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Volume 32 No.11 JUNE 2015

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JOURNAL OF THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS INSTITUTE OF INDIA104, Prospect Chambers, Dr. D. N. Road, Fort

Mumbai - 400 001. Tel.: 2204 4084 • Email : arbiter.irii@gmail.com

Editor : Dr. R. Krishna Murthy

Views expressed in the Journal are not necessarily those of the Industrial Relations Institute of India

Editorial Page 4

In the News Page 6

Special Features:

Labour Code on Industrial Relations Bill, 2015 : Dr. Rajen Mehrotra Page 9Dr. Rajen Mehrotra, immediate Past President of Industrial Relations Institute of India (IRII), Former Sr.Specialist on Employers’ Activities for South Asia with Internation.al Labour Organization (ILO) and FormerCorporate Head of HR with ACC Ltd. and Former Corporate Head of Manufacturing and HR withNovartis India Ltd., has brought into focus some of the salient features of the proposed Labour Code,under which three existing labour laws, namely, the Trade Unions Act, 1926; the Industrial Employment(Standing Orders) Act, 1946 and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 are sought to be amalgamated.

Rajasthan Amendments Page 12

The Role of Supervisors in Industry : P. N. Samant Page 16Mr. P.N. Samant, a brilliant trade union leader and the brother of late Dr. Datta Samant, provides variousinstances that he has gone through during his long experience at the plant level, and wonders whetherthe supervisors have any role left to play in the changed environment.

“Theft” at Workplace Defined : C. Krishnamurthi Page 18Mr. C. Krishnamurthi, a senior management consultant now in Bengaluru and who headed the ANZGrindlays Bank HR. states that the definition of “theft” is the dishonest removal of moveable property out ofthe possession of any person without his consent, and explains that the employee’s obligation is to dealwith his employer’s property faithfully by exercising the trust, which the employer has reposed in him.

Emergence of Sector Skill Councils in India : Dr. Roopak Vasishtha Page 21Dr. Roopak Vasishtha, CEO, Apparel Made-Ups & Home Furnishing Sector Skill Council, who was withDr. Lal Path Labs earlier, highlights the fact that the industrial training process in our country has been sodeficient, if not superfluous, that the so called trained youngsters lack basic knowledge and skills requiredwithin their own industry, but assures us confidently that the setting up of Sector Skill Councils shall be agame changer in the field of Skilling.

Leading from the Heart – Sufi Principles at Work : Mr. Bhaskar Joshi Page 26Mr. Bhaskar Joshi, GM – HR, Godavari Biorefineries Ltd. has, while reviewing the book, written by MoidSiddiqui, passed on to us the essence of the book itself in great detail, and at the end tempts us to havewonderful reading.

Enthusiasm : Dr. S. Srinivasan Page 29Dr. S. Srinivasan, MBBS, MD and Lifestyle Coach on Life Skills, explains that Enthusiasm originallymeant inspiration or possession by a divine influence, and then brings us down to the earth, saying likingyourself is a big part of enthusiasm. He also warns that enthusiasm is contagious like a disease, which,of course, need not be feared.

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Editorial

Fast Forwarding Reforms

The Narendra Modi Government hasshown its intention of fast forwarding thelabour reforms that have been only talkedabout for the last two and half decades. Acoalition government does not have theleeway to make radical changes andtherefore Manmohan Singh as a PrimeMinister of the UPA failed to deliver labourreforms that were also announced as apart of the package of reforms at the timeNarasimha Rao was the Prime Minister.

The intention of the Prime MinisterNarendra Modi to also reform labour lawwas very clearly indicated when he gavethe green signal to the RajasthanGovernment to go ahead with the changesin the labour legislation. Labour being asubject on the concurrent list, no state canhave a legislation that is repugnant to theCentral Legislation and thus a state lawwould require assent of the President if itwere to differ from the Central Law. ThePresident has given his assent to thechanges that have been proposed inRajasthan and the changes have takenplace in the labour laws in that state.Changes have taken place also in MadhyaPradesh, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.

In Andhra Pradesh, whereChandrababu Naidu amended theContract Labour Act to define what iscalled as “core” and “non-core” activities,contact labour could be engaged in thenon-core activity without any hassles. Noweven in Andhra, the reforms bug has bittenthe state. The law relating to Contract

Labour, which required the presence of 5contract workers for a Contractor to takea licence or a principal employer to registerunder the Act has been now tweaked toprovide for registration only if the numberexceeds 50, like in Rajasthan. It is anotheremployer friendly move.

Maharashtra Chief Minister has alreadyannounced amendment of the FactoriesAct in Maharashtra and permitted theworking of women employees in the nightshift. He has liberalised the working hoursof the Factories and has clamped downon inspections and prosecutions of theFactories for the violation of the labourlaws. He has also simplified returns andan application for Shops Act or FactoriesAct licence or Contract Labour Actregistration is deemed to be granted if itis not done in two days. More importantly,the Chief Minister also looked into thecomplaints of the employers of militancyand mobocracy of the Mathadi labour whoprevent despatch of finished goods orunloading of the raw materials, if theirpeople are not engaged and this was aheritage of the National Congress Party(Sharad Pawar) and Congress (I) ledcoalition government. The Chief Ministeris keen on companies coming intoMaharashtra for Make in India and Madein India campaign and the Chief Ministerhad flown into Davos to make a pitch formanufacturing in Maharashtra. All theseinitiatives are to ramp up the ease of doingbusiness in Maharashtra.

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(Continued on page No. 11)

As labour is on the concurrent list, boththe Centre and States can promulgatelabour laws and alter the paradigm in whichthe state operates. It is very difficult for otherstates not to respond to the changes in otherstates. If all the investments and industrialprojects go to these states because of theprogressive labour laws, then the industrialdevelopment and growth will not take placein those states whose labour laws areantiquated. Maharashtra is consciouslyaltering the paradigm that it is the mostdifficult state for employers to work inbecause of the Maharashtra Recognition ofTrade Unions and Prevention of UnfairLabour Practices Act (MRTU & PULP Act),the Mathadi Labour Act and the PrivateSecurity Guard Board Act.

Trade Unions cannot accept thesechanges and will have to go through theirformal protestations. The Unions havenow planned for an all-India strike onSeptember 2 and claim that the BharatiyaMazdoor Sangh will also support thisstrike. This is no major achievement asthe Indian National Trade Union

Congress (INTUC) that was affiliatedto the Congress party used to alsoparticipate in the strikes called on an allIndia basis, particularly against the saleof equity shares in Public Sectorundertakings. These protestationsnotwithstanding, the government hasdecided to go ahead with the changes. Butthe government is also making a show ofconciliation by constituting a panel headedby Mr. Arun Jaitley and the participationof the Labour Minister, BandaruDattatreya. Other ministers on theCommittee include Mr. DharmendraPradhan, Oil Minister, Mr. Piyush Goyal,Power Minister and Mr. Jitendra Singh, a

