Monthly Archives: May 2012

Red Fort completes 354 years of history

12 Saturday May 2012

Posted by in History

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The Red Fort in Delhi completes 354 years. It is recorded that the Red Fort the construction of which started in 1638 by Moghul Emperor  Shajahan was completed after 10 years on 13th May 1648. Consequently, the Moghul capital was shifted from Agra to Delhi. The Red Fort has changed hands from the Moghul to the British after the defeat  of  the First War of Independence (1857-58) in 1858 and then changed hands from the British to India after independence in 1947.  Even after more than three and half centuries, the structure maintains its strength and beauty.

It was on the ramparts of the Red Fort that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minster of india made his historic speech on the destiny of India in the midnight of 14-15th August 1947 heralding the independence of the country. Still the Prime Minister gives his Independence Day speech in the Red Fort on 15th August.

60th Anniversary of Indian Parliament

12 Saturday May 2012

Posted by in History

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India got Independence from the British colonialists on 15th August 1947 after decades long struggles, sacrifices and martyrdom of thousands of our countrymen.

India became a Republic on 26th January 1950 after the passing of the Constitution and declaration.

The First Parliament, after the first General election, was constituted in 1952. The Congress was the ruling party and Communist Party of India the  main opposition party. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister and A.K.Gopalan the  Opposition Leader.The Indian Parliament has come through 60 years of valuable experience. Of course National Emergency was declared by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975, but the next general election in 1977 brought a non-congress government for the first time. The wheels of democracy are on the move. There may be many setbacks, aberrations and sudden stops, but the chariot moves on.

The Parliament will be celebrating the 60th anniversary by a special session on Sunday, 13th May which will be addressed by the Speaker and other dignitaries. For a person, 60 year means marching to senior citizenship and gradual old age. But for a country 60 years is only a small period of time. But we have to remember that the last 60 years have been a period in which changes have taken place all over the world, which the earlier thousands of years could not match.

Congratulations to all who made the Indian democracy what it is today. Further improvements are, of course, very much required.

Nationwide Strike in UK against Pension Reforms by Public Sector Workers

12 Saturday May 2012

Posted by in TU News - International

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Hundreds of thousands of British public sector workers, including police officers, prison service staff, paramedics and border control agents, staged a 24-hour nationwide strike on Thursday, 10th May, to protest the government’s plans to reform their pension plans. The Metropolitan Police estimated that more than 30,000 policemen (one-fifth of the entire force in England and Wales) joined the work stoppage to protest budget cuts that will slash the number of constables in the country by at least 16,000 over the next four years. Unions representing the workers complain that the government is forcing them to work longer for less pay, while the Government warns that the current pension system is unsustainable and unaffordable since peoples’ life expectancy has been rising. The government proposes to hike the retirement age for public sector employees to 68 and also seeks substantially higher contributions from employees. Both sides are settling in for a long battle. “We’re going to be paying more money when the cost of pensions are falling and our members have had a pay freeze for two years. So it’s unfair, and ministers cannot justify the changes,” said Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public & Commercial Services (PCS) trade union. But Francis Maude, a Cabinet Office minister said it is dead issue and that pension negotiations will not re-start and that “nothing further will be achieved through strike action”. With respect to the police officers, they are prohibited by British law to go on strike – hence, the constables who demonstrated on Thursday took the day off from work and were not in uniform. Donning black baseball caps with the slogan “cuts are criminal” emblazoned upon them, police marched through Central London demanding an end to the budget cuts that they fear to lead to more crime on the streets. ”We care very deeply about the communities that we serve. We have seen what happens when we have a Government that has given policing a very low priority,” said Police Federation chairman Paul McKeever at the march. ”If you are cutting our jobs, then you are cutting the service we can deliver and the public’s safety is at risk.” A police officer named Scott Jeffreys from Derbyshire told the Daily Telegraph: “We’ve come down today to increase public awareness about the cuts and the effects that they’re having on the service we provide. But it’s not just about our pay and pensions. We’re also here because we’re concerned about the stealth privatization of the police service.” Jeffreys added: “Our chief constable takes the view that this is a route that we won’t go down, which I’m glad about, as I think the privatization route is a very dangerous one. If private companies are contracted to do a job for us and then we’re low on money, they will still have to get paid, so the losses will be in frontline services again.” There’s been no public consultation, no parameters seem to have been set and no guidelines seem to have been issued. Why give money to private organizations whose sole reason for existence is to make profit when as a police service, every penny we get goes on policing? That’s important and that’s how it should stay.” In response to the policemen staging the march, a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said in a statement: “The Government inherited a very tough fiscal challenge. We are having to make spending cuts across the board. We think the reductions in spending on the police are challenging but manageable and that the police will still have the resources that they need to do the important work that they do.”

Towards restoring the past glory – we can win!

