FICCI comes out with agenda for 'affirmative action'

New Delhi, July 27 (UNI) A day before CII and Assocham's joint report on ''affirmative action'' -- as desired by the government -- for the greater inclusion of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in industry will be made public, FICCI today reveiled its agenda for the cause.

FICCI believes that further extension of the ambit of the reservation policy for additional segments of the society as well to additional institutions/sectors will not address the core issues.

According to a quick survey, 'Affirmative Action and the Role of Indian Industry', conducted by FICCI, 50 per cent of the responding companies showed their readiness to adopt a policy of affirmative action, while the other half declined to adopt such an action in their respective organisations.

It said, 89 per cent of respondents stated that they do not ask the candidates to furnish information about their caste backround while recruiting employees in their organisation.

Another major proportion of the responding companies suggested that the government should introduce various incentive mechanisms for companies voluntarily employing candidates from the socially and econommically backward communities.

However, to generate employment amongst the backward communities some of the participating companies favoured enterpreneurship development as an alternative to reserving seats for them in the private companies, the survey said.

The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during CII's AGM in April 2006, had called for ''affirmative action'' in a voluntary manner from industry in order to build an inclusive society.

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