The joint executive committee meeting of the JAC unions held today, 12th June 2011 at Calicut discussed in detail and decided day to day plans for reviewing the advance made during the “Customer Delight Month” and improve the services further. I was present and gave the detailed guidelines as decided by the National JAC.
Workers are now very much enthused about the JAC initiative. The comrades who spoke gave various suggestions for improvement and development.

This week I shifted my residence to a new flat at Calicut purchased by my son. The old house where we were staying beore I shifted to Delhi in 1991 has got a lot of repair to do.I shifted in 1991, my wife after retirement came to Delhi in 2003. In between our son and daughter have already left for UK and Bangalore respectively in connection with their job and settled there after marriage. There was nobody in the house for the last eight years, except the family of a comrade, who is staying with his family in the upstairs portion.

Due to busy union schedules, I was not able to come to Calicut even once in a year sometimes. I used to stay in IQ since the house was in disorder. Recently, when I came to stay at Calicut, the house was completely in disarray with a lot of repair to do. In the ground floor where we used to stay,many doors were damaged, all the wooden almirahs have been eaten by white ants, the store room was completely captured by them. The toilets were not usable, the geiser and washing machine were out of order. The gas stove was not working. The entrie electrical fittings have to be repaired. Corporation water supply was stopped. The mosaic floor was completely spoiled. However, all of a surprise, the fridge was working. The leaves from the nearby trees had accumulated on the roof, which may gradually result in leakage. The house looked very shabby. Staying there was almost impossible.

BUt fortunately my son has purchased a flat on loan and the work was almost over by the time. We thought that we will shift there. After consultation with our comrades we decided to shift to the unfurnished flat. The first thing was to install the fans and lights. Water supply was already there. The kitchen has got to be furnished. The stove to be purchased. Toilets to be equipped with geiser. One after another these were got done.
Next was the shifting of furniture, utensils, large number of books, almirrahs and what not ? There were clothes, of couse old, but useful. It required many days to pack all these things and shift to the new flat. I alnoe could not do much. Our Comrades, Balu, Prabhakaran, Punnassery and Damodaran helped much My nephew Dinesh looked after every matter and arranged things. So eventhough half furnished, My wife and myself shifted to the flat. I do not know how we managed all these. In fact it was our comrades and relatives who made it possible. My thanks to them for this help and guidance.
Now the major repair to the old house has got to be done. Day after tomorrow, I have to start for Delhi. This has to be entrusted to another person. Of course my brother’s son, Dinesh will look after and arrange for the repair etc. I only have to suggest what things are to be done.

I experienced how much it is difficult to shift. However it was a good experience. A rewarding experience indeed.

The First War of Indpendance, or the Sepoy Mutiny as the Britishers called it started on 10 May 1857 at Meerut. The fight continued for months. Delhi fell at the advance of the Indian Sepoys. The fight continued for months. Rani Lakshmi Bai, Tandia Topi and all the great leaders of the war of Independance fell one after another. They could not match the highly developed armaments of the British.And there were traitors.
But this 1857 war gave waves through out the world that the Indian people have raised their swords against the Britishers. Within another 100 years, India got independance.

The young generation of Central Govt./BSNL employees may not know how and when they started getting bonus. Many employees may be thinking that the Bonus was being paid since independance. But the facts are entirely different. it was due to the historic 22 days strike of the Railway workers and a section of Central Government employees in 1974.

As in the present times the Congress government in the 1970s ( no alliance government) were bringing anti-worker acts and rules one after another. Continuous agitations were organised by the working class. It was at this time, on 8th May 1974 that the Railway workers and a section of the Confederation of Central Govt. Employees & workers (O.P.Gupta & company opposed the strike and did not participate.)went on an indefinite strike demanding that bonus shpould be paid. Till that time bonus was not being paid to CG and Railway employees. Condeferation under the leadership of SK Vyas, NJ Iyer, Adi and others gave call for the strike which was participated by many including the entire circles of Kerala, W.Bengal etc. The strike continued for 22 days by the Railway workers. Thousand were arrested, jailed, dismissed, suspended etc. At last the strike was called off in the face of the brutal repression.

But no strike is in vain. When the Congrees was defeated in 1977 and the Janatha Government came, orders were issued granting for the first time, bonus to the Railway workers. Confederation gave a call for strike and the Government gave orders for payment of bonus to CG employees also. It is how the Railways & other CG Employees achieved bonus.

In the 1974 strike many comrades like me were also arrested, suspended and charge sheets issued. It is through such sustained struggles that we got bonus.

Press Conference was organised by the Kerala Circle Joint Committee of Action at Calicut Press club on 9th May 2011. In addition to myself as the Convener, National JAC, K.Mohanan, Circle Secretary BSNLEU & Circle Convener JAC, Purushothaman, District Convener, JAC and Circle & District Secretaries of SNEA, AIBSNLEA, BSNLEU, BSNLMS and others were present.

I presented in the Press Conference a background of the formation of BSNL as also the reasons for the present situation of loss to company, like anti-PSU policy of the government, the inept management and the casual attitude of the workers to the service and the development. JAC had discussed all these issues and has decided to observe May 2011 as “Customer Delight Month” by improving the services as also increasing the mobile and landline connections. The entire target of the programme was explained. The questions raised by the media persons were answered effectively.

