Delhi: Future put on hold for city's past

NEW DELHI: J T Israni's plot of land in south Delhi's upscale Shivalik Road neighbourhood serves as a parking lot for neighbours but the retired ONGC official isn't protesting. The plot, bought in the 1960s to build a retirement nest, is worth crores but of no use to Israni as it lies within a no-construction zone around a centrally protected monument.
Enforcement of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2010 three years ago has impacted Delhiites in unforeseen ways. While Israni's neighbours on the road - whose plots also lie within 100 metres of the Sarai Shahji monument - built spacious homes before the amended law came into force, for him building a house now is a near-impossible task.

Curbs on construction within 100 metres of monuments were first imposed when the ASI Act was framed in 1992, but permissions continued to be granted case by case. However, the 2010 amendment and the formation of the National Monuments Authority ( NMA) following a Delhi high court direction, has led to a blanket ban on construction within 100 metres of monuments and strict regulations for development in a zone of 100-300 metres.

For thousands of Delhiites whose land or house lies within 300 metres of the city's 174 protected monuments, the change marked the beginning of a new struggle. "We have been running from pillar to post for the last three years to get an NOC to construct a house on our empty plot in Shivalik. But the state competent authority tells us that an NOC is not possible because the house is 60 metres away from an ASI monument. Were the distance measured from the monument itself, we would be 180 metres away but ASI has also notified the vacant land in front of Sarai Shahji, so the distance is being measured from the edge of the main road,'' said Rishi Narang, Israni's son-in-law. In north Delhi, where monuments are aplenty, residents are similarly affected. "I bought a plot in Rajpur Daravni in 1998. Had I known the ASI rules, I would not have invested here. I learnt that my plot is in the prohibited zone of Tripolia Gateway only when I applied to MCD for permission to build a house in 2000. I have written to the culture ministry and the ASI director general for months, to no avail. It's unfair, so many people have built elaborate houses close to the monument. Did anyone check whether rules were violated then,'' said Nitin Aggarwal, a plot owner.

Delhi has hundreds of monuments located in the midst of residential colonies, mostly in south and central Delhi. In areas like Gulmohar Park, Safdarjung Enclave, Hauz Khas, South Extension, Mehrauli, Saket, Malviya Nagar, Rana Pratap Bagh and Nizamuddin, the amended law has hit hard. People who built homes or bought plots much before the ASI act came into force in 1992 say the curbs are a travesty of justice. "I can't move a brick in my single storey house that was built in 1969. Some of my family members have medical problems and I need to build a second floor, but because my house lies 97 metres from the boundary of Biran ka Gumbad, I cannot construct anything. Had ASI measured the distance from the base of the monument, I would have been spared,'' said Dr Sushman Bhatnagar from Green Park.

Residents of South Extension I and II say the law has lowered property rates as the area is dotted with protected monuments such as Masjid Moth, Kale Khan ka Gumbad, and tombs of Bade Khan and Chhote Khan. Empty and unsecured plots near these densely populated colonies have become slums. Some owners have raised walls around their empty plots as they await relief in the law.

"Almost 90% of South Extension-I lies in the prohibited area. Plots worth crores are lying vacant because owners cannot build houses. There are cracks in the facade of some homes. Meanwhile, ASI is not taking care of its monuments-they are dilapidated, encroached and neglected,'' said Ankush Vohra, president of South Extension I residents welfare association.

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This year, few foreign offers at business schools

NEW DELHI: The global economic slowdown has impacted campus recruitments at NCR B-schools this year. Few foreign job offers have landed, and those that have landed haven't come with fat pay packets.

The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) has had the worst placement season this time. The maximum annual package offered to any IIFT student this time is Rs 27 lakh; last year, it was Rs 64 lakh. Domestic placements, though, have been more this year with over 9% increase in median salaries. With 74 domestic recruiters visiting the campus, the highest package offered at IIFT stands at Rs 22 lakh per annum, up from Rs 19 lakh per annum in 2012.

Munish Bhargava, corporate and placement adviser, IIFT, said: "Despite the economic slowdown internationally, our domestic placements has not been affected adversely and in fact we managed to improve. But yes, our major international recruiters gave us a miss this year. Technology and e-commerce jobs were more this time."

Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, hasn't fared any better. The institute has a 100% placement record, but this time they have been forced to stretch the placement season, as there are 21 students who haven't been placed.

"Things have been gloomy because of the economy and international placements have taken a hit which is why there is more pressure on domestic placements. Requirements per company have also come down. Moreover, the increase of 10%-15% in salary, which we are used to, is not there this year," said placement adviser and faculty member of MDI, Kamal Kapil.

At the Faculty of Management Studies, even domestic offers haven't been too encouraging. According to sources in the premier institute, the highest pay packet offered so far is way below its previous year's high of Rs 32 lakh. International offers, too, have not been forthcoming. Last year, the highest package offered to any student was Rs 72 lakh.

FMS hasn't come out with a placement report yet and is likely to stretch placements up to March 31, as 20-odd students have not got any offer yet.

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Nirbhaya case: Doctor testifies

NEW DELHI: A surgeon, who had operated upon the December 16 gangrape victim, Nirbhaya, recorded his statement in a fast-track court on Saturday.

Doctor Raj Kumar Chejara, a surgeon at Safdarjung Hospital, recorded his statement as a prosecution witness in the court of additional sessions judge Yogesh Khanna. He was asked about the injuries suffered by the victim and whether these had led to her death. The surgeon will be cross-examined by the counsel for the four accused next week.

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Microscope raises hope in low sperm count cases

NEW DELHI: For men battling with low sperm count, there is good news. They don't need to look for suitable sperm donors as a new technology can help them reproduce by choosing the best of the lot from the existing pool. Micro-TESE or micro-surgical testicular sperm extraction involves surgical opening of the testes, where sperms are manufactured, and selecting the healthiest ones using a special microscope.

Dr Ernest Suchanek, head of embryology at Bourn Hall clinic, which has introduced this technology at its Gurgaon Centre, says the chances of reproduction increase by over 50% in persons with zero sperm in the ejaculate. "Three to four healthy cells are enough," he added.

Experts say lack of sperms in the ejaculate is a common cause for male infertility. There could be problems with manufacture of sperms in the testes or due to blocking of the transport of sperms after their production. The doctors perform micro-TESE in which a small midline incision is made in the testicles to retrieve viable sperms. "Earlier, we had to put eight to 10 needles in the testicles randomly to get viable sperms. With the use of microscope, chances of retrieval are more," said Suchanek. Research shows there has been a fall in the average sperm count of the Indian male, from 60 million per ml to 20 million, over the last three decades. Also, the number of normal cells in a person has reduced by more than one-third.

Dr Abha Mazumdar, head of the centre of IVF and human reproduction at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said sperm count has fallen because of alcohol use, stress and pollution.

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Student, taxi driver hang themselves in Delhi

NEW DELHI: An aspiring chartered accountant and a taxi driver committed suicide here by hanging themselves in separate incidents, police said on Sunday.

Upma Singh, 21, a chartered accountancy student, hanged herself from a ceiling fan at her rented house in Laxmi Nagar in east Delhi on Sunday morning, police said.

"Her body was discovered by her woman roommate around 11.30 am," a police officer said.

In a suicide note, the student from Bihar blamed her failure in an exam for her extreme step, police said.

Harsh Rawat, 40, a taxi driver, committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling fan at his house in Swaroop Nagar area in north Delhi.

Rawat's body was found hanging by his wife on Saturday evening. He was depressed due to financial losses, police said.

"A suicide note has been found in which he talked about financial loss," said an officer.

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Even lawyers not on equal footing

NEW DELHI: Last year, a federal court in California awarded a former cardiac surgery physician assistant $168 million in a harassment suit against a hospital. The assistant had said she was tormented and sexually harassed by surgeons and the medical staff in its cardiac surgery centre from 2006 to 2008. The verdict was possibly the biggest employment verdict for a single employee in the US history.

In a complete contrast, the same year, a bunch of women lawyers at the Supreme Court of India were struggling for implementation of guidelines laid down in the Vishaka judgment — a 16-year-old landmark ruling on sexual harassment at workplace.

The lawyers had asked the court to set up a committee to probe complaints of sexual harassment from female lawyers , on the lines of the court's 1997 judgment . The demand was made after a male lawyer was accused of physically abusing a female colleague and behaving indecently during a hearing before a registrar.

