Serious [ Singapore News ] Singaporeans Beware of Indian Hypocrisy : Anti-Racism Walk @ Marina Bay. Anti-Racism For Singaporeans. Racism For Indians

[grandtour]

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/3000-people-in-anti-racism-walk-at-marina-bay

3,000 people in anti-racism walk at Marina Bay

President Halimah Yacob flagged off the sixth edition of the Orange Ribbon Walk at Esplanade Park on Nov 17, 2018.ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG

Published
Nov 17, 2018, 6:32 pm SGT
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp Email
Melody Zaccheus
Heritage and Community Correspondent


SINGAPORE – About 3,000 people came together in support of the Rise Against Racism campaign on Saturday (Nov 17) at the Orange Ribbon Walk.

They walked 3.8km around the Marina Bay area and were accompanied by President Halimah Yacob, who flagged off the walk at Esplanade Park.

The Orange Ribbon Movement symbolises friendship, brotherhood and kinship underpinned by values of respect, understanding and trust.

The annual event by OnePeople.sg – the ground-up national body for racial and religious harmony – rallies Singaporeans to make a stand against racism and combat racial discrimination and prejudice.

The multi-ethnic participants were from self-help groups, grassroots, religious, community and civic organisations and the public.

Youth groups from institutes of higher learning, racial and religious organisations and youth activist groups also took part.

The event also featured a Tea Talk Corner, where young people had facilitated discussions about racial harmony.

Ms Larissa Nair, 27, who is Indian-Chinese, was one of the participants who signed up for the Tea Talk Corner. She said: "Being brought up in a mixed-race household and grappling with a fixed race identity was a constant struggle that I have had to go through since childhood. I am Indian. But I am Chinese, too.

"Multi-culturalism can only exist with an open-minded community. And through conversations; this is a start."

President Halimah Yacob with the personal message she wrote at the event. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG

President Halimah also wrote her personal message against racism at the event. She wrote: "There is only one human race. The rest is just our own creations which divide us."

 

[grandtour]

https://www.straitstimes.com/forum/letters-in-print/mom-must-do-more-to-help-sporeans-get-jobs
MOM must do more to help S'poreans get jobs

Published
Jul 25, 2018, 5:00 am SGT

The reply from Mr Terence Ho of the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) does not really show how effective the "many measures" have been in helping Singaporeans secure employment (Many measures taken to help the unemployed; July 6).

The statistics cited vacillated from "more than 25,000 locals found jobs" to "more than 2,200 Singaporean PMETs were hired" .

Also, MOM did not address the point as to why Singaporeans, who are continuously told to upgrade and upskill to stay relevant for the future, cannot take on the jobs held by Training Employment Pass or Work Permit holders.

Singaporeans know of many who have lost their jobs these past years.

For Singaporeans, having a job to support the family is like water - existential.

MOM must not only be, but must also be seen to be, helping Singaporeans secure employment.

Though MOM cited progress has been made regarding the Fair Consideration Framework, there are still 350 - not an insignificant number - on its watch list of companies that do not practise fair hiring of Singaporeans.

Above all, MOM must not lump Singaporeans together with permanent residents as "locals" in its statistics.

Tan Soon Hock

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on July 25, 2018, with the headline 'MOM must do more to help S'poreans get jobs'. Print Edition | Subscribe



https://www.livemint.com/Politics/n...ore-conclude-second-review-of-trade-pact.html
Home » Politics
India, Singapore conclude second review of trade pact

Last Published: Wed, Jun 27 2018. 11 57 PM IST
Asit Ranjan Mishra

New Delhi: India and Singapore have resolved the contentious issues of visa and banking restrictions, which led to the conclusion of the long-pending second review of the bilateral free trade agreement during the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) between the two countries came into force on 1 August 2005 and the first review was concluded on 1 October 2007. The second review of the CECA was launched in May 2010, but since then the review was held primarily on two counts.

One, Singapore had restricted the movement of skilled professionals from India after putting Indian information technology companies under its fair consideration framework watch list, which gave preference to Singapore citizens in jobs introduced in 2014. Two, Singapore mandated a higher asset maintenance ratio (AMR) for Indian banks, including the State Bank of India and the ICICI Bank, operating in Singapore compared to the mandate for other foreign banks. India complained about the discrimination, but Singapore was not ready to oblige.

