The Unused, much misused human resource

About 50 percent of the sanctioned posts lie vacant at various community health centres in the country revealed an Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) study. An investigation done by a leading national daily by acquiring facts from the concerned departments through RTI shows that there are more than 1.3 lakh vacancies in the police dept. in the country.

These are two of the many examples where numerous posts in the country are lying vacant. Educational institutions lack staffs, libraries don’t have the staff. We do not need any study or research papers to show that vacancies at various places need to be filled. But how many job opening advertisements do we find in the papers. Not many.

Whenever we have to count one of the biggest strengths available in India that makes it conducive for investments (especially foreign investments) it is, here one can get a good lot of educated human resource.

Few years back Hillary Clinton while speaking in the sidelines of a summit said that the good thing about India is, more people could afford a college education.

But what is coming out of it? Are there enough dependable jobs available for the college educated? Outsourcing surely has generated jobs, but is it secure enough? The answer would be no for at least a large number of those who are working in that industry.
Privatization has been advocated by successive governments in the country, thus trying to do away with the socialist strand in our economy. Leaving a large number of people to an insecure job market and future, where you can be hired and fired anytime. The issue for termination not all the time remains, ‘not been able to meet targets’.

So many posts in the govt. offices remain vacant, yet no hiring is done. It is also trying to delve into the contract basis job system.

Are you living in Delhi, wondering why the domestic breeding checkers have not been to your locality yet? Because, they are on a strike, demanding for permanent jobs. They are also hired for the season only.

It’s a pity that the Union Labour Minister Oscar Fernandez chose to speak on such an important topic on death of the CEO of the Italian firm Graziano, who was attacked by a lynch mob of striking factory workers. ‘Hire and fire’ policy of the India Inc. and foreign Incs. present in India needs to be questioned but the timing was not right. It was after all a law and order issue (lack of security presence; even the Italian ambassador had earlier requested for more security cover be given to the company, until the labour issue is resolved) which catapulted into this sad tragedy.

The result of the wrong timing is that hire and fire policy which happens to be a grave issue, as correctly pointed out by the minister, who asked the companies to be “compassionate” towards its employees is not going to be raised again. After all the Prime Minister had to intervene to make the minister apologize for his remarks (which made India Inc. angry).

Track changes

Many of our serials have relied on this trusted plot- our dear character’s rival screwing up the office presentation just before the all important meeting, which could make or mar the hardworking character’s career. But gone are the days when such a thing could happen. Technology has taken that popular plot away from our serial makers. Reason for that is the computer.

Everyone now in the family now knows how to work on the computer, which has now become as indispensable as a refrigerator or TV. Not just the kids but the housewives are also learning to run this device. And while learning the MS OFFICE WORD, every learner comes across the special program (I hope that’s the technical word to describe ‘track changes’) in the tools menu, ‘protect document’. If you mark your document so, no one can mess with your document. Not just this, the maker of the document can also see what kind of changes has been made by the other user, in his/her absence, if the document has been marked 'protected'. one can also give a password to the file while saving, but that won't be fun at all.

Someone must in appreciation of the Microsoft show this plot happening in some serial. Imagine the villain opens the document to destroy the toil of our 'honest fellow' and instead of that sees the computer showing the changes made, though changes are also simultaneously being made. The evil fellow is busted on the spot. What a situation it would be:
A dramatic plot with loud background scores and zooming-in & out camera turned into a comic plot.

The Paradox of our Age

We have bigger houses, but smaller families
more conveyances, but less time;
We have more degrees, but less sense
more knowledge. but less judgment
more experts, but more problems
more medicines but less healthiness.

We've been all the way to the moon and back.
but have trouble crossing the street
to meet the new neighbour.
We have built more computers
to hold more information,
to produce more copies than ever,
but have less communication.
We have become long on quantity,
bit short on quality.
These are times of fast food,
but slow digestion;
tall man, but short character;
steep profits, but shallow relationship.
It is a time when there is much in the window but nothing in the rooms.

