The death of an EY employee & a bureaucrat: Exposing India's work culture | Ep 134

[00:00:00] The year 2024 was a significant one for Kerala. In June, Kerala elected its first BJP MP and sent him to the Parliament from Drushul.

[00:00:10] In July, a devastating landslide wrecked a Vyanat, claiming over 400 lives.

[00:00:17] In August, the HEMA committee report, which was kept under wraps for over five years, was made public.

[00:00:24] In September, the tragic death of an EY employee shocked the nation.

[00:00:30] In October, an additional district magistrate took his own life after allegations of corruption were levelled against him.

[00:00:39] Besides this, Kerala also saw a fair share of by-elections and a lot of defections this year – P. V. Anwar, Sandeep Warrior and P. Saran.

[00:00:50] So, despite the political twists and turns and tragedies, we at Onmanorama would like to think of 2024 as the year of upheaval.

[00:01:00] Why? Because it has changed the way we think and live.

[00:01:05] So, this December, Onmanorama's Newsbreak podcast would be coming out with a series of episodes on major events that shaped Kerala and India this year.

[00:01:35] So, hi, I am Haritha Benjamin and today I am joined by Ashwin J. Kumar in this episode of Newsbreak.

[00:01:43] So, today we will be discussing the two deaths that rocked Kerala this year.

[00:01:48] One is of Anna Sebastian, the young EY employee who lost her life tragically due to the alleged work pressure at her firm.

[00:01:57] And the second is of ADIM Naveen Babu who also succumbed to work pressure and took his own life due to the allegations of corruption against him.

[00:02:07] So, I think before going into our discussion, it is essential that we bring our audience on board with what happened and what these two deaths were about.

[00:02:18] So, I think Ashwin could you give us a brief timeline on the ADIM Naveen Babu's death?

[00:02:24] Sure Haritha, here is a timeline. Let's start with ADIM Naveen Babu. So, here it goes. Like on October 14th, ADIM Naveen Babu's farewell meet where district panchayat president,

[00:02:37] DPDB accuses him of accepting a bribe from TV Prashantan for an objection certificate for a petrol pump.

[00:02:43] On October 15th, ADIM's wife Manjusha reaches Changana railway station to receive her husband. Naveen Babu was found dead at his official residence at 6.15am.

[00:02:54] On October 18th, Divya steps down from the post. On October 24th, Joint Commissioner of Land Revenue A. Geeta submitted her report to the state government after probing the circumstances that led to his death.

[00:03:06] On October 29th, PP Divya, who went missing after ADIM's death, surrendered to police after rejection of anticipatory bail.

[00:03:15] On November 7th, CPM strips Divya of all responsibilities. On November 8th, Divya gets bail and the court order mentions Kanu Collective's court that ADIM admitted to his mistake.

[00:03:30] On November 26th, Naveen Babu's wife Manjusha approaches the high court seeking CBA prob.

[00:03:38] So, now when you come to the timeline of Anna Sebastian, we have, you know, her death was reported on July 20th.

[00:03:46] She is a young, she was a young 26-year-old CA from Kuchy who died of cardiac arrest four months after she joined EY India's Pune office.

[00:03:56] Then, her death went unnoticed for a couple of months and in September 18th, the fact that this cardiac arrest could have been triggered by work pressure came to light when her mother, Anita Agustin, wrote to the EY India chairman, Rajiv Mimani.

[00:04:13] So, in a statement, EY responded to this letter and said that it was deeply saddened by Anna's death and stressed that it would continue to find ways to improve and provide a healthy workplace for its members.

[00:04:24] On September 26th, a probe which looked into the matter found that the Pune office lacked the labor welfare permit.

[00:04:32] So, that was a significant development.

[00:04:34] Now, the Union Ministry has ordered a probe into the allegations of the exploitative workplace environment in corporate sector following this.

[00:04:43] But as we will see in our further discussion, there has not been a significant development on that probe after that.

[00:04:50] So, Ashwin, two deaths, two people from diverse backgrounds, two age groups.

[00:04:56] So, these deaths were, you know, much talked about across the nation and in Kerala.

[00:05:02] So, why do you think that, you know, a death which would have been a private affair became a public discussion and what, you know, elevated it to a public discussion?

[00:05:13] Could you just, you know, shed some light on this?

[00:05:16] Yeah.

[00:05:16] To start off, as we have covered, 2024, we have had so many shocking deaths.

