Set high income ceiling for OBC ‘creamy layer’: Panel

Parliamentary Panel Urges Govt To Be Liberal With Wealth Test



New Delhi:

Rigid income limits to determine the “creamy layer” are impeding the representation of OBCs in services and education, a parliamentary panel has said, urging the government to be liberal with the “wealth test” applied to exclude backwards from availing Mandal reservations.


The push for easing the definition of “creamy layer” – relatively better-off OBCs who are ineligible for quotas –comes against the backdrop of government’s disclosure that the Mandal classes comprise only 21% of the employees in 78 central ministries and departments. The total numbers appear relatively healthy because of the 22% share of OBCs in ‘Group C’ jobs. Else, they stand at mere 13% in ‘Group A’ and around 15% in ‘Group B’.

Saying that government has blamed the backlog on “non-availability of suitable candidates”, Parliament's committee on welfare of OBCs, headed by BJP MP Ganesh Singh, noted, “There is a limit to which the income of a person can be taken as a measure of his social advancement. Therefore, policy decisions should not prescribe unusually rigid income limits because such restrictions have the effect of taking away with one hand what is given with the other. The economic criteria prescribed should be a realistic one.”

For Mandal quotas, an OBC with “annual income” of Rs 8 lakh falls in “creamy layer” and the income does not include the person’s “salary”. This income ceiling to weed out “creamy layer” has been a bone of contention for a long time. Social justice activists argue that largely, it is the comparatively better-off OBCs who have the educational standards to strongly contest for quota seats.

However, a low income bar leads to exclusion of these sections, creating a paucity of competitive candidates among OBCs.

“It leads to the inference, and also apprehension, that when stringent restrictions are imposed for determining the creamy layer, the objective of the government to fill up 27% of the vacancies by OBCs may not be achieved,” the committee has argued. The committee has urged the government to take into account rise in per capita income and cost of overall living, and fix a “judicious enhancement of the income ceiling”.

It said that 1993 norms of Mandal reservations laid down that “income ceiling” would be revised every three years or less but the periodicity of revision has been much longer. While it was first revised in 2004 (from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh per annum) after a passage of 10 years of Mandal quotas, it was later done in 2008, 2013 and 2017 (Rs 8 lakh).


The push comes in the backdrop of govt’s disclosure that Mandal classes comprise only 21% of the employees in 78 central ministries and departments

Birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray celebrates the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Mumbai on Saturday

Interview, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi

‘BJP’s B-team? I wear it as a badge of honour’

In a freewheeling interview, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi tells Robin David and Nabinder Bommala this allegation only proves parties recognise AIMIM’s political existence. Higher representation, he adds, is the only way for minorities to be heard
What are your national plans? AIMIM was expected to put up more candidates this time given that you had two MLAs in Maharashtra in 2014 and contested in UP and Bihar.

In Maharashtra, we are supporting Prakash Ambedkar (Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh). In Andhra, we will support Jagan Mohan Reddy. In UP, we are still looking at the options. Same with Karnataka. We are contesting in Kishanganj (Bihar) and our candidate Akhtarul Imam has been working very hard there for the last three years.


There have been attempts to brand your party as BJP’s B-team.

I am not worried about this B-team tag. In fact, I wear it like a badge of honour. They have at least accepted my political existence. The powers that be — BJP and Congress — think we should live on their crumbs of mercy. I’m sure all parties formed in the ’60s and ’70s had to go through this barrage of false allegations. I won’t be spared either.

You’ve said 23 Muslim MPs in 2014 was a shame, and there must be at least

60.

Our vision is that the Constitution, its preamble and fundamental rights, should not just be on paper. It should become a living document. Fundamental rights are very important, especially for weaker sections like Dalits. And what is wrong in having more political representation?

