Organise massive rallies on 14th November 2018 – AUAB

Organise 14th November rallies massively, and as preparatory to the forthcoming strike.
As per the call of the AUAB, massive rallies are to be organised on 14.11.2018, demanding implementation of the assurances given by the Hon’ble Minister of State for Communications, in the meeting held with the AUAB on 24.02.2018, on the issues of 3rd pay revision, pension revision, allotment of 4G spectrum and payment of pension contribution on the actual basic pay. It must be specifically noted that, in the meeting held on 02.11.2018, between the AUAB and the Secretary, Telecom, not much progress was seen in the main demand of 3rd Pay Revision. In this connection, all leaders and comrades are requested to make note that, the AUAB has already informed the Secretary, Telecom, that, strike would be organised if the demands are not settled by 30.11.2018. Hence, all circle and district unions are requested to take every step to ensure the total participation of the Non-Executives and Executives, in the rallies to be held on 14.11.2018. It is also requested to display maximum number of banners, flex boards, etc., to attract the attention of the general public to our demands, most importantly issues related to allotment of 4G spectrum, the pro-private policies of the government, financial revival of BSNL, etc.

(BSNLEU Website)

All AIBDPA units are requested to make necessary arrangements for maximum participation of pensioners in the rally.

Kerala Chief Minister against privatisation of Airports

Com.Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister Kerala expressed his strong protest against the privatisation of six airports, including Thiruvananthapuram and demanded that the proposal be dropped. he supported the Airport Employees Union in their struggle against privatisation.

Modi Government’s Disastrous Demonetisation – Sitaram Yechury

Com. Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary CPI(M) has issued the following statement:
On the second anniversary of demonetization, the Indian economy is yet to recover from the disaster imposed on our economy and the people by Prime Minister Modi.

All the claims that it would unearth lakhs of crores of rupees of black money and end corruption have proven to be utterly false. On the contrary, with 99.4 per cent of the banned notes back in the system, it is clear that demonetization has, in fact, been the avenue to convert black money into white helping the most corrupt. On the other hand, crores of people dependent on daily cash transactions have been devastated and more than 35 lakh workers in the unorganized sector have lost their livelihood. Similarly, the SMEs have suffered a huge loss in revenue. Nor has there been any impact on terrorist activities due to funding crunch as claimed by Modi at that time. On the contrary, official data reveals that incidents of terrorist attacks have more than doubled.

The CPI(M) also condemns the shameless defence being put out by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley who is equally responsible for the mess in the Indian economy. In its ongoing campaigns across the country, CPI(M) units are taking these facts

Note ban destroyed the livelyhood of the people _ Sitaram Yechury

 

On the second anniversary of demonetisation, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury Thursday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi through note ban had “singlehandedly” destroyed the livelihood of people and the economy of the country.

The government’s demonetisation move was a disaster for the economy and the people, the CPI(M) general secretary said.

On the Modi government’s prediction that demonetisation would end black money, corruption and terminate terrorism, Yechury claimed that the Indian economy is yet to recover from the impact of note ban.

“Modi and his minions claimed demonetisation will end black money, finish corruption, terminate terrorism, and bring only digital transactions. Two years later, Modi is silent. The truth is that he singlehandedly destroyed the economy, lives and livelihoods,” he tweeted.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday made a strong defence of the note ban move, saying it resulted in formalisation of economy and increased tax base, with the government earmarking more resources for the poor and infrastructure development.

Yechury claimed that five years ago, Modi had promised Rs 15 lakh in every Indian’s bank account, but those who got huge amounts are the ones who looted banks and fled the country.

“They want you to forget that Rs 15 lakh for every Indian was promised by Modi. It was exactly five years ago. Those who got Rs 150000 lakhs are the ones who looted the banks and then were allowed to scoot from India (sic)”, the CPI (M) leader said on Twitter.

The CPI(M) polit bureau in a statement alleged that all the claims of the Modi government that demonetisation would unearth lakhs of crores of rupees of black money and end corruption have proven to be utterly false.

“On the contrary, with 99.4 per cent of the banned notes back in the system, it is clear that demonetization has, in fact, been the avenue to convert black money into white helping the most corrupt”, the party said.

The Left party also alleged that crores of people dependent on daily cash transactions have been devastated and more than 35 lakh workers in the unorganised sector have lost their livelihood.

“Nor has there been any impact on terrorist activities due to funding crunch as claimed by Modi at that time. On the contrary, official data reveals that incidents of terrorist attacks have more than doubled,”the CPI(M) said in the statement.

