It is usual or rather a made a system for any Minister to meet the industry or business barons connected with that ministry at the earliest opportunity after they resume office. It is the same way with the Communications Minister also. The Tatas, Ambanis, Mittals are all called for meetings by the Minister. In addition, the Minister does not miss any meetings of the COAI or other organisations of the telecom companies.

But what about the unions and associations which represents thousands and lakhs of workers. The Ministers do not have time to meet them. They do not find time to attend their conferences. Although the workers are also serious stakeholders, they are not at all taken in to consideration by them. It is only when an agitation or strike call is organised, that the Minister becomes aware of the workers. Appeal is made to them to withdraw. In the recent case of Air India, the concerned Minister even put the condition that he will meet the striking pilots only after they resume duty.

There should be a change to this sad pattern. The Ministers should understand that the workers are an important part of the system. Regular meetings are required to be held and issues sorted out. A lot of issues could be sorted out if the Ministers take the initiative. Will they be prepared for the same ?

I always like the rail travel better than other modes. It has got to be much improved, still it is more interesting. If you want to go to distant places without delay, the flight is the only alternative.

My train journey starts seriously after 1960, when I had to go to the All India Conferences of the Union, Conventions etc. From, Kerala, it was a three day journey to New Delhi; first to Madras (Chennai) and from there to Delhi by the GT Express. No other train to Delhi from South. I think I posted some time back a detailed account of certain train journeys of that time. Though it was very difficult and tiresome, thinkig about those days is nostalgic.

A good portion of my time after shifting to Delhi as General Secretary of the E.III Union was spent in travelling mainly by trains. Sometimes days together. There were pleasant journeys and also hard and difficult journeys. But always there were our comrades to help. It was a time when we fought for the correct policy in the union and the recognised federations at that time used all methods to marginalise and harass us. Of course that period is over after the formation of BSNL and membership verification process.

And now I am going in train to Bijapur from Bengaluru. Com.Girish from BG is accompanying me. The train journey is more convenient than earlier. It is a 15 hours journey, but it seems that it will become an  18 hours journey, with much delay as usual with the Indian Railways. I may reach the Bijapur function after almost two hours later. But, of course, this is part of life. To avoid further delay, I had already taken bath etc. and is ready to directly go to the function.

What will be the future of the great Indian Railway? If the government continues with its neo-liberalisation policies it is certain that this may be corporatised and privatised unless there is stiff opposition from the people and political parties.

Widespread opposition notwithstanding,  Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan has  strongly favoured an immediate increase in prices of diesel and cooking  gas to contain government expenditure.  “It (increase in prices of diesel and LPG) should be done, as early as  possible…We need to take action…. howsoever unpleasant it may be,”  he said in an interview .

What many thought at the time of the steep rise in petrol price recently, has come true. They have stated that after high increase of prices, they will reduce a small portion. Then everybody will forget steep rise. That is exactly what has happened. Petro price was increased by Rs. 7/- in many places. Now it is reduced by Rs. 2/-  So, the government will think that the people are satisfied. Nothing more untrue. People are very unhappy and they will continue the struggle till it is rolled back.

It is not surprising that the government is hell-bent on Public-Private Participation (PPP) projects in almost all sectors. But experiences have shown that it is a source of corruption and handing over valuable national assets at cheap rate to big business and MNCs.

Take the new airports in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad etc. which have been given to private companies. Now they are charging huge rates from travellers for airport charges. The private contractors are charging heavy toll charges for using the public road.

The PPP means utilisng the public assets for private profit. Can we support it?

Government of India and specially the Prime Minister and Finance Minister are batting for increase of FDI in retail sector. It was only due to the strong opposition from the opposition parties even from some of the allies of the UPA government that they have been unable to pass the bill on increase of FDI.

Why opposition parties are against increased FDI. It will destroy the crores of small retail traders and their families if these MNCs like Wall-Mart are allowed to open their shops in India. The experience of Mexica has been explained by a write-up in the Business Line today, under the heading ‘A Mexican Warning on retail FDI’. It states that Wall-Mart has taken over nearly half of Mexico’s retail business with just over 2 lakh employees. In contrast Indian retail sector employes 4 crores. Where these 4 crores and their families will go. No other place but to unemployment.

Another issue is gross corruption. Wall-Mart grew only thorough bribery and corruption. Hence we have continue our opposition and defeat the government move to increase the FDI in retail sector.

