Chief minister, Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan visiting flood affected areas.
Chief Minister, Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan visits flood affected areas.
11 Saturday Aug 2018
Posted in Uncategorized
Monthly Archives: August 2018
No civilised country can tolerate mob violence – says K.K. Venugopal, Attorney General of India.
11 Saturday Aug 2018
Posted in General
Tags
K.K. Venugopal, the Attorney General of India, who is representing the Government of India in the Supreme Court, surprised every one yesterday, by openly expressing his disgust, at the failure of Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Delhi Governments, to take stern measures against mob violence. It is very important to note that Maharashtra and Rajasthan are ruled by the BJP governments, while the law and order in Delhi is being maintained by the Central Government. The Attorney General further said that no civilised country can tolerate mob violence. This remark was made by the Attorney General, before a Supreme Court Bench, consisting of Dipak Misra, Chief Justice of India, and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud. The Bench is hearing a public interest litigation against mob violence. The Judges, on their part remarked that, in the name of religion, no group can be permitted to indulge in violence.
(Courtesy: BSNLEU website)
Rain Fury in Kerala
11 Saturday Aug 2018
The heavy rains during the last few days has resulted in landslides, floods, destruction of hundreds of homes and death in Kerala. This is unprecedented. The rain fury continues. Many towns are flooded. The government has been compelled to raise the shutters of the many dams in the state further flooding many parts of the state. The government, the political parties and the people are jointly making all efforts to save the lives, giving relief to the affected people, shifting them etc. Food is supplied. Thousands are in the relief camps. The rain may continue for two days more according to the experts. The state has never seen such fury of the floods.
Telecom Trade Union Movement – A Saga of Struggles, Sacrifices and Achievements (6) – CHQ Starts functioning in right earnest
10 Friday Aug 2018
Posted in Telecom TU Movement 1991-2015, Uncategorized
(Continued from earlier post)
Functioning of CHQ
The new leadership of All India Telecom Employees Union Class III (E.III Union) started work in right earnest with V.A.N.Namboodiri, President and Moni Bose, General Secretary staying at Dada Ghosh Bhawan, head quarters of the union. The “Telecom” (monthly) and ” Correspondence” (Weekly) were issued in time with not only the issues of the telecom workers, but with articles on the issues of the working class in general to educate the workers. The editorial in the first issue after Bhopal Conference was about the October Revolution in Russia, which inspired an entire generation of workers all over the world. Coms. Atma Ram and Raghubir Singh, employees of the union continued, but it was felt that they could be more helpful.
In the morning, Moni and Namboodiri will work at HQ and in the after-noon, they will go to Sanchar Bhawan, HQ of DOT to discuss the problems of the workers. All the pending issues were being taken up in a systematic way. The condition of the old car handed over by O.P.Gupta, former General Secretary, was pitiful as almost every day, it will have some break down on the way. Hence the car was in the garage only. We used to go to Sanchar Bhawan, either in bus or auto. The Metro Service has not started and it was very difficult to get auto and going by bus with more than double the passengers was almost an impossible task. However, there was no other way.
During these journeys to DOT and discussions, Moni was firm that Namboodiri should also accompany him. After the work at Sanchar Bhawan, both will go to the residence of Com. Neelotpal Basu, M.P., son-in-law of Moni Bose, in V.P.House and take tea/tiffin or sometimes dinner itself. His daughter, Susmitha Bose was employed in Delhi. It will always be 09.00 to 10.00 PM by the time we reaches back to DGB, somehow managing to get an auto or bus.
Within days, Com. Jyotsna Bose, wife of Moni Bose, also came to Delhi from Calcutta. She was a Telephone operator and was a leader of the union and had retired by that time. She used to prepare very tasty food for both of us.
I stayed in a room, which had no ventilation at all, but there was no other alternative. Though I have stayed at CHQ two- three times for one or two months earlier as Assistant General Secretary of the union, it was only after the Bhopal AIC that I started staying at CHQ continuously. When I was AGS, O.P.Gupta, GS never asked me to come to CHQ. I used to come on my own. But when I came, he entrusted me a lot of work and worked in-cordination. Those visits and stay at CHQ helped at present in attending to the day to day work. (To be continued)
Important Supreme Court Judgment on Regularisation of Casual labour
10 Friday Aug 2018
Posted in BSNLCCWF - Casual and Contract workers
The Supreme Court of India in Civil Appeal nos. 7423- 7429 of 2018 in Narendra Kumar Tiwari vs. The State of Jharkhand has delivered a very important judgment on 1st August 2018 with regard to the regularisation of the casual labours. This was an appeal by a casual labour of the State Government of Jharkhand against the decision of the judgment of the High Court of Jharkhand denying regularisation on the basis of the Karnataka and others vs Umadevi judgment.