A commerce ministry official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Singapore has now relaxed AMR for both SBI and ICICI Bank. “The department of financial services gave us in writing that because of the efforts of the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India, the issue has been resolved. So as an substantive issue, it is no longer on the table,” the official said.

Singapore has also taken Indian information technology (IT) companies out of the fair consideration framework watch list, said the official quoted above.

The majority of Indian companies that were in the fair consideration framework watch list have now been taken off, said Gagan Sabharwal, senior director, Global Trade Development, at Nasscom. “After having done the CECA, we should not be talking about these problems at all as it is, prima facie, against the spirit of CECA. The agreement clearly mandates that both sides will facilitate intra-corporate transfers and not put any restrictive measures.” he added.

However, India wants a permanent solution on both issues and have sought to include them in the third review of the CECA. “These are matters of principle. We would like to see a transparent framework. So these will be taken up in the third review, which will begin in September. The review will also include an investment chapter,” Sabharwal said.

Both sides have also signed an agreement to recognize three more nursing institutions in addition to the present list of four, which will facilitate practice of more Indian nurses in Singapore.

“We gave them the proposal to add three more institutions literally across the table just a month ago and they have included them. We have given them another 17 to look at. That is a work in progress and, progressively, we hope those will also be cleared. So this is a good gain for us,” he said.

 

[grandtour]

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/20...er-2nd-one-recognises-indias-nursing-degrees/

Minister Iswaran starts 3rd CECA review after 2nd one recognises India’s nursing degrees

Correspondent 2018-09-02 Economics, Opinion

India and Singapore are proceeding with the third review of the landmark "Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement" (CECA), which focuses on trade facilitation, e-commerce, customs as well as movement of professional workers (PMETs) between the 2 countries.

Posting on his Facebook page yesterday (1 Sep), Minister Iswaran said he met Indian Minister Suresh Prabhu yesterday morning. "We reaffirmed the longstanding and close bilateral and economic ties between India and Singapore," he said.

Since the signing of the first CECA between India and Singapore in 2005, Iswaran said that there has been an increase in "economic interaction" between both countries.

"CECA has opened up market access for Singapore companies in many sectors including finance, organic chemicals, plastics, and electrical machinery and equipment. Our companies also benefit from CECA’s investment protection and dispute resolution provisions and can do business in India with greater confidence," he added.

He mentioned Ascendas-Singbridge, a Govt-linked company, being one of the Singapore companies which has benefited from CECA.

"Today, we launched the Third Review of the CECA to modernise the agreement and make it easier for Singapore companies to do business," Iswaran proudly announced.

His announcement came four months after both countries concluded and signed the second review of CECA.


Iswaran avoids mentioning movement of labour between SG and India under CECA

Iswaran, however, has carefully avoided mentioning the movement of professional workers between the 2 countries stipulated in CECA.

Since the signing of the first CECA in 2005, in exchange for particularly Singapore GLC investments in India, Singapore has allowed multitude of professionals from India to work in Singapore, displacing some of the Singaporean PMETs. Although CECA also enables
Singaporeans to work in India, not many are keen since they will be earning in rupees over there (1 SGD = 52 INR).

And when these Indian nationals start working in Singapore and are in a position to hire, some of them inevitably practise "hiring-their-own-kind", thereby discriminating Singaporean job applicants.

The situation became so bad, particularly in the finance industry, that then Manpower Minister Tan Chuan Jin and DPM Tharman had to arrange for meetings with the management of a number of financial institutions to tell them off. Said then Minister Tan in Parliament:


"DPM Tharman and I have met up with the senior management of a number of financial institutions on a few occasions to stress the point that financial industry players should make a more concerted effort to develop a local talent pipeline. These sessions have been productive and useful. The management have been quite honest to reflect that they will be more mindful of the need to ensure that discriminatory hiring practices are not entrenched in their industry. Some were quite candid – they honestly said they recognised that they had not paid enough attention to how hiring was done and that unhealthy enclaves had been formed. Others acknowledged that they would need to be conscious of diversity and clustering in their make-up."

Nevertheless, MTI continues to pursue more reviews for CECA.


Second CECA review concluded with recognition of Indian nursing degrees

The second CECA review was concluded in Jun this year. Even though the new CECA enhancement includes expanding tariff concessions for an additional 30 products, it also quietly recognises nursing degrees from 7 Indian education institutes by Singapore.

