Air India Wage Committee submits its report

01 Wednesday Feb 2012

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The  Committee, constituted by the Government  with Justice Dharmadhikari as Chairman to integrate, harmonise and finalise the wage structure of the employees of the Air India and Indian Airlines, which have been merged as Air India, has submitted its report to the Government. Both the companies were merged five years back, the wage integration has not taken so far, resulting in agitation and strikes, by the employees including pilots.

It is reported that the committee has recommended to reduce Performance Linked Incentives (PLI) being given in the Air-India  on the plea that it is against the DPE guidelines. Reducing the existing benefits cannot be the methods for integration by the committee. It do not motivate the workers.

Other details of the committee are yet to be known.

 

 

 

Government business through private banks?

01 Wednesday Feb 2012

Posted by in PSU

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It is reported that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to allow private banks also to undertake the business of Central as well as State Government business. So far this was done by the Public Sector Banks and only three major private banks viz. ICICI, HDFC and Axis Banks. The present decision is taken, according to the RBI, to enhance the quality of customer service through more competition, improving customer convenience and broad basing the revenue collection. For this purpose, those private banks handling government business will have to be appointed as agents of RBI.

However, it is clear that this move is only a plan for further privatisation of the government business. The Public Sector Banks are doing a good job and they have kept the Indian economy to a certain safe from the global recession fall-out. The private banks have been putting much pressure of the government for including them also to deal with government business for some time.  This is part of the neo-liberalisation policy to weaken the PSU banks and transfer the major business to the private sector banks.

I hope that the PSU Bank employees’ unions will take up the issue seriously.

2G case – SC on acute delay on sanction of prosecution former Minister Raja

31 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in 2G Scam Corruption

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Setting aside the Delhi High Court judgement on sanction of prosecution in 2G case, the Supreme Court today held that filing of a complaint under the Prevention of Corruption Act is a constitutional right of a citizen and the competent authority should take a decision on giving the sanction within a time frame. If the sanction is not given within four months then it is deemed to have been granted, the two judge bench of the apex court held in a case filed by Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy seeking a direction to the Prime Minister for sanction to prosecute the then Telecom Minister A Raja. The bench comprising justices G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly held that Swamy had the locus standi to seek sanction for Raja’s prosecution. It said sanction should be granted within a time frame and the competent authority shall take action in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the apex court in the Vineet Narain case of 1996. Justice Ganguly, who wrote a separate judgement, agreed with Justice Singhvi and said sanction would be deemed to be granted if the competent authority fails to take a decision within a period of four months. The bench said that right to file a complaint against a public servant under the Prevention of Corruption Act is a constitutional right. The bench said it was not accepting certain submissions made by the Attorney General in defending the stand of Prime Minister’s Office. The court said it was not declaring as ultra vires the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The apex court had reserved its judgement on November 24, 2010 on the petition filed by Swamy alleging that there was delay in taking action on his plea seeking sanction to prosecute Raja. Swamy, who had made the Prime Minister a party in the case, had initially sought a direction to the Prime Minister to take decision on sanction to prosecute Raja but later on he sought framing of guidelines on the issue as his plea became infructuous with the resignation of the DMK leader as telecom minister on November 14, 2010. He had alleged that there was an “inordinate delay” on part of the prime minister in taking a decision on his plea for grant of sanction to prosecute Raja in the scam and his plea was neither allowed not rejected for over 16 months. The PMO had, however, refuted all the allegations and filed an affidavit before the apex court maintaining that the request for sanction for prosecution of Raja was considered by the prime minister and that he was advised that evidence collected by CBI was necessary before taking a decision. The government said as the CBI probe was going on it was necessary to wait for its completion before taking any decision on granting sanction. Swamy had approached the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court judgement that had refused to pass any direction to the prime minister for taking decision on sanction. (Courtsey: Ganashakti)

tip-a-friend

 

