30% Reservation for Kannadigas in IT jobs - What do you say?

What if we define Kannadiga has someone who can comprehend and speak the local language? Think TOKSL (Test of Kannada as spoken language) And then, have some 'reservation' for Kannadigas in local jobs. This way, you (sort of) kill two birds with one stone - promote local language (entice 'migrants' to learn the language), and offer some protection to resident mod/low-skilled labor as learning local language wil be a sort of a 'barrier'. Kannada should be the winner, either way.

Vasanth, folks favoring their own 'tribe' - this has to be fought in different way than this. You may be mixing two things - reservation for locals, and discrimination. Employment favors based on religion/caste/sex/tribe, if they can be proved, should be weeded out legally. I think regulatory tightening is what you are asking for first..

Its far too common for people to ask personal questions in interviews. Married? Children? Place of origin? - downright inappropriate if you ask me. Even at work, a select group of folks speaking in a language that some others can't understand - this could be termed as harassment. To me, even the use of words ('surd', 'gult', 'mallu') that some may consider derogatory could also amount to harassment.

We know these things are hard to prove, and legal measures to set these right would lead to some misuse and unnecessary legal expenses. But over time, creating and enforcing these types of laws will help promote ethics, professionalism and equality.

A disclaimer - laws like this ( EEO - equal employment opportunity of US) may exist in our country, but I am not much aware of their exact form.

Firstly,

We should look at why such a demand has come up??

If IT jobs were all recruited purely on merit basis, then such a demand wouldn't have arised at the first place.

It is very very evident in bangalore IT cos that a Tamilian will give preference to a tamilian, a mullu to a mallu candidate, a bengali will do anything for a bengali.. and hence they outnumber us.

We all know, the nature of jobs and kind of skills required in few of the biggest MNCs. 50% of IT jobs doesn't even need a graduate degree leave alone an Engg degree and this 50% makes for atleast 100000 jobs ( Assuming IT jobs at bangalore to be around 200000 ( it is definately more than that)) and you need very basic skills to hire a guy for these 1 lakh jobs and here where the foul play happens.

I was with TCS for 2 years and I have seen some of the guys from TN, who were even sent to Onsite, were hardly able to speak a proper sentence in English !! and they were all campus recruits !! ofcourse hired by a Tamilian manager from BLR.

So, those who say there is no injustice or discrimination against Kannadigas in IT recruitments are actually living in a fool's paradise. We, Kannadigas don't want any reservation but if this trend of biased attitude, discrimination against us continues, then, a reservation wouldn't be a bad idea after all !!

The only way to counter such behaviour is through reservations.

And this is not confined to IT jobs alone - Selection of domestic servants, drivers & gardeners is also being done on the basis of state & language. Many wish to choose candidates belonging to their own state & do not want the locals for reasons best known to them. For example, a tamil speaking family arrived from USA & insisted on a tamilian driver & servant as soon as they moved in to bangalore, but were unable to find them. So, they employed a local driver & then sacked him when they found a local 'tamil-also-speaking' help. I'm sure their search is still on as they are yet to find a perfect tamil-speaking replacement.

The IT sector is a strict merotocracy and there is no place for quotas. The situation is similar to that which exists in the armed forces.

IT companies have to compete in the global market and therefore they need the best brains available. Moreover, these companies have been established with capital raised from all over India and even from abroad (venture funds) and their clients come from the world over.

Therefore these companies have to hire on a national basis with focus only on brains. Any other consideration will end in defeat at the marketplace.

The demand for quotas is a fallout of the PSU culture. PSUs are not strictly business enterprises as they are funded by the public. But IT firms are not like that. They have to compete in the global marketplace and earn their keep.

Cross-pollination refers to stimulating influence among diverse elements.

If today America is a super power it is only because it welcomed and continues to welcome merited people from all over the world.  Similarly, Australia and New Zealand developed because of outsiders.  If Mumbai is today the commercial capital of India, it is thanks to Gujaratis, Kannadigas, and others - but not Maharashtrians.

Let us take the example of Kannada literature itself.  The eminent Kannada writer from the U.S., DcemberStud http://decemberstud.wordpress.com and I wondered sometime back if Kannada was the only language in India which was greatly enriched by writers whose mother tongue was not Kannada.  How did this happen?  I would say it is because of the accommodative and loving nature of Kannadigas who always welcomed outsiders and made them feel at home by trying to speak with them in their language rather than in Kannada. The outsiders in turn adopted Kannada as their own and contributed immensely to Kannada's growth.  Could any of our appata Kannadigas ever create such masterpieces like Naa. Kasturi's ( a first generation Malayalee settled in Mysore) Anarthakosha? Or composed and sung such beautiful lines like "Innoo yaaka baralillaanvaa Hubballiyaanva" -- Bendre whose mother tongue was Marathi.