Minister of State in the PMO’s office. ThisCommittee is scheduled to meet theUnions including the BMS and considertheir demands and take them on board.But it will be an exercise in futility as noneof the Unions would like any change inthe labour laws as the existing archaic lawsgive them immense power withoutresponsibility. This is the reason why someof the companies that attemptedrestructuring with very liberal schemes ofVRS still failed to get the surplus staff offthe rolls. A multinational pharma companyin Mumbai at Thane gave an offer of Rs.50 lakhs with 3 tolas of gold thrown in tomake the offer lucrative and golden, andyet saw the mortification of the company’sliberal VRS being spurned by 20% of theworkforce in the misguided agitation thatmore will come if they dig their heels in.The existing profile of legislation hasempowered the Unions and the workmenby legislative fiat. The proposed revisionof the number from 100 to 300 workmenfor seeking prior permission for lay-off,retrenchment and closure will make 85%of the employers getting the freedom toclose the establishments, if thebusinesses are unviable or uneconomic.Modi has also sought to provide one moreavenue for employers to engage cheaplabour. He has in the Skill India initiativegiven latitude to employers to engagetrainees for up to three years and this willprovide the nucleus of the skilled labourforce for the future. They may be exploitedby the employers now, but they will gettheir baptism in Industry. Once theybecome skilled and also a key componentof the labour market, they will also gettheir dues due to them because of their

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In the News

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Public Sector ITI:Much Needed Respite

The employees of ailing public sectorundertaking Indian Telephone Industries,whose salaries were withheld sinceJanuary 2015 heaved a sigh of relief whenthe Central Government disbursed Rs.150 crores as part of the revival packageto the company and 6,056 employeeswere finally paid their salaries. Salariesfrom January to April have been paid, butMay salary is still pending.

According to the company, employeeutilisation at some units remained under20% and the company was striving to getorders and new projects to generateenough revenue.

Apart from the Rs. 150 crore funddisbursement, the government has since2014 released around Rs. 300 crores assoft loan, Rs. 190 crores for infra upgradeand Rs. 165 crores for payment of salaryarrears as per the 1997 wage revision.

The company started incurring lossesfrom 2002-03 onwards due to falling pricesof telecom equipment, rapid changes intechnology and the high cost of productionand labour cost. More importantly, thecompetition from private players abroadhas put ITI at a great disadvantage. Whilethe Telecom sector has grown by leapsand bounds, ITI has hurtled downwards.

According to Mr. K L Dhingra, chairmanand Managing Director of ITI, the averageage of an employee in ITI is 54 and thecompany has recommended a VRS andalso suggested an induction of fresh

manpower in the company who are skilledto handle the newer technologies.

Labour Laws:Government to Simplify

The Labour Secretary Mr. ShankarAggarwal stated that the government wasseeking to ease the existing labour rulesand was in the process of converting 44laws into four codes covering industrialrelations, wages, social security andsafety issues.

The government is also taking specialsteps to ease the labour law requirementsfor the small enterprises and has alreadytaken the necessary steps for thistransformation. Workers and Unions willhave to brace for the changes and thoughsome of the changes have already beenwitnessed in Rajasthan where theFactories Act, the Contract Labour Act, theIndustrial Disputes Act and theApprenticeship Act have all been changedto facilitate the ease of doing business,these changes are expected to give a shotin the arm to manufacturing and kick startthe GDP growth figures whichmanufacturing makes to the economy. Ithas been declining over the years and thisis hopefully going to be reversed with theefforts which the bureaucracy is making.

Payment of Bonus Act:Revision of Limits Proposed

It is reported that the Government iskeen to amend the Payment of Bonus Actand the limit of Rs. 10,000/= p.m. for anemployee to become eligible for bonus willbe raised to Rs. 15,000/= p.m.

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The bonus payment is also capped ona salary of Rs. 3,500/= p.m. Any employeedrawing more than Rs. 3,500/= p.m. ispaid bonus only on the amount ofRs. 3,500/= and not the actual salary. Thislimit is also proposed to be raised toRs. 4,500/= p.m. and the maximum bonuspayable currently at Rs. 8,400/= will nowbecome Rs. 10,800/=.

To be eligible for bonus, a person mustearn less than Rs. 10,000/= p.m. and musthave worked at least for 30 days in theaccounting year.

In many of the companies, theemployees are paid bonus irrespective ofthe profits and some of them are not justpaid the one month’s minimum bonus of8.33%. They get additional amounts as ex-gratia and the companies doing really wellpay much more than what is stipulated asthe maximum under the Payment ofBonus Act. Instead of Rs. 8,400/=, theyget Rs. 20,000/= to Rs. 50,000/=depending on the profits of the companyand the bargaining power of the unions.

Maharashtra Factories ActOvertime – No Permission

The Maharashtra government hasmade changes to its Factories Act 1948that will allow women to work in nightshifts in factories, and also give freedomto factories to decide on overtime for itsworkers without approaching the statefor sanction.

Maharashtra Chief Minister,Mr. Devendra Fadnavis said that even theBombay High Court had earlier said thatthe decision to bar women from doingnight shifts was unconstitutional andbiased. He stated that the government

while allowing companies to allow womento work in night shifts, would make surethat they are provided proper security.

Under Section 61 (b) of theMaharashtra Factories Act, women werenot allowed to work in night shifts from 7pm to 6 am. This rule will no longer apply.In another important change, the state hasdecided to amend Section 65(2) whichmade it compulsory for a factorymanagement to seek the state’spermission before giving overtime toworkers. This has now been amended,and factories won’t have to seek suchpermission. The number of hours ofovertime has also been revised to 115hours from the current 75.

The state has also decided that it won’tdrag factories to court if they are involvedin ‘minor offences’, and instead the state’slabour and other departments would sortout the matter with the management.Under the new rules, without the writtenpermission of the Chief Inspector ofFactories, no complaint can be filed beforethe courts against factories. It has alsochanged the definition of a factory or aworkshop under Section 2 of the FactoriesAct. The previous definition had prescribeda factory that consumed power and washaving 10 or more workers, or a factorythat did not consume power but employed20 or more workers.

In the new definition, a minimum of 10workers for a factory that consumes powerhas been extended to 20, and to 40 andabove for a workshop or factory thatdoesn’t consume power.

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RAJEN MEHROTRA

Labour Code On Industrial Relations Bill, 2015

Introduction

The Ministry of Labour and Employment,Government of India has drafted Labour Codeon Industrial Relations Bill 2015. The Billproposes to consolidate and amend certainprovisions in the law relating to registration ofTrade Unions, Conditions of Employment,Investigation and Settlement of disputes andthe matters related therewith or incidentalthereto by amalgamating the following threeexisting labour laws:

(i) The Trade Unions Act, 1926.

(ii) The Industrial Employment(Standing Orders) Act, 1946.

(iii) The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

Trade Union

Chapter 3 of the Labour Code deals withregistration of trade unions.

The major change is that in case of a TradeUnion of workers, a minimum of 10% ofworkers employed in an establishment,undertaking or industry with which a TradeUnion is connected shall be required to bethe members of the Trade Union for makingan application for registration: Provided thatwhere 10% of workers exceed 100 it shall besufficient if the application is made by 100workers: Provided further that where 10% ofworkers of an establishment or undertakingor an industry is less than seven workers aminimum of seven workers shall be requiredto make an application for registration.

The Labour Code specifies that onlyemployees will be allowed to form tradeunions, except in the unorganized sectorwhere two officials from outside can becomemembers of a union. The Labour Code alsoprovides for existing registered unions to becovered by the Labour Code.

