Distraction among IT Professionals: A Humane Approach

An article published recently in a leading daily ‘Cut distraction, increase productivity’ makes one think about the basic rights and freedoms of workers, particularly those who work in IT and related industries. ‘The author sobs as she observes the average employee fritters away 10-15 hours each week in unproductive work, and burns 20 percent of precious work time each day surfing the web’. It seems the intention is to squeeze the human resources maximum by not allowing the workers spend time for leisure. ‘It is also alleged that the biggest distraction at the workplace followed by frequent breaks from work, visits to the water cooler and running personal errands. On an average, 5.6 hours are spent each week in unproductive meetings, and another 1.5 hours is spent sorting through office clutter’.
The people working in the fields of Information Technology, Software development, Business Process Outsourcing, etc, are mostly getting huge salary and allowances. Hence the employers are always thinking about a proportionate return from their employees. Most of these firms are operating in the Special Economic Zones and away from the reign of certain unified labor rules. The nonstop schedule of toil of repeated and strenuous nature leads to the phenomenon of the unproductive works as discussed above. Compared to other fields and sectors these workers need much enjoyment and leisure during work hours. (Remember the employees in the public sector enjoy their working hours though it leads to losses). Even though Human Relations departments are active in the private sector to guard against the depression and strain among workers, its efforts are much overlooked. The lack of Trade Unions and Employment Organizations to fight for the employees’ rights is also a reason for this exploitation. The work culture in tune with the capitalist mode of production in these sectors will just contribute to a disregard to social and political realities and neglect to the downtrodden. The need of the day is that the youths working in IT fields must be given ample opportunities to engage in and conscious about the current socio-political issues, national and local issues at least in their work place, disregarding the said UNPRODUCTIVE FACTORS. In short these professionals need a humane consideration to relieve their frustrations and overtax.

Operation CPI (M)

The communist Party of India (Marxist) is the ruling party in at least three States in India (Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura) and is a foremost coalition partner (support from outside) at the Centre. The party has its own organizational hierarchy (from the Branch Committee to the Politburo) and constitutional frameworks. The past certain months witnessed a strange practice of media attack towards the party, its leaders and its programmes. Even though it is not new in Kerala where the leading dailies and visual media always celebrate the skirmishes within the Communist Party, the new wave is something beyond that.
An impartial assessment of this issue leads to the following reasons for these phenomena:
1. The rotten issues within the CPI M are most widely read. The reason may be the expectation on the part of the public in the prospect of the labor-friendly party. The media in a way take advantage of the readers’ nosiness.
2. The resentment and intolerance among the said bourgeois media on the socialist and progressive views of the Communist Party. Most of the media prefer the rule by the liberal and unorganized Right parties and their partners due to several reasons.
3. The Communist Party leaders and Ministers used to take an indifferent stand towards the media men. The cadre feature of the party keeps the newsmen away from most strategic and diplomatic issues.
4. Another important factor is to be remembered that at least a few publishers are engaged in a commendable task of correcting the illness within the Communist Party. In the state of Kerala and West Bengal many such forums are working with this intention. (most of the volunteers of these corrective forums are the former activists of the Communist Party)
5. The media also disagree with the stringent character of the Communist Party activists particularly in dealing with certain social and political issues. The party has a common habit of defending their fault even after establishing the same as a proven mistake.
6. The Party has its working agenda covertly framed. The media take disclosure of the Communist Party’s secret schedules as a challenge and its circulation a big business.
This incomplete list of conclusion needs further addition. Honorable readers are kindly requested to contribute their findings.

