70-Hour Work a Week Suggestion is Impractical and Illogical.

INFOSYS Chairman Narayana Murthy has stirred a hornet’s nest by throwing an idea that the working hours of employees and workers should be fixed seventy hours a week. However, a large number of workers, trade unions and even politicians are up against this idea. The opposition has erupted against this stupid idea which he has proposed. It must be mentioned here that there have been agitations across the world in the late 19th century with regard to limiting working hours to eight hours per day for six days a week.

After years of struggle in May 1886, the workers went on for complete strike in support of their demand. Many of them, around two dozen, were killed and suffered violence of various types. Now after nearly 150 years if somebody is advocating for increasing the working of workers from a 48-hour week to 70 hours a week is certainly inhuman, illogical and cruel to say the least. Even in the ‘Occupational Safety, health and Working Code’, which is yet to be promulgated although it has already got the presidential assent after being passed by both houses of Parliament, there is a provision of only 48 hours a week. For journalists, it is only thirty-six a week has been prescribed, which means 144 hours in a month. The only change that has been suggested in the OSH Code is that working hours can be increased to 12 hours a day provided it is four days a week working. Now here are some industrialists who are talking about 70 hours a week of work for the workers in the name of increasing the productivity of the country.

No doubt, increasing production is an important factor but what about the mental and physical health of the working class? 12 hours of work a day means effectively 14 hours a day because it will take at least two hours for a worker to commute from the workplace to his/her dwelling place and vice versa. He/she will have to spend at least one hour to be ready to go to the workplace. Thus, it will be 15 hours in a day. How much time the worker will be able to give to family and attend the household work can be well imagined by anybody.

A worker will have an enormous amount of physical and mental wear and tear resulting in his/her bad health and invitation to a number of diseases. Thus ultimately, what is being thought of as a measure to increasing productivity by enhancing the working hours will be disadvantageous to the working class, the society and the country as a whole. Surprisingly, the illogical and anti-worker opinion/ suggestion of Narayan Murthy has got support from business tycoons like Tech Mahindra’s CP Gurnani and JSW Chairman Sajjan Jindal. In fact, the 70-hour work week would be synonymous with that of running a “sweatshop”.

In India, the primary statutes which talk about working hours are the Factories Act, 1948 (“Factories Act’) and the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (“Minimum Wages Act”). Both the Acts are fairly uniform as to the upper ceiling of daily and weekly working hours – which are 9 hours and 48 hours respectively. The Factories Act, additionally, entitles each worker to a break of at least half an hour (not more than 5 hours of work should pass before such an interval). Both the Acts further strive to provide overtime compensation at the rate of double the wages for each hour of work undertaken in excess of the threshold of 9 hours. It is imperative to note though - that the applicability of the Factories Act extends only to Factories employing 10 or more persons and where some manufacturing process is carried on; whereas the Minimum Wages Act is majorly applicable over any employment which employs more than 1000 employees in a state.

In so far as all other establishments are concerned, their working is regulated in accordance with the Shops and Establishments Acts of each state. The Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961 (“Karnataka Shops Act”) is applicable to all shops and commercial establishments of the state with its provisions pertaining to working hours (both daily and weekly) being no different to the two above-mentioned legislations. Under the Karnataka Shops Act, the spread over, in any case, cannot exceed 12 hours - with the overtime payment of up to 2 extra hours. The same is also the case with the Delhi Shops and Establishments Act, of 1954. Therefore, the sooner this idea of Narayan Murthy is given a go-by, the better for the country. In this age of Technology and Artificial Intelligence, why he is talking about enhancing the working hours of workers defies all logic.

Doyen of Labour Laws and Eminent Lawyer HL Kumar Passes Away

 A well-known lawyer of labour laws in Delhi H L Kumar is no more.   He was courteous to the core and enjoyed a good reputation across the country. Not only employers and their organisations but also employees, trade unions of all hues and colours, government officials and judges used to take advice and benefit from his knowledge and experiences. He was more known as Kumar Saheb to all his friends and acquaintances. He silently passed away on 24^th October leaving hundreds of admirers and colleagues to mourn his death. He was in his late eighties and was an Ajatshatru, a friend of all and foe of none. Soft-spoken and quite amiable with everybody, Kumar Saheb was always ready to help others in every possible manner. He showed no signs of any illness, except age-related weaknesses, and was found to be engrossed in works to the fag-end of his life.

