What a day to start a blog! The nation and all its right thinking citizens are ashamed of what happened to the unlucky girl who lost her life. Every walk of the society especially its Next Generation has held morchas, sit outs, candle light vigils and even a silent and peaceful mourning. They have demonstrated to the government, the political parties, the babus, the judicial system that enough is enough and they are demanding justice and change.
It is a great pity that Corporates did not find it fit to join together and force the hands of the Government / police/ judiciary to make the changes the Gen Next demands in terms of justice to women who are subjected to atrocities of various kinds. It is a natural question why pick on Corporates when all other segments of the society is protesting and demanding action. It is for the following reasons:
1. Women form a major portion of the productive workforce for corporates -be the hard-wired industries or soft wired services sector. Hence it is morally obligatory on the part of the Corporates to come together, protest and seek specific safety net for its current and future workforce
2. Corporates have the key levers to guide the economy - power make investments in businesses, industries and factories etc which generate employment. Look at the importance labour data, housing data enjoy as barometers of American Economy. This is the power of Corporate World in an economy. With such powers in their hands the Indian Corporates if they unite can make the government/ Judiciary/ Police/ beueracracy provide necessary safety net to women by enacting appropriate laws, stringent enforcement measures and stringent standards of accountability.
3. The third most important power they hold is the advance tax payments. If the bigwigs of Corporate world unite and submit a memorandum seeking specific measures to be adapted by the Governments at the centre and states to protect the women and girl child from the atrocities they face, under a oblique threat of non-payment of advance tax ( father of the nation would have definitely approved of such a non-violent approach), wouldn't the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister listened to them.
It is really surprising that the Corporate Heads apart from decrying these acts in their individual capacities have not come together as a force to reckon with and provide leadership to the women who are leading this charge and the Gen Next which is demanding justice and change. Have our corporates lost themselves in profit making and enriching themselves and forgot this leadership role?
Haven't we heard enough from these chieftains about government's policy paralysis? Doesn't the other three fingers point towards them now?
Any further silence from the Corporate world would only render them ' not worthy of nation's trust".
