EY Employee Death: Sitharaman Calls For Stress Management Lessons, Congress Says 'Cruel To Blame Family'
In an apparent reference to the death of the EY professional, Sitharaman called for stress management lessons to be imparted by universities that will help increase the students' inner strength.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has reacted to the raging controversy over the death of Anna Sebastian Perayil, a young CA professional, who died under alleged extreme work pressure at Ernst & Young (EY).
In an apparent reference to the death of the EY professional, Sitharaman called for stress management lessons to be imparted by colleges and universities that will help increase the students' inner strength.
Anna Sebastian Perayil, who passed her Chartered Accountancy exams in 2023 and worked at EY Pune office for four months, died in July. According to a letter written by her mother to the EY India Chairman Rjiv Memani, Perayil was overworked with a "backbreaking" load as a new employee that affected her "physically, emotionally, and mentally".
Addressing an event at a private medical college in Chennai on Saturday, Sitharaman, without naming the victim or the company, said, "...was discussing about an issue that is on newspapers for the past two days. Our children go to colleges and universities for education and come out in flying colours. A company, without mentioning its name, its a partnership. There, a woman who had studied CA well, unable to cope with the work pressure, two-three days ago we received a news--she died unable to cope up with the pressure."
The ruling regime and the Finance Minister can only see the pain of corporate giants like Adani and Ambani, not the pain of the hardworking and toiling young generation where freshers like Anna are exploited by the greedy corporate system, if they even succeed in getting a job in… https://t.co/4u7VWRc6lY
— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) September 22, 2024
She further said that even if educational institutions impart good education and ensure jobs to students, they should teach certain things, along with education, that are taught in the family.
"What should families teach--whatever you study and the job you do, you should have the inner strength to handle that pressure and this can be achieved through divinity only," she said.
"Believe in God, we need to have God's grace. Seek God, learn good discipline. Your Atma shakthi will grow only from this. The inner strength will come only with growing Atma shakti," the minister added.
The Finance Minister said that educational institutions should bring in divinity and spirituality.
"Then only will our children get the inner strength, it will help in the progress of them and the country. That is my strong belief," the minister said.
However, Congress general secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal lashed out at Sitharaman saying that the finance minister cannot see the pain of the hardworking and toiling young generation where freshers are exploited by the "greedy corporate system."
"The ruling regime and the finance minister can only see the pain of corporate giants like Adani and Ambani, not the pain of the hardworking and toiling young generation where freshers like Anna are exploited by the greedy corporate system, if they even succeed in getting a job in this era of historic joblessness," the Congress leader said.
"It is downright cruel on part of the finance minister to blame Anna and her family for suggesting that she should have learnt stress management at home. This kind of victim blaming is despicable and no words can convey the anger and disgust one feels because of such statements," he said in a post on 'X.'
The government has stepped in to say that it will investigate the work environment at Big Four accounting firm EY.
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