A2/95 RAJOURI GARDEN
MANISHINATH BHAWAN
NEW DELHI. 110 027.
Website: itpfchq.blogspot.com.
Secretary General’ s report to
the 2nd All India
Conference/GB meeting to be held at
Vadodara on 7th and 8th December, 2019
Der Comrades,
On behalf of the National Executive of the
Income tax Pensioners Federation, I have
the privilege of presenting the report to the second all India
Conference/General Body meeting being
held at Vadodara on 7th and 8th December, 2019. Annexed to the report are the audited
statement of accounts for the years ending on 31.3.2016, 2017, 2018 and
2019. We have also annexed a receipt and
payment account for the period from 1.4.2019 to 30th November,
2019.
The 4th All India Conference of the
National Co0rdination Committee of Pensioners Association to which ITPF is
affiliated was held at Jaipur on Ist and 2nd November, 2019. An elaborate report containing the National
and International Developments, the state of economy of our country, the issues
and problems of the workers in general and demands, issues and problems of the
Pensioner community in general and the Central Government pensioners in
particular was submitted to the said Conference. The Conference in which the representatives
of the ITPF were present adopted the report with certain modifications. In
order to avoid repetition thereof, we are reproducing the same hereunder. The entire report would be placed on our website
so that all our members would be able to read it and make suggestions before we
meet at the Conference. A separate work
report covering the activities of ITPF during the period is separately
given Most of our activities were in
the nature of abiding by the directive of NCCPA, the work report of the NCCPA
has also been incorporated. Discussions
were held at the all India Conference of NCCPA on certain pensioner related
issues and resolutions were adopted. We
are presenting those resolutions also separately in an annexure to this report The printed copy (prior to armaments and
additions will be circulated at the conference venue. The resolutions may be considered by the
house and may take appropriate decision either to endorse it or to modify it as
the case may be.
The NCCPA has
adopted a detailed resolution over the policy and programme for the next three
years. Being an affiliate, we are duty
bound to abide by the same. We adopt the
same resolution with only one rider that the ITPF National Executive might
undependably chalk out programme of action in pursuance of certain
demands, if the committee so feels.
The following
issues will be subjected to discussion at the Conference apart from the other agenda items already slated for discussion.
Further steps
needed to obtain registration;
Amendments needed
in the Constitution for the purpose strengthening the finances of the
Federation
Re determining the
role and functions of the office bearers.
Steps to be taken
to widen base of the membership of the affiliated Associations.
Health insurance
scheme
The MACP case.
Solidarity support
to the working class on 8th Jan. 2020 one day strike.
Selection and
appointment of the Committees to conduct the conference
Selection and
nomination of the Auditor.
Extract from the
NCCPA report.
The relevant
extract from the report that is needed for discussion at the Conference is
placed in 3.
ITPF WORK REPORT.
Founding Conference:
The Founding Conference of ITPF was held at
Haridwar on 4th June, 2015. The
Conference had the following agenda for discussion. (a) discussions and acceptance of the
constitution-byelaws, memorandum of association
etc. (b) Election of office
bearers; (c) Adoption of resolutions on problems of the pensioners (d) any
other matter with the permission of the Chair. A brief report of the conference
is given hereunder: -
I have the proud privilege
and pleasure to inform you of the successful conduct of the first and founding
Convention of the Income tax Pensioners Federation at Haridwar on 4.06.2015 as
scheduled. The Income tax Pensioners Association, Meerut had taken the
strenuous responsibility of holding the first convention. They had
made excellent arrangements for the comfortable stay of the comrades, despite
the hot weather condition, Haridwar being at the peak of the summer. In
fact the showers on 3rd had lowered the intensity of the heat
wave. It must be admitted without hesitation that the food provided
was of a very excellent quality. The comrades of Meerut had made the stay
of each of the delegates highly comfortable. Most of the delegates had reached
the venue on 3rd itself.
In all there were 52
delegates and observers who attended the meeting, besides the observers and
volunteers from the host association. They represented the following
States.
1.
Tamilnadu, 2. Karnataka,
3. Andhra Pradesh,
4. Maharashtra,
5. Gujarath,
6. Rajasthan,
7. Madhya Pradesh.
8. North West Region,
9. Uttar Pradesh West, 10. Uttar
Pradesh East, 11. Bihar, 12. West Bengal,
13. North East Region. 14. Delhi.. 15.
Kerala had informed of their inability to attend but had sent in a written
message. 16. Nobody came to represent Vidharba, Orissa and Pune
regions.
We are hopeful that the
States which could not send in their representatives would be able to attend
the next meeting.
The Convention was
conducted by a Presidium consisting of the following comrades:
1.
Com. Umesh Mehta
2.
Com. Shanthi Kumar
3.
Com. R.B. Deshpande.
We had invited the
President and Secretary General of ITEF and ITGOA to greet the
convention. On behalf of ITEF Com.Ashok Kanojia , President addressed and
greeted the delegates. He assured the fullest co-operation from ITEF for the
well functioning of ITPF. Com. Bhaskar Bhattacharya, Secretary General, ITGOA
intimated his inability to be present at Haridwar due to a sudden engagement
the ITGOA had with the Cabinet Secretary. The convention was also greeted
by Com. N.C.Upadhyaya, Dy. Commissioner of Income tax, Haridwar on behalf of
the staff and officers of Haridwar, and Com.B.N. Singh, Retired Chief
Commissioner of Income tax, Kanpur. The Staff and officers of Haridwar had
extended full co-operation for the conduct of the convention and many of them
were present at the inaugural session.
The Convention commenced with the traditional lighting of the
lamp and welcome address by Com.S.K. Sharma, on behalf of the host
unit. Comrades in the presidium solicited approval of the agenda for the
convention. The agenda as per the notice issued was as under:
1.
Discussion on the proposed draft constitution of ITPF.
2.
Election of office bearers
3.
Discussions on issues pertaining to Income tax pensioners.
4.
Any other matter with the permission of the chair.
The house approved the
agenda.
Agenda Item No.1.
The Presidium then
requested the convenor to present the proposal over the draft constitution,
bye-laws and rules. Com.KKN.Kutty detailed the efforts taken to draft the
constitution and the proceedings of the preparatory committee meeting held at
Mumbai. He explained the circumstances under which the Preparatory
committee decided to switch over the ITPF set up from the proposed unitary
structure to a federal one. He applauded the efforts made by the
Karnataka Income tax Pensioners Association under the leadership of Com.
O.M.Baskaran and Com. R.B.Deshpande in redrafting the constitution, bye-laws
and rules in consonance with the provisions of the Societies Act, the
registration of which will make the Federation a legal entity. He
also explained the basis of the suggestion made to expand the team of office
bearers so as to include a representative from each Charge as in many States
the primary unit is yet to be set up. The meeting then witnessed a lively
discussion in which the delegates participated and made the following
suggestions.
(a) To
have a patron to enable the organization to function effectively. Shri Sudhir
Chandra former Chairman, CBDT would be requested to be the Patron of the ITPF.
(b) To have an
Advisor to help the Office bearers to function properly. Com Lajpat Rai would
be requested to kindly be the Advisor in view of the vast experience he has as
the Secretary General ITGOA and many positions in ITEF and the Joint Convenor
of Central JCA and a leader of the Incometax Pensioners Associations at
Rajasthan and Delhi.
© To increase the
number of Vice Presidents to six.
(d) To replace the two
posts of Joint Secretaries with one Additional Secretary to have cohesiveness
in the functioning of office bearers.
(e) To have One
Organizational Secretary from each of the 18 charges.
(f)
To raise the Number of Assistant Secretaries to 6.
(g) To
have an Auditor to be appointed by the Central Working Committee.
(h) To read
Artcile 14 (a) as under:The working committee shall meet once in a year to
consider the following.
(i)
Artticle 4(vi) add the word “health” after the word “education”’
The Convenor said that the
draft of the constitution, bye laws and rules were on the website for a long
time and the drafting Committee had taken into account every suggestion
received by it. The Presidium then placed the draft along with the above
amendments for the considerations of the house. The house adopted the
constitution, bye laws and rules unanimously.
Agenda Item No.2.
The house then took up the
next agenda for discussion. Viz. Election of office bearers. A
panel of office bearers was placed for the consideration. The house elected the
following office bearers.
1.
Patron: Shri Sudhir Chandra, former Chairman,
CBDT.
2.
Advisor: Com. Lajpat Rai, former Secretary General,
ITGOA
3.
President: Com. Umesh Mehta, former President ITEF
4.
Vice Presidents:
Com. V.K. Sreedharan. Former Secretary General ITGOA
Com. P.V. Ramachandran,
Former Vice President ITEF
Com. Shanthikumar, Former President, ITGOA
Com. R.B.Deshpande,Gl Secy. ITEF.Karnataka
and former Vice President, ITEF
Com.S.K.Sharma, former
Regl.Secy. ITEF Meerut
and Jt.Secretary, ITEF Western UP Kanpur.
(One post vacant to be
filled from Mumbai.)
5 . Secry. General: Com. K.K.N. Kutty, former
Secretary General, ITEF
6. Addl. Secry.:
Com. Baswanand. Former Gl Secy., ITEF &ITGOA Delhi
& former Jt.Secy.ITEF
7. Secry.Finance: Com.C.M. Badola. Former Regl.Secry.
ITEF Meerut & Vice.President.ITEF
8.
Asst. Secretaries:
Com..Gopal Singh Jadoo. Former Vice President ITEF
Com.Sheoji Mishra. Former
Regional Secretary, ITEF Allahabad
9. Organizing Secrys.;
Com.A.Sundaram.
Tamilnadu, Com. B.N.Gnana Prakash. A.P., Com.Srinivasa Shetty’ Karnataka’ Com.
E.P.K.Vasudevan. Mumbai, Com. H.M.Kanhaiya. Gujarath
Com. Shekawath: RajasthanCom.Vijay
Singh Negi. Delhi Com. V.K.Bajpai.Eastern UP Lucknow Com.Shambu Prasad. Bihar
Com.Sarbananda Das. NE
Region
Com.S.K.Bhargava. NW
Region
All the Organising
Secretaries elected are the former General Secretaries/President of
either ITEF or ITGOA of different Circles.
Comrades from Vidharba, Pune,
UP West, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal, Kerala will be nominated at
the CWC meeting.
Auditor will also be
appointed at the next CWC meeting.
Agenda Item No. 3.
Problems and issues:
Com. Kutty explained the
various issues taken up by the NCCPA and staff side JCM National Council
before the 7thCPC. He also explained as to how the question of
parity between the past and present pensioners in pension entitlement has
assumed significance in the background of the Government accepting the demand for
one rank one pension for defense personnel. In the discussions that
ensued thereafter, delegates raised the issues concerning CGHS, fixed medical
allowance, conveyance charges and the inordinate delay in settling disciplinary
proceedings etc. The meeting decided to elicit information about the problems
from all pensioners and to present the same as a charter to the next CWC
for discussion and further follow up action.