[00:05:22] To start with, we had Sithartan, a veterinary colleague who was found dead in his hostel.

[00:05:27] Yeah.

[00:05:28] And the probe later revealed that he was brought, brutally tortured before he died by suicide.

[00:05:32] Then why not happened?

[00:05:34] Then these two deaths.

[00:05:35] So, why these deaths actually shocked the collective conscience of not just the state but of the entire nation also.

[00:05:43] So, why this happened?

[00:05:44] Let's come to Adiem's case.

[00:05:46] In the case of death of Adiem, there were so many issues.

[00:05:49] It wasn't just a suicide of an official who was forced to work under pressure or some kind of a coercion.

[00:05:56] It also brought to the fore, number one, political interference in administrative machinery.

[00:06:03] Number two, there were serious accusations of graft.

[00:06:07] Number three, a family which strongly felt that an honest man was pushed to death.

[00:06:13] Right.

[00:06:14] So, this also brings to the fore so many other questions.

[00:06:19] Like, this LDF government had consistently claimed that we have a proper file tracking mechanism.

[00:06:25] We have a proper grievance redressal mechanism.

[00:06:28] So, this, in case of Adiem's death, apparently, former Panchayat president, P.P. Divya, accused him of having committed graft or having accepted bribe.

[00:06:38] Right.

[00:06:38] So, that raises one question.

[00:06:41] Like, if suppose a file, in this case, it was an application for an NOC.

[00:06:46] If a file is kept pending for a long time, wasn't there any mechanism to track it?

[00:06:51] Like, if an official holds a file for beyond the mandatory time period, his CPD should have intervened and ensured that the file kept moving.

[00:07:01] That didn't happen in this case.

[00:07:02] So, what did the government do?

[00:07:04] The government ordered two props.

[00:07:05] One was a department level prop by the Joint Land Revenue Commissioner.

[00:07:10] Right.

[00:07:10] That was done within six days after controversy erupted over his death.

[00:07:15] Then there was police investigation.

[00:07:18] And later, the IG North Zone actually constituted a special investigation team for this.

[00:07:23] So, where this thing stands as of now is that we are not in the clear as to what exactly happened.

[00:07:30] And in the bail petition, the family makes emotional statements, deeply emotional statements.

[00:07:36] For example, they say that for a man, his integrity is more precious than his life.

[00:07:42] And that's why he was pushed to the extreme and he was forced to take his own life.

[00:07:47] But the public, as we said earlier, it again raises questions regarding the status of file, the transparency in file movement.

[00:07:56] And what is an official supposed to do within the government sector if he or she feels enormous stress, if he or she feels so much political indifference in terms of work?

[00:08:08] So, these are questions which need to be addressed in case of ADM.

[00:08:12] Now, coming to Anna's death.

[00:08:14] Anna's death happened in July, but it became a talking point in September.

[00:08:18] Right.

[00:08:19] And the sole reason for this was the heartfelt letter brought by her mother.

[00:08:25] There are soul-shattering lines in that letter.

[00:08:28] I mean, she says Anna was a fighter to the court.

[00:08:32] Anna would have never complained because she was too kind for that.

[00:08:35] At the same time, she raises serious questions about the backbreaking work being imposed upon a beginner.

[00:08:42] Right.

[00:08:43] Saying that they are supposed to do this.

[00:08:45] Saying that they are supposed to prove themselves so that they can climb up the ladder in their careers.

[00:08:50] So, a wrong statement is being given.

[00:08:52] So, a company was being questioned as to why it couldn't take care of its employee.

[00:08:57] Why it couldn't take care of the mental and health being of an employee.

[00:09:00] So, that letter resonated with so many people.

[00:09:05] Who shared similar concerns regarding insane work culture.

[00:09:09] Irrational demands being placed on them.

[00:09:12] To work beyond their mandatory work hours.

[00:09:14] To put in extra hours.

[00:09:16] Be it weekends.

[00:09:16] Be it on holidays.

[00:09:17] No matter what you have to put in extra hours.

[00:09:20] So, it triggered a flurry of similar concerns from people working in the corporate sector.

[00:09:25] And the company also responded.

[00:09:28] The ministry of labor also responded.

[00:09:30] But the question still reminds what is the current state.

[00:09:34] Has anything changed?

[00:09:35] Because Anna's mother ends the letter with a very fervent plea saying that let this be a lesson.

