Amaravati: Minutes after the State Assembly passed the Andhra Pradesh Employment of Local Candidates in Industries/Factories Act, 2019, on Monday (July 22), the state became the first to reserve jobs for local youth, with 75% jobs in industrial units, joint ventures, factories, and projects set up under public-private partnership mode.

Reportedly, if a company does not find the required skills in locals, it would later need to train them in association with the state government. This way, no company will be able to hide behind the excuse of not finding skilled local labourers.

Earlier, during his 'padayatra' Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, during his election campaign, had promised to provide quota for local people for jobs in the state.

The government had also announced 1.33 lakh village volunteer jobs for unemployed youth in the state. Reacting to that, Jagan had said that he wanted to implement this quota over the next three years and was confident of convincing industries.

Several states, including Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, are the latest to put forth the idea of reserving jobs for locals. Madhya Pradesh chief minister, Kamal Nath on July 9, had said that he would bring in a law to reserve 70% jobs for locals. It was one of his promises after the Congress came to power in December 2018.