November 25, 2024

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A MARATHA HEAT WAVE

THE MARATHAS ARE ANGRY AND, UNDER MANOJ JARANGE-PATIL'S SWAY, MARATHWADA COULD WELL DECIDE WHO EVENTUALLY WINS IN MAHARASHTRA By Dhaval S. Kulkarni In Antarwali-Sarathi village in Jalna district, a tall, gaunt man with a goatee emerges from the bungalow of his close aide and village sarpanch, Pandurang Tarakh. A hush descends on the waiting crowd that troops into the small verandah to touch his feet and take selfies. The rising tide of Maratha assertion in election-bound Maharashtra is attributed to this man, Manoj Jarange-Patil, who is now seen as the keeper of the community's collective conscienceThe 42-year-old Jarange-Patil had always been an "andolanjeevi (serial agitator)", as his admirers fondly describe him, but it was on September 1, 2023 that he fully burst into the public eye. The then little-known activist was on a fast unto death in Antarwali-Sarathi seeking reservation quotas for the Marathas when the police lathi-charged a mob blocking them from shifting him to hospital. The incident blew up, the `butterfly effect' sending tremors that would shake up the established order. Soon, the dormant quota protests were on the boil again and politicians of all hues were flocking to Antarwali-Sarathi, located over 400 km from Mumbai. Jarange-Patil put one demand before them: the Marathas, the dominant caste in the state who have gained an association with the Kshatriya status due to their martial past, must be classified with the Kunbis (tillers or sharecroppers), their brethren in the old caste continuum, and get quotas under the OBC (Other Backward Classes) category. It is a demand he has persisted with despite the state approving a 10 per cent ring-fenced quota in jobs and education (see interview `Marathas will vote to defeat the oppressors')Jarange-Patil and his supporters have since targeted deputy chief minister and home minister Devendra Fadnavis (a Brahmin) and the BJP for the lathi charge and for allegedly standing in the way of Maratha quotas, a charge the saffron party vehemently denies. The simmering Maratha anger, coupled with Dalit and Muslim alienation, saw the near wipe-out of the BJP and the Mahayuti alliance in Marathwada-- that yielded a sweep for the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in seven of the eight Lok Sabha seats in the region. The only consolation was the victory of Sandipan Bhumre of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena from Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar). The CM, a Maratha, is seen as having cultivated Jarange-Patil at the cost of ally BJP, translating in Bhumre's victory. Incidentally, all the MPs from Marathwada are Marathas, except for the Congress's Shivajirao Kalge from Latur, a seat reserved for Scheduled Castes. The region has 46 assembly seats and winning them will be crucial for the two main alliancesJust weeks ago, Jarange-Patil had threatened to form a rainbow coalition with Muslim and Dalit groups and support individual candidates, but pulled out at the last moment. This has come as a relief to the MVA, which hopes to gain from the consolidation of these votes. The Maratha leader hasn't announced his political position, but analysts say his anti-BJP noises are an indication that followers may take a position against the party. The BJP is contesting 20 of Marathwada's 46 seats. With Jarange-Patil getting a response from other parts of the state like western Maharashtra, there are chances of ripples

KILLER STRESS

Unhealthy work practices in Indian companies are taking a toll on employees, triggering health issues and sometimes even death By SONAL KHETARPAL / Illustrations by NILANJAN DAS The Japanese have a word for it--Karoshi, or death by overwork. India had a tragic encounter with the phenomenon when a distraught mother wrote to her daughter's boss this September, calling out "a work culture that seems to glorify overwork while neglecting the very human beings behind the roles". It cost their daughter her life. Anna Sebastian Perayil, a bright, young chartered accountant, was just four months into her `dream job' with SR Batliboi, a member firm of global accounting and consulting firm EY, when she collapsed at home one day, and died. Anna was just 26 "The workload, the new environment and long hours took a toll on her physi- cally, emotionally and mentally," Anna's mum wrote. "She began experiencing anxiety, sleeplessness and stress soon after joining, but she kept pushing herself, believing that hard work and perseverance were the keys to success…. The relent- less demands and the pressure to meet unrealistic expectations are not sustain- able, and they cost us the life of a young girl with so much potential." Anxiety, sleeplessness, stress… It is a feeling familiar to many an Indian em- ployee, and none more than Gen Z, the generation born between 1995 and 2012 A 2023 survey of over 2,000 employees, conducted by online emotional wellness platform YourDOST, found that 60.1 per cent of the respondents reported experi- encing high or extreme stress, a 30.3 per cent increase over 2022. It seemed to be the highest in the 21-30 age group, where 64.4 per cent of the respondents complained of high or extreme stress, compared to 53.6 per cent in the 41-50 age group.