Jobs plan controversy in India

By Prachi Pinglay
BBC News, Mumbai

The jobs issue has led to bitter divisions

The government of the western Indian state of Maharashtra has asked businesses to give preference to "locals" when recruiting staff.

It says that priority for jobs should be given to anyone who has lived for at least 15 years in the state.

Officials say that the policy to employ more locals in Maharashtra has existed since 1968 but was never implemented.

Critics say the move comes ahead of general elections next year and could be an attempt to win votes.

Instigating violence

Some 37% of the 18 million population in the state capital, Mumbai (Bombay), are migrants - mainly from northern India - drawn to the city in search of work.

There have been protests against Mr Thackeray in northern India

Right wing parties have over the last six months been at the forefront of sometimes violent protests against the migrants in Mumbai and other towns in Maharashtra.

The leader of the right wing opposition Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party, Raj Thackeray, was recently arrested and given bail for allegedly instigating violence against the migrants.

He has consistently denied his involvement in violence but wants local people to receive preferential treatment for state employment opportunities.

The state government led by the Congress party has announced that all businesses - small, medium and large - must now ensure that at least half the workforce for supervisory jobs must not be migrants.

For non-supervisory jobs it has stipulated that at least 80% of the workforce must be made up of non-migrant labourers.

The state government directive says that monitoring committees will be set up which will report back to it three times a year.

It says that any citizen, Marathi-speaking or not, will qualify as long as he or she produces a certificate stating domicile status of at least 15 years in Maharashtra.

The MNS has been accused of several attacks on migrant workers in recent months.

It claims that they are taking jobs from local people.

There have been protests in the northern state of Bihar, which borders Uttar Pradesh, over the violence in the Mumbai area against migrants.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has reportedly spoken to the chief minister of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is the capital, to ensure the security of migrant workers.