Srinagar, Oct 05: Anna Sebastian, a bright, young chartered accountant passed away tragically and suddenly from a heart attack on July 20th.
Her mother, Ms. Anita Augustine summoned immense courage and published a very emotional letter on September 18th describing the details of her daughter’s death due to heavy stress in the workplace. She only wanted one thing – to improve working conditions for all professionals and prevent future Anna type situations in the office.
On September 21st AIPC Chairman Praveen Chakravarty visited Anna’s parents in Kochi and arranged a video call for them with the Leader of Opposition Mr. Rahul Gandhi.
Mr. Gandhi while lauding the family’s courage and selflessness, offered his personal support and also instructed Mr. Chakravarty to take up the cause nationally.
Today, AIPC is fulfilling that promise and launching a comprehensive program: ‘For Anna For All: Workplace Wellness’ in Anna’s memory, with full support from her parents. This will be a constructive campaign with the sole objective to improve workplace wellness for all professionals in the country.
As the first step of this experiences of workplace stress and also offer suggestions for improvement. They can do this by going to www.profcongress.in/speakup.
After collecting these voices across the nation, we will convene an expert group to develop comprehensive draft guidelines for offices across India to follow to improve workplace conditions.
AIPC will then hold public consultations with professionals and their parents in all major cities to discuss the draft guidelines.
As the final step, the Leader of the Opposition will help praise this in Parliament for a constructive discussion on the guidelines and urge the government to pass a law. We hope the tragedy of Anna Sebastian serves as a wake-up call for the nation to prioritize healthy workplaces and better working conditions for all professionals.