There is a provision for membershipsubscript ion of a trade union beingdeducted from the wages. A new provisionis that, where any worker is not a memberof any trade union, the worker shall be liableto pay subscription to the welfare fundestablished by the State Government forsecuring welfare of workers in general at arate equal to the membership fee of the solenegotiat ing agent or the highestsubscription of any union included in thenegotiating college. Workers were free tojoin or not join a trade union: subjecting nonmembers of a trade union to paysubscription to the welfare fund establishedby the State Government is violation of theprinciples of ‘Freedom of Association”.

The code deals only with registration oftrade unions and is totally silent on anymethodology to be followed for recognition oftrade unions which is a major need of theindustry, because presently there is nonational legislation on recognition of thebargaining agent in case of multiplicity ofunions in an establishment.

Standing Orders

Chapter 4 of the Labour Code deals withstanding orders.

The Chapter states that the CentralGovernment shall make rules and ModelStanding Orders to provide for the variousmatters. The items listed in the first scheduleof the Code are identical to the scheduleunder Section (2-A) of the existing IndustrialEmployment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946.

Notice of Change

Chapter 5 of the Labour Code deals withNotice of Change.

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The items considered under “Conditionsof Service for Change of which notice is to begiven” in the second schedule of the Codeare identical to the fourth schedule of TheIndustrial Disputes Act, 1947. There was needto relook at the schedule as businesses haveto go through technological changes and quiteoften the items listed in the schedule are usedas delay tactics by trade unions. Also consideritem 11 in the schedule which is “Any increaseor reduction (other than casual) in the numberof persons employed or to be employed inany occupation or process or department orshift, not occasioned by circumstances overwhich the employer has no control”. Hence, ifan employer desires to increase theworkforce, it will attract notice of change. TheSecond National Commission of Labour hadrecommended that the word “increase “ bedropped, because if a company decides toincrease its workforce which generatesemployment then also notice of change isattracted. This is because item11 in theschedule is taken from the Bombay IndustrialRelations Act, 1946 where workers were paidon piece rate and if the team strength of agroup went up then an individual workerswages could reduce.

Procedure, Powers & Duties ofAuthorities

Chapter 7 of the Labour Code deals withProcedures, Powers & Duties of Authorities.

In the proposed Bill, there is a provision forIndustrial Tribunal and National Tribunal. TheLabour Court and Board of Arbitration wouldcease to exist, though there is provision forvoluntary reference of disputes to arbitration.

Strikes and Lockouts

Chapter 8 of the Labour Code deals withStrikes and Lockouts.

An addition under the code is “No workershall stage, encourage or instigate such formsof coercive actions as wilful “go-slow”,

squatting on the work premises after workinghours or “gherao” of any of the members ofthe managerial or other staff during conciliationproceedings and no worker shall stagedemonstrations at the residence of theemployers or the managerial staff membersduring conciliation proceedings andadjudication proceedings before the Tribunaland National Tribunal. Also the workers cannotresort to strike without giving six weeks’ noticeand this clause is applicable only to the workersengaged in public utility services.

Also mass casual leave will be consideredas strike. The proposal says if more than halfthe workers are on casual leave, it will betreated as strike.

Layoff, Retrenchment and Closure

Chapter 9 of the Labour Code deals withLayoff, Retrenchment and Closure

The major change is that industrialestablishments employing more than 300workers will have to obtain permission fromthe appropriate Government before Lay-off,Retrenchment and Closure, compared to theearlier figure of 100 which was introduced inthe legislation during the emergency period(June 1975 to March 1977) when both strikesand lockouts were banned. The number of100 was not restored back to 300, though theemergency was lifted on 21 March 1977. It isgood that the figure of 300 has been restoredin the labour code.

The other change is that notice period forestablishments to retrench or close down aunit is proposed to be increased from onemonth to three months and retrenchmentcompensation is to be enhanced from 15days’ wages to 45 days’ wages per year ofservice, which is good.

Conclusion

The present National Democratic Alliance(NDA) Government has come forward with theLabour Code by clubbing three laws. The

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Labour Code has made an effort to bringcommonality in definitions under the threeActs with certain changes as cited above.

The code needs to specify themethodology to be followed for recognition oftrade unions which is a major need of theindustry, because presently there is nonational legislation on recognition of thebargaining agent in case of multiplicity of tradeunions in an establishment.

Section 33 (4) of the Industrial DisputesAct, 1947, had specified the number ofworkmen to be recognised as protectedworkmen, this provision is missing in the codeand the same needs to be brought in.

Since majority of the small and mediumenterprises operate with less than 300workmen, the code will benefit theseenterprises, as they will not require obtainingthe appropriate labour department’spermission for Layoff, Retrenchment andClosure. This will help these enterprises tobe restructured easily.

The Labour Ministry will be holdingconsultations with Trade Unions andEmployer Organizations before sending theLabour Code for Cabinet approval. Let ussee the final Labour Code that emerges whenthe Code is passed by Parliament and laterbecomes an Act.

Editorial

Fast Forwarding Reforms

(Continued from page No. 5)

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bargaining power. In the short term, thesedevelopments are going to hit the tradeunions very hard. Consider the proposal toliberalise the engagement of contract labour.Consider the proposal to permit engagementof fixed term labour without the liability ofpermanent employment. These areparadigm shifts, which the cocooned andprotected trade unions have not been usedto and Modi is out to bust their bastions. Hewill also sweeten the pill a bit by liberalisingthe salary limits for Bonus. The move to jackup the eligibility for Bonus limit from Rs.10,000 to Rs. 15,000 and the initiative tomake the computations on the salary limit ofRs. 4,500 instead of Rs. 3,500 will also besops to the labour force that the governmentis not just taking away their rights.

Till October 2016, this government willsoft peddle the reforms though it is surelynow on the fast forward mode. Once it has

a majority in the Rajya Sabha too, thisGovernment will have the freedom for hardcore reforms to be pushed through. Tillthat time employers will have to wait asthe “Suit Boot Sarkar” does not want tobe sullied with the anti-labour jibe as it isalready fighting the anti-farmer jibe. Butin the one year of the government, itsintent has been clearly signalled. Whetherthe labour wants to be stuck in its gloriousold days or reboot itself for the newchallenges will remain to be seen but fewleaders have grasped the significance ofthe changes to plot out their path andstrategy to respond to the changes. Modiis hell bent on Modifying the Labour Lawsand the Unions have no clue on how torespond except with their strikes. It will notdelay the inevitable. The boot is on theother foot, at least for now.

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The Factories (Rajasthan Amendment) Act, 2014The Factories (Rajasthan Amendment) Act, 2014

No.F.2(28)Vidhi/2/2014. – Received the assent of the President on the 30th day ofOctober, 2014- Raj. Gaz. Ext. Pt. 4(k) dt. 11.11.2014

(Act No.20 of 2014)

NOTIFICATIONNovember 11, 2014

An Act further to amend the Factories Act, 1948 in its application to the State ofRajasthan. Be it enacted by the Rajasthan State Legislature in the Sixty-seventhof the Republic of India, as follows:-

1. Short title, extent and commencement.-A. This Act may be called The Factories (Rajasthan

Amendment) Act, 2014B. It shall extend to the whole of the State of Rajasthan.C. It shall come into force on and from the date of its

publication in the Official Gazette. 2. Amendment of Section 2, Central Act No. 63 of 1948. – In

section 2 of the Factories Act, 1948 (Central Act No. 63 of 1948), inits application to the State of Rajasthan, hereinafter referred to asthe principal Act.