A very convenient device has been invented, which is ‘we have to defeat communalism and fascist forces, so we cannot give you a ticket’. These brokers of our Muslim community sit in Delhi, and start issuing statements that this is a life-and-death matter for us. Sixteen Lok Sabha elections have passed and every election is life and death for us and afterwards we die every day. The crass reality of Indian democracy is, if you don’t have representation, your issues won’t be solved.

How difficult is it to find Muslim candidates who can win?

To win an election, I need organisation. I might win elections but my party might not sustain it in the next 4-5 years. Winnability is an important factor, but it is not ‘the’ factor.

Many say the Balakot strike will have a direct impact on the polls.

If the government wants to make political capital out of it, they won’t succeed. They have made fools of themselves. The MEA foreign secretary gives a statement, IAF chief gives another. Isku Hyderabad mein bolte ‘dedh hushyari’. Amit Shah says 200 were killed (in Balakot), agriculture minister says 300, another says our intention was not to kill. Rajnath Singh says NTRO found 300 phones that vanished (after the strike). Who should we believe? I want to know from the PM, is the foreign secretary lying? Is the IAF statement true or are your ministers’ statements true?

Is KCR’s federal front going somewhere? You have supported it.

Wait till May 23 when we win 17 seats in Telangana and (YSRCP wins) 20-plus seats in Andhra. At present, I the front is a work-in-progress. What I’m hearing is, Jagan is in a very good position.

Will the federal front support BJP post-polls?

TRS will not support BJP because they (BJP) were reduced from five to one in Telangana in the last election. The kind of language used by the duplicate Chowkidar (Yogi Adityanath) in Nizamabad and Hyderabad has not gone down well.

Do you see yourself as the voice of India’s Muslims? Your name appears first when you Google ‘Indian Muslim leaders’.

No, no, Google has a wrong algorithm. They should get it right (smiles). The community is very diverse and the most important point is that it’s not my ambition. I’m saying this with all modesty. Why should I be bracketed only with Muslims? Why not Dalits?

Siemens has youngest staff in India

Mumbai:

Indian subsidiaries of multinational companies are usually viewed through the lens of their size in comparison to the parent. What’s striking about Siemens, which has been operating in India since 1867 when the first telegraph line was laid between Calcutta and London by the German conglomerate, is that it has the youngest workforce in India.


The average age at the 23,000-strong Siemens in India — which is into energy-efficient technologies, combined cycle turbines for power generation and power transmission solutions — is 28 years. It is much younger than Germany (47 years), where Siemens is headquartered, or the US (37 years). A young workforce could reflect a vibrant culture. However, it can also be a challenge.

In an exclusive interview with TOI, Siemens CHRO Janina Kugel talked about a unique challenge the organisation is facing globally. “From the global perspective, we are facing a bit of a challenge. A number of managers are retiring in the next five years, and the next generation is not really like them. It is about training young people and it’s also about having enough people in the organisation to not lose the experience,” said Kugel.

Given that India has a young talent for Siemens, the subsidiary has an advantage of adopting new technologies at a faster clip. “India has been making tremendous growth over the last five years. You can only grow if the market offers the business opportunities and if you have the talent. If this continues, India will grow. India is already for us market No. 4 after Germany, the US and China,” said Kugel. Revenues of Siemens in India, which is 75% owned by the parent, grew 12% to Rs 12,725 crore in fiscal year 2018.

The aspirations of the millennial generation are quite different from the baby boomers. Today’s millennial manager, who comes from a selfsufficient background, is not lured by compensation alone. What matters is gaining varied experiences. “Companies have to get used to the fact that people want to rotate more. We have to make more investments to get people on board. We also have to be very clear that people gain different experiences,” said Kugel.

Kugel said hiring is the most expensive part in a people’s process.

“If people are leaving the organisation within the first year, the organisation loses an annual salary. We have countries where the attrition rate is lower than 3% — many European countries, for example. It becomes a huge challenge to get anything new into the organisation because people have not made any other experiences. Attrition rate in India is under 10%, which is healthy. It’s good that we have a churn. At the same time, it’s not a churn that destabilises the business,” said Kugel.

