16 Saturday Nov 2013
Posted in Uncategorized
Cricket maestro Shri Sachin Tendulkar and eminent scientist Prof CNR Rao has been selected for grant of Bharat Ratna, the highest National Award for this year.
Sachin is the first sportsman to be bestowed with Bharat Ratna and is the youngest also.
We congratulate both! Special Congratulations to Sachin, who during the last 24 years, have served the Nation and the Cricket wholeheartedly.
15 Friday Nov 2013
Posted in BSNL News
BSNL Corporate Office has issued orders reorganising SSAs on the basis of revenue and posting of SAG level officers accordingly. TDE will be in charge for SSA with revenue up to Rs. 10 crores, TDM for Rs. 10 to 30 crores, GM for Rs. 30 to Rs. 300 crores and PGM for above Rs. 300 crore revenue. 14 SSAs having PGM will now be downgraded to GM level, including the state capitals Patna, Thiruvananthapuram, Chandigarh, Jaipur, and Lucknow.
The Management should have planned to increase the revenue in the first stance. Even now, that is the most important work that they have to do.
15 Friday Nov 2013
Posted in TU News - International
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The Asia-Pacific Regional meeting of the WFTU held at Port Dickson,Malaysia on 26th October 2013 has formulated the following demands to campaign, organise and agitate to achieve:
1. Full employment for all, aiming towards eradication of poverty, with need based salary and wages and with full security including statutory pension for all.
2. Ratification and implementation of ILO Core Conventions including Right to Organise and Right to Collective Bargaining; unfettered trade union rights for all workers.
3. Stop Privatisation and dismantling of public Sector/ Public Services
4. Stop Sub-contracting, outsourcing and off-loading.
5. Protect sovereign rights of Nations as against imperialistic hegemony/market driven policy under WTO, WB, and IMF dictates.
6. Stop unjust imperialist interventions in Syria, DPR Korea, Iran, Afghanistan etc; Respect Self-determination of political system and self-reliant economic growth without the intervention of imperialists, financial and multi-national economic institutions.
7. Ensure women empowerment through various progressive policies and extend maternity benefits to all working women; provide equal wage for equal work with out gender bias.
8. Ensure working rights and social security for all migrant workers, as per UN Charter. Abolish ‘bonded labour’ in any form and guarantee alternate employment to them; Ensure protection of migrant workers by Governments.
9. Introduce comprehensive law for social protection, to protect the rights of informal workers including agricultural workers.
10. Stop degradation of environment in the name of development and protect natural resources for the benefit of mankind.
11. Ensure occupational safety, health, environmental protections of the workers and community; MNCs/TNCs should be subjected to implement the Code of Conduct strictly.
12. Stop job cuts, closures, layoffs and all atypical forms of employment including part-time employments.
13. Abolish Child labour and guarantee free, quality education to children.
14. Fight against communalism, religious fundamentalism and their pernicious methods that divide the working class.
15. ILO should shed its partisan attitude and treat all International trade Unions judiciously.
Struggles, more struggles, militant struggles and consistent struggles uniting the broader sections of the toiling masses, youth, unemployed, women and other vulnerable sections of the society shall be the silver line in our future movement.
The meeting also declared that the following International Days will be observed in 2014 to strengthen the unity amongst the various sections of the working class:
1. 08th March 2014 : International Women’s Day
2. 01st May 2014 : International Workers day
3. 12th June 2014 : Child Labour day
4. 03rd October 2014 : International Action Day
5. 18th December 2014 : International Day to protect the rights of Migrant workers.
15 Friday Nov 2013
The Islamic month of Muharram starts today. It is a central Govt. holiday. Though the holiday was declared yesterday (14th November ) earlier, it was changed to 15th November later due to reasons well known to Government. Is it, it coincided with the Birthday of Prime Minister Nehru and also the Children’s Day or because of modification of the date on fresh calculation?
My Greetings to all our Well wishers, friends and comrades on the day of Muharram.
14 Thursday Nov 2013
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Today I had few minutes meeting with Shri R.K.Upadhyay, CMD BSNL on the issue of development, expansion and services by BSNL.It is hinted by the CMD that there is a positive growth, though small.
He also informed that a meeting with the Unions will be conducted shortly (now it is fixed on 30th November) to present certain decisions taken by the Heads of Circles on the revival of BSNL.
The meeting should benefit the BSNL in its growth.
14 Thursday Nov 2013
Posted in General
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It is disgusting and shameful for the country. According to the Global Survey Index, it is stated that India has the maximum number of ‘modern day slaves’ like debt bonded, descent based slavery, trafficking, forced and early marriages etc.
India has such ‘slaves’ of 13.9 million, about half of such ‘slaves’ all over the world. China comes second with a distant 2.9 million, followed by Pakistan with 2.1 million, Nigeria with 0.7 million and Ethiopia with 0.6 million.
India is the biggest democracy in the world, which our rulers always remind us with pride. But it is in the same biggest democracy that this is happening. Today was celebrated as “Childrens Day” in India, but at the same time, in Kerala, it was found about the engagement of large number of child workers. It is not in Kerala alone, but all over the country, lakhs of children are compelled to work day and night to eke out a living, despite clear law against engaging child workers. It is only a few days back, an M.P. and his wife was arrested for inhuman assault on their domestic worker.
It is sheer poverty that results in such ‘slave system’. The neo-liberal policies continued by the government of India has resulted in the rich becoming richer and the poor, the poorer. It must not happen in a democracy. But that is what actually is happening. Their should be sustained fight against this policy and decisions of the government, which makes’slavery’ in the country.