(i) in sub-clause (i) of Clause (m) , for the existing word “ten”, the word “twenty”

shall be substituted;and

(ii) in sub-clause (ii) of clause (m), for the existing word “twenty”, the word“forty” shall be substituted.

3. Amendment of Section 85, Central Act No.63 of 1948. – In

Clause (i) of sub- section (1) of section 85 of the principal Act, forthe existing words “ten” and “twenty”, the words “twenty” and “forty”shall be substituted respectively.

4. Amendment of Section 105, Central Act No. 63 of 1948, – For

the existing sub-section (1) of Section 105 of the principal Act, thefollowing shall be substituted namely:-

”(1) No Court shall take cognizance of any offence under the Act except oncomplaint by an Inspector with the previous sanction in writing by the StateGovernment.”

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An Act further to amend the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 in its application to the State ofRajasthan. Be it enacted by the Rajasthan State Legislature in the Sixty-seventh Year ofthe Republic of India, as follows:-1. Short title, extent and commencement.- (1) This Act may be called The IndustrialDisputes (Rajasthan Amendment) Act, 2014.

(2) It shall extend to the whole of the State of Rajasthan.

(3) It shall come into force at once.

2. Amendment of Section 2, Central Act No. 14 of 1947.- In the Industrial Disputes Act,1947 (Central Act No. 14 of 1947), in its application to the State of Rajasthan, hereinafterreferred to as the principal Act, in section 2.-

(a) the existing sub-clause (iii) of clause (g) shall be deleted; and

(b) in clause (s), the existing expression “by an employer or by a contractor in relationto the execution of his contract with such employer” shall be deleted.

3. Amendment of Section 2-A, Central Act No. 14 of 1947.- In Section 2-A of theprincipal Act after the existing sub-section (3), the following new sub-section shallbe added, namely:-

(4) Notwithstanding anything in sub-sections (1), (2) and (3), no such dispute or differencebetween that workman and his employer connected with, or arising out of, such discharge,dismissal, retrenchment or termination shall be deemed to be an industrial dispute ifsuch dispute is not raised in conciliation proceeding within a period of three years fromthe date of such discharge, dismissal, retrenchment or termination:

Provided that an authority, as may be specified by the State Government, may considerto extend the said period of three years when the applicant workman satisfies the authoritythat he had sufficient cause for not raising the dispute within the period of three years.”

4. Amendment of Chapter II-B, Central Act No. 14 of 1947.- Chapter II-B of the principalAct, as inserted by the Rajasthan Act No, 34 of 1958, shall be renumbered as:

CHAPTER II-C”

5. Amendment of Section 9-C, Central Act No. 14 of 1947.- Section 9-C of the principalAct, as inserted by the Rajasthan Act No, 34 of 1958, shall be renumbered as “9-CC”.

The Industrial Disputes (Rajasthan Amendment) Act, 2014

The Industrial Disputes (Rajasthan Amendment) Act, 2014

No. F.2(26)Vidhi/2/2014.- Received the assent of the President on the 30th day of October,2014

Raj. Gaz. Ext. Pt. 4(k) dt. 12.11.2014.

(Act No.2 of 2014)

NOTIFICATIONNovember 12, 2014

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6. Amendment of Section 9-D, Central Act No. 14 of 1947.- In Section 9-D of the principalAct, as inserted by the Rajasthan Act No. 34 of 1958, the existing expression “fifteen percent” shall be substituted by the expression “thirty per cent”,

7. Amendment of Section 25-K, Central Act No. 14 of 1947.- For the existing section25K of the principal Act, the following shell be substituted, namely:-

“25-K. Application of Chapter VB.- (1) The provisions of this Chapter shall apply to anindustrial establishment (not being an establishment of a seasonal character or in whichwork is performed only intermittently) in which not less than. three hundred workmenwere employed on an average per working day for the preceding twelve months.

(2) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (1), the State Government may, ifsatisfied that maintenance of industrial peace or prevention of victimization of workmen sorequires, by notification in the Official Gazette apply the provisions of this Chapter to anindustrial establishment, (not being an establishment of a seasonal character or in whichwork is performed only intermittently) in which such number of workmen which may be lessthan three hundred but not less than one hundred, ‘as may be specified in the notification,were employed on an average per working day for the preceding twelve months.

(3) If a question arises whether an industrial establishment is of a seasonal character orwhether work is performed therein only intermittently, the decision of the appropriateGovernment thereon shall be final.”

8. Amendment of section 25-N, Central Act No. 14 of 1947.-ln section 25-N of theprincipal Act.-

(a) in clause (a) of sub-section (1), the existing expression “or the workman has beenpaid in lieu of such notice, wages for the period of the notice” shall be deleted; and

(b) in sub-section (9), after the existing expression “six months” and before the existing’punctuation mark “.”, appearing at the end, the expression “and an amount equivalent tohis three months average pay” shall be inserted.

9. Amendment of Section 25-O, Central Act No. 14 of 1947.- In sub-section (8) of section25-O of the principal Act, after the existing expression “six months” and before the existingpunctuation work “.”, appearing at the end, the expression “and an amount equivalent tohis three months average pay” shall be inserted.

10. Amendment of Fifth Schedule, Central Act No. 14 of 1947.- After the existingparagraph 5 of Part-II to the Fifth Schedule of the principal Act, the following shall beadded, namely:-

“Explanation.-For. the purpose of this paragraph, ‘go slow’ means any such activity by anynumber of persons, employed in any industry, acting in combination or with commonunderstanding, to slow down or to delay the process of production or work purposely whethercalled by work to rule or by any other name, so as the fixed or average or normal level ofproduction or work, or output of workman or workmen of the establishment is not achieved:

Provided that all necessary ingredients or inputs for standard quality production or workare made available in time and in sufficient quantity.”

Deepak Maheshwari,Principal Secretary to the Government

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CL (RA) (Rajasthan Amendment) Act, 2014No.F.2(27) vidhi/2/2014.- Received the assent of the President on the 30th

day of October, 2014-Raj. Gaz. Ext. Pt.IV-K dt. 11.11.2014.

(Act No. 19 of 2014)

NOTIFICATION

November 11, 2014 An Act to amend the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, inits application to the State of Rajasthan.

Be it enacted by the Rajasthan State Legislature in the Sixty Seventh Year ofthe Republic of India, as follows:

1. Short title, extent and commencement.-A. This Act may be called The Contract Labour (Regulation and

Abolition) (Rajasthan Amendment) Act, 2014.B. It shall extend to the whole of the State of Rajasthan.C. It shall come into force at once.

2. Amendment of Section 1, Central Act No. 37 of 1970- For the

existing sub-section (4) of section 1 of the Contract Labour(Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 (Central Act No. 37 of 1970),in its application to the State of Rajasthan, the following shall besubstituted namely:-

“(4) it applies- (a) to every establishment in which fifty or more workmen are employed or wereemployed on any day of the preceding twelve months as contract labour;(b) to every contractor who employs or who employed on any day of the precedingtwelve months fifty or more workmen : Provided that the State Government may, after giving not less than two monthsnotice of its intention so to do, by notification in the Official Gazette, apply theprovisions of this Act to any establishment or contractor employing such numberof workmen less than fifty as may be specified in the notification.”