12 Saturday May 2012

Posted by in BSNL News

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People of this country has seen how the successful and shining PSUs like ITI, HMT, Air India/Indian Airlines have been made loss making by the wrong and anti-worker policies of the government and mismanagement by the bureaucrats.  Now these PSUs and their workforce are struggling to survive. The government is giving some bail-out plans, but these are intended to reduce the workforce, take away the benefits already available to the workers, increase the workload and take away the trade union rights. In my post yesterday, I had explained what is happening after privatisation of the PSUs like VSNL, BALCO, Centaur Hotels etc. The big business and MNCs have started demanding that Air India should be privatised. Tomorrow, they may start demanding that BSNL/MTNL should be privatised. If privatisation takes place, all the achievements we have got will be taken away. No future promotions, no wage revisions, increase in working hours, no right even to protest, retrenchment, harassments and punishments – the list that will happen is very long. Many people may feel that they can take VRS and escape. That is for those employees who are going to retire. What about the new generation of workers? Where they will go ? Even those taking VRS is not going to get benefit. In Balco etc. the assured sum was given in instalments prolonging for years.

Trying to escape from the present situation will not help anybody. It is the united movement and the struggles that will save BSNL.

BSNL has got the largest Switching network with 37,298 digital exchanges with 28,5687 rural exchanges. Village Public Telephones (VPT) comes to about 5,77,000.  It has got OFC Network of 7 lakh kilometres. M/W Network is about 51,000 kms.  197 Satellite Earth Stations are there.

BSNL has a 2,26,55,000 wirelines and 9, 80,000 mobile lines. In Broadband BSNL is first with 89,00,000 customers.  It has got well-trained, highly skilled 2,70,000 employees.

As per 2010-11 BSNL got Rs. 29,688 crore Income, Rs. 36,002 crore Expenditure and a loss of Rs. 6,384 crore. This loss has increased in 2011-12. Staff cost is Rs. 13,791 crore, 46.50% of the income.

The information given above indicates a most important issue. We have infrastructure including staff, but we could not sustain our profit after 2006-07. Reasons are well-known. But we have got sufficient scope for improvement if there is a will. A will to improve the functioning, make the government implement its assurances on financial viability, the top management should function. If all these are restored, then there is no doubt that BSNL will not only survive and strengthen and will restore its past glory of being one of the most efficient departments (P&T) and one of the best PSUs. Why can’t all us make an effort for the same? Yes we can and we can win!

BSNLEU Website – 4 Star rank in the world! – Congratulations!

11 Friday May 2012

Posted by in BSNLEU

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I am posting a comment about the BSNLEU website made by Com. Mihir Das Gupta, former AGS of BSNLEU. Thank you for the information.

A NEWS TO BE PROUD WITH!

BSNLEU-CHQ WEBSITE RANKED AMONGST TOP ONE PER CENT OF WORLDS’ 30 MILLION (3 CRORE) WEBSITES!!

AWARDED 4 OUT OF 5 STARS RATING !!!

WebstatsDomain (www.webstatsdomain.com), the website which reviews the popularity of all websites of the world, has ranked our CHQ website (www.bsnleuchq.com) 315194 in the world (among 30 million domains).

WebstatsDomain also awarded our website the coveted Rating of 4 out of 5 Stars.

My hearty congratulations to the CHQ of BSNL Employees Union for achieving this GREAT HONOUR – an HONOUR earned by all leaders, workers, members and well-wishers through relentless efforts. Warm congratulations to all comrades.

Mihir Dasgupta, Ex. AGS/ BSNLEU

Kolkata, 11 May 2012

Railway Minister has to wake up.

11 Friday May 2012

Posted by in General, Uncategorized

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It has almost impossible to get a railway ticket to anywhere in India during the summer vacation time. Tickets can be booked 120 days earlier. But even if you try to get the reservation on the first day itself, within hours the reservations are over and you get only in the waiting list. It is true that the passengers have increased many fold. Now more and more people go on tours as also visit their kids who may be working in some other place.

The government has to increase the railway tracks, increase the trains and also ensure that the trains run in time. One of the reasons for delay is the lack of sufficient platforms in all major stations causing the incoming trains compelled to wait for their turn.

Will the government and specially the railway Minister listen!

Why take up casual Contract Labour and Pension issues?

11 Friday May 2012

Posted by in BSNLEU

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Certain comrades have told me as also written to me, why you are taking interest in the cases of casual/contract labour and also pensioners. If those comrades have thought for some time on their own, they  certainly would have got the answer. But since the issue has been raised, I am bound to reply the same in very brief words.

Firstly I am the President of both BSNLEU and BSNL Casual and Contract Workers Federation. I am the Patron of the National Co-ordination Committee of Pensioners Association and Advisor of BSNL-DOT Pensioners Association. Naturally, I am bound to take up and fight for the issues of all these sections of workers.

