News from States
Manipur’s Moonlighters: Working all day, on Bunker Shift at Night
Caption: A battle-ready 21-year-old who works as a delivery agent for an e-commerce company (left). Two boys dig mud to build a bunker wall in the conflict zone. (right)
The grim security situation in the conflict zone compels the youth to find ways to defend their villages. “Today we are rebuilding this home, but as a bunker,” says Pao [name changed], who works as a delivery boy for four days during the week, and for the remaining three days, he defends his village, Langza, nestled amidst the hills of Manipur.
Mizoram: 17 dead as under-construction railway bridge collapses in Sairang
Guwahati: At least 26 workers were reportedly killed as an under-construction railway bridge over the Kurung River in Mizoram collapsed. During the incident, 17 workers who fell under the debris died on the spot while more than 30 others are feared being trapped under the rubble.
Jobless Haryana men have a new mission in Muslim hate. ‘They think cow protection is govt job’
All this hate did not come out of the blue. In recent months, the jobless men in Jatwas have wandered aimlessly on empty afternoons carrying their smartphones, after getting rejected by the Army and police in entrance exams. Idle minds have turned into WhatsApp workshops. Bhagat Singh is fast being replaced by Monu Manesar as group DPs. And WhatsApp groups have given them a new purpose – Muslim hate.
Layoffs and Hirings
Times Internet hands out pink slips to 200 employees
In a major layoff, India’s leading media conglomerate Times Group has handed over pink slips to over 200 employees, sources privy to the development told e4m. All of them have been working with the Times Internet, the digital arm of Bennett Coleman and Co Ltd. (BBCL). Only 5% of workforce has been reduced, says the company
Byju’s trims 400 more jobs post performance reviews
Edtech platform Byju’s has reportedly let go of around 400 employees, following a performance review process, though the company’s official statement says that only 100 individuals were affected. The platform claims that the move is not a cost-cutting measure but a weeding out of non-performers. Byju’s emphasises that the post-sale division remains unaffected and has even recruited 200 new professionals in the past two months to strengthen it.
FCRA licence crackdown has plunged India’s non-profit sector into a crisis
Over 100 organisations have lost their licences in seven months with no clarity on what this means for their workers, the economy and the crucial work they do. Approximately 4,000 people at CARE, one of the larger global non-profits operating in India, were reportedly rendered unemployed versus the 2,500 people at Byju’s.
Expleo to double workforce in India, hire 5,000 people in 2.5 years
French IT company Expleo's Indian arm plans to more than double its workforce in the country by hiring around 5,000 people over a period of two-and-a-half years, a senior official of the company said. Expleo Solutions CEO and MD Balaji Viswanathan, who heads India business, told PTI that the company sees growth primarily on account of expansion of business in the US.
Employment News
Why medical college teachers without MBBS are protesting against NMC’s faculty norms
There are nearly 3,000 MSc & PhD holders across medical colleges who teach non-clinical subjects to MBBS students. Medical education regulator National Medical Commission has reduced their allotted numbers. Prior to 2020, up to 30 percent of faculty members in medical colleges, who taught various pre-clinical subjects to first and second-year students, did not have MBBS degrees. The NMC in 2020, however, said that it wanted to shift the curriculum towards competency-based learning for MBBS students through clinical exposure from the first-year itself, and thus non-MBBS candidates teaching the subjects would have to be eased out.
UP: 'Dreams Shattered', Around 17 Lakh B.Ed Graduates Disappointed by SC Judgment
On August 11, the Supreme Court upheld the verdict of the Rajasthan High Court, which deemed Bachelor of Education graduates ineligible to teach in primary sections. Rajasthan HC in 2018 had quashed an earlier NCTE notification, making B.Ed graduates ineligible to apply for primary education teaching posts. The issue traces back to 2018 when the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) issued a notification suggesting that B.Ed graduates would be eligible to apply for primary school teaching (Class 1-5) in addition to the other secondary and senior secondary education that already fell under their parameters. According to the State government, there are 85,152 vacant posts for headmasters and assistant teachers compared to the sanctioned posts of 4,17,886 in council primary schools under the purview of the Basic Education Council. For upper primary schools, out of the sanctioned 1,62,198 posts, 41,338 posts for headmasters and assistant teachers remain vacant.
