Ganasakti
Thursday, October 17, 2013
MUMBAI: TUs Organise Ten Thousand Strong Rally - P R Krishnan
MUMBAI
TUs Organise Ten Thousand Strong Rally
P R Krishnan
VARIOUS central and state level unions in Maharashtra jointly organised on September 25, 2013 a 10,000 strong rally in Mumbai to press for implementation of the 10 point demands of the working class. This rally was in response to the declaration of the joint convention of central trade union organisations held in Delhi on August 6 and in preparation of the proposed march to parliament on the coming December 12.
For the rally that was held in Azad Maidan in south Mumbai, workers from the unorganised as well as organised sector came from different districts of the state. An overwhelming majority of them journeyed from mofussil towns in trains. Many came in trucks while Mumbaikars joined the rally in processions from different localities. The protesters included a large number of women from the beedi industry. Construction sector workers took part in large numbers. Contract workers and domestic workers also came in big groups. Bank employees, insurance employees and industrial workers were in substantial numbers. State and central government employees, railway employees, seamen, dock and port workers too came in equally good strength. Participation of school, college and university teachers was remarkable.
The anger among the demonstrating employees was strong because, despite as many as 16 all-India strikes so far, the Congress led UPA government has not bothered to accept any of the demands jointly submitted by the central trade union organisations in 2009. Among the 16 all-India industrial strikes, the most important ones were that of 2012 and the two days national strike on February 20 and 21 this year. It may also be noted that even after the central trade unions jointly submitted their demands to the prime minister on May 13, 2013, the government did not take any steps towards implementation of the demands. It is a matter of extreme concern and is nothing but a manifestation of the anti-working class attitude of the government.
It may here be noted that prior to the centralised rally in Azad Maidan on September 25, trade unions in Maharashtra held district-wise meetings and conventions to popularise the 10 points demands and to mobilise the workers for the joint rally. The CITU played a leading role in organising all such meetings. Consequently the participation of CITU affiliated unions in the said rally was the highest. As a matter of fact, most of the CITU affiliated union workers reached Mumbai early on September 25 morning for the rally.
It was thus that the CITU had to hold a huge rally of 8000 workers independently in the afternoon on the day. They were addressed by CITU Maharashtra general secretary Dr D L Karad, vice president K L Bajaj and other leaders of the CITU such as M A Shaikh, Datta Mane, Vijay Gabhne, Shubha Shamim, Sitaram Thombare, Fatima Baig, Manik Avaghade, Mahendra Singh, Sayeed Ahemad, Armaity Irani, and also by AITUC leader Shravan Sinde.
Thereafter the CITU workers participated in the joint rally held at 4 p m in the same Maidan. This massive rally took place under the auspices of the Trade Unions Joint Action Committee. This committee comprises the CITU, AITUC, HMS, BMS, INTUC, and the organisations state and central government employees, New Trade Union Initiative, organisation of college and university teachers and several other organisations. The joint rally was addressed by Dr D L Karad, and Vivek Montero (CITU), R G Karnik (state government employees), Sukumar Damale and A D Golandaj (AITUC), Suryakant Bagal (HMS), Saji Narayan and Prabhakar Bansode (BMS), P R Menon and Y G Joshi (NRMU), Smt Jyoti Gandhi (Shikshak Sanghtana), Mohan Sharma (MSEB), Dr Kishor Theckedath (BUCTU), Ravi Joshi (IFTU), Abraham Mathew (Kamgar Ekta Sanghtana), M A Patil (NTUE) and R P Singh (central government employees). All the speakers, in their speeches, pledged to make the December 12 march to parliament a big success by mobilising a big contingent from Maharashtra .
MAHARASHTRA: DYFI-SFI State Convention Resolves to Launch Big Struggles - Preethy Sekhar
MAHARASHTRA: DYFI-SFI State Convention Resolves to Launch Big Struggles - Preethy Sekhar
A STATE-level student and youth convention organised jointly by the DYFI and SFI at the CITU Kamgar Bhawan in Nashik on September 29, 2013 decided to launch big struggles on the burning issues of acute unemployment and rampant commercialisation of education in Maharashtra. The enthusiastic convention was attended by over 650 student-youth activists from 14 districts.
