The Opposition on Sunday criticised Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for her “insensitive” comment about the need for higher educational institutes to offer stress management lessons to help youngsters deal with work pressure.
“Educational institutions should bring in divinity and spirituality,” the finance minister said. “Only then will our children get the inner strength, it will help in their progress and that of the country. That is my strong belief.”
Sitharaman’s remark came in light of the death of Anna Sebastian Perayil, a 26-year-old chartered accountant working at accounting firm Ernst & Young in Pune. Perayil died in July.
Perayil’s mother Anita Augustine has alleged an unsafe and exploitative work environment at the firm. In a letter to Ernst & Young India Chairman Rajiv Memani, Augustine attributed her daughter’s death to “backbreaking work” conditions at the company.
Without directly referring to Perayil’s death, Sitharaman had on Saturday said at an event at a private medical college that besides providing good education and helping students find jobs through campus recruitments, educational institutes should also teach important life skills that are learnt at home.
Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal criticised Sitharaman’s remark on Sunday, saying that the government and the finance minister were unable to see the problems faced by the country’s youngsters.
“The ruling regime and the finance minister can only see the pain of corporate giants like Adani and Ambani, not the pain of the hardworking and toiling young generation where freshers like Anna are exploited by the greedy corporate system, if they even succeed in getting a job in this era of historic joblessness,” Venugopal said.
By suggesting that students should learn stress management, the finance minister was blaming Perayil and her family, the Congress leader said. “This kind of victim blaming is despicable and no words can convey the anger and disgust one feels because of such statements,” the Alappuzha MP wrote.
AA Rahim, a Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and Rajya Sabha MP, said that Sitharaman’s comment “implying stress should be handled at home or by belief in God, is alarming”.
Rahim said that the finance minister must withdraw her “insensitive remark” and apologise.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) party asked the Centre to take a “strong stand against corporate exploitation of IT employees”.
Union Minister of Labour and Employment Mansukh Mandaviya said on Monday that the Maharashtra government would provide the Centre with a report on Perayil’s death in seven to ten days, The Indian Express reported.
“Post-mortem report will come, police will give a report, we’ll speak with the company also…Any action will be taken based on the findings of the report,” Mandaviya told reporters.
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