Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday informed the legislative assembly that the state's Employment Exchanges Act will be amended to ensure that private companies give priority to local candidates in their recruitment.

At present, the state government cannot force the private industries to hire local candidates, he said.

The employment exchange currently sponsors the local candidates during the recruitment drives conducted by the private industries.

"But we cannot force any industry to hire the (local) candidates...It depends on the skill, qualifications and the attitude of the candidate," Sawant said.

He assured the House that the government will amend the Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959 after taking the industries into confidence.

"We will amend the law making it mandatory for the industries to inform the government if they are recruiting 10 or more staffers. Earlier, they had to inform only when the recruitment was for 25 and more candidates," he said.

"If we do this (amend), you will see that maximum local youths are employed," he said.

Sawant also said the a new scheme announced in the Union budget, which requires companies to use their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds to cover 10 per cent of the internship costs, will create more jobs in the private sector.

State Revenue Minister Atanasio Monserratte said the government has already made it mandatory for any company to inform the Employment Exchange about the vacancies.

He said that the penalty on the companies violating this norm would be increased.

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