Editor,
India has the second largest concentration of tribal population in the world. As per the 2011 census the tribal population constitutes about 8.9% of the total population in India, with 705 ethnic groups recognised as Scheduled Tribes. The largest concentrations of Indigenous Peoples are found in the seven states of north-east India, and the “central tribal belt” stretching from Rajasthan to West Bengal. India has several laws and constitutional provisions, such as the Sixth Schedule for certain areas of north-east India, that recognize Indigenous Peoples’ rights to land and self-governance. The Scheduled Tribes (STs) have been the most marginalised, isolated and deprived population. To protect and safeguard the land rights of STs and to address the issue of land acquisition and displacement of tribals, Constitutional and legal provisions have been put in place viz. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006. Post independence, India continued with the colonial legislation, the Indian Forest Act, 1927, which took away all forest rights of tribal dwellers.
However, most of the tribals today are facing growing challenges in the globalised world. Influence of mainstream society, economic development viz. industry, communication, mining etc. have made it impossible for tribals to remain oblivious and cut off from society. The challenge, therefore, for improvement of tribal socio-economic conditions is how to strike a balance between protection and preservation of tribal identity, culture, values and, most importantly, their land. Since, land is one of the most crucial and vital resources of tribals. Their economy is predominantly limited to land and forests.
Land development and land protection are both important for sustainable development and tribal upliftment. The concern for land alienation needs to be further addressed through stringent law; if at all socio- economic development has to take place.
Yours etc.,
Dr Omarlin Kyndiah,
Via email
Why the arbitrary barricading of the immersion ghat?
Editor,
Through your esteemed daily I would like to highlight deep concern and anguish for sudden barricading of the entire immersion ghat in Polo area of the city. This place is being used by the Hindu community to immerse idols and perform many other religious rituals throughout the year. As per informed sources, this plot of land belongs to a private person who had allowed it to be used exclusively for Hindu religious purpose and the barricading done without his knowledge and consent. It is also not clear which authority or organization has taken such unilateral action ostensibly to rob the Hindu community of its right to perform religious activities. I urge the district administration to look into the matter and take immediate steps to remove the barricades so that the religious right of the Hindu community is restored at the earliest.
Yours etc.,
N K Kehar
Shillong-3
Follow the standard 40 hour week!
Editor,
This refers to the article, “Questions for L&T and other CMDs” by Lekha Rattanani (ST, January 14, 2025). After Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy suggested a 70-hour work week, Larsen & Toubro chairman S.N. Subrahmanyan has taken one step forward with his 90-hour work week remark. He also suggested that people should work on Sundays.
These people bear the mindset of a capitalist in its primitive brutal stage before the emergence of welfare states and before it has been established by scientific evidence that overwork destroys health and productivity of a worker. In the late nineteenth century, workers fought for an eight-hour workday when they had to work 10 to 16 hours every day. International Workers’ Day is observed on May 1 to commemorate the eight-hour workday movement in Chicago in 1886.
Australia got a 40-hour work week by 1948, and Canada in the early 1960s. Most European countries had implemented a standard 40-hour work week by the 1970s. Now, a 40-hour work week has become one of the salient features of a welfare state. Welfare states embrace a 40-hour work week because more than 40 hours of occupational work per week creates health hazards for workers and hampers their family and social lives.
Interestingly, Narayan Murthy himself said when his kids were at school, he and his wife Sudha Murthy dedicated more than three hours to reading with their kids Akshata and Rohan. What does it mean? The employers should spend time with their children. But a worker is not supposed to do it! This is a perfect example of casteism that believes Dalits should not have access to education. They should toil hard for the upper castes so that the latter enjoy a good amount of leisure to study and teach their children with care.
According to the International Labour Organisation, India ranks as the second most overworked country in the world with 51% of those employed working for 49 hours or more. A study by the World Health Organisation and the ILO concludes “that working 55 or more hours per week is associated with an estimated 35% higher risk of a stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from ischaemic heart disease, compared to working 35–40 hours a week”.
Recently, the death of Anna Sebastian Perayil, an employee of Ernst & Young in Pune, has raised widespread concern over excessive workloads. Perayil, a 26-year-old audit executive, allegedly died as a result of stress, caused by backbreaking workload, a claim brought forth by her mother. Her mother said that Anna lost her life as she was forced to work overtime for fourteen hours every day for four months since she joined E&Y. Not only does overwork cause exhaustion and health issues for the workers, but also triggers unemployment.
To get 24 man-hours daily, an employer needs 3 workers if each worker works for 8 hours daily (8×3). But if the employer forces each worker to work for 12 hours per day, he will employ just two of them (12×2). The latter and prevailing scenario causes unemployment for one in three workers.
According to a recent study, almost a third of app-based cab drivers work for 14 hours a day, while more than 83% work over 10 hours and 60% work over 12 hours. While 78% of app-based delivery persons spend over 10 hours each day at work, 34% earn less than Rs 10,000 per month.
Long work hours made drivers physically exhausted. This, plus the 10-minute delivery at the doorstep policy of certain e-commerce platforms are two of the reasons behind many road traffic accidents in our country.
India needs to formulate necessary labour laws and strictly implement the standard 40-hour work week. It would safeguard the physical and mental wellbeing of the workers, generate nearly 50 per cent more jobs than the existing ones, and reduce the number of accidents to a great extent.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata