A meeting was convened by Kumari Selja, Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment here today to take an update on the progress made by the private sector in regard to the Affirmative Action for the benefit of weaker sections, especially the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The representatives from three premier industry chambers viz., CII, FICCI and ASSOCHAM gave a brief about the various actions being taken by them in the areas of Employment, Employability, Entrepreneurship development and education of the weaker sections of the society. They appreciated the approach of the Government to bring home the necessity for pursuing affirmative action for weaker sections by the private sector, without putting any undue pressure on them. They reaffirmed their commitment for being a partner in the ”inclusive growth”. They also admitted that the progress, so far, in this direction was slow. However, a sound base has been prepared. It is expected that within next two-three years very good results would be achieved. The chambers have also been trying to get feedback from organisations of Scheduled Castes like DICCI and similar other organisations for attaining expeditious results in this direction. The chamber also invited the Minister to visit some of their on-going projects which are being undertaken under the Affirmative Action.
The Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment advised the chambers to take the following actions:
i) The chambers have made a good beginning in the direction of affirmative action yet, more needs to be done. For this purpose, the on-going efforts of the chambers have to be intensified.
ii) A high degree of focus should be placed on skill development and the promotion of entrepreneurship qualities among the members of the weaker sections of society.
iii) The success stories should be publicised widely which would have a positive impact on the mind-set of the people towards the weaker sections, which, in turn, would be a key factor for ensuring their inclusive growth.
iv) The chambers should organise more and more events, in this direction and due publicity should be given for creating awareness about it.
v) The initiatives taken by the chambers should be displayed on their websites. The Website of the Ministry may have a link to these websites.
Present at the meeting were Secretary, SJE, Anil Goswami, Addl. Secretary, Shri Anoop Kumar Srivastava, and Joint Secretary, Shri Sanjeev Kumar.