Over the past one year, not only a committee was set up to look into the complaints of sexual harassment against women lawyers, the guidelines in the Vishaka judgment also got crystallized in the form of Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, which was passed by Parliament last month.

While welcoming the step, women lawyers feel that it is still a long way to go before they achieve a gender-neutral workplace. "It took so many years for the government to act on it. It shows the lack of political will," said senior advocate Indu Malhotra.

In the Vishaka judgment, the top court had directed every establishment with more than 10 employees to set up a sexual harassment complaints committee headed by a woman and with women making up at least half of its members. "The guidelines are enough but it still remains unimplemented. I believe that issues at a workplace come under the labour laws and its implementation should also lie with the government. One has to ensure that a healthy working environment is provided to women in a very exploitative system," said lawyer Minakshi Lekhi.

Lawyer Pinky Anwand, who was one of the member of the committee set up by the Supreme Court Bar Association last year, also said such issues needed to be taken seriously. "Passing the sexual harassment at workplace bill is a major step and it will provide a proper recourse to the victim," she said.

WOMAN'S ACT

BILL HIGHLIGHTS

Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Bill, passed on Feb 26, 2013, seeks to protect women, including domestic helps and agricultural labourers, from sexual harassment at workplace

SALIENT FEATURES

Sexual harassment, to be covered under the law, includes any unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature All workplaces to set up internal committee for redressal of such complaints Cases to be disposed of by in-house committees within 90 days, failing which penalty of 50,000 will be imposed Repeated non-compliance will lead to higher penalties and cancellation of licence or registration to conduct business It also has provisions for safeguard against false or malicious charges. However, failure to prove charges will not be construed as mala-fi de intention

Passing the sexual harassment at workplace bill is a major step and it will provide a proper recourse to the victim

Pinky Anand | SC LAWYER

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Civic seats fail to empower

NEW DELHI: The three municipal corporations in Delhi now have half of the seats reserved for women. The move to empower women got 156 councillors into the Houses in the 2012 elections against 90 women councillors in 2007. However, it turns out that increasing the number doesn't mean their male counterparts would accept them as equals.

During a heated discussion on the inauguration of a road under-bridge on January 21, a male councillor of North Delhi Municipal Corporation had threatened and thrown empty water bottles at women councillors in the front row to hush them. The women councillors complained to lieutenant governor Tejendra Khanna and it was decided that 10 marshals would be deployed during meetings for their safety. However, nothing has been done so far.

The same corporations also have less than 20% women staff at the senior level while it has close to 60 such posts. Around 10-12 women head various departments, but there is only one woman additional commissioner in all three corporations. They comprise 35-40 % of the total workforce .

The erstwhile MCD was never headed by a woman. Now, all three mayors are women. But this is due to reservation.

New Delhi Municipal Council has a woman, Archna Arora, as its chairperson but there aren't many women directors. Of the 20 departments, women are heading just three while women comprise around 30% of the total workforce.

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All work, little pay for domestics

Millions of homes would grind to a halt or descend into chaos in the absence of one person — the ubiquitous domestic worker . Yet, these women, so crucial to the independence of millions of women, and men too, are often grossly underpaid and get little respect in society and even within their own families.

There are no statistics determining the number of people engaged in domestic work though official estimates put the number at 4.2 million, probably a gross underestimation. Over 90% of domestic workers are women. Yet, domestic work is not even included in the central government's list of scheduled employment and hence they get no recognition as workers. Domestic work being regarded as informal employment , there is no law governing payment of wages. Labour being a state subject, it is left to respective states to fix minimum wages for domestic work.

Several states such as Karnataka, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Kerala have a law but Delhi, despite being the capital, has no such law and does not acknowledge them as workers.

In Karnataka, the first state to fix a minimum wage for domestic workers, Sister Celia, who heads one of the many domestic workers unions in the state says: "We got the minimum wage law after more than a decade of struggle. We're not happy with the minimum wage fixed for domestic work by the state; we believe it should be higher. But at least we're acknowledged as workers. Only workers have minimum wages."

