BANGALORE: Minister for Finance and Industries P.G.R. Sindhia has given a new twist to the IT companies' threat to boycott the IT.in event to be held here in November by asking them to comply with the recommendations of the Sarojini Mahishi report on jobs for local people.

A total of 167 companies in all sectors have been given notices seeking explanation why they are not employing Kannadigas, he has said.

Though Mr. Sindhia came up with this idea in reaction to the IT leaders' hue and cry over the crumbling infrastructure in Bangalore, there seems to be little he can do other than issue notices, without inviting rejoinder that the Government set its own house in order first. Because two high-level meetings held in June this year - one presided over by the then Chief Secretary K.K. Misra, and the other by the then Secretary for Commerce and Industries Gokulram - reviewed data provided by 837 industrial units, excluding the IT and BT sectors, and found 129 units not complying with the recommendations of the Mahishi report.

He has also announced that a Cabinet sub-committee will soon come out with a plan to give these recommendations more teeth. The Mahishi Report recommendations are followed more in breach, and sources in Karnataka Udyog Mitra admitted that it is difficult to get compliance from IT and BT sectors. In fact, Karnataka Udyog Mitra, which is a single window agency to clear small, medium and mega projects and has wooed investors from all over the world, merely passes on a copy of the recommendations to the investor at the time of granting approval along with Government orders on 45 recommendations. While many of the two-lakh small units in the State, regulated by the district authorities for compliance, have no option but to rely on local hands at unskilled jobs and thus comply unintentionally, the Government takes a lenient stand in case of violations. Quarterly reports are submitted to the Joint Director (Ancillary and Employment Development) on the status of employment of local people. Reckoning time comes when investors and employers revert to the Government for benefits and concessions. As many as 1,200 bigger industries and companies, including those from the IT and BT sectors, are a different cup of tea altogether, particularly as the Mahishi report was drafted in 1984 when the services sector was yet to make an appearance. Meanwhile, in a letter to the Chief Minister, Ella Kannada Abhimanigala Vedike International (EKAVI), which has launched a campaign on the web, has stated that Kannadigas are suffering in their State because the Government is not implementing the recommendations of the Mahishi report.

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