The Supreme Court in its order has stated as follows: “Under the circumstances,we are of the view that the Regularisation Rules must be given a pragmatic interpretation and the appellants, if they have completed 10 years of service on the date of promulgation of the Regularisation Rules, ought to be given the benefit of service rendered by them. If they have completed 10 years of service, they should be regularised unless there is some valid objections to regularisation like misconduct etc.” The full text of the judgment is being published in the bsnlccwf website, bsnlccwf.in
This gives a fair interpretation of the earlier SC judgment denying regularisation. BSNLCCWF has already taken note of the judgment and will decide future course of action in this matter.
73rd Anniversary of Nagasaki bombing – UN Secretary General attends
09 Thursday Aug 2018
Posted in WORLD NEWS
Tags
Peace Statue in NagasakiTokyo, Aug 9 : Nagasaki is marking the 73rd anniversary of the atomic bombing over the city, joined by the head of the United Nations for the first time amid the effort to push forward North Korea’s denuclearization.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all countries to commit to nuclear disarmament and to take concrete steps as he raised concerns about the slowing effort.
He said fears of nuclear war are still present 73 years after the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings and that they should never be repeated.
Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue urged Japan’s government to do more to lead nuclear disarmament around the world.
The bombing of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, was the second US nuclear attack on Japan, killing 70,000 people, three days after the bomb dropped on Hiroshima killed 140,000. (Press Report)
Telecom Trade Union Movement – A Saga of Struggles, Sacrifices and Achievements (5) – Grand Reception at Delhi
09 Thursday Aug 2018
Posted in P&T TU Movement
It was a great surprise! We were thinking of silently going to Dada Ghosh Bhawan. But lo! there were hundreds of P and T employees waiting for us in the New Delhi Railway Station. But they were not OPG’s men opposing us. They were comrades who were happy at our election and have come in large numbers to receive us at the railway Station. The P and T comrades under the leadership of Comrades K.Adinarayana, Secretary General NFPE, P.S.Raman Kutty, GS T.III, N.M.S.Rao, AGS R.III Union etc. were waiting for some time and as soon as we stepped down from the train they started shouting slogans welcoming us and garlanding both of us. It seemed that they were more happy that O.P.Gupta was defeated which nobody expected was feasible. We were taken as giant killers. There were no supporters of OPG.
A meeting was held at the RMS office premises in the railway station and the leaders welcomed us and we also spoke. The leaders and workers extended all help in our functioning at CHQ, Delhi. It was a great relief.
After safely placing all the records including the ballot papers etc. at the ITEF office, we reached Dada Ghosh Bhawan, the CHQ of E.III Union. We did not face any problem there, as was feared. O.P.Gupta welcomed us and arranged our stay, though temporarily. He told us that since he is no more General Secretary of the Union, his residence will be shifted within one month and Moni Bose, the new General Secretary can occupy the same. Union charge was handed over to Moni Bose. He handed over the old car also. A small kitchen was arranged for the new General Secretary. Its expense, about Rs. 30,000 was to be handed over to him. (In fact, neither did Gupta hand over the quarters to Moni Bose, nor hand over the accounts and other records. He stayed there continuously for a very long time and planned conspiracies and with the connivance of the government split the organisation. All about that later.)
OPG handed over the list of new office bearers with Coms. Moni Bose as General Secretary to the Secretary, DOT and introduced him. Both VAN and Moni Bose started functioning from Dada Ghosh Bhawan.
Central Secretariat meets.
The meeting of the central secretariat of the union was held within days presided over by President V.A.N.Namboodiri. Asst. General Secretaries elected from OPG’s panel, Com. S.Jagannathan and R.K.Kohli were also present. Head Quarters Allowance of a nominal amount of Rs. 350 was allowed both to General Secretary and Asst. General Secretary (RK Kohli). Immediate tasks to be attended to were finalised. CHQ started functioning in right earnest.