In conclusion, the meeting
placed on record the excellent work done by the drafting committee of the
constitution. The meeting asked the Secretary General to write to the
Secretary General ITEF for providing some space for the functioning of the ITPF
office at Delhi. On behalf of the Presidium, Com.Shanthi Kumar praised
the host unit for the excellent arrangements made by them. Com.Deshpande and
Com.Umesh Mehta, both expressed their appreciation over the efforts in the
formation of ITPF and stressed the need of strengthening the organization. Many
of the delegates expressed the view that the host unit must collect some amount
as delegate fees to meet out a portion of the expenses. However, on
behalf of the host unit, Com. S.K.Sharma said that he was aware that many
delegates have come to attend the convention at their personal expenses and the
host unit and reception committee would not like to burden them further. Even
then some of the delegates contributed and the same was taken as donation to
ITPF CHQ. The delegates who spoke at the convention, all appreciated the efforts
made to form ITPF and said that whenever they had convened the meeting of
pensioners in their respective States, they have received enthusiastic
response. All of them assured the house of the renewed efforts to form
Associations in their States, adopt Constitution rules etc. in consonance with
the provisions of the Societies Act and make ITPF as strong, united and
militant. Com. Convenor requested the Karnataka/ Delhi Unit to provide the copy
of their constitutions to the other States as a model as both the Associations
have obtained registration from the Registrar or Societies. The Presidium
expressed the confidence that with the rich experience of many of the delegates
as Trade Union Activists and leaders, ITPF will grow from strength to strength
and would become a potent organization in future to ensure that no IT Pensioner
will suffer any difficulties. Com. C.M Badola announced the receipt of
Rs. 23,000 as donation from the delegates and others. Com.R.K. Bhatnagar
President of the host Unit proposed the vote of thanks and the meeting
was concluded at 3.45PM
As is provided for in the constitution of
ITPF, the founding conference gave its
assent for the ITPF to be affiliated with NCCPA. The most important issue that
engaged the attention of all Central Govt. Pensioners in the country during the
period between 2016-18 was the report of the 7th CPC, which inter
alia contained their recommendation on the question of one rank one pension
scheme for the Civilian pensioners. Most of the Pensioners organisations in the
country including ITPF and NCCPA found the recommendation of the 7th
CPC on pension fixation, especially the offer of option No 1 a significant step
in the direction of bringing about parity between the past and present
pensioners and to maintain a certain relationship in the quantum of pension of
persons retiring from a particular position in the Government. Unlike in the armed forces, there had been
and even now has no fixed tenure the expiry of which would provide promotion to
the next grade/cadre in the civil service, except in Group A cadres. It had been a fortuitous operation in as much
the career advance of an individual mostly depended upon to the Department he
is initially allotted after recruitment.
It is this question the 7th CPC had addressed in initiating
Option No. 1 as a method of pension fixation.
Naturally this particular recommendation and the Government’s reaction
to it, the approach of the top echelons of the bureaucracy became the subject
matter of intense discussion amongst the pensioners organisations. The report of the NCCPA, which we have
reproduced deals with this issue in detail Since all issues concerning the
pensioners have been deliberated upon at various points of time at the
fora of NCCPA and ITPF , these are not
repeated here for every one of it has been detailed in the NCCPA report. In the work report, we shall, therefore,
deal with the organisational aspects, such as the discussions held at various
National Executive and National Sect. meetings.
The National Sectt. meeting were convened on
several occasions during the period under report. It had been the desire that these meeting
should be attended by all the elected members who were the office bearers of
the ITPF. However, this could not ensure
for various reasons. The most important reason for the continued absence of
certain comrades, at the meetings was their inability to meet the expenses to
be incurred for travelling to the National Capital. Ie. Delhi. This was caused due to the financial difficulties
by the Units, in which they were primary members. They were unable to meet the expenses and
naturally, these meetings were conspicuous by the absence of many elected
office bearers. Since the convening of
such meetings were not giving the
intended benefits, it was decided that a small committee of office bearers who
were residents of Delhi alone need meet in frequent intervals to attend and
take decisions. These meetings have
taken place on number of occasions and had discussed issues and addressed
immediate problems. Since these did not
cover the policy matters, the details of those meetings are not covered in this
report.
National Sectt. meeting on 18.4. 2016. The meeting was held at Delhi. Some of the issues discussed at the meeting
the decisions taken thereon are given hereunder.
7th CPC recommendations.
The points taken up with the Govt. were detailed. The details thereof
are available in our previous circular letter. The Government’s reaction
over the demands, Com.Kutty said would be available only by the end of May,
2016.
Comrades from Karnataka had raised the following points in their
communication which was placed before the meeting for discussion.
Revision of Pension. Change needed in the multiplication factor.
The multiplication factor would undergo change once the minimum as determined
by the 7th CPC. Is revised by the Government during negotiation.
Uniform Multiplication factor. They wanted the uniform multiplication
factor to be applied in the determination of the pay matrix for various
levels. Com. Kutty said that the same has been taken up already with the
Government. However, the same is linked with the determination of the
minimum wage, he added.
To count the number of increments earned instead of the number of years
of service one has put in the computation of Pension under Option 2
stipulated by the 7th CPC. Thisis to take care of the advance
increments gained by the I.T. employees and officers for passing the
various examinations. It was pointed out at the meeting that the demand before
the Government in this regard is could be formulated only when their decision
in this regard is made known.
To increase the 7 year norm to 10 year for enhanced family pension
Increasing FMA. Etc . The demand before the Government is to enhance the
FMA toRs. 2000
p.m.
Commutation value to be refunded after 12 years. The working
in this regard sent by the Karnataka affiliate will be placed on the website
whereby the demand for refund of the value after 12 years gets justified.
Department Specific Issues.
As you are aware the ITGOA had filed a case before the CAT Mumbai for
the nominal fixation benefit from.1.1.1996 in the case of Inspectors and
Officers when the pay scales were revised to Rs. 6500-10500
and 7450-12000 respectively. Though the CAT judgement was in favour of
the employees the Government has gone to high court, where the matter is
pending for years. After some discussions, it was decided that Com. Ashok
Salunkhe will take necessary steps to get the matter. Sorted out in the court.
He will get in touch with Com. Bhaskar Battacharya SG ITGOA and will do
the needful.
Welfare
Fund
The SG/
Addl. Secretary will meet the Chairman in July to present this matter. They
will also insist upon the setting up of pension Adalath in Income Tax
Department.
CGHS
related problems
A note will
be prepared by the Secretariat and taken up with Ministry of Health
comprehensive.
Organizational
matters
Registration
of ITPF was considered as the most important issue and the meeting decided to
give up most urgently for it.
The
affiliates which are registered under the Society’s Act shall send the
copy of constitution/ By laws etc to the CHQ(both the soft and hard copy).Other
formalities will be completed by the Addl. Secretary Com. Baswanand and the
paper work made ready by end of July 2016.
The
president/ SG or Addl. Secretary will make visit to those units where primary
works has not yet been commenced. Priority was decided to be to be
given to NW Region, UP East and West Bihar and Rajastan in the first phase
Periodical meeting
of the Office Bearers of ITPF will be convened. The next meeting shall be on
4.9.2016 at New Delhi.
Finance
Com. C.M.
Badola,Finance Secretary indicated the fund position. All affiliates will be
requested to immediately remit the subscriptions.
The meeting
decided that Com. Lajpat Rai would henceforth function as the patron of ITPF.
Shri Sudhir Chandra as Chief Patron
As decided the next
meeting of the Sectt. was convened on 4.9. 2016. As indicated earlier in the report, the
attendance of many comrades could not be ensured. It was decided at this meting that the
periodical meetings, originally decided may have to be reviewed. The periodicity of the meeting was reviewed
and it was decided that the committee consisting of comrades in Delhi and nearby
places will meet periodically to sort out the issues. Accordingly, the sub committee started
meeting every three months. However,
this also could not be continued after the demise of Com. Lajpat Rai.
The National Executive meeting on 19.12.2016.
The meeting had the
following agenda for discussion. The
meeting was held at Bangalore hosted by the ITEF Karnataka Unit. Before the meeting commenced its deliberation
the host unit organised the Pension observation day in which most of the
Pensioners who were members of the Karntaka Unit stationed at Bangalore
participated. The meeting had the
following agenda for discussions. , (i) Report of
the Secretary General, discussion and adoption. (ii) Organizational review,
(iii) Pension Adalat, (iv) 7th CPC related issues , (v) Any other matter
with the permission of the chair.
Most of the affiliates had been represented at the
meeting either through the delegates or observers. Those who could not
attend the meeting had intimated the Sectt. before hand. Com. Umesh Mehta
presided over the meeting. The report of the discussions held at the meeting is
reproduced hereunder:-.
It was noted that the report presented by the
Secretary General had drawn a picture of the functioning of the ITPF right from
its inception till date. The report, a major portion of which had
dealt with the organizational matters, was taken up for discussion along with
the organizational review. The following emerged as the outcome of the
discussions at the meeting.
A. Since the requisite number of affiliates
have obtained the registration from the Registrar of Societies, it was decided
that Com. Negi may be requested to take necessary steps to present the
necessary documents for obtaining registration for the apex organization i.e. ITPF
without further loss of time. It was also decided to place the copy of
the registration certificates of the affiliates on the ITPF websites for the
help and assistance of other affiliates.
B. The Secretary General or the President will try
to attend the next convention of the affiliates, especially of those who are
yet to obtain the registration and submit a factual report of the functioning
of these organizations to the next CWC.
C. The Finance Secretary will provide a list of
affiliates who have already remitted the affiliation fee and subscription as
also of those who have not so far made the remittance.
D. A communication system will be developed to
ensure that every member will receive an SMS the moment any information is
posted on the website. Tamilnadu unit which has developed the system has
assured to share the details after its fine tuning.
E. The Secretary General will take steps to ensure
that the periodical meetings of the National Sectt. and the CWC are held at
different venues so as to give impetus to the functioning of the State Units.
These meetings may be held when the annual G.B. or conference of the
State Units are held. Accordingly, it was decided that the next CWC
meeting may be held at Baroda in Feb. 2017 and the next one at Chennai in
April, 2017.
F. It was also decided to have a deeper
communication system. With that in mind the State Committees are
requested to enroll at-least 25 members as subscribers of NCCPA
bulletin. The monthly bulletin is priced at Rs. 60 p.a. The Secretary General
will intimate the Bank account no. etc. to the concerned State committee for
remittance of the subscription amount directly to NCCPA.
G. Copy of the report is annexed. The report
was adopted by the house.
Agenda Item No. iii.
Pension adalat. Com. Secretary General informed the
house that the decision taken by the Department of Personnel and which is to be
abided by all the Departments of the Government of India will provide a
platform to seek redressal of individual grievances and cut short the procedure
related delays. He also said that he has made a request to the Chairman,
CBDT for the convening of such an Adalat at the National level. The State
Units will do so with an appeal to the Principal chief commissioners of Incometax
(CCA). The meeting also decided to seek a mechanism by which periodical
meeting for ITPF with the CBDT authorities could be arranged.
Agenda No. iv.
7th CPC related issues. Denial of option No. 1
was the main issue that came up for discussion at the meeting. All
the members were of the unanimous view that the Government’s decision in this
regard is untenable and must be contested. Com. Secretary General
informed the house the crux of the deliberations held at the meeting with the
Secretary Pension on three occasions on this issue. However, he said that
nothing tangible is likely to emerge. The Pension department has come to
the conclusion that the recommendation is infeasible to be implemented.
