‘Victim blaming is despicable’: Opposition on Nirmala Sitharaman’s comment about stress management
The Union minister’s remark came in light of the death of a young accounting firm employee due to an alleged exploitative work environment.
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The Opposition on Sunday criticised Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for her “insensitive” comment about the need for higher educational institutes to offer stress management lessons to help youngsters deal with work pressure.
Sitharaman’s remark came in light of the death of Anna Sebastian Perayil, a 26-year-old employee of accounting firm Ernst & Young in Pune. Perayil died in July.
Perayil’s mother Anita Augustine has alleged an unsafe and exploitative work environment at the firm. In a letter to Ernst & Young India Chairman Rajiv Memani, Augustine attributed her daughter’s death to “backbreaking work” conditions at the company.
Without directly referring to Perayil’s death, Sitharaman had on Saturday said at an event at a private medical college that besides providing good education and helping students find jobs through campus recruitments, educational institutes should also teach important life skills that are learnt at home.
“Educational institutions should bring in divinity and spirituality,” the finance minister said. “Only then will our children get the inner strength, it will help in their progress and that of the country. That is my strong belief.”
Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal criticised Sitharaman’s remark on Sunday, saying that the government and the finance minister were unable to see the problems faced by the country’s youngsters.
“The ruling regime and the finance minister can only...