With a younger generation joining the workforce, the culture of Siemens is undergoing a change that includes flexibility to work from home and a relaxed dress code.

Nearly 9 lakh jobs created in Jan: EPFO payroll data

New Delhi:

Net employment generation in the formal sector touched a 17-month high of nearly 9 lakh in January, according to the latest Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) payroll data. The EPFO has been releasing payroll data from April 2018, covering the period starting September 2017.


The addition in January was 131% higher as compared with 3.9 lakh EPFO subscribers added in the year-ago month. In September 2017, a net of 2,75,609 jobs were created. Around 76.5 lakh new subscribers were added to social security schemes of the EPFO from September 2017 to January 2019, the data showed. This indicates that these many jobs were created in the formal sector over the past 17 months.

The net EPFO enrolment in January 2019 stood at 8,96,516, which is the highest since September 2017. The EPFO, however, revised slightly downwards its payroll data for December 2018 by 1.8% to 7 lakh, against the earlier estimate of 7 lakh released last month.

It also revised the cumulative job addition data for the September 2017-December 2018 period downwards 6.6% to 67.52 lakh, from the earlier forecast of 72.32 lakh.

The sharpest revision was for March 2018 in the latest report which showed contraction or exit of 29,023 members from the EPFO subscriptions whereas last month’s estimated addition of 5,498 members.

The EPFO data showed that the March 2018 figure is negative due to a large number of exits reported in March, in view of it being the closing month of the financial year.

During January 2019, the highest number of 2.4 lakh jobs were created in the 22-25 years age group, followed by 2.2 lakh in the 18-21 years age bracket.

The data of the exited members is based on the claims submitted by the individuals and establishments and the exit data uploaded by employers, whereas the number of new subscribers is based on the Universal Account Number (UAN) generated in the system and those who have received non-zero subscription.

RIL denies sidestepping US sanctions

New Delhi:

Reliance Industries (RIL), operator of the world’s largest oil refining complex, on Friday said it has never sidestepped US sanctions against Venezuela and has completely stopped supplying fuel to the Latin American nation. Since the imposition of US sanctions, Reliance has been in continuous communication with the US Department of State regarding its activities in Venezuela, the company said in a statement.


“Reliance has been transparent with US authorities and also has provided detailed feedback to the US Department of State as they were formulating and adjusting US policy regarding product shipments to Venezuela,” it said.

“Reliance not only has complied with US sanctions laws, but also has done its best to adjust its dealings with Venezuela on a voluntary basis to reflect the ongoing changes in US policy.” The company said it has “stopped shipments of diluent naphtha to Venezuela, and has reduced its purchases of Venezuelan crude oil to well below its contracted levels.”

On reports of its refineries in Jamnagar continuing to send fuel to Venezuela in violation of sanctions, Reliance said “a few transportation fuel shipments to Venezuela, treated as offsets for crude oil receipts, were committed and in-transit when there were no specific restrictions to such transactions. They were all fuels refined in India.”

Reliance will continue its transactions in full compliance of prevailing sanctions, it added. 

Karnataka suspends Ola’s licence for 6 months

K’taka suspends Ola’s licence for 6 months
Punitive Measure For Operating Bike Taxis


Bengaluru:

In a move that could affect thousands of cab users and drivers across Karnataka, the transport department has suspended Ola’s cab aggregator licence for six months, effective Friday night. This means the Bengaluru-based cab-aggregator will not be able to operate any of its services — cars, autos and bikes — across the state for the next six months. While Ola continued to operate its services, there were comparatively fewer vehicles in the city on Friday. Till late evening, cabs were still available on the app.


In Karnataka, Ola operates fleets in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi, Ballari, Belagavi and Kalaburagi. In 2016, Ola obtained the aggregator licence valid till June 19, 2021.

Calling the government notification “unfortunate”, Ola, in a statement, said, “Despite other companies continuing to operate illegally, we halted our bike taxi experiment weeks ago. Instead, we sought the state’s cooperation to develop a legal framework for a pilot project. We look forward to addressing these concerns directly with state officials.”

The government’s move came after Ola operated bike taxis in Bengaluru without taking permission from the department and several taxi drivers’ associations petitioned the department to take action against the firm.

The State Transport Authority (STA) issued a notice on March18 to ANI Technologies, which operates Ola cabs, to say the aggregator had violated the Karnataka On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregator Rules, 2016.

“The licence will be suspended for six months under Section 11(1) of the aggregator rules. We have asked them to suspend their services from Friday and surrender the licence,” said transport commissioner V P Ikkeri. He said there is no provision for the app-based aggregators to operate bike taxis under the rules.

“They were illegally operating bike taxis in Bengaluru in violation of rules. We’ve also seized several twowheelers used as Ola’s bike taxis” he added.

Bridge the gap: Call to add mental health in manifestos

Mumbai:

In the runup to the 2019 elections, an unlikely group is seeking political attention to bring about change in the sphere of mental health.


Mental health activists and experts have started a campaign called Bridge the Care Gap to not only increase awareness about mental health, but also get political parties to add mental health into their poll manifestos.

The premise is simple: The mentally ill account for a sizeable population and their rights need to be heard. “The National Mental Health Survey estimates there are 150 million Indians who suffer from mental disorders,” said Harsh Mariwala whose Mariwala Health Initiative along with Centre For Mental Health Law & Policy has started the Bridge the Care Gap campaign.

“We have10 in 1lakh suicide rate. This is the highest in the world but we don’t have an adequate number of mental health workers or specialists to help the situation. This is the gap we want the politicians to focus on,” he added. Indeed, India has less than 4,000 psychiatrists and there is a big gap in the number of mental health professionals needed to help the mentally vulnerable population.

Dr Soumitra Pathare of the Centre For Mental Health law & Policy said, “The primary aim of the campaign is to sensitize policy makers and politicians to mental health and to recognize that mental health is an inter-sectoral, developmental issue along with a health issue.”

The campaign wants policy makers and politicians to address the needs of persons with mental health problems and to think about including such persons in all developmental issues. “The campaign wants policy makers to direct more resources (funding, human resources) to address a range of health and social care needs of persons with mental illness,” Dr Pathare added.

The campaign, mainly on social media, has already got around 6,000 signatories. Campaign officials said if the issue is included in the election manifestos of political parties, good laws could come about. “Despite the huge burden of mental health, there is a lot of stigma attached to it. If one has a headache, one goes to a doctor but this is not the practice with mental health. We have to change this mindset,” said Mariwala.

A secondary aim of the campaign is to change the discourse with the general public to see mental health as a developmental issue and not to just see mental health as an issue which affects “mad” people. “Such change in perspective will also result in reduction in stigma and discrimination against persons with mental illness,” said Mariwala.

After 13 months in Greek jail, 5 Indians to return tomorrow

Mumbai:

Five Indian crew members of a cargo vessel will arrive in Mumbai on Sunday after spending 13 months in a Greece jail. They five were on board merchant cargo vessel ‘MV Andromeda’ that set sail from Cyprus to Libya in December 2017. The ship anchored in Turkey for repair and then proceeded to its destination. However, in January 2018, when it reached Greece, authorities detained the ship for carrying ‘explosive material’.


All eight crew members, including two Ukrainians, five Indians and an Albanian, were arrested and sent to Korydallos Prison Complex.

The Indian crew include Satish Patil (28), Bhupinder Singh

(21), Gagan Deep (22), Rohtash Kumar (24) and Jaideep Thakur

(32). After landing in Mumbai, they will meet director general of shipping, Amitabh Kumar, to undergo debriefing and a medical examination.