They are likely to report the same to the Government. He said that
all Pensioners organizations are aggrieved and steps are being taken to
galvanize the anger through a united platform. He then said that he was an
invitee speaker at the annual convention of the Bharat Pensioner Samaj, one of
the biggest all India Pensioners organizations of the Country. The issue has
been subjected to discussion and it has been resolved to organize a massive
dharna programme at Delhi. The date for such a programme is yet to be
decided, he added. The members also expressed the opinion that the possibility
of approaching the Courts especially in the background that the Government has
accepted the recommendation and has notified the same must be explored.
Agenda Item No. v.
Any other matter with the permission of the Chair.
Under the agenda item, many individual matters and grievances were
discussed. All members expressed the need to strengthen the ITPF and its State
Units and periodical meetings. All of them expressed the gratitude to the
host unit for the excellent arrangements made and sincerely thanked the
volunteers and leaders of KITDPA. They also expressed their thanks for the
support and assistance provided by the I.T. Local administration for the
conduct of the CWC meeting.
Kolkata
meeting of the National Executive.
The National Executive met at
Kolkata on 16th December, 2017.
ITPF West Bengal Unit had made the arrangements for the meeting. It was in deference to the decision taken
earlier that the National Executive must rotate itself whole holding the
meeting, so that the host units will get the opportunity to rejuvenate its
functioning. There had been widespread
participation of so many comrades in the conduct of the meeting at Kolkata. The host unit was not even given the
Departmental facility for the delegates who were to go over to Kolkata to
attend the meeting on the specious plea that they were not Government
officials. The matter was taken up with
the CCIT Kolkata orally, who expressed surprise over the decision taken by the
Director General Investigation, who had been the Estate officer in charge of
the building in which the guest house had been housed. Given hereunder is a brief report of the
meeting.
The National Executive of ITPF was held at Kolkata on 16.12.2017 as per
the notice issued on 02.11.2017. 31 comrades attended the meeting representing
the following Units.1.Rajastan 2.Mumbai, 3.Orissa, 4.NE Region, 5.UP West, 6.UP
East, 6.Andra Pradesh, 7.Karnataka, 8.Delhi, 9.Tamilnadu, 10.West Bengal,
11.Vidharbha, Nagpur, 12.Gujarath
Kerala informed their inability to depute a comrade to attend the
meeting, but promised they would do so at the next meeting. The Units which
were unrepresented were:-
a) Bihar& Jharkhand
. b) MP& Chattisgarh. C) NW Region d) Pune
Excellent arrangements had been made by the host Unit West Bengal at
Kolkata. The meeting was held at the Regional Training Institute, Kolkata and
Boarding and lodging arrangements were made at the RTI Guest house.The
following items had been the agenda for discussion.
1. Registration
2. Problems + demands of
pensioners.
3. Participation of
NCCPA Dharna Programme
4. Journal Subscription
5. Finance
6. Matter of urgency.
Com. Umesh Mehta, President was in the chair. He was assisted by Com.
R.B. Deshpande and Com. Shantikumar. The meeting commenced by paying homage to
Com. PS. Rashtrapal and Com. Lajpat Rai, Com. Shambu Prasad, Com. Vinod Behari
Srivastava and other departed comrades. The decisions taken briefly are
hereunder:
1. Registration: noted
the progress made. A committee consisting of Com. S.K. Sharma, Com. Negi and
Com. Mittal was set up. The Secretary General will hold a meeting of the
committee in March 2018.
2. The major problem
that came up for decision was the revision of pension. All Unit representatives
informed the house the steps taken by them to expedite the revision process.
Another important matter was the various issues connected with CGHS and Medical
facilities.
The revision of pension on account of the CAT Mumbai judgement over the
date of effect of Pay Scale revision of Inspectors and ITOs; the Supreme Court
Judgement on date of effect of MACP; Vigilance cases; Review DPC and notional
promotion; option No.1 in pension revision recommended by the 7th CPC;
Pension Adalat were some of the other issues discussed at the meeting.
The house unanimously opined the NCCPA must explore the possibilities of
continuing struggles for getting Option No. 1 accepted by the Govt. The meeting
also wanted the NCCPA to take legal recourse for this purpose.
Chennai
meeting of ITPF National Executive.
It
was again in consonance with the earlier decision that the Chennai meeting of
ITPF NE took place. The Chennai comrades
had made excellent arrangements for the conduct of the meeting. Good number of
comrades who are members of the ITPF Tamilnadu Unit had attended the
meeting. A few comrades from outstations
(ile. District headquarters of Tamilnadu State) were also present. The correctness of the decision of the
National Executive i.e. to hold the meeting in different states once in six months
was reflected at the Chennai meeting. Report of the meeting is as under:-
As scheduled the National Executive meeting of ITPF was held at
Chennai (ITEF Union room) on 9.12.2018 at 11.30 AM. Com. Umesh Mehta, President
ITPF presided over the meeting. Com. S.K.Sharma and Com. R.B. Deshpande joined
the Diaz. On behalf of the host unit com. Perumal welcomed the secretariat
members and explained the arrangements made for the comfortable stay of the
participants. Com. V. Rathinasabapathy President, Tamilnadu ITPA made a brief
presentation on behalf of the host unit. Com. M.S Vengatesan,
General secretary, ITEF TN and Cm. Elango, General secretary ITGOA, addressed
the members assuring them all help needed for building up a strong Pensioners
federation. Thereafter 2 minutes silence was observed to pay homage to all
those who passed away after the Hyderabad meeting.
Com. KKN. Kutty presented the agenda for the meeting which was approved
with the inclusion of two following issues.
Notional pay fixation from 01.01.1996 in the case of Inspectors and ITOs
Any other matter with the permission of the Chair.
Com. R.B Deshpande presented the issue No. 1 in detail, which was
supplemented by the Secretary General. It was noted that :-
(a) The ITGOA Mumbai Unit had filled petition before
CAT demanding that the Pay revision in the case of ITOs made in 2004 must have
the benefit of notional fixation w.e.f 1.01.1996 as has been done in the case
of Audit and Accounts Officers.
(b) The CAT Mumbai Bench had issued an order in favour
of the Petitioner.
© Though the Department of Revenue wanted to accept the decision DoE
directed them to file a writ petition before the Mumbai High Court.
(c) The case is pending at Mumbai High court for
the past six years
(d) Karnataka ITPA want to implead the case as also the ITPF. Only
organizations that were in existence in 2012 are entitled to
implead in the case. Accordingly, it was decided that
Karnataka ITPA will collect data for preparing impleading petition. ITPF
will write to Chairman CBDT to engage an advocate for the
department so that no further adjustment will come about .
ITPF CHQ. will also write to General secretary ITGOA to appoint an
advocate and attend the next hearing slated for 8.02.2019
Agenda item No.2
Filing case before the CAT in the MACP and Option No. 1 issues.
Members desired that draft petition be placed on
the website . It was also decided that atleast ten from each
affiliate will make representation on both MACP and Option No.1
Agenda item No.3 cghs grievances.
The meeting decided to provide one more week for all affiliates to
include items in the CGHS grievance list which was circulated at the meeting,
The SG will take up the matter with the Health
Ministry.
Agenda item No. 4. Health insurance.
The issue was discussed at length . on the basis of the discussion the
CHQ will prepare two proposals for health insurance, for CGHS covered
pensioners and others.
Agenda Item No. 5 Member ship
On the basis of the reporting from each affiliates the meeting noted
that the overall membership has almost reached 4200. It was decided that steps
may be taken to obtain PAN no . from the IT Department. Com. S.K.Sharma
informed the house of the developments in getting registration. He said that
Meerut unit has given the legal fees and the same may be treated as donation to
ITPF. He also said that the signature of the petitioners for registration
might be required at short notice and the concerned office bearers
may have to reach Delhi for this specific purpose..
Agenda Item No. 6. Finance:
The treasurer will prepare a due/ paid statement and will place on the
website. The units immediately thereon will make the payment of the dues. Com.
Badola requested each unit to inform him of the remittances so far
made towards subscription as also payment made for the journal. The
Journal subscription as and when paid, he requested, must be under
intimation to him so as to reconcile the same with the NCCPA.. He
circulated the copy of the day book and the balance sheet as on 31.03.2018.
Agenda Item No.7. Widening circulation of the journal.
The meeting decided to make all ITPF members as Journal subscribers.
8th and 9th January 2019 strike:
The meeting decided that the affiliates should get in touch with ITEF
leadership at state level and organize solidarity and support actions and
do everything possible to make the strike action a grand success.
Agenda No. 9. Next Conference: I
The next conference of ITPF will be held at Baroda in August 2019.
It was also decided to release a souvenir to commemorate the occasion.
Com Shanti Kumar, will be Chairman of the Souvenir Committee as has been
decided at the Hyderabad meeting.
Agenda No. 1. NCCPA programmes of action.
Com.Secretary General detailed the programme chalked out by the NCCPA in
pursuance of the 10 point charter of demands. All affiliates were requested to
convene their general body meeting immediately and ensure that the individual
comrade participates in the post card campaign. The meeting also felt
that the campaign will help for a closer interaction with the members.
The affiliates will inform the CHQ the number of post cards sent from each
Station to the Prime Minister. The next important programme is a massive
fast programme at Delhi on 15th March, 2019. The affiliates will
elicit maximum number of participants in the programme. It was also
decided that the affiliates leadership will make arrangement for the comrades
who are going to Delhi arrangements for their comfortable stay through on line
booking in hotels. March will have temperate climate in Delhi.
Still it is necessary to have good arrangements for stay. Each affiliate will
send the following number of comrades for the 15th March programme:
AP-2-. Bengal – 4, Karnataka-2 Gujarat-5 Meerut+Lucknow+Allahabad= 60,
Rajasthan. 15, Tamilnadu – 10, Orissa-2, Mumbai. 5, Delhi. 20, MP, 3, NER -2.
NWR -2, Kerala -3, Bihar -2. Vidharba. 3, Pune - 1
Agenda No. 10 Any other matter.
As per one of the judgements of the Supreme Court the
persons who could not get their due promotion as the DPC got delayed and the
eligible candidate retired will have the benefit of notional promotion and
notional pay fixation. The copy of the judgement will be published
in the journal. The affected comrade’s cam makes a representation to the
Board with copy to the CHQ. The matter will be taken up with the Board as
a general issue.
The deliberations at the meeting was concluded at 5.30 PM. Com.
President declared that the National Sectt. will next meet only at Baroda on
the eve of the conference. The CHQ will prepare on the basis of the
membership declared the number of delegates each affiliate is entitled to
deploy for the conference, provided the subscription for 2015-16, 2016-17,
2017-18 and 2018-19 are remitted to the CHQ. Com. President and the
Secretary General in their concluding remarks praised the efforts undertaken by
the host unit for the conduct of the conference as also for the stat of the
Sectt. members.
The National
Secretariat met at New Delhi on 20th June, 2019. Though earlier it had been decided that the
National Executive need meet only once in six months in view of the huge
financial burden, the meeting in June, 2019 had become unavoidable. The meeting discussed mainly the methodology
to be adopted over the conduct of the conference which has been undertaken by
the Baroda Unit. Many members felt that
clarity should be brought about the number of delegates, observers etc. in view
of the huge financial burden over the conduct of the conference. Given hereunder is the report of that
meeting.
Agenda Item
No,1
Review of
implementation of the decision of the last meeting held at Chennai in December,
2018.