14 Thursday Nov 2013
Posted in BSNLCCWF - Casual and Contract workers
Today, 14th November 2013, Com. V.A.N.Namboodiri, President BSNLEU abd BSNLCWF met Shri A.K.Sanghi, Sr. GM(Admn) and discussed about the various issues of the casual and contract workers. He pointed out the non-payment of Minimum Wages and non-implementation of EPF and ESI in many places. He also gave detailed letters in the matter. Com. Namboodiri also brought to the notice of the Sr. GM, the victimisation against the Circle Secretaries and District Secretaries and asked for vacation of the victimisation.
Shri Sanghi, Sr. GM(Admn) stated that C.O. is having a watch on the issue and have asked all the CGMs to give report on the issue. He assured that the issues are being looked in to.
14 Thursday Nov 2013
Posted in General
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Today, 14th November 2013, will be celebrated as Children’s Day in India as usual for the last many decades. It is the day for the Children as also a memory of the Birth Day of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru ( 14th November 1889), Freedom Fighter and the first Prime Minister of India.
Functions will be organised in the schools, focussing the children and their problems. Government and voluntary agencies also organise many functions in this connection. The importance of helping the children to get healthy food, good education etc. are focussed.
It is not only in India that the Children’s Day is celebrated. Almost all the countries in the world celebrate it on one or the other days, according to their decision. 20th November is observed as Universal Children’s Day in many countries as per the United Nations recommendations, proclaimed by the World conference for Well being of Children held in 1925 and established from 1954. In some countries it is observed in June as per the decision of the Women’s Democratic Federation Congress held in Moscow in 1949.
Declaration of Rights of the Child was adopted on 20th November 1959 by UN.
All this show the importance given to the Children by the International bodies and countries. To a certain extent, in the developed European countries, these are being implemented. The safety and health of the children are given top priority.
But what about the developing nations like India. The situation is very gloomy. Despite pious announcements, decisions and declarations, the condition of the children in the country is dismal.
Though the child death rate has decreased, still crores of children die in India even before they reach one year. There is no health care or treatment available for them not only in the tribal areas, but in many parts of the country. Even sufficient food are not available and malnutrition is usual which retards growth of the children.
A good percentage of children in India have no access to education, due to non-availability of schools in the interior area and also poverty of the families. Young children are forced in to hard work to mete out a living. Crores of children are employed in hotels, small scale factories, agriculture, domestic work and even in very risky jobs. Rules are there against child-labour, but it is more violated than implemented. In any town/city, you can see a large number of begging children, some of them exploited and terrorised by the mafias.
The cruel exploitation of the children and molestation is another dark chapter. Children are sexually assaulted in even homes and schools, leave alone in unsafe areas. People in high society are also involved. Due to poverty, sometimes, children are even sold by the parents.
Children are expected to get good food, parents care, good education, health care and grow to be the healthy and educated citizens of the nation. But these are denied to most of the children in the country. Except a small percentage, the future of the children in the country is grim. Of course, there has been improvement, but that is far below than required.
The present neo-liberal policy of the government, which will only benefit the corporates, the rich and the well to do, will only result in more miseries for the poor and children.
The nation requires a well grounded and progressive policy for the welfare and growth of the children. A massive campaign and action programme by the people are required to make the rulers act accordingly.
Let each of us do whatever possible to improve the condition of the children in our country.
13 Wednesday Nov 2013
Posted in Corruption
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I am reproducing a report published in one of the prominent daily’s e-paper:
“Rajiv Gandhi told me to use arms deal payoffs for party funds: Ex-CBI chief
“At a time when the funding of political parties is the subject of fresh controversy, a new book has claimed that Rajiv Gandhi, as Prime Minister, wanted commissions given by defence suppliers to be pooled and used to fund the “inescapable expenses of the party”.
“The just-released book, Unknown Facets of Rajiv Gandhi, Jyoti Basu and Indrajit Gupta, is written by former CBI director Dr A P Mukherjee and the claim is based on his conversations with Rajiv in June 1989, the author has said.
“Rajiv, incidentally, was caught in the thick of the Bofors guns bribery scandal at that time and lost power later that year.
“Rajiv Gandhi was very clear that commissions paid as a routine by most defence dealers should be properly accounted for and not siphoned off by dishonest officials of the armed forces and politicians…he wanted such payments to be pooled and accounted for,” Mukherjee has written.
“This (elections) leads to massive fund collections by important party functionaries all over the country, which leads to an almost unbreakable unholy quid pro quo nexus between unscrupulous party functionaries, ministers and businessmen. I could sense this as the party’s general secretary or even as its youth leader earlier when I had to enter the political arena with considerable reluctance,” Rajiv told him over coffee, Mukherjee has written.
“Rajiv, he says, had come to know that some senior officers of the armed forces had been surreptitiously collecting huge a”mounts of money as “commissions” in most defence purchases, quite often in connivance with some ministers, middlemen and civilian officers as well.
“Rajiv, the former CBI director says, “discussed this problem with some of his trusted colleagues and advisers when it was suggested by some that all commissions as payable or usu”ally paid to middlemen should be banned but the commissions to be given as a matter of routine practice by the suppliers of major defence materials could be pooled under the care of some non-government entity which could be utilised solely for the purpose of meeting the inescapable expenses of the party.”
If this is true, then the Bofors scam seems to be a real planned scam for funding for the Congress party..
13 Wednesday Nov 2013
Posted in Uncategorized
It has been the worst natural calamity Philippines have ever seen. More than 2275 people are reported perished. Entire towns have been wiped out. The deadly storm has affected seven million people across 41 provinces, said sources in the disaster office. Nearly 1,50,000 houses were either damaged or affected while over 5.8 lakh people were displaced. Eighty people were reportedly missing. Infrastructure worth USD 4.6 million and agricultural crops worth USD 5.5 million have been damaged in the disaster.
The world nations should immediately come to he help of the suffering Philippines people.
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