I am using Google Reader a lot, and by way of giving something back to it, made a post there, and is cross-posted here-
"I think I should share some news from here at India.
From The Times of India:
In Coimbatore, workers affiliated to Marxist-Leninist group hit Roy J. George on the head with iron rods and killed him. He was an alumnus of IIT-Calcutta, VP (Human Resources) at Pricol. Pricol is not just another ordinary company, it employs thousands, and this is generally bad news for industry in Coimbatore. People are generally anti-corporate, pro equality.
It seems that Chandrayan, the prematurely expired moon mission, is not such a great disaster- in fact, it could be that announcement of a major discovery is in the offing- Did Chandrayan find Water in the Moon?, the newspaper speculates- if you are imaginative you could wonder if it did find some Martian or Moony, but the fact is, ISRO and NASA have scheduled an announcement at NASA headquarters on Thursday, something big is coming up.
There is a bit of background info about Kobad Gandhy, the arrested Naxalite. He is a son of a MD in a MNC, educated at Doon School, St Xaviers College, Mumbai and studied accountancy in England. He showed a tendency towards delinquency at an early age, when he stole an expensive gold watch and gave it away to a servant. Why would a young man from a rich family walk away from it and try to found a classless society through revolutinary activities, is the implied query. Who knows!
P, Chidambaram, the Home Minister, is pained at the lack of traffic sense among the people of Delhi, where Commonwealth games are to be held. The High Commissioner of Mauritius is quoted as saying, 'Delhi drivers are very bad. They do not drive in lanes', and P. Chidambaram is quoted, 'We must behave as citizens of a big, good, international city'. The headline screams, 'Mind your manners, PC tells Delhiites'- I though it was about not littering the streets and things like that.
The New Indian Express:
A study in Chennai finds that 51 per cent of young men and 56 per cent of young women support the idea of beating a wife by way of disciplining her. I don't believe it- '38 per cent women believe they deserve to be beaten if they do not agree with their husbands... Among married women, 43 per cent justify being beaten if they fail to inform their husbands while going out'- overactive imagination, or Chennai women are masochists. Mine is not, definitely not.
This one looks good: 'Sonia word for Tharoor: Stick to Tweet Nothings'. Sashi Tharoor, the failed UN Secretary General, tweeted that economy class passengers in airlines are all cattle class- and promptly got into trouble. He has been warned to not even jokingly hurt public sentiments.
That's it."
From The Times of India:
In Coimbatore, workers affiliated to Marxist-Leninist group hit Roy J. George on the head with iron rods and killed him. He was an alumnus of IIT-Calcutta, VP (Human Resources) at Pricol. Pricol is not just another ordinary company, it employs thousands, and this is generally bad news for industry in Coimbatore. People are generally anti-corporate, pro equality.
It seems that Chandrayan, the prematurely expired moon mission, is not such a great disaster- in fact, it could be that announcement of a major discovery is in the offing- Did Chandrayan find Water in the Moon?, the newspaper speculates- if you are imaginative you could wonder if it did find some Martian or Moony, but the fact is, ISRO and NASA have scheduled an announcement at NASA headquarters on Thursday, something big is coming up.
There is a bit of background info about Kobad Gandhy, the arrested Naxalite. He is a son of a MD in a MNC, educated at Doon School, St Xaviers College, Mumbai and studied accountancy in England. He showed a tendency towards delinquency at an early age, when he stole an expensive gold watch and gave it away to a servant. Why would a young man from a rich family walk away from it and try to found a classless society through revolutinary activities, is the implied query. Who knows!
P, Chidambaram, the Home Minister, is pained at the lack of traffic sense among the people of Delhi, where Commonwealth games are to be held. The High Commissioner of Mauritius is quoted as saying, 'Delhi drivers are very bad. They do not drive in lanes', and P. Chidambaram is quoted, 'We must behave as citizens of a big, good, international city'. The headline screams, 'Mind your manners, PC tells Delhiites'- I though it was about not littering the streets and things like that.