Notional
Fixation of pay for Inspectors and Officers: Please see mention elsewhere in
this circular letter. CGHS issues. The minutes of the discussions we had
with the Secretary health has been placed on the website. Health
insurance. The meeting decided to study the scheme introduced by the Government
of Kerala for their employees and pensioners. Membership: All efforts are to be
taken by the units to expand the membership and substantially increase the same
before we meet at the next conference. Widening subscription base of the
journal, finance of the ITPF and the next conference are discussed and
the minutes of the same are depicted elsewhere in this circular.
Agenda Item No. 2.
47th
meeting of the National Council JCM.
The
Secretary General presented the crux of the discussions at the meeting.
The Staff Side letter and the minutes are placed on the website.
Agenda Item
No.3
CGHS matters.
The minutes
of the discussion with the Secretary, Health and the new items introduced in
the agenda are placed on the website. Kindly see the same in the next
issue of our journal. .
Agenda Item No. 4.
Organisational:
Registration
The
Registrar’s office has written to the Director Ministry of Consumer affairs for
certain clarification, copy of which has been given to us. The
Sectt. will pursue the matter and will obtain the registration thereafter. It
has been decided that the Secretary General and President will try to visit all
units before the conference. They will give priority to the State of
Bihar, North West Region and Pune where the units have not started
functioning.
Agenda Item
No. 5.
Finance.
Com.
Badola, Finance Secretary submitted a due-paid statement indicating the dues
from each unit. The meeting decided to request the units to clear the
subscription amount before 31st Jul, 2019. It was also decided
that the ITPF must pay Rs. 15,000 as donation to NCCPA towards attending the
TUI Congress at Bogota, Columbia as its share. This has been distributed
amongst the units @ Rs. 1000 per unit. All are requested to kindly clear
the dues immediately. The ITPF Chq has remitted the subscription due to
NCCPA upto and including for the year 2018-19.
Agenda Item
No. 6.
All India
Conference.
The meeting
accepted the proposal of the Baroda unit to host the next conference at
Baroda. It was also decided to bring out a souvenir to commemorate the
occasion. Com. Shanthi Kumar will be the chairman of the
committee. It will have one member from each unit. The
committee will get in touch with all concerned to procure as many
advertisements as possible so that the Conference will be able to be conducted
smoothly as also provide some financial base for the organisation in future.
They will contact the Office bearers of ITEF and ITGOA both at the CHQ
and at the States. Com. Secretary General and Com. President will
try to visit all major units before the conference for this purpose. The
Conference will be held in two days. On the first day, the inaugural session
will commence in the afternoon It will be followed by the National
Executive Committee meeting. Next day the business session will be
held. It is expected to be concluded on the second day. The
accommodation will be for two nights. Whoever wants to overstay, must
intimate the host unit. The host unit will make some alternate
arrangements, of course on payment. The food and accommodation for the
two nights will be provided by the host units. The meeting also decided
that every unit may be allotted 4 delegates including the Central office
bearers. I.e. 1+3. Those who wanted to depute more or less number
of delegates must contact the Secretary General immediately.
Agenda Item
No. 7.
Journal
subscription.
The meeting
decided that every unit must strive to enlist atleast twenty additional
subscribers and remit the amount at the rate of Rs. 72 per copy per year to the
Assistant Treasurer, NCCPA before 30th November, 2019. They
can requisition the copies to be delivered at the respective residential
addresses or in a bulk at the office address of the Unit.
Agenda Item
No. 8.
Mumbai high
Court case on notional pay.
In the
absence of the representatives from Karnataka, the meeting could not be
presented with a clear picture of the status of the court case at Mumbai High
Court in the matter of grant of notional pay with effect from 1.1.1996 for the
Inspectors and Income tax Offices, whose scale of pay had been revised in
2004. However, the meeting was fortunate enough to have the presence of Com.
Amitaba Dey, Secretary General ITGOA who could brief the house of the present
state of affairs in the case. After listening to Com. Dey, the house
decided that the Karnataka Comrades could be requested to pursue the same.
Besides, the Secretary General was also asked to explore the possibility of
filing another case on the same issue before the Principal Bench of the
Tribunal in association with the ITEF and ITGOA (CHQ)
Agenda Item
No. 9.
Any other
matter.
The meeting
noted that the following units had been able to procure accommodation to house
the office of the respective organisations at Baroda, Mumbai, Delhi, Bengal,
Assam, Tamilnadu, AP & Telengana and Karnataka. Others are
requested to take immediate steps to obtain the same as it would help to run
the units properly.
ORGANISATIONAL
During the four
year period, after the founding the apex level organisations, the second
conference will review its functioning at all levels. The most important issue from the
organisational point of view was to
obtain the registration from the Registrar or Societies. We at the CHQ earnestly hoped that by the
time the conference is held the certificate of registration would have been in
our possession. The team under the
leadership of Com. S.K. Sharma had been after this for quite a lone time. The number of times, he had visited the
office of the Registrar is countless.
They had been raising one objection after another and when the letter
was written by them to the Ministry, we felt that we are almost at the end of
the tunnel. But their objections is going on being raised one after
another. They have now pointed out
certain errors or overwriting over the affidavit we had filed on behalf of
certain members . They have now pointed
out that the name in the affidavit and in the Aadhar Card varies We are now to correct it and resubmit the
affidavit. In so far as the PAN no. we
have already informed you that we have been
allotted with the PAN No.
Coming to the
structure of the organisation, it has proceeded on snail’s pace. We have not been able to make any progress in
respect of two charges. i.e. the North West Region and Bihar. After the death of Com. Shambu Prasad Bihar
has remained uncommunicated and unrepresented.
In so far as NW Region was concerned, Com. Bhargava attended our
founding conference. The Secretary
General had been to Jullunder to meet
him personally and request him to take up the issue of forming an organisation
at pan-nw level. But this has not
happened. The Vidharba region did not have
the presence at our founding conference.
The Association has been formed and it has started functioning there. Another region, in which we did not have the
presence of a representative was the Pune Circle. We had been in trying to get in touch with
some of our old friends in this regard but the efforts have gone in vain. Com.P.B. Sarvalkar from Kolhapur who was the
erstwhile General Secretary of ITEF has retired from service last month. He had been to Delhi and stayed at the ITPF
CHQ for a few days. He has already taken
the pains of organising the pensioners in many districts including
Kolhapur. He has assured of his
participation at the Vadodara convention.
All Other units are functioning well even though the expected
development has not taken place in many units.
It is better the Conference hears
their representatives and take appropriate decisions. There are two important requirements for the
growth of the organisations viz. financial stability and the other willing
comrades to undertake tours for a proper interaction with the comrades who are striving at unit
level. At the very discussion of the
conference at Vadodara, we had identified the fist problem and has decided to
address it. Let us hope that on
completion of the conference at Vadodara, our attempt to address the financial
problems at least would have been resolved.
Programmes of
actions.
It is the chalking out
programmes and eliciting the large scale
participation of the members that pave way for development of trade union organisations. It is equally applicable in the case of
pensioners movement too. Though ITPF has not individually taken up any issue
for programme of action, it had tried to carry out all the programmes of
actions chalked out by the NCCPA and lent its support to the movement of the
workers in the country. In the first
Central programme of NCCPA which was held at Meghdhoot Bhawan, New Delhi, did
not have the requisite participation of ITPF.
However, the second one, the mass fast at Jantar Mantar did have our
significant presence. Most of the Units under ITPF have been provided with
accommodation at the office premises for
day to day functioning. While some of
them are well functioning, we cannot so in respect of all units. NCCPA is affiliated to TUI of Pensioners and
Retirees. This conference must think in
terms of seeking affiliated with TUI, which is an integral part of WFTU.
We must take appropriate decision in the
matter at the conference taking into account the merits and demerits thereof. In the days to come we should have a plan for
prgrammes on ITPF specific issues. We may list out those after discussion at
the conference. To organise a pension
Adalat at the Board level will resolve some of the individual-specific
issues. We must also have a regular
inter action with the Departmental authorities both at the Circle and CHQ
levels. How to go about it and get the
facility realised must be subject matter of discussion at the conference. Another aspect on which we must bestow our
attention is the regular organisational meetings, both at the Circle and CHQ
levels. Our NE is expected to meet once
in six moths. We have tried to adhere to
this stipulation. Conference has been
delayed. We must be able to avoid
recurrence of this. The Circle level conferences
have to be held once in three years. We
must also fix a periodicity in which the unit level meetings are held. The suggestions that will come up during
discussions will help us evolve a methodology for future functioning. The NCCPA had formulated a 10 point charter
of demands in pursuance of which all affiliates of NCCPA organised various
programmes of action. In the annexure we
have given the list of those demands as also the present status thereof for
your ready reference.
In the concluding
part of the report of the NCCPA the perspective and task have been clearly
outlines. Though we are not sailing in the same boat along with the working
class in so far as the relationship between the pensioner and pension giver
being different from a master-servant relationship, we have to adopt the same
methodology to create sanctions and generate public opinion. In the matter of providing social security
for the people who are aged, not only our Government but even a significant
segment of the society feels averse. The
building up of an egalitarian society, equality before law etc. have been
relegated to the background. When wealth is created in whatever manner i.e. right or bad, the trickle down impact
will take care of the downtrodden in the society is the theory that reins
supreme in the present India. Consistent
and strenuous efforts are needed to
transform the society. We must play our
role to make this possible. It becomes thus our task to ensure that all support
and solidarity with the working people is marshalled.
On behalf of the
National Executive we convey our fraternal greetings to all the delegates,
observers, guests and other who chose to attend the second conference at
Vadodara on 7th and 8th December, 2019. We expect the
deliberations at the conference on this report to enrich it. The policy and the programme of our
Federation cannot be different from NCCPA to which we are affiliated. Therefore, no separate policy programme
resolution is placed. We will endorse
the same with the clear understanding that the ITPF Sectt. will do well to
chalk out programmes in pursuance of certain department specific issues. The programmes we chalk out and implement
will serve the most important objective of strengthening our organisation in
the years to come.
LONG LIVE
ITPF, LONG LIVE NCCPA,LONG LIVE TUI (P&R) OF WFTU.
Annexures: 1.
Report of the
Congress of the TUI (Pensioners and Retirees) held at Bogota, Columbia. This is
separately circulated.
Charter of demands and
the present status thereof.
CHARTER OF
DEMANDS.
As finalized at
the Chennai NE meeting
On 05.08.2018
Implement Option No. 1 as a pension
fitment formula as recommended by the 7th CPC and Grant MACP
benefit w.e.f 1.01.206 as per the Supreme Court judgment.
The
Govt.has refused to accept this demand and the suggestion put forth by the
Staff Side as this as an alternative for those who want was also rejected. Our decision to pursue the matter through
courts and tribunal for which money is being collected.
Revise the Pension of BSNL absorbed retirees
immediately with 15% fitment, recommended by the 3rd PRC and approved by
the government from 01-01-2017, delinking the wage revision in BSNL.
Not much
of a progress has been registered in the matter. Govt. has gone back on their assurance of
delinking wage revision from the pension revision.
Revise pension of Central Autonomous Body
pensioners.
This has
been done in most of the cases. The CHQ
has not been informed of any stray institution where the issue is still not
settled.
(a) Provide notional fixation of pension under
Option No. 3 on the basis of the pay scale/pay level of the cadre or grade from
which the pensioner retired. (b) Provide fixation of pension in the case of all
pre 2006 pensioners on the basis of the grade pay/pay level or pay scale of the
post or cadre from which one has retired as per the judgments of Courts.