On the finance ministers statement, the CPI(M) alleged that he too was equally responsible for the mess in the Indian economy. (courtesy: Ganashakti)

NPA increase, Banks become loss making

The neo-liberal policies being implemented by the central government as also the corporate bias has increased the Non-Performing Assets(NPA), the loans not returned (mainly by the corporates and big business), more than double during the last 4 financial years, drifting the banks in to loss making instead of profitable as earlier. The details of the NPA and loss to the banks are given below:

NPA: 2014-15 = Rs. 4.37 lacs 2015-16 = 6.97 lacs 2016-17 = 8.40 lacs 2017-18 = 10.36 lacs

Profit / loss. 2014-15 = Rs. 37,534 crore profit 2015-16 = Rs. 17,990 crore loss 2016-17 = Rs. 11,369 crore loss 2017-18 = Rs. 87,356 crore loss.

The demonetisation, banks-merger, taking over the surplus amount with the banks by the government etc. are also responsible for the loss. Now the government has asked the RBI to hand over about Rs. 3 lakh crore (more than one third of RBI’s total balance) to the central government. To weaken and close the PSU banks and favour the private banks is the policy of the central government. It has to be resisted and defeated.

Congratulations! Kerala Government appoints committee reg. restoration of defined statutory pension.

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Com. Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister led Kerala LDF government has appointed a high level committee to look in to the restoration of the defined statutory pension for its employees, which was converted to New Pension Scheme (NPS) by the UDF government in 2013. The committee with Shri. Sathish Chandrababu, former District Judge (Chairman) and Shri.P.Marapandian, Former Additional Chief Secretary and Shri. D.Narayana, Director, Gulathi Institute of Finance and Taxation as members is asked to submit its report within six months. Though the Central Government passed the PFRDA Act and implemented NPS for its employees, the then Left Front Governments in Kerala, W.Bengal and Tripura did not implement the anti-worker-pensioner Scheme. However, the UDF government in Kerala implemented NPS, despite strong opposition from the employees and their organisations.

The central and state government employees under the leadership of the Confederation of CG Employees, and All India State Government Employees Federation have declared two days strike on 8-9 January 2019 demanding cancellation of PFRDA and restoration of defined statutory pension. The entire central trade unions are in support of the demand.

The LDF in Kerala has given  election assurance that it will restore defined statutory pension. It is as part of this fulfilling of the promise that LDF government has appointed the committee.

Hearty Congratulations to the Pinarayi Government for this pro-worker decision!

Privatisation of 6 more Airports

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All the airports in the country were under the government managed by the Airport Authority of India. As part of the new economic policy and so called liberalisation, the biggest and most revenue earning airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hydeabad and Kochi were handed over to private companies. The proposal to privatise Kolkatta and Chennai could not be implemented due to strong protests by the people and employees.

The privatisation under PPP ( Public Private Participation) is justified, that it will improve operation, management and development and the AAI / Government has not sufficient funds. This is only a lame excuse. The real intention is to hand over these airports to privatise to accumulate their wealth and make huge profits. Though some improvements are made, which AAI can also do efficiently, the charges for all services in the privatised airports have gone sky high with prices of coffee, tea, tiffins, meals as also prices of other commodities. While coffee/tea are available at nominal prices in the AAI controlled Kolkatta and Chennai airports, the passenger has to pay more than double of that amount in Mumbai and Delhi. Further, the corporates are getting huge rents for the buildings in and around the airports, which naturally would have been that of AAI.

Now, the Central Cabinet has decided to privatise six more profit earning Airports viz. Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Thiruvananthapuram and Mangaluru. The profit of AAI will further be reduced due to this decision. After some time, it will be only loss making airports under the operation of the AAI.

This privatisation of airports has to be resisted and defeated in the interests of the people, the passengers and the employees.

Delhi Air Pollution reaches dangerous levels.

The pollution in Delhi is increasing further making it difficult for the people. State government is taking many measures, but the situation is becoming graver. A morning photo of the city.

Statues and Statues!

It seems that the NDA / BJP government at the centre and in the states are in competition to construct huge statues. The 182 metre high Statue of Sardar Vallabhai Patel was inaugurated by the Prime Minister a few days back. Now Chief Minister, U.P. Yogi Adityanath has declared that he will construct a statue of Ram with 151 metres high. Many leaders may be thinking of constructing their own statues! (Mayavati and some others have done it earlier).

When the country is facing grim financial crisis and the prices are rising almost every day furthering the misery of the people, this huge amounts for construction of statues should have been used for the benefit of the people. Of course nobody will be against honouring the leaders of the country, but such huge expenditure can not be borne by the country.
It is also to be noted that when Kerala has faced unprecedented floods,landslides etc and has suffered a loss of more than Rs. 40,000 crores, the central government has only given help of Rs. 600 crore only.

All India Conference of BSNLEU at Mysuru from 17th to 20th December 2018.

It has been informed that the All India Conference of BSNL Employees Union, the mighty organisation of BSNL employees, will be held at Mysuru (Karnataka) from 17th to 20th December 2018. The Reception Committee at Mysuru led by Com. C.K.Gundanna, Circle Secretary Karnataka along with his team are working day and night to make the AIC a big success.