But not less than that,  it is the duty of each and every worker and leader to support and help the struggles of other sections of workers. ‘Workers of the world unite!’ is not a hollow slogan for comrades like me. And in the above mentioned cases, they are all part of the DOT/BSNL family itself. We have to remember the saying “Today we are workers, tomorrow we are pensioners”. The casual and contract labour has worked along with us many years and are waiting to be recruited today or tomorrow. All the three sections, Pensioners, Workers and Casual/Contract Labour are part of the same family and have to stand unitedly to settle the issues of all sections.

I would request all my comrades also to take interest and co-ordinate the functioning at all the places.

No contempt case against AI Pilots – SC to Air India Management.

11 Friday May 2012

Posted by in PSU

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It seems that the Air India management is more interested in taking action against the pilots who are on strike, instead of discussing with them and settling the matter.  In fact the present gloomy situation has arisen only because of the utter failure of the management and the wrong policy direction of the government which is in haste to implement the neo-liberal policy of disinvestment and privatisation. Workers are made scapegoats. The Supreme Cour seems to have understood this position.

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain Air India’s plea for initiating contempt proceedings against Indian Pilots Guild (IPG) for allegedly obstructing implementation of its order on training of pilots for Dreamliner aircraft. A Bench headed by Justice T.S. Thakur said that they (pilots) have done nothing, which amounts to contempt of court and suggested the airlines to speak with them to sort out the differences. “They have done nothing for obstruction of justice or to bring disrepute to the court. Your problem is with them. You sit with them and sort out the differences. Don’t resort to contempt proceedings,” the Bench said. It further said that if the strike is illegal, then the airlines can take action against them. “Rest assured that if there is slightest contempt of court, and then we would ourselves initiate proceedings against them,” the Bench further said. Air India had on Thursday moved the Supreme Court seeking initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against the office-bearers of the Guild by resorting to protest action, which, it said, disrupted international flight operations of the airline and amounted to contempt of the apex court orders.

What is happening in Tata Communications Ltd (former VSNL)?

11 Friday May 2012

Posted by in PSU

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What is happening in Tata Communications Ltd (former VSNL)?

 Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL) was one of the first PSUs privatised by handing over to Tata for a mere Rs. 1439 crores in 2002. Now the name of the company has also been changed to Tata Communications Limited (TCL). What is happening in the TCL is not much known. But it is a must for any worker to know what happens to the workers in a privatised PSU.

Before being corporatized in to a PSU, VSNL was Overseas Communications, a section of the Department of Telecom.  It was corporatized with the specific intention of handing over this lucrative service to the private companies. In 2002, it was sold to the Tatas and an agreement was made on 06-02-2002 called “Share Purchase and Share Holder Agreement” between the government and the Tatas. As per this agreement, the workers were assured that there will be no retrenchment of the existing employees. The SC/ST employees, the disabled and employees coming under weaker sections will continue to get all the benefits they were enjoying earlier and they also will not be retrenched.

But what happened afterwards is entirely different from the agreement and assurances. The existing employees were harassed and were inhumanly treated by the new management. Many had to leave the company to escape from harassment and victimisation. While there were about 2600 employees at the time of privatisation, there are only about 700 left in service now.

In between, about 7,000 new employees were recruited. Their wages etc. were revised but these benefits were denied to the earlier employees. There is severe discrimination in the treatment meted out to the existing workers compared to the newly recruited workers. Further, the Tata management is now compelling all the former VSNL employees to resign and leave the company. They are threatened with retrenchment if they don’t opt for resignation.

All these anti-worker decisions of the TCL are completely against the assurances and agreement made at the time of handing over the company to the present owners. The workers denied of justice by the management have approached the court to stop the retrenchment. The workers have also demanded that they be repatriated to the DOT.

The cases of the other PSUs like BALCO, Centaur Hotels etc. which have been privatised, are not different. Humiliation, harassment, retrenchment etc. are the treatment meted out to the former PSU workers, including women.

The central government is implementing the neo-liberal policy aggressively and these are part of the same. India Inc, MNCs, big business and the media have been completely singing praise of these anti-worker policies. But, in fact, this policy of disinvestment, privatisation etc, are nothing but loot of the assets of the nation by the unscrupulous and profit hungry MNCs and big business with the full support of the ruling classes.

Hence it is the responsibility and duty of the working class to strongly oppose these anti-people, anti-worker policies and their implementation through sustained and mighty joint struggles and defeat them.

…..

 

Tata Telecommunications Ltd ( former VSNL) employees facing forced resignation

11 Friday May 2012

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Many employees of the Tata Telecommunications Ltd.  ( former Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited ), including SC/ST ,a re being compelled and forced to submit resignations from job. This is a new kind of retrenchment.

This is one of the result of the privatisation. This kind of retrenchment or forced resignation happened in BALCO and Centaur Hotels after privatisations. Women, SC/ST employees are targeted  first. Then the other employees. In many companies workers were transferred in large numbers to make them submit resignations.

Those who support privatisation or are disinterested in the whole issue should see what is happening to the workers in the privatises PSUs. At any cost we have to stop disinvestment and privatisation of BSNL.