Shri
Narendra Modi
Prime Minister
Government
of India
North Block
New Delhi September 05,
2017
Dear Sir
Suggestion
No 02
This is further to my last communication
of August 15, 2017. Here with my second suggestion to you.
a)
Instruct
all Government Departments, Institutions,
Undertakings and PSUS to offer
the following “ Working
Hours” OPTION to full time women employees.
1.
They can
work from 1100 to 1630
hours (with ½ hour lunch break)
instead of the standard & prevalent
0930 to 1800 hours (with ½ hour lunch break).
2.
This
means their working time will reduce to 5 hours, instead of the earlier 8 hours.
This represents a cut of 37.5 % cut in Working Hours
b)
For
those who choose this “reduced working hour option, there will be a 33.33 % cut in Wages on
CTC basis. To illustrate, if
someone’s Gross Salary (taking all elements like various allowances and
retirement benefits into account)
is Rs. 12,000/- per month, the same will now reduce to Rs. 8,000/- per month.
RATIONALE &
PURPOSE OF THE
ABOVE SUGGESTION
c)
Most
working women (by which I am referring to women employed in full-time, salaried jobs) play the dual role of home-maker and
employee. This leads to a tremendous
amount of stress on a daily basis, be it
getting ready and attending to children in the morning or coming back from work and arranging dinner at night, after a tiring day at the office.
d)
In
trying to manage the above situation,
many small mishaps, and/or
missteps happen which raises the stress level further and damages their health.
e)
Alternatively, these
services are sought to be provided by using hired help, which is extremely expensive
and sometimes neither reliable nor even safe.
f)
If
the above “Reduced Working Hour Option”
is exercised, the lady of the
house will be able to leave home for work very comfortably after attending
to her children and such other necessary home-work without any stress or
pressure. She need not wake up at
unearthly hours (thus not even getting full sleep)
g)
She
will also return home in good time to be available for the children who come
back for school, take care of their
evening snacks/meals, attend to the
“litany of demands they invariably bring back from school”, oversee and check their homework and
generally be available as a companion to them.
Today, the children often return to an empty home
and have to make do with waiting for their parents or playing around with the hired
help or generally making a nuisance of themselves in the neighbourhood.
h)
This
availability of the “working mother”
to their children “for longer hours than at present” will be a big boon
in their proper development and quick corrective guidance if they are going deviant
because of non-supervision of parents.
It is well-known fact that children of
working parents often engage in undesirable behavior that is morally and
socially unacceptable, simply because of lack of regular inter-action and
supervision by the parents due to their busy work schedules. When they finally come to know “what their
child has been up to”, matters have
already taken a serious turn.
It is also true that children feel helpless,
stressed and “uncared for” when their parents do not spend sufficient time with
them or do not appear to be interested in listening to their problems or
solving them. This gets exaggerated with
children of "working parents” for obvious logistic reasons.
It is hoped that this “reduced working
hours” for the mother will substantially reduce such problems, though it must be underlined that the
father has an equal responsibility and
cannot pass of all these to the mother.
i)
Another
concomitant, but important benefit,
would be that ladies will now be travelling both ways during
relatively “off hours” and will therefore have a more comfortable
journey in any public transport, be it
train, bus or auto. This is equally
important from their health point of view as it would mean a significant
reduction in travel fatigue.
HOW TO
MAKE UP FOR
THE ABSENCE OF STAFF DUE TO PROPOSED REDUCED WORKING HOURS
FOR WOMEN
a)
As
mentioned earlier, the proposed
reduction is of 37.5 % working hours for the ladies. For illustration purpose, let us assume (simply my guesstimate) that
women comprise 30 % of the work force in Central Government Undertakings /
Departments/ PSUs. This means that there will be a net reduction of 11.25 % (0.375 x 0.30) working hours availability for work.
b)
It
is proposed that 5 percentage points of the above shortage
should be made up by additional
recruitment and 6.25 percentage points should
be made up by more efficient working by existing staff. This is not only “not difficult” but eminently “doable”, considering the huge amount of “slack”
and “under-employment” that
exists in the system.
c)
In
this way, while there will be a definite
“manpower cost increase of 5 %”, it is important to understand that this also means generation of 5 % additional employment which will address a
huge complaint, that exists today, of
“jobless growth”.
HOW TO
IMPLEMENT
a)
Announce
this is as a “contemplated option” for
all women employees and give time of 45 days to register for it. If 15
% or more of the women employees in each
physical establishment (not Company or entire Unit) say Yes,
implement it from the start of the immediate next month.
b)
This
being a entirely voluntary option, no one can have any complaint about it being
forced or unfair – the terms of the scheme are spelt out right in the beginning,
including the proposed wage cut and
anyone who decides to opt for it will do so weighing carefully the advantages of “managing one’s time” vis-à-vis the salary cut being taken.
Kind regards.
(Hemendra K. Varma)
Encl : a/a
cc : Shri
Nripendra Mishra, Principal Secretary to
PM
Shri
Pradeep Kumar Sinha, Cabinet Secretary
Smt. Maneka Gandhi, Minister for Women &
Child Development