Kumar Saheb used to be nostalgic about Lahore (now in Pakistan) where he was born, spent his childhood and had his initial education. After partition, he moved over to India under the tutelage of his parents, who owned a hotel in Shimla. However, he did not opt to become a hotelier or a businessman but chose to pursue lawyering. For more than sixty years he has been in the profession and must have trained scores of lawyers. Apart from being an accomplished advocate, an excellent Samaritan, and a lovely human being, he was a good journalist, an expert law teacher, a writer of nearly fifty stand books and the founder-editor of the prestigious Labour Law Reporter (LLR) for over half a century.  Yours truly has also been closely associated with this journal for more than thirty years. Kumar Saheb possessed mines of information and was blessed with sharp memory. He knew Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi besides having excellent command over English, the language of his education and profession. I requested him to write his memoirs but alas! the writer of dozens of books could not fulfil it for the benefit of the posterity.

I was introduced to Kumar Saheb by an intrepid and courageous trade union leader T M Nagarajan, who was opposed even by two-penny editors and journalists besides newspaper proprietors. He had seen that a journalist, who used to claim to be associated with a journalists' trade union body, was closer to the Management of his newspaper than to the employee’s union. Kumar Saheb has been having an uncanny sense of recognising such black sheep and always kept them at arm’s length.

Kumar Saheb knew sections of different acts and relevant case laws by heart. He used to say that Employers must be well conversant with and advise their HR managers to implement them properly for a harmonious and congenial atmosphere in the organisation. His golden advice to the employers was that they should not ride roughshod over employees. He was associated with a number of educational institutions, industrial houses and hospitals as a legal adviser. Shri Kumar was a man of simple living and high thinking. As a Guest Faculty of labour laws at Delhi University, he was immensely popular among the students. Many of his students became judges of the High Courts, the Supreme Court and the presiding officers of various Tribunals.

He is survived by his wife, who retired as a professor in Philosophy from Daulat Ram College of Delhi University. His only son Gaurav Kumar is a lawyer, and a talented grandson Yajat Kumar is a lawyer in the making. The daughter is a medico and happily married. May God give eternal peace to his soul!

 

Not even a word of truth is found in what terrorists say

By Parmanand Pandey

Now the reports suggest that Hamas terrorists were responsible for the ghastly attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital situated in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is the original sinner of starting and escalating the war in West Asia. It was guilty of killing hundreds of innocent people in Israel. Some 300 people died when they were busy enjoying the dance party. Israel immediately started retaliatory attacks. There has hardly been any resistance from Hamas once Israel swung into action. Then a psychological warfare was launched that the Lebanon-based Hezbollah would also join Hamas against Israel, which would not be able to bear the two-pronged attacks.

More than a fortnight has passed, and Israeli forces have been pounding on Hamas to decimate the terrorists, but it will take some time to completely exterminate them. The frustrated Hamas then attacked the hospital blaming Israel for its bombing. Now the video footage shows that Hamas misfired on the hospital by its cheap missiles. Israel has claimed to have done precision bombing in the car parking area which made craters.

In the war time blame game is very common. Enemies blame one another. By horrendous bombings in Israel, Hamas was under the impression that it had won the war as Israel would not be able to rise from the wounds that had been inflicted on her but Hamas got the shock of the life within no time.

Terrorists all over the world take recourse to obfuscating their opinions. Immediately after the attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital, the Hamas started blaming Israel is committing against humanity by bombing the hospital. Surprisingly, the echo system of Muslim Jihadists joined them in spreading the lies. In fact, terrorists speak only lies and not an iota of truth found in what they say.

