Hindu has reported today that Delhi Metro had more than 20 lakh travellers on 12th August, the maximum so far. Within a few years of starting, the Metro has become the best travelling mode of the Delhites.
In 1991, when I had come to Delhi to take charge as the President of the All India Telecom Employees Union Class III and started staying at Dada Ghosh Bhawan, the CHQ of the union, the situation was very difficult. Almost every working day Comrade Moni Bose, who was the General Secretary of the Union and myself had to go to the Sanchar Bhawan, the office of the Department of Telecom, to meet the officers and discuss the issues of the workers. For some time we were going by an old car, but we had to abandon the same due to continued breakdowns. The only way was bus and autoriksha. Due to heavy rush, it was difficult even to get in to the bus. The next alternative was auto-riksha. The buses as well as the auto-rikshas were very old and dirty since there was no daily washing or cleaning. Before getting in to the auto-riksha you have to bargain with the driver who will demand very high fare. Many will pass away, before you get the chance to get in to an auto. And on the way ten to fifteen minutes, the auto may stop due to break-down. Some repair and then start again. The roads were badly polluted due to smoke coming out of the buses and autos. When coming back from Sanchar Bhawan it was more difficult to get bus or auto. Usually we had to wait for more than one hour to get any conveyance. The traffic jam was so much that it took more than one hour for the journey. It was really a torture every day to go to Sanchar Bhawan and return.
After the Metro has come, the entire situation has changed. Now it takes only 10 to 15 minutes to travel the entire distance by Metro. It is air-conditioned and neat. Of course, in the peak hour there is rush, but tolerable. The Metro is a boon to the people. The Delhi Metro has got six lines with 197 km distance. More lines are bein constructed. And the main credit goes to the Chief of the Metro Shri Sridharan.

13th August 1947 is a very important and historic day for the entire P and T Trade Union movement. It was on this day that the Union of Posts and Telegraph Workers (UPTW) was formed at a special conference of the then existing three All India Unions viz. All India Postal and RMS Union, Indian Posts and Telegraph Union and Indian Telegraph Association held at New Delhi.
The P and T movement started in the first decade of the 20th century. The Telegraph Workers were organised by Henry Barton who formed the Indian Telegraph Union and led it till his death. Babu Tarapada Mukherjee formed the Calcutta Postal Club, which later became the All India Postal and RMS Union. Indian Posts and Telegraph Union was another union organised. These three unions merged and formed the UPTW with N.M.Joshi as President, Dr. G.Noronha as Vice-President and M.A.Jabbar and O.P.Gupta as Joint General secretaries. Unfortunately another organisation, All India Postal and Lower Grade Staff Union led by V.G.Dalvi kept out of the united organisation in the last moment.
The experience of the I Central Pay Commission in 1946, the necessity of united working together for a better deal from the then British Government and the historic strike of the Postal employees in 1946 – all these created a favourable situation for the merger. Probably the oncoming independence of the country also might have influenced the leaders. Thus, 2 days before India got Independence, UPTF was formed as the united trade union of the P and T Employees.
It took another seven years to amalgamate all the other unions and form the National Federation of Post and Telegraphs Employees which was on 24th November 1954 which continued till 1985 before bifurcating as NFPE and NFTE after the bifurcation of the P and T Department.
On this 64th anniversary of UPTW, all of us have to remember the sacrifices and struggles organised by our earlier leaders which improved the condition of the P and T workers and made them one of the best organised union in the country.

13th August has got another importance. It was on this day in 1970 that K.G.Bose and A.S.Rajan were elected as the President and General Secretary of the NFPTE in the Vijayawada Federal Council, defeating the revisionist group led by O.P.Gupta and D.Gnaniah. For the first time, in NFPTE a worker president was elected. Till that time all the presidents were trade union leaders, who were not from P and T. The election of K.G.Bose, the revolutionary leader as President of NFPTE, started another glorious chapter of the P and T Trade union movement.

At present companies having 20 or more workers have to implement the Employees Provident Fund (EPF)Scheme to the workers. The Central Trade Unions have been demanding that it should be made applicable to companies with less number of workers also.
Now the Labour Minister Mallikarjun Khare has told the Parliament that the Government is examining the proposal to make the EPF applicable to the companies employing 10 or more workers. This will benefit a large number of workers,if implemented.