MTI only briefly mentioned that both countries have "agreed to a Mutual Recognition Agreement on Nursing to facilitate better understand of the Parties' standards in regulating the training and practice of nursing" in the Annex section of its press release.

However, the Indian government was more specific. It said in its press release that Singapore has started recognising nursing degrees from 7 of its education institutions:

The Business Standard of India also reported ('India signs mutual recognition agreement in nursing with Singapore', 1 Jun) that it will be "easier for domestic nurses to explore employment opportunities in Singapore now, as India has signed mutual recognition agreement (MRA) with the south east Asian nation in this sector".

And the Hindu said ('India, Singapore formalise mutual recognition agreement in nursing', 1 Jun) that India has formalized a MRA in nursing with Singapore which would allow "nurses trained in seven nursing institutions across India to gain employment in the South-East Asian country (Singapore)".

In any case, one can be sure that India will definitely continue to press Singapore to mutually "recognise" more Indian degrees of other professions so as to enable more of their PMETs to work here, under the coming third review of CECA. The Hindu even mentioned that architecture and accountancy have been brought up in CECA discussions earlier.

It looks like Singapore may have little choice considering the fact that hundreds of millions of dollars from our GLCs have already been invested and stuck in India. As more Indian degrees of different professions are recognised by our Singapore government, one would expect to see more Indian professionals flooding Singapore's job market.

 

[grandtour]

Full List of 127 Professional Occupational Title under Annex 9A CECA Reserved for INDIANS to Retrench & Replace Local Born & Breed Singapore Citizens :

Annex 9A
LIST OF PROFESSIONALS
Occupational Title

System Designer & Analyst
Network System & Data Communication Analyst
Software Engineer
Computer and Information Systems Manager
Computer Operations and Network Manager
Application Programmer
Systems Programmer
Multi-media Programmer
Network System & Database Administrator
Database Administrator
Information Technology Auditor
Information Technology Security Specialist
Information Technology Quality Assurance Specialist
Building Architect
Interior Architect
Landscape Architect
Town Planner
Civil Engineer (General)
Dredging Engineer
Dock and Harbour Construction Engineer
Structural Engineer (General)
Building Construction Engineer
Sewerage & Sanitary Engineer
Soil Mechanic & Piling Engineer
Trenchless Technology Engineer
Quantity Surveying Engineer
Transportation and Highways Engineer
Electrical Engineer (General)
Electromechanical Equipment Engineer
Electrical Traction Engineer
Power Generation & Distribution Engineer
Lift Engineer
Electronics Engineer (General)
Telecommunications Engineer
Computer Engineer
Computer Systems Engineer
Computer Applications Engineer
Computer Hardware Design Engineer
Semi-conductor Engineer
Audio & Video Equipment Engineer
Instrumentation Engineer
Mechanical Engineer (General)
Industrial Machinery & Tools Engineer
Marine Engineer
Ship Construction Engineer
Naval Architect
Aeronautical Engineer
Automotive Engineer
Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Engineer
Chemical Engineer (General)
Chemical Engineer (Petroleum)
Chemical Engineer (Petrochemicals)
Manufacturing Engineer (General)
Production Engineer
Automation Engineer
Robotic Engineer
Biomedical Engineer
Biochemical Engineer
Biotechnology Engineer
Materials Engineer
Industrial Health, Safety & Environment Engineer
Petroleum & Natural Gas Engineer
Metallurgist
Quantity Surveyor
Ceramics and Glass Technologist
Food and Drink Technologist
Dairy Technologist
Leather Technologist
Textile Technologist
Oil Technologist
Pulp, Paper, Paint and Plastics Technologist
Biologist (General)
Botanist
Zoologist
Anatomist
Biochemist
Physiologist
Neurologist
Medical Pathologist
Clinical Pathologist
Veterinary Pathologist
Pharmacologist
Animal Scientist
Microbiologist
Bacteriologist
Immunologist
General Physician
General Surgeon
Specialised Surgeon
Anaesthetist
Psychiatrist
Obstetrician & Gynaecologist
Paediatrician
Endocrinologist
Dermatologist
Ophthalmologist
Cardiologist
Radiologist
Industrial Physician
Medical Service Physician (School)
Public Health Physician
Dentist (General)
Specialised Dentist
Veterinarian
Veterinary Epidemiologist
Pharmacist (Dispensing)
Other Pharmacists
University Lecturer
Polytechnic Lecturer
Accountant
Cost Accountant
Company Secretaries (who are Accountants)
Taxation Professionals (who are Accountants)
Auditor (Accounting)
Career Adviser
Financial Analyst
Credit Analyst
Fund Manager
Treasury Manager
Market Research Analyst
Advertising Account Executive
Economist
Sociologist
Anthropologist
Historian
Political Scientist
Psychologist