India has been the worst sufferer of the lies of the terrorists. When they
attacked Mumbai in November 2008, the Pakistan-sponsored terrorists knew that they would be killed by the Indian security forces in a counter-offensive, so many of them wore sacred thread on their wrists. They thought that when their dead bodies were brought for identification, they would be thought of as not Islami Jihadis but as Hindus. But one of them was caught alive and he vomited the truth that it was a machination to confuse the people and security forces of India. It has given a lesson to all that whatever terrorists say should be taken with a pinch (rather than a shovel) of salt.

There is hardly any doubt that the forces of Israel will break the bones of Hamas and they will not be able to raise themselves for many years to come regardless of the aid and assistance they get from Türkiye, Qatar, Iran or Pakistan. This time not even all Muslim countries are in unison to support Hamas.

Surprisingly, Iran is a Shia country, which has been at loggerheads with Sunnis, which is represented by Qatar, Pakistan and Türkiye. Pakistan is a bankrupt country, so no help can be expected from them. So much so, even Saudi Arabia, which is kike the head priest of the Islamic has also not fully supported the Hamas.

However, what has been shocking is that the terrorists of Hamas are getting support from some of the Indian political parties. They think that by supporting Hamas they would be able to get the support and garner the votes of Muslims. There is no denying that a large chunk of Muslims think that they must oppose any and everything that Prime Minister Modi says forgetting that they must also use their common sense and oppose terrorism of all forms and manifestations. Any support for any type of terrorism is bound to boomerang.

All the governments of the world must try to bring about the peace in the West Asia. Enough lives have been lost. People are dying of water and hunger. In fact, without restoring the peace the problems cannot be solved. Therefore, it will be in the fitness of the things that peace must be restored at any cost.

Journalists like K B Mathur will Always Remain Relevant

After many years I have had the opportunity to talk to the former editor of the Amrit Prabhat Shri K B Mathur the other day on WhatsApp, who lives near Toronto in Canada with his son. In my life I have worked with three editors, the first one was Shri S K Bose of Northern India Patrika of Allahabad. My stint with him was very brief nearly three months. He was a gem of a man- well-read and punctilious to the core. It was he who was instrumental in sending me to Shri Mathur, who apart from being a good and laborious journalist, has always been a thorough gentleman. My third editor was the late Shri Prabhash Joshi, who was full of bluff and bluster but very fair. He was abstemious and spartan in his personal life but more dedicated to the profession and the proprietor than to the working class. This is my personal viewpoint about him, which does not mean that others would agree with it.

Returning to Shri K B Mathur, I can say with all the emphasis at my command that journalists working under him enjoyed unfettered freedom, bordering on anarchy during his editorship. He was dispassionate to power and the pelf but very patronising to journalists. Some of the journalists, who subscribed to certain political affiliations, used the newspaper for the furtherance of their own interests. Shri Mathur knew it well but even then, did not prevent them from misusing the rostrum of the newspaper. While putting across the standpoint of the proprietors Shri Mathur saw to it that the welfare of the workers was not jettisoned.

Those who have been associated with any trade union movement know well that Dainik Jagran of Uttar Pradesh is the most exploitative and abominable newspaper regarding working conditions. It was the first newspaper to black out news associated with trade unions but on the other hand, there used to be separate columns in the Amrit Prabhat for labour news. Journalists working for the Dainik Jagran used to impose self-censorship as per the whims of its owner, but it was unheard of in the Amrit Prabhat. Some people ascribe this licentious freedom to the closure of the newspaper.

Shri K B Mathur is in his early eighties yet touchwood! He is hale and hearty to his age. I wish him to write his memoirs for the benefit of the journalists of the new generation before print journalism writes its own epitaph in a few years’ time. It is fast paving the way for digital journalism. Labour laws and wage boards will become the things of the past but old values of journalism will always be cherished. We were taught that the ‘intro’ was the most significant part of the news, which should contain as far as possible five Ws- 'what, where, when, which and why' and one 'H' i.e. 'How' but now this principle has almost been given go by the new breed of journalists. Hopefully, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will provide a new definition of journalism. However, the halo of journalist K B Mathur will never fade. I wish him a long, healthy, and happy life regardless of the place he lives.

