Back to work after a break

Fishermen are now preparing to venture into sea as the 45-day ban on fishing is coming to a close. As scientists found fish breeding to be active during April and May, fishing by mechanised boats in the east coast of Tamil Nadu has been prohibited between April 15 and May 29. The two-lakh fishermen spread over 13 coastal districts of the state pulled their boats offshore and carried out overhauling works, apart from mending fishnets.

Now the fisherfolk across the state have started taking out their boats for a trial run after a month.

Fishermen had welcomed the 45-day holiday as it facilitates increase in fish production. There are over 50,000 registered fishing vessels in Tamil Nadu of which 5,596 are mechanised fishing boats.

The state government had announced that they would pay Rs 500 per family during the mandatory fishing ban period, which benefitted two lakh fishermen families and cost the government Rs10 crore.

Mr A. Alwyn, fishermen from Rameswaram said, “Even though the ban on fishing would help us in getting a good catch, it does not lend us any hand in getting more money. The agents form a syndicate and bring down the price of our catch. So the fisher folk’s dream of earning more money after the holiday does not realise.” The Rameswaram fishermen have a different issue, apart from the price.

They are have the fear of being attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy, which hampers their free movement in the sea.

The ban came into effect after the Centre suggested it — by a mutual consensus among all maritime States — to conserve and replenish fishery wealth. It is being enforced since 2001 in the State.

Employee is strangled

Following the murder of Jayaraman, a 32-year-old data entry operator of Pondicherry university on Tuesday, employees of the Pondicherry university and relatives of the victim squatted on East Coast Road with the body of the victim, demanding action against a senior university official, who is allegedly responsible for the death.

Jayaraman was found strangulated to death in his estate near his house in Kalapet.

He was missing since Monday evening and his brother found the body on Tuesday.

According to members of the non-teaching staff’s welfare association of the university, the deceased was facing threat from a particular university official.

“Jayaraman was aware of the official’s malpractices in the university. He had already informed the higher officials about the activities of the official concerned. So fearing further expose the official killed him,” the protesting employees of the university alleged.

More than 200 people blocked the ECR in the afternoon, seeking immediate police action against the official.

“They blocked the traffic by keeping the stretcher carrying the dead body on the road. The police had to give assurance to make people disperse from the road,” said the police. It may be noted that Jayaraman had already given a complaint at the Kalapet police station saying that he was facing threats from a particular official.

He had also tried to commit suicide a few months ago due to the alleged harassment from the official. Jayaraman’s brother had lodged a fresh complaint on Wednesday against the official at the Kalapet police station.

Talent search firm to tap social networking

The employ ee referral system, used extensively by corporates to aid recruitments, is being given the Web 2.0 edge — a talent search company is trying to harness the reach of social networking to help firms “win the war for talent’.

Global Talent Metrics, in partnership with i-mint, a rewards programme, on Tuesday launched an online employee referral sys tem called Starreferral. The sourcing system promises recruiters access to even passive candidates at a lower cost. Passive candidates don’t post resumes on job boards.

Once companies register with the programme and post job requirements, the system will scan an initial database of five million — mainly i-mint members — for suitability, profession and experience levels. A qualified group will be sent invitations to refer candidates.

Those referring potential employees can earn rewards points which can be exchanged for gift vouchers, jewellery, household appliances and electronic good among others.

While people volunteering references can earn, Starreferral’s corporate customers gain in multiple ways, the company says.

“Firstly, it eliminates the complexities of dealing with cash disbursements. Secondly, cost per hire can be as low as 60 per cent compared to traditional methods of hiring, since infrastructure costs are nil,” said the chairman of Global Talent Metrics, Cabot Jaffee.

The logic for ‘referrals’ is quality of the hire and is widely used by the industry.

Over a third of new hires at Cisco come from employee refer rals, for instance. “Referrals help the company source information from a reliable source – an employee. The candidate also has a basic awareness of the company’s work expectations and HR practices from the person who has referred him,” says Subash A.K.

Rao, director of human resource with Cisco India.

By extending the system to people outside the organisation, a firm can get many more quality references.