Team India is Bucknored or Marked: Revamp the Umpires

The proceedings in the last Cricket Test between Team India and Champion Australia in the SCG has brought in the feeling that colonialism is still there at least in the game of cricket and in the minds of the hosting team. The performance and spirit shown by the Indian cricket team was exemplary. However that of the officials and the Team Australia was deplorable. The whole match witnessed several irregularities in almost all fields, particularly in umpiring.
The ICC up brings the values like “openness, honesty and integrity”. It says “We work to the highest ethical standards. We do what we say we are going to do, in the way we say we are going to do it”. But the happenings in the Sydney test do not match the aforesaid norm. The dominant character of laxity and indifference shown by the Australians towards all opposition teams in general and niggardly Afro-Asians in particular is well disclosed in the past years. Remember the issues regarding the Srisant saga last year. The Australian practice of dwindling the opponents psychologically through abusing; and showing jesters was well remonstrated by him, though he paid prize for that. It seems that one or two players like him are needed in every team for opposing such practices.
It was just similar incident that happened in the said Test which resulted in the dismissal of Harbhajan. He has been banned for three Tests after being found guilty under level 3 of ICC’s code of conduct, for an alleged ‘monkey comment’ directed at Australian player Andrew Symonds. The same allegation was charged against the Indian audience in the Eden Gardens, Culcutta last year during the Australian Tour of India. In the Sydney issue, the comment (if happened) must be the result of annoyance or disturbance by Symonds to Harbhajan. (The video picture shows a conversation between the two). Symonds is a trump-card for the Australian team as they regularly use this monkey comment or ethnic abuse to upset the opponents. With this complaint the Australians themselves are abusing poor Symonds ethnically.

Poor Umpiring
According to the ICC ‘the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Referees comprises the top umpires in the world. To ensure the highest possible standards and guarantee impartial adjudication, two umpires from the Emirates Elite Panel stand in almost all Test matches around the world. The ICC supports the ongoing development of all international officials through the appointment of Regional Umpiring Performance Managers, by bringing them together for training on an annual basis, by employing a full-time digital video specialist to help review decisions, and by conducting regular reviews in Dubai as they pass through on assignment”. Despite these precautions and trainings the umpires in the Sydney Test behaved like school kids. Nobody felt that they are making proper decisions, particularly on dismissals and no-ball calls. From the part of two umpires Steve Buckner and Mark Benson there was a visible chauvinism towards the unconditional victory of the Home Team. In other words it seems that the outcome of the game was scripted for the invulnerable Australians in advance. Or the umpires might have thought that the Australians are unbeatable by anyone.
Un(fortunately?) these decisions adversely affected the spirit of the game. The ICC should take immediate actions to correct these avoidable mistakes and retain the spirit of game. They must stand for the realization of the objectives:
Respect for our diversity
We are an international organization with a global focus and act at all times without prejudice, fear or favour.
Fairness and equity
We are fair, just and utterly impartial."

Mon. Hercule Poirote's FIR on Benazir Assassination

Mrs. Benazir Bhuto, the former prime minister of Pakistan was shot dead on 27th December by unidentified suicide bombers during her party’s election campaign at Liyakhat Bag. Forgetting all the formal investigations, here the most famous detective the world have ever seen is framing the case and prepares the list of the suspects with their probable motives.

1. Gen. Parvez Musharaf: The Military General who rules (dictates?) the country now is one among the suspects. He is in the list because, with the entry of Benazir as the Prime Minister for the third term, he will loose his all embracing power in the Pakistan polity. At the same time, US offer to him that he will be the civilian President if Benazir be the Prime Minister of Pakistan keeps him away from the list of suspects.
2. Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani: The right hand of Gen. Parvez, Kiyani is the new army general of Pakistan. History tells us, there is the possibility of an instinct hostility of the army chief to the military ruler. With the execution of Benazir, Kiyani can impede the probable advent of democratic rule by the Duo.
3. Javed Cheema: He is the spokesman for the Home Affairs in Pakistan. He denied the charge of providing insufficient security to Mrs. Bhuto. The reason for him being a suspect is that he did not make available the essential security measures (Access Control Protocol) for a VVIP. Benazir was under threat by several terrorist groups.
4. Ameen Faheem: The newly nominated Prime Minister candidate for the PPP, Faheem was the leader of the party from 1998 to October 2007. He was the next successor of Mrs. Bhuto. Also, he survived both the bomb blast and gun attack even though he accompanied her in the rally in the same car.
5. Navaz Sharif: The leader of Muslim League (N), Sharif had strong disagreements with the US-blessed alliance of Mrs. Bhuto and Musharaf. Even though he welcomed Benazir’s demand for a “coalition of interests”, he could never tolerate the entrance of Benazir in the mainstream of Pak polity.
6. Beythullah Mehsood: The Al Khaida chief of Pakistan was against the Benazir’s stand of appeasement towards Bush to combat terrorism. They considered everyone as enemy, who has covert of overt friendship to the US.
7. Arhab Gulam Rahim (The Chief Minister of Sindh), Choudhari Shoukath Azeez (The Chief Minister of Punjab), and Gen. Ejaz Shah (The Chief of Intelligence): These three were the followers of Zia ul huq who was responsible for the pathetic happenings in her family. Hence she believed they will wipe out her too from Pakistan politics.
8. Choudhary Shoukath Azeez and his brother Choudhari Parvez Dilayi: The Prime Minister and his brothers are in the list because, by arriving at Pakistan soil, Mrs. Bhuto told press persons that these two will annihilate her.
The hypothetical findings above are not tested. Hence they are not final. Let Mon. Poirote to do the rest.

