Monthly Archives: March 2015

WFTU Celebrates 70 years of service

24 Tuesday Mar 2015

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World Federation of Trade Unions(WFTU) is celebrating its 70th Foundation Anniversary on 3rd October 2015. A circular issued by WFTU in this connection is given below:

Athens, Greece – March 23rd, 2015

 APPEAL

To: All WFTU members and Friends

Subject: 70th Anniversary Commemoration Events

In October 3rd, 2015 our historic Organization celebrates its 70 years of militant and internationalist struggle. On this Occasion the Presidential Council of the WFTU has decided to appeal to all members and friends of the WFTU to commemorate in every country this great anniversary.

With events, seminars, lectures, open rallies and mass activities we call all members and friends to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the WFTU throughout the year 2015. To pay tribute to the struggles of the working class and the class-oriented trade union movement in every country, to pay tribute to the martyrs who fought for the betterment of the working class and humanity, to educate the next generations with the achievements, the difficulties and the importance of the class struggle, to spread the awareness about the positions and the tremendous role of the WFTU in the struggle against imperialism, colonialism, apartheid, exploitation.

After the end of the anniversary celebrations, the Secretariat announces that a Special Publication will be released for the 70th Anniversary Events around the world to collect in one publication the activities, the pictures, the articles about the events.

We ask from all members and friends to inform us about the activities they organized, to send us pictures, speeches and articles in the media about these events.

All materials to be send in the emails of the WFTU: international@wftucentral.org,info@wftucentral.org and press@wftucentral.org

 

66A of IT Act struck down by Supreme Court

24 Tuesday Mar 2015

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The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down Section 66A of the Information Technology Act, a controversial provision used to arrest people for their social media postings. The verdict was hailed by the victims, who described it as a victory for the common man’s free speech.

“Section 66A of the IT Act is struck down in its entirety…,” said an apex court bench of Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice RohintonFaliNariman.

The provision was so vaguely worded that any one could be arrested for “annoying and offensive” postings on a complaint even by a single individual.

“Our Constitution provides for liberty of thought, expression and belief. In a democracy, these values have to be provided within constitutional scheme. The law (Section 66A) is vague in its entirety,” said Justice Nariman pronouncing the judgment.

“There is no nexus between public order and discussion or causing annoyance by dissemination of information. Curbs under Section 66A of the IT Act infringes on the public right to know.” (Ganashakti)

 

Airport Privatisation in the garb of Modernisation

24 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by in General, Neo-liberal policy

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Government and Airport Authority of India are on the move to privatise the profit making airports, Kolkata, Chennai etc. It is being done on the plea of modenisation of the airports.

But there is a hitch. Already the Kolkata and Chennai airports have been modernised by the govt./AAI by spending Rs. 2,700 crore and Rs. 2,400 respectively. What is the proposed amount for modernisation by the private company? Only Rs. 375 crore and Rs. 492 crore.

The Modi Government is offering the profitable Airports to the private companies for a song in the name of so called modrnisation. This can not be allowed. This has to be defeated.

By 2018-19 BSNL will be profitable – CMD BSNL

24 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by in BSNL - Better Service to the Nation, BSNL News

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Teleanalyses interview Shri Anupam Shrivatava, CMD BSNL on the activities and plans of BSNL

Q. BSNL is very active in government projects. What is the status of projects like NOFN, NFS (network for spectrum), LWE (left wing extremists) and North East?

BSNL is executing projects worth Rs 25,000 crore ($4 billion) in the next 2-3 years. The projects which BSNL is executing include: NFS for Defence; NOFN for BBNL; LWE for left wing extremists states and North East project for improving connectivity in North East. All these projects are under implementation except North East project where BSNL is planning to float EoI (expression of interest) by next month.

Q.What is BSNL’s mobile expansion plan for Phase 7 and Phase 8?

In Phase 7, BSNL is investing Rs 4,804 crore for creating 15 million additional mobile capacity. The capacity addition will take care for both 2G and 3G. In Phase 7, BSNL is building 27,000 towers of which 15,000 will be for 2G and 12,000 for 3G. Presently, BSNL has around 97,000 towers.

BSNL has till date completed 60 percent of Phase 7 expansion and the project is planned to be completed by June, 2015. Phase 7 will help in plugging the gap of 2G, removing blind spots in mobile network and increasing data capacity by 30-40 times.

