I do not wish to hijack the thread, or cause it to divert; perhaps broaden it.
10 years ago in Italy, (perhaps it is still the case) we could operate 2 pilots 17hours. There was no allowance for time-zone changes, or day/night. The Italian CAA said the autopilot was a 3rd pilot. Thus with 3 crew you could go 24hrs.
In UK there is a direction that rest time between 18 & 34 hrs should be avoided. What did the Italians do? the same as the Indians; min rest = flight time x 2. Thus for a 16hour duty with 2 sectors & 13.30 flight time + 6 hours jet lag, the rest was 27hours. Killing. For slightly shorter Caribbean flights of 10.00 hrs, but still 6 hrs time change, the rest was 20hrs.
Thus you had to sleep twice in about 15 hours to recover for the same kind of duty time for the return trip, which was now a night flight.
Dangerous to one's health? No doubt.
Thus sympathies with the Indian pilots. Did things change in Italy (outside Alitalia)? I do not know, but doubt it. Thus, if things like this can still prevail in JAA/EU, I doubt the sea of change will flow quickly in India.
Sorry for the bad news, but why would ex-pats sign up for such conditions? There is a worldwide shortgae of crews on the types that are flying in India. I expect a 'vote with feet' might be cast soon; same for the locals, or are there licence issues if you have only an Indian one?
Is the union not campaigning directly to the government? With a shortage of crews I woudl have thought a well publicised strike could be effective. I remember the outcry after some horrific train crashes in India. The public did not take kindly to being exposed to such poor saftey meaures.
A/c eating concrete has a very swift impact on management thinking, and as it is a national policy being attacked, the government will have to explain.