The government is taking the next step towards implementing affirmative action in private industry. CNBC-TV18 finds that the department of industry has called a meeting of industry chambers on November 15 to formulate a plan of action.

Seven months after the prime minister said that private industry must do its bit to employ Dalits in adequate numbers, the department of industry policy and promotion will be holding a meeting with industry chambers.

On the agenda, is a code of conduct on affirmative action to be progressively adopted by the industry and ways to compile information about the number of dalits employed by private industry.

At the end of July, industry clubs CII and Assocham had given their proposals to the government. They had said that the diversity of society was reflected in the work place though there was no way to confirm this.

They had vowed to protect the right of employers to employ and not to allow industry's competitiveness to be eroded. They suggested that if private industry was not employing dalits in adequate number, it was more a matter of eligibility than opportunity.

To make up for this, they had proposed training and scholarship schemes for dalit students. They had offered to create 100 dalit entrepreneurs a year and upgrade schools in 104 Dalit districts. A code of conduct was also drawn up to be implemented by members from October.

The accent was on self-regulation and voluntary action. There was no mention of reservations but the industry department letter has resurrected that dreaded word.