Cabinet has approved an employment policy requiring private sector units to reserve 75% of jobs for local people. This will be applicable to positions providing up to a salary of Rs 30,000 per month. Before this, the Haryana government had come up with a similar policy.
Key Points
- As per the reports, Chief Minister Hemant Soren is expected to announce the new policy on March 17 during an Assembly session.
- According to reports, a few modalities of the policy have not been decided yet.
- The decision on the new policy comes days after Soren had gone to Delhi to discuss a draft Jharkhand Industrial and Investment Promotion Policy, 2021 with various stakeholders.
- The state government has also signed an agreement with FICCI on the sidelines of the event.
- Several other proposals were also approved during the Cabinet meeting.
- As per the Economic Survey, the unemployment rate of the state gradually decreased to 11.3% in January 2021 after rising to 59.2% at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in May 2020.
- In January 2020, the unemployment rate was 10.6%.
Problem in determining Jharkhand Domicile
One major problem for implementing the local reservation policy is to identify the beneficiaries. In 2002, questions around the definition of a ‘Jharkhandi’ had led to the resignation of former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi, and governments thereafter had refrained from the issue.
In 2016, the state government had notified a relaxed domicile policy that listed six ways in which one could be treated as a domicile of the state. The policy was, however, criticized for not giving priority to tribals.
A sub-committee will be formed to decide on who would be treated as a ‘Jharkhandi’ and based on the same, the local employment policy will be enacted.
