I was going through the minutes of the Federal Council Meeting of  NFPTE held at Madras from 27th December 1963 to 1st January 1964, for preparing my book on ” P&T Trade Union Movement”. I was surprised to see the thoroughness of the proceedings of the Council, which was reported in the P&T Labour, the organ of NFPTE, It was a full 14 pages, with copies of Resolutions in extra pages.

The report mentions in detail the entire proceedings, including the names of the participants and what they spoke in brief. The agenda items were taken one after another and those who wanted to speak, spoke on the subject and decisions taken. The participants who spoke expressed their opinion clearly and forthright and did not hesitate to criticize the leaders, if necessary.  The discussions included on many issues of common interest like price rise etc.

As usual, Communications Minister, Chairman P&T Board and other  top departmental officers attended and spoke.

The name of all the 79 Federal Councillors, including Secretary General NFPTE and General Secretaries of affiliated unions were mentioned.

Even the time of start of the meeting and when it was adjourned, when again started, all information are there. A thorough report, reading of which we will be able to understand the union, its demands, its policy etc.

Another interesting fact was the number of Greetings and Good Wishes received by the Federation from various international organisations, trade unions in India, political and trade union leaders. The Home Minister, Finance Minister, Labour Minister, Communications Minister, Shipping Minister (former Communications Minister), PTTI, ICFTU, trade unions from Manila, Japan, London, America, USSR, Yugoslavia, Germany, AITUC, UTUC, Confederation, AIDEF, Audit & Accounts, S.M.Banerjee M.P., K.Anandan Nambiar M.P., Subhadra Joshi M.P., Diwan Chand Sharma M.P., Hare Krishna Mehtab, M.P. and many others have sent Greetings for the Federal Council, which were also published.

The election was unanimous this time. But in the earlier Federal Council meetings, when contest had taken, the name of the contestants, the vote they had received were also mentioned.

A question naturally will arise. But how all these can be published in a monthly journal which has limited pages? The answer is simple. The P&T Labour used to have about 40 to 60 pages with small letters. ( Think about the time spent on manual composing and proof reading for so many pages!)

NFPTE was a model organisation in all aspects.  That is why no rival organisation could come up for a long time.