The interest for 2014-15 for the 8 crore and odd EPF subscribers will proabably be decided today, 25 August, in the scheduled meeting of the EPFO Trustees.
Last year the intetest was 8.75%, while .the Central TUs demanded for 9. 5%. There will be strong protests from the workers if it is less than the demand of 9.5%.

Handing over the family silver seems to be the main target of the NDA/BJP Government. It is reported that the Finance Ministry  and Department of Disinvestment are on the move to sell shares of most profitable PSUs. According to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the government proposes to garner Rs. 58,425 crore by sale of PSUs in 2014-15. The disinvestment is proposed in ONGC, Coal India, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd., HAL, SAIL, NHPC, Power Finance Corporation etc. which are highly profitable PSUs.
The UPA Government sold PSU shares for Rs.13,384 crore in 3011-12, Rs.23,957 crore in 2012-13 and Rs. 15,280 in 2013-14. These were below the targets of Rs.40,000 crore, Rs. 30,000 crore and Rs. 40,000 crore respectively.
The govt. is also on the move to hand over certain PSUs to strategic partners as was done in the case of VSNL.
BSNL workers defeated the govt.’s move for disinvestment twice earlier. Now that BSNL is not on profit, the issue remains in the back ground. But the threat exists.

The casual and contract workers engaged in BSNL are organising Dharna on 26 August on the Demands included in their Charter of Demands.
BSNLEU and AIBDPA have given full support and solidarity.
Comrades, make the programme a complete success with your participation.

The Competition Commission has ordered a total penalty of Rs.2,545 crores on 14 car companies for unfair business practices in the sale of spare parts. The companies penalised include major car makers like Maruti, Tata, Ford, Mahindra, Hindustan Motors, Nissan, BMW, Mercedes Benz etc.
Cheating both the Government and the people at the same time has become the system for the corporates to maximise their profits. They also exploit the workers.
The government is fully aware of the cheating, but is not prepared to take  action. They all belong to the same ruling classes.

The Supreme Court today stated that all the 194 coal mining rights distribution allocated between 1993 and 2010 are illegal and asked to examine all these allocations since 1992. Except 39, all other allocations were made by the UPA Government.
The Coal Gate scam was revealed after the CAG gave its report stating that the government lost Rs. 1.83 lakhs due to illegal coal block allocations. The SC order has once again focussed on this loot of the country’s natural resources.

The Supreme Court in a recent judgement has held that a woman employee of Central Govt. can take uninterrupted leave for two years for child care, which also includes needs like examination and sickness.
The judgement was delivered by a Bench of Justices S.J.Mukhopadhyaya and V.Gopala Gowda setting aside an order of the Calcutta High Court which held that CCS(Leave) Rules do not permit uninterrupted Child Care Leavr for 730 days (2 years).
This judgement will benefit many women employees.

The death of Subhas Chandra Bose, the revolutionary freedom fighter, Supreme Commander of Indian National Army, and former President of the Indian National Congress still continues to be  mystery.
He is stated to have died in a plane crash on 18 August 1945 at Taihoku, Formosa (now Taiwan) along with some other passengers. The Japenese reported his death on 23rd August. According to them, his ashes are kept in a golden pagoda. A statue of Bose is also erectrd in the Renkoji Temple Tokyo where the ashes are kept.
But many people do not believe this. They maintained for a  long time that Bose is alive and is in India. But no proof could be found. Indian Govt. appointed three committees, one after another, but the mystery remains in the minds of people. It still remains a very sensitive issue.
Whether alive or dead, Subhas Chandra Bose was a fiery patriotic who was ready to use any means for the freedom of the country.

The NDA government at the centre has hardly completed three months, but is already on an aggressive mood to curtail and restrict the rights of the workers to suit to the requirements of the corporates and employers.
The Factories (Amendment) Bill 2014 and The Apprentices (Amendment) Bill 2014 have aleady been moved in Lok Sabha in the last session which make onslaught on the existing rights of the workers. The govt. has also brought back The Labour Laws (Exemption from  Furnishing Returns Maintaining Registers by Certain Establishments (Amendment) Bill 2011 which the UPA government had moved earlier.
The BJP government in Rajasthan has already passed  anti-worker amendments to three existing laws viz. Industrial Disputes Act, Factories Act and Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition Act).
These amendments not only takes away the existing rights of workers to organise but also allow the employers out of many of their responsibilities. About 70 % of workers will become out of the  provisions of the labour laws, creating a ‘hire and fire’ situation putting the workers at the mercy of the employers. This is being done to maximise the profits of the corporates and big business who have liberally donated to the election funds of the ruling class parties.
The united movement of the working class, under the Central Trade Unions, has already started preparations for mighty and sustained struggles against this onslaught. A National Protest Convention is scheduled to be held at Mavlenkar Hall Annexe on 15 August 2014,which is expected to chart out programmes of action and effective campaign.

The low level to which the UPA government had gone down, when in power, is being revealed almost everyday, after it has been defeated in the polls and lost power.
The latest in the case is the revealation by the former CAG Vinod Rai that politicians of UPA tried to influence him to leave out names of their leaders in the Coal Gate and Common Wealth Games scams.
A very sad picture of UPA and Congress indeed! How many more such secrets yet to come out? Has the Congress Party got any chance to come out of the sleaze of corruption in which it has fallen?

It will be 16 years on 12 September 2014 since 5 young Cubans have been put in prison by US on trumped up charges. Two comrades out of the 5 have already returned to Cuba after the period of sentences is over. But the 3 others  are still in jail. The injustice is continuing despite demands from countries all over the world.
The Cuban Trade Union (CTC) has appealed all trade unions to extend solidarity and support to their just demand for release of the 3 remaining young Cubans who are incarcerated in the US prison with out any justification.

We extend our full support and demand the US to release the Cubans from prisons immediately.