[00:09:42] Let this be the beginning of a change.

[00:09:44] Did that change happen is something which we need to ponder.

[00:09:47] In fact, our reporters Swathi and Vishnu did an exhaustive touching article following Anna's death.

[00:09:54] They spoke to Anna's friends, Anna's family, Anna's parents to decode what exactly happened.

[00:10:02] So, we are joined by Swathi who also was part of this article.

[00:10:06] So, let's listen to Swathi for her intake on what transpired and what is the present state is.

[00:10:11] Anna Peril's death was a news that shattered the entire nation.

[00:10:15] And when this happened, me and my colleague Vishnu, we talked to her family and friends.

[00:10:21] And it was indeed a very difficult and emotional conversation.

[00:10:25] And through them, we could understand that she was a very carefree and a free-spirited soul

[00:10:31] who was so good in her academics.

[00:10:32] And her life completely changed after joining EY.

[00:10:36] And she used to get barely two to three hours of sleep.

[00:10:39] And she used to stress a lot because her boss used to bombard her with tasks one after another.

[00:10:45] And she was even contemplating quitting.

[00:10:47] Her parents were asking her to come back.

[00:10:49] And I guess after a point, she just could not take it any longer.

[00:10:53] And even recently when I reached out to her friends,

[00:10:56] they were like, her parents have not still yet to come to terms with the fact that she has passed

[00:11:03] and are still grieving the death of their dear daughter.

[00:11:06] And they have not recovered at all and are still in shock.

[00:11:10] So, thanks Swathi.

[00:11:12] I think it's heartbreaking to hear what a family has to go through, right?

[00:11:15] After such incidents.

[00:11:16] So, now the point is that the deaths of Anna and Naveen Babu actually revealed this dangerous,

[00:11:23] toxic workplace which is there, which is in existence at several areas, right?

[00:11:29] So, I think at this point, we should also discuss what kind of complacent redressal mechanisms

[00:11:35] are there at these private and public workspaces.

[00:11:39] So, from my understanding, there are multiple acts which are already there in place,

[00:11:43] you know, to tackle these kind of issues.

[00:11:45] So, we have the Industrial Disputes Act, the Factories Act, the Wages Act,

[00:11:50] then the Posh Act to handle sexual offenses.

[00:11:54] Now, these laws have made it mandatory that, you know, there is a grievance redressal cell

[00:12:00] or, you know, there is an ICC internal complaints, you know, cell.

[00:12:03] So, if the employees can't get justice within these organizations,

[00:12:09] then they have to go to these cells and, you know, talk to the respective members.

[00:12:13] But then again, it remains to be seen whether these are completely effective or not

[00:12:18] and how the law mandates and how they penalize organizations for not carrying out

[00:12:25] and for not putting these cells in place, right?

[00:12:27] So, now, from my understanding, these laws have been merged into four new laws, labor laws.

[00:12:33] And these are the Industrial Relations Code and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code,

[00:12:39] the Social Security Code and the Wages Code.

[00:12:42] So, one key change, which I understand is that the Industrial Relations Code

[00:12:47] mandates that companies with more than 20 employees should have a grievance cell.

[00:12:54] And this should have an equal amount of employees and employer representatives,

[00:13:00] you know, so that there is no bias.

[00:13:01] And there should also be a representation, female representation in the cell.

[00:13:06] But then again, you know, it has, it comes with a fundamental problem that

[00:13:11] what happens once this, you know, cell decides on something?

[00:13:15] How will the company be penalized?

[00:13:17] So, there is nothing on that.

[00:13:19] And is there a definition for that?

[00:13:20] There is, yeah, there is no definition nor, it is not defined in the law on what would be

[00:13:25] the penalty for not, you know, taking it up if the, yeah, if the employees are not penalized.

[00:13:31] So, I think they also have the provision for approaching the court, but that is outside the

[00:13:35] organization and that is a separate way to go.

[00:13:37] So, there are flaws, even if the new labor laws are going to come in place soon, there are fundamental

[00:13:44] flaws within this.

[00:13:46] And I think it also does not mandate the establishment of an ICC in these organizations.

[00:13:51] And there is no provision of penalty which is mentioned.

[00:13:54] So, that is another thing which needs to be looked at.

[00:13:58] So, now I have been talking about the private sector and how corporates are dealing with

[00:14:03] the employees and what are the provisions for their grievance redressal.

