News from States
With assembly polls due in Tamil Nadu, Kerala in two years, South goes into 'study' mode on UPS
The UPS features have put the southern states in a bind as four of them are ruled by opposition parties and have been bogged down by welfare expenditures and additional burden arising out of implementation of pre-poll guarantees. Less than two months ago, Karnataka announced a major increase in salaries of government employees, entailing an additional annual expenditure of Rs 20,206 crore.
Serious labour issues highlighted in Hema Committee report get scant attention
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala film industry has maintained long working hours from earlier times itself to cut down on production costs. For a lighting technician the work begins as early as 6 a.m. and goes on up to 9.30 p.m. on “normal days”.
U.P. govt. to outsource hiring of over 10,000 teachers to ease burden on anganwadi workers
The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to outsource over 10,000 teaching jobs across 75 districts in the State in order to ease the burden on anganwadi workers, who double as playschool teachers for children aged three to six, read an official communication.
In the Courts
B.Ed. Degree Not A Qualification For Primary School Teacher : Supreme Court Reiterates
The Supreme Court has upheld a judgment of the Chattisgarh High Court which quashed the appointments of B.Ed. degree holder candidates as primary school teachers and reiterated that the essential qualification for such appointments is a diploma in Elementary Education.
Supreme Court protects jobs of government employees whose castes, tribes were de-scheduled
The Supreme Court last week protected the jobs of government and bank staffers who got employment on Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe certificates, but whose castes and tribes were later de-scheduled. The judgment by a Bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Sandeep Mehta concerned employees of Canara Bank, Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd., and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. who had secured jobs between 1978 and 1987 based on caste certificates issued by Karnataka.
SC asks Centre to apprise about compliance of 2021 verdict on welfare measures for migrant workers
The suo motu case was registered in 2020 after taking cognizance of problems and miseries of the migrant labourers, and the Court had passed a slew of directions
Women in the Workforce
Informal waste pickers must be brought into the system. They’re critical to circular economy
With a vision to uplift others and bring dignity to the job, she began operating dry waste collection centres in 2016, which were set up by the local municipality with the intention of decentralizing waste management and offering opportunities for informal waste pickers.
Migrant Realities
Migrants Are Going Home, This Time to Save Their Ration
Ironically, the E-KYC verification exercise for removing unwanted beneficiaries (dead, fake, etc) from the food security coverage list is turning out to be a real threat to most of the genuine ration cardholder population, particularly the migrant population. In the recent press conference organised in Delhi by the Right to Food Campaign on the mandatory E-KYC drive, Sumaira, a domestic worker informed the media that she spent ₹ 8,000 to travel to her village in Uttar Pradesh with 7 members of the family to present themselves for verification for the Electronic Know Your Customer (E-KYC) process as their ration card is from UP.
Migrant worker from West Bengal lynched in Haryana, 5 held
Suspecting that the victim had eaten beef, cow vigilantes beat him to death.
Labour Demands
Israel Sees Nationwide Strike as Anger Over Hostages Builds
Israelis took part in labor strikes and protests across the nation in a push to force Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to agree to a cease-fire with Hamas and secure the release of hostages in Gaza. (Source: Associated Press).
Employment News
Most top scientists at ICAR hired through lateral entry since 2007 bypassing reservation norms
More than 2,700 scientists at India’s top farm research body — accounting for an overwhelming majority of senior-level hires at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) – have been recruited through lateral entry since 2007, undermining the goals of the reservation policy, documents accessed by The Hindu reveal.
How is Apple planning to create 6 lakh jobs in India?
With production being shifted from China to India, by the end of this financial year, the iPhone manufacturer will end up creating 6 lakh jobs. Of these, two lakh will be direct jobs, with women forming 70 per cent of the workforce.
AI and Jobs
Latest ILO study links AI to dip in labour income
Inequality is on the rise as the share of labour income has stagnated worldwide and a large share of youth remain out of employment, education, or training, according to the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) World Employment and Social Outlook: September 2024 Update, released in Geneva on Wednesday (September 4, 2024). A major reason for this fall in labour income, according to the report, is artificial intelligence or AI.
Livelihoods
Dhangars in search of legal pastures | Pastoralists versus policy
The fight for grazing rights in Maharashtra’s forests is a matter of survival for the Dhangars, say leaders from the tribal community. The Hindu finds that the shepherds struggle with finding legal pastures for their sheep, even as their migratory way of life ebbs
A brand gets built in rural Bengal
Weavers in Tantipara have witnessed business dwindle in the face of changing markets, cheaper alternatives and the rising costs of raw materials. Younger people have also seen no future in weaving...In the midst of such gloom and despair, Oikko has arrived as a ray of hope. It is the outcome of an effort by AHEAD Initiatives, an NGO that has worked with the weavers and women in the village to combine Tussar with distinctive designs and embroidery to create a brand.
Media Workers
UP govt's digital media policy 'draconian', say journalists' bodies
Journalists' bodies have termed as 'draconian' the Uttar Pradesh government's digital media policy and said it gave sweeping powers to the authorities to declare any content, including legitimate journalistic work posted on social media, as 'anti-social' or 'anti-national'.
Dying at Work
The human cost of factory explosions
On August 21, a blast at Escientia Advanced Sciences, a pharmaceutical manufacturing unit in Anakapalli district of Andhra Pradesh, left 17 people dead and 36 injured. Since 2019, upto 119 industrial accidents have occurred in undivided Visakhapatnam district, of which Anakapalli is a part, leading to the deaths of 120 people. Harish Gilai reports on the alleged negligence and apathy by companies and the precarious lives of workers
Jobseekers
In 11 Days, 11 Die During Fitness Test For Jharkhand Excise Constable Posts
RANCHI: As many as 11 excise constable aspirants have died while hundreds of them suffered exhaustion-related illness during the ongoing physical tests for recruitment to the posts, police said on Sunday. Notably, a recruitment drive for 583 excise constables is being conducted at seven centres in Jharkhand with each centre being allotted 74,400 candidates.
Over 46k grads, post graduates apply for sanitation staff post
BetweenAugust 6 and September 2 this year, 39,990 graduates and over 6,112 postgraduates applied for contractual sanitation worker positions with the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam (HKRN). The job, pays around ₹15,000 a month. Officials said there was little possibility people could have applied for the job mistakenly, pointing out that the job description “clearly outlined the work that was expected of people in the role”.
They came for jobs, lost their kidneys: How 3 foreign nationals lost kidneys in India
Three Bangladeshi citizens fell victim to a kidney trafficking ring in India. Lured by promises of employment, they were instead deprived of their kidneys in the guise of medical examinations. Sedated and helpless, they would regain consciousness 48 hours later. discovering their kidneys had been harvested with a paltry sum of 4 lakh takas deposited into their bank accounts as compensation. The victims received inadequate compensation and have returned.
How Cancellation of OBC Certificates Left Bengal’s Students, Job-Seekers in the Lurch
An intervention application has been filed in the Supreme Court against the Calcutta High Court’s May order cancelling OBC certificates for 77 communities that affects about 5 lakh people. It has been filed by two applicants for govt jobs who are from families of wage labourers, whose OBC reservation status has been struck down by the HC.
IIT Bombay placements: Minimum salary package falls to Rs 4 lakh per annum as only 75% students land jobs
The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-Bombay) saw a rise in average annual salary offered to its students during the 2023-24 placement drive but, the minimum package offered dropped to an all time low of Rs 4 lakh per annum. The placement report for the 2023-24 academic year, also indicated that fewer students compared to last year got placed this time. While in the placement drive of 2022-23, 82 per cent students landed jobs, the numbers stood at nearly 75 per cent this year.