Deepak Maheshwari,Principal Secretary to the Government

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P. N. SAMANT

The Role OF Supervisors In Industry

M/S General Electric runs one of its mostadvanced assembly plants, using a singleplant supervisor for 400 technicalemployees making perhaps the most idealratio of 1:400. Whereas another report saysthat the world’s largest tomato processingplant runs with about 700 employees withouta single supervisor. The team members taketheir responsibilities right from acquiringtools and skills required for their jobs.

I was reminded of the manner in whichthe textile mills were having varyingpractices of employing the supervisors intheir production departments. When Istarted my career as a supervisor in theprocessing department of a textile mill in60’s, there used to be only one supervisorfor three major sections of cloth processing,namely, bleaching, dyeing and finishing ineach shift, and there was one Head ofDepartment above us. In my next job inanother more reputed mill, there was onesupervisor in each of the three departmentsin each shift, and there were Deputy Headsfor Bleaching, Finishing and for DyeingDepartment. However, the total dailyproduction was the same in both mills.

My next change was to a bigger andmore reputed textile process house, wherewe were two supervisors for each of theabove three departments in each shift andindependent Head and a Deputy Head foreach Department. Of course, the dailyproduction was almost double the earliermills’ production.

I then joined another equally big processhouse on promotion as the Head of

Bleaching and Finishing departments. HereI could take my own decision and wemanaged with one supervisor for both thedepartments in each shift and no DeputyHead. The energetic and young Director ofthis company had tried to appoint aProcessing Superintendent above theHeads and at one time, also gave me aDeputy Head without any demand ornecessity. However, both these dignifiedpersons had to leave or were sacked by thesame Director when he found that they hadno day to day work. I can now rememberthat we were managing the production workin this company with the least number ofsupervisors who were also not quitequalified but had good working experience.

There was also an interesting incident,which I came across in this company whenone better qualified person who wasworking in a very highly reputed textile millwas appointed as Deputy Head in mydepartment. When he joined us and sawthe working, he honestly told that in hisprevious job, there was one supervisor, toohighly qualified, on each finishing machinein each shift. Here we had three suchmachines and half a dozen auxiliarymachines which were managed by onesupervisor. He also said that although hewas a full time supervisor on one machine,he was not given the responsibility ofpreparing the finishing material which wasprepared under the supervision of theLaboratory Chemists with a secret recipenot disclosed to the production supervisors.He had therefore left that job and come toa less reputed company to learn more whichhe could, all the time appreciating our free

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and open set-up. Being a young qualifiedperson he became the Head in good mills,where he was always remembering our set-up and the experience he got with us.

I am not giving this information as mypersonal achievement. It was howeverthe working methods in various mills thatI came across during my career. It wasfound that this had always been acontroversial aspect as can be seenfrom the news reports referred to in thebeginning. It is also seen that with allthe efficiency and hard work of ourerstwhile supervisors, all the textile millsand process houses in the city wereclosed for different reasons, leaving itto the HR experts to imagine whatshould be the ratio of supervisors toworkers in any given industry.

The trade unions have very little say inthis aspect. We however find that the wagesettlements which generally provideproductivity norms, discipline, etc. linked tothe wage rise given in the settlementsmakes the working of the departments quitesmooth. The various grades also prescribethe duties to be performed by each gradedemployee. Most of the machines are highlyautomatic and the productivity and qualityneeds no supervision.

In one chemical manufacturing company,our union questioned the management whythey required 285 supervisors and officersfor the factory having 600 workers and staff.The Senior Vice President was fond oftaking interviews for recruitment veryfrequently to maintain the strength ofofficers and did not take the suggestion ofthe union seriously. When the newincumbents joined as Senior V.P. and alsoan H.R. Head, they informed me one finemorning that they were reducing 40

officers as was suggested by the unionearlier. Incidentally I as the President ofthe union could get a better wage rise tothe workers in next settlement when wepointed out that the company had saveda few crore as wages of those 40 officerswithout in any way affecting the productionor discipline etc.

There is also a practice of engaginghighly paid consultants for prescribing theproduction norms. This is then negotiatedwith the workers and unions andsettlements are made with practicablenorms. Now where is the role of the qualifiedand experienced supervisors and officersin this whole process!

In one engineering company, our unionhas signed about 10-11 settlements. Ineach of these settlements, the workmenhad given 10 to 15 % production rise. Thusthere was a total rise of production of 100to 150 % and I used to ask then themanagement, what was the production 30-40 years back with the same products andthe same machinery? What must havebeen the role of supervisors and productionmanagers in those days? The shrewdworkers were willing to agree for a regular10% increase in each settlement only toget the desired wage rise.

There are companies who deployqualified persons on production machinesand plants and call them officers orexecutives who undertake that they will notjoin or form a union. In such units there areprobably no supervisors.

The role of supervisors is thus alwaysdebatable and it varies from one unit toanother and time may come when thiscategory will be totally wiped out.

ARBITER JUNE 201518

C. KRISHNAMURTHI

“Theft” at Workplace Defined

Theft of employer’s property is aserious offence. The courts are generallyof the view that any leniency shown in thematters involving theft will be greatlymisunderstood. Theft is defined in Section378 of the Indian Penal Code is thedishonest removal of moveable propertyout of the possession of any personwithout his consent. For those concernedwith managing people in industries, wherearticles of every day use lie around, theftwould mean an act or instance of stealing.

Thus where the employer’s property istaken away by the employee wrongfullywith the intention to deprive the employerof the same, the act could be said to betheft. In other words, if the employee hasa right to take away the property, no theftis committed by him. Thus for example, ifthe worker has purchased a shirt from thefactory manufacturing garments, where heis working, at a concessional rate, it cannotfall within the mischief of the word “theft”.

To cite another example, if theemployee has a right to cut and use timberfrom the employer’s land, he need notaccount for the value of that timber to theemployer. This also means that carryingaway employer’s property accidentally isnot theft. The employee must know whathe is doing.

There was this case of the messengerboy who was given Rs.500/= to be sentby Money Order to a customer. As hestood in the queue in the Post Office, hewhipped out a letter from his pocket, andstarted reading it. The letter was from his

mother, who was crying over the fate. Theunbearable illness and no money to buyfood and medicines had left her in direstraits. The letter ended with an appealfor sending some money urgently. Tearsflowed from the boy’s eyes, and he sentthe money meant for the customer to hismother. This was considered an act oftheft, because his act had relation to thedischarge of the duties the employer hadentrusted to him.

What happens if the employee stealsthings belonging to the employer after dutyhours, by the night? Employmentrelationship contemplates a gain ofmoney, convenience and comfort for theemployee. And, if the employee’s conductresults in such loss of money, property,etc. for the employer, the offence of theemployee is punishable. Such “stealing”whether during day or night destroysraison daitre for employment relationship.

If theft is misconduct, embezzlementor misappropriation of employer’s moniesis also misconduct. Imagine the case of aconductor of bus, who collects moniesfrom passengers without issuing tickets tothem, and pockets that money. That actamounts to misappropriation. Smallnessof the amount misappropriated cannot bepleaded as justification to ignore theoffence, nor a long service put in by theemployee, would warrant showingleniency in dealing with such misconduct.

In an English case, a Customs Officersold the goods seized for violation ofCustom’s law, and misappropriated the

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monies instead of accounting to theemployer. This is a pure case ofembezzlement. The interesting point tonote is that the agent cannot hold hisprincipal’s property adversely to thePrincipal, and must hand over theproperty on demand (and) until theemployer asks for it, retention is notembezzlement. (Employee’s Miscondut- Alfred Avins, pg. 511).

