Austerity Measures on common people?

16 Wednesday May 2012

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Worried over deteriorating global economic situation and its impact on India, the government today announced that it would resort to “unpopular” austerity measures to deal with fiscal problems but made it clear there is no pressing of “panic button”. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told the Rajya Sabha that the government needed to deal with difficult situation in wake of the rising prices of the crude oil in international market and said efforts would be made to push growth which declined to a disappointing level of 6.9 per cent in 2011-12. Mukherjee, who was replying to a debate on Finance Bill at a time when the BSE sensex dipped below the psychological level of 16,000 mainly on account of global factors, cited this as an example of how the international crisis was impacting India. The House later returned the bill marking completion of the three-stage budgetary exercise for 2012-13 by Parliament. “This is a difficult world, international situation is difficult. Country after country is facing major economic crisis,” he said. Highlighting the fiscal difficulties being faced by the government, Mukherjee said, “somebody has pointed…that I am going to take a little bit of unpopular steps. I am going to issue some austerity measures…” Not revealing the nature of the austerity measures he was planning to take, the Minister said, “Some sort of austerity measures (have to be taken) to convey the signal that we are responding to the situation as required”.

What will be the attack on the people? Let us watch the next move of the government. There is no doubt that in addition to the increase in petrol prices, other attacks are going to come.

Rural Bank Employees on struggle path

16 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by in PSU

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The All India Regional Rural Bank Employees Association (AIRRBEA) secretary general Dilip Kumar Mukherjee has issued the following statement:
About 70000 officers and employees of 82 regional banks (popularly known as Gramin Bank) working at around 17000 rural branches in all the states of the country will go for strike for one day on June 8, 2012 with the following long  pending demands: 1.     Parity of Pension 2.     Formation of National Rural Bank of India 3.     Regularization/absorption of part-time/daily waged workers in RRBs 4.     Withdrawal of government order on HR policy 5.     Representation of workman and officer in the Board of Management
In spite of the specific direction of the Hon’ble Supreme court to extend parity of wage structure to the RRB staff, more specifically by Hon’ble Karnataka High Court & Rajasthan High Court  to extend parity of pension benefits, government of India has not yet extended the benefit of pension to the RRB staff.
AIRRBEA has been demanding for the constitution of National Rural Bank of India with state level RRB under it with the amalgamation of all the RRBs exclusively for rural and agricultural credit on delinking the RRBs from Sponsor banks. All these demands are pending with the Government.

The Anomaly Committee

16 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by in BSNL - Better Service to the Nation

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The anomaly committee held today discussed the issue in detail and has arrived to the general conclusion that the issue should be settled by allowing the seniors who are getting less than their juniors in the lower grade after the wage revision from CDA to IDA in 2000 should be stepped up to the pay of the junior. The next meeting which will be held in the first/second week of June will finalise the report.

‘Public Investmemnt for private profit’ – CAG on Antrix-Devas deal.

16 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by in BSNLCCWF - Casual and Contract workers

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The Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG)’s report on the Antrix-Dewas deal is eye-opening. It has accused the former ISRO Chairman and certain other retd. senior officers/scientists of ISRO who formed the private company Dewas of using ‘Public Investment for Private Profit’. The deal between the ISRO company Antrix and Dewas   has been cancelled, but if it was implemented, government would have lost thousands of crore of rupees.

This is a symptom that is being surfaced one after another. In the name of Public-Private-Partnership(PPP), the assets of the government/Public Sector are being transferred to the private companies. So far there was no separate Airport charge for passengers. Now hundreds of rupees are collected by the private airports at Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad etc. from the passengers. Earlier the road toll was nominal but now the private companies have started collecting huge charges. Just like the handing over of the nations’ scare natural assets like water, mines, spectrum etc. at throw away prices to the MNCs and private companies, now roads and airports are also handed over. What they will hand over tomorrow have to be seen.

Pilots strike – Privilege Motion Against Minister Civil Aviation

15 Tuesday May 2012

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Accusing Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh of making policy statements on Air India outside Parliament during the session period, the CPI(M) on Tuesday moved a privilege notice against him in the Lok Sabha. “We have tabled a notice of privilege against the Civil Aviation Minister (Ajit Singh) in the House and demanded that he come and explain why he made policy statements on the issue outside when Parliament is in session,” CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharia told reporters here. His statement came soon after BJP leader and former Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain said Mr. Singh committed breach of privilege and a notice would be moved against him in the Lok Sabha. The House had earlier witnessed a heated debate with Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and several others, including Mr. Acharia, Mr. Hussain and Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI), castigating the Minister for making policy statements to the media on issues like privatisation of Air India when Parliament was in session. Mr. Acharia and his party colleague Sitaram Yechury also appealed to both the pilots and the government to urgently restore normalcy in Air India’s flight schedules to end the continued inconvenience to passengers. Mr. Yechury said the Parliamentary Standing Committee, headed by him, had twice pointed out serious problems with the merger of the two erstwhile state-run carriers, Indian Airlines and Air India. This was also pointed out by the Committee on Public Undertakings. Observing that the Standing Committee had recommended that the two airlines continue to function separately but under a single holding company, he said, “But the government did not accept our recommendations and today the problems, which we had warned of three-four years ago, had occurred”.  (Courtsey : Ganashakti )

April 2012 – A month in which fire claimed three exchanges

15 Tuesday May 2012

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April 2012 witnessed  3 BSNL telephone exchanges destroyed by fire causing huge loss to the company and much inconvenience to the subscribers.