- by Rudyard Kipling

I dont feel like commenting much on these lines. but trying to put these lines in the context of the Delhi blasts, only thing that comes up in my head is, why afterall, some people will go for killing inocent people for some ideology of sorts. Are they misunderstood? Is there some communication gap or something? Why churches are being attacked?What ever it may be , any protest or misunderstanding should not grow to an extent that it starts taking the life of innocent people.

Retiring Sourav Ganguly: no, not another GD

It seems like every time the name of this man will be dropped from the squad, every Tom, Dick and Harry would start speculating about his retirement. Recently I saw that one of the channels conducting poll on whether Sourav should call it a day now. This is preposterous. Conducting polls to make someone take retirement and putting a player of Sourav’s stature in a spot position.

We belong to a country where we boast of knowing ways of treating our seniors well. But Sourav Ganguly’s case tells me of something else. We must have known it in the past but TRP and Bytes have made us forget those mannerisms. Electronic media, especially the 24×7 news channels, are pushing the society to be judgmental about every issue. Whether it’s the Arushi-Hemraj murder case or Roger Federer slipping from no.1 spot hence starting to write his career off, until he defends his US Open title; the electronic media just wants to pass judgment on each and every issue and sometimes without doing proper research. Because of this kind of trend, the print media also have to fall into the line to cater to the needs of the audience or reader, to keep their paper going.

Newspaper and news channel, whose job is to give news and not to speculate, have suddenly changed its role. It’s now more into speculations and rumor mongering. In the times of crisis the govt. must take the news channels off- air. As speculation ends, things can function properly. It would avert a disaster for sure. Because for exclusive footage, god knows they can go to any extent, just as they stage manages sting operations.

If the media has run out of issues, why don’t they call it a day? Instead they should not discuss people, their life or career on primetime to fill the slot. What kind of new arguments can they come up with in defense and against the dropping of Sourav from the Irani trophy? The forums have not sounded any different from the last ones, since he was dropped at the behest of the then coach and selector, Greg Chapell and Kiran More respectively. He has been picked up and dropped quite a time and all those discussions haven't come up with any new suggestion. May be Navjot Singh Sidhu have quoted different proverb each time; that would be the only difference.

Don’t the anchor and the producer get tired of this business; certainly the audience does including me. Give the audience and Sourav a break. When he will have to retire he will, but this kind of pressure tactics can make his determination to play grow stronger and inspire him to better his form. So, media must stop speculating and start reporting, for a change.

Is journalism the best profession around?

In his rare public comments, Columbian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, on 2 September 2008 in Northern Mexico, hailed journalism as the best profession. Is it so?
Choosing to become a journalist, one is always hounded by one’s friends and relatives, even at interviews, why on earth are you choosing this profession? One needs to give a thought to this question, as it is unlike other profession and usually thought as low paying one involving ‘risks’. But that has not deterred people from selecting this as their career. What is the attraction that has been drawing people to this field, which also is growing at a tremendous rate; is it really the best profession?
Bob Woodward once being asked the same question, has suggested that it is the nature of work that makes this profession the best: “ Everyday is interesting……when things get uninteresting you don’t have to cover them…you get to cover the next interesting thing.”
As a journalist you are covering ‘news’; the term itself makes it clear. Like any other working person, a journalist will also be going to the office, but the nature and content of work is going to be different everyday for him. A reporter covers new things. He will be tracking an old story and will report it only when there is some new development. This close relation to newness is what attracts people to this profession. Probably this is one of the rarest of professions in the world, where you get to passionately follow newness. As Marquez has expressed: “we enjoy it when we find jewel (of a story)…”

Not only this, this profession also allows serving the society and nation to prosper towards a better present and future. A journalist is the ‘prime mover’ of his society. He educates and enlightens the citizens by bringing new information to them. And as Francis Bacon has said, ‘knowledge is power’, thus empowers them. As the fourth estate of a democracy it also keeps check on the functioning of the government, thus ensuring prevalence of democracy.
A journalist enjoys no privileges. His rights are same as that of any ordinary citizen of a country, but he is shouldered with lots of responsibilities which are challenging and exciting at the same time. After all who wouldn’t like to be part of a profession where one gets to serve society, educating it, and also where monotony or boredom or lull never sets in? Isn’t it the best profession to be part of?