A Novel Precedent to Nobel Peace Prize

The announcement of Nobel Peace Prize this year has in fact surprised the world because of its unusual nomination for a scientific body (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and a person who is well known (?) for environmental activism (Albert Arnold Gore Jr). The award was unusual in the sense that, in the past Peace Prize was given for maintaining international peace by bringing in fraternity between nations and communities, for abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding promotion of peace congresses. The criticisms involved in the statements that ‘link between climate change and peace is very remotely made’ and ‘Al Gore is a peace breaker as he partnered Bill Clinton in bombing Kosovo, Afghanistan and Sudan’.
However it seems that the decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee to choose these two delivers a message that the environmental issues are more nagging than that of terrorism and aggression. Though terrorism, violence and all sorts of aggression are live, the whole world community is under the BLACK blanket of global warming. The joint Nobel Award to the IPCC and Gore is thus a pointer to the increasingly apparent maxim in many spheres of human activity that science and public campaign need to go hand in hand if political action at national and international level is required. Given the context of the threat of climate change and its disastrous impacts, one may even squabble that these winners are much more admirable than some former winners of the peace prize. Climate change is a truly unifying phenomenon in that it affects the entire world irrespective of national borders, cultures and political structures.

THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL FOR CLIMATE CHANGE
The IPCC was established in 1988 by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization to provide independent scientific advice on the complex and important issue of climate change. Its mandate was to prepare, on the basis of available scientific information, reports on all aspects relevant to climate change and its impacts and to formulate realistic response strategies. It has a Plenary panel, three Working groups (The science of climate system, Impact and adaptation and Mitigation), a Task force on National greenhouse gas inventories, four units in Technical support (in the UK, the US, the Netherlands and Japan). There are Experts, authors, contributors and reviewers who provide assistance in its working. The IPCC now led by Rajendra K. Pachaouri (present Chairman) has recently reported that “much more evidence has accumulated over the past five years to indicate that changes in physical and biological systems are linked to anthropogenic warming.

(Reference: Frontline, November16, 2007)

Exit to Exit Polls

Nowadays Exit Polls are the usual practice of almost all the media and organizations for getting public attention and huge income from advertisements. Though this technique is used for predicting the public opinion and election results, one must think how far these are sincere and systematic.
This Bloger has a very good experience as a Field Investigator during the 1996 Loksabha Election to the Indian Parliament. The study was sponsored by the Hindu Daily and the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (New Delhi). The Field Investigators (FI) from all over India was given extensive training in two sessions in Chennai and Bangalore. The FIs were the Post Graduate Students and Research Scholars from different Universities. Dr.Yogindra Yadav and Dr. V.B. Singh held the classes who were known psephologists and Fellows of the CSDS. They insisted on the techniques of probing, report building and non-replacement of samples while interviewing.
We had four sessions of survey- Pre-poll, Mid-poll, Exit poll and Post poll. In each session we had to interview the samples already selected from the electoral roll of selected constituencies. Each team of Investigators (preferably consisting of a boy and a girl) had to interview 30 to 32 respondents with a questionnaire translated into the regional language.
The CSDS provided the FIs with the signed copies of ID by the Chief Election Commissioner. Hence we were allowed to stay just outside the polling stations with the permission of the Presiding Officer. We had to meet the voters who were coming out of the booth after exercising their franchise at three spells- 7 to 8 AM, 12 to 1 PM, and 4 to 5 PM. We met every fifth voter and gave them the dummy ballot paper and stamp seal, asked them to do secret vote and collected them in a dummy ballot box. In the evening we counted the votes and filled the spread sheet already provided by the CSDS. Then the sheets were sent to the Head Quarters through fax from the concerned district Collectoratre.
The next day the Hindu daily published the results. The Doordarshan telecasted a live programme with Dr. Yogindra Yadav and Mr. Pranoy Roy (NDTV Fame). The prediction was much accurate and study contributed to valid observations and findings on the prospect of Indian democracy and the political culture of the people of India.