It is needless to say that attemptingtheft or aiding theft is also misconduct.What about the employee obtainingmaterials on behalf of the employer, andpending delivery uses the material or partthereof, thereby causing loss to theemployer? This is nothing short of theft.The general law is that the employee,who uses the employer’s property for hisown benefit, breaches his duty. Thus, anAssistant Manager, who uses the Bank’sjeep for coming to office, and going homemerely because the jeep is parkedoutside his house, commits misconduct.Also, if he uses the office telephone tomake long distance calls to his relatives,he commits misconduct.

Even so, many employers overlooksuch aberrations, which occur on a day today basis. The basis on which the

employer-employee relationship is foundis based on the obligation the employeehas to render “loyal” and faithful serviceto the employer. This means he has to besteadfast in his allegiance to the employer.From this arises his obligation to deal withhis employer’s property faithfully byexercising the trust, which the employerhas reposed in him. Thus, he should notaccept any inducement, gifts, etc., whichwill influence his activities. Nay, he shouldalso disclose the fraud, which is committedby another employee, if it comes to hisnotice. The duty to look after employer’sproperty extends to trade secrets, data ofcustomers, processes, and so on adoptedby the employer. This obligation may existeven after his employment is terminated,depending upon the facts of the case.

However, take the case of theemployee taking away the data ofcustomers kept by the employer for hisown use. The court will intervene forprotecting confidential information andtrade secrets of the employer, but notwhere the employee uses his skill,expertise and experience acquiredwhile working with the employer formaking a product.

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“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidenceand courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home

and think about it. Go out and get busy.”- Dale Carnegie

ARBITER JUNE 201521

DR. ROOPAK VASISHTHA

Emergence Of Sector Skill Councils In India

In India, traditionally we love followingthe Education Stream. Our wards aspireto attain jobs after completing graduation,post-graduation, MBA, MBBS orEngineering. Those who don’t getadmissions in the Education stream trytheir luck in the Skilling courses. Theseskilling courses are also often offered bya very few organized players and the ecosystem has left these courses to be runby fly by night operators or Pop and Momshops. The contents of the same coursesvary from institute to institute. The skillingcourses are also seen as somethinginferior to the Education stream.

Proud Possession of Skills

Compare the scenario in westerncountries with ours. In a western country,the skilled manpower is respected equallyas of the educated manpower. Just seeany of the quiz progrmmes or anyprogramme where general citizensparticipate. The anchor asks theparticipants about their profession andthey don’t feel shy in saying, “I am aCarpenter or I am Plumber”. We can’teven imagine a situation in India, where aquiz programme will have participation ofCarpenter or a Plumber.

We are slowly entering an era wherewe shall have crores of MBAs andEngineers with no jobs for them. Thisreminds me of a joke where a student,while filling admission form at an MBAcollege asks the Peon of the institute thatwhether the institute was good. The peontells him that it’s an excellent MBA institute

and even he (the peon) had studied MBAfrom the same institute!!

We have seen the supply side story.Now, let’s see the demand side story. Theindustry these days is striving to acquireskilled manpower. There are someindustries, like Apparel and Textile industry,where approximately 10 million additionalskilled jobs would be required to be filledin till 2022. The attrition rate in this industryis more than 40-50%. While on one sidethe industry doesn’t get trained and skilledmanpower and on the other hand theattrition rate kills. Many players in thecountry are on the lookout for skilledmanpower, so much so that they have tosometimes postpone their plans forexpansion. Now look at the irony. On onehand, we have serious paucity ofmanpower and on the other, millions ofyoungsters are available. They, however,are either not aware of the opportunitiesor are reluctant to work other than thewhite collar jobs.

Lop-sided Training

The training system also was faulty tillnow, as anyone started teaching anything,without much control on the contents andquality. The course curricula across theskilling industry differed from each other.The most interesting point to note here isthat when the student, after completingcourse, goes to the industry, the industryrealizes that he does not have the requisiteskills required in the industry. For namesake, the courses get completed and withthe help of robust placements cells, the

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institutes get their students pushed intothe industry, without realizing that he woulddo more harm than contribute. Theindustry, on the other hand, has to use itsinternal resources to get the candidatelearn, mostly from A to Z.

This may not be the scenario in thecoming years. The good news is thatGovernment, at last, has formed the muchawaited Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) ineach sector. These sector skill councils areoperated by the experts in the respectivefield. This is an international concept. Inall the developed countries, the sector skillcouncils had been formed decades back.May be that is why they are ahead of therest of the world.

New Approach

The Government, while formulating theSSCs, started the reverse way, like notingthe difference between the Sales andMarketing. In Sales, you produce and sell,and in Marketing you create demand andproduce accordingly. This is precisely whathas happened. The Government has gonethe Marketing way. The SSCs have beengiven the first mandate of doingOccupational Mapping of the industry,which means that each Council issupposed to first identify as to how manyjob roles exist in their industry. Till now,no authentic information was available asto how many job roles existed in eachindustry. Thereafter, the Councils havebeen asked to create NationalOccupational Standards (NOSs) foreach job role. NOS means as to whichskills and abilities do the manufacturersexpect from that particular job role. Thisprocess is a lengthy process, under whichthe SSC collects the grass root information

of each step in that particular job role,conducts brainstorming sessions of theindustry players, their ProductionManagers and even their Technicians tojot down the ideal steps in that particularjob role.

The information is collated and sent tothe larger industry players and on the basisof their suggestions, the norms areamended. A final draft is then taken outand sent to even larger industry playersfor formal validation of the draft norms.Due care is taken to get the participationof equal number of Small, Medium andLarge industry players in the process.Thereafter, the validated Standards areplaced before the QRC of the National SkillDevelopment Corporation where after astringent process, they are passed andthen they become the NOS. As per thedecision of the Government of India, allthe skill trainings are supposed to be doneas per the contents of the NationalOccupational Standards, even when thetrainings are not connected with the SSCs.The major advantage of following onenorm would be standardization of contentsof the trainings and that too what theindustry wants. Resultantly, the workingand, ultimately, the productivity of theindustry would get positively affected.

Ensuring Overall Reach

The next mandate given to the SSCsis to grant affiliation to the TrainingInstitutes and Universities which conductSkill Trainings. This process is just like theone followed by the AICTE. Thoseinstitutions are granted affiliation, whichalign their course curricula with the NOS.After granting affiliation, the SSCassesses and certifies the students of

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those institutions. This process is likeschools, affiliated with the CBSE and theCBSE conducts exams of class 12th

students. Similarly, SSC grants affiliationto institutes and Universities, and conductsexams of their students. Thereafter,certificate of the Government of India isissued to the students. The employabilityof the students passing out of the SSCaffiliated institutions increases manifold.The industry also gets skilled manpower,as per their needs.

The SSCs have also been givenmandate to upskill the existing workforceof the country, in order to increase theproductivity of the industry across thecountry. This step would prepare thecountry to compete with other countries,as well. The Government of India hasrecently launched Pradhan Mantri KaushalVikas Yojna (PMKVY), wherein, the

Government shall give approximately asum of Rs.9,000/- per student in case offresh trainings and Rs.2,000/- in case ofupskilling of the existing workforce byallocating around Rs.1,500 crore for theentire project. The target set is to train andupskill approximately 24 lakh youngstersin this scheme, which shall be supervisedby the SSCs.

