Book on “P and T Trade Union Movement in Kerala” released

19 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by in BSNL News, General, P&T TU History

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To day, 19th June 2014, was a proud movement for the Posts and Telegraph Trade Union movement in Kerala. Hundreds of central, state, public sector employees assembled in the Press Club, Trivandrum for the release of the book ” P and T Trade Union Movement in Kerala” written by Com. P.V. Chandrasekharan, senior leader of the movement and Circle Secretary / President of the AITEU class III / BSNL Employees union from 1982 to 2005.

The meeting was presided over by Com. Anathalavattam Anandan, President, CITU, Kerala. Com. V.K.Joseph, General Manager, Chintha Publishers, which published the book welcomed all. Com. Pinarayi Vijayan, PBM and State Secretary of CPI(M), released the book, by handing over a copy of the book to Com. V.A.N.Namboodiri, President, BSNL Employees Union. In his speech, Com.Pinarayi focussed the growth of the P and Movement and the glorious struggles that have taken place. He congratulated Com. PVC for the effort he has taken to write the history of the movement.
Com. V.A.N.Namboodiri thanked the organisers for inviting him to this august meeting. He spoke in detail about the important struggles of the P and T workers, the growth of the movement in Kerala etc. He also congratulated Com. PVC for writing the book. Com. M.Krishnan, Secretary General NFPE introducing the book to the audience focussed on some of the important issues detailed in the book. Com.Sivkumar (FSETO – State Govt. Employees organisation) also spoke.
Com.P.V.Chandrasekharan, the author of the book, thanked all the participants and mentioned how he started writing the book and the help received from all, including senior leaders. Com.K.Mohan, Circle Secretary, BSNLEU proposed vote of thanks.

The book is priced Rs. 190/-. A large number of copies were sold at the conference place itself.

SBI to recruit 7200 employees

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

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It is stated by the SBI Chairman that about 7200 employees will be recruited this financial year, considering the fact that about 8,100 employees are due to retire. Good news!

What about BSNL? About 10,000 to 15,000 are retiring every year. But almost no recruitment at all!

New Recruits are a must. Even in all private companies, whether telecom or banks, they have started recruitment in right earnest. But BSNL is still sleeping. It seems that the BSNL management is not worried about the efficiency and better service.

A quarter of India turning into desert – Environment Minister

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

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The Environment Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar, has stated that about a quarter of the land in India is turning in to desert due to overuse, excessive grazing and changing rainfall patterns. If this is true, India will face a very serious situation. A report by Reuters is reproduced below:

NEW DELHI: About a quarter of India’s land is turning to desert and degradation of agricultural areas is becoming a severe problem, the environment minister said, potentially threatening food security in the world’s second most populous country.

India occupies just 2 per cent of the world’s territory but is home to 17 per cent of its population, leading to over-use of land and excessive grazing. Along with changing rainfall patterns, these are the main causes of desertification.

“Land is becoming barren, degradation is happening,” said Prakash Javadekar, minister for environment, forests and climate change. “A lot of areas are on the verge of becoming deserts but it can be stopped.” Land degradation — largely defined as loss of productivity — is estimated at 105 million hectares, constituting 32 per cent of the total land.(Courtesy: Reuters)

NATIONAL IDENTITY CARDS TO ALL CITIZENS – HOME MINISTER

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

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National Identity Cards will be issued to all citizens, according to Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh.It will be taken as a priority according to the HM. This will be in fulfilment of the National Population Register project.
The issue of national identity cards for citizens has been prioritised by the government which today asked officials to bring proposals in this regard for approval at the earliest. (Courtesy: ET)

National JCM demands Merger of DA with pay and Interim Relief

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

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The Secretary, Staff Side, National Council, JCM, Shri Shiv Gopal Mishra, has demanded the Government to merge the DA with pay and for interim relief to the Central government employees. The demand was made to the Cabinet Secretary, when the former met him on 13th June 2014.

The Cabinet Secretary assured Secretary, Staff Side that there is no proposal to increase the working days week, from 5 to 6 for the Central Secretariat Staff in New Delhi. There was some rumours on the subject earlier.

