[ UPDATE April 12: The Indian government has scrapped the order. ]
When Indians move to the U.S., they are often surprised to learn that their resumes are not in the right format for the American job market. For instance, Indian resumes are often two-three pages - and that's just for 21-year-olds. They stuff them full of every high school and elementary school "achievements" and details such as father's name, date of birth, citizenship, etc. I had one of these weighty resumes when I worked in India, too. Turns out American employers expect typical resumes to be one-page long and without information that would be out-of-bounds here - including that date of birth and father's name. Each year, I counsel students from India and other countries about this.
Why am I writing about this now? Because I was reminded about the general attitude to privacy by this BBC story (which is the most e-mailed story at the site as I write this): "Outrage at India menstrual form."
Women civil servants in India have expressed shock at new appraisal rules which require them to reveal details of their menstrual cycles. Under the new nationwide requirements, female officials also have to say when they last sought maternity leave. Women civil servants say the questions are a gross invasion of privacy. One told the BBC she was "gobsmacked". Annual appraisals and health checks are mandatory in India's civil service. The ministry was unavailable for comment.
See a PDF version of the All India Services (Performance Appraisal Report) Rules, 2007 (page 58 has the menstrual info form).There's also a closeup of the form in question on that BBC story. Am sure the Indian press is covering this, too.
The friend who alerted me to it wrote: "I saw this on the BBC Online today and had to rub my eyes. It's so outrageous that it seems at first like some bad joke or urban legend, but unfortunately not. Up to you with whom you share it, but I suspect it would unleash a torrent of feedback on the blog."
Reax? Updates? Do other countries in South Asia do this? Post them in the comments below.
UPDATE: Reader Sangeeta Rasaily writes in:
Please don't degrade the Indian system alone by circulating this newsand inviting comment. It is an outrage (as expressed in the comments) for only the ill-informed and BBC only happens to be amongst them. The BBC might also be doing this because it just wants to sneer at the Indian bureaucracy and generally looks down upon us.
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There is so much hypocrisy in all this. On the part of women bureaucrats, on the part of the media which played this up, the BBC and dare I say people like you who have been circulating this.
See the rest of her comments in the comments section below and add you own.