Not much is to be seen in the crossing over of Anju Thomas to Pakistan

These days love stories of two women namely, Anju Thomas and Seema Haider (Sachin) have become the talk of the town. Both crossed the borders of their own respective countries to meet their loved ones. The latest one is Anju Thomas, who went from India to Pakistan to marry her lover, Nasarullah. Seema Haider has already been living in for nearly two or three months in India with her new husband Sachin Meena in NOIDA. Their love stories started almost in the same manner through chat on their mobile phones but thereafter the similarity ends. While Seema Haider (Sachin) says that she has bid on Pakistan forever. It is now a closed chapter for her. She says that she would rather die in India than go to Pakistan. She has converted to Hinduism and has been observing all the rites and rituals of her new religion.
Anju Thomas, on the other hand, is still indecisive. Sometimes she says that she would go back to India after her tourist visa gets expired. But sometimes she says that she would always remain with her new husband. Nobody knows whether she will come back to India or would stay put in Pakistan. Arvind Kumar Thomas, the previous husband of Anju Thomas is not ready to own her.  On the other hand, Ghulam Haider, the Pakistani husband of Seema says she is welcome if she comes back. This shows the insincerity of Ghulam, where divorce is more a rule than an exception. Anju Thomas says that she converted to Islam to marry Nasrullah, although there was no need for her to have converted to Islam because intermarriages between Christians and Muslims are permitted under Islamic law. Such marriages are called Quitabia marriages. However, if she has converted to Islam, it is good for her. In India, Special Marriage Act exists that allows marriages between two religionists without changing their faiths.
A mountain is being made out of a mole that both women have links with any spy agency. The fact is that nothing can be further from the truth in branding them as spies looking at their status, education and social connections. Anju Thomas should also be allowed to take her children to Pakistan if she wishes to keep them with her new husband. As far as Seema is concerned, it will be a slur on humanity if a distraught woman like her is forced to go back to Pakistan where the lives of her children and her would certainly be in peril. 

Only sensitisation and crackdown can stop Child labour

 

 First of all, here is news, which has been flashed across all newspapers that an airline Pilot couple in Delhi, who allegedly hired a 10-year-old girl as domestic help and tortured her, were arrested a few days back, and have been sent to jail. According to police, medical tests showed that the girl had sustained some injuries and had burn marks. A case has also been registered against the couple. While the Police are investigating the torture of the minor girl, data shows a substantial increase in child labour during the last year. The statistics show that 311 children were rescued in Delhi itself till June this year in contrast to 107 in the same period last year. It has also been reported that 22 people were arrested under the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act this year, whereas only eight people were taken in by police in 2022.

 Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act was enacted in 1986 to save ‘childhood’. As per law, nobody can employ children below the age of 16 years and employment in hazardous industries is prohibited for up to 18 years. Be that as it may, the law is observed more in breach than in its adherence. There are many forms of child labour, including rag-picking restaurants or dhabas, eateries, hotels, garment industries and manufacturing units in hazardous conditions. Once they are in employment, they lose childhood and have to face emotional stress, mental trauma and abuse from employers or other people. They remain deprived of parental care.

According to a survey after the children are rescued, they are often shifted to another place by the syndicate that offers them employment. The absence of an Aadhar card or bank account number makes it difficult for them to get compensation. Therefore, the need is to make extensive use of technology to rescue and rehabilitate the children. The Modus operandi of child traffickers has not changed much because they hardly come into the net of the law. They target vulnerable children from remote villages, brainwash them, assure them of good life and education etc.

There are a number of organisations that are engaged in protecting children from being given employment. ‘Bachpan bachao andolan’ is one of them for which it has been internationally recognised. In India Ministry of Women and Child Development works for the welfare of women and children but it beggars any logic as that why it is not technologically equipped to rescue and rehabilitate child labourers. A better governmental approach is needed to be adopted across the country to curb the bane of rampant child labour.

