14 Saturday Mar 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
A 9 feet statue of Mahatma Gandhi has been unveiled at Parliament Square London. Well and Good! The British rulers can now see every day the Mahatma who defeated them through non-violence with the support of crores of people of India. Gandhiji stands near Winston Churchil who called him ‘The Half- Naked Fakir’.
14 Saturday Mar 2015
Posted in BSNL - Better Service to the Nation, BSNL News
The Minister for Communications, Ravi Shankar Prasad has ruled out privatisation of BSNL and MTNL. A PTI report is given below:
New Delhi, Mar 13 : Government today ruled out privatisation of BSNL and MTNL even as it admitted that the two state-run telecom service providers were not in the pink of their health.
Responding to a supplementary during the Question Hour in Rajya Sabha, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, said the intention of the government was to bring them back to profitability.
“The financial health of MTNL and BSNL are not in good shape. There are several reasons for this which I want to discuss in the House in greater detail one day. However, we will make them healthy,” he said.
Prasad also said that the two erstwhile profit-making entities have been incurring losses for some years and one of the reasons for their downfall could be traced into the way these were “forced to function in those days”.
“We need to improve health of these two companies. There is no attempt to privatise them,” he said, adding that 25,000 mobile towers are being installed by BSNL and MTNL to improve their services.
To another question, Prasad said the telecom subscribers base in the country is set to touch one billion mark soon from 97.9 crore as on December-end. Regarding mobile tariff, he said service providers have the flexibility to offer different tariff schemes depending on the market conditions and other commercial considerations. (PTI)
What is required from the Minister is not assurances and declarations; It is action and honouring of assurances and fulfilling them. BSNL and MTNL will bounce back if that is done.
14 Saturday Mar 2015
Posted in India Left
Kolkata, Mar 10 Calling upon Left, progressive and secular forces to unite for fighting the twin menance of ‘communal’ BJP and ‘corrupt’ Trinamool Congress, the CPI-M today noted that ever since the BJP came to power, RSS and Hindutva forces became active in India and Bengal.
In a draft resolution placed in the 24th CPI(M) state conference, the party stated, “……RSS and Hindutva forces are trying to divide the country on communal lines. The BJP and RSS in Bengal are also trying to destroy the Secular fabric of the state, which has been safeguarded and nourished by the Left in the last 34 years.”
The resolution also stated that it was due to the commual politics and policies pursued by the TMC government that the RSS, BJP were gaining ground in the state.
14 Saturday Mar 2015
Posted in General, Obituary, Tributes
Today, 14th March 2015, is the 132 death anniversary of Karl Marx, the greatest philosopher and revolutionary the world has ever seen. He died on 14th April 1883 at his London residence.
The Communist Manifesto authored by him and Frederic Engels remains the basis of the Communist movement in the world. The Capital four volumes written by Karl Marx analyses in detail the development of the society and the capitalist system in particular.
After the collapse of the USSR in the last decades of 20th century, the captains of capitalism declared that Communism and Marx have become irrelevant. But the crises in 2007 and afterwards made them think once again. According to a recent report, more and more people are reading Marx.
The human society has always moved forward, though sometimes for a brief period, it might have been stagnant or gone backward. The move from Capitalism to Communism is bound to happen, though it may take time. History has proven the inevitability of change.
Twice I got the opportunity to pay homage directly at the cemetery of Karl Marx in London. On this death anniversary of Karl Marx, I pay my respectful homage!
Red Salute to Karl Marx!
13 Friday Mar 2015
Posted in General
NO PROPOSAL UNDER CONSIDERATION OF THE GOVERNMENT TO CURTAIL THE PUBLIC HOLIDAYS FOR GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES
No Curtailing of Public Holidays
As per the existing policy, the Central Government Administrative Offices observe up to 17 holidays in a year on specified occasions which consist of 3 National Holidays (on 26th January, 15th August and 2nd October) and 14 other holidays to celebrate festivals of different regions/religion in a diverse country like India.
At present there is no proposal under consideration of the Government to curtail the public holidays for government employees.
This was stated by the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in Prime Minister’s office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri S. Thangavelu in the Rajya Sabha today
13 Friday Mar 2015
Posted in General
Tags
| The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the Chandy government’s use of police to brutally attack LDF MLAs inside the assembly and against the public outside the assembly premises. LDF MLAs and the people were protesting demanding that Finance Minister, K.M. Mani should not place the budget as there is a vigilance probe against him which was instituted by the UDF government on allegations of corruption.