This is
partially settled whereby orders were issued in the case of GP 4200 to GP 4600
Extend the benefit of CS(MA) Rules to
all pensioners who are not covered by CGHS
This has
not been agreed to..
Increase the FMA to Rs. 2000 as has been
granted to PF Pensioners.
It was
increased only to Rs. 1000.
Raise the minimum pension to 60% of the
Minimum wage. i.e. Rs. 10,800 p.m.
No
progress in the matter. Even the matter
has not come up for discussion.
Restore the commutation portion of pension
after 10 years.
On all
occasions, when this matter has come up for discussion, the official side has
taken the stand of not agreeing with our contention, without assigning any
reasons.
Provide increased rates of pension on
attainment of 70 years onwards.
Since this
has not been recommended by the 7th CPC the Government has not
agreed to this demand.
Scrap the New Contributory pension scheme and
restore the defined benefit pension to all CGEs irrespective
of their date of entry into the Government service.
After
increasing the Governmental portion of the contribution, Govt. has not agreed
to do anything in the matter
Annexure. 2.
Resolution on
Policy and programme. This is circulated.
Suggestions made to
the Govt. on CGHS. Problems. Circulated.
Resolutions adopted at the NCCPA Conference.
Resolutions adopted
at the NCCPA Conference.
Resolutions
adopted:
1. Policy &
Programme.
2. Option Number 1.
3. Pre-2006
Pensioners.
4. MACP date of
effect.
5. MACP to
promotees of Postal.
6. MACP on promotional
hierarchy.
7. Annual increment
to 30th June retirees.
8. CGHS
functioning.
9. CGHS wellness
centres formed by merger of Postal Dispensaries.
10. Extension of
benefit of judgments to all similarly placed pensioners.
11. Restoration of
revision of pension to BSNL absorbed retirees from 1.1.2017.
12. Immediate
payment of pending medical bills and quarterly medical allowance to BSNL pensioners.
13. Method of
treating the BSNL pensioners migrating to CGHS from BSNL MRS scheme.
14. Full pension to
pre 2006 pensioners from 1.1.2006 instead of 1.1.2016.
15. Determination
of CGHS subscription at the rates prevailing at the time of retirement to
P&T Pensioners.
16. Creation of
effective forums of redressal and Recognition Rules to Pensioners and their Associations.
17. Grant of Family
Pension uniformly at the rate of 30% to Punjab National Bank Pensioners;
periodical Pension upgradation and improving the medical insurance system to
them.
18. Enhancement of
FMA to 2000/-.
19. Prompt issue of
Revised PPOs.
20. On difficulties
for drawl of additional pension to family pensioners.
21. Denial entitled
DA/DP from 1.1.2016 as per COL Index.
22. Grant of 4600
Grade Pay to 6500-10500 scale pre 2006 retirees from 1.1.2006 itself;
23. Extending
pension revision orders to compulsorily retired pensioners and pensioners
receiving compassionate allowance.
24. Income tax
exemption limit to senior citizens as 10 lakhs.
25. Scrapping NPS.
26. Observing TUI
call every year in India.
27. Reduction of
interest rates of SB deposits in Banks and POSB.
28. Grant of HRA to
Pensioners.
29.Grant of FMA and
medical facilities to pensioners of National institute of Ayurveda Jaipur.
Suggestions made to
the Govt. on improving the functioning of CGHS. This is circulated.
Anneure -3.
Extract from the report to the
4th all India Conference of NCCPA
on National and international developments
during the period between 2016-2019.
We shall briefly mention in this report the important
and significant developments that happened in the world and especially in our
country as it had a bearing on our own life and livelihood and will impact on
our future too. The report will cover
our activities in the last term of office detailing our endeavours, failures,
deficiencies and uniqueness of approach.
A discussion over these at the Conference properly will enable us to
formulate our future policy and programmes.
But before we commence that narrative, let us take time to pay our
respectful homage to those great persons, whose names are mentioned hereunder,
who left us with an indelible impression.
While it may be impossible, given the paucity of space, to provide a
narrative of good deeds of all these good persons, we have attempted to do so
in respect of a few.
Neil
O’Brien, former MP and Quiz pioneer; Carlo Pedersoli, Italian Actor;
O.N.V.Kurup, Malayalam Poet and lyricist; Mrinalini Sarabai, Classical
Dancer; Ravindra Kalia, Writer; Mufti
Muhammad Sayeed, Politician; Manorama, Tamil Actor; Jagmohan Dalmiya, Cricket
Administrator; Kalamandalam Sathyabhama, Classical Dancer; Kalpana Ranjini,
Malayalam Actor; Sayeed Jaffry, Actor;. S.S. Tarapore, Economist; Nida Fazli, Poet;
Sudhir tailing,Cartoonist; Abdul Rashid Khan, Musician; Ustad Sabri Khan, Musician;
Shankaran Nair, Intelligence Agent, former RAW Chief; Balram Jakher, Former Lok
Sabha Speaker; Ashok Ghosh, AIFB Leader;.Purno Agitok Sangma, Former Loksabha
Speaker; Muhammed Ali, Boxing Champion; Inder Malhotra, Veteran Journalist;
K.G. Subramanyan, one of the pioneers of modern Indian Art; Kalabhavan Mani,
Malayalam Actor; Ramachandra Chintaman,
Marati Litterateur; Mahasweta Devi,
Bengali Litterateur and Social activist;
S.R. Nathan, former Singapore president; Islam Karimov, Uzbek President for
more than 25 years; Shimon Peres, former Israeli President;
M.Balamuralikrishna, Carnatic vocalist & Composer; Ram Naresh Yadev, former UP Chief
Minister; MGK. Menon, former ISRO
Chairman; Cho. S. Ramaswamy, Tamil
Actor; Edward Richardo, American novelist; Om Puri. Veteran Actor; Ali Akber Hashmi Rafsanjini, former Iranian
president; Surjith Singh Barnala, former Punjab Chief Minister; proffer C.V. Vishveshara, who did pioneering
work on black holes, in Bangalore; . E. Ahemmed, former union Minister; Rabi
Ray, former Loksabha Speaker; Vinod Khanna, Hindi Actor & MP; Leila Seth,
first Woman Judge in Delhi High Cout, ,
Ms. Jayalalitha, former Chief Minister, Tamilnadu. Anil Madhav Dev,
Union environment minister; Reema Lagoo, actor & theatre artist; Roger
Moore, British actor; K.P.S. Gill former Pujab DGP; Dasari Narayana Rao, film
Director & former union minister; Era Sezhiyan, veteran
parliamentarian; P.N. Bhagawati, former
CJI; U.R. rao, former ISRO Chairman;. P.M. Bhargava, Veteran molecular biologist;.
Girija Devi. Classical singer; I.V. Sasi, Malayalam Film director; Dina Wadia,
daughter of Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinah; Priya Ranjan dasmunsi,
congress leader; Shashi Kapoor, veteran actor.
George
Bush, Presidnet of USA, Paul Allen, Microsoft
co founder, Trai Dai Quang, Vietnma President, Kofi Annan, Former U.N.
Secretary General, Stephen Hawking,
Renowned Physicist, Mrinal Sen, Film
Director, Nrupam Sen, CPM leader, Anantha Kumar, former Union
Minster, Madan Lal Khurana, former Delhi
Chief Minister, Somnath Chatterji, Former Speaker, Lok Sabha, M. Karunanidhi,
former Chief Minister, Tamilnadu, Kedarnath Singh, Gnanapith Award Winner,
Kanchi Sankaracharya Saraswathy,
Sreedevi, Bollywood Actress, Ram
Jethmalani, renowned Supreme Court Lawyer, Arun Jaitley, Former Finance and
Defence Minister of India, Khayyamn, Music composer, Ms. Sushama Swaraj, former foreign Minister of Inida, Jaipal Reddy,
former Union Minister, Sheila Dixit, three times Chief Minister of Delhi,
Girish Karnad, Great Indian Actor and political activist, Manohar Parikkar,
former Defence Minister of India, Kader
Khan, Veteran Actor and write, George Fernandez, former Trade Union leader and
Defence Minister of India.
Com.
Fidel Castro.
Revolution
is not a bed of roses. It is a conflict and struggle between the present and
the past. That is how Fidel Castro expressed his understanding of
revolution. On 26th November 2016, Fidel
Castro breathed his last. He was the
greatest revolutionary, the world has ever seen. That great oratory that moved
millions, which became the constant
threat to the imperialist powers especially the USA will never be heard again.
His was an ever open eye against the dastardly and exploitative system of
capitalism.
Fidel
Castro entered the politics in the year 1952 as
a candidate of the Orthodox Party of Cuba against the autocratic rule of
Batistia. That election was rigged and
overturned. Com. Castro was caught and
imprisoned. Fidel chose the armed
struggle to overthrow the despotic rule.
Even though he was caught and tortured he ultimately succeeded and the
communist rule was established in Cuba. In the six decade rule, Cuba had to
confront with innumerable attempts of counter revolution ably assisted by the
USA. Cuba could not only withstand the
inhuman sanctions imposed by the US and the imperialist Allies but could make
the country as the top ranking in the human and development index of the
developing nations of the world. Castro
and his Cuba had been and continues to be the tower of strength for all Latin
American countries and the left movements there. Cuba has the best social health system in the
world, which fact had to be recognized even by the USA. The collapse of the
Soviet Union brought about insurmountable problems for Cuba. From a single sugar exporting economy it was
forced to diversify. The Cuban people
stood behind their leader in all those trials and tribulation. Cuba could withstand the cruel sanctions
without compromising on its governing system.
Fidel
faced 638 assassination attempts made by the USA and its dreaded CIA. In 2006 in the face of the filling health, he
relinquished the Presidency of Cuba and his brother Raul Castro took over. Fidel never compromised. When Barack Obama visited Cuba and extended the
oiive hand of co-operation, Fidel was not interested. He later wrote a 1500 word letter to his
brother wherein without mincing, he said that Cuba does not require any gift
from the imperialist forces.
World
history is said to be the compilation of the autobiographies of its great
leaders. If that be case, Castro’s will be the prominent among them. Fidel will
be remembered for all time to come by the generation of people who will yearn
for a society sans exploitation.
COM.SUKOMALSEN.
Com.
Sukomal Sen, who passed away after a prolonged illness at Kolkata on 22nd November,2017 was a legendary
leader of the State Government employees in the country. Born in 1934 at
Bikanpur in Dhaka District, presently in Bangladesh, he had his formal
education at Kolkata. After passing out
as a graduate in Science, Com.Sen took his post graduate degree in
English. He joined the West Bengal State
Service in 1955. Though he was selected
to the West Bengal civil Service later, he declined that for continuing in
service as an employee. Ever since he
joined the service, he took keen interest in the Union activities of the
employees. In 1960s along with his colleagues, he strived to form an all India
Federation for the state Government employees.
It was due to his constant endeavour and of his friends from other States, that the All
India State Government Employees Federation came into existence. In 1982 ,he
became the General Secretary of the AISGEF. He continued in that position for
long 26 years. By the time, he relinquished
his office as the General Secretary the
AISGEF had grown into a mighty, militant and dynamic trade union
organisation, always in the forefront of the struggles of the workers in the
country. The AISGEF rose to the unassailable position of the biggest employees’
organisation in the country with the largest number of members.