The Views, Reviews and Rear Views on Reservation

REAR VIEWS
In a Malayalam movie ‘Mayoogham’ directed by well versed director Hariharan, there is a scene in which the hero who belongs to Brahmin community shouts at the interviewers during an interview. Issue starts when one of the interviewers anxiously asks the reason why he has put the column for showing community empty. The hero says he is backward. By recognizing his communal identity he is asked to quit. Then he argues that you should select the candidate only by counting his merit. Later he is imprisoned for six months for the serious misbehavior and for assaulting the officials in the interview board. When he returns he becomes an anti-social and criminal.
Assam reported its most shameful incident in recent times on November 24 when a teenaged adivasi girl, stripped naked by some youths during mob violence, ran for dear life on street in Guahati with her attackers chasing her in full public view. The girl had come to the city for the first time; participate in the All Adivasi Students’ Association of Assam (AASAA) rally taken out by the Adivasi student body to press for the inclusion of Santhal Adivasis and the Tea Tribes in the list of Scheduled Tribes.
Right to Equality in the Part III (Fundamental Rights) of the Indian Constitution prohibits discrimination on the ground of religion, caste, sex, etc. It provides for equality of opportunity in public employment. However the situation of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other socially and educationally backward communities were so bad that they needed additional attention in 40s and 50s. That was why the Indian Constitution involved ‘reservation’ and ‘protective discrimination’. Later, the recommendations of the Mandal Commission were approved by the V P Singh Government during 1989. The result was overall reservation of 50% to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and socially and educationally Backward.
The 104th Amendment of the Indian Constitution in 2007 is for bringing in quota system for non governmental educational institutions. The impact of this is an online forum to resist this move and submit a petition against this Amendment in the Honorable Supreme Court.

VIEWS
The above posted documentation is an evidence of the existing confrontations regarding Reservation. One must agree that the situations of the downtrodden in the pre independent India forced the constitution framers to adopt special measures to secure them. The previous census reports show that 41% of the population belongs to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. There needs a review of the past 60 years of reservation to the SCs, STs, and OBCs. At the same time there must be attempts to reveal the present conditions of the said Forward/General category. Presently in most of the non-governmental, government aided and self financing institutions are populated with the said general categories. They do not have any other option than to pay big amounts as bribe for getting a respectable job. The irony is that there are several ‘not joining posts’ in the government sector exclusively reserved for the Backward. The politicians are always looking for the huge vote bank consisting of the backward communities. Though the reservation and protective discrimination aimed at achieving absolute equality (probably improbable) the outcome is absolute inequality.

REVIEWS
The alternatives and suggestions for this confrontation are listed below:

• Reservation should be reviewed and only after systematic assessment of the target groups, it can be implemented.
• Refurnish the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Class list by conducting surveys on their present social and educational conditions.
• The communities which are getting ineligible consideration in the national level are to be eliminated from the list.
• The quota of such displaced communities should be given to general.
• Since the backwardness is to be measured on the basis of educational and social status the general category should also get reckoned for this in the present century.
• At least for the most strategic and selected posts, reservation should be lifted.
• Reservation most of the time makes even the qualified backwards inferior. Hence it can be made optional for the candidates when they apply for the post.
SUGGESTIONS ARE INVITED.......