Harassment', long hours of work driving KSRTC crew to suicide?

Harassment’, long hours of work driving KSRTC crew to suicide?

S. Rajendran

‘Working conditions have deteriorated after KSRTC was split’

Gaikwad

BANGALORE: The number of suicide cases involving employees of the four government bus corporations in the State over what has been alleged as harassment by their superiors and long hours of work, is on the rise.

The family of Vijaykumar (48), a senior driver of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), is in dire straits after he committed suicide on the premises of the Mangalore depot of the corporation in July. He had put in 18 years of service in the KSRTC.

“He was a bachelor and the sole breadwinner of the family. After his death, I and my two sisters have been left in the lurch. Even his Provident Fund and gratuity have not been settled since he had nominated his mother for the benefits. She too passed away soon after his death,” his brother Ganesh told The Hindu.

The KSRTC has refused to give any of the family members a job on compassionate grounds. The family lives in a small house at Kaniyoor in Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada. No action has been taken against the divisional security inspector and a traffic inspector who had reportedly harassed and assaulted Vijaykumar on several occasions.

Conductor Chandrakantha of Shimoga was working in Gulbarga Division.

He drank poison while on duty and died unable to bear the alleged harassment by a traffic inspector. Gaikwad, senior driver of the Bijapur depot, committed suicide in the depot on February 16 by hanging.

In a suicide note, he stated that he was harassed by the depot manager. The authorities have not even questioned the manager concerned or any other officer.

Harishchandra, a caretaker at NWKRTC, committed suicide at the divisional workshop in Bijapur for similar reasons.

Several others, who had attempted suicide, have escaped death, thanks to medical intervention. On October 12, driver Athaulla attempted suicide in Kolar after he was “chased” by members of a checking squad of the KSRTC.

Driver Jagannatha of Kolar Division also attempted suicide in August. On October 23, M. Chandrappa, conductor, drank poison in the chamber of the Shimoga Depot manager and was rushed to hospital. Conductor Pavitra drank poison while on duty because of alleged harassment. She survived after medical intervention and is now facing a case of attempt to suicide.

Six drivers and conductors committed suicide in the past six years and 15 more attempted suicide. “It is a sad story of a government-run agency harassing its employees with an eye on making profit,” the KSRTC Staff and Workers’ Federation told The Hindu.

General Secretary of the federation H.V. Ananthasubba Rao said that working conditions had deteriorated after KSRTC was split.

“The strength of staff to bus ratio is one of the least in the KSRTC and the other three corporations. While it is 4.8 personnel for every government bus in the State, the ratio in Tamil Nadu is 6.5; it is 6.5 in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi Transport Corporation has 11, while BEST, Mumbai, has nine. Added to all this, there is no grievance settlement mechanism in such a mammoth corporation,” he said.

Managing Director of the KSRTC Gaurav Gupta said: “The government bus corporations maintain 40 per cent additional crew than really required to meet exigencies, including leave and weekly offs of employees. Suicides could always be for various reasons and will be looked into. We have an active labour welfare wing which is in touch with bus crew and conduct home visits and counselling wherever required. The bus-staff ratio here is reasonable.”

 

U.S. exporting recession to the world, says Stiglitz

U.S. exporting recession to the world, says Stiglitz

Special Correspondent

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Every successful economy is a market economy

There is need to design a new global system

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— Photo: V.V. Krishnan

Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz at the 10th D.T. Lakdawala memorial lecture on ‘Crises Today and the Future of Capitalism,’ in New Delhi on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz on Saturday urged India and China to use the G-20 forum to press for a change in the global financial architecture that has been so disastrous for the world.

Describing the developed world’s decision to consult the G-20 as a positive outcome of the global meltdown, he was of the view that the two countries should also speak for the 152 countries which were not invited to the meeting.

