With apex chambers not reaching a consensus on issues related to increasing SC/ST representation in the private sector through affirmative action (AA), Principal Secretary in the PMO T K A Nair will hold a meeting with the chambers on Saturday.

The meeting will take stock of the progress made on AA by the private sector. The industry has broadly accepted the government’s push for AA in the private sector but opinion is still divided among industry chambers on issues such as creation of a baseline data among various industries on their present SC/ST employee base (called baseline data compilation), selection processes where industry would give weightage to SC/ST candidates who meet the minimum criteria.

While baseline data is crucial to ascertain the progress made by industry after introducing AA, on the selection process, the PMO note clearly says, “In the recruitment procedures, the companies could select from a band of suitable/competent candidates so that SC/ST candidates falling within the band of eligible persons could be recruited.”

On both these issues, the industry chambers - CII, FICCI and ASSOCHAM - are not in consensus. For instance, in the case of baseline data, only 100 companies associated with CII have been forthcoming while some others (FICCI) have expressed “apprehension” for asking such information from their existing employee base.

On the issue of giving weightage to SC/ST candidates, while CII has accepted “positive” discrimination, chambers such as ASSOCHAM want this to be left on individual companies. Government officials told The Indian Express that these two issues are some of the important points of discussion in the eight-point agenda tomorrow.