Author Archives: VAN NAMBOODIRI

National Telecom Policy 2018 by next year – Communications Minister

21 Thursday Dec 2017

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The government is looking to finalise the National Telecom Policy 2018 by March next year, Communications Minister Manoj Sinha informed Parliament today.

“The Department of Telecommunications envisages to formulate a new National Telecom Policy in view of rapid technological advancement in the sector. The work on formulation of the National Telecom Policy 2018 has been initiated and is targeted to be finalised by March 2018,” Sinha said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

He said that several working groups have been constituted on different themes for this purpose.

DoT officials have earlier said that the draft of the new telecom policy will be placed in public domain for seeking their views.

The DoT has formed 13 working groups to prepare a draft of the National Telecom Policy. (New Delhi, Dec 20 (PTI)

Remembering Com. Suseela Gopalan.

20 Wednesday Dec 2017

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Comrade Suseela Gopalan, CPI(M) leader and a fighter for the women and workers and wife of Veteran workers’ leader Com. A.K.Gopalan, died on 19th December 2001. She was the Chair Person of the Co-ordinating Committee P and T Unions, Kerala for a long period and guided the organisation. She was the President of All India Democratic Womens’ Association(AIDWA). She was MLA several times and also Minister in Kerala State. She was an M.P. from Kerala.

As a Member of Parliament, she took many issue of the Central and P and T employees. She was of great help in taking up the issues of the workers. I had the opportunity of meeting her several times and taking up the telecom issues with the government.

On the 16th death anniversary of Com. Suseela Gopalan, we pay her homage! Red Salute to Com. Suseela Gopalan!

On Revival of BSNL / MTNL – Reply by Communications minister in Parliament

20 Wednesday Dec 2017

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THE REPLY GIVEN IN PARLIAMENT ON BSNL/MTNL REVIVAL BYTHE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)
We are reproducing below, the reply given by the Communications Minister in the Parliament on 02-08-2017. The reply clearly indicae the mindset of the government. Instead of formulating a revival plan and assisting BSNL, the Minister is finding justifications for the present situation.

REPLY BY MINISTER:

(a)Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) were earning profits since their inception until 2008-09. However, their financial condition has been affected due to various reasons. Major reasons are as follows:
•One time upfront cost of spectrum for 3G and BWA (Bandwidth Wireless Access) required to be
paid in 2010 for the amount of Rs.11097.97 crores by MTNL and Rs 18500.38 crores by BSNL
which has eroded their reserves. MTNL had to take the loan to meet this expenditure. This has
created financial stress on both PSUs.
•Both PSUs are also burdened with salary payments of the legacy DOT (Department of
Telecommunications) employees, who are now working as absorbed employees in these PSUs.
•The market dynamics have changed in last 5 to 6 years in telecom sector because of the entry of more number of operators, which have covered major market share and put lot of pressure on the revenues of these PSUs.
•Both the PSUs could not invest timely in upgradation of their infrastructure.

•BSNL is providing telecom services in non-profitable areas like remote and hilly regions in various states e.g. Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, North East, Chhattisgarh,
Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshdweep Islands.
•Both the PSUs have to follow the prescribed guidelines and procedures which sometimes leads
to inherent delays.
•MTNL is providing its services only in Delhi and Mumbai Service Areas unlike other major
Telecom Service Providers (TSPs).
Government has taken various steps to make BSNL and MTNL viable in the background of stiff
competition in the telecom sector by:
•Refund of surrendered BWA (Broadband Wireless Access) spectrum in two service areas held by MTNL and in 6 service areas held by BSNL. Under this head, Rs. 4533.97 crore has been
refunded to MTNL through bonds and Rs. 6724.51 crore has been refunded to BSNL through
budgetary resources.
•The pension liability of MTNL for its staff who got absorbed from DoT, has been taken over by the Government.
•Notional loan of Rs. 1411 crore to BSNL which was due to be paid to the Government was
waived-off.
•Financial support of Rs. 492.26 crore has been given to MTNL on account of liability arising from levy of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT).
•Refund of Rs. 458.04 crore to MTNL and Rs. 169.16 crore to BSNL on account of surrender of
CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) spectrum.

