Nov 25 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)

Labour Laws to be Recast into Five Codes

Yogima Sharma

New Delhi:





TO ENSURE CLARITY All the existing 44 laws will be reclassified into these categories, marking another step in the series of labour reforms

The government plans to push through labour reforms by revamping existing laws into five broad codes dealing with key issues, as recommended by a panel more than a decade ago, to introduce uniformity of terms and definitions and remove anomalies.All the existing 44 laws will be reclassified into these categories, marking another step in the series of labour reforms kickstarted by the BJP government aimed at redefining them and bringing about greater clarity . The government's plan is based on the Second National Labour Commission's report of 2002, which suggested there should be five groups of laws pertaining to industrial relations, wages, social security, safety and welfare, and working conditions.
The ministry has set up an inter-ministerial group for this, which is scheduled to hold its first meeting on Wednesday .
“We have prepared a draft on the five codes on labour laws based on the recommendations of the Second National Commission on Labour and this will now be reviewed by the inter-ministerial group set up for the purpose before we come up with a final note,“ a senior labour ministry official told ET, requesting anonymity .
According to an official, this will bring about clarity in the ut clarity in the laws.“This is pro-labour as well because the labourer would now find it eas ier to seek re course under the standard def initions and the introduction of uniform codes would remove differences existing across 44 acts governing employment of labour in the country as of now,“ the official added. The commission was of the view that the coverage as well as the definition of the term `worker' should be the same in all groups of laws, subject to the stipulation that social security benefits must be available to employees, including administrative, managerial, supervisory and others excluded from the category of workmen or not treated as workmen.The inter-ministerial group will be chaired by the additional secretary in Ministry of Labour and Employment and will include representatives from Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, textiles, commerce and the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises.

Nov 25 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

Being in power can change the way you speak, says study

Washington PTI





Being in a position of power can fundamentally change the way you speak, altering basic acoustic properties of your voice, a new study has found.“Our findings suggest that whether it’s parents attempting to assert authority over unruly children or negotiations between heads of states, the sound of voices involved may profoundly determine the outcome of those interactions,” said psychological scientist Sei Jin Ko of San Diego State University.
The researchers were inspired by former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher to investigate the relationship between acoustic cues and power. “It was quite well known that Thatcher had gone through extensive voice coaching to exude a more powerful persona,” said Ko.
In the first experiment, researchers recorded 161 college students reading a passage aloud. The participants were then randomly assigned them to play a specific role in an ensuing negotiation exercise.
The researchers found that the voices of students assigned to high-power roles tended to go up in pitch, become more monotone, and become more variable in loudness than the voices of students assigned low-power roles. In second experiment, a separate group of college students were able to pick up on these power-related vocal cues to determine who did and did not have power.

Nov 24 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi) `Hubbies, not kids, ruin women's careers' Melbourne: AGENCIES   A new study has revealed that highachieving women are not meeting their career goals they set for themselves in their 20s because of their husbands, and not children.The authors interviewed 25,000 men and women who graduated from Harvard Business School over the past several decades and found that the `opt-out' explanation is a `opt-out' explanation is a myth because women are allowing their partners' careers to take precedence over their own, News.com.au reported. Among Gen X and baby boom ers they surveyed, only 11 per cent of women stopped working to be full-time mums, while 74 per cent of them, who are currently 32-48 and in the prime of their child-rearing years, work full time, an average of 52 hours a week. When they graduated, more than half of male HBS grads said they expected their careers would take precedence over their partners', but only 7 per cent of Gen X women and 3 per cent of baby boomer women said they expected their careers to take precedence. The study also found that the majority of women said they as sumed they would have egalitarian marriages in which both spouses' careers were taken equally seriously . About 40 per cent of Gen X and boomer women said their spouses' careers took priority over theirs, while only about 20 per cent of them had planned on their careers taking a back seat. However, more than 70 per cent of Gen X and boomer men say their careers are more important than their wives' and a full 86 per cent of Gen X and boomer men said their wives take primary responsibility for child care.

Nov 24 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)

CITY CITY BANG BANG - Swachh: The Symbolism Of Symbolism?

