Organizational (Mis)behavior

Penalized for not maintaining minimum balance

2008-12-02T19:21:00.000-08:00

From

GZ,

236, Desu Colony
New Delhi – 110046

The Customer Care Officer
Montak Shivendra Bank

Sub: A document that explains why Minimum Balance (AQB) was not maintained in my account.

Dear sir/ madam,

My account (A/c No: 090909090909) was opened in Feb 2006 as a Corporate Edge Salary Account when I was an employee of JOSHI EDUCTION PVT. LTD. (Debt Card No: 8693-8976-0956-1866)

Opening of this account happened at an inappropriate time during my stint in JOSHI, I should say. In a few weeks since the account was opened, I left JOSHI I was (un)lucky to receive only a month’s salary (Rs. 8,800/-) n this newly opened account. Unfortunately, this amount, as we all know, was not enough to maintain a bank account.

Life was as hard as ever when all these things took place. At that time I was also a novice in the domain of banking (You won’t believe, when I learned to use the debit card, I considered it one of the greatest achievements in my life.) And thus life went along after my failed career in JOSHI, with long periods of unemployment interspersed with meagerly paid or even unpaid assignments in a few other organizations in the city. Though there has never been enough money in my Montak account (just recently I got the right word for this: AQB – it sounds so stubborn!), Montak ATMs/Partner ATMs came to my rescue when I had urgent cash requirements – meager requirements indeed they were.

Two years eight months down the line I learn that the bank with whom I had always looked forward to maintaining a long-term relationship has penalized me for reasons I am not fully convinced about. The questions that immediately came to my mind were:

1. As far as I can remember, at no point in time was I informed by the bank that if salary stops being credited to an account, it automatically converts to a Savings Account. And more importantly, that all rules applicable to a Savings Account are applicable to the converted account too. And even today, if you look at the “Profile” of my account in my net banking web page, it’s written “Corporate Edge Salary Account.” (Refer the image below.) Isn’t this information misleading to an account holder? I received a communiqué from the bank in July/Aug 2008 titled “General Schedule of Charges for Savings Account – effective August 1, 2008.” Following this I called up a customer care executive of Montak phone banking (I wish you were able to access our conversation if it’s recorded). The executive assured me that there is no minimum balance requirement for an account opened as Salary Account and to which salary ceased crediting. It sounded logical to me too!

2. In order to maintain minimum balance I need to either submit a cheque at Montak ATM/Branch or do a money transfer online from one of my other accounts. Montak not have many branches/ATMs in the city. Many a time journey to a branch/ATM cannot be clubbed with my other travel plans within the city. Though I did take pains to deposit a cheque at a branch (for Rs. 13,960/- credited on 10/01/2007), the idea didn’t appear feasible to me. As regards net banking, till recently net banking was all Greek and Latin to me. Nevertheless, I didn’t cherish the idea of withdrawing all amount from my account using the ATM facility, thereby making it a virtually dead account.

3. After updating my mailing address with the bank in March 2006 the next service request I made to the bank is in Sept/Oct 2008. That was for Net & Phone Banking passwords. Several quarters had already elapsed without Minimum Balance in my account. No deduction was done during this period. This, coupled with the reassurance given by the Phone Banking Executive in July/Aug 2008, gave me ample reasons to think that I need not give high priority to reviving this Salary Account of mine. However, as a first step towards getting easy access to my account, I activated Net and Phone Banking facilities (Please note that I have never used this facility anytime in the past.). I also updated my mobile number with the Account. It’s unfortunate that before I could transfer cash from one of my other accounts, Montak chose to take this harsh step: Non-Maintenance Charges of Rs. 750/- were cut in Oct 2008.

Here I would like to have clear answers to the following queries:

1. How can an account holder be penalized for not maintaining minimum balance for an account opened as Salary Account?

2. How would the bank account for the lack of communication (as it was never communicated to me that my account has been converted to Savings Account and all rules apply to this too.) and mis-communication (as has been done by the phone banking executive mentioned earlier)?

3. How logical it is if a bank like Montak Shivendra charges the same amount (Rs. 750/-) as charged by banks with wide network of branches/ATMs like the ICICI or SBI? Non-maintenance of minimum balance, in my opinion has cause-effect relationship with insufficient network of branches/ATMs.

I have transferred an amount of Rs. 25,000 in two installments to my Montak in the last week. I believe in long-term relationships. I request the bank to kindly refund the non-maintenance charges cut from my account, so that we can work out some mutually beneficial investment schemes for the future. Even otherwise it’s all hard-earned money!!

With respectful regards,

New Delhi,

16th Nov 2008.

Explosive mail to my boss and HR

2008-10-21T03:41:00.000-07:00

Here is how I responded when the organization I worked with tried to put me under an inefficient reporting officer, who had proven her worthlessness in the academic year 2007-08.

The mail content and attachment below:

Hi all,

With the merging of junk-content-with-maps.com (well, it's a fake name) with shit-content-with-maps.com, it seems a new organizational structure has come into play at MapWW. As you all are aware, I was working for junk-content-with-maps.com for the last few months. With the new arrangement I will, probably, be deployed under Pasha, who was my reporting officer till March 2008.

The gist of the text below is this: "I simply cannot accept the authority of Pasha anymore in anything pertaining to my work and life at Jumpcare."

I started preparing a document recalling what I've learnt from this lady till date. Please find attached the document in its initial form. If am allowed one more day in Compare, I am sure I will be able to add hundred more things to it.

Moreover, after the organization's debacle in the financial year 2007-08, I have lost faith in leadership in general and Pasha in particular. She is simply inefficient to lead a group of content writers or editors. This was evident if we look at the mass resignation of people in Pune, including the highly qualified Team Leader, in the last few months. Now, do I need to start from scratch, being a sub-ordinate of this lady? Does anyone know why I remain to be a Subeditor even after one year nine months of my service in the organization? Pasha knows the answer.

To sum up, to go back under the supervision of Pasha again is suicidal for me. There are many other alternatives, to use my skills to the benefit of the company. If HR has not completely reduced to a bunch of clerks and sycophants of senior management, I request them to step in and offer some practical solutions to the problem.

The Attachment:

Her boastful, hollow-talk:

In a meeting on 22nd Aug, which was attended by Mona and me, Pasha boasted on how she trained Pune writers to a level to which they are now able to write on their own. She regretted they being relocated to client projects at this stage of training. But look at a blog post by Maharshi on 28th Aug, a week after Pasha's boastful talk:

http://blogs.junk-content-with-maps.com

No sensible person will ever come back to the blog, or to the site after reading this post. This is like making a mockery of poor Indians (at one place the write-up says poverty has reduced and it contradicts the statement at another instance.) Is this how Pasha trained the writers to be sensible and self-sufficient?

Her ignorance about work flow:

I was asked by Pasha once to proofread a brochure for Shit-content-with-maps -YP project (of Brahman and Parekh). This was in the month of August 2008. Pasha knew it for certain that I had dissociated myself from the YP project and is solely responsible for Maps of World for the last three-four months. To proofread a brochure means to make the final corrections. The person who proofreads assumes that the content is already finalized. In this case, unfortunately, the content was not finalized by the Shit-content-with-maps -YP team. I did my job perfectly and sent the brochure for printing. As a final step, the printer sent us the final Printer's Proof. I had a doubt about a word or two in the final print-out (“W3C Content Certificate”, I guess was the phrase about which I had doubt). I approached Pasha to clarify this. She went to Parekh and got to know that the whole content needs drastic changes. Can anyone think of such a situation where drastic changes are suggested in final Printer's Proof? NO. Then, why did this happen? It's because the planning and implementation of the brochure didn't follow the proper route. Before making the design, the content for the brochure should have got the approval of the YP team, which Pasha didn't ensure. She came directly to me and asked me to proofread. I had to sit several times with the Graphic Designer to get the brochure proofread. Now everything will be re-designed. How many manhours have been lost? No one is bothered. I doubt whether Pasha understands the difference between content writing and proofreading. Had I signed the final copy, I would have been in great trouble. (Something funny happened at this time: the proof from the printer looked pale. I knew that it is not because the printer is using a bad machine, but this is the way the proof from the printer looks. But Pasha, as if she's seeing a printer's copy for the first time, astonishes at the fact that the brochure looks pale. She asked me whether I had also noticed the same. I was surprised to listen to this comment. An Operations Manager is not even acquainted with a printer's proof of a brochure !! Is she seeing a proof for the first time?)

Her inability to make logical conclusions

After “Ahmedabad Blasts Update” post of Shit-content-with-maps blog appeared in Google ranking, Pasha was touted as the messiah of blogging. Lamy, President MapWW, was all in praise for her and asked me to learn from her the basics of blogging. I told him at that time that it is one thing you end up to be successful once and it's another to derive principles of your success, or to theorise how you became a success. Naturally, I expected a document from this successful blogger with general principles about successful blogging. The document she produced was neither comprehensive nor helpful to the writers. After that I produced a document with my basic knowledge on blogging, only to invoke a stony silence from all those who are concerned. Why there has never been a discussion on successful blogging? Can anyone in Jumpcare demonstrate the workability of the methods explained in Pasha's document?

Phone banking complications in India

2008-08-08T20:51:00.000-07:00

I wrote to the customer care center of a certain bank in India after passing through a harrowing time with regard to my Debit Card.

Dear sir /madam,

This is an account of the complications I faced with Phone Banking of XYZ bank. This account does not have an intention of taking anyone to task. On the contrary, this should give both of us an opportunity to understand what has gone wrong and where. We must be aiming at plugging loopholes rather than penalizing anyone for it.

I'm a XYZ bank account holder since July 2007. (Savings A/c no: 111-4-232323-8) This is in fact my salary account and was opened for me by the organization I'm working with.

I went on a week-long vacation to Kerala, my native place. From the ATM of ABC bank in Irinjalakuda town (Thrissur District), I tried to withdraw money from my XYZ account. By mistake I entered wrong PIN thrice (I should have canceled the process mid way through, and have recalled the PIN properly before making further attempts. I was a bit hesitant to do this, since by doing this, I thought, I will be wasting one of the four insertions allowed by the bank in one month in other ATMs). After three wrong PIN entries, my card was blocked from doing further transactions. However, I received back my card from the machine.

If you believe me, I have been using debit cards of different banks since 2003. Currently I hold four debit cards of different banks and I have never been an absentminded person. The event mentioned above was the first in my life, an error that occurred once-in-five-years.

I rang up the hotline number in Ernakulam / Kochi and explained the matter to the Phone Banking Executive. ID verification was done in a few seconds' time. I might have said something like: “My debit card PIN has been blocked” or “My debit card has been blocked” to the executive. She answered something like: “We'll be able to permanently block (or lock) your card, not temporarily”. I was a bit confused at this. I wanted my card / PIN to be unblocked / unlocked and nothing more. I don't know how much clear I was in conveying this idea to her.

When I asked her whether there is any fee for PIN unlocking she said that the cost of a new normal Debt Card is Rs.---/-. Hearing this I told her that I didn't want a new Debt Card, but just wanted to unblock the PIN. The executive argued with me saying that she had confirmed with me twice whether my card was CAPTURED by ATM or not. I told her that I had not uttered the word 'captured' in the conversation till that time. I was ready to correct any miscommunication that might have inadvertently happened in the conversation. We were still online and the call was not even disconnected. But nothing was of any avail. The executive had already blocked my card permanently by that time. All these happened on 10th April 2008.

The second part of the story is very simple. I told her that I should not be charged for the new card. She agreed. I said I will be back in Delhi on 16th April and requested her to send me the new Debt Card in my Delhi address only after that. She said she would call me on 16th April.

On 16th April I waited for her call till noon. In the afternoon I rang up Delhi hotline number and narrated the whole story. No official request was found recorded. I recalled that no official request number was given to me for the request I made on 10th April. Hence, my story appeared fabricated to the new executive who attended my call on 16th April. Somehow I could convince the new executive what had actually transpired on 10th April. She gave me a formal request number (Preeti/BT/23988/112) and assured me that the new card will be sent to me free of cost. I'm awaiting the new Debit Card now.

The third part of the story is, from 10th April to till date I have no Debt Card to do any kind of transaction with XYZ bank. When I registered the request for a Debt Card on 16th April, I was told that the card will be sent to me in 4-5 working days. I registered a follow up request on 29th April (Prem/KP/8987/898). I had already received new internet banking username (16 digit number) and Debit Card password. But not the Debit Card.

(I am unable to login to my internet banking is the forth part of the story. This is probably because I'm not entering the correct password. Or, because the internet banking is not (re)activated after the new debit card/ number was allotted to me. I checked this by again calling up an executive: “Is there a connection between internet banking and ATM, because even though I try with the new 16 digit user name, my internet banking is not working. Is it going to be active only after my first insertion of Debit Card in an ATM machine?” I asked her. She was not very sure. However, I have not yet made a formal request for a new internet banking password.)

I don't know for how long I again have to wait for the new debit card. All because of the executive who unnecessarily deactivated my Debit Card forever. I curse the moment. She should have simply unlocked my PIN allowing me to do transaction with the same card. I could not withdraw money from the ATM in my home town and hence, I could not give any amount to my family during this vacation. I curse the moment I entered the wrong PIN.

Phone banking executives should not deal with customers mechanically, instead they should try to put themselves in the shoes of the customers while addressing the grievances of the former. If someone says his card has been blocked or locked because of wrong entry of PIN, the executive should clearly verify from the customer what exactly is the situation. S/he should be able to explain the two possibilities that might have happened with wrong entry of PIN: First, the user makes three wrong entry of PIN and is blocked from doing further transactions. The user however gets back her/his card. Second, after three wrong entries the card is captured by the ATM machine. PERIOD.

How things got so complicated, I'm asking myself. Why such a simple process is so much delayed, I'm asking the bank.

Best regards,

Corrective action notice

2007-07-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

To

Ground Zero
Content Developer - E- Business Department
xyz company

Sub: Corrective Action Notice

Dear Mr. Ground Zero,

This is to bring to your notice that your way of working at xyz company has been found short of expectations on many occasions, in many ways. While you have been frequently advised to mend your behaviour and change your style of working many a time verbally, I take this opportunity to formally write to you to apprise you of matters of great concern to all of us at xyz company. I would like you to know that we value your participation in the company's endeavour for excellence and leadership in its business and this Corrective Action Notice is a step for us to align your abilities with the best interests of our company. I would appreciate if you could take note of the following points and improve upon them:

1. Insubordination and Rude Behaviour: Ever since your started working with us, I have verbally advised you at least three times to reflect respectful behaviour for your team-mates. Whenever we were aiming to finish a project on its deadline, you have always refused to stay back even a little beyond office hours to help accomplish the project. This is despite the fact that your appointment letter issued to you clearly indicates that the company requires you to stay back if the nature of work demands that in the reasonable interests of the company. Consequent to your actions and non-cooperative attitude, the important work was always left to be attended to by other team mates or your superiors. Maintaining the precedence of your rude behaviour, on Saturday, the 25^th February 2006, you spoke rudely to your superiors in front of the whole team of workers. Your statement that I, your reporting boss, speak useless things for 13 out of 15 minutes and your warning to me for not trying to speak English in front of you, was wholly in bad taste and spirit. You blatantly refused to stay even a little longer beyond office hours, disregarding the fact that the team as a whole was responsible to complete the project on that date. You walked out of the team-meeting at 4.30 pm without reason. Later the same day, when we tried to help you absorb the importance of work ethics in tripartite meeting involving your Mentor, Mr. Praveen Joshi, once again your rude behaviour and non-cooperative attitude was evident and you even tried to walk out of the meeting that was called for a reconciliation of situation.

2. Inflexibility: Although you were appointed to work as a Content Writer and Developer, you have ignored the suggestions of senior management to improve your style of writing. At times, you put up defensive affront saying that you can write only with your personal preferences and you would not change that in any way. Consequently, a good volume of content prepared by you for our web portal was found wanting in many respects and additional manpower is now being used to create content, although that should have been done by you.

3. Learning new skills and taking initiative: Sustained efforts by the company to impart you training on additional job skills have not been met with your desire to work well. Although you were selected by Great Thinking for an important business contract of xyz company, your performance was found seriously wanting that led to your rejection by the project owners. One of their numerous complaints was that you were not comfortable with American Standard English. Acknowledgement of your inflexibility and lack of initiative in adapting to evolving needs of the work environment by a third party has not left a good impression about your performance.

4. Spending time on browsing unnecessary websites: Time and again, you have been advised to not do your personal literary writing work using company resources and time. Just yesterday, you were found composing a multi-page word document that was your personal work and not related to the work allocated to you. Please note that repetitive behaviour to this effect cannot be tolerated any more.

Ground Zero, in the interest of good working atmosphere and your achieving desired levels of productivity, you are hereby informed that the company is now giving you ten more days (starting 1^st of March 2006) to show marked improvement in your performance. Formal proceedings for your termination from the services of xyz company may be initiated after the expiry of such period.

We trust you will utilize this opportunity to your fullest advantage and improve your performance.

Sincerely

Dinesh Mishra
E-Business Manager
xyz company

28th February 2006.

Out of prick of conscience!!

2007-06-28T01:16:00.000-07:00

There is something interesting going on in the most happening place in India, the XXX University. Allow me to begin the story from the middle: On one March evening this year, residents of Sutlej hostel, one of the 18-20 hostels in the university, blocked the traffic inside the university. The reason: the long standing demands for basic amenities in the hostel and the timely maintenance of its electrical appliances and wooden furniture have been consistently ignored by the university administration. There shouldn't have been anything interesting in this apparently apolitical demonstration by a group of university students if it had nothing to do with the agitations that rock the U campus today. But destiny had it different.

Further to the demonstration and road blockade, an enquiry committee was constituted to look into the matter and to book the students behind the 'anti-social' act. From a demonstration in which scores of students participated, the enquiry committee, without any rhyme or reason, picked up one PhD student and imposed on him a fine of Rs. 5000/-. A number of tables and benches in the mess hall were used for the blockade. The punishing authority conveniently ignored the fact that a single individual cannot carry these pieces of furniture without being helped by others. And how about the enquiry committee report? Has anyone seen the report? Has it been tabled before any forum? No one knows. Later, when some friends of Suhail, the student who was fined, and other supporters of the cause approached the administration to make them understand the illogicality of the punishment order, the administration pacified them by making the hostel president also party to the punishment. The hostel president was fined a lesser amount, Rs. 1000/-. Suhail, who has been in the forefront of many agitations, and hence, a target of JNU administration, apologized. But, contrary to University tradition, the administration hesitated to reduce the fine amount.

Interestingly, members of University Students' Union (**USU) and University Teachers' Association (**UTA), the organizations which now fight against the rustication/out-of-bounds awarded to their cronies, were conspicuously absent from the scene. When Suhail yielded to the autocratic ways of the university administration, remitting the fine which he managed to collect from his well-wishers and supporters, the first part of the story ends. Suhail withdrew to his room in Sutlej to complete his PhD thesis which is to be submitted in a few months' time (It is well known to everyone around him that the administration targeted Suhail taking advantage of the crucial period which he passes through at present, and that the former knows very well that any student in such a situation will neither have the time nor the resources to organize a mass students' movement against it.).

But while remitting the fine imposed on him, which was not reduced even after his apology, Suhail did not forget to prick the conscience of the administration through a statement in his affidavit. And this refers to an incident in which the university Registrar Avais Ahmad was illegaly confined for six hours by a group of students demanding the intervention of University administration on a series of issues. It is assumed that the revolutionary model confinement, in which a few girl students played the lead role, gave a boost to the students' struggle for MPhil/PhD scholarships, minimum wages for hired construction and mess workers, abolition of caste discrimination and functionalization of Gender Sensitization Committee Against Sexual Harassment or GSCASH, as it is generally called.

How is it justified that when **USU, taking responsibility to the confinement incident, apologized with the university administration, the administration was ready to show leniency towards the activists, whereas the apology of a student who was falsely implicated in an equally genuine issue fell on deaf ears, was the question raised by Suhail. What is the rationality that links together both the judgments - the judgment in the illegal confinement case and traffic blockade case? This was an eye-opener for the **U administration, it needs to be inferred now. Mulling over Suhail's affidavit, the university administration was forced to revoke its decision on the confinement case which it had dropped earlier in a university general body meeting. So far so good. Personally, I feel that rustication and out of bounds are too harsh a punishment. But, in the same token, justice should not show partiality and should not be prone to bias.

Employment Fraud Issue Boiling

2007-02-06T08:05:00.000-08:00

An first hand account of a victim of an employment fraud in our district in which a missionary priest also is alleged to have involved.

A Priest Spoiled and Spoiling Thousands of People Life

A Franciscan Priest “Fr. Thomas Kulathingal“and his partner “P.A. Joseph“(A Politician and Real Estate Businessman) Spoiled and spoiling thousand of people life by offering U.K. Visas in India - Kerala.

The Priest Address is,

Fr. Thomas Kulathingal, Mobile: +919447410719
M.I. Centre,
Assisi Shanthi Kendra,
Conventual Franciscan Friars
P.B.4, Karukutty - 683 576
Kerala
INDIA
Email : convind@giasmd01.vsnl.net.in

His “Father Superior” Name is Fr. Mathew, Mobile:-+919447338415

The Priest “Fr.Thomas Kulathingal” (Native from Kalpatta, Idukki – (in Kerala - India) has said to the people that he got lot of U.K. Visas based on charity and he got a sub agency from U.K.. He collected money from thousands of the people 75,000/- bugs to 5, 00,000/- bugs Indian Currency from each of them in December 2005 and also 25,000/- bugs Indian currency for Insurance as first Installment. Most of the People have given this money from bank loans and heavy interest. The Priest told to the people can go with in two months as Airport sweeper, Oil Rig Employees and accountant for two years contract (Which can be Renewable for 10 years) with the salary of 43,000/- to 1,50,000 /- Indian currency, the accommodation, food and medical done by the company itself. But nothing was happened after two months.

Then after two months the priest appointed as partner P.A Joseph (Native from Kumali – Idukki (in Kerala - India) and told to all people if anybody wants to go U.K. give the money to his partner and he will assist you.

Then after two months he told the U.K. Main Agency will come to interview these people in next month first week. When next arrived, he told the interview must be contempt last of that month. When last of that month come, he told there is problem going on in U.K. because of bombard, and so the agency people have come from U.K. they have gone back to U.K. because of this incident. And he said the U.K. Embassy has temporary stopped Visa Stamping.

In this situation some people asked for their money, passport and documents back. But priest has refused to give and said to them this will be alright and they can go U.K with in next month last. The few guys have come for leave from gulf countries, they also asked him for their passport and documents to go back and retain their current job. But priest has refused to give their documents and he made promise that they can go next month and said to resign that job and cancel that visa. The other peoples those who got the chances for other jobs they asked their passport and documents, then also he stand as an interrupter and gave promises.

When next month arrived, the Priest has said - they have no license for recruiting people to U.K. At last he got license after two to Four months. And then priest and his partner made “Annual Celebration”.
In the Annual Celebration priest has said now they need only one month, i.e. next month first week the visa stamping will be done and last of the that month the people can join in their job.At this time the news has come about the priest in the news papers.

But next month nothing has happened, it has going like promises and promises As Month’s first week and Last week, which never ends.

After this, the priest and his partner have shown an Agreement, of “Assany Abroad Consultancy U.K.” to the people.

But it has got so many spelling mistakes. (The true is the agreement made by Priest and His partner)

Address has given like this,

Assany Abroad Consultancy
(Manpower Supply Agency – U.K.)
Suite 789,
Old Brompton Road,
London sw 7 300 U.K. Phone No. 0044 - 1753692184

And this contract has given to priest partner – P.A. Joseph in the following address.

Address:

No. 0202/APT/Rccr /India /2006-2008

M/s Thekkady Manpower Service Pvt Ltd,
Plavuvachathil Building,
Theckkady Road, Kumily,
Idukki D.T, Kerala – 686 5509
India.

But the visa dealings are done in another office with the people, situated at “Kochi” (in Kerala – India.)

Address:
M/s Thekkady Manpower Service Pvt Ltd,
Golden Road,
Thammanam - Vytila (Via),
Anjumuri, Mobile:- +919447032366, +919447057870
Kochi, Office Phone No. +91 484 6580274, +91 484 6580276
India. +91 484 2337850
His Native and Priest Native are Idukki.

After showing this agreement the priest said next month there will be Medical. There after the
interview will be there with “Assany Abroad Consultancy” and they will select each person and they can
go last of that month.
Medical has done well in following diagnostic centre after two three months,

Address :

Beeta Diagnostic centre, Dr. V.A. Mohamed Salid
Poimblassery Building,
Kannamthodth lane, Phone No. +91 484 3246090
Valajambalam, E mail: brrtadiagnostic@yahoo.co.in
Kochi – 682 016,
Kerala – India.

The Priest said there is only medical and the interview has cancelled. When the people questioned about that the priest answered, when the interview started the whole people could not go. But nobody has gone. The priest again collected from people 8,500/- bugs Indian currency by saying for Visa Stamping and made promise for first and last of next month as continuing.

People enquired about “Assany Abroad Consultancy” in U.K. but nobody has got the correct details about the agency. People questioned to priest about this - then priest said, the agreement was his creation, there is no agency like “Assany Abroad Consultancy” in U.K., and he continued, the agency has said to him
do not give the real address of their because people will disturb them.

When Next month Arrived the priest said, the Visa Stamping has been Over and but he have to get one letter, that has to be sign by the UK embassy. The employee - he has to sign, he has gone for a leave (For 25-12-2006 Christmas and 01-01-2007 New Year), And he promised from 3rd January 2007 on words he will give all stamped visas and from 5th January on words will start to go UK.

When 3rd January 2007 has come the priest said the Stamping has not done (How Much Lie He said), The U.K. Embassy has enquired about letter of “Indian Labor Council”, after getting this letter the stamping will start. For that purpose Priest Partner P.A. Joseph has gone from Madras to Delhi for collecting that.

Now Two Years Left…………
To date there is nothing happened and Nobody has gone to U.K. ……………

Still he saying the people can go next month………
The priest was the superior of the “Paduva Seminary”, when he started this dirty game,
His Partner P.A. Joseph bought too many plots with this money for his business purpose.

Address:
Franciscan Friars Convent,
Paduva Seminary,
Puthenchira,
Trichur D.T, Kerala
India. Phone No:- +91 480 2786422

The priest is doing very cruel to the people. Now people become at stage of suicide.
Because they have no job, the other chances they got that also lose and no resources for their future life.

“One day the Bank will seal their houses and plots, which they earned in their life by hard work“

They Believing in GOD, that’s why they believed the Priest and his words.

What you can do for these

Poor Christian People…………?

And

Priest………………..?

Can WE call him A Priest……???

It is very shame for Christianity……!!!

We love Italian, but hate Italian Bureaucracy!!

2006-11-17T00:36:00.000-08:00

Three months had been a good time period for us to improve our Italian. While completing the final verification of my papers at Delhi international airport, just before we flew to Italy, an official asked me "So you're going to Italy to do an advanced level course in Italian, right? What do they call 'ice cream' in Italian?"

"Gelato... il gelato", I answered him, rejoicing about the simplicity with which this particular language is conceived by the outside world.

On reaching Italy I was really happy to see everything in good shape, if not better than what I had dreamed of it already. Serviced apartments, 24 hrs water, electricity and gas supply, cleanliness, an air of tranquility even in the midst of the city, such that in just one month we Indians had already prepared a list of contrasts between India and Italy. But, at some corner of our minds we still searched for some similarity between our homeland and this Meditteranean country. 'India' and 'Italia' both begin with 'I' and end with 'a', one of my friends had found it already!

We just had to wait three months to find the great similarity between India and Italy in matters of governance and bureaucracy. Our scholarship for the third month has become a distant dream for us! We were paid two instalments of scholarship together by the end of July 2006. By September 20, the time when we were to collect our scholarship amount for the third month, every Indian who had gone to Perugia was running out of money. Many had gone for expensive trips and had spent money thinking that the scholarship for the third month will replenish their pockets sufficiently enough and they can do shopping for their family members and friends with this money. Hopes eroded when we were informed by officials in Banca d'Italia that our scholarship amount for the last month will be sent to the home country. That was a declaration for an endless kafkaesque waiting. Indian students who had gone to Perugia for a three months' course left the Etruscan city for India in the first week of October with lots of good Italian memories to cherish but unaware of the big cheat.

620 Euros, the amount we are yet to receive, are peanuts for anyone from Europe or America. But for students from a third world country like India, it matters a lot. With no one to take the responsibility for our scholarship amount for the third month, we started philosophizing the whole issue to convince ourselves that Italian has nothing to do with the bureaucratic glitches in Italy. We cannot even move court, for the parties involved are Ministero degli Affari Esteri (MEA) of Governo d'Italia and Ministry of Human Resource Development - Goverment of India, all beyond the reach of a simple polyglot. Nevertheless, we love Italian; thanks to our jouney to Italy, we are infinitely motivated to know more about this language and culture, we made many friends (many had good romantic experiences, so to say, with Italians and other foreigners who came to Perugia for learning the language). But this worry about our last instalment of scholarship, which is indeed a small amount of money, haunts us. This is typical of Indian psyche, no doubt. Because we Indians, unlike many in Italy and the rest of Europe, are poor!

Missionary Priest involved in Employment Fraud?

2006-11-01T21:05:00.000-08:00

Kerala has witnessed innumerous employment frauds in the recent past when social and economic structure of this State ear marked a good percentage of its youth to be ‘Pravasis’ or Migrant Workers. We may have developed apathy towards all such stories, the reason why this new incident is not given enough attention by the ubiquitous regional media in the State. I may be wrong in judging this to be a case of fraud, for it is yet to be proved that the ‘Employment Abroad Promise’ given to hundreds of candidates in this case is broken beyond repair. Doesn’t matter, my objective is only to expose the unfortunate plight of hundreds of youth in the regions of Aloor, Thumbur, Mala, Kodakara etc. in Thrissur District, Kerala. For a common reader this may be just a new case of fraud without any visible villain, without thrillers and without any immediate climax and turning point to the story, but for these people who have paid an amount of Rs. 75 thousand to Rs. 3 lakhs for a job in the unskilled sector, it is a question of life and death, of hope and desperation, of endless waiting and human fundamental right.

What makes this story exceptional is the involvement of a missionary priest in the whole event which provided a vain assurance of transparency to the whole procedure. Fr. Thomas Kulathungal, Superior, Paduva Fransiscan Monastery, Puthanchira, was kind enough to announce some job opportunities in United Kingdom along with his spiritual preaching in the above said regions. As we know, those who are spiritually poor are also generally poor in their material existence. For them, a job offer or anything that can alleviate their poverty can be of immediate value. Many people, from the President of Kodakara Panchayat to computer professionals paid sums between Rs. 75 thousand to Rs.3 lakhs for their visa to UK as unskilled labourers in the Airports of UK.

Now, some details of dates and addresses:

December 2004:
Fr. Thomas announces that he has direct contacts with a recruiting agency in UK which provides visas for unskilled labourers in the Airports of UK; collects Rs. 1.5 lakh on average from around 500 people as initial payment.

Thekkady Manpower Services Pvt. Ltd., Plavuvachathil Building, Thekkady Road, Kumily, Idukki – Kerala is said to be the recruiting agency involved in this deal.

Fr. Thomas along with his aide P.A. Joseph, a Congress leader from Kumily, gave repeated assurance to the job seekers by showing them a copy of ‘Power of Attorney’ given by Assany Abroad Consultancy, UK. In this document, with mistaken spellings in several places, it has been declared that Assany has given all the power to Thekkady Manpower Services to function as an authorized agency in India and to recruit the required manpower for this project. “The power is to collect Passports, Certificates, Medical Repoets, Visas, Airline Tickets and any other documents and to do all activities required for the prospective worker for employment abroad”, it says. But when the job seekers, who paid large sums for their visas, tried to reach Assany’s office over phone, they got a computerized message that the phone number is not in use for several months. From the standard of English used in several documents and for several other reasons many fear that the UK based consultancy is bogus.

From the letter head:
Assany Abroad Consultancy
(Manpower Supply Agency UK)
Suite 789, 2 Old Brompton Rd., London Sw 7 300 U.K.
Ph: 0044175369, 2184

Allen Frost
Executive Director

What next?
Despite repeated assurance from Fr. Thomas and all those who are associated with this recruitment deal, the job seekers’ future remains bleak. For more than 18 months they have been waiting for their visas. Many have refused even other job offers received by them from abroad, while many were hesitant to take up full fledged jobs thinking that they may receive their visa to UK at any time. “License, Insurance, Interview, Medical Report, Visa stamping, Consulate, Bomb blast: these are the key words used by the concerned persons in this deal to buy time from the ignorant job seekers and to postpone everything infinitely. What a pity!”, quips Babu, an outsider to the entire drama.

HRD, Doctors in Government Hospitals, Delhi

2006-07-31T00:47:00.000-07:00

This is to recall an incident in which I was offered very poor service by some physicians in government hospitals in Delhi. The series of incidents that is narrated below happened between 22nd June 2006 and 29th June, the day we flew to Rome.

In order to avail the visa to Italy all the selected candidates had to submit a medical certificate with results of various Medical tests shown separately. We had a very limited time, a time period of just one week. In the proforma given by Ministry of Human Resource Development it was written that the certificate must be signed by a civil surgeon or a district medical officer. Are you someone who strive hard to fulfill the requirements in a notification from any government office. If so, you are gravely mistaken like me, who found out during the medical certification process that one primarily has to find out the way by which the requirements can be befooled. I want to focus on three aspects of mismanagement, which is also a cause of public inconvenience, in this article. One is about misleading information given to you by public offices, the second about irresponsibility, callousness, or lack of human consideration or whatever you may like to call it and finally the third is about the delay in official matters.

I still did not understand why the final correspondence from HRD, which asked us to undergo medical check-up, was so delayed that the candidates got hardly one week to complete all formalities before applying for the visa. This delay affected us all along our journey procedures to Italy. For example, since the visa was delayed, we could not buy our ticket to Rome in proper time. One of my friends and me travelled together to Perugia and we found it extremely difficult to get a ticket in economic class in Kuwait Airways. Finally we had to settle for a ticket which cost each of us Rs. 6000/- more than the actual ticket rate. All our tensions vis-à-vis medical check up, visa application and finally air-ticket purchase would have been relieved had the communication from HRD was done sufficiently earlier.

After receiving the letter from HRD, I went to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital looking for a civil surgeon, with just one week's time to complete all formalties. The civil surgeon in RML Hospital was on leave for a weak or so. I went to Safdarjung Hospital. I was told by the CMO that there is no one with this designation in the hospital. I went to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital. I was blatantly stopped by the attendent who stood at the gate of Doctor Incharge (Casualty). Though I managed to get into the doctor's chamber after an exchange of words betwen him, I was disappointed by the doctor who asked me "Why should I do it? (why should I examine you?)" This was a question that resonated in my ears for a long time after I left the chamber. I shall discuss about this in the next paragraph. This was my third day of medical certificate hunt. Later on I went back to HRD Scholarship section and told the officials that I could not find a Civil Surgeon who is willing to issue a medical certificate to me. They told me that any MBBS doctor in a government hospital will do. I had lost three precious days looking for a civil surgeon. If any MBBS doctor in a government hospital would have done this job why didn't the Scholarship section of HRD tell me about this earlier. Such misleading information is not new to us, I know. But I got the actual taste of it only in these days. Everyone is so generous to give you misleading information, without thinking how it would affect the person negatively. I wasted much of my time and energy while following the instructions given by officials in HRD, in government hospitals in Delhi and seldom by my friends.

