Moonlighting Is Cheating And Should Not Be Encouraged, Says Karnataka IT MinisterThe central government, on the other hand, feels that companies need to recognize that freelancing beyond office hours is a growing reality in the IT sector

C N Ashwath Narayan, minister for IT, electronics and skills development of Karnataka, has said that paid freelancing beyond office work hours is literally cheating and professionals wanting to do that should not be encouraged.

"As a policy and ethically, how can moonlighting be allowed? It is not fair in any way to have moonlighting. That's not the way forward. It is literally cheating," said the minister during an interaction with TOI.

While on a mission to promote Bengaluru Tech Summit, Narayan said that the industry should not allow practices such as moonlighting and added that the states also does not support such paid assignments beyond office hours.

"There is no space here for moonlighting. If there is so much demand for you, work elsewhere. This is a basic thing," said the minister.

Being asked on whether the companies have raised the matter with the state government, he said, "When they have the power, why should they come to us? They are dealing with it in their own ways."

The central government, on the other hand, feels that companies need to recognize that freelancing beyond office hours is a growing reality in the IT sector. As per reports, Union minister for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar, in September, said that freelancing should not come at the cost of contractual obligations, but the corporate sector should also be ready for a new era of collaborative employment, where workers refuse to be employed as captives and work as part of communities."