In
the year 1952, Com. Sukomal Sen was
formally inducted into the then
Communist Party of India as a member.
For quite long time he had to function in cognito. In 1982 the Party nominated him to Rajya
Sabha as a member of that house. He was a member of Rajya Sabha for 12 years.
During his long tenure at the Parliament, he had become the voice of the
suppressed people, especially the employees and workers. He rose
to become the Chairman of the Control Commission of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist) and was a member of the Central Committee of the Party till
2015, when he retired owing to ill health.
His
contribution in bringing up a strong
trade union movement in West Bengal, especially in1950s to 1980s was immense.
Com. Sen was among the early architects of the left movement in Bengal, whose
efforts brought the Communist Party in power and the Party could retain the same for about thirty five years. The Congress which was in
power naturally targeted him and he was dismissed from service in 1971 invoking
the provisions of Article 311(2)(c) of the constitution, by virtue of which
one’s service could be terminated on the simple unproved allegation that he is
anti- national. In 1977, the left front Government of West Bengal reinstated
him in service. In 1982 he resigned as an employee, having been nominated to be
a member of the Parliament.
Besides
being an able organiser, Com. Sen was a scholarly person too. The book he penned in the early days of his
career, the history of the Indian working class movement is considered as the best on the subject and
is often referred to by a large number of students and authors. The authenticity it has gained could be
gauged from the references the book received in the bibliographies of the innumerable essays
written on the subject. The widely
acclaimed “history of the World Federation of Trade Unions” written by him was
released at the Athens Conference of WFTU. He was on another important work
when he was bed-ridden. He edited the monthly journal of the AISGEF “Employees
Forum” for more than three decades.
Com.Sukomal
Sen was a severe critic of the neo-liberal economic policies. His deep analysis of the issues and
presentation focused over the perils of those policies. He firmly believed and propagated that the
Pension Reforms undertaken by the Government of India, whereby the defined
benefit pension scheme was overnight converted into a defined contributory one was part of the neo-liberal
policies. In his booklet on the pension reforms, he presented to the workers
that the pension reform was meant to help the corporates and was a clever device to transfer wealth
from the poor to the rich. He took
strenuous efforts in association with the then Secretary General of
Confederation of Central Government employees and workers, Late Com.S.K.Vyas to
create a joint platform for the Central and State employees to fight against
the loot in the name of pension reform. Under the auspices of the joint
platform of State and Central Employees
a massive procession was organised to the Parliament to present a memorandum
signed by crores of employees to the Speaker
of the Lok Sabha. The Joint
Platform gave a clarion call for a one day strike on 30th October, 2007,which
was responded very admirably by the affiliates of the two organisations. The fire he ignited on that day has now
spread far and wide and is poised to engulf the young workers under the Central
and State Government to lead them into a bitter struggle to take back the
defined pension benefit.
The World Federation of Trade Unions, once the
largest body of the international working people suffered a severe set back in
its efficacy, structure and functioning over the collapse of the socialist
state of USSR. Com. Sukomal Sen was one
of the members of the WFTU. He took over
the onerous task of the General
Secretary of the Trade Union International – Public and allied Employees,
rejuvenated its functioning and made it a vibrant body spreading its influence
to all continents. In 2008, he stepped down .
His exit from the world body proved costly for the organisations as it
went into dormancy for the next 8 years.
Its functioning could be revived only when a new leadership was chosen
at the world conference, which was held in 2015 at Kathmandu, Nepal.
Com.Sukomal
Sen was not only a leader of the Government employees. He had been very active
in the movement of the general working class too. He was a member of the Central Working Committee
of the CITU for a long time and was later
elected as its Vice President .
Com.Sukomal Sen had the opportunity to represent the Indian Working class on
several occasions at the forum of International Labour organisation. His complaint of not extending the trade
union rights to the Government employees received the serious attention of the
world body and the Government of India was hauled up for violating the
international covenants.
In
his demise the trade union movement in the country and especially the movement
of the Civil servants and Government employees has lost an able and astute
leader, ardent organiser, determined opponent of the neo-liberal policies and a fierce fighter against the disruption
of the social and communal harmony .
.Dr.
APJ. Abdul Kalam
Avul
Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam better known as A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, the
11th President of India from 2002 to 2007 breathed his last on 27th July, 2015
at shillong after a cardiac arrest. A career scientist turned statesman, Kalam
was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu, and studied physics and
aerospace engineering. He spent the next four decades as a scientist at the
ISRO. He was also known as the ‘missile man’ of India. Kalam’s life was a
journey from a simple house on the island of Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu to the
Rashtrapati Bhavan. He was born on 15th October, 1931 at Rameshwaram and had
his school education first at the Panchayat Elementary School there and then at
Schwartz High School in Ramanathapuram town. He obtained B.sc physics degree
from St. Joseph’s College, Tiruchi, in 1954 and completed a three year diploma
course in Aeronautical Engineering from MIT, Chromepet, Chennai in 1960. He
joined the Bangalore based Aeronautical Development Esstablishment (ADE) of the
DRDO as scientist the same year. In 1969, he joined the ISRO.
A.P.J.
Abdul Kalam was always proud of the successful launch of the Indian Space
Research Organisation’s (ISRO) three-stage Satellite Launch /vehicle (SLV)-3 on
18th July, 1980 from Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. In fact, that brought him recognition and became the
launching pad for his spectacular career as a rocket engineer and missile
technologist who put India on the world map as a space-faring nation and a
missile power. Kalam received the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award,
in November, 1997. He played a key role in India’s nuclear tests at Pokhran,
Rajasthan, in May, 1998 and became the President of India in 2002. He was the
most popular President, establishing an extraordinary connect with the common
people, youth and children and came to be known as the peoples’ President’. In
his death the country has lost a statesman and a great scientist.
Com.
A. B. Bardhan
Veteran
Trade Union Leader & leader of CPI Com. A.B. Bardhan, passed away on 2nd
January, 2016. Born in Sylhet (now in Bangladesh) on 25th September, 1925, to
Shri. Hemendra Kumar and Smt. Sarla Devi, Bardhan was grown as a true patriot
since childhood. When his family was shifted to Nagpur, he was drawn into the
student movement of those turbulent days. In 1940 he joined the AISF and became
its national secretary in 1945. Mr. Bardhan took part in the freedom movement
as a member of the All India Students Federation and later associated himself
with the trade union movement of Nagpur,
going on to become general secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress. For
his activities he was arrested several times and spent a total of about four
and half years in jail starting from the ‘Quit India’ (August 1942) Movement.
He was underground for nearly two years, during which he worked as a trade
union organizer in Calcutta (West Bengal). He was also elected MLA from Nagpur
in 1957. He won an election just once, to the Maharashtra Assembly, in 1957 as
an Independent. After losing several elections, he moved to Delhi in the 1990s
and got involved in national politics.
His
name is closely associated with the history of the working class movement in
India. As a trade union organizer he worked amongst power, railway, defence,
and engineering and press workers and led their struggles. He was the pioneer
in organizing handloom workers all over the country. His sharpness and clarity
as a class conscious working class leader elevated Bardhan to various
responsibilities in the Trade Union movement including the General
Secretaryship of the AITUC. Till his last breath Bardhan served the cause of
the working class and its ideology. The working class of this country will always
remember his contribution to the cause of the trade union movement of the
country and as an uncompromising crusader in the fight against communalism. His
writings and speeches inspired all those who stood for India’s unity in
diversity.
Atal
Behari Vajpayee:
Atal
Behari Vajpayee was born at Gwalior on 25th December 1924. His father Krishna Bihari Vajpayee was
an school teacher in his hometown of
Gwalior. In the year 1942, when he was just 16 he joined the RSS. Alongwith
him his brothers was arrested by the
British government for participating in the Quit India Movement. He was
released on a written undertaking to the effect that he was part of the crowd
and had not participated in the militant event in Bateshwar on 27th August 1942. In 1951 he was deployed by RSS to
work in jansangh. In 1957 general
election he contested from Mathura but lost.
However, he won the election from Balrampur. His oratorical ability came in for praise from persons of all walks of life. Jawaharlal Nehru has
predicted that he would one day become Prime Minister of the country. He became the most eloquent defender of the divisive policies of
Jansangh. He became the National President of Jansangh in 1968. In 1975, he was
arrested along with great may number of opposition political leaders when Mrs
Gandhi declared emergency, Vajpayee appealed on the ground of bad health and was moved to a hospital in Delhi. When
the emergency was lifted and election declared many main stream political parties
joined together including the Bhartiya
Jan Sangh to form the Janata Party.
Under the Prime Minister of Morarjee Desai, he became the External Affair
Minister. In 1979, he resigned to join the Bhartiya Janta Party. He became the
President of BJP In 1980. In 1984, he again contested for Lok Sabha from
Gwalior but lost to Madhavarao Scindia scion the Gwalior fairly. BJP won only
two seats in the Parliament then. As a revival poicy BJP put into
operation the Ramjanambhoomi mandir
movement. In the 1989 election their plan and strategy paid off as they
won 86 seats. In December 1992 the Babri masjid was felled by a crowd mobilized by BJP and
VHP together in the 1996 election. BJP
became the single largest party in the parliament. Vajpayee was sworn in as the
10th Prime Minister of the Country. He had to
resign after 16 days having failed to get the requisite majority. On the fall
of the United Front Government which lasted just for two years, Election was
declared in 1998. BJP formed the NDA.
Vajpayee became Prime Minister again. AIADMK withdrew support and the
NDA combination lost majority.
Consequently Vajpayee had to resign after being prime minister for 13
months. In May 1998 India conducted its
second nuclear test at Pokhran. Two weeks later Pakistan responded with its own
nuclear test. Vajpayee initiated discussions with Pakistani Prime Minister and
introduced the peace process through a Bus service between Lahore and Delhi. in
May 1999 he had to face the Cargill war when Pakistan intruded into the Cargill. At the end of the bloody war
where a large number of Jawans lost their life, Pakistan was made to surrender.
NDA won 303 seats in the next election
under Vajpayee. In December1999, the
Indian Aeroplane was hijacked and was taken to Kandhar in Afghanistan. The
demand raised was to hand over the
terrorist captured by India like Masood
Azhar. Vajpayee had to agree and the passengers were released on making
over the demand. RSS appears to have
exerted extreme pressure for meeting its core issues, viz. repealing article
370 bringing about uniform civil code,
and construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya. Because of the coalition compulsions
these issues could not be brought to the centrestage.. He made several attempts
to broker peace with Pakistan but nothing fructified. On 13th of December, a group of armed terrorist
attacked the Parliament House. Vajpayee ordered about 75000 troops to the
border of Pakistan which was responded also by Pakistan, A war became imminent.
However at the intervention of international diplomatic mission the war was
averted between two nuclear
countries. The Gujrat riots happened
during his period as Prime Minister. Though he charged Narendra Modi for not
abiding the raj dharma, he did not take any steps to dismiss the Modi
Government.
He pursued an aggressive economic reforms
policy. The country’s GDP growth exited 7% during his period. He reformed the
tax system, modernized the public and
Industrial infrastructure. In July 2003 he visited China and agreed with China Government as Tibet is part of China.. One of the most
important project undertaken by him was the Narmada Highway developments
project in 2001 which received great
appreciation from one and all. The NDA
was expected to return power in 2014 general election but it didn’t happen. The
NDA could get only 138 seats whereas INC
145. The UPA formed the Government. In
December 2005 Vajpayee announced his retirement from politics. Vajpayee
remained Bachelor through out his life. The stroke he suffered in 2009 impaired
his speech. He was confined to wheel chair.