Take our favorite Bangalore.praja itself whose founder is not a Kannadiga by birth but by choice.  If it were not for his love and brains, would we be here today interacting with one another?  What if the 30% reservation rule had driven him away from Bangalore?

I work in an ITES company where every third person is a non-Kannadiga.  But I have found that almost all second-generation Malayalees of Bangalore in our company are more at home in Kannada than their own Malayalam.  They speak and read Kannada much better than some of our leaders of Kannada paksha or Vedike.  Even our MD, a Malayalee from Kolkatta, has learnt to speak in Kannada.

Our company had a target of employing 5000 people by the year 2004.  It is 2008 and we still have just 2000 people.  If reservations are introduced, we may have to shut shop here and relocate.  Who will be the loser then?  The entire Karnataka State would lose because the Karnataka Government would be poorer by the crores of rupees in taxes which our company and our employees pay.  The State would also lose our brains, our inputs in various areas, etc.

Let us find and nurture unity in diversity.  Let us encourage trade, commerce, culture without restrictions which stunt growth.

"Your company could have easily expanded if it also set up shop in Mangalore and Hubli and therefore help develop these cities as well. There is no shortage of talent in these cities."

We did go to Mangalore in 1998 itself on a recruitment drive.  In spite of advertising in the local media and campus campaigns, just one candidate turned up in 3 days and was hired.  However, even after training he did not come up to our minimum standards and had to be shifted to our support division.

Even after 10 long years, we have less than 100 people from both Mangalore and Hubli put together.

There have been accusations of blatant nepotism taking place in the "lower levels of IT companies."

I think this is a universal phenomenon.  For example, prior to nationalization, the Banks in Mangalore would prefer to hire people from their own communities and regions.  Like for example, Vijaya Bank would hire mostly Shettys and Rais from the Bunts community of Mangalore district.  Canara, Syndicate, and Corporation Banks would prefer Konkani people, Karnataka Bank would prefer brahmins, Catholic Syrian Bank would prefer Catholics, etc.

The employers and the bosses would naturally prefer to employ people with whom they would feel comfortable working and would normally prefer to help people with whom they were close.

Globalization and competition have greatly contributed to reducing this tendency.

I am reminded of the greatest example set by Infosys where the founder Narayanamurthy outrightly told his wife in the initial stages itself that only one of them could work in Infosys and not both.  When she accepted to work outside of Infosys, NRNM never allowed her to come inside his cabin because he wanted to practise what he believed - that public figures and people in high positions should not only be honest but also appear to be so.

Unfortunately, the cliche that only merit works for IT company's is not true. Even now there is a tendency on part of Tamils to hire tamils, telugus to do the same for telugus and the one who bears most of the brunt are Kannadigas. I know many of my kannadiga friends who could not get adequate employment. What is worse is that it is a routine practice of Telugus to fake the CVs and get in and not many kannadigas do this.

This is what ticks of Kannadigas. Maybe, merit would work for developer and higher skill required positions, but since the bulk of IT employment at lower levels, nepotism still reins free in the latter.

Even HD Kumaraswamy claimed that his govt would give infrastructure to those companies who on a transparent basis hire more Kannadigas. This is not difficult at lower and entry level IT positions. Set aside 75% of the jobs for graduates from Karnataka colleges and then see the results.

My only advice to IT companies is that they on a voluntary basis extend this reservation or else it will be forced upon them by the next government. 

"or else it will be forced upon them by the next government."

That will be unfortunate - not for the companies but for Karnataka and Kannada.

To flourish, every business needs to operate smoothly without too many controls, regulations, etc.

If such things are forced by the government, naturally the companies will migrate to States and countries which offer them more benefits and less worries.

If I may remind, Infosys was originally started in Maharashtra.  It came to Karnataka not out of a love for the home state of the founders but because of the help provided by the then Government of Karnataka.  If the same government, though run by some other party in power, imposes impractical regulations, the companies might have to think of migrating elsewhere.

The Karnataka's jobless aspiring for lower level IT jobs will then have to follow suit.

I think these two cities are only waiting to take some load off Bangalore, sooner it happens, better it will be for the state. Though Mysore/Mangalore residents will go through some growth pains, at the end of the day, jobs and resulting prosperity come first for most. Having seen the urban mess at Bangalore, Mysore/Mangalore will have the advantage of being ready and careful.