[00:14:07] So, when it comes to public sector, I think most of us are not aware of what are the provisions

[00:14:12] which are there.

[00:14:13] So, in the ADM's case, we know for a fact that, you know, he couldn't go up to his superiors

[00:14:18] and, you know, address or even, you know, make a statement that, you know, he was worried

[00:14:23] about something.

[00:14:23] So, that has been raised by his family time and again, right?

[00:14:27] So, Ashwin, you have also covered the issue in your reports.

[00:14:32] So, could you probably tell us on how the public sector grievance mechanism works?

[00:14:38] Yes, Harada.

[00:14:40] We are talking about these suicides at a time.

[00:14:43] We are also dealing with an increasing number of suicides among our corps because Manorama

[00:14:47] did a series on increasing number of police suicides and reasons behind suicides.

[00:14:52] So, now we are dealing with government staffs are coming to pressure within the workspace.

[00:14:59] See, you spoke about laws.

[00:15:01] We talk about labour codes coming into effect.

[00:15:05] We have had ancient archaic laws which are, which have often been found inadequate to

[00:15:09] deal with actual demands of the industry.

[00:15:11] You correctly pointed out even the new labour codes have got deficiencies in terms of addressing

[00:15:18] real actual concerns.

[00:15:20] Yeah.

[00:15:20] But this sounds pretty sorry because in fact our constitution clearly says that the relevance

[00:15:28] of dignity of human labour, the need to protect and safeguard the interest of human as a labour,

[00:15:34] as a labour concept is clearly enshrined in chapter 3 and chapter 4 of the Indian constitution.

[00:15:40] Right.

[00:15:41] We have clear articles which lay down our rights, which reinforce our rights and this is actually

[00:15:49] a concurrent list and both can legislate laws on this but still we are talking about it.

[00:15:54] Yeah.

[00:15:54] It is really unfortunate.

[00:15:55] So, I spoke to senior bureaucrats, retired officials and even serving officials to understand

[00:16:02] whether they have a system in place to deal with stress in workplace.

[00:16:06] Unfortunately, all these officials said no.

[00:16:09] And they use the word unfortunate because they are saying that if a senior IAS official is

[00:16:14] feeling some kind of pressure, maybe going to political interventions, maybe due to other

[00:16:20] workplace hassles, the only option he or she has is to move to a senior official and seek

[00:16:26] his advice or her advice.

[00:16:28] Right.

[00:16:28] That's it.

[00:16:29] There is no clear system when compared to corporate sector, public sector does not have

[00:16:35] a clear system.

[00:16:35] We do have a personal administrative reforms department which comes up with periodic annual

[00:16:40] work study reports, it's a detailed, exhaustive, lengthy report but whether the recommendations

[00:16:45] actually come into effect or not is something which we need to look at given the past experience.

[00:16:49] Right.

[00:16:51] I also spoke to officials of the lower run and they also say the same thing, even if a clerk

[00:16:56] who feels that the workplace is not conducive to the mental health or the emotional well-being,

[00:17:04] there is no way he or she can address it.

[00:17:06] And all these officials concur the fact that there has to be a system to integrate the need

[00:17:13] of emotional and mental well-being of officials into the capacity building system of the officials

[00:17:19] for example, they are suggesting a ways like having a panel of accredited psychologists or

[00:17:26] counsellors who can offer advice if somebody is not feeling well, somebody is not feeling

[00:17:31] that he can not up to what is expected of him.

[00:17:34] They can walk up to a counsellor and seek his or her advice so that it reflects in the work,

[00:17:39] it affects the productivity also.

[00:17:40] So, unfortunately that system is lacking here and that's exactly what as you rightly mentioned,

[00:17:47] when Kanur Collector actually said in his statement that Naveen Babu came to his chamber and apologized

[00:17:56] to him like he made a mistake.

[00:17:58] Soon after the farewell meeting, the family wasn't ready to accept that and they had a reason also,

[00:18:04] because they have given instances in the petitions, in the court documents saying that there was clear

[00:18:10] trust deficit between the collector and these officials and other officials have reportedly come up with similar

[00:18:18] complaints, we don't know because the case is subjudice and the collector has his limitations in

[00:18:24] explaining his part in this but there was an instance when he was forbidden from attending his funeral by

[00:18:31] his family members because they had reasons. As I said, clear trust deficit. So, this is the, this is one

[00:18:37] major concern we need to address.