Delivering the 10th D. T. Lakdawala memorial lecture on ‘Crises Today and the Future of Capitalism,’ the noted economist said the problem – essentially a U.S. export – had to be tackled globally. India and China, he added, had not suffered much from the meltdown because they did not liberalise their capital and financial markets despite U.S. nudging the two countries in this direction “just so that you could experience what we did!”

Arguing that every successful economy is a market economy, Professor Stiglitz pointed out that the problem lay in the way it evolved in the U.S. which privatised profits and socialised losses. “That is not capitalism,” he said, advocating a balance between the market and the government. Referring to the fear that too much regulation would stifle innovation, his counter was that a good regulatory system would actually encourage innovation.

Globalisation, according to the economist, had failed primarily because it was based on a flawed economic ideology.

Making out a case for a global regulatory authority, he said there was a need to design a new global system to develop immunity or at least limit the consequences of failure. Failure was contagious in the present brand of globalisation as a result of which the U.S. was exporting its recession to the rest of the world.

While there was recognition of the importance of a coordinated global fiscal and monetary response, he said the required reforms went deeper, and included creating a new global reserve system and a new global financial regulatory authority. And he underlined that globalisation had to ensure the maximum good for the maximum numbers and not just the privileged few who got richer under the existing regime.

Holding forth for nearly two hours, the former chief economist of the World Bank carried the audience along right through; punctuating his lecture – organised by Institute of Social Sciences – with digs galore at the U.S., particularly the Bush administration and its response to the crisis. The International Monetary Fund, too, came in for criticism for going around the world lobbying for deregulation like the United States.

About bailout packages, he likened it to giving mass blood transfusion to a patient who was haemorrhaging internally. Worse, he added, there was still no change in the mindset. As for American banks’ refrain on self-regulation, Professor Stiglitz said: “Self-regulation is an oxymoron. Banks said they knew how to manage risk and needed no regulation. What they knew was how to create risk. There is so much of blame to go around that they can all lay claim to it.”

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'Guide would not have had to be shot twice, if produced now'

'Guide would not have had to be shot twice, if produced now'

Panaji, Nov 30 (PTI) Veteran actor Dev Anand has said he would not have had to shoot his film 'Guide' twice deleting certain content, if it was produced in the current days.
"Guide was made in two versions. One was American, based on the Novel by R K Narayan. Indian version was not the book one and had to change as there was little adultery content which was not considered as ethical during those times," Dev Anand told PTI.

Anand was felicitated at International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2008 on Saturday here in presence of Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat, Actor Jackie Shroff and festival director S M Khan.

"Certain part of the American version dealt with adultery so we had to shoot the film once again," Anand said.

The 1965 movie starring Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman was directed by Vijay Anand, who had also contributed in the screenplay. A 120-minute US version was made with additional direction and writings. The US version was produced by Ted Danielswki.

"Now the country is ready for such subject matter and things are already being discussed on television and films," the veteran actor said.

These changes in outlook may be because of globalisation, he said.

Talking about his forthcoming film, 'Chargesheet', Dev Anand refused to talk much as according to him he would like to keep "suspense" over the film.

"It's a suspense thriller," he said, refusing to divulge the star-cast in it. "There are some new faces and old ones too," he added. PTI

 

Ironic, we eased just before being hit by terror: Ratan Tata

Ironic, we eased just before being hit by terror: Ratan Tata

New York, Nov 30 (PTI) It is "ironic" that extra security measures, taken after being warned of a possible terror strike, were eased just before the terrorists assaulted the landmark Taj hotel, Tata group chief Ratan Tata said.
"It's ironic that we did have such a warning, and we did have some measures (for the additional security)," Tata told US news channel CNN from Mumbai.

The over 100-years-old iconic hotel stands mutilated in the financial capital of India after about 60-hour long siege by terrorists who indulged in arson and explosion before being gunned down by NSG guards yesterday morning.

Post attack, Tata rued that crisis infrastructure was "woefully poor" and the attacks revealed deficiencies in the law enforcement, especially in areas of crisis response and management.

