HUGE TALENT POOL

 

HUGE TALENT POOL 

Too much of a good thing can be dangerous

The retirement age for Govt. Employees was 58 or 60 when the state of Kerala came into being. I believe the latter is correct. In 1957 the Govt. brought it down to 55. It was raised to 56 in 2012 by the Oommen Chandy led Govt.

 Retirement age for Central Govt. employees is 60.

In Kerala the entry point to Govt service is 36 in General. It is above 40 for special categories. I could be wrong here.

When people are retired at 56, they are at their peak performance level. Sending them home with pension serves them well, but not for the state or the people. The pensioners have the fire in them. And life span has gone up over the years.  The Govt. pays the pension to former employees for doing nothing. Certainly one can argue that pension is the deferred payment of wages.

When the employees serve the Govt. there is value for money. Once they become pensioners the Govt. or the people get no value for money. It makes no economic sense.

Added to that the ever-galloping inflation forces the Govt. to revise the Salaries of Govt. servants and consequently the pension periodically. No harm there. It is natural justice.

The contention is that when people have nothing to do, they become Lotus Eaters. The question is, is it right? Transforming creativity to laziness is the worst any Govt. in its right senses can do.

Pay Pension by all means. Enhance it from time to time. People have to survive and lead a decent life. But make use of the huge talent pool that is unwittingly converted to the status of Lotus Eaters.

There is no harm in raising the retirement age to 60 in Kerala. Why do we hesitate to fall in line with the Central Govt. pattern? It could be that there is an ocean of the unemployed waiting to get into Govt. service to secure their lives. But how many are really getting in? A miniscule minority. The real function of a successful Govt. is to generate alternative opportunities for its people.

The pensioners too have to be employed to get the best out of them. And do not send them home at 56 when there is still fire in them. Idling away  creativity at the prime is the harbinger of economic disintegration.

Too much of a good thing can be dangerous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bone marrow Transplant

 

 What does one do in Kerala when he goes jobless for years together? Especially when his family is in penury.

He tries to migrate or emigrate. It is not that he is after riches. The intention is to land a job abroad and ensure a better lifestyle for the family with his earnings.

Rajesh just did that.

Vilayasserril Rajesh went abroad with great difficulty. A native of Kunthirical, Thalavady in the District of Alappuzha, Kerala, India, Rajesh had limited options. He could have stayed on in his native place performing odd jobs. But abject poverty drove him to distant shores.

He found a job in Dubai, the paradise or the land of promises or the land of milk and honey for all Keralites.  The compensation wasn’t mind boggling. In fact it hardly sufficed. However, the family in India was sustained by inward remittances of. Rajesh. Family meant, Rajesh’s parents, his wife and his son.

Alas, everything went topsy-turvy when Rajesh collapsed at the work place. There was medical intervention at once. The diagnosis stunned Rajesh as well as his family. He was in need of Bone marrow transplant to save his life. Rajesh returned to India as the cost of treatment abroad was beyond his means.  It meant he rejoined the ever-swelling ranks of the jobless of our country. He was admitted to Believer’s Church Hospital in Tiruvalla.  The Hospital has estimated the cost of the treatment as Rs.20.00 lacs.   

Rajesh and his family know they are outwitted. The family resides in an apology of a house – a ramshackle contraption -  in a 2 cents’ plot in Kunthirical, Thalavady. For the uninitiated it is Kuttanad, the granary of Kerala, but susceptible to waterlogging and heavy flooding that occurs without notice at any point of time.  Even if they sell the property,  Rs.20.00 lacs. would remain a distant dream as property prices have not sky rocketed there. Further, the disposal of the property would transport the family to the homeless, jobless status and abject penury where the recent trend or fashion in Kerala is ending it all on a whim. Well, Rajesh and his family do not subscribe to that philosophy. They are battle scarred but not battle weary. Hope leads them. They believe the impossible is not their destiny. 

The trials and tribulations of Rajesh and his family raises questions upon the whole humanity.

We have to immerse ourselves in empathy. It is imperative, when we are well off even on a constricted scale, we lend a hand to assist those in need. Who knows what tomorrow holds for us. 

How wonderful it would be if people think of Rajesh and his family for a moment and act decisively to make the world a better place for them as well as us.