[00:18:39] I think this also, you know, clears a common misconception that government jobs are cushy jobs and

[00:18:45] you know, you have it, yeah, so many perks, you have a lot of employment benefits and

[00:18:50] a pension and you know, so I think that kind of breaks that narrative, it busts everything. The kind of pressure

[00:18:58] is different from the corporate world. But yeah, they have several interest groups which are after

[00:19:03] them, you know, and a lot of red tapism which is coming into the picture. So, they have to tackle all

[00:19:08] this and there is, it is unfortunate that there is no sound redressal mechanism to address these. So, I think

[00:19:16] with that we could wind up today's podcast and I think to wind up, we could look at the current status

[00:19:23] changes and how we can move forward. So, Ashwin, how do you think, what is the way forward? We have a lot of

[00:19:30] issues which are not addressed so far and we are calling the year 2024, the year of upheaval.

[00:19:37] But yeah, will there be an upheaval? We are aware, the public is aware on what the issues are but will

[00:19:43] the government be aware and what are they going to do about it and what are we going to do about it

[00:19:48] is the question. So, yeah. See, let's start with the ADM's case. There are so many questions which

[00:19:54] remain unanswered. There was a departmental prob, the report was submitted within six days and till

[00:19:59] day, the report hasn't seen light. RTA queries, RTA applications were filed but government has not

[00:20:07] been willing to part with that report, the content of the report. That adds more mystery to the case

[00:20:12] and right from the beginning, there was clear dissent of opinion even within the CPM. Like CPM

[00:20:18] Patananta District Committee was saying one thing, CPM Kano District Committee was saying another thing.

[00:20:22] Again, that adds to the mystery of this case, what wasn't wrong in this and then coming to the

[00:20:29] current status, as I said, a lot of questions remain unanswered. There was a complaint filed by

[00:20:35] Prasantham against this. Again, an RT application was filed with the office of the chair minister to

[00:20:39] which the reply was that it is not able to determine whether a complaint was filed unless you keep the

[00:20:46] timeframe, unless you get it. That was a clear case of evasion, that was clear evasive reply.

[00:20:53] For a case of such sensitive nature, a better sense of transparency is expected from the government

[00:20:58] which is not happening at present. So, in Anna's case, in September, as soon as the entire country

[00:21:04] was ranting about strong action against this corporate culture, Ministry of Labour actually

[00:21:11] ordered a probe to look into the exploitative working conditions and again, the report is missing.

[00:21:17] Has the report been filed? Has the probe been completed? We are completely in the dark.

[00:21:21] I think the Congress MPs Sudhakaran and Dean Kuriyakos had raised it in the parliament and there was no, you know,

[00:21:29] proper response. So, they merely, you know, explain the technicalities that it is part of the concurrent list and

[00:21:35] things like that. So, I think that, you know, makes it vague. So, you would expect a more sensible answer from the MOS, right?

[00:21:43] Yeah. So, doesn't that perfect the, an unwillingness to address the actual situation or actual problem?

[00:21:49] It keeps growing on. That's what happens. Right. So, and also when we talk about the Gen Z or the millennials, they have a different concept about work-life balance and people say that it's, it's okay to work after your shift.

[00:22:02] There is a way of romanticizing this toxic work culture, overworking, things like that. But these generations, they don't accept that. They need to find a right balance between work-life and life.

[00:22:14] There is, there is no way they need to go gung-ho about their first job, you know, that desperation to prove themselves. Nothing like that.

[00:22:21] Yeah. And also, we need to look at European countries which are actually pushing employees to take vacations and go for vacations. But here, such a thing doesn't happen.

[00:22:32] I think they have proven time and again that the productivity increases when you, you know, when you actually give such holidays and give them space to breathe.

[00:22:41] And emotional recharge. Right. Right. That always helps. And also, they are making it mandatory to, you know, bring down the work hours. So many such things are per week work hours shall be minimum of like 40 hours or something. Right. Right. Yeah.

[00:22:56] Such things are happening around the globe. But unfortunately, here, things are being slackened.

[00:23:02] Yeah. In spite of having a big population, we still remain understaffed and we still penalizing the staff which are existing. And so, that is an unfortunate thing. And I think on that note, we can wind up today's episode of News Break. So, we will be back next week. This is Harita Benjamin and Ashwin J. Kumar signing off from News Break. So, we will be back next week with another year-ender episode.

[00:23:26] Tune in to listen to more of such episodes. Thank you.