Bengaluru. Karnataka’s Siddaramaiah government seems to be on the back foot on another decision. The matter is about making changes in the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act 1961. Siddaramaiah’s Congress government was going to make changes in the bill and allow 14 hours of work per day for employees working in the IT, ITES and BPO sectors. Now in this matter, Karnataka Labor Minister Santosh Lad says that the IT industry put pressure to make a law about making people in the tech sector work for longer hours. The Labor Minister says that the matter is being evaluated.
Santosh Lad, Labor Minister in the Siddaramaiah government, further said that the government is still examining the bill. He said that all the major stakeholders should discuss about it. Santosh Lad also said that there is discontent among IT employees as the matter has become public. Let us tell you that Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka, is considered the IT hub of the country. All the big IT companies have their offices in Bengaluru and thousands of people work here. BJP is opposing the provision of the bill regarding making employees work 14 hours a day in the IT sector. BJP is saying that this issue should be discussed further. BJP says that the government cannot take a unilateral decision in this matter.
At the same time, IT employees and labor organizations have also opposed the bill and called it inhuman. Currently, employees in Karnataka can work only 10 hours a day including overtime. This is the second bill within a week on which the Siddaramaiah government has backed down. Earlier, the Siddaramaiah government had decided to bring a bill and provide 70 and 50 percent reservation for the people of the state in Group C and D in the private sector. When the industry strongly opposed this, the Siddaramaiah government shelved that bill as well.