Unemployment, Poverty, Inflation Among Biggest Problems for Indian Youth: Survey
New Delhi: Nearly 36% Indians in the 15-34 year age group believe unemployment is the biggest problem in the country, a recent survey by Lokniti-CSDS has found. The survey was conducted to analyse career aspirations, job preferences, and expectations of young Indians, the Indian Express reported. The survey – conducted in 18 states with a sample size of 9,316 respondents – also found that about one in six Indians or 16% think the biggest problem is poverty, 13% think it is inflation, 6% think it is corruption while 4% identified problems in education and high population.
Tailpiece
Surat jail inmates polish 25,000 diamonds a month
SURAT: Their stars may not be shining as bright, but every stone they pick up to work upon, sparkles like a diamond. With that vision to perfection Lajpore Central Jail inmates have successfully been producing over 25,000 pieces of small-size natural diamonds every month. As many as 107 prisoners are working as diamond polishers behind bars in the jail's polishing unit. The prisoner artisan have been trained for various types of cut and polishing work and earn up to Rs 20,000 every month depending upon the work and the profile of their jobs.
Analysis
Express View on CMIE data: A dissonant note
An Indian Express analysis of employment data sourced from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), has shown that India’s workforce has rapidly aged over the past seven years...(it) has aged so much that the share of people 45 years and older has gone from one-third to almost one-half. Another way to look at this result is that the Indian youth is increasingly getting driven out of the job market.
Bonded Labour
On India’s 77th Independence Day, Driven By Poverty, Caste, Millions Of Migrant Workers Live As Modern Slaves
500,000 men and women migrate to work as bonded labourers from a single region of western Odisha. As part of a nine-month investigation into a thriving bonded labour economy along the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh /Telangana migratory route, Article 14 travelled extensively through the KBK region between September 2022 and February 2023.
“Once you take an advance, you are bound to work until you have not fulfilled the target,” Chitrasen and Gaurav Bhoi told Article 14. “You can’t leave even if there is an illness or death in the family.” Wage rates for those who took advances were also considerably lower—Rs 600 per 1,000 bricks. Those who worked without an advance were paid up to Rs 800.
A Crackdown Fails To Curb Modern Slavery: India’s Bonded Labourers Endure Inhuman Conditions As Traffickers Take New Risks
Part 2: The sardars or labour contractors who traffic migrant workers from Odisha to brick kilns in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were hit hard by a post-pandemic police operation.They responded swiftly by registering a small fraction of recruits as mandated by law, shifting a fifth of their workers to bus routes to avoid interception on trains, and avoided hosting visiting kiln owners in the major trafficking hub towns of the Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput region.
No Housing, No Toilets, No Medical Care, No Schooling: Bonded Labourers Face Assault, Sexual Violence, Denial Of Rights
Photo caption: Women haulage workers from Odisha at a brick kiln on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam. Women workers carry the unbaked bricks on their heads to the furnace, sometimes working 10-12 hours a day.
Part 3: 500,000 men and women who migrate from western Odisha work in modern slavery in the brick kilns of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh that openly flout numerous labour laws. Women bathe, relieve themselves in the open. Children not only miss school but are often made to work for free. Workers face dire health risks from fly ash, coal dust in kilns not regulated by pollution control boards.
Quacks For Mishaps, Reprisals For Runaways: Brick Kiln Workers Face Lifelong Collateral Damage To Health & Early Death
Part 4: On site accidents leave bonded labourers in brick kilns dead or impaired for life. They suffer from respiratory diseases, skin infections and chronic fatigue, all treated with a range of antibiotics and other drugs administered by unqualified, unlicensed medical practitioners. By the age of 50, most can no longer work and attempt to flee from worksites, only to be tracked down, brought back forcibly, threatened and assaulted. Concluding part of four-part investigative series on modern slavery.