All arrangements are being made for the successful conduct of the Dharna by the Casual and Contract workers in Delhi as per the call of the BSNL Casual and Contract Workers Federation on 26th August.
The accommodation for the outstation comrades are arranged in the Ambedkar Bhawan. For T.Nadu and Chattisgarh, this will be at Chug Dharmasala.
bout 1000 comrades are expected to attend the dharna. Let us make it a great success.

On 18th and 19th August I was in Kolkata to attend the Central Executive Committee meeting of the All India BSNL-DOT Pensioners Association, of which I am the Advisor. The meeting was held in KG Bose Smritee Bhawan, which is the office of the BSNL Employees Union, W.Bengal Circle. It is a four-storied building in the centre of the city in Adwaita Mullick Lane, Kolkata – 700 006, which was purchased by the union a few years back. There is a conference hall. The delegates stayed there. Circle Secretary, Comrade Animesh Mitra, stays there, far away from his Asansol home. The CEC members stayed there comfortably.
The side street leading to the union building is narrow and about 50 -60 metres. When I along with Comrade K.G.Jayaraj, General Secretary and other comrades went there in the morning, I was surprised to see that the whole lane was just like a market. Vegetable or fish market? No. It was a market selling old clothes. At least some 20-25 women were sitting on both sides of the lane displaying old clothes for sale. Many people, men and women, were bargaining and purchasing these clothes. Our local comrades told that this is not the only lane selling old clothes. A lot of lanes nearby are also old-clothes-selling markets. The women go house-to-house and collect the old clothes and bring the same to this market to sell. Many people select and buy the good ones, while unusable clothes are purchased by business people who will use it for cleaning and other purposes by recycling.
In the evening when I was returning through the same lane along with Comrade Mihir Dasgupta, Joint Secretary of the Reception Committee, it has been transformed in to almost like a work area. Men were constructing the pandals for the Puja Festival, which is fast approaching. With bamboo pieces, they were making many designs for pandals, stages and so on. It was very interesting to see even children doing expert work with great speed. I was told by Dasgupta that almost the whole year, this kind of work with bamboo pieces will continue.
At this jucture, the memory of another market came to my mind. It is the leather market near the Telephone Exchange in Agra. It is very difficult to find such a market any where else. About half a kilometre on both sides of the roads are people sitting with their merchandise. What is the merchandise? Ready-made parts of chappals, shoes etc. Some sell the soles, some, the upper portion, some decorative part, some the heel, some the front portion etc. There is heavy rush. The local cobblers come here and buy whatever parts they want to make the shoes, chappals etc. It was very interesting to watch the business going on.
Yes, people are geniuses. They find new kind of work and busineses to eke out a living. They have to somehow look after their family. They may be getting only a few rupees for their work. But they are working and that itself is the most respectable thing. I salute them for their hard work and initiative.

The State Minister for Communications & IT, Sri Milind Deora has stated in the Parliament that BSNL, MTNL and ITI together has posted a loss of Rs. 4893 crore for 2009-10. While BSNL loss is Rs.1823 crore, MTNL loss is Rs. 2611 core and ITI loss Rs 459 crore. The position of 2010-2011 is yet to be known.

The Central Executive Committee of All India BSNL DOT Pensioners Association (AIBDPA) held at Kolkatta on 18-19 August 2011 has adopted a Charter of Demands of the Pensioners and has decided to organise protest demonstrations / dharna on 19th September country-wide. The details of the decisions of the CEC will be put on the website of the AIBDPA.

The government had to bend before the strong stand of Anna Hazare. Now he has been allowed to continue his hunger strike in Ramlila Grounds with many conditions waived.
The government’s move to deny the democratic right of the people to protest peacefully has been defeated by the people through their strong and massive protest actions through out the country.
Greetings to the people who compelled the government to back from the anti-democratic and arrogant decisions.