In all the English and Malayalam papers, the news have been published in a very effective way. The media appreciated the initiative taken by the JAC. It is also significant that Kerala Circle has been in the front position with regard to development etc. The people are also in support of the PSUs.

I met the Shri Muraleedharan GM Calicut District along with the leaders of the state & District JAC and discussed the issues of development and service problems and discussed the same. The discussion was very positive. He assured all support.

In Kerala the the JAC call is being implemented effectively.

Kerala Circle, as usual, is in the forefront in implementing the call for implementation of the “Customer Delight Month” called by the JAC.

I had personally seen the active preparation of the JAC in this respect. On 6th May, a meeting of the executive members of the unions of the JAC was held at Ernakulam KG Bose Mandiram. The Circle Presidents and Circle secretaries of the JAC affiliates were in the dais. I was given the opportunity to inaugurate the meeting. I spoke about the background of the JAC decision to improve the services and improve the financial position of the company.The anti-PSU policy of the government has to be changed, the management should take responsibility to effectively run the commpany and the executives and non-executives will have to go extra mile to give services to the people, I told the meeting. The methood of successfully implementing the month was also explained.K.Mohanan, Convener, Circle JAC and other leaders spoke.There were some doubts which were also cleared.

Already Kerala JAC had met the CGM and others and committees involving both management and JAC have also been formed to implement and monitor the progress. I appreciated the work done by the comrades on behalf of the National JAC

Mangalore has always been a strong hold of the BSNLEU. In fact, it was one of the centres of the progressive forces in the union in NFPTE and NFTE. The Divisional Conference of the Mangalore SSA was held on 4th May at Managalore with the District Executive committee meeting on 3rd May. The conference was well attended and new office bearers were elected unanimously with Venugopalan Nambiar and Balakrishnan Nair as President and Dist. Secretary respectively. There was a very good seminar on ‘Financial viability of BSNL’ adressed by the union leaders and officers.
Inaugurating the seminar CK Gundanna, Circle Secretary and myself spoke about the need to revitalise the services and our tasks on that front. This was appreciated by everybody. The administration representatives also echoed the same opinions. It was a good seminar.

Today, on 4th May, 212 years back, Tippu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore fell down in the battle of Srirangapatam, his last battle against the British. Tippu Sultan was the arch enemy and obstruction for the British in increasing their territory. Many battles were won by Tippu Sultan with and without the help of the French. And the British with their superior arms and striking power defeated and killed Sultan in the last encounter. His family including children were taken captive and killed. The treasures and all valuables were looted by the victors and taken to Britain. You can see a lot of these in the British Museum.

The history is written by the victor. And here it was the British. They twisted the history and put the sultan in bad light. BUt now every Indian has understood how this great ruler fought to keep his domain free with out surrendering to the foreigners.

India should demand to the UK government to send back all the items of Tippu Sultan they have looted from India. It is part of the historic fight of the Indian people for independance of their country.

Today I got an opportunity to meet an old comrade who has been sick and confined to his home. I am really happy that I could meet him and talk for some time.

I reached Mangalore today (4th Many 2011) morning from Banagalore. I was invited to participate and inaugurate the District Conference of BSNLEU at Managalore. After the morning session was over I got the opportunity to go and meet P.Appaji, who was the Asst. General Secretary of AITEE Union Class III(N) and is now retired from service. He was suffering from some rare disease and was hospitalised for a few months. He had to take many very costly injections ( one injection costing more than one lakh rupee) and is now at his home about 80 kms from Mangalore. Along with my wife and GB Salakki, AGS BSNLEU and P.Mukundan, Circle Org. Secretary, we went to this place near Brahmavaram after Udupi, about eighty kms from Mangalore. The place was forest earlier and now people have started staying clearing the forest.

We reached the residence of Appaji after enquiring to many people. Appaji aftr retirement has purchased some land with the retirement money and has shifted there. He is interested in agriculture and has started a small rubber plantation, some arecanuts, coconuts etc. When we reached there he was sitting in a chair outside the house. He was lean and pale due to illness. He was so happy to see all of us. His wife and elder son was also there. After the injection course and treatment he is better, but still very weak. He wanted to know about many things connected with union activities. We talked for a long time and had tea and idly. I honourd him by putting a shawl on his shoulders. And we came back quickly.

I was happy to meet him after a very long time. He had worked in HQ and sacrificed much for the organisation. Even now he wants to know about union matters and other developments. Many of our comrades are dedicated like that. They love the union above all things. This is the stregth of our union. Thousands of such dedicated workers and leaders we have got. I thank them and greet them for their concern for the union and their selfless service in the cause of the workers.

As desired by the JAC, a meeting was held between the JAC leaders and the R.K.Upadhyay, new CMD BSNL along with other Directors and top management. The JAC programme of “Customer Delight Month” was much appreciated by the management and the CMD assured full co-operation with the JAC in improving the services. Details of the discussion will be published in BSNLEU website: http://www.bsnleuchq.com