The debate over norms for setting wages has been endless as there are several variables in their work such as tasks performed, hours of work, skills, the conditions of the labour market and so on. "Some of the women work parttime and in several households. In some they just clean dishes and wash clothes. In others, they may also cook and clean the house. This makes it difficult for us to fix a wage. It also depends on the area, the going-rate there, the woman's bargaining power and so on," explains Anita Kapoor of the Shahri Mahila Kamgar Union in Delhi.

However, she readily agrees they ought to be paid at least the minimum wage, which in Delhi is about Rs 280-370 for every 8-hour day. This would mean at least Rs 35-45 per hour or Rs 8,400- 11,100 per month. Very few domestic workers would make as much. Most work parttime and most aren't paid even the minimum wage for the hours they work. The guidelines laid down for the minimum wage by the 15th Indian Labour Conference (ILC) and the Supreme Court suggest that a minimum wage for 8 hours of work should be high enough to cover all the basic needs of the worker , her/his spouse and two children.

The domestic workers' unions' struggle is not just about wages. It is merely the beginning of their struggle to be recognized as workers to begin with. Their demands include how many days' leave they get, an annual bonus of a month's salary, medical cover, pension for those above 50 years and protection against harassment, both physical and sexual.

In most households, domestic workers labour through the week, and do not get Sunday or any day off. "Not just any day in a week, it has to be on Sunday, just like everyone else gets off to be with their family. And we don't want old clothes or some cheap sari as our annual bonus. They can skip the gifts and box of sweets and just give us one month's pay as bonus," says Geeta who also heads a domestic workers union. There is also a demand for two days of paid leave per month in addition to the weekly offs.

Beyond the issue of wages and social schemes, many of the women complain about the lack of respect associated with being a domestic worker. Many from outside Delhi say they don't tell anyone back home that they work as domestic help. "I have told my family I work in a factory. They look down upon domestic work," says Khushboo from Nalanda district in Bihar.

They feel this lack of respect is reflected in the way they are addressed — as naukrani or bai or kaamwali. "We have names and we should be addressed by our name. We prefer to be referred to as gharelu kaamgar as it implies respect as a worker," says Anita.

Interestingly, they also face censure if they dress up "too much" . "Employers don't like it if we come to work welldressed . They expect us to look like a domestic worker. But just as the woman of the house dresses up to go to her office , for us, their home is our workplace and we also like to dress well when we go out to work. But then we get to hear remarks like "ban dhan ke aati hai" or "heroine banke aati hai" . That's hurtful and unacceptable," says Geeta.

With scattered workplaces that are usually inaccessible to unions and with high rate of attrition and instability, organising domestic workers is difficult. Without being organized as unions the women have found it difficult to get government to address their problems and demands. Even in states with laws there is no clarity as to how employers who violate the law would be penalised. With a labour surplus, especially in urban areas, domestic workers often find it difficult to refuse work when their demands are not met.

THANKLESS LABOUR?

Delhi's going-rate for domestic help way below minimum wages Given their rights, an 8-hour workday should fetch a house-help Rs 280-370 Want to be known as gharelu kaamgar, not naukrani, kamwali or bai Given their rights, an 8-hour workday should fetch a house-help Rs 280-370

Minimum wage for domestic work fixed by law

State	Minimum wage per hour (in Rs)	Per month (in Rs)
Kerala	16.25- 17.75	3380-3692
Andhra Pradesh	12.50	2600
Karnataka	12.18	2553
Bihar	11.92	2478
Rajasthan	10.15	2106
Delhi*	35-46.25	7280-9620

*Delhi does not recognize domestic work in its categories of employment and hence has not fixed any minimum wage. This is the minimum wage for any work in Delhi, both unskilled and skilled work.

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Only 8% of Delhi’s women work

What do Delhi's working women do? While the image of a working Delhi woman that comes to mind for many is usually that of a BPO or IT worker, the real employment growth story for Delhi's women could be a far less glamorous one — paid domestic work.

For one, not a lot of Delhi's women do any paid work, at least of the sort that current surveys capture. According to data from the 2009-10 National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), just 8% of women above the age of 15 in urban Delhi are in the work force, compared to the national average of almost 20%.

Only Bihar is lower for urban women. The corresponding numbers for men are close to 75% both in Delhi and nationally. Moreover, this number has been steadily declining for women; in 2004-5 , it was 8.8% for Delhi's urban women. International Labour Organization (ILO) economists Steven Kapsos and Andrea Silberman have identified four major reasons for the decline in female participation in the labour force: growing female enrollment in education, households withdrawing women from the workforce when the family's income level rises, problems with data and the concentration of women in areas of the economy where there is little job growth.