With the creation of the SSCs, not onlythe youth would get suitable decentemployment but even the existingworkforce can aspire to get certified fortheir better and secured future. Theindustry shall positively gain out of thewonderful step taken by the Governmentof India and is surely going to create animpact, which will decidedly result in thebetterment of industry in the Country.

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ARBITER JUNE 201525

CHANDRAPRABHA VENKATAGIRI

Repatriation & Reverse Culture Shock

Returning home or repatriationappears easy but in reality it is not so.Even when expats are back in their homecountry and work place, they sense thatthings have changed from what they werebefore. The employee’s experiences in aforeign country changes his personalitybut so have the community and theworkplace that he left behind. Often thereturning expatriate finds himself in analien environment and experiences whatis called as reverse culture shock.

In my career as a HR specialist, I hadthe opportunity of interacting with an expatfrom UK who was attending a conferencein Pune. In 2006, Mr Soward Hilver movedto Pune from the parent company in UKto take charge as head of a strategicbusiness unit. Since his performance wasgood, the 6-month contract kept gettingextended until three years had lapsed. Thenext opportunity was in China for a similarrole and Hilver could never hope to returnto UK until it was 6 years after his firstassignment. But in 6 years, a lot manythings had changed and the reverseculture shock hit Hilver like a bolt from theblue. He was already a severe diabetic andthis stress led to health problems. I metHilver in Pune in 2010 during theconference and then when I sent him amail in 2012, he replied that he wasrecuperating from a cardiac ailment andhad left his job six months back.

The expatriates might find that theirexperience abroad holds back theirpromotion and they find themselves at a

disadvantage compared with thosecolleagues who did not go on a foreignassignment. Some expats are saddledwith doing ‘special projects’ that only actas fillers between jobs and ignore theirdevelopment. In fact, in some MNCs, ifsomeone is assigned the responsibility forspecial projects, it only means that theindividual is biding his time before hisunceremonious exit from the organisation.Such projects are given to those who havebeen star performers in the past andwhose services are no longer needed bythe organisation. Expats have oftenrealized that on their return they are askedto get on with some real work that may ormay not be on par with what they did onforeign shores. Some find it difficult tocope with the humiliation and prefer to putin their papers. Others continue to straddlebetween the need to retain their job andneed to face the feelings of frustrationsand helplessness. Company policies actas bottlenecks in successful repatriation.

Some MNCs have a mentoring schemeto avoid the loss of repatriates that cannot only be expensive in financial termsbut also affect future strategies oforganisation. Repatriates know the bestof both the worlds and hence they mustbe allowed to seamlessly blend into thelocal ecosystem after their return to theoriginal location. Losing such employeeswill inflict a huge cost on companies thatit is difficult to measure it even.

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ARBITER JUNE 201526

BOOK REVIEWED BY BHASKAR JOSHI

Leading From The Heart - Sufi Principles At Work

Book Review

INTRODUCTION

There are two ways to think and shapeour approach -– Surrender or strive! I haveopted for the latter. Our job is to build theArk before the Deluge strikes. God helpsthose who help themselves. God bendsthe heavens and paves the path withsuccess for those who demonstratecourage. Who built the Ark? The obviousanswer is Noah – the leader of thecommunity. A single leader could save theentire community. Leaders are important.The corrupted leaders can corrupt theworld and corporate world; the honestleaders can protect the world andcorporate world with their sagacity. SufiSagacity is the need of the day.

Our sages, saints and Sufis neverdefy. What they said hundreds of yearsback, today we are witnessing thedegeneration in societies. The pace ofvalue corruption is fast, which isaccelerating with every cockcrow. Whatdidn’t happen in eons has happened inthe recent past few decades! I wonder ifthis is happening by chance! Well, to me,just like a crazy monkey by mindlesslypressing the keys of the keyboard cannotcreate a poem of Shakespeare, theevents shaping our worlds are but a well-articulated master plan.

Since the degeneration is taking placeat the level of leadership, the corrective

Publisher, No. of Pages, Price of the book (Not mentioned)

Book Written by Moid Siddiqui

measures should also be taken at thesame level. Hence, this is the attempt torekindle the soul of leadership through thisbook, “Leading from the Heart: SufiPrinciples at Work”.

I recognize it is not easy to sell the truthwith sweet words. Lao Tzu – the OldMaster – said over 2,500 years back:’Truthful words are not beautiful andbeautiful words are not truthful’. Thereaders will sometime find some of the textpunctuated with harsh words and loudviewpoints, which, in fact containsmedicinal value.

Hence, if the world has to change, weneed to redevelop leadership with SufiSagacity. Today we do not needmanagement gurus, we needmanagement monks. It is time we realizethat we need more than intellect orknowledge in the corporate world; we needwisdom and virtue in its leadership. Yes!It takes time to grow in wisdom, yetsometimes wisdom comes in unexpectedflashes. ‘Everyday, God gives us the sunand also one moment in which we haveability to change everything’, believesPaulo Coelho, the author of TheAlchemist. Those who capture thismoment of truth become monks.

The purpose of this book is to sensitisethe hearts and fill the souls of managersand leaders with Sufi Sagacity. This book

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stands to rebuild confidence in the ancientvalues, virtues and wisdom, which aredistancing from us with the passage oftime. This book will (God willing) help youin taking a sharp U-turn from what wethink, is good to what is really good. ‘If allthey say of good and evil were true, thenmy life is but one long crime,’ says KahlilGibran, a great Sufi of Lebanon.Whatever is happening today in the nameof modernization is not good. The purposeof this book is to remind and revive theforgotten ancient values. Readers will gainenormous benefit from the age-old values,which, in turn, will help them in rekindlingtheir hearts, and soul of theirorganizations.

‘When the country is confused and indarkness, loyal ministers appear’, believesthe Old Master, Lao Tzu. The glow wormsappear only in thick dark nights.

Let us not look at the darkness; let uslook at the glow worm, the loyal ministers.There is no cause of despair, in the heartof dusk lives dawn. Leading Dil Se is theglow worm, which will kindle the heart ofleadership.

Leading Dil Se is the call of time; wecan thrive only when virtuous leaderstake charge.

- MOID SIDDIQUI

Let me take you through one chapterfor deeper insight.

STOP CHASING THE MIRAGE

We measure time according to themovement of countless suns; and theymeasure time by little machine in their littlepockets. Now tell me how could we evermeet at the same place and the same

time? – Kahlil Gibran, The Greatest Worksof Kahlil Gibran.

Greed and tranquility are stepsisters.They cannot dwell together. Greed settlesin the mind and tranquility in the heart.Greed looks for numbers; tranquility forfantasies. There is no meeting point fordwellers of heart and dwellers of mind.

Today, everyone is running withoutknowing why he or she is running. If youask someone, ‘why are you running?’,you will get the answer, ’I really do notknow. I am running because everyoneelse is running’!! We acquired speed butlost our sense of direction. We arespeeding along without any clues.Speeding along with heedlessness leadsone to disaster, which we are already in.We have already lost the way.