Government has also assigned some projects to BSNL, namely:
•Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan for the North-Eastern Region for provision of mobile services in uncovered villages in Arunachal Pradesh and two districts of Assam at estimated project cost of Rs. 1975.38 crore and implementation of Transmission-Media Plan for North Eastern Region at an estimated cost of Rs.295.97 crore on 10.9.2014.
•Implementation of providing mobile connectivity in 2199 identified locations in Left Wing
Extremism (LWE) affected areas at an estimated cost of Rs. 3567.58 crores on 4.6.2013.
•Implementation of Comprehensive Telecom Development plan for Andaman & Nicobar Islands
and Lakshadweep Islands through augmentation of satellite connectivity/bandwidth at an
estimated cost of Rs. 120.49 crores on 7.11.2014.
(b) & (c)At present, there is no proposal for merger of BSNL and MTNL. However, based on the
financial results of MTNL for the financial year 2016-17, MTNL has been classified as “Incipient
Sick CPSE” as per Department of Public Enterprise (DPE) Guidelines. As per the DPE guidelines,
Department of Telecommunications has to formulate revival/restructuring/closure road map for MTNL, the process of which has been initiated.

SCFWA donates to Chief Minister’s Ockhy Relief Fund. P.V.Chandrasekharan, R.Rajan, Amaravila Ramakrishnan and C.P.Ravindran, office bearers of Senior Citizens Friends Welfare Association handing over Cheque for RS. One lakh towards Ockhy Relief Fund to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

18 Monday Dec 2017

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COM.P.Ramamurti Bhawan inaugurated.

15 Friday Dec 2017

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Com.P.Ramamurti Bhawan is inaugurated today at New Delhi by Com. Sitaram Yechuri, GS CPI(M) and the meeting presided over by Com.K.Hemalatha, President, CITU. This building is constructed by CITU in memory of Com.Ramamurti, who was the first General Secretary of CITU. This will be utilised for organising trade union classes etc.

Complete Strike by BSNL Employees, Contract workers.

13 Wednesday Dec 2017

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The entire employees, both non-executives as well as executives went on a complete strike on 12th and 13th December 2017 as per the call of the ALL Unions and Associations of BSNL demanding immediate wage revision w.e.f. 01-01-2017 and to cancel the decision to form a separate Tower Company, bifurcating BSNL. All the exchanges and offices stood closed nobody attending duty. Massive demonstrations were held in front of the offices.

The casual and contract workers in BSNL also went on strike as per the call of BSNLCCWF on the same demands as also on their own demands like implementation of minimum wage etc. It was also a complete success.
AIBDPA organised massive dharna on 11th December in support of the strike as also on their own demands and demonstrated in support of the strike on 12th and 13th.

The unity of the employees, the contract workers and the pensioners has resulted in a complete stoppage of work and huge demonstrations every where.
Revolutionary Greetings to the workers, pensioners and contract workers for their unity and great struggle! The government/ DOT and BSNL should act immediately and discuss and concede the demands.

Left Alliance towards winning Nepal elections.

10 Sunday Dec 2017

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Congratulations to Left Alliance in Nepal for winning the elections! Report in this connection is given below:

Kathmandu, Dec 10 : Nepal’s Left alliance was today heading towards comfortable majority in the parliamentary elections, winning 72 of the 89 seats so far in the historic polls that many hope will bring the political stability to the country.

The CPN-UML led by former premier K P Oli and the CPN- Maoist led by former premier Prachanda have forged electoral alliance for both the provincial and parliamentary elections.

According to results released by the Election Commission, the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist–Leninist (CPN- UML) has won 51 seats while its alliance partner CPN Maoist- Centre has bagged 21 seats.

The ruling Nepali Congress, which was the largest party in the last election, won only 10 seats, according to tallies.(Courtesy: Ganashakti)

10th December, Human Rights Day

09 Saturday Dec 2017

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10th December is observed as World Human Rights day every year. The decision was taken by the United Nations General Assembly on 10th of December in the year 1948 to commemorate annually.