Meeting with Chief Labour Commissioner on 31st January 2012

31 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in BSNL - Better Service to the Nation, BSNLCCWF - Casual and Contract workers

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The conciliation meeting called by the Chief Labour Commissioner on the December 15 strike issues was held today, 31st January. Shri A.N.Rai, Director(HR), N.K.Narang (PGM SR) and other officers were present. From the JAC, Comrades V.A.N.Namboodiri, Convener, JAC, P.Abhimanyu, GS, BSNLEU and leaders from other unions were present. The meeting started and a detailed discussion took place on the Bonus issue. In the meantime CLC had to leave due to an urgent meeting of the ministry. Hence the meeting was adjourned and will probably held on 1st March. The exact date will be intimated by CLC.

During the meeting I had the opportunity to submit a detailed memorandum on the issues of the casual and contract labour with volumes of details of  many circles regarding the non-payment of minimum wage and non-implementation of EPF and ESI. A copy was handed over to the Director(HR) also. CLC  asked the Dir(HR) to look in to the matter. CLC assured that he will send the details to his Regional Labour Commissioners for taking necessary action in the matter. He also advised that similar cases can be directly sent to the RLCs.  The issue of regularisation of the casual labour was also discussed with Director (HR).

Statistics on Telephone Subscriber Base, December 2011

31 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in BSNL News

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Telephone Subscribers’   Base in India
for the month of December 2011

SERVICE
PROVIDER
COMPANY

W I R E L I N E

W I R E L E S S

T    O  T  A  L

Wireless
VLR
Proportion
%

Number

Market Share
%

Number

Market Share
%

Number

Market Share
%
Bharti Airtel

3317295

10.15

175652816

19.65

178970111

19.32

90.02
Reliance

1265831

3.87

150078928

16.79

151344759

16.33

64.61
Vodafone  

0.00

147746756

16.53

147746756

15.95

84.92
BSNL

23003774

70.38

96761805

10.83

119765579

12.93

52.94
Tata

1398102

4.28

83492826

9.34

84890928

9.16

54.74
Idea  

0.00

106380111

11.90

106380111

11.48

92.98
Aircel/   Dishnet  

0.00

61644411

6.90

61644411

6.65

54.90
Uninor  

0.00

36306865

4.06

36306865

3.92

59.40
Sistema

47699

0.15

15006528

1.68

15054227

1.62

47.91
MTNL

3453766

10.57

5681165

0.64

9134931

0.99

35.24
Videocon  

0.00

5442883

0.61

5442883

0.59

44.89
Loop   Telecom  

0.00

3236381

0.36

3236381

0.35

40.04
S-Tel  

0.00

3549381

0.40

3549381

0.38

29.97
HFCL Infotel

198744

0.61

1192592

0.13

1391336

0.15

45.56
Etisalat/   Allianz  

0.00

1670086

0.19

1670086

0.18

25.45
Total

32685211

100

893843534

100

926528745

100

72.36

TELE DENSITY

              
Urban

6.85

161.01

167.86

 
Rural

0.92

36.56

37.48

 
Overall

2.71

74.15

76.86

Broadband = 13.30 million      
Source:  

 
TRAI Press   Release

 
dated 30th   January, 2012

 

HIGHLIGHTS

 

v  In Wireless (GSM+CDMA) segment, monthly growth improved to 94.7 lac in December’11 compared to November’11. Top two performers in net Wireless Subscribers addition in Dec.’11 are: Idea (23.9 lac) & Uninor (21.2 lac). Videocon & S-Tel registered negative growth. BSNL added 7.5 lac.

 

v  Amongst BSNL Circles, Bihar has given a pleasant surprise by recording highest Wireless Subscribers’ growth of 4.5 lac in Dec.’11 followed by Kerala (1 lac), Karnataka (84K), Maharashtra (73K) & Orissa (72K). Five Circles posted negative growth in Dec.’11 viz. AP (2 lac), WB (45K), Haryana (5K), Gujarat (2K) & HP (1K). In VLR position of Dec.’11,Andhra Pradesh   Circle tops with 70.43%, followed by Maharashtra – 67.23%, J&K- 66.75%, Kerala- 65.83% &NE- 60.38%. Kolkata TD continues to occupy the last position with 34.05%.