Inaugurating the convention, Dr Ashok Dhawale, former state secretary and former all India vice president of the SFI and DYFI, briefly traced ruling class policies in India as regards education and employment from British colonial times and stressed the big contribution made by social reformers like Mahatma Jotirao Phule, Savitribai Phule, Shahu Maharaj, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Karmaveer Bhaurao Patil, Maharshi Dhondo Keshav Karve and many others. He said that vigorous implementation of neo-liberal policies in the state has pushed the youth and student community into deep crisis. He drew attention to the fact that growing joblessness in the state is coupled with socially unjust distribution pattern in available jobs, thus alienating dalit, adivasi and minority youth. Due to slashing of public expenditure and encouragement given to private education sharks, education has become extremely costly and it is now not accessible to children from ordinary families. In today’s era of crony capitalism, a new varna system based on money is being created and millions of modern-day Shambukas and Ekalavyas are bearing the brunt of it. Dr Ashok Dhawale expressed solidarity with the youth and student movements which are preparing to launch big struggles on the issues of unemployment and education.
Dr V Sivadasan, all-India president of SFI, said that government withdrawal from education and its handing over the sector to private profiteers has created havoc in the life of the student community all over the country. As an associated phenomenon, we see drastic curtailment of democratic rights within campuses with a view to thwart the student community’s resistance against commercialisation.
Dr Vineet Kohli, Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, highlighted the growth of unemployment in rural Maharashtra and explained the skewed implementation of NREGA in the state to benefit the rural rich. He also explained the effects of recession on the urban employment scenario.
A presidium comprising DYFI state president Bhagwan Bhojane, SFI state president Dr Bhausaheb Zirpe, Bhika Rathod, Naresh Shingade and Datta Chavan conducted the proceedings. DYFI state secretary Preethy Sekhar and SFI state secretary Vinod Govindwar presented resolutions on employment and education respectively. All district delegations discussed the resolutions and gave suggestions. Most suggestions were accepted and the resolutions were adopted unanimously amidst cheers and slogans.
The resolutions called upon the state’s youth and students to defeat through militant struggles, government policies that are causing massive unemployment and rapid commercialisation of education. Imperialist-driven neo-liberal policies adopted by India’s ruling classes stipulate that government has no responsibility to create employment or provide education. Maharashtra is a state where these policies are vigorously implemented by the Congress-NCP state government. The main opposition political parties like Shiv Sena, BJP and MNS also uphold the same anti-people policies. What is more, their politics of communalism and regional chauvinism is meant to disarm and divert the people from putting up resistance against the onslaught of unemployment. It is in such a situation that DYFI and SFI have to mobilise youth and students from all community backgrounds to reverse government’s harmful policies.
The agrarian sector has been in an especially deep crisis in Maharashtra. As a result, rural unemployment has rapidly increased. Large sections of urban youth are pushed to the informal sector which does not give job security or good wages or decent living conditions. The informal sector has a disproportionate share of youth belonging to dalit, adivasi and minority communities which have faced systematic exclusion from good jobs in the modern organised sector.
Now, with recession the crisis is coming to the industrial sector. This is leading to increasing unemployment in urban areas. It is for the government to intervene in agriculture and industry with a view to creating employment but it has shown no concern about the worsening situation. The government’s criminal negligence is most glaring in the ban on recruitment, both declared and undeclared. More than 30 percent posts in the state government sector are vacant.
The Economic Survey of Maharashtra 2012-13 reveals that there are lakhs of notified vacancies in the state government sector. When it comes to local self government bodies, the percentage of unfilled vacancies is nearly 40 percent. Around nine lakh youth who have completed D.T.Ed, B. Ed, B.P.Ed, Fine Arts Degree are today unemployed since government has stopped recruitment. NREGA is very poorly implemented in the state and handed over to contractors who eat up a large portion of the wages.