India is also a party to the decision and observes the same on 10th December.

The objectives are :
To promote the awareness about human rights among the people all around the world.
To emphasize the endeavors of the United Nations General Assembly in order to progress the overall human rights conditions.
To get together and celebrate in cooperation to discuss and highlight the specific issues of the human rights.
To encourage the vulnerable group of people like women, minorities, youth, poor, disabled person, indigenous people and etc to take part in this event celebration and political decision-making.

The observation of the day this year has special importance for India people, when the human rights are being denied to the common people and the toiling masses in the country.

Worker commits suicide against privatisation of DCIL

09 Saturday Dec 2017

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The decision of the government to privatise the profit-making PSU, Dredging Corporation of India limited (DCIL), has taken the valuable life of a worker there. The government is proposing to privatise DCIL, despite strong opposition from the workers and the Unions. However, the government is moving for privatisation. It is protesting against this move that Com. Venkatesh, a 29 year worker of the PSU took the drastic step. Our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family. We demand and enquiry in the matter and stop the privatisation move. A statement issued by CITU in this connection is given below:

“Venkatesh, a 29 year young worker of DCIL and the lone bread-earner of the family of two sisters and parents, committed suicide on 4 December, 2017 in protest against Modi Government’s decision to Completely privatise the Dredging Corporation of India Ltd (DCIL) with headquarter at Visakhapatnam. In a delegation, Vankatesh met the local BJP M.P and BJP MLA and urged their intervention against privatisation of DCIL. But, shockingly, both of them refused on the ground that BJP’s Central Government had already taken decision to privatise DCIL. In a Suicide note Venkatesh accused Modi Government for its decision to privatise DCIL and local BJP MP and BJP MLA for their refusal to intervene as the reason for his frustration and Suicide. Despite protests and representation by CITU and other trade unions, the Government decided to privatise DCIL. The Workers and the executives of DCL hace since Were Conducting joint agitation demanding reversal of the decision of privatization of DCIL. It is very important to note that the financial performance of DCIL is excellent in that it has been earning profit, generated huge assets including liquidity. Therefore, handing over DCIL to private business is a criminal compromise with the economic strength and interest of the nation and is yet another instance of transferring national asset to private capital by the corporates captive Modi Government. Service to the nation, provided by the DCIL, is better testified from the fact that DCIL has been maintaining our national maritime and navigational facilities of waterways catering yeoman services to all the major and minor ports in the Country, thereby, facilitating international trade and cargo movement. In fact, DCIL was created under public sector to deliver dredging service to the nation to keep the ports as well as channels navigable to facilitate smooth movement of vessels with larger draft. Moreover, DCL has also successfully expanded its dredging services beyond the Country’s boundary and has been earning precious foreign exchange executing foreign Orders. CITU condemns Modi Government, being responsible for the shocking Suicide of Venkatesh; demands reversal of the privatization decision of DCIL, demands adequate compensation to the family of deceased and employment to a member of the family. CITU extends full support and solidarity to the ongoing and forthcoming struggle of the DCIL Workers and executives and appeals to the Working class to extend Solidarity with the DCIL Workers.”

Comrade M.L.Tiwari passed awway

08 Friday Dec 2017

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With deep sorrow it is intimated that Com.M.L.Tiwari, former treasurer of AIBDPA and a senior leader of the BSNLEU in NTR New Delhi , passed away at about 1700 hours yesterday, 7th December 2017, at his residence in Delhi.He was ailing for some time and was under treatment. He was 77.

Com. Tiwari, close associate of Com.H.L.Makkar, Com.R.S.Chouhan and others was an adviser on union matters. After his retirement as Office Superintendent, worked in the CHQ BSNLEU for a few years and gave valuable assistance. In building up AIBDPA in NTR, he gave valuable contribution.

Last time I went to Delhi a few days back on 5th December 2017, I wanted to go and meet him, but due to lack of time could not. However we spoke for a few minutes and I enquired about his health. His death is a great loss.

His body will be cremated at the Nigambodh Ghat Delhi today.

My heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family, friends and comrades.