As many as 20 MLAs have been seriously injured in the attack with some being admitted to the ICU. The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) warns the UDF government to heed to the voice of the people. Such attempts to stifle democratic protests by the people and their representatives will not be tolerated. The P.B. calls upon the people to strongly voice their protest against this brutal attack on democratic rights by the UDF government.
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13 Friday Mar 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
Minister of Shipping Nitin Gadkari has assured the Federations in the Port and Dock Sector that on corporatisation, there will be no retrenchment or privatization. The Minister was on a visit to Kochi, where me met them.
It was exactly this kind of assurance with financial help etc. that was given to the Federations in Department of Telecom, when Service section of DOT was corporatised in to BSNL. But it is well known to every body that the government violated all the assurances and tried to disinvest, privatise and also impose VRS. It was only the united struggle of the workers that defeated the anti-worker decisions of the government.
The Ports and Dock Federations are fully aware of the evil designs of the government and will see that the anti-worker moves are defeated. The entire working class will give solidarity and support.
13 Friday Mar 2015
Rajya Sabha yesterday, 12th March 2015, passed the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill 2015, increasing FDI in Insurance Sector from 26% to 49%. The Congress and NDA shamelessly supported the bill and allowed it to pass in the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling party is in a minority. The amendments moved by the Left Parties, which strongly opposed the bill, were defeated jointly by the NDA and UPA.
The Corporates and MNCs were jubilant and expressed their happiness that the Modi Government has passed the bill. According to some of them, more than Rs. 20,000 crore foreign funds are expected after the passing of the bill.
But the sinister fact is that the entire insurance sector, where there is big profit, is going to be taken away by foreign finance. Serious attack will come on the PSU insurance companies. The present subscriber satisfaction will come down.
The Insurance workers have organised a s complete strike on 9th March against the bill, which was a complete success. They are sure to continue the struggle to save the Insurance Sector. Our full support and solidarity to them.
Sustained struggles are required to defeat the anti-working class policies of the government.
13 Friday Mar 2015
Posted in BSNL - Better Service to the Nation, BSNLEU
Tags
The Forum of BSNL Unions and Associations has issued notice to the CMD, BSNL and Secretary DOT with copies to the Communications Minister, Labour Minister and Chief labour Commissioner. The 20 point demands mainly are issues connected with the Revival of BSNL and a better service to the people. Support of the people is very much necessary for the success of our struggle. It is for this purpose Forum has decided for the Signature Campaign. Our workers should go to the people, explain why BSNL is coming down, what actions are to be taken, what the government has to do etc. etc.
The signature collected so far in only about one-fourth of the required that is one crore. Out of this 25 lakhs, it is mainly from four- five circles like Kerala, T.Nadu, A.P., Karnataka, W.Bengal, Kolkata etc. Almost all circles have given the signatures, but it is far less than the quota to complete crore target.
Circle Secretaries of all unions/associations should immediately start, if not started so far, to organise these programmes in their respective SSAs and collect maximum signature and send to the headquarters or to me direct
SAVE BSNL – SAVE NATION
13 Friday Mar 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
According by the value of assts, BSNL is the No.10 company in the whole country, including private companies. This is stated in the Parliament by Arun Jaitley, Finance minister to a question raised in this respect.
The companies as per value of assets are given below:
REFERRED TO IN PART (a) OF THE REPLY TO RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1328 ANSWERED ON TUESDAY, THE 10th MARCH, 2015 Table : Names of top-ten companies, by value of assets, in descending order, as on 31.03.2014 S.No. Name of the Company Value of Assets (in Rs. Crore) 1 Reliance Industries Limited 3,67,583.00 2 Indian Oil Corporation Limited 2,52,413.78 3 Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited 2,25,757.39 4 Power Finance Corporation Limited 1,94,164.10 5 NTPC Limited 1,79,554.18 6 Rural Electrification Corporation Limited 1,52,852.90 7 Power Grid Corporation of India Limited 1,39,589.07 8 LIC Housing Finance Ltd 95,777.02 9 Steel Authority of India Limited 91,961.89 10 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited 89,333.44 Total of top ten companies 17,88,986.76 Source : MCA21 database.
The Government should ensure that BSNL, which is one of the biggest companies with a very asset value, should be strengthened and made viable.