Conspiracy
While all these were going on, a deep conspiracy was being hatched behind. Com. Raghubir Singh, Chairman of FNTO, Leader of the Staff Side of the Joint Consultative Machinery and a close friend O.P.Gupta gave a letter to the DOT stating that Moni Bose can not be accepted and recognised as General Secretary, since he was a terminated employee in connection with the proposed strike of 1949. The letter was typed in the Letter Head of the JCM, of which O.P.Gupta was the Secretary, Staff Side. This was handed over by R.K.Kohli to the Secretary, DOT. This was a well planned operation. Letter was received within two days from the DOT by Moni Bose that a terminated employee can not be accepted as General Secretary and that President V.A.N. Namboodiri is authorised to do the correspondence etc. The conspiracy of OP Gupta – Raghubir Singh – DOT was totally exposed.
It became clear that OPG was not prepared to accept the democratically elected leadership at Bhopal AIC. May be there was strong pressure from his senior comrades also, who were afraid of their own position. The stand of the DOT was ridiculous. The same department which had recognised O.P.Gupta, who never worked in the Department, as General Secretary for more than three and half decades was objecting to a person who had worked in the Department and was terminated without even a show cause notice for alleged participation in a strike, which never happened. How surprising are the ways of the administration to help a favourite.
Though withdrawn recognition, Moni Bose continued his regular functioning at CHQ. For correspondence and dealing with the department V.A.N.Namboodiri President also stayed at Delhi to assist Moni Bose. There was no other way to safeguard the organisation. It was the starting of a continuous stay at Delhi for long 25 years.
At the unjustified rejection of recognition as General Secretary, Moni Bose filed a case in Calcutta High Court through eminent Parliamentarian and Senior Advocate Com. Somnath Chatterjee, who later became the Hon’ble Speaker of the Parliament. (To be continued)
WFTU Statement on the 73 years since the dropping of atomic bombs
09 Thursday Aug 2018
Posted in WORLD NEWS
06 Aug 2018
On August 6th 2018, seventy three years have completed since the crime in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 9th, by the US Imperialism , which in 1945 deprived the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and thousands of others in the coming years due to the effects of radiation in the territory.
The dropping of atomic bombs meant to intimidate the peoples, to send a “message” to the USSR, to the militant movement of all countries, to put the stamp of US intimidation to the international situation after the second world war.
The position of the USA and their allies generates new dangers for the wider region and mankind as a whole. The USA, NATO and European Union aim at plundering Third World Countries’ natural resources, strengthening their spheres of influence and tracing new borders. The dangers for the World Peace are grave. The inter-imperialist antagonisms are constantly being exacerbated.
The WFTU denies USA’s “right” to decide on who can and who is not allowed to have nuclear energy. No one has ever authorized USA to allow Israel, Pakistan, Turkey or S. Korea to have nuclear weapons while they are telling lies and excuses about others.
The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), since the first year of its foundation in 1945, has had a clear and plain position against nuclear weapons. During all of its Congresses, decisions requesting the abolition of all nuclear weapons from all the countries have been voted.
Let there be ‘No More Hiroshima, Nagasaki’
09 Thursday Aug 2018
Posted in General, WORLD NEWS
On 6th August, in 1945, the United States dropped the atom bomb ‘Little Boy’ in Hiroshima in Japan killing more than one lakh people and maiming much more who suffered radiation and died later or suffered their entire life. Another bomb named ‘Fat Man’ was dropped in Nagasaki, in Japan itself on 9th August 1946, killing more than 80,000 and maiming more.
This massacre of common people, and not military, was carried out after the World War II was almost over and Germany has been defeated and Japan was going to surrender. In fact, it was a power show by the US and more than that, an experiment of dropping of atom bombs on the common innocent people to find out its destructive power. The cruel and demonic culture of imperialism was revealed to the entire world.
No more atom bombs have been used since then. But the horrible memory of those bombs is still fresh in the memory of not only the people of Japan, but the entire world.
Thousands and thousands of candles are being lit at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and all over the world in the memory of those innocent people died due to the bombings.
Let there be no further Hiroshima or Nagasaki! Let the world be made free from such destructive weapons!
New pay scales proposed by staff side in BSNL.
09 Thursday Aug 2018
Posted in Uncategorized
The new pay scales w.e.f. 01-01-2017 demanded by the staff side BSNL JCM have been posted in BSNLEU website (bsnleu.in).
Now it is the responsibility of the BSNL management to continue the discussion without delay and finalise the agreement at the earliest.
VAN Namboodiri's Blog 