??Kannada Gothha? K'taka proposes reservation in pvt sector | ??'Slopey roof' or 'sloppy excuses'? Secret Service under fire

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Market Watch

• The National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange remained closed today in observance of Muharram.

Kannada Gothha? K'taka proposes reservation in the pvt sector

The controversy started with the Karnataka cabinet approving a ‘draft bill’ reserving jobs for locals in all private industries. The bill aims to compensate locals for employment lost due to land acquisition for industrial setups.

Reservation Quotas for Locals proposed: Note that the bill is in the draft stage, it will undergo consultation and has not been tabled in the assembly.

• Management Roles: 50%
• Non-Management Roles: 75%
• C (Clerical) and D (Peon, Drivers) Grade Jobs: 100%

Who is a local? Local are those born in Karnataka, domiciled for 15 years, fluent in Kannada, and pass a required test.

Penalties for non-compliance and exemptions: Employers failing to comply with the provisions will face penalties ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000, with additional fines for repeated violations.

• According to the bill, industries must collaborate with government agencies to train locals if qualified candidates are unavailable.
• Exemptions will be provided if sufficient local candidates are unavailable. But this requires an application for exemption by the companies, an addition to red-tapism which would eventually lead to some officials pocketing bribes to allow exemptions.

The obvious outrage: Business leaders like Mohandas Pai and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw criticized the bill, calling it discriminatory and detrimental to the tech industry.

• G20 sherpa Amitabh Kant said it will have a ‘damaging impact on the IT ecosystem’.

Karnataka CM’s damage control: What added fuel to the fire was Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah’s tweet saying it is ‘mandatory to hire Kannadigas 100% for C and D grade posts. After the outrage, he chose to reword the tweet and focus on the 50%-75% reservation categories.

• No formal changes have yet been made to the draft bill which recommends 100% reservations for C and D grade posts.

What’s reassuring? Many ministers understood the rationale behind the outrage and didn’t go on to outrightly defend the bill.

• Priyank Kharge suggested that industry leaders would be consulted on the bill, the Labour Minister Santosh Lad reiterated that there can be exemptions to the quota, MSME Minister MB Patil says that the rules are only ‘advisory’ in nature and consultation will be held with private players on the issue.

Have other states done it? The Andhra Pradesh High Court struck down a law for 75% reservation for locals in 2019.

• The Punjab and Haryana High Court declared Haryana's 2020 law mandating 75% reservation for locals unconstitutional in November 2023, a decision currently under appeal in the Supreme Court.

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'Slopey roof' or 'sloppy excuses'? Secret Service under fire

The recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump has sparked significant concerns about the Secret Service’s security measures in what is the biggest crisis and failure in a decade.

How close is too close? This new rendering of how a millisecond head-tilt by Donald Trump saved his life.

Bad excuses? Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle?stated the roof's sloped design was deemed too risky for an agent to be stationed there, prompting the decision to secure the building from inside.

What Kimberly Cheatle said in an interview with ABC: “That building in particular has a sloped roof, at its highest point. And so, there's a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn't want to put somebody up on a sloped roof. And so, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside.”

• She also tried to pass off responsibility to local police, saying “There was local police in that building -- there was local police in the area that were responsible for the outer perimeter of the building.”

What doesn’t add up: A report claims that the shooter went through Secret Service security with his rangefinder - a device used by shooters to calculate the distance.?He even carried a ladder to climb onto the roof.

• What’s even more shocking is that the local police and shooter were in the same Warehouse Complex. The police were inside the building while the shooter was on the roof.
• Witnesses reported the shooter climbing onto the roof before the attack, yet security officials failed to act in time.
• The shooter managed to reach the rooftop with an assault rifle and fired at least 11 shots before being taken out.
• Another footage shows the slow reaction time of the local police and secret service where they scramble to open up a fence for the reactionary squad to enter.
• The security detail also had women who were shorter than Trump who stands over 6 feet.

Inside job? American commentator Dan Bongino claims an “unimpeachable source” informed him that a police post was supposed to be on the roof where the shooter shot from, but no one showed up.?Bongino alleges the Biden administration has instructed the USSS director to stay silent to keep her job.?

• Former CIA operative J Michael Waller agreed with the fact that there was a colossal failure on the part of the secret service which almost made it look like an inside job. You can also watch this report which sums up all the failures.

The intrigue: Secret Service Chief Cheatle is also being questioned for proximity to the Bidens as she was appointed after a recommendation from Jill Biden's office.

• An independent review of the assassination attempt will be conducted to evaluate the actions of all law enforcement agencies involved.
• Meanwhile, the US is also blaming Iran claiming that the intelligence was alerted of an Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump.

ICYMI

• ??IMF raises India's FY25 growth forecast to 7%, it maintains global growth outlook but warns of bumps along the disinflation path.
• ??After the insolvency proceedings against Byju’s, what happens to the company now?
• ??After Gujarat, there was stampede-like situation in Mumbai after hundreds of job seekers turned up for walk-in interview. Meanwhile, the government has announced an apprenticeship program for graduates and 12th passouts ahead of Assembly Elections 2024.
• ?????Elon Musk wants to shift SpaceX from California to Texas after California's law prohibits schools from notifying parents about the pronouns and gender of children.
• ??Assam Chief Minister claims that the Muslim population reaching 40% is a ‘life-or-death situation’ for him.
• ??In West Bengal, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari asks the party to wind up the minority wing by saying ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas bandh karo’.