We all know that the Haryana State Employment of Local Candidates Bill 2020, got assent from the Governor of Haryana and business community is feeling uncomfortable on reserving 75% of the jobs carrying salaries below 50,000 per month, for the Local Haryanvi population. Let's know the top 10 facts:

  1. The bill seeks to bring into action one of the poll manifesto of JannanyakJanta Party of Chautala dynasty. The bill may be stayed by supreme court as per past precedents. In past, such reservation bills of other states have been struck down by Courts, as unconstitutional and against Article 19 of the Constitution of India which gives fundamental rights to all citizens to move, settle and earn in any part of India.
  2. This Bill is yet to be notified and so as of date, it is not an Act in Force. The rules and regulations to manage the compliance are yet to come.
  3. The basic objective is to stop migrant workers for low paid jobs in Haryana. Whether job of Rs. 50,000 per month a low-paid job or not , is something to be looked in.
  4. The Bill covers all sorts of the business establishment including trust and societies among others. Applicable to registered as well as unregistered business.
  5. The local candidate has been defined to be anyone living in Haryana for more than 15 years. Discretionary power has been mentioned to officers to grant any exemptions. So now in recruitments, the primary eligibility shall be domicile and not the qualification.
  6. At least 10% of recruitment in a company needs to be from the district in which the company is located and the remaining vacancies can be filled from other districts of Haryana.
  7. The Bill does not apply to an establishment employing less than 10 people and this is the biggest relief to SME/start-ups. This can be one of the tactical solutions to keep employees bifurcated into different payrolls.
  8. An online portal and administrative setup shall be brought in and all jobs below 50,000 per month shall be registrable over the site to maintain compliance. This reminds me of the old laws related to employment exchange and employment news, decades ago….
  9. It will not be a surprise that many businesses shall move to adjoining business hubs like Noida and Delhi or have more policies of work from remote areas in other states.
  10. This law definitely does not go well with central government objectives of making India a business-friendly nation and making Haryana (Gurugram) a corporate hubs for multi-national companies.

I am hopeful that Judiciary shall stay the implementation of such unconstitutional law,which are passedjust to appease local vote banks and not really encourage employments. We should encourage free movement of people and resources across state borders and promote national integrity, rather than making fractured nation with state boundaries. I personally call this Bill, a regressive move to divide the citizens of India and ruin the growth of Haryana.