The good, bad and ugly of Indian job market

HIRE, FIRE, IRE: CNN-IBN panel discusses the fallouts of the Jet Airways incident.

                

ibnlive.com is on mobile now. Read news, watch videos
be a Citizen Journalist. Log on to m.ibnlive.com NOW!

Related Stories

• Obama, McCain enters second leg of Presidential debate

• Anxiety high over Citigroup's decision on job cuts

• Economic slowdown dampens festive spirit

Top Headlines

Top Videos

Most Popular

• Satyam off Nifty from Jan 12 | Off NYSE too 

• Bleak future: What next for Satyam? 

• Satyam stunner: Highs and lows of Raju's career 

• Satyam's crack team | Directors shocked | Timeline  

• Pak sacks NSA | | He spoke too soon | What Pak says 

• Terror dossier: India uncovers 26/11 money trail 

• BJP avoids Advani vs Shekhawat battle before polls 

• Mumbai terrorists had British link: MI5 chief 

• One more Noida gangrape accused arrested 

• England cricket in turmoil; Pietersen, Moores quit 

• Satyam boss Raju admits accounting fraud, quits 

• Pak denies, India cries and the band plays on 

• Pak can't decide if India's dossier is proof enough 

• PM joins the diplomatic offensive against Pakistan 

• Choking Delhi: MCD to convert parks into parking lots 

• Trained to kill: How Kasab held Mumbai to ransom 

• Casualties mount, medical aid a far cry in Gaza  

• Day 7: Poonch gunbattle still on, 10 terrorists hiding 

• Non-UPA CMs divided over new anti-terror law 

• Slumdog... crew celebrates A R Rahman's birthday 

• Kasab is a Pakistani national: Pak official 

• Satyam stunner: Highs and lows of Raju's career 

• Satyam off Nifty from Jan 12 | Off NYSE too 

• Satyam 'apologises', vows to emerge stronger 

• Beleaguered Satyam forms crack team for fire-fighting 

• How Satyam shocker hits investors, employees 

• Taking stock: Nilekani on lessons from Satyam fiasco 

• Bleak future: What next for Satyam? 

• Pak sacks NSA | He admitted Kasab's a Pakistani 

• Satyam Timeline: How the scam unfolded 

Photogallery

Find us on Facebook | Join IBNLive community

Stay ahead with G-Talk Buddy | Click now!

Jet Airways first fired and then re-hired 1,500 employees after much political and news drama. But is the incident a pointer to the fact that many Indians face a real danger of losing their jobs? Do companies have the right to hire and fire, what are employees' rights and how protected are they?

CNN-IBN raised these important questions on The Big Job Debate moderated by Sagarika Ghose and attended by a panel comprising , Managing Partner, Counselage Suhel Seth; Jet Airways flight steward, Deepak Rathi; Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari; CPM MP and National Secretary, CITU, Tapan Sen, Vice-Chairman, Mercury Travels, Ashwani Kakkar and Senior Vice President & Group HR Head, Infosys, Nandita Gurjar.

Question 1: Did Jet mishandle retrenchment?

Many columnists say the retrenchment was callous, inhuman and baseless and there’s no protocol for retrenchment in India. Suhel Seth said whether or not retrenchment was required was for Jet to answer. “We don’t live in a Western culture in India. We don’t send SMS to people at 2 am, saying please don’t report to work tomorrow. You have to be compassionate or at least appear to be so in India,” he said.

Deepak Rathi, a Jet steward, defended the action. “We didn’t have our jobs. We were given a two-hour notice. We went to meet our managers. But politicians were ready to support us,” he said.

Rathi’s statement is perhaps, many would say, a sad reflection on the state of governance -- a retrenched employee has to go to someone like Raj Thackeray just because Government has washed its hands off. Manish Tiwari of Congress said there was a difference between politicians and Raj Thackeray. “Raj Thackeray is not a politician by any stretch of imagination and so it is quite legitimate for aggrieved to go to political parties,” he said.

Tiwari, however, agreed that there was fear of being laid off in most sectors and that Government has a responsibility towards those “heartlessly retrenched”.

But why penalise the employees instead of practicing austerity? Manish Kakkar of Mercury Travels said it was all about balance and companies lay off employees to avoid total bankruptcy. “In the UK, there’s bankruptcy every five minutes. Here, they are preventing that from happening. If you have to save 20,000 jobs, you need to try and tell them,” he argued.

There’s also the Devil’s Advocate argument here. The trade unions seem to support all protesting parties – even small retrenchments – and therefore, the industry cannot grow. CPM MP and President of CITU Tapan Sen countered this argument. “I don’t think retrenchment can help industry grow. It arises out of a situation,” he said, adding, “There are countries with very liberal right-to-fire policies but economic disparity and joblessness are growing there as well.”