On 11 June 2018 he was admitted to AIIMS. On 16th June 2018 at the age
of 93 he died.
Atal Behari Vajpayee has been often mentioned
as a multi-faceted and charming person.
His oratorical capacity was par excellent. His climb to stupendous
heights of the political leadership - much has to be attributed to the
excellent oratory, skilful manoeuvring of political negotiations, ability to
strike a personal chord even with his political rivals. His interest in
international affairs , has stood in good stead when he became the external
affair minister in Jantha Government. He was a poet though that talent could
not be bloomed to its fullest due to his equally great interest in
politics. He was warm liberal, generous,
humorous and willy in his public appearance. He was revered leader not only in
the eyes of BJP members but of many other different political hues. He was very
fond of good food. Unlike many politicians, he was transparent. He did not
concede at any point of time his relationship with his companions though he was
a bachelor. In one of the meeting he had openly admitted that he was unmarried
but not a celibate.
He
was a strong RSS man and whatever he projected in his real life had been what
RSS wanted him to be at a particular point of time. It is said that the political requirement of
the day decides the role to be played by each one of their leaders. Though he
was not present at the site when Babri Masjid was felled by the Sangh Pariwar,
his speech in Lucknow on the previous day
tells where his sympathy had been. K.N. Govindacharya one time close associate
of Vajpayee is reported to have commented that whatever traits that this
veteran parliamentarian of 5 and half
decade standing had, he wore a sort of
Mukhota(mask). Vajpayee will always be counted as superior leader especially by
RSS and sangh pariwar for the deftness
and ability with which he could stitch a
coalition of parties, who were inimical to the BJP ideology at a crucial point
of time in the history of free India.
Comrade D.V.Dhaktod
At the age of 84, Comrade
D.V.Dhaktod, Vice President of NCCPA breathed his last on 30th of
August, 2018. He is remembered by all his colleagues, friends and relatives for
his simplicity, commitment, dedication and humbleness. He was one of the great
comrades, the Audit Employees movement
produced in 1960’s. When the glorious 5 days strike of Central Govt. Employees
took place in 1960, Comrade Diwakar Vithal Rao Dhaktod had just put in barely
two years of service in the Indian and Audit & Accounts Department. He was
imprisoned for 7 days and Departmental proceedings followed for just
participating in the Strike. The way in which he, as a leader, organised the
one-day strike for 19 Sept. 1968 just about eight years after the suffering of the punitive
action reflected upon his courage of conviction and determination. The
emergency promulgated by Mrs Gandhi’s Govt. in 1975 brought about victimization
of extra ordinary nature upon all leaders of CGEs, and especially of Audit
movement, for they were at that point of time at the vanguard of the
struggles.. The Govt. ensured that the united and militant movement of Audit
Employees must be destroyed. They divided the then IA & AD into many
segments in the name of Departmentalization of accounts. That brought Com.
D.V.Dhaktod into the postal accounts Association. He later became the General
Secretary of that Association and remained as such for about 8 years.
On his retirement, he concentrated
on organizing pensioners. First he formed the Postal Accounts Pensioners
Association and later took over as General Secretary of Coordination Committee
of Pensioners association in Nagpur. He was one of the Pioneers along with the
veteran Com. S.K.Vyas in building the NCCPA. There had been no meeting of NCCPA
that had been conducted without Dhaktod being present. He remained an active
leader till his demise. The NCCPA is greatly indebted to Com. Dhaktod. The
NCCPA dips its flag in memory of this fine Comrade and express heart- felt
condolences.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe:
Zimbabwe is one of the powerful and
rich countries of the African Continent. African people including those who
live in the equally powerful nation state, South Africa remembers the great
contribution of Robert Mugabe to the African nationalism and the freedom
movement of African people against various European colonisers. Southern
Rhodesia which is presently Zimbabwe was British colony till 1980. Robert
Mugabe was associated with the movement of independence from 1961 onwards. The
united Rhodesia which included northern part, now called Zambia had the white
dominated British Rule, cruel, repressive and brutal. Robert formed the
Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU). He was imprisoned and was in jail for
more than a decade. In 1974 the then Prime Minister Ian Smith allowed him to
attend a conference in Lusaka from where he escaped and organised the Goureilla
war-fare with the objective of attaining freedom. The Goureilla war fare
continued throughout 1970 and 1980. The black majority rule was ultimately
ushered in 1980.
Mugabe won many elections thereafter
for ZANU and remained in power until
2018. Some of his decisions were revolutionary. Though intended to help
Africans, it was resented by the Whites and the rich in the black community. In
the last days, Mugabe made use of repressive measures to win the elections. To win at any cost
became his moto. In 2013 a new constitution was drafted for Zimbabwe. The 2013
election was highly rigged in which he got 61% of votes. In 2018 the
administration was virtually taken over by the Military. On November, 22nd,
2018 Mugabe announced his resignation after 37 years as the Supreme Ruler of
Zimbabwe.
Mugabe died in 6th
September, 2019 ending a great era of Zimbabwe and of Africa. Mugabe, whatever
may be the crimes attributed to him by the western media and the rich people of
Zimbabwe, always stood for the African nationalism, the African’s right to
dignity of life. He was a great crusader 74against the tyrannical white rule in
Africa.
Com. Lajpat Rai
In the founding Convention held at
Haridwar, Com. Lajpat Rai, who was a
leader of the Income tax Employees Federation and the former General Secretary
of Income tax Gazetted Officers Association, was elected as the patron. He was the natural choice to hold that
position due to his close association with the movement of the employees and
promote officers of the I.T. Department.
Com. Lajpat Rai was the joint convenor of the JCA of the two
organisations, viz. ITEF and ITGOA for quite a long time, It was indeed his stewardship that made the
possible the joint functioning of these two organisations. He was one of the first comrades, who felt
the need to organise the pensioners of I.T. Department. On his retirement and with his interaction
with his old colleagues he realised the need for such an organisation as there
had been innumerable number of comrades who had been suffering due to the
vindictive attitude of the administration.
Com. Lajpat Rai was born at Pathi on 4.4.1932 near Amritsar. Right from the day he was recruited to the
I.T Department, he took an active interest in Union activities. He rose to become the Joint Secretary of
ITEF and was the leaderin 1960 strike.
Most of his service career has been spent in Rajasthan and Delhi. For about 20 – 25 years he has functioned as
an Officer of the I.T. Department. He
was very active in the social groupings
and was the President of the Rotary Club, for a long time. On his shifting his residence from Jaipur to
Delhi, he took over as the President of the Delhi Income tax Pensioners
Association, which position he held till his death. Even though he was the patron of the ITPF, he
ensured that he attends all the meeting of the ITPF. Even at a very advanced age, Com. Lajpat Rai
attended and addressed the dharna
programmes organised by NCCPA at Meghdhoot Bhawan, New Delhi on 25th October, 2017 in pursuance
of the demands of the Pensioners. He was
a great advocate of the classless pensioner organisation as he firmly believed
that Pensioners constitute only one class.
The entire Income tax fraternity will remember his services for all time
to come.
Com.
R.L.Bhattacharjee
Com.
R. L. Bhattacharjee, one of the founders of NCCPA, passed away on 10-09-2019 at
12.40 hours. He was suffering from various old age ailments for the last two
years or so.
Com.
Bhattarcharjee was born in 1931 and entered in service in P&T Department in
1953. He started his Trade union career under National Federation of P&T
Employees since its formation in 1954 in Howrah-Hooghly Division. He was first
elected as organising Secretary of A.I.P.E.U. class III West Bengal Circle in
1966 and was elected as Circle Secretary of that organisation in 1977 and led
the circle organisation till 1993. Once he was elected as Asstt. General
Secretary of CHQ of that Union. He also served as the President of P&T
Co-ordination Committee West Bengal and Asstt General Secretary of the
Co-ordination Committee of Central Govt. Employees and Workers’ Unions and
Associations West Bengal. He was elected as Deputy Secretary General of
National Federation of Postal Employees in Dharwar Federal Council in 1992 and
served the organisation under the leadership of Com. K. Adinarayana.
In
his service career he was promoted to inspector of P.Os cadre in 1966 and
afterwards promoted to Pss group
B. cadre. But he did not accept the promotion to gazetted rank to serve the
Trade Union movement.
He
joined the pensioners organisation in West Bengal in the later part of nintees
and was elected as president in Fourth
Conference of Co-ordination Committee of Central Govt. Pensioners Association
West Bengal. He was one of the pioneer of formation of National Co-ordination
Committee of Pensioners Association under the leadershop of Com. S. K. Vyas. He
was elected as President of NCCPA in the Second AIC of NCCPA and acted as such
till last conference held in Kolkata in Nov 2015. He could not continue his
activities in the Pensioners movement because of his ill health although he was
one of the Patron of NCCPA till death
Our
profound sympathy goes to the hundreds of victims in terrorist activities, the
civilians in Border States due to
internal and external conflicts and above all those poor people who died of
natural fury like devastating floods at Utarakhand, Chennai, Kerala and other parts of the country.
As
mentioned earlier, to briefly state of the events happened in the World during
the period under report is essential for evolving ideas for emancipation and
progress of the Society in which individually we are an integral part. We cover the developments in the World
between 2015 and 2019. As this report is
for the consideration of the very senior and aged leaders of the movements, we
shall be brief and precise :
We
may recall that the world economic situation when we met last at Kolkata was as
under :
The
impact of the global financial crisis refused to evaporate despite huge bail
out efforts.
US
continued its efforts to control the world banking systems.
The
US untenable intervention in the
internal affairs of Iraq, Libya and Syria paved way for Islamic terrorism.
US
alliance with Indian Military to contain China in Indian Ocean.
The
strengthening of the trade alliance of
BRICS, beneficial to Indian economy.
The
continuing struggles of workers in the developed countries against IMF
sponsored austerity measures.
The
strenuous efforts of Latin American countries to contain the US hegemony.
Global
Economy.
During
this period we found that World capitalism continued to suffer from one crises
to another and could not come out of the impact of the 2008 financial
crisis. The crisis has been deep rooted
and systemic in character. The Global
Corporate debts registered an increase and has become 14% more than what it was
in 2008. The austerity measures dwindled
the purchasing power of people having a cascading impact leading to recession
and further crisis. The decline in the
oil prices in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and the sharp increase now, first accelerated
the slowdown and later ruined the economy of third world countries.
The
IMF sponsored neo-liberal policies in all nation states tremendously increased
the gap between the haves and the have nots.
Wage growth got tremendously reduced as also the employment
generation. The economic slow down in
the middle east had its reverberating impact
in our country. The emigrants
(for instance Kerala to Middle East) registered a decrease. From 24 million in 2014, it came down to 22
million. Their remittance also got
reduced from 71,148 crores in 2014 to 63,289 crores in 2016. India, the largest remittance receiving
country has recorded the maximum fall with a decrease of 8.9%.
It
was the financial and economic crisis that led to the military intervention of
US in Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and Iraq.
The rising economic power of Russia and China created further tension as
they challenged the supremacy of the US.
