Should there be job quotas in the private sector?

Rediff has a messageboard stating , " The government seems to be getting serious about reserving jobs for backward castes in private sector companies.In the latest development, Union Social Justice Minister Meira Kumar is said to have met Indian industry leaders and hinted that since the government could impose job reservation on the private sector by changing the law, it would be best for corporates to embrace job quotas voluntarily.

But this has always been a very controversial issue. Some say job quotas are needed in the private sector to help the backward castes prosper. Others say quotas will badly hit the private sector's efficiency."

I am surprised that for every step we take forward, we tend to do (or at least think) something like this. Quotas of any kind are generally dangerous and particularly one based on caste and that too in private enterprises (which are governed by free market forces) is ludicrous .I beg the politicians to restrict their antics to SOE's and not with the private sector.