 

v  VLR – Visitor Location Register shows the actual number of active Wireless telephones. In December 2011, VLR report indicated that only 72.36% (64.68 crore) of all wireless subscribers were active. Company-wise detailed status is shown in the table.

 

v  Urban – Rural Divide on the Basis of Tele- Density: After a brief respite in Nov’11, the gap i.e. Urban TD minus Rural TD, has again widened in Dec’11. Figures for consecutive nine months are: April’11= 125.2, May’11= 126.2, June’11= 127.5, July= 127.8%, Aug’11= 128.7%, Sep’11=129.6%, Oct’11=130.2%, Nov’11=129.9% & Dec’11=130.4%.

 

 

Analyst: Mihir Dasgupta, Kolkata, 31.01.2012

Growth of Telephone Connections in India during 1 month from   November to December 2011

Company

W   I     R   E   L     I   N   E

W   I     R   E   L     E   S   S

T   O     T   A   L      ( C o m b i n e d )

Nov’11

Dec’11

Growth   in 1 month

Rate   of Growth
%

Nov’11

Dec’11

Growth   in 1 month

Rate   of Growth
%

Nov’11

Dec’11

Growth   in 1 month

Rate   of Growth
%

%-ge   w.r.t. Total Growth
Bharti

3314165

3317295

3130

0.09

174692673

175652816

960143

0.55

178006838

178970111

963273

0.54

10.47
Reliance

1262297

1265831

3534

0.28

149130185

150078928

948743

0.64

150392482

151344759

952277

0.63

10.35
Vodafone    

0

  

146841278

147746756

905478

0.62

146841278

147746756

905478

0.62

9.85
BSNL

23308483

23003774

-304709

-1.31

96011338

96761805

750467

0.78

119319821

119765579

445758

0.37

4.85
Tata

1382592

1398102

15510

1.12

83390360

83492826

102466

0.12

84772952

84890928

117976

0.14

1.28
Idea    

0

  

103992365

106380111

2387746

2.30

103992365

106380111

2387746

2.30

25.96
Aircel    

0

  

60958611

61644411

685800

1.13

60958611

61644411

685800

1.13

7.46
Uninor    

0

  

34181955

36306865

2124910

6.22

34181955

36306865

2124910

6.22

23.11
Sistema

46762

47699

937

2.00

14494591

15006528

511937

3.53

14541353

15054227

512874

3.53

5.58
MTNL

3449038

3453766

4728

0.14

5647022

5681165

34143

0.60

9096060

9134931

38871

0.43

0.42
Videocon    

0

  

5480217

5442883

-37334

-0.68

5480217

5442883

-37334

-0.68

-0.41
Loop    

0

  

3223924

3236381

12457

0.39

3223924

3236381

12457

0.39

0.14
S-Tel    

0

  

3563152

3549381

-13771

-0.39

3563152

3549381

-13771

-0.39

-0.15
HFCL

197419

198744

1325

  

1152801

1192592

39791

3.45

1350220

1391336

41116

3.05

0.45
Etisalat    

0

  

1610824

1670086

59262

3.68

1610824

1670086

59262

3.68

0.64

Total

32960756

32685211

-275545

-0.84

884371296

893843534

9472238

1.07

917332052

926528745

9196693

1.00

100.00
Tele

Density:

2.74

2.71

-0.03

-1.09

73.44

74.15

0.71

0.97

76.18

76.86

0.68

0.89

  
                           
Source: TRAI
Analyst: Mihir Dasgupta, Kolkata, 31.01.2012    		             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2G Spectrum to be auctioned

31 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in BSNL - Better Service to the Nation

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The Telecom Commission after much discussion has finally decided to allocate the 2G Spectrum by auction in future. It is also decided that all future licences will be without the spectrum bundled with it. Uniform Licence Fee will be 8% for a two-year period. Unified licence for all services and all circles will be for Rs. 20 crore. All the operators who have more than 4.4 Mhz spectrum will have to pay a one-time fee, which will be retrospective and will be based on the future auction price.