The US-Ukraine policy was to target Russia. The transit-pacific partnership was to
isolate China.
The
Mackinsey Global Institute stated that the US economy almost remained static or
declined as 81% of its population did not receive any rise in their annual
income. It was 97% for Italy, 70% for
Britian and 63% for France. Major
portion of the Bank credit especially in developing countries went to
corporates. For example the 3/4th of the increase in Bank Credits in this period
in India and Brazil was swallowed up by the corporates. The debt burden of Greece was to the extent
of 170% of its GDP. The unemployment
rate became 24%; joblessness of youth above 50%,; Wage reduction was 24% and minimum wage got
reduced by 22%. The Brexit and its
after-effects not only brought political instability to Britian but it also
delivered a great blow to the robust economy of that country. The World Bank has released the Goldman Sachs
Economic Report. They have stated that
the World Economy, will slow down in 2019 from growth rate of 3.8% in 2018 to
3.5%. US economy had 2.9% growth rate in 2018.
It will go down according to World Bank to 2.5% and all European Economy
have a recession like situation. The
slow growth in the economy has compelled US to resort to protectionism- the
anti- thesis to globalisation- and they have started a trade war with China and
in a veiled manner with India too. The cascading impact of US-China trade war
has affected adversely all developing countries and the panacea adopted by all
without exception is to shift the burden to the working people.
We
now briefly mention certain political developments at the International arena
during the period between 2015-2019.
Korea
The
relations between the South and North Korea deteriorated to an extent of
being at the threshold of a war.
The political developments in South Korea, where a right wing
conservative Govt., under Lee-Myung-bak did everything to escalate the tension
with North Koreans, evoked an equally hawkish approach from North. His death, but the re-election of his
daughter as the President did not bring about a reduction in the tense
situation. She was impeached and removed
on corruption charges. Moon-Joe-in ho
became President who reviewed many decisions of his predecessor. The decision of North Koreans to experiment
on long ranging missiles and acquiring nuclear technology compelled South Koreans Govt. to put pressure on US to
normalise relations The Donald
Trumps attitude only worsened the
position. China has kept a low profile
in the conflict, though North Korea seeks their approval on all International
issues.
USA
The
Presidential elections in America was the most significant event during this
period. Having completed two terms
Barrack Obama was to step down. In
the primaries Hillary Clinton could
scrape through, as Saunders her rival
was not of the likings to the Corporates They
unleashed a campaign against him through the print media they owned. Republican Party’s primaries were a mere formality. Donald Trump had no difficulty in crossing
over the hurdle. Contrary to all
predictions and expectations, he
won. Donald Trump ascendency to be the
President of USA thoroughly changed the world scenario. He not only thought that he became the
President of the super power but himself also a superman. While his pronouncements after becoming
President did create consternation even among Americans, it is an indisputable
fact that a sizeable section of Americans had approvingly acquiesced with his
views on racism, nativism, misogyny, etc. A million women assembled at
Washington to proclaim a resistance to last for
1459 Trump days ahead.
France
France
is a very big country in Europe. It had
been for a long time politically under the influence of social democrats. The advent of neo-liberalisation had its
impact on French Social life and ethics.
The influence of social democrats over the population waned due to the
pursuance of these policies. In the
first round of elections on 23.04.2017
for Presidency none could gain majority.
In the second round which was held on 7th May 2017, Emmanual Macron, who campaigned for
implementation of neo-liberal policies, won comfortably. The French right wing candidate, the
anti-.immigrant and anti-Muslim Marine
Le pen though could not win, had tremendous
influence over French society.
The social democrats were reduced to an insignificant position having less
than 6% vote share.
The
Macron Presidency following and intensifying the neo-liberal policies has led
to protests and struggles in many parts of France. The immediate cause was the steep increase in
petroleum taxes. More than 130 people
were injured and over 400 people were arrested.
Eiffel Tower, the greatest tourist land mark of France was shut down.
The yellow vest agitation has spread to large areas and to a greater segment of
population over the squeeze in the household budgets. This has compelled the
Government to increase minimum wage at 110 pounds per month, withdraw the tax
increase for low income pensioners; exempt overdue payment from taxation,
encouraged employers to pay for free bonus, etc.
Italy
The
Italian PM Mr. Paolo Gentilon had to resign on 12.12.2016 as he lost the
referendum. The referendum which enables
the lower house to bring in constitutional amendments without the seal of
approval of upper house was to please the international Finance Capital. The fall out of the referendum was that it
gave respectability and affection of the people to the right wing
politician.
Japan
One
of the reasons adduced for the faster development of Japan after it was
vanquished in the 2nd World War was the
post-war agreement with USA, which debarred it from bringing up a military
force. The ruling liberal democratic
party was losing its popularity due to the economic distress of the people at
large. They declared a snap election to
cash on the sentiments arising from the belligerent attitude of North Korea
against Japan. Due to the disarray in
the opposition group and the arrogance exhibited by Ms Kolke, the ruling party
won a landslide victory. Japan will now
raise a military at a very high cost to the people and it will be compelled to
divert its scarce resources for military
expenses.
Germany
In
the election that was held in September 2017, the left and the right
gained. The support from the electorate
for the two right wing parties received
was surprising i.e. the AFD and the FDP.
The left did not gain either from the erstwhile East Germany or from the
lower strata of the working class. They
lost the workers vote. AFD the right
wing party got support from the East German regions. The 2017 election got Angela Markel to have
her fourth term as German Chancellor.
Germany, the strongest European Economy,
has chosen to go right. The
working class has punished those whom they reposed confidence in the past for
their adopting the neo-liberal policies.
Portugal
The
social democrats who rules Portugal from 2011 to 2015 left with a debt burden for
the country which was 130% of their GDP, the 3rd biggest in Europe. The 2015 election resulted in a hung
Parliament. That gave birth to an
alliance of the Centre left socialists and two Ultra left parties. The left decided not be part of the government. They only put up a condition to increase the
wages of the workers systematically to reach 600 Euros by the end of the term.
Antonio
Costa took over as Prime Minister. He
abided by the agreement. By 2018 the
wages of workers got raised to 530 Euros.
By the time he demits office, the promise would have been met, the
deficit has been consistently reduced and is now at 2.1% of GDP. Unemployment has dropped from 17.5% to 10.5%
in 2016 and the downward trend is continuing.
Rising exports earnings and incentives have brought the turn around of
Portugese economy. In the upcoming
election the socialist party is expected to win and may get a single party
majority. It has been a success story
all along.
Greece
Greece
has become the fitting example of the disaster of the loan based development
plans. The IMF imposed the biggest
austerity measures. The public outcry
over increased tax and reduced pension became insurmountable. Though Syriza won, the negotiation with IMF
was tough and the measures it was compelled to take got them alienated. Despite the lowering of unemployment,
construction of two natural motorways, Syriza’s vote share has crumbled. However, media reports suggest building up of
confidence among the people.
Latin
American countries
Of
the 26 Latin Americal Countries, many
have left and progressive governments.
Most of them came to power through elections, exception being CUBA.
Destabilisation of these states by USA had been done openly as also
covertly. Brazil, Argentina, Bolvia,
Chile, Peru, Nicargeua, Venezuela, all had tasted the covert and open
intervention of USA. The right wing
forces have emerged in Brazil, Venezuela and Bolivia. The Brazilians’ elected President Dilma Rosepp
was impeached on trivial charges.
Venezuela’s problems emanated from the steep fall of oil prices in
international market..
Middle
East and West Asia
Middle
East and West Asia had always been under the influence of USA especially in the
post Second World War period. During the
period under report China made a lasting foray into the two regions and their
influence gained momentum. To combat the
emerging situation, USA entered into trade agreement with the countries of the
Asia Pacific region and those within the European Union. The NATO clout was used by USA to contain the Russian Military power which led to destabilisation of Syria,
Lebanon, Ukraine and Equator. The
invasion of Iraq was set to be to bring about a regime change. Afghanistan had been a threat of US
intervention for a long period. The Taliban
was supported by USA in the initial days.
The American intervention in Syria resulted in the unprecedented
destruction. The civil war that sprung
paved the way for the emergence of Islamic Extremist forces . The declaration
to the effect that American troops in Afghanistan would be withdrawn was not
materialised.
The
American policy on Israel had always been partisan and was against the interest
of the Palestenian people. Whatever
Israel’s had done, however unjustified it may be, USA had unblinkingly
supported the Israel stand. Donald Trump
was behind the Israelis to recognise
Jerusalem as the Israeli capital.
Ukraine
which was once a part of the great Soviet Union became an independent nation
after the dismantling of the Soviet Union.
USA had been continuously
intervening to create trouble for the Russian federation.
The
Saudi Arabian kingdom and the USA had
been partners in the destabilisation exercise of very many Arabian countries
notably Qatar, to isolate Iran. Qatar
was asked to close down the Al-Jazeera network, expel Hamas and the Muslim
brotherhood. More than 10000 US
serviceman are presently located in various US military bases in Qatar. Despite four years of continuous bloody conflict USA could not succeed to
overthrow the Assad government in Syria.
The ISIS grew tremendously under the shadow of US-Syria conflict. The Russian envoy was killed in Turkey with
the sole intention to disrupt the talks for bringing about peace in Syria.
It
would be pertinent to mention that in the post Second World War period US
involvement in the destabilisation of world peace had been innumerable. Ever since the end of the Second World War,
the US has been involved in strife, low-intensity conflicts and full-fledged
wars across the world that have toppled democratically elected governments; caused enormous economic and social upheavals
and left a massive trail of destruction and loss of life in their wake. Some of the key conflicts that were marked by
a significant American presence are the Korean War of 1950-1953, the 10-year
Vietnam War which ended in 1975. The
Gulf War of 1990-1991, the Iraq War of 2003-2011 and the war in Afghanistan
from 2001 to 2014. Its two major ongoing
wars are targeted at destroying Iraq, Syria and parts of Africa, and Taliban
and Al-Qaeda militants in Pakistan. The
US Air Force and Navy, arguably the biggest and most powerful in the world,
enable the country’s interventionist role by virtue of the immense amount of
resources and personnel at their disposal.
Africa
Africa
consisting of 54 nation states was mostly the erstwhile colonies of European
countries. Multi party democracy
prevails in most of the countries. It is
the presidential mode of democracy that has been found to be the preference for
the Africans. The most significant
feature which requires mention here is about the African political system with
its gender equality. Liberia and Malavi,
have elected women Presidents. Rawanda
has given more than 50% seats in its Parliament for women. Most of the African countries faces civil war
of various degrees. Sudan, Nigeria,
Somalia, Gabon, and Zambia suffer from civil war mostly due to the frauds
perpetuated in the elections. South
Africa is one of the prosperous countries of Africa both in terms of its economy
and political power. It has emerged as
one of the important nations of Africa after suffering from long years of
apartheid at the hands of British. The
growing unemployment and falling real
wages are the greatest challenge this
African Nation faces in its ascendancy.
China
China
is presently the second largest economy in the World. Half of its GDP comes from the service sector
and that it is also the largest job creator.
The global financial crisis had a certain impact on Chinese economy in
as much as its growth rate got reduced to 6.7% in 2016. In 2021 China will observe the 100th year of formation of the Chinese Communist
Party. It is their aim to make China a modern prosperous society by that time. Robert Lawrence Kuhu a china commentator observed
that by mