Economy

As dusk descends over Thozhuvur village, 41 km from Chennai,  S Kasinathan, rests on a small chair in his thatched roof house. He coughs incessantly and curses his fate for being a burial ground worker. The 42-year-old man from this village in Thiruvallur district has just cremated a body and has had to inhale the smoke for hours. Kasinathan laughs sarcastically when asked why he was not wearing his safety gear. “I do not even get a monthly salary here, despite working as a ‘vettiyan’ (one who cremates and bury the dead) for over 15 years now. Asking for a…

Even in the dusky season of retirement, when one is meant to finally relax having successfully shouldered the responsibilities of a lifetime, the elderly today have creases of concern on their faces, as they find interests rates for their investments falling. “Retirement has not been too exciting for me,” exclaims Anantharaman, who completed service two years ago. “I had planned for it to be special and I had put aside some money in fixed deposits (FDs). However, I had never imagined that the interest rates on our FD assets after retirement would be hit thus.” Well, they have been. And…

It was a Herculean task for John Jesudason, Chief Executive Officer of Creative Huddle, a startup digital advertising agency, to build his business while also taking care of the nitty gritty of office administration. He was left with no time for the real work, after supervising the housekeeping and management of office amenities in his own office space. But since the time that he switched to a co-working space called The Executive Zone on Anna Salai, with his four-member team, he has been able to focus singlemindedly on growing his business. Co-working spaces are slowly catching up in Chennai, providing…

Everyone in Bengaluru city is a consumer of goods or services. Goods are purchased and services sought on an ongoing basis. The common man is however not always aware of his / her right as a consumer and ends up living with substandard or poor service. This programme is organised by Co Media Lab (a joint initiative Radio Active CR 90.4 MHz & Citizen Matters initiative) in association with Consumer Care Society, Bengaluru. Where: Radio Active, 1/1-1, Atria Towers, next to Raddison Blu (earlier Atria), Palace Road When: Saturday 4th November 2017, 9:30 am to 1pm Register here: comedialab.in/consumer-workshop-1415 This…

So you won’t live for another 115 years, but your house may. Even the angry monsoon waters that have hit Indian cities real hard this year - from Bengaluru to Mumbai to Gurugram -- might decide to break the record and roll in even faster and more furious next year. While they don't always make it to the headlines, many homes have got damaged due to the floods, and you certainly don't want your home to feature in that list. So why don’t you plan to insure it? Let’s begin. What is home insurance, anyway? It isn’t about being sure…

Three months have passed since the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was applied to housing societies/apartment associations, yet protests and confusion prevail. Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) collect monthly charges from residents, to provide goods/services for their common use. Now RWAs have to register under GST and pay tax on the monthly charges they collect; this tax burden is passed on to residents. So, instead of being the end consumer, the association is seen as a service provider to the residents. Association has to pay taxes to the vendor while buying the product, and then collect taxes from residents on maintenance…

The recent astronomical hike in tomato prices in the city weighed heavily on the household budgets of many Bengalureans. Here’s a look at some reactions to this price shock: “I usually go to the Yeshwanthpur city market to buy vegetables because it's much cheaper to buy from there. I was buying ½ kg of tomato when the prices shot up instead of my usual purchase of 2-3 kgs per week. The prices of vegetables fluctuate so much. On the day the rate is cheaper, I buy in bulk and preserve the vegetables at home.” - Housekeeping staff at a private company.…

The survey of street vendors in south zone was to have taken place in the south zone between 25th September and 28th September. The survey has started in several wards but is not complete and in fact has been called off. Additionally there are several issues in how it has been done. In Some wards like ward 170, it has happened as per guidelines however in a lot of other places its not done. Here are some issues: 1) Not enough forms: In ward 123 and 168, there have not been enough forms. We are not sure if the forms…

What are Employment Exchanges? An Employment Exchange is a government establishment which offers employment support to the unemployed youth on the basis of their educational qualification and work experience. The Department of Employment and Training, Karnataka looks after Employment Exchanges in the State including the offices in Bengaluru. Exchanges act as a bridge between the job seekers and the employers. They inform about the vacancies in public and private sector to the job seekers and pass on the information/data of the job seekers to the employers - both government and private - which the employers may use whenever there is…

Having lost their significance over the years, Employment Exchanges are in dire need of a revamp that will make them suit the changing employment trends and unemployment patterns. During the course of working on this series, what I gathered from talking to officials is, in Karnataka seemingly there is no full-fledged plan yet to revamp the Employment Exchanges. However, some attempts have been and are being made by governments of the times to make Employment Exchanges relevant. In 2008, Employment Exchange offices were given a major task of organising job fairs. Since then, the Directorate of Employment and Training considers…