Shooting oneself in the foot with a regressive step for short term political gains is how I would define the Karnataka government’s recent decision to reserve jobs in the private sector for the state’s people.

As per Nasscom, the tech sector alone contributes to 25% of the state’s GDP; the state has attracted a fourth of the country’s tech talent and more than 11,000 start-ups. To reverse this process of progress by bringing in such restraining legislations reminds me of the legend of Kalidas, wherein he started chopping the tree branch from the end on which he was sitting.

While the industry has been swift and unanimous in condemning the disastrous move, it is pertinent to mention how similar decisions in the past by states like Haryana and Andhra Pradesh didn’t take off. It may be nothing more than a political gimmick of chief minister Siddaramaiah knowing well its fate, but now he can put the blame on the industry, or the courts or other stakeholders. Despite this, it is important to understand how such decisions, if seriously implemented, can be detrimental to Bengaluru’s march towards becoming the vanguard of software and AI development in the country and the world.

Any such blanket mandatory limitations/restraints in a thoroughly skill-based industry will kill incentive for the big companies to operate anymore in the region. Those who are already operating will cut down and eventually move out, while the newcomers will find another destination. From the perspective of Kannadigas, this move will discourage them from aspiring or needing to enhance and build skills in the lack of real competition. As the saying goes, a frog in the well knows nothing of the sea.

It would do the Karnataka government some good to recall that it's not because of local talent alone that Bengaluru has become an IT hub. The companies there attract best talents from the country. To limit them from hiring the best available in the country will be a suicide. Is this how the Silicon Valley of India, Bengaluru, plans to drive the country ahead in the race of Artificial Intelligence? The majority of employees working in Silicon Valley in California State of USA are foreign born. Now imagine the Governor of California imposing a job quota in Silicon Valley to score some brownie points politically. It will be California’s death as the leader in the tech world!

Bengaluru didn’t turn from a Garden city or a Pensioners’ paradise to the bustling IT hub overnight or without political will. Starting with the state’s Janata Dal government of the 1980s, successive regimes from across the political spectrum have facilitated a business-friendly environment. This current decision of Siddaramaiah not only runs contrary to the progressive political will of the past but also betrays and waters down a business-friendly setting carefully nurtured over decades.

Bengaluru is a cosmopolitan city in true measures. Despite overwhelming demand of the locals for celebrating Kannada and rightly so, Bengaluru has embraced every language, every culture and assimilated all. Other than Kannada, Karnataka has been home to multiple languages - Tulu, Sanketi, Konkani, Kodava and many more. Even before independence, the Mysore royal family's legacy was to invite migrants from different southern states to contribute to the region. I have lived in Bengaluru for a year. A Bihari or a Marathi or a Punjabi doesn't feel like an outsider in this city because it has given space for all to grow equitably, not just financially but culturally as well. Best IT talents from the country have left their native and settled in Bengaluru and now call it their home.

The current decision will engender the reversal of the true cosmopolitan nature of Bengaluru. It will undo Bengaluru as an IT hub, devoiding India of its major IT capital and a rapidly developing city. It will increase unemployment in the region on two fronts. First, the existing MNCs will not compromise with merit in terms of its human resources and they will start moving out. Second, the same vote bank for which this decision has been taken will lose lakhs of employment opportunities in terms of housing, transportation, food and beverages industry, unorganised sector like maids, cleaners, drivers, etc. Buzzing night hubs like Indira Nagar will no more be able to boast ofyouth and energy.

The Karnataka government’s decision to reserve private jobs is bereft of any well-meaning intention for the state's economy and its people. There should be no doubt about it, especially to the Kannadigas! They will lose the most in long term!

Amol Parth is a journalist and media analyst.