There is also the need to sensitise the general public about child labour. However, what was being done by the Pilot couple in Delhi to torture a ten-year domestic maid is a stigma for humanity. The law must be strictly implemented so that nobody could think of employing any boy or girl below the age of 14-16 years. There must be a crackdown on such factories, manufacturing units and persons. Resident Welfare Associations must also be roped in to prevent child labour. Their Aadhar cards and bank accounts must be kept in place so that they are not moved to other places and the compensation amount directly goes to their accounts.

It is in the interest of the country to stop child labour as when children are brought up in an environment that fosters intellectual, physical, and emotional development, they become responsible citizens and contribute to the development of the society and economy. Whereas children who are forced to work in hazardous conditions lacking self-development opportunities tend to be malnourished, suffer from poor cognitive and behavioural development, premature ageing, physical disabilities, drug dependency etc.

Moreover, child labourers come from impoverished conditions and are trafficked from their native places to those places where employment is offered to them. They have no protection, and their employers control them completely. Children are forced to work for long hours for meagre or no wages. Such children are often ill-treated by their employers. All these issues can affect a child’s mental and physical health severely.

Poverty is one of the root causes of child labour in India. Poor economic conditions force parents to depend on their children to help them inside and outside their homes. These children are forced to drop out of school and become a source of income for their parents and social security during old age. When children are not allowed to pursue learning and skill development opportunities that will enable them to get decent jobs in the future, they become trapped in the intergenerational cycles of poverty.

Another major cause of child labour in India is unemployment, especially due to natural calamities, pandemics, conflicts and war. Natural disasters or the loss of parent forces children to work and support the rest of the families. Therefore, the holistic approach must be adopted by the government and other sections of society.

Seema Haider Must be Protected

Controversy has flared up across the country over Seema Haider, an illegal migrant from Pakistan to Greater NOIDA of Uttar Pradesh (India) to live with her lovelorn new husband. She claims to have converted to Hinduism and has married a Hindu Sachin at Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu (Nepal).  She has illegally come to India along with her four minor children but not to create terror or law and order problems. Some people are looking at it as a big security threat because she comes from Baluchistan in Pakistan, they conveniently forget that crores of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas are illegally living in India for decades and are eating into the vitals of our economy.  Many of them have even obtained forged documents to be citizens of India. But here is a woman, who has come to marry a boy five younger than her in age and belongs to the Hindu religion.

She is being projected by some as a security threat to the country. Nothing could be more ridiculous than this misconceived belief.
Can a woman of hardly any connection with either the Pakistani or Indian establishment pose a threat to the security of the country? Her previous husband, who has deserted her for many years, is now asking the Indian government to repatriate her to Pakistan, where if she goes back would surely be killed. This woman Seema has been swearing her loyalty to Mother India and to the religion of her husband and has taken shelter in India and is now in the full glare of the media. And there is not even the remotest possibility of her having any truck with Pakistan or her erstwhile husband. How can she be a threat to India, that too, when she has come with four minor children? Can anybody raise this doubt if she were from any other country like Russia, China, Ukraine, Indonesia, England, Germany, Italy, Canada or Japan? No, never. In fact, an Italian lady lost the chance to become the Prime Minister of the country by a whisker.

Giving refuge to a harried and harassed person is a part of our culture. We cannot throw her to Pak vultures. Certainly, those illegally coming to India in lakhs have their nefarious designs. They create a threat to the safety and security of the country. They often cause formidable problems to the law and order of the country. Even otherwise also, there is no dearth of fifth columnists, who work, day in and day out, against the country. They have sold their souls to enemy countries like Pakistan and China. These serpents in the arms are the firsts to forecast this poor woman as a Pakistani spy but they keep their eyes, ears and mouths shut over the illegal influx of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas. 
There is no doubt that our BSF should have state-of-the-art technology and enough training to ensure that no illegal person gets entry into India as thousands of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas have practically inundated some parts of the country. But to throw Seema out of the country to Pakistan will be an inhumane act and will amount to setting a bad example for our great country. She should be given shelter in the country with open arms as no trace has been found against her to have indulged in any clandestine, and inimical activity.