Date post: | 16-May-2015 |
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Education |
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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