The candidates for the scholarship were not referred to any hospitals in Delhi to get the tests done. I consider this to be a serious lapse from the part of Ministry of Human Resource and Development because no government doctor was obliged to examine us and issue a medical certificate. "Why should I do it" was the response from many of the doctors: in Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, in Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital and from other government hospitals in the city as well... I would not blame these doctors. "Why should I do it" which means am I obliged to examine a person (stranger) and give him a medical certificate if the government has not asked me to do it! I have shown all the papers from Human Resource Development office in which it is written that it is mandatory for me to produce a medical certificate to get an NOC for visa. But "why should I do it?" was the response from the government hospital doctors. Can I ask these doctors an ethical question? When the medical/public health care department runs a campaign for blood donation or eye donation if the people start asking "Why should I do it?" will it be wrong?

Often I was told by the officials in these hospitals that you will not be issued a medical certificate from this hospital because you are not referred by the concerned government office while many of my friends, who had won the same scholarship, easily walked away with their medical certificates. How? They had approached the doctors whom they knew. The doctors allowed my friends to get all tests done from the same government hospitals in which the former work, of course with a nominal fees. One of my friends just had to pay approximately Rs.250/- for all the prescribed medical tests including the AIDS test. No doctor in any government hospital in Delhi was known to me. I ran from pillar to post. People, my friends, asked me, without knowing the real state of affairs, "Didn't you go to Safdarjung?" "Didn't you go to AIIMS?" as if they know it for sure that someone is sitting there to issue a medical certificate for a 'stranger' like me. In somebody else's affairs people are so casual to offer suggestions, because suggetions are free. I went everywhere and did not get a result. I asked the doctors in JNU medical centre whether they can help me in this regard. No result.

Four complete days wasted for availing medical certificate, and still with complete uncertainity ahead. Am I in the national capital of India or in a remote viallge in the country, I doubted. On the fifth day I decided to get the tests done in a private pathology Lab. I paid Rs.850/- for the tests thinking that it would bring an end to everything. But the next day, when the certificate got signed by the director or the pathology lab, who was also the Medical Superintendent of a three star private hospital, they asked me Rs.300/- more...as consultation charges. Rs. 1250/-that is the end of it.

Now the rest is from my subconscious mind, for I am not going to fight against the mismanagement of matters in HRD (as I perceive them) or against the inhumanity of some doctors in government hospitals in Delhi (again, as I perceive them). But all the authorities can feel assured: "You have conditioned a citizen to behave in a particular way in the future, and one can easily infer how the behaviour would be if one has really understood the experience he has gone through."

This narration is saved for the future. Our memory may lie but not the computer chips.

Ever shouted at your boss?

2006-06-09T01:34:00.000-07:00

Have you ever shouted at your boss who, you think, is ethically, intellectually and educationally below your status? In this blog you can come across some anarchists and non-careerists who think that in all organizations bosses are from the same mould and should be shouted at by their subordinates. It goes without saying that the battle is always won by the bosses; the employee finally gets a Warning and/or a Termination notice, that’s for sure.

Isn’t this a big joke? Just read through a warning letter, termination notice or a resignation letter, you will come to know about the real status of incidents. Finally, you come to a conclusion that bosses are not only to be shouted at but also are to be treated in ‘proper’ ways. Higher authorities cannot be passive spectators here. They have to be on one side or the other. But the employee doesn’t have to worry about it. Higher authorities will justify none other than your boss who is always their ‘chamcha’.

No trade unionism, no proletarian struggle; these are some of ‘boss-subordinate encounter’ sagas which the companies want to hide. Companies hide these stories because in most of the cases they are badly hit by the fury (legitimate or illegitimate) of the fired employee. Who is bothered about right or wrong! Let’s watch some good fights where the weak and the unarmed hits the strong with ‘nothing to lose’ kind of vigor.

An objective wrongly conceptualized!

2006-06-09T01:07:00.000-07:00

Given below is the write-up I initially prepared for this blog. Later I found out that I myself have mis conceptualized the whole idea. You can see the difference between the initial and final conceptualization. Happy reading...

The thematic of this blog is not new to the publishing and web world. But when I was planning to develop this blog I was rather obstinate about one idea, that things should not be presented objectively in this blog. Hence, in this blog one can find an expression of emotion, a plethora of voices muffled by biases and authoritarianism prevalent even in the organizational affairs of civilized societies.

This site will present you mainly with the employee versions of some real incidents inside organizations where the employees are warned, insulted and sometimes fired by the authorities. Sometimes a resignation letter can tell you a whole lot of things which cannot be brought to light by any research study or analysis. Resignation letters do not belong to the 'aesthetic' but they are from life, from La vita nuda.

Readers of this blog can become judgemental, ask us for more facts and opinions, and present their own experiences within organizations in an independent way. This is not an attempt to defame any organization. But the blog will clearly show all names of people and organizations involved in the stories as far as possible.

We do not believe in Journalistic ethics. So it is not the 'greater common good' (if at all there is anything like this) that we are aiming at. One can observe that in some instances an employee is clearly at fault. But still the objective of this blog is fulfilled when s/he comes forward to speak and explain to us about her/his take of the whole issue without fear or coercion. Isn’t it good to see someone who is at a disadvantageous position speaks out her/his mind?

But have you already categorized this attempt as feminist, sub-altern or simply humanist? We don’t mind, anyway…