NEW DELHI: The industry has rejected Prime Minister Manmohan Singh?s proposal of voluntary caste quotas, setting the stage for renewed activism by the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe forum for legislation. Both Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) criticized the proposal. The FICCI president S.K. Poddar said today "The issue will have to be addressed at the root and this cannot be done merely through reservation. Clearly, if the PM had intended to push the industry towards accepting the voluntary quotas, the purpose has not been served. In fact, two days after Singh called on the private sector to voluntarily provide jobs to the weaker sections, industry chambers could be seen launching an offensive in the coming days. A paper prepared by FICCI also tried to list out the flip side of reservations. "While the private recruiters may find themselves in a situation where they have to fill the reserved vacancies just to avoid penalty and litigation, members of the preferred group may take job availability for granted and shift their focus away from hard work, self-improvement and education. Instead, it suggested that the private sector, along with the government, could step in with assistance to lower the dropout rate at the primary as well high school level. Meanwhile, FICCI offered to join hands with the government to impart vocational training through ITIs using the public-private partnership model. Newly elected CII president R. Seashasayee said today "The industry should take active steps to develop technological skills of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and support their education. He said that the private sector should address issues related to employment and trade apprenticeship to ensure employability of backward classes. There should be no discrimination while competing for jobs. While the industry has been opposing a law to mandate job quotas in the private sector, CII has set up a taskforce on affirmative action under J.J. Irani, which would submit a roadmap in eight weeks