In the charter of demands on employment, the most important point was the demand to fill vacant posts in state government, local bodies and state PSUs. Bringing in urban employment guarantee Act, better implementation of rural employment guarantee Act, modernisation of employment exchanges, compelling private firms to publish vacancies through employment exchanges were the other demands.
Reversing expenditure cuts in government educational institutions, hostels and scholarships, implementation of the provisions of Right to Education Act and withdrawal of the private self-financed universities bill figured prominently in the charter of demands on education.
Special demands of adivasi, dalit and minority youth and students were included in both charters.
The convention decided on a plan of action to mobilise youth and students in a big way in the movement. The campaign will start in campuses, towns and villages in the month of October, followed by district/taluka level rallies in early November. A large statewide rally will be held in Mumbai on November 29 and the charter of demands will be submitted to the state government. The struggle on specific demands will continue in different forms after December.
The convention also decided to prepare a draft urban employment guarantee bill for Maharashtra state with the help of pro-people economists, retired administrative officers and legal experts. It concluded with a spirited speech by former DYFI state secretary Shailendra Kamble.
The DYFI and SFI in Maharashtra are determined to mobilise youth and students in a big way to put up a militant resistance against commercialisation of education and policies creating unemployment.
SIT Interrogates Chandy in Solar Scam
KERALA NEWSLETTER
SIT Interrogates Chandy in Solar Scam
N S Sajith
IN a sudden turn in the solar panel scam investigation, the advocate general (AG) of Kerala submitted to the High Court on October 9, 2013 that the special investigation team (SIT) had interrogated the chief minister, Oommen Chandy, in relation to the complaint lodged by Congress leader Sreedharan Nair. Nair had alleged that Oommen Chandy had recommended him to invest in Sarita’s firm of solar panel notoriety and that he had met the chief minister along with Mrs Sarita S Nair, the kingpin of the scam. The advocate general, K P Dandpani, added that the investigation was completed and the chargesheet would be filed soon.
The AG divulged these details when the court asked certain questions on the interrogation of the chief minister. The court asked the AG what after all the relevance of an interrogation was if the latter claimed that the chief minister was not involved in the scam.
DESHABHIMANI JOURNALIST BAGS PRESTIGIOUS AWARD
ON October 5, 2013, Prabha Varma, an eminent Malayalam poet and resident editor of Deshabhimani, joined the list of laureates of the distinguished Vayalar Award that is given for the best literary work in Malayalam. His long poetry work, Shyamamadhavam, was selected for the award by a jury consisting of Dr Anil Vallathol, Dr N Anilkumar and Dr Ambalappuzha Gopakumar.
The jury observed that Shyamamadhavam represented a new aesthetic experience in Malayalam and is an addition to the genre of long poems. Shyamamadhavam, which goes through the mysterious alleys of Lord Krishna’s mind, is a soliloquist treatise of his introspection on the unjustified methods he used to win the Kurukshetra war.
The award was instituted in 1977 by the Vayalar Ramavarma Memorial Trust in memory of the legendary revolutionary poet and lyricist Vayalar Ramavarma. Trust chairman Professor M K Sanu announced the award in a press conference at Thiruvananthapuram on the day. The award, which consists of a cash component of Rs 25000 and a citation, will be given on October 27, the death anniversary of the poet.
Samakalika Malayalam, a Malayalam weekly owned by The Indian Express, group unnecessarily dragged this unique long poetry into controversy last year. The publication, which started serialising Shyamamadhavam, suddenly stopped it after the publishing only two parts. S Jayachandran Nair, editor of the weekly, wrote a pompous editorial note on the decision, alleging that the poet had justified a political murder through an article in Deshabhimani. Later D C House, a prominent publishing house, published the book which became one of the bestsellers in this year.
CONTRIBUTIONS FOR MUZAFFAR NAGAR VICTIMS
The people of Kerala contributed over Rs 54 lakh towards the rehabilitation of victims of communal riots in Muzaffar Nagar, Uttar Pradesh. Responding to the call of the CPI(M) state committee, the people in various districts donated Rs 54,30,933 to the party. The fund collection drive was conducted in the last week of September.