The Bombay High Court today issued notices to the Centre, the Petroleum Ministry and the Finance Secretary on a PIL which claimed that the recent petrol price hike is “illegal” as it lacked Parliament’s approval and “ultra vires” of the Constitution.     A bench of Justices R Y Ganoo and N M Jamdar ordered service of notices to the respondents, who apart from the Central ministries also include oil marketing companies Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.     The bench has posted the matter to May 30.     The PIL, filed by Rajendra Phanse, general secretary of ‘Dharmarajya Paksha’, submitted that the petrol prices were hiked “abruptly” on May 23 at the stroke of midnight after the conclusion of the budget session of Parliament.     The petitioner contended that the raise in petrol prices was “totally illegal” as it has no approval of the Parliament.     The Centre increased prices of petrol by Rs 7.50 per litre.     Terming as “undemocratic” the hike since it was announced after the Budget session was over, the petitioner argued that earlier the decisions like raising the rates of postal and telephone services used to be taken during the budget session.     The petitioner further said that the hike was against the principles of natural justice as it is bound to affect the entire population of the country.     Citing lack of uniformity in the prices of petrol, the petitioner said that in Thane (Maharashtra), the price per litre is Rs 81.70, while it is as low as Rs 58.06 in Port Blair, Rs 81.75 per litre in Bengaluru and Rs 73.18 in Delhi.     This showed that the prices of petrol change from city to city within the country, which is nothing but a geographical discrimination in contravention of Article 14 of the Constitution, he said.

It is 48 full years since Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, passed away on 27th May 1964. One of the top leaders of the Independence movement and the first Prime Minister, it was a usual debate in the early part of the 1960s, ” After Nehru, who?”. In fact, there was no clear answer from anybody. But it was the simple profiled Lal Bahadur Shastri who succeeded. Of course he did not reach back from his USSR tour and Indira Gandhi succeeded.

Jawaharlal Nehru was a socialist, but his ideas could not flourish as he surrendered his many ideas and thinking to the ‘Father of the Nation’, Mahatma Gandhi. But as Prime Minister, he realised the need of the country and started the Public Sector Enterprises for fast growth of the country. Insurance was nationalised. Large dams ( although at present it is termed as harmful to ecology)were constructed for irrigation, power projects etc. He was the joint architect of the Panchsheel. Of course, we had the hard experience of the suppression of the 1960 indefinite strike by his government, which he described as ‘Civil Rebellion’.

Now after almost 5 decades, whether the government headed by the same Congress Party don’t want to remember his memory with high level propaganda? Only a comparison with the high publicity given to former Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and that the low-level publicity given to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru is  to be noted.

Is the UPA government trying to erase the memory of the period when the slogan was the ‘Socialist Pattern of Society’ so that the people will not compare the anti-people  ‘neo-liberal policy’ with the earlier line.

Many people do not know that many private banks are insisting for a minimum balance in the SB Accounts failing which the account holders will be penalised. In fact I was not aware till recently about this undesirable and anti-people condition. The issue has come up again in news.

There is, of course a condition that a minimum balance should be in the SB accounts of the Banks, but that is a small amount. In the Post Office SB Accounts it is minimal. In the State Bank of India and the Public Sector Banks it is also around Rs 250 or so. . However, there is no penalty or fine if the minimum balance is not there. Probably interest may not be calculated, but if the amount is very less, where is the question of interest.

But what is the stance of the private banks in this matter. Take the three major private banks, ICICI, HDFC and Axix Banks for example. Their condition is that a minimum of Rs. 10,000 should be in the SB Accounts in 5,000 in rural areas.(For Axis Bank it is Rs. 2500 in rural area). Penalty for non-maintenance of minimum amount varies from Rs. 350 to Rs. 750.

Is it that these private banks want only the rich to start accounts in their banks? Is it that they are disdainful of the ordinary people of this country who cannot keep a minimum of Rs. 1,0000 or 5000. And they will impose penalty also? So a person in whose account the amount goes down from Rs. 10,000 or 5000, there will be no money left after a few years in the account, leave alone the interest for the balance.

The Finance Ministry should intervene and put an end to this injustice.

The Committee  appointed to discuss and take decision on the allocation of the naural resources of the country, headed by former Competition Commission Chairman Ashok Chawla  has submitted its report to the government some time earlier. The committee has been appointed in view of the serious allegations and corruption that have taken place during the last few years in allocation of spectrum, land, mines, water etc.

The Prime Minister met with his important Cabinet colleagues on 25th May and has directed the ministries to implement some of the recommendations. The Left parties have been continuously demanding that the natural rsources are being gifted to the corporates and big business for nominal payment and that this loot of the nations asset should be stopped. There has been no favourable response from the Government.

In the meanwhile the Anna Hazare Team has given a chargesheet to the government accusing 15 Ministers including the Prime Minister of being involved in corruption charges and demanding investigation.