Communications Minister for Revival of BSNL, MTNL

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in BSNL - Better Service to the Nation, BSNL News

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Communications and IT Minister Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad has stated that he would personally oversee the revival of BSNL and MTNL. He also stated: “I will undertake a provocative role in monitoring performance of these companies. I will have network operating system installed in my office which will monitor the performances of the towers in all the circles. The circles with low performances will be questioned.”

The statement of the Minister is much welcome. There has been no systematic check up for the improvement of the BSNL, MTNL services so far.

But this alone is not sufficient. There are many urgent actions to be taken on which the Forum of BSNL Unions/Associations has already given a memorandum to the Minister and sought for an appointment. The Minister has not found time to meet the Forum, although he was quick to meet the private companies to get their opinions. The Communications Minister should meet the representatives of the workers, who also have got very important suggestions for the revival of BSNL and MTNL and also for improvement of services to the people. Hope the Minister will act on his promise.

FICCI demands abolition of Wage Board Act for Newspaper employees.

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in TU News - India

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The attack on the workers are increasing both by the government and the employers. Even at the time of the UPA Government and especially after the NDA government has taken over, the MNCs and other employers are putting much pressure to ‘liberalise’ / ‘reform’ the labour laws meaning that the employers should be given right to violate the laws and go on ‘hire and fire’ system.

The latest in this series is the demand of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)to the government to abolish the Wage Board Act for news paper publishers. The reason is quite clear. During the last two/three decades, continuous struggles have been conducted by the newspaper employees to implement the Wage Board decisions, which the newspaper barons have been resisting. Now the latter and the FICCI feel that it is the correct time to get the Wage Board Act abolished.

Such a proposal is going to start serious agitation from the news paper employees and their organisations.

Govt. appoints Negotiator for Vodafone Tax Dispute

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

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Instead of continuing with strong measures to collect the tax arrears coming to about Rs. 14,000 crore from major telecom company Vodafone, the NDA Government is becoming soft. It has now appointed a negotiator, former Supreme Court Chief Justice R.C.Lahoti to deal with the issue.

It is reported that there are similar other tax arrears, which in total, would come to about Rs. 27,000 crore, including that of Nokia, Oyj etc. All these also will go to the negotiator for settlement.

The BJP spokesmen have already indicated that the retrospective tax practice would retard the confidence of the foreign investors, which is a clear indication that the new government at the centre is prepared to adjust the tax arrears. Such a decision will result in heavy loss to the exchequer and windfall profit to the private MNCs. The government should, instead, be firm in collecting the due tax arrears.

BSNL Management should hang its head in shame for cheating the workers.

17 Tuesday Jun 2014

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The BSNL Management has released on 16-06-2014 the agreement between the Staff Side and the Official Side signed on 31-01-2013 on the change of designation of RM and TM. Accordingly, the Regular Mazdoor designation will be changed in to Telecom Assistant and the Telecom Mechanic designation will be changed to Telecom Technician. While there was no stipulation that this agreement will be implemented only after settlement on the change of designation of Sr.TOA and TTA, such a clause is also arbitrarily written as an after thought below the signatures.

It is more than one and half years since the agreement was signed. But the management did not even release the agreement. It is the same management which continuously changed the designations of the ITS officers and in some cases that of executives at their will and pleasure. But when it is a question of non-executives, it is only delay and neglect. The Management should hang its head in shame at its neglect of its own workforce.

Vodafone says, Govts. asked access to intercept its calls, messages

17 Tuesday Jun 2014

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Vodafone, one of the biggest telecom operators in the world has revealed that India was among the 29 nations that sought access to its network to intercept calls, text messages and e—mails last year, the UK—based group said.

But it did not disclose whether the requests were met by the company or not. With regard to India also, it did not reveal the same.

The governments are illegally trying to peep in to the private lives of the people, which is against the law. And mostly, the private companies are allowing them to do so. If it is for the security of the country, it is different. But most mostly these interceptions are done for other purposes.