EY’s Rajiv Memani regrets absence at employee's funeral amid work culture criticism
New Delhi: Rajiv Memani, the chairperson of Ernst and Young India, expressed sadness that no one from the firm attended the employee's funeral, saying it was "alien to our culture" and that the individual had supposedly died from extreme work pressure. Memani, who has been subject to intense criticism on social media for what he perceives to be a hostile work environment, expressed his profound sadness for the untimely death of Anna Sebastian Perayil in a post on LinkedIn.
"Although nothing can completely fill the gap in the family's lives, I have sent them my sincerest sympathies. I sincerely apologize for our absence from Anna's burial. This is not at all representative of our culture. Memani said, "It has never happened before and it won't happen again." He also emphasized that he would not stop until the objective of "nurturing a harmonious workplace" was achieved.
Clarifying further he said, “Creating a healthy work environment has always been very important to us, and we place the utmost value on our employees' well-being."I want to reaffirm that our people's welfare is my first priority, and I will personally fight for this goal.”
On July 20, Anna Sebastian Perayil, an employee of E&Y since March, passed away. This week, the incident came to light due to the widespread distribution of her mother Anita Augustine's open letter to the corporation, in which she claimed that Anna gave in to "work pressure".
Augustine stated that her daughter's funeral was attended by no one from the company in question. "I contacted her managers following her burial, but I didn't hear back. In the letter, she said, "How can a company that claims to uphold human rights and values fail to stand by one of its own in their last moments?"
As a result of his denial that “work pressure" was the cause of the Pune woman's death, Memani came under fire on social media, according to an Indian Express article.
The Center started looking into what happened before Anna passed away as the matter escalated in urgency. Shobha Karandlaje, the minister of state for labor, announced on Thursday that a comprehensive inquiry into the claims of a hazardous and exploitative workplace was under progress.
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Airlines got 999 hoax bomb threats till Nov 14 this year; 256 FIRs filed: Govt
New Delhi, Nov 28: Airlines received 999 hoax bomb threats this year till November 14 and as many as 256 FIRs have been filed while guidelines have been issued by aviation security regulator BCAS for objective assessment of threats, the government said on Thursday.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said a total of 1,148 hoax bomb threat messages/calls have been received since August 2022 till November 14, 2024 threatening the operations of international and domestic air travel.
While 999 threats were received by airlines during the period from January to November 14, 2024, the count stood at 122 last year and at 27 for the August-December 2022 period.
"256 FIRs have been filed since January 2024 till 14 November 2024, out of which 163 FIRs have been filed during 14 October- 14 November 2024. 12 arrests have been made in view of hoax bomb threat since January 2024 till 14 November 2024," the minister said.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has issued guidelines for objective assessment of threats. The indicative factor has been useful in reducing time taken by the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) during the decision-making process.
"Also, to reduce the overall time taken for convening BTAC to less than 5 minutes, virtual assembly of BTAC through pre-generated video link has been set up. Further, advisories for compulsory 10 per cent of secondary ladder point check-in for all flights, strict monitoring of non-scheduled flight operations, enhanced security measures and surveillance at cargo terminals were issued," Mohol said.
Further, the minister said the government is considering amending the Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023 to put hoax threat messenger in the no-fly list.
"It is also being considered to amend Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation for covering Aircraft in flight as well as on ground, airport etc," he added.