The districtwise list of contributions is as follows: Thiruvananthapurm 7,05,000, Kannur 6,73,369, Eranakulam 6,33,217, Malappuram 5,78,911, Kasargode 1,67,158, Wayanad 1,08,589, Kozhikode 2,00,000, Palakkad 2,03,533, Thrissur 4,16,567, Idukki 2,50,000, Kottayam 5,36,438, Alappuzha 5,64,799, Kollam 3,56,082 and Pathanamthitta 45,000.
TAMILNADU: Successful Struggle for Housing Pattas - S P Rajendran
TAMILNADU: Successful Struggle for Housing Pattas - S P Rajendran
TOWARDS the end of September, a massive protest of downtrodden people particularly poor farmers and agricultural workers was held demanding land and housing pattas across Tamilnadu. More than 50 thousand of people laid siege in front of the taluk offices at various centres under the leadership of the Tamilnadu Vivasayikal Sangam (Kishan Sabha) and the AIAWU.
Nearly 25 lakhs of families in the state are living without a small piece of land or housing patta. They are living in porompoke land or in very small rented rooms. Majority of the porompoke lands or the so-called rental houses are situated on the banks of huge drainage channels; the road sides and in the dried lands near water bodies. Ironically, in the state of Tamilnadu, the project of giving pattas for the landless poor is in implementation for the past 50 years.
While the price of land is rising sharply as the real estate players’ speculative trade has been spreading without any control, not only the poor people, but even the middle class people too are not able to buy a piece of land for their own housing.
In this background, TNKS and AIAWU in Tamilnadu are continuously fighting for the free housing patta and land patta for the poor and landless. Recently, on September 12, the leaders of both the organisations K Balakrishnan MLA, P Shanmugam, A Lazar, MLA and G Mani had met Tamilnadu revenue minister and submitted a detailed report on the state of housing patta project. They demanded the distribution of waste lands to the lakhs and lakhs of landless poor and reiterated their demand for extension of the time limit to give pattas. They also wanted the government to distribute pattas for the traditional dwellers who are living in the lands owned by the temples, churches, mosques, mutts and trusts.
After this, the TNKS and the AIAWU gave a call to siege the government offices till the protesters receive the pattas. Responding to the call, thousands of poor farmers and landless farm workers laid siege on September 26.
At various places, the government authorities responded positively to the demands and assured the protesters to identify the patta lands.
In some places, the protest continued even in the night. Particularly in Tambaram, near Chennai city, hundreds of people from Thiruneermalai town panchayat decided to wait in front of the taluk office till they get a response to their demands. The militant struggle lasted for six days. TNKS leaders and members of 136 families resolutely observed sit-in-wait and made the premises their social kitchen, took bath and food there. The officials had no other choice but to consider and accept their demand for pattas. At last, on the sixth day evening, October 2, the revenue minister of the state and authorities announced that the government accepts the demand and ministers of the government would be giving pattas directly to the people.
The people of Thiruneermalai, who were unable to win pattas for the past 50 years, thanked the TNKS and its leaders. Earlier, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) conducted a demonstration in support of the struggle in Tambaram.
ANTI-DOWRY CONVENTION AT VIRUDHUNAGAR
RESPONDING the call of the Central Committee of the CPI(M) to expose and agitate against the crimes on women, the Party’s Virudhunagar district committee in Tamilnadu had organised a massive public convention against the menace of dowry on September 26.
Central Committee member of the CPI(M) U Vasuki has voiced concern over the deteriorating status of women in society.
Speaking at the convention, she said marriages and human rights were becoming a business. Educational system should focus on the significance of social justice, equality of men and women and on moral values, she said.
The Party would fight crimes against women and for the equality of women. Vasuki called upon the people to join hands with the Party since the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) never bothered about the basic problems of the people. Even while the country was making rapid strides in various fields, there was no corresponding improvement in the status of women, she noted.
