Social Justice Minister Mukul Wasnik on Monday denied that the government had committed on providing reservation in the private sector and underlined that it was in favour of affirmative action on the issue. The government has not made any statement that reservation will be given in the private sector. It has talked about taking affirmative action and has asked the private sector to fulfil its social responsibility in this direction, Wasnik said while addressing a conference of editors. Wasnik said in case of reservation the government had suggested affirmative action by the private sector and added that industry bodies like CII,ASSOCHAM and FICCI had adopted a code of conduct for corporate sector that their members followed voluntarily. He added that the issue presently was with a coordination committee under the Prime Ministers Principal Secretary and another committee under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. The two committees are taking the issue forward. Interestingly,contrary to what Wasnik said on Monday,the Congress manifesto for the 2008 Lok Sabha elections had talked about providing reservation in the private sector and private educational institutions. In fact,the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of UPA-1 too had promised quota in the private sector.
