Government to go ahead with job reservation in pvt sector

KOLKATA: The UPA government would go ahead with reservation of jobs for backward classes in the private sector and a Bill in this regard will be introduced soon, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Meira Kumar has said.

The Group of Ministers, formed to look into the reservation of jobs in private sector, had already prepared a report and the government was studying the possibility of introducing a Bill in this regard, she said yesterday.

Kumar said the recommendations given by the Group of Ministers have been prepared in consultation with FICCI, CII, ASSOCHAM and leading private corporate bodies.

The minister said enterpreneurs like K Narayana Murthy of Infosys and Kumaramangalam Birla of Aditya Birla Group were in support of resevation of jobs in the private sector 2020, the minister emphasised the need for technology upgradation and increasing productivity.

For the second consecutive year SAIL declared an interim dividend at the rate of 12.5 per cent for the year 2005-06 translating into an outgo of Rs 516 crore.

SAIL has also approved a corporate social responsibility and peripheral development policy of spending two per cent of distributable profit for developing the surrounding areas of steel plants and their inhabitants by providing healthcare, educational and sports facilities and taking up women empowerment programmes.