G Ramakrishnan, CPI(M) state secretary, said the Party has always been raising its voice against violence on women and striving for equality of women on all fronts. There has been no end to the agony of women in homes and in society in view of the dowry menace, and other atrocities against them outside their homes.
Eight persons who had married without demanding or accepting dowry were honoured on the occasion.
AIDWA state general secretary P Suganthi and others spoke. Earlier, J J Srinivasan, town secretary, welcomed the gathering. District secretary A Sekar presided. State committee member S Balasubramaniyan, K Arjunan and others participated.
CPI(M) LEADERS SUBMIT MEMO TO PM: ‘Move SC for CBI Inquiry into Saradha Chit Fund Scam’
CPI(M) LEADERS SUBMIT MEMO TO PM
‘Move SC
Saradha Chit Fund Scam’
Surjyokanta Mishra, leader of opposition, West Bengal assembly and Sitaram Yechury, leader, CPI(M) Group, Rajya Sabha met the prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh on October 7 and submitted the following memorandum concerning financial fraud by certain financial companies/chit funds in the state of West Bengal . A copy has been sent to union minister of corporate affairs, Sachin Pilot also.
KINDLY refer to our letter of May 9, 2013 regarding the alarming financial irregularities of Saradha Group, the reply letter of June 2, 2013 of Union Minister of State for Finance (Expenditure and Financial Services), and our subsequent letter on July 15, 2013 pointing out inadequacy of action on the part of central government against this financial scam.
This inadequacy has now resulted in a situation where despite the massive fraud by this Saradha Group, with closing down of all its offices and default on repayment of at least 17 lakh depositors, no action has yet been taken on the part of the SEBI and the government of West Bengal to attach the properties of this Saradha Group and for arranging, in a legally appropriate manner, disposal of these properties for repayment of dues to the depositors. Instead, without having any Constitutional and legal basis and in deviation from the order of the Calcutta High Court (July 26, 2013 page 70), the state government has just allotted and also released a sum of Rs 50 crore from the State budgetary resource as grant to the Inquiry Commission recently, set up by the state government itself, for starting payment to a section of depositors (Memo issued by the Home Department, September 23, 2013). Providing such grant for compensation instead of disposal of assets of the Saradha Group is again violation of terms of reference (No. 8) of the Inquiry Commission itself (Gazette Notification April 24, 2013).
Under these circumstances, we urge upon you to intervene in this matter so that payment to all depositors is made with adequate promptness, by attaching the properties of Saradha Group in accordance with law and as also directed by the SEBI (April 23, 2013) and not by giving grant through the Commission which is not legal, as mentioned above. This process should start immediately with focus on attachment and disposal of properties, along with punishment for the offending Group.
For completing the entire process, a comprehensive list of properties, including the `benami’ properties, would be essential. Since this Saradha Group reportedly has properties in several states as well as abroad and since states like Tripura, Odisha and Assam affected by the activities of this Group, have already decided to involve CBI, the government of India should immediately move the Supreme Court, by joining a litigation already being heard in the Apex Court in this matter, in favour of intervention of CBI for investigation under the order as well as supervision of the Supreme Court. It would be appropriate to forge coordination between the efforts of CBI with those of SFIO and ED and also the state agencies, when required.
Of late, there have been reported allegations by one Trinamul Congress (AITC) Member of Parliament against another AITC MP for having irregular financial relation with this Saradha Group. These are all the more reasons for immediate induction of CBI for inquiry with overall supervision of the Supreme Court for reasons of neutrality.
Similar action should be initiated by the government of India regarding other financial groups/chit funds where frauds have been detected by SEBI or SFIO, with punishment for the offending companies and beginning the process of attachment of properties and disposal in a lawful manner for compensation of the depositors.
Along with the campaign at all levels against the activities of these irregular companies, it is also important for government of India to bring back the attractiveness of small saving schemes and to take more expeditious steps for spreading banking network in West Bengal and in several other states.
(INN )
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