A Greek court last week set the crew free. India’s oldest union of merchant navy officers, the Mumbai-based Maritime Union of India (MUI), had pursued their release. They have also sponsored air tickets of the crew members.

“A fortnight ago, the court in Greece ruled the ‘explosive material’ confiscated was in fact raw material for crackers, and not banned explosive material,” MUI general secretary Amar Singh Thakur said. Meanwhile, family members are relieved their wait will soon end.

“This was Satish’s first job after he completed his Diploma in Marine Engineering. After this incident, his parents will not hear of him stepping aboard a ship again,” his cousin Vishal told TOI over the phone from Kolhapur.

“My husband last spoke to me on January 10, 2018, saying the ship was being checked. After that, there were no calls. We later got to know they had been arrested,” said Preety Chib, wife of first engineer Thakur. “I am relieved the court has set them free,” she said.

Govt bans Yasin’s JKLF, blames it for 1989 genocide of Pandits

‘Killed Four IAF Men, Abducted Rubaiya Saeed’

Continuing its crackdown on separatist elements in J&K, the government on Friday banned the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) led by Yasin Malik as an unlawful association for its extremist orientation and violence against the Hindu minority in the Valley.


The ban under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is on the grounds that JKLF had spearheaded separatist ideology in Kashmir and had triggered the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits by murdering members of the minority community in the late eighties. The government referred to dozens of FIRs against the group.

“Malik was the mastermind behind the purging of Kashmiri Pandits from the Kashmir Valley and is responsible for their genocide,” the home ministry said in a statement issued soon after the Cabinet committee on security decided to ban JKLF (Y), making it the second Kashmir organisation to be banned under UAPA in the past one month after Jamaate-Islami (J&K), linked to Hizbul Mujahideen.


Besides Geelani, JKLF best at mobilising stone-pelters: Intel

The action against JKLF (Y) serves to underline that a political solution in J&K will not involve separatists. With poll campaigning picking up steam, no initiative can be expected till the next government assumes office with BJP making national security and Pakistan support to terrorism a key part of its campaign.

Home secretary Rajiv Gauba said on Friday the Centre is following a policy of “zero tolerance” against terrorism and is committed to relentlessly curbing activities of secessionist organisations. NIA and the Enforcement Directorate are taking strong action against these organisations, he said.

“The organisation has been actively and continuously encouraging feelings of enmity and hatred against lawfully established government, as well as armed rebellion,” a home ministry statement said, adding that 37 FIRs had been registered by J&K police against the outfit.

Intelligence sources told TOI that Malik is the only separatist leader apart from Tehreek-e-Hurriyat boss Syed Ali Shah Geelani to have a dedicated set of leaders and cadres to mobilise stone-pelting mobs at short notice. While Geelani’s team has been rounded up as part of terror-funding case probed by NIA, Malik continued to have the wherewithal to organise stone-pelting at the ISI’s behest.

While JKLF’s original charter of demand was to carve out a separate state of Kashmir comprising both PoK and Kashmir Valley, Malik has for long been patronised by Pakistan and its spy agency ISI. Malik is believed to have also struck a deal with Lashkar-e-Taiba, having made peace with its boss Hafiz Saeed after the latter suspected his role in the murder of Maulana Showkat of Ahl-e-Hadith sect in Srinagar in 2011. JKLF, the MHA said on Friday, was actively involved in raising funds and its distribution to Hurriyat cadres and stone-pelters to fuel unrest in Kashmir Valley.

Pak violates ceasefire along LoC again
Sanjay Khajuria TNN

A day after an Army jawan was killed in cross-border firing along the LoC in J&K’s Rajouri district, Pakistan on Friday again violated ceasefire in Poonch district. On Thursday, Pakistan breached truce targeting forward posts along the LoC in Rajouri. An Indian Army rifleman, Yash Paul (24), was killed in the firefight.