"We are indignant but not scared," he quipped.

Although he did not elaborate on the additional security measures, Tata felt even these steps could not have prevented the terrorists from entering the hotel.

Speaking to CNN's Fareed Zakaria, he said that "people could not park their cars in the portico, where you had to go through a metal detector" due to the additional security.

".... If I look at what (measures) we had (enacted)... It could not have stopped what took place," Tata said, adding that the attackers did not come through the front door, where additional security measures had been temporarily enacted.

"They did not come through that entrance.. They came from somewhere in the back... They knew what they were doing and they did not go through the front. All of our arrangements were in the front. PTI

 

Sacked worker kills Indian-American CEO in US

An Indian-American CEO of a semiconductor company was shot dead along with two other persons by a laid-off employee of the firm in northern California, police said.

Sid Agrawal, the chief executive officer of SiPort Inc, the company's vice president of operations Brian Pugh and an unidentified woman was killed when several rounds were fired on the premises of the firm in Santa Clara on Friday.

Police said investigators are searching for Jing Hua Wu, 47, in connection with the shooting.

Jing worked as a lead product test engineer for the four-year-old firm, media reports here said. Police said he had recently been laid off from the company and investigators are exploring that as a possible motive in the shooting.

It is believed that a handgun was used in the shooting, a police official told reporters.

Police released a description of the vehicle in which Jiang is believed to have fled and launched a manhunt for him.

According to his biography in the company's website, Agrawal had more than 25 years of experience at startup and established high-technology companies, including at Adobe, Intel and Bell Labs.

He held a degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT-Kanpur, an MS degree from Southern Illinois University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

'No thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers': Obama

'No thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers': Obama

Chicago, Nov 16 (PTI) The "greatest economic challenge of our time" has taught him that "we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers," US President-elect Barack Obama has said, signalling that he plans to overhaul the American financial markets.
"If this financial crisis has taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers -- in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people," Obama said in his second radio address after his historic election to America's top office on November 4, indicating his resolve to clean-up the current mess in the US financial sector.

In his message coinciding with G-20 summit, Obama noted the leaders of the world's largest economies were seeking solutions to the "ongoing turmoil in our financial markets." In his pre-poll speeches, Obama has said he sees an overhaul of Wall Street regulations as crucial to restoring trust in US markets.

The housing-market meltdown and credit crisis that have pushed the US economy to the brink of a recession have led to debates in Washington over how US regulations could be revamped to head off future crises.

Backing incumbent President George W Bush for initiating the meeting, the 47-year-old Democrat senator said the global economic crisis required a coordinated global response.

"Make no mistake: this is the greatest economic challenge of our time. And while the road ahead will be long, and the work will be hard, I know that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis -- because here in America we always rise to the moment, no matter how hard," he said and voiced confidence that the American economy would be revived soon.

"I am more hopeful than ever before that America will rise once again," he said, stressing the US government should act in concert with other nations. PTI

 

Chidambaram asks US, Europe to 'set their house in order'

Chidambaram asks US, Europe to 'set their house in order'

Washington, Nov 15 (PTI) Finance Minister P Chidambaram has asked the US and Europe to "set their house in order" to reverse the impact of the financial crisis on economies worldwide and help capital to flow back to developing nations.
"If they (US and Europe) set their house in order, surely capital will flow back to developing countries...Credit will flow back and things will be much better", he said in an interview to business news channel NDTV Profit ahead of the G-20 Summit here.

The Minister further said, "What India wants is that the country where this crisis originated...The US and some countries in Europe must do all that is necessary to reverse the impact of the crisis of the global economy, especially the economies of the developing countries".

Asked about the ways to encourage capital flow back to developing countries, Chidambaram said, "We do not have to do anything more. What we have had in place was enough to attract capital in the last three years. What is happening now is because of what is happening in their countries." PTI