At last the aspiration of the people pf West Bengal for an original name has been fulfilled. The state Government has decided with the full support of the opposition parties to rename W.Bengal in to Paschim Banga. The decision was announced today by the Government.
The name of W.Bengal had its own problems. W.Bengal was always in the last in the alphabetical order and last in the queue. Further just like the change of Madras in to Chennai, Bombay in to Mumbai and Calcutta in to Kolkatta, the people of W.bengal wanted a change in the name. The Left Government has initiated for the change of name and now the aspiration has been fulfilled.
Congratulations to people of Paschim Banga!

The senior citizens of the country are mostly neglected. The new single family system and the employment of youngsters away from home have made the senior citizens alone and uncared for in many instances. The worst sufferers are those in the villages and agricultural workers. They have even to work at the age of 70-80s since there is no pension for them except in few states like Kerala. There is no system for their health care. They toil their entire life and end up while toiling and uncared for. The Government is not at all caring for them.
What about he lower middle class, mainly those employed in government as also private establishments. For the government employees, pension is there. But for those who have been recruited after 01-01-2004, whether in state or central government, the pension is not the defined pension as earlier, but is Provident Fund based. The new PFRDA Bill presented in the Parliament against the strong opposition of the entire working class in the country is the road-map to reduce and finish the pension itself. Pension is treated as a waste of money by the present government.
In the case of the middle class again, the major problem is that after their sons/daughters get job, they are mostly separated since the job will be in some other cities or even in other countries. The family connections are broken. The senior citizens in the cities are a big target for the thieves, goondas etc. who can rob them easily of their life’s earnings and if resisting, kill them also. Just go through the dailies of metros like Delhi you can read robbery and murder of senior citizens almost every day, even including retired army officers.
There is no safety to the senior citizens. They are easy targets for all. The government which has to safeguard their health and well being is completely missing in the scene.
Many of the senior ministers in the Central government are senior citizens themselves. They also do not care for other senior citizens, since they may not be facing the difficulties of the ordinary old persons. But the government can not be allowed to go scot-free. A strong movement has to be started in the whole country that the senior citizens are given due considerations and are cared for.

The Convention held at Kolkata on 18th August in connection with the meeting of the Executive Committee of the All India BSNL DOT Pensioners Association (AIBDPA) was a good success. More than 500 pensioners participated in the same held in the CTO hall. All India President Com. Ananta Kr. Bhattacharjee presided. Com. Sukomal Sen inaugurated. Comrades V.A.N.Namboodiri, K.G.Jayaraj, General secretary AIBDPA and other leaders addressed. The meeting was organised by the Kolkata comrades led by Comrades Animesh Mitra, Saibal Sen Gupta, Mihir Dasgupta, Supriyo Mitra and others.
The Executive Committee will continue tomorrow, 19th August.

Country wide demonstrations, rallies, candle light rallies etc. were held all over the country protesting against the undemocratic and arrogant attitude of the Central Government in arresting and denying democratic right to protest to Anna Hazare and team. Common people are fed up with corruption at all levels and they gave big support to the cause raised by Anna.
The Left parties organised big rallies in all important centres.
Anna has refused to be released from jail unless his demands of conducting hunger strike without any conditions from the police or government is met.
The ball is in the court of the UPA Government. It is the responsibility of the government to sort out the issues and take correct decision.

In a historic order, the Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner, Raipur (Chhattisgarh) has ordered on 29th July, 2011 directing CGM, BSNL, Chhattisgarh to remit Rs.2,79,19,404 towards Employees Provident Fund arrears of Contract Workers engaged from 2004 onwards.

The case was filed in 2004 and total 89 hearings were held. Except on 12 hearings the employer (BSNL Management) had attended. The order specifically mentioned that the BSNL establishment did not Co-operate with the Enforcement Officer during his visit to the establishment and has not shown any records for inspection. The establishment has been directed to submit various statutory returns immediately after remittances of the assessed dues.

This is a historical judgement and a complete indictment of the anti-contract worker position taken by the BSNL management.