Reservation a must in private firms working for UP govt

Lucknow, January 18 After implementing voluntary reservation in private sector and Public-Private Partnership projects, the Uttar Pradesh government became the first to make reservation mandatory for private organisations to which the government outsources work.

This includes contracts given to construction agencies by various departments like Public Works, Irrigation department and others.

The state cabinet endorsed the new reservation policy on Thursday.

Announcing the policy, Chief Minister Mayawati said all establishments interested in doing business with government, public sector undertakings, boards and government-aided bodies, will have to implement reservation.

“The organisations will have to reserve posts for SCs, OBCs and others as per government policy,” she said. At present, the total reservation in state government jobs is around 50 per cent — 22 per cent for SCs and 27 per cent for OBCs.

“With the shrinking of the government’s role as an employer, in this era of economic reforms and liberalisation, job opportunities for SCs and OBCs were on the wane,” she said. Owing to the scarcity in government jobs, steps are being taken so the deprived sections of society also get their due share in the growing economy.

On August 10, 2007, the Mayawati government had enforced a 30 per cent reservation — 10 per cent each for SCs, OBCs and the poor from upper castes — in new industrial units. The government had also implemented reservation for SCs and OBCs in units coming up under the PPP policy.