SANTOSH DESAI





Every day brings a new photograph, with newer and increasingly minor celebrities finding a street that has enough dirt that can be picked up on a camera, and swishing away at it with a broom. The act of affirming one’s belief in the PM’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan now comes with a prescribed protocol, which is why the alleged cleaning takes place in exactly one way. The same kind of broom coming in fleeting contact with the same kind of dirt, with one main protagonist accompanied by the same kind of hangers-on.It is tempting to conclude that the entire programme is a giant PR exercise awash in empty symbolism but that might not be warranted. The seriousness of the programme has little to do with celebrities using it as a photo-op, and it would be unfair to connect the two directly. But it raises some interesting questions about the uses of symbolism in today’s times. Given that the Modi government has a sophisticated understanding of symbolism and an ability to use it powerfully, the launch of an ambitious programme like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan becomes an interesting site to examine the uses and limitations of the symbolic.
When Narendra Modi wielded a broom and signalled the launch of the movement, it was without question, an act of symbolism. To ask if he was in fact cleaning ‘real’ dirt is meaningless, for his role was to send a message, something that his actions communicated quite effectively. But the purpose of symbolism cannot be to breed more symbolism but for it to lead to action. Symbols become powerful only when they point to something outside of themselves that is real, and not towards more symbols.
When celebrities across the country start replicating the symbolic rather than act upon it, there is a danger of the entire effort becoming farcical. In a world where representation is increasingly becoming a substitute of reality, where tweeting an opinion gets mistaken for actually doing something in the real world, the danger of noble intentions becoming confused with effective action is a real one. Symbols literally read and dutifully replicated multiply emptiness, rather than deliver change.
Some would argue that the very idea of locating the movement of this kind in the discretionary actions of individuals is by itself nothing but tokenism. A problem like cleanliness is not about individual intent but systemic overhaul. For this effort to work, a massive task of building infrastructure across a wide number of sectors, creating enabling administrative mechanisms and creating demand for public sanitation are some of the many complex problems that will need to be solved. The anecdotal efforts of a few individuals making occasional efforts might appear noble, but it does nothing for a problem as fundamental as this one.
These arguments carry weight but might be a trifle premature for it is early days yet. Given that the government has set 2019 as its deadline, it should be easy to evaluate whether or not any real change was brought about. Simply because some of the symbolism around the programme seems to be a form of tokenism does not mean that the programme itself is only symbolic.Besides, even the kind of symbolism that we have seen might have more value than is immediately apparent.
For one, it creates an expectation of collaboration between the state and its citizens by connecting a government programme with individual action. Even if the sporadic attempts made by citizens yield little by way of solving the problem, it marks a shift in the relationship between the state and the citizen, even if of a modest kind. There is another way in which a programme like this changes things at a fundamental level.
The act of self-conscious cleanliness is rooted in becoming aware of the self and its interaction with the environment. The transition to an identity rooted in the civic rather than the social, needs individuals to become more aware of their own actions and the footprint that they leave behind. The dominant reality in India is one where individuals live in a state of dream--like naturalness, marked by an inability to see themselves and their actions from any other lens except their own.Littering or urinating in public, for that matter, is really about spreading oneself generously over one's environment without thinking of the consequences of these actions. The outer world is seen as being somebody else's responsibility, and we plough on through our lives discharging our refuse around us, blissfully indifferent to the effect it has on the outside world. The deep immersion in one's own self can be seen most graphically in the way we drive and behave on the road--every minor gap on the road must be conquered, anyone who gets in our way must be honked out of existence, every level crossing means that we jam up the wrong side of the road so that we get out first, no matter how long it takes or badly it messes up traffic--what matters is our personal convenience, nothing else.
The idea of civic responsibility is founded on an acknowledgement of the reciprocity involved in the act of being citizens. Urban spaces, in particular, create unlikely neighbours who have to use the same resources. Without consciousness about the effect that individual actions have on public order, no civic responsibility of any kind can get undertaken. Successful governance needs enabled citizens who not only consume the services offered by the state but contribute actively to these. By placing cleanliness at the top of the national agenda, whether consciously or otherwise, the government is helping build the idea of a more selfaware citizenry. The attempt, beyond the immediate aims of the programme, is to give birth to the idea of the civic, and at this symbolic level, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan might be a small but extremely significant step.
santosh365@gmail.com
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10 TIPS FOR EMAIL ETIQUETTE Corbis

The digital age has made communication much easier and hassle-free, what with several apps available for mobile phone chat.However, people often forget that they have to use a more formal tone for official email correspondence, and end up peppering their emails with too many emojis and abbreviations. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when you're sending out a work email. 

1 INTRODUCTIONS ARE IMPOR1TANT:

Always introduce yourself if you are writing to someone you don't know or haven't corresponded with previously. If you've got the sender's address from a mutual friend, mention that in your email. Introducing yourself is especially important if you're sending out a survey or questionnaire to people whose addresses you have got from a database. 

2 ALWAYS RUN A SPELLCHECK:

It's important to run a spellcheck for official correspondence, especially if you're sending an email from your phone. You don't want the autocorrect feature to backfire on an official email, after all.Ensure your grammar and punctuation are correct as well. 