But Cadambi's statement about "availabiity of talent" in Hubli (ask IBM) and Mangalore (City.Zen sir's example above - and why infosys has a bigger center in Mysore now than at Mangalore even though it started in Mangalore way way back) is a bit of a blanket call. It depends on what you are looking for. But more important, it is a bit of a chicken and egg problem. You need some brave folks to go first, encouraged by some sops from the government, and then a trend may set in - more colleges will open, more infrastructure will be built, and more companies will setup shop.

City.Zen sir, or Vasanth - would one of you setup a separate thread here to talk about how Hubli/Mysore/Mangalore could help take Bangalore's load and  help the state, and why it hasn't happened in a big way yet (except perhaps in Mysore). Should be a nice and informative discussion.

Mysore does not want IT / High economic growth. People and organisations such as ACICM (Association of Concerned and Informed Citizens of Mysore) and Mysore Grahakara Parishat and host of other senior citizen / pensioner residents do not want Mysore to go the way of Bangalore.

Mangalore and Hubli on the other hand want a lot of investment given their mercantile / commericial cultures. 

Job reservation is meant to give an opportunity of a livelihood for the underprivileged, for the hapless, for the disabled.  By advocating reservation for Kannadigas are we implying that the once mighty Kannadigas from the land of Bahubali are now reduced to such pitiable conditions?  Are the Kannadigas of today in such dire need of governmental crutches, and the help of corporates?

Instead of demanding such sops, why don't we sit down and think about how to improve ourselves and how to build the skillsets of our people, how to develop our value systems?  Why don't we concentrate our efforts on getting into a commanding position rather than the pathetic demanding one?

Yes, the jobseekers from Hyderabad are notorious for faking their resumes and landing up good jobs  Yes, the Tamils and Malayalees do indulge in excessive favoritism.  Do we want ourselves to fall to their levels? 

Let us be the exception in welcoming and encouraging merit so that we may expose ourselves to the culture of excellence and rub shoulders with the best people so that their excellence rubs off on us too!

By all means, let us certainly have reservations but of the reverse kind - only for the meritorious!

Let us ponder upon how the second Silicon Valley came to evolve in Bangalore!

CSR is indeed a great concept with tremendous potential.  If only we knew how to harness it properly, we could wrought wonders.

It is not just the money of the corporates that comes into the developmental agenda.  Far more important than the funds, the great brains behind the corporates also have a chance to contribute their valuable inputs.

Your mention of companies not paying corporate tax ( at one time, the mighty Reliance was known as zero-tax company) reminds me of a news item from the days when PC, during his first tenure as FM had introduced Minimum Alternate Tax for the companies which like Reliance were zero tax companies so as to bring all companies into the tax net.

Narayanamurthy's was the only voice which welcomed this MAT, even his fellow directors at his company differed with him.

Yajamanre'

It's the governments which are vying with each other offering all kinds of incentives to the IT industry to move in to their respective states. Obviously, these governments see more benefits than there are costs. And, after all, the IT industry is also an industry, and if it helps their bottomlines, they will accept the incentives.

Yes - the Central IT concessions perhaps need to be discontinued. Many IT industry captains themselves hold this view. But, perhaps the finance minister has his own cost-benefit analysis.

The IT industry has attempted to do make its contributions. The BATF, F-bas accounting system for BBMP, etc were all pioneered by them. That they were not put to proper use by the government, is not their fault. Also, if NRN wasn't summarily removed from the Chairmanship of BIAL, perhaps we wouldn't have been in the present mess. Further, if BMIC had become operational, perhaps many of them would have relocated along its various centres.

Muralidhar Rao

"Also, if NRN wasn't summarily removed from the Chairmanship of BIAL, perhaps we wouldn't have been in the present mess. Further, if BMIC had become operational, perhaps many of them would have relocated along its various centres."

Very very valid points.  The cause for both NRN resigning from BIAL ( please note, he was not summarily removed) and BMIC still not being operational is quite well known to everybody.  Shortly, we will come to know if the people behind these causes will bite the dust that they deserve or will get reelected.  Let us hope for the wisdom of the crowds.

Fabcity was opposed by the organised action of ACICM, MGP and a host of other organisations. Even MGP has come out against building apartments on former CITB (City Improvement Trust Board), i.e predecessor to MUDA sites.

One of my relatives was instrumental in getting a stay order issued against an illegal mall that was supposed to come up next to BM Hospital. 

Having said what I did about 'most' businesses, I wish to add that a new concept called 'Karma Capitalism' (about which I read in brief, sometime back) is evolving, being propounded by some leading Indian Corporates. It talks of a more egaliterian approach. May be that holds the answer. 

Muralidhar Rao