TV
The Congress-led government in Karnataka recently presented a Bill which mandates industries, factories and other establishments to appoint 50% of local candidates in management categories and 75% in non-management categories.
This has led to severe backlash and criticism from industry, business leaders, job holders, start-up founders and investors. Many took to social media to express resentment over the ‘bizarre’ policy. Keeping his name anonymous, one start-up founder has said that the ‘Kannada only’ sign would be Bengaluru’s knell as a tech leader.
Known as the IT Hub and Silicon Valley of India, Bengaluru is now slowly losing all the companies and start-ups to Chennai, Hyderabad and other cities. The founder shared, “Let’s get real: Tech contributes 25% of Karnataka’s GDP, that’s Rs 3.5 lakh crore annually; now watch half of that evaporate with this braindead move.”
He continued, “Global tech giants aren’t here for our dosas. It’s the diverse talent pool, genius. Now you want to slap a ‘Kannada only’ sign on it? We’re already bleeding talent to Hyderabad and Pune. This is handing them our workforce gift-wrapped. I’ve spent a decade building my company here. Now I’m eyeing Chennai.”
“RIP Bangalore tech scene, 1990-2024. Cause of death: linguistic chauvinism and political myopia,” he concluded.
Not just the founder, several other netizens also echoed his opinion and took to social media to vent their anger.
“Singapore or Stripe Atlas seems to be a good choice to register a company. What kind of society are we building, where the government is bringing reservation to the private sector too? RIP meritocracy. 🤧,” shared another user.
A second user wrote, “This sooner will be a reality and Bangalore no longer will cease to exist as startup capital. First of all there are lot of challenges to run a company and to top it up this enforcement of local employment will be just the tip of the iceberg where in the entire ecosystem will come crumbling down.”
“This can be a blessing in disguise. Atleast now IT people will move to other places as well. May be in starting they may face difficulties but why should banglore (kannidigas) have all the fun,” another user shared.
