The Sixth Central Pay Commission of India has assigned XLRI Jamshedpur to do a study titled “Estimating the Compensation Package for Government Employees and the Cost to the Government”. The object of the study is to compute in monetary terms all the benefits government employees get – both tangible and intangible.

            This certainly seems to be a good move, as very frequently the government employees are seen comparing their own salaries with the compensation package of private sector employees and pointing at variances. However, in private sector the overall package is calculated on a cost to company basis, where almost all benefits to the employees are taken into consideration. However, the government employees get a number of additional benefits which are generally not taken into consideration while drawing such a comparison. These may include pension, job security and other benefits.

            Hope, the XLRI study report will put to rest all such misconceptions.

The Amarnath land row seems to have taken a serious turn today with the protestors courting arrest. Around 1000 people led by the Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Committee carried out demonstrations outside the police stations. Its sad to see that the area has become a battle ground of this land issue. The streets were filled with slogans like zameen wapas karo and Bam Bam bholey. What is more shocking is almost 22 people have died over this issue.

I think the issue of restoring land to Amarnath can be solved through proper discussions. The central government and state government should really gear up now in order to settle the matter before it goes any worse.

With dipping supply of coal, the power situation has become critical in the country. Earlier this year, Coal India Ltd had lowered its supply projection from 305 million tonnes to 292.15 million tonnes for 2008-09. There was also a shortfall in the supply of other forms of energy. And the result is for everybody to see.

            Bangalore has reportedly faced a diesel shortage as diesel was being diverted to run generators. Mumbai is witnessing increasing incidents of load shedding. The Hyderabad IT hub faced power cut for the first time in perhaps a decade. West Bengal is also suffering due to technical snags in power supply and shortage of coal. The situation is no better in other parts of the country.

            The government needs to take immediate steps to improve the situation.