1. A major fire broke out on April 13, in the Exchange in Bhopal situated at Royal Market causing huge loss. It took many hours for the Fire Force to put the fire under control.

2. On April 18, another major fire broke out in Navrangpura Telephone Exchange in Ahmedabad destroying more than 20,000 local connections.

3. Maoists torched Alamanda exchange in Odisha on 22nd April causing much loss.

BSNL lost crores of rupees as also the people were put to much difficulties. Let us be more cautious in future to avoid such accidents / untoward happenings.

We have to appreciate the workers and officers in the above places who tirelessly brought normalcy at the earliest even working round the clock .

Advance Purchasing Order and Purchasing Order issued for B/B Modems

15 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in BSNL News

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There is acute shortage of broadband Modem which is resulting in non-provision of Broadband connection in hundreds in all towns/cities. As earlier pointed out, after much persuasion the Advance Purchase Order was issued by the Corporate Office. Now the Purchas Order of each Circle has been issued. In total, 3,50,000 modems have been ordered in the first phase. Our comrades should take this opportunity to provide connections with the quickest method and improve our position.

Book on Casual – Contract Labour

15 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in BSNLCCWF - Casual and Contract workers

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A book on the issues of the casual and contract labour in BSNL with the relevant orders of the government and BSNL managment has been published by the BSNL Casual and Contract Workers Federation(BSNLCCWF). It is priced Rs.25/- Those who want the book may sent Rs. 55/- if to be sent by Regd. Book Post and Rs. 40/- if to be sent by ordinary Book Post. The amount be sent to Com. V.A.N.Namboodiri, President, BSNLCCWF, D-7, Gole Market, New Delhi – 110001 by M.O. with correct and full address with PIN code.

Anniversary of Soviet Victory over Fascism 1945 – Fidel Castro

15 Tuesday May 2012

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I am reproducing a portion from an article written by Fidel Castro, the former President of Cuba on the victory of the Soviet Union against the Nazi army which invaded USSR and had to retreat to Berlin where they had to surrender to the Red Army in May 1945.

” No political event can be judged outside of the era and the circumstances in which it took place. No one even knows one percent of the fabulous history of Man; but thanks to history, we know about occurrences that go beyond the limits of the imaginable. The privilege of having known persons, even the locations where some of the events related to the historic battle took place, augmented the interest with which I awaited the anniversary this year.  The colossal deed was fruit of the heroism of a group of people that the revolution and socialism had united and intertwined to put an end to the brutal exploitation that the world had been putting up with throughout the millennia.  The Russians were always proud of having headed that revolution and of the sacrifices they were capable of in bringing it to fruition. This very important anniversary of the victory could not be understood under the colours of a flag or a name other than the one that presided over the heroism of the combatants of the Great Patriotic War.  Without a doubt, something untouchable and unforgettable remained: the anthem whose unforgettable notes accompanied millions of men and women to challenge death and to crush the invaders who wished to impose a thousand years of Nazism and holocaust on all humanity. With those ideas in mind, I enjoyed the hours I dedicated to the most organized and martial procession I could ever imagine, whose protagonists were men formed in the Russian military universities. The Yankees and the blood-thirsty NATO armies could not imagine that the crimes committed in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, the attacks on Pakistan and Syria, the threats against Iran and other Middle Eastern countries, the military bases in Latin America, Africa and Asia could take place with absolute impunity, without the world becoming aware of the unusual and crazy threat.  How soon do empires forget the lessons of history! The military technology exhibited in Moscow on May 9th demonstrated the impressive capacity of the Russian Federation to provide a proper and varied response to the conventional and nuclear resources of imperialism.  It was just the ceremony we were waiting for on the glorious anniversary of the Soviet victory over fascism. ”

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A case of dedicated work – My congratulations!

15 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in BSNL News

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I received a letter from an active worker of BSNLEU and an office bearer of the SSA, Pathanamthitta (Kerala), Comrade K.Rajan, about the efforts made by the workers to improve the services and to increase the connections of BSNL. Even after duty hours many comrades are doing service.They are providing new connections, getting transfer of connections through MNP etc. in an effective way. In the one year from June 2011 to May 2012, Com. Rajan has obtained 10274 points as per the SSA management and was appreciated and congratulated. My Hearty Congratulations and appreciation to Com. Rajan.

There are many such comrades all over India who are putting their best for the improvement of the services and expansion. If  one and all try their best like this, there is no doubt that the revival of BSNL can be expedited and it can once again become a profitable company. Let us all try for the same.