It is reported that the government has taken a serious note of the poor returns on the EPFO fund, from the Fund Managers dealing with the Funds.
The Employees Provident Fund organisation has got about 4.72 crore subscribers and about Rs. 30,000 crore are added every month through the subscriptions. These funds are allocated to the Fund Managers, mainly banks etc, which will have to give good returns so that the subscribers can get benefit out of the same.
In 2008 35% Fund was allocated to SBI, 25% to ICICI Securities and 20% each to Reliance Capital and HSBC. The period is for three years and the the same has ended by March 31st of this year. While ICICI earned 8.72%, HSBC earned 8.64%, SBI 8.61% and reliance 8.57%. This is less than the 9.5% interest granted to the subscribers by the EPFO and hence insufficient.
Further, there is the danger of earning very less returns and also loss sometimes according to the market variations. That is why the workers have been opposing the utilisation of the Pension Fund for the market purposes. It is the hard earned money of the workers and can not be allowed to be misused by the corporates.

A modest initiative has been taken by BSNL to utilise solar power for the mobile towers which will be most suitable in rural areas and villages where the electricity has not even reached. In Alwar District of Rajasthan such solar-powered moblie towers have now been installed. The Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) which funds such rural and village projects has certificated the use of solar-powered towers. The towers are installed on contract with Vihaan Networks Ltd which has developed the new towers.

Since November 2010 when the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) was introduced allowing mobile subscribers to change the service providers without changing their number, about one crore thirty lakh ( 13 million )subscribers have utilised the facility.
While some telecos have benefitted, BSNL and MTNL, the public PSUs have lost lakhs of connections, since the port-ins were less and the port-outs were more.
Serious effort on the part of the management and workers of BSNL is required to make a turn about from the present situation.

A good number of cine stars have been lime-lighted in the recent past not for their glamour or acting, but for the wrong reasons. It is mainly for avoiding payment of taxes to the government.
Income-Tax Department has raided the houses and offices of two super-stars in Kerala viz. Mohan Lal and Mammootty and it is reported that more than Rs. 30 crore undeclared income has been confiscated. In addition, it is also reported that money has been deposited in foreign banks. Antiques are also found, the values of which are yet to be assessed.
A few days back, Film producer Ekta Kapoor was detained at Mumbai Airport for undeclared branded goods and she was let off only after paying Rs.53,000 as penalty.Earlier also cine-actors Manisha Lamba, Bipasha Basu, Anushka Sharma and others have been caught and penalised for unaccounted cash and goods.
Legal proceedings were initiated against actor Salman Khan for hunting in the government forest, which got much adverse publicity.
Why are these cinema icons who have got large number of fans cheat the country and the government and earn a bad name. They should be models for the people and not law-breakers.

While most of the ministries of the Central Government are in the path of non-governance, there is one Department which is working 365 X 24 hours non-stop. It is the Department of Disinvestment, very close to the hearts of the Trimurtis ie. Manmohan Singh, Chidmabarm and Ahluwalia, PM, former FM and Chairman Planning Commission. The latest decision of the government is the disinvestment of National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC) up to 10%. NBCC is at present having 100% government shares.
In the latest recession in the global market, the Government of India seems to be preparing to reduce the crisis by moping up money through selling the family silver. There is no doubt that resistance will come from the workers of the above PSU against disinvestment.

The propaganda by the vested interests that the Central PSUs are inefficient and are mostly loss-making is exposed as incorrect and ill motivated.While answering a question in the Parliament on Thursday, 11th August, Praful Patel, Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises told the house that in 2009-10, 158 PSUs earned profit while another 59 PSUs posted loss. More than 70% of the PSUs are earning profit, despite the anti-PSU policy of the Government.

While the number of ministers in the Central Government have been increasing year after year, the Central Government is taking a step-motherly attitude in posting the justified CMDS and Directors in the Central PSUs. As per the reply given in the Parliament by Praful Patel, Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, it was stated that ONGC, Coal India Ltd., Hindustan Photo Films, Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited, SVJN Limited, Fertilisers and Chemicals (Travancore) Ltd.,TCIL, Central Electronics Ltd., National Projects Construction Company Ltd. are headless at present.
In the same way posts of 60 Directors in the various PSUs are not filled for years. In BSNL, the important post Director (Finance) is vacant for more than 3 years. Other two posts are also vacant. The indecision and delay in posting the CMDs and Directors are adversely affecting the functioning of these PSUs. Probably, the intention of the government itself may be the same. The Govenment should be compelled to fill up these posts urgently.