Dushyant’s flagship private sector job quota faded before polls
Promises on increasing old age pension, loan waiver and restoration of old pension scheme for employees couldn’t get through.
When a fledgling Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), a splinter group of former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), contested its first assembly election in 2019, a number of promises it made, including 75% reservation in private sector jobs for locals, in its poll manifesto looked rather ambitious.
Overcoming political compulsions of a coalition government and reluctance of the BJP, its post poll alliance partner who took its support to form the government in 2019, the JJP was able to push through a rather controversial legislation to enforce 75% reservation in private sector jobs. The law though never saw the light of day as the Punjab and Haryana high court first stayed its operation and then quashed it in November 2023, holding it unconstitutional. Former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala of the JJP who piloted the 75% private sector quota says getting the private sector job reservation law enacted was a prized achievement of the JJP.
Where the party faltered in executing its vows
The JJP, however, failed to get a number of important election promises implemented during its 53 months in the coalition. These included failure to get a higher rate of old age pension (at ₹5,100 per month) implemented, reducing the age criteria for beneficiaries of old age pension from 60 to 58 for men and 55 for the women, statutory backing for minimum support price (MSP) for crops, restoration of old pension scheme for government employees, enhancing the honorarium of sarpanches to ₹8,000 per month, waiver of cooperative bank loans for farmers and increasing the limit for creamy layer of the backboard classes from ₹6 lakh to ₹10 lakh.
‘Coalition compulsions apart, we were able to get a lot through’
Former deputy CM Dushyant Chautala is candid enough to admit that he could not get the BJP to agree to pay a higher amount of social security pension to elderly at ₹5,100 per month. “We had promised in our poll manifesto that the old age pension amount would be increased from ₹2,000 to ₹5,100 per month. However, we could not get it done due to coalition compulsions,’’ the JJP leader said. Ignoring JJP’s pleas, the BJP, the senior coalition partner in the government, stuck to ₹250 per year hike in social security pensions.
The old age pension or old age samman allowance, which was started by Dushyant’s great grandfather Devi Lal decades ago, is something which is very close to Dushyant’s heart. “The JJP derives its identity from Chaudhary Devi Lal. He is the inspiration behind the formation of this outfit. So, not getting the old age pension amount increased would rank as a major letdown for the party,’’ said a former JJP leader who did not wish to be named.
Dushyant, however, says that getting 50% reservation for women in panchayats, 8% reservation for backward classes in panchayat and getting Guru Ravidas temple constructed on five acres in Kurukshetra would rank as his party’s major achievements. “This showed JJP’s commitment to the women, the backward classes and the scheduled castes,’’ he said.
The promises the party could get through
The JJP can claim to have got implemented a few promises which found mention in their manifesto but were also pushed by the BJP. Some of them are – facility of cashless medical treatment for government employees, providing job security to contractual employees, allowing gram sabhas to pass a resolution to prohibit setting up of liquor vends in villages.
Despite resistance, Dushyant pushed job quota law
Dushyant’s crowning glory moment came in November 2020 when he as a labour and employment minister moved a Bill in the state assembly to provide 75% of new employment opportunities to local candidates for jobs with a salary below ₹50,000 per month in private companies, societies, trusts, limited liability partnership firms and partnership firms, situated in Haryana. Though opposed by his own party MLA Ram Kumar Gautam who termed it as ‘divisive, wrong and inane’, the Bill was passed by the assembly in November 2020 and assented to by the Governor in March 2021, thus becoming a law.
To placate the industry, the state government in 2021 ordered that jobs having a gross monthly salary of not more than ₹30,000 will be up for hiring from amongst the local candidates. The law was though challenged and struck down by the high court in 2023. A petition challenging the HC order is pending before the Supreme Court. The quashing of the law by HC came as a setback for Dushyant (36) who had steered the private sector job quota move with an eye on young voters.
The controversial piece of legislation did not find much support from the BJP quarters initially. In fact, the then chief minister, ML Khattar, had on February 7, 2020 sounded non-committal on the prospect of enacting a law to provide 75% reservation in private sector jobs to Haryana youth. The draft Bill was also deliberated many times by the cabinet and vetted by the law secretary who had raised objections regarding the constitutional validity of the proposed law. The clause providing for preference in jobs to the local candidates domiciled in Haryana was seen as a contravention to the Constitution.