These decisions will have far-reaching impact on the telecom services. It is necessary that certain provisions will have to be exempted for BSNL and MTNL  considering they are government companies and their existence is important for the nation as a whole.

Next National Council Meeting on 27th February 2012

31 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in BSNL - Better Service to the Nation

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After much persual, the BSNL managment has fixed the next meeting of the National Council to be held on 27th February 2012. The last meeting was held in August last year. The items for the present meeting have been given sufficiently early, but on one pretext or other the meeting was not fixed. The items to be discussed are very important. The management as well as the staff side have to work out things so that favourable decisions could be taken on the issues.

Private telcos cheat the government in paying revenue share

31 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in BSNL News

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It is well-known that the public telecom companies have been cheating the government in paying taxes on the basis of revenue sharing, by showing less revenue or by manipulating the revenues in such a way that it is accounted in areas where less tax is to be paid. Now the DoT has checked the accounts of these private companies and have found out that they have been dodging taxes bey showing less revenue. A total of Rs, 823 crores are due to government by the companies.

The five companies which have asked to pay the balance taxes are 1) Reliance  ( Rs. 310.52 crore), 2)  Tata Teleservices (Rs. 179.76 crore), 3) Airtel (Rs. 161.91 crore), 4) Vodafone (Rs. 107.07 crore), and 5) Idea (Rs. 64.05 crore). These are the major companies other than BSNL and MTNL. The PSUs pays all taxes according to rules, but the private companies dodge them in many ways.

Now we can expect that the private companies may approach the Prime Minister or the Finance Minister for exemption or go to the TDSAT or Courts. Our experience is that somehow they manage not to pay the dues. In the case of 3G illegal roaming also we are seeing the same developments. The people of the country as well as the two telecom PSUs are the victims. The government should act with determination to get the dues.

Government’s claim of overstaff bogus. In fact it is less staffed.

31 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in General, Uncategorized

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The continued propaganda of the government that there is more workforce in the government establishments than required has been exposed as bogus. In fact, there is less staff than required and the services are suffering due to this shortage.

Hindu Daily in a write up in its issue dated 30th January by Praveen Swamy has exposed the  myth of overstaffing in Government services. He has compared the staff ratio with the number of population in some countries, especially United States, which is spear-heading neo-liberalisation process. While India has only 1,622 government servants for every one lakh people, US has 7,681. If this is limited to Central Government employees, including Railways, the ratio is 0nly 257 for one lakh population, while US has got 840 staff for the same population for the Federal Government.

Eminent Economist Shri V.K.Ramachandran has stated, “One of the most important lessons of the economic history of modern nations is that the most crucial requirements of social transformation can only be delivered by the public authority. A government that does not pay for skilled personnel to deliver education, health and land reform is one that condemns its people to under-development”. This is fully applicable to the Government of India.

While the population in India is growing, the number of government employees are reducing sharply. For example while there were about six lakh workers in each Postal and Telecom Departments, it is aroung 3 lakhs only in both. In the Railways also, there has been large reduction of work-force. One reason is that contract workers are engaged in place of regular jobs to deny many rights of the workers. Despite that the number of employees are very less compared to many other countries.

It is time that we demand for recruitment of more workers in the government services.

 

Coal India Wage discussion

31 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in PSU

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The wage negotiation in Coal India is in progress. The five-year wage agreement will be effective from 01-01-2006, since the last agreement was w.e.f. 01-01-2001.The unions have demanded for 35% hike while the management is prepared up to 25%. There are more than 5 lakh workers and it is the biggest PSU as far as the number of workers is concerned.  This week will be crucial for the discussion.