Reservation not acceptable to new CII President

New Delhi, Apr 20: Reservation in any form is not acceptable to the Indian industry, neither is it conducive to a competitive business environment, newly elected President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) R Seshasayee asserted today.

''Mandatory reservation in any form is not conducive to the competitors of the industry and is therefore not acceptable on any terms whatsoever,'' Mr Seshasayee who is also Managing Director Ashok Leyland said.

However, he agreed that the ''Schedule Castes, Schedule Tribes and Other Backward Classes should be able to compete for available jobs and work their way up, for which the industry was ready to chalk out new plans,'' he added.

Mr Seshasayee, while outlining four missions that will drive CII's agenda for growth in the future, said, ''CII is committed to a positive agenda to develop employability.'' He said the industry chamber has launched an affirmative action programme drawn up by the Task Force. The study, that will be headed by Tata Steel MD Jamshed Irani, will look at developing the skills of the OBC's, and then address the issues relating to employability after they have been trained.'' ''The report will be ready in eight weeks,'' he added.

The President gave the assurance that, ''there would be no discrimination by which there are secluded or excluded from the mainstream.'' The Mission on Knowledge and Skills Development, chaired by Mindtree Consulting Chairman and MD Ashok Soota, will aim at leveraging e-learning/technology for skills building in order to promote knowledge-led manufacturing and Services Industry.

The mission will also identify and bridge critical skills gap in partnership with institutions of higher learning, which would help improve the quality of education and thereby employability, Mr Seshasayee said.

UNI