IT GIANT INFOSYS has terminated around 600 young professionals (‘YPs’) in the last few months after they failed to succeed thrice in its ‘internal assessment’. These YPs have cried foul regarding what they call “unjust terminations” and have approached the Central Ministry of Labour to intervene to reinstate their jobs and restore labour justice.
As IT Industry constitutes a State subject under Schedule VII of the Constitution, the Labour Department of Karnataka was directed to investigate the matter and come up with a detailed report. In its recent report, published in February 2025, it found that “Infosys did not violate any employment laws and acted within Apprenticeship Act and National Apprenticeship Training Scheme (‘NATS’).” The Labour Department also found merit in the argument by Infosys that ‘these professionals were merely ‘apprentices’ and not ‘employee’ hired under the relevant scheme. It noted that to hire them on ‘stipend’ and fire them by ‘test’ was completely legal and they had no right to continue with the employment.
While this argument may seem clinical, delving into this exposes very grave and disconcerting questions surrounding youth employability, our education system and human development of demographic dividend.