3 USE THE REPLY-ALL FEATURE SPARINGLY:

Use the replyall feature for an email that really needs it. If the reply is meant for only one person, just reply to himher. And don't use it to reply to a sender's greetings for the festive season -you could find yourself being blamed for starting an unnecessary email thread. 

4 USE BCC FOR GENERIC MAILS:

Use the Bcc field when you are sending out mails to a very large number of people who may not all know each other. It's also a way to ensure that all your contacts' addresses are not out there for unknown people to access them. 

5 RESTRICT THE NUMBER OF ATTACHMENTS YOU SEND:

Send heavy files via file-hosting services so that you don't clog the recipient's inbox. You could also zip files or resize pictures. If you know you're sending an email to someone who accesses hisher inbox on the phone, don't send several attachments with it. 

6 DON'T OVER-ABBREVIATE:

Don't use too many abbreviations in your email, like FYI, PFA, PDF or FYR. It may confuse the recipient, who may also get the impression that you don't have the time to type out a proper email. If you must use them, restrict it only to the subject line. 

7 FORMATTING FUNDAS:

Do not use all caps and bold fonts as this will give the recipient the impression that you are shouting at himher. The same goes for underlining in the middle of text. Don't use fancy fonts or multiple font colours, either. 

8 WATCH YOUR TONE:

Be careful about how your email reads. It may be an official email, but it should not sound too abrupt. You shouldn't sound over-friendly either.Moreover, don't send out an email if you're upset. Save it as a draft and re-read it when you're calmer. 

9 FIX YOUR FORWARDS:

Make it a point to clean up forwards before you, in turn, forward them to other people. Not only does this make the email look cleaner, but also ensures that you don't give away anyone else's email address. 

10 CHECK WHO YOU'RE SENDING AN EMAIL TO:

Always check the `To' field of an unsent email before you send it. You don't want the email being sent to the wrong person. 

WHAT EVERY OFFICIAL EMAIL SHOULD CONTAIN

SUBJECT LINE:

This is the first thing that recipients will see in their inboxes and it will determine whether they will read it or not. It should be clear and direct.SALUTATION: Always start an email by greeting the recipient by using the word `dear' followed by hisher name. If you aren't on a first-name basis with the recipient, use a title and a surname. CONCISE BODY: Get straight to the point. If you have more than one issue to address, start with the most important, and list the rest point-bypoint.SIGN OFF: Always sign off on your emails. Phrases like `yours sincerely' and `yours faithfully' are acceptable for formal emails. `Best regards' or `kind regards' work in most other situations. 

Source | Times of India | 7 November 2014

International Day For the Elimination of Violence Against Women

DG/ME/ID/2014/035 – original: French
Message from
Irina Bokova,
Director-General of UNESCO,
on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
25 November 2014
Violence against women is one of the most common violations of fundamental human rights. In the world today, a woman between 15 and 44 years of age is at a higher risk of being subjected to rape or domestic violence than falling victim to cancer, a car accident, war or malaria. One in three women has been subjected to violence, one girl in three has been married against her will at an early age and some 125 million girls and women have been subjected to female genital excision/mutilation. This is unacceptable.
Violence against women is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon that encompasses economic, physical, sexual and psychological violence. It occurs in all societies, developed and developing, and in all social classes, and it has devastating consequences on society as a whole. Violence costs lives and it affects women’s physical and psychological well-being. It creates a climate of fear and terror that deters women from participating fully in society and it undermines prospects for inclusive and sustainable development.
These acts of violence are not isolated: they feed, all too often, on statements and ideas that endorse or authorize such violence. They are also fuelled by the silence of societies that wish to remain blind to violence occurring daily behind the closed doors of family homes, which weakens the full achievement of children’s rights and thus perpetuates such practices.
We do not have the right to remain silent. This year, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, UNESCO also marks the 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In partnership with the Association, Adéquations, UNESCO is publishing a guide on the impact of violence against
DG/ME/ID/2014/035 – page 2
women and on children’s rights, and the measures that must be taken to combat it. On this day, we reiterate our determination to understand the fundamental causes of such violence, which are rooted in gender inequality, and to harness the power of education in order to teach mutual respect and human rights as the foundations for more fair, more egalitarian and, therefore, more sustainable societies.
Irina Bokova

Economic and Political Weekly: Table of Contents

An Empty Verdict

Vol - XLIX No. 47, November 22, 2014 

• Editorials

The Machil case will make little difference unless AFSPA is withdrawn.

• Read more
• 0 Comments

Relief at the WTO

Vol - XLIX No. 47, November 22, 2014 

• Editorials

The public distribution system is out of scrutiny, but this is no clear “victory”.

• Read more
• 0 Comments

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