The New Indian Express:
A study in Chennai finds that 51 per cent of young men and 56 per cent of young women support the idea of beating a wife by way of disciplining her. I don't believe it- '38 per cent women believe they deserve to be beaten if they do not agree with their husbands... Among married women, 43 per cent justify being beaten if they fail to inform their husbands while going out'- overactive imagination, or Chennai women are masochists. Mine is not, definitely not.
This one looks good: 'Sonia word for Tharoor: Stick to Tweet Nothings'. Sashi Tharoor, the failed UN Secretary General, tweeted that economy class passengers in airlines are all cattle class- and promptly got into trouble. He has been warned to not even jokingly hurt public sentiments.
That's it."
You can't say that coimbatoreans are anti-corporate. It may be true with 80's Coimbatore but not anymore. Pricol is having labour trouble for nearly 2 years now. Though sacking of 42 employees in their Kuniamuthur plant is cited as the reason for this incident, it was building up.
ReplyDeleteIt's difficult to say who is at fault for the trouble but end of the day it cost the life of a top professional and happiness of his family. One must say that the company paid a very heavy price for its steadfastness.
Pricol union tried to create sympathy among general public by putting up posters and hoardings all around the city but it hardly evinced any from Coimbatoreans. What happened was pure goondaism and not an idealogy based act.
Balajhi, thanks for the comment. I was typing in a hurry and did not think twice about what I was saying. That is no excuse, still, sorry.
ReplyDeleteBut then, most of us are suspicious about industry, management etc., right? Politicians are the one on the pulse, and it is enshrined in our constitution that we are a socialist republic, I think.
Let's remove that word, and we might know the truth about the attitude we have towards profit.
Coimbatore has a history of trade unionism. But then it has certainly thinned away. Whatever remains has no sting. Take Pricol's case. The company was functioning despite the labour trouble. They were able to meet their demand. Striking people were in minority. Think about lakhs who have lost job in Coimbatore in the last one year. Did anyone hear any noise from any quarter? People have learnt that trade union politics will get them no where. They needed to look no farther than Palakkad and Kerala which was shunned by Industry, to realise this fact. Socialism is fine but not trade union politics.
ReplyDeleteWhatever suspicion is there is there everywhere. Coimbatore is no different on that front.
I agree with you, but how can a small minority of violent people hold all the others at ransom? There seems to be a structural failure somewhere. Anyway, it is painful to see that an innocent man has lost his life- he was just doing his job.
ReplyDeleteBas that's the state of affairs in India. It's the minority of politicains and bureaucrats who control majority of Indians. Hooligans and thugs always evoke fear in the mind of ordinary people. My point is despite the threat and fear Pricol was functioning for the last one year except for a period when it closed down due to violence. If 10 indulge in violence surely 1000 people will run away. These 1000 run away because of fear and not because they believe in trade union practices.
ReplyDeleteTrade unions may have been founded with high ideals but they end up being barricades on the road to growth for both companies and employees. And Coimbatore has realised this long back and is not anymore on the left bandwagon. Communist won only because of alliance and that too due to some old sympathisers who may form some 5% of Cbe population.
The attack seems more like any other murder that is taking place in this country. There are rumours that police were present near or at premises. Despite that this has happened. May be our policemen are as spineless as general public, if they were present.
ReplyDeleteyes, balajhi, if the unions speak as much about responsibilities as rights, we will all be a lot better- may be our business should sponsor union people to take a management course or two- that will definitely improve the matters.
ReplyDeleteIt's about attitude bas. An MBA won't take them where common sense did not. In fact they will study and twist management teachings to suit their words. When it doesn't they will just ditch it and stick to their positions. Employees need a mechanism to safeguard themselves from avaricious owners but trade union has not proven to be the right mechanism. It has taken the wrong way of threats and violence. Nothing wrong in fighting for a cause but going to the extent of injuring / killing people is not on.
ReplyDelete