India requires two-fold increase in workforce

Despite being a country of over a billion strong, the Indian manufacturing and services industries are expected to face a manpower shortage, especially in finding the right person for the right job, in the next few years.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) estimates a booming economy – with about eight per cent GDP growth annually – will require about 16-20 million workforce in the organised sector over the next 10 years to sustain the current high growth rate.

A study, presented at the 14th CII quality summit here, has revealed that of the existing 8.5-million workforce in the organised sector, about 30 per cent will retire in the next five years.

“Inequity in the demand-supply of manpower will persist in diverse industry verticals such as IT, retail, banking, manufacturing, logistics, infrastructure and management due to lack of quality workforce, absence of vocational training and job-hopping,” said Anand Sudarshan, Manipal Universal Learning Ltd president.

Though a whopping 195 million students enrol at school level nationwide, only 11 million of them go to college for higher education, about 200,000 to university for master’s degree and just 16,500 for research, the study found.

“Ironically, while the 1,540 engineering colleges across the country offer 525,000 seats, about 460,000 students enrol and 360,000 of them graduate every year. Only 200,000 of them have reasonable quality but require intense training to qualify for an IT job.

Muslim Scientist Quits Govt Research Centre

Afsar Abbas, who was appointed founding director of a top government research centre three months ago, has suddenly resigned from his post over what he says is lack of autonomy. An international conference, which was being organised by him and was scheduled for January 2007, also had to be cancelled due to his resignation.

Abbas quit the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences (CIRBAS), New Delhi last week due to differences in opinion with higher authorities, including over appointment of faculty.

“There were several areas of conflict with higher authorities in the university there,” Abbas was quoted as saying.

“The main problem arose over hiring two professors, two readers and ten lecturers in the centre which was advertised earlier. I wanted to appoint the best available talents,” he said.

“As the director of an autonomous centre, I wanted the screening committee to include members from top Indian educational institutions like Delhi University (DU), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Delhi . This was not allowed,” he added.

“Autonomy means the centre would act independently under a management board with the director as the highest executive authority. This is the standard way all research centres and institutes function. Though this exists on paper, the same is denied in reality. The authorities were also forcing upon me a local screening committee where at least two persons were completely unacceptable,” said Abbas.

“I could not accept any action which would be detrimental to the larger interests of the centre and the country and hence I resigned,” he added.

Christian Dalits not Entitled to Quota Benefits

Chennai High Court has ruled that Christian Dalits are not entitled to the special benefits provided under the Indian Constitution for so-called “Scheduled Castes”.

AsiaNews reports that the court made the ruling in a case concerning a Dalit born to Hindu parents who had converted to Christianity but who had re-converted to Hinduism.

As a Hindu Dalit, the person was entitled to quota benefits provided for members of “Scheduled Castes” enabling members of India ’s lowest castes to gain preferential access to government posts.

A division bench comprising Justices Dharma Rao and S K Krishnan allowed a petition by R Shankar, who challenged the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission’s rejection of his application to the post of civil judge under the Scheduled Caste quota. Shankar said he was born to Dalit Christian parents, but in 1983 he converted to Hinduism and received a Scheduled Caste community certificate.

Despite passing exams and interview for a civil judge post, his appointment was held up for verification of community (caste) status. When he was told that he could not be appointed under the quota system since he was born in a Christian family, he challenged the decision in court.

The judges ruled that although his parents were Christian, his re-conversion to Hinduism was acceptable.

For Fr Babu Joseph, spokesman for the Bishops’ Conference of India, the case raises a serious question, namely “why talk about rights when two people with the same social status are treated differently on the basis of their religious status?”

“The court’s decision has reinforced our resolve to obtain for Dalit Christians the same treatment for members of other religions,” he insisted.

“This kind of discrimination cannot exist in a democratic nation like India , which should deal fairly and impartially with its citizens and their rights.”

John Dayal, president of the All India Catholic Union said that “the court’s ruling reflects the fact that in India the problem of the caste system is misunderstood, a problem that transcends religion.”

Mr Dayal added, “This ruling of the high court is in keeping with the current law as enunciated by the courts. It reaffirms that in India , there is a complete lack of understanding of the issue of caste and its societal ramifications. Caste transcends religion. Caste bias is a societal malaise, rooted not in the person affected but the society which surrounds him. This is why we are in the Supreme Court to tell the court that caste infirmity and bias does not end if you change your religion to Christianity or Islam. Sikhs and Buddhists, who belong to religions very different from Hinduism, have now the same rights as Hindu Dalits because of political patronage. Christians have no political patronage. At another level, this law also punishes those Hindus who want to adopt the Christian faith. They can lose their jobs on conversion.  If they reconvert, they get the benefits back. In that way, it is an allurement and coercion to keep Dalits within Hinduism.”

Bridge the Gap between Muslims and Others

Maulana Syed Salman Husaini Nadwi, a renowned Islamic scholar, called upon the Muslims to play a proactive role in bridging a gulf between Muslims and Non-Muslims.

While delivering a talk on “What should be the Islamic Education System” during his visit to Dubai , he stressed the need for electronic media to bridge the gap between Muslims and others. 

Syed Salman Nadwi, who is a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and a professor at Dar-ul -Uloom, Nadwa, is also the founder of Jaamiat Shabaab-e-Islam, Lucknow .

Salman Nadwi briefed the audience on his forthcoming educational seminar to be held in Lucknow in February 2007.

Haj subsidy politics will not work: Muslim scholars

The government’s decision to hike Haj subsidy for 10,000 more pilgrims annually has reopened the controversy whether such a move is needed for religious pilgrimage, even as Muslim intellectuals pooh-pooh the government’s argument that the move upholds the country’s secular credentials.

While Muslim intellectuals fiercely oppose subsidy on Haj pilgrimage, the government argues that it is only assisting poor Muslims to fulfil their dream of a Haj pilgrimage and upholding the country’s secular credentials. They point out that even Saudi Arabia , home of Makkah, believes that any subsidy for the Haj goes against the spirit of the Islamic Shari’ah. They say Haj is a religious duty only for those who can afford it and that the pilgrimage may not be ‘accepted by God’ if money spent on transport to reach the holy sites and on food is not the pilgrim’s own.

Syed Shahabuddin, former diplomat and a community leader, also opposed the idea. “I am against subsidy. I have told successive prime ministers that this Haj subsidy is there because of their political need, it has never been our demand,” he said.

However, Qasim Rasool Illyas of All India Muslim Personnel Law Board put a slightly different spin.

“The entire subsidy has to be re-looked. The cost of the Haj pilgrimage will be reduced if the government is ready to put Haj affairs under an autonomous body. Now the government subsidy goes to the state-owned Air India . What Haj pilgrims get as subsidy they would get as discounts on other airlines.”

He alleged that there was “deep rooted” corruption in hiring houses for pilgrims in Makkah and Medina . “The pilgrims are given cheap houses far away from Ka’bah but charged more,” Ilyas said.

India tests n-capable missile

India reportedly test-fired a short-range nuclear-capable missile on November 19, three days after Pakistan test-fired a medium-range ballistic missile.

The indigenously built air force version of the surface-to-surface Prithvi-11 missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher at the Launching Complex 3 of the integrated test range (ITR) at Chandipur-on-sea in the coastal district of Balasore.

Prithvi is one of the five missiles developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme of the (DRDO). The new test comes four months after the failed test firing of the intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) Agni-III.