"Looking at the data over a longer period of time, we find that this last factor explains more than half of the fall in female participation in the labour force between 1994 and 2010," Kapsos said.

What of the women in Delhi who do work? Researchers Neetha N and Indrani Mazumdar of the Delhi-based Centre for Women's Development Studies estimate that in 2005, Delhi had around 4.7 lakh women workers. While the proportion o f wo m e n wo rk i n g i n manufacturing in Delhi fell sharply between 1999-2000 and 2004-5 — from 18.9% to 10.9% — the proportion of men working in the same field grew slightly in the same period, they found.

The biggest growth in employment for Delhi's women during that period was in "private household employment" , which includes maids, cooks, housekeepers and nannies — from 5.3% to 19.6%.

The latest 2009-10 round of the NSSO shows that manufacturing remains the largest employer of Delhi's urban women, employing 17.1% of Delhi's working women. Education comes next, employing almost 16% of working women, followed by public administration and defence. Domestic work comes a close fourth. Financial intermediation employs less than 6% of Delhi's working women.

Delhi's women workers are clustered at the 20-30 and 40-44 age groups, possibly indicating that childcare largely takes over women's lives in their thirties and early forties. Graduate and postgraduate women are more likely to work at one end of the spectrum, and illiterate or primary school-educated women at the other end. Women with just a secondary or higher secondary education seem to find securing employment a greater challenge.

The average daily wage for women in urban Delhi is Rs 350, lower than that of men, but higher than the Indian average. The urban parts of Maharashtra, Uttarakhand , Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh , all have higher average daily wages for female regular employees.

"Perhaps the most substantial increase in regular work for women in Delhi in the first decade of the 21st century has been in the sphere of domestic work. But it is the fall in the share of manufacturing that distinguishes the changes in distribution of women workers by industry in Delhi from the aggregate picture of all million plus cities," Neetha and Mazumdar say.

But it would be a mistake to see this rise, and the growing demand for domestic workers, as a "lever to raise the female work participation rates in any significant or meaningful manner" because it has not been able to offset declines in other sectors of employment, they warn.

"Avenues of paid and even unpaid work for women are shrinking, and the crisis in the economy is leading to a severe constriction of employment opportunities for women," says Indu Agnihotri, CWDS' director and one of Delhi's leading feminist historians.

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Delhi men gather to apologise to Delhi women

NEW DELHI: "Delhi Women: I'm Sorry, I'm Changing" read the posters lining Tolstoy Marg. Carried by men dressed in black, the posters attracted many a second glance. A foreign tourist even stopped to clap approvingly before walking right on.

The on-street activism around the 16 December gang rape in Delhi may have ebbed, but the tenor of public protest remains focused on institutional reforms. However, Saturday morning saw a group of Delhi men gather near Jantar Mantar to offer a "Public apology to Delhi women".

"As Delhi guys we need to introspect. We may not be criminals, but have a shared responsibility as a community," says Jonathan Abraham, a social sector consultant and one of the participants of the public apology. Close to a hundred people participated in the apology through the course of the day.

Earlier this year in Bangalore, a group of men dressed in skirts gathered in the city's Cubbon Park in solidarity with women and against sexual violence and gender discrimination.

"Men haven't yet spoken up against all this. A culture of silence surrounds sexual violence. Even if you are not directly involved in the crime, it shows that you are a part of the apathetic environment that fosters its growth," said Prince David, one of the participants.

At the venue, a long strip of paper was laid out on the ground and people were encouraged to write their messages on them. "My Silence Enables Injustice," one read. "Stop passing vulgar comments. I am changing. You also do," (sic) said another with astonishing simplicity. In another corner, in an improvised "photo booth", people could stand with an apology poster and get a picture clicked.

Interior decorator and biker Ravi Dalal got to know about this meet through Facebook, and felt that he just had to ride in to show support. "I have a six-year-old daughter who even at her age has begun to feel uncomfortable about things. I had to have a talk with her about the kinds of violence that exist. When I told her I was coming here, she was very proud of me," says Dalal.

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