Q. What’s the update on tower leasing and land bank?

Tower leasing proposal has gone to the ministry for its consideration. The proposal focuses on creating a separate business unit, creating a separate subsidiary company within BSNL which is fully owned by BSNL and creating a joint venture.

On the land bank front, eight proposals have been sent to the ministry for building housing complex, IT park and commercial building. For both the proposals, we are awaiting the ministry’s approval.

We are planning enhanced CDR billing which will take care of fixed line, mobile and also leased line.

We are planning converged billing so that we can offer single bill to our consumer for all types of services. With converged billing, we can offer multiple tariff packages offering different services to our enterprise and retail customers. We can come up with different schemes targeting those customers depending upon their usage pattern. We will very soon come up with converged billing RFP on a revenue sharing model.

Q. BSNL is focusing a lot on Wi-Fi hotspots. How will this help BSNL in the long run?

BSNL has lots of copper cable and optical fiber cable which we want to exploit for data services. We want to utilize Wi-Fi hotspots and integrate it with 3G services for increased reach to mobile consumers. We are focusing on data in a big way such that it is a game changer for telecom industry. In future, if we play our cards well we would be successful in data services.

BSNL is planning 2,500 Wi-Fi hotspots in the next 2-3 years. For Wi-Fi, we have tied up with Quadgen Wireless for South and West on revenue sharing basis. We will very soon float tender to provide Wi-Fi coverage for North and West regions.

What is expected revenue for BSNL in FY 2014-15? When are you planning to be profitable?

BSNL revenue should cross Rs 29,000 crore in FY 2014-15 with a growth of 4-5 percent. In FY 2014-15, we would be operational profit or EBITDA comfortable. We plan to be profitable by FY 2018-19.

Forum Meeting will be held on 25th March 2015

23 Monday Mar 2015

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A meeting of the Forum of BSNL Unions and Associations of Non-Executives and Executives will be held at BSNLMS office, New Delhi at 04.00 PM on 25th March 2015 to discuss about the strike and connected programme.

Railway Platform Tickets will now cost Rs.10/-

23 Monday Mar 2015

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The Railways have decided to increase the price of Platform Tickets from Rs.5 to Rs. 10 from 1st April 2015. During rush period, the price can be further increased. Naturally the minimum train ticket also will  be reduced. These increases of 100%  are not at all justified.

Meeting with Member (Finance)

23 Monday Mar 2015

Posted by in BSNLCCWF - Casual and Contract workers

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Com.VAN Namboodiri, President, BSNLCCWF, met Ms. Annie Moraes, Member  (Finance), DOT and discussed about the retrenchment of contract workers in CCA, Kolkata. Com.Namboodiri demanded that the retrenched workers be reinstated. The entire background was explained to the Member (Service), who agreed to look in to the matter.

Delhi observes BSNLEU Day

23 Monday Mar 2015

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A meeting of the NTR Comrades was held at New Delhi to celebrate BSNLEU Day at the Union office. Com. Malhotra, Vice-President, NTR Circle presided. Com.R.S.Chauhan, Circle Secretary, NTR Circle welcomed. The house stood in silence paying homage to the Martyrs Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. Com.VAN Namboodiri, Patron, BSNLEU spoke in brief about the great traditiion of BSNLEU, the struggles and achievements etc. He also called upon the workers to ensure maximum participation in the strike. Many comrades raised questions which were answered by Com. Namboodiri.

“Our Struggle, the struggle for unity of the Working Class” – Com.BTR

22 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by in India Left, TU News - India, Uncategorized

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“Our struggle is the struggle for the unity of the working class, unity of trade union movement….. It means every worker must be rallied to join the common class struggle. … Unless it is united, the offensive cannot be met.”
B.T.RANADIVE, 

Protest Demonstration in Spain against austerity measures

22 Sunday Mar 2015

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Madrid, Mar 22 Thousands of demonstrators from across Spain gathered at one of Madrid’s main squares to protest against the way the government has tackled the financial crisis by implementing harsh austerity measures.

Organisers had hoped to attract 20,000 protesters to the event, labelled Marches for Dignity, and yesterday evening much of Colon Square and part of Paseo de Recoletos boulevard were packed with people carrying republican flags and banners calling for a general strike.

Hairdresser Dolores Cerezo, 32, who had arrived from southern Sevilla, said the government had cut back “savagely” on public services such as education and the national health service, “but we are seeing many of them now appearing in court suspected of fraud and corruption, of stealing money.”

Scuffles broke out after the main rally ended. Riot police clashed with about 200 protesters who had attacked a bank and a police car.