 

[grandtour]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-u-s-jury-over-why-it-fires-so-many-americans

India’s TCS Faces U.S. Jury Over Why It Fires Americans

By Robert Burnson Kartikay Mehrotra Saritha Rai
November 5, 2018, 1:30 AM UTC

• Case spotlights worker-visa program used by IT staffing firms
• Lawyer says goal is to stop national origin discrimination

India’s IT outsourcing giant Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. needs to offer a good explanation for why engineers hired at its American outposts are 13 times as likely to be fired if they’re not South Asian.

In a trial that started Monday in California, the company is defending itself against claims of racial discrimination by American workers who lost their jobs at TCS offices in the U.S. after not being assigned to any of its clients.

The trial casts a spotlight on work-visa programs that companies use to bring overseas workers to the U.S., a practice President Donald Trump has criticized in his protectionist push. TCS, Asia’s largest outsourcer, and rival Indian information technology staffing firms Infosys Ltd. and Wipro Ltd. have all been squeezed by the Trump administration to hire more Americans on U.S. soil.

Mumbai-based TCS denies any unlawful bias in its U.S. operations and says in court filings that the Caucasian American leading the lawsuit was removed from one of its projects and ultimately terminated over “performance concerns.” TCS said it can’t comment specifically on the pending litigation but believes it has a strong case and will prevail at trial.

“Our success is based on our ability to provide the best talent available, both in the U.S. and globally, based purely on the individual’s specialized experience, skills and fit for each client’s specific needs,” a company spokesman said. “TCS also strictly adheres to all federal and state equal employment opportunity laws and regulations.”

Bloomberg Intelligence: High-Skill Visas Targeted in Immigration Overhaul

Daniel Kotchen, the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the aim of the litigation is to stop outsourcing firms from violating U.S. anti-discrimination laws. Kotchen’s firm is suing a half dozen other outsourcing companies over alleged discrimination, including Infosys and Wipro.

“Locals are being fired at a strikingly higher rate. That’s who class members are, the victims of that practice,” he told the jury. “You’ll hear from defendants that Americans are stupid and lazy. The truth is that people are threatened with retaliation if they reported discrimination.”

The jury is expected to be shown statistical evidence that the odds of race and national origin not being a factor in TCS’s termination decisions are less than one in a billion. That’s because, since 2011, the company fired 12.6 percent of its non-South Asian workers in the U.S., compared with less than 1 percent of its South Asian employees, according to the complaint.

A unit of the Tata Group, India’s largest industrial conglomerate, TCS employs more than 400,000 people worldwide, is valued at about $100 billion and posted revenue of $19 billion for the fiscal year that ended in March. Most of its revenue comes from the U.S., and its primary customers are in the financial services sector.

Still, these are challenging times for the company that pioneered the India tech services model five decades ago. The outsourcing industry barreled along at 20 percent-plus growth with little trouble until recently, but easy deals are now gone and customers are looking for price cuts. TCS Chief Executive Officer Rajesh Gopinathan said in a May interview that the industry needs to adapt to seize bigger opportunities than ever.

While TCS has won awards as a top employer in North America, the lawsuit paints a different picture. The case was brought as a class action on behalf of about 1,000 non-South Asians, most of them U.S. citizens, who were fired by TCS while on “benched” status -- between job assignments.

The plaintiffs allege TCS has engaged in a “systematic pattern and practice of discrimination” by favoring Indian ex-pats and visa-ready workers from India for U.S. positions. That has resulted in a workforce that’s almost 80 percent South Asian, far greater than the 12 percent representation of South Asians in the U.S. IT workforce, according to the complaint.

 

[grandtour]

 

[ginfreely]

Filthy Indians like kt latha and those calling me from around the world are the most racist to gang up and do crimes stealing slandering and sexually harassing Singaporean Chinese woman.