Today we are in mad rat race. Onemust understand that the winner in ratrace remains rat! Know where you aregoing in life. Who knows you may alreadybe there! When you run directionless, youcannot reach the destination.Heedlessness along with greed iscausing incalculable damage to societyas well as to the corporate world. Greedhas barricaded the world with hatred.These barricades must break. The lovinghearts must replace the cunning mind.We think too much and feel too little.Leadership needs a mega-shift fromphysical and egoistic perspectives to loveand Sufi perspective.

Through these pages I remind thesemisleaders about the great warrior whogot wisdom before the angel of deathvisited him. He was Alexander the great.He was the disciple of the greatphilosopher, Aristotle.

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As per one tradition, the famous warrior,Alexander the Great, left a noble messagefor mankind. One can learn many lessonsfrom the following legend:

The great Greek warrior, Alexander,after conquering many kingdoms, wasreturning home. On the way, he fell ill andhe was bedridden for months. With deathdrawing close, Alexander realized how hisconquests, his great army, his sharp swordand all his wealth, the precious gifts thathe had receive from Life, were of no use.

He called his Generals and said, “Mytime has come and I will depart from thisworld soon. But I have three wishes.Please fulfill my wishes without fail.”With tears flowing down their cheeks,the Generals agreed to abide by theirKing’s last wishes.

Alexander said, “My First Desire is thatmy physician alone must carry my coffin.Secondly, when my coffin is being carriedto the grave, the path leading to thegraveyard should be strewn with gold,silver and precious stones which I havecollected in my treasury. My third and lastwish is that both my hands should be keptdangling out of my coffin.” The peoplewho had gathered there were amazed atthe King’s strange wishes. Yet no onedared to question the King. Alexander’sfavourite General kissed his hand andpressed them to his heart. “O King, weassure you that your wishes will all befulfilled. But tell us why do you make suchstrange wishes?”

At this Alexander took a deep breathand said, “I would like the world to knowof the three lessons I have learnt at thefag-end of my Life, just at this moment. Iwant my physicians to carry my coffin

because people should realize that nodoctor can ever give Life to anybody. Theyare powerless and cannot save a personfrom the clutches of death. So let notpeople take life for granted. The secondwish of strewing gold, silver and otherriches on the way to the graveyard is totell people that not even a fraction of goldcan be taken with me. Let people realizethat it is a sheer waste of time to chaseworldly wealth. And about my third wishof having my hands dangling out of thecoffin, I want people to know that I cameempty handed into this world and emptyhanded I go out of this world”

Etched in stone Alexander’s last words:“Bury my body, do not build anymonument; while taking my coffin, keepmy hands outside, so that the world knowsthe person who won the world had nothingin his hands when dying.”

If we examine our life carefully, manyof us have got corrupted, yet we feel weare honest. Why do we feel so? Becausewe live among the people who are nodifferent! In madhouse, no one considershimself mad. Rather, the people who liveother side of fence appear mad.

What appears to be truthful may notbe truthful. What appears to be miragemay not be mirage. Many suffer from opticillusion, many suffer from mental delusion.And many are chasing mirage assumingthey are visionary. Many are misleadingunknowingly; many are misleadingknowingly. The latter are real danger tosociety and corporate world.

Stop chasing the mirage. No one hasever conquered it!

Have wonderful reading.!!!!!

ARBITER JUNE 201529

DR. S. SRINIVASAN

Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm originally meantinspiration or possession by a divineinfluence or by the presence of a god.Originally, an enthusiast was a personpossessed by a god. Applied by theGreeks to manifestations of divinepossession, the term enthusiasm wasalso used in a figurative sense. Forinstance, Socrates taught that theinspiration of poets is a form ofenthusiasm.

In olden times, its uses were confinedto a belief in religious inspiration, or tointense religious fervour or emotion. Thus,a Syrian sect of the 4th century was knownas the Enthusiasts. They believed that “byperpetual prayer, ascetic practices andcontemplation, man could becomeinspired by the Holy Spirit, in spite of theruling evil spirit, which the fall had givento him”. In current English usage, the wordsimply means intense enjoyment, interest,

or approval.

Barbie Zabel, a motivational speakerand writer feels that in the game of life,enthusiasm can make the differencebetween winning or losing. Enthusiasm iscontagious; it is an emotion that can becommunicated more easily than words. Itis a force that springs from person toperson like an electrical spark. It is almostimpossible to be exposed to enthusiasmfor any length of time without acquiringsome of it.

Almost all aspects of life require someskill in persuading or motivating people,and there is no characteristic that will helpyou more than enthusiasm. Ralph WaldoEmerson once said, “Nothing great wasever achieved without enthusiasm.”Charles Schwab, who started out as alabourer and ended up as chairman of theboard in the Bethlehem Steel Company,has said, “A person can succeed atanything for which there is Enthusiasm.”

If you’re going to be enthusiastic, youmust first want to be! If you’re mired inself pity, criticism and a lot of negativethinking about your job and your positionin life, enthusiasm is not going to ascendfrom the heavens like a bolt of lightningand strike positive life into you.

Look at the word enthusiasm. Now lookat the last four letters - iasm. “I am soldon myself.” I’m talking about theaffirmation “Be the model yourself.” I’mtalking about your self-image. Likingyourself is a big part of enthusiasm.

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You don’t need to be loud or boisterousto emit enthusiasm. Just the quietconfidence that you have, the way youlook people in the eye, the smile you haveon your face, the way you shake hands,the way you take an order and even theway you walk can express enthusiasm anddenote inner confidence. You can be veryquiet and sincere and people will still pickup on your enthusiasm.

It’s easier than you think to become anatural wellspring of enthusiasm thatenergizes and motivates everyone youcontact. Just focus on integrating thesefour basic principles into your daily life;Love what you do, Believe in your work,Like yourself and Spend time with otherenthusiastic people on a regular basis.When you do, your life and achievementswill change dramatically, and a lot soonerthan you can imagine.

According to Arina Nikitina, anothermotivational speaker, enthusiasm is vitalfor realising one’s goals in life. Here areher words on the topic: If enthusiasm canbe bought as an item from a shop, do youthink it will sell? And if it does, just howmuch are you willing to pay for it? I believe

your response will be: “You must bekidding. It’ll be a sellout. The store mightprobably run out of stock, you’ll have towait in queue for a long time before youcan get your order no matter the price.”

Just how important is enthusiasm ingoal realization; in one’s life? It is soimportant that it occupies one of the topslots in the list of elements needed forsuccessful living. It is so important that itis one of the deciding factors to realizeone’s goal.

There is no doubt that everyone likestalking to enthusiastic people, unless aperson likes to be in a gloomy state, whichI doubt that person does. Enthusiasticpeople keep the conversation alive andupbeat. You feel like you are partying. Andwhen you feel like partying, you’d wish thenight will never end.

Enthusiasm brings out the hypercharacter in us. It is like adding more woodto a bonfire making you feel like you wantto roast marshmallows in it. Honestly, as Iam writing this, I’m beginning to be moreenthusiastic myself.

The point is, enthusiasm is contagiouslike a disease. This is one contagiousdisease that has a desirable effect. Matterof fact, enthusiasm is the only diseaseeverybody wants to contract. If there is acategory in the Guinness Book of WorldRecords of being the contagious diseasemost people would like to have with them,it is enthusiasm. Law enforcers wouldprobably ban quarantine of this disease.

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“Don’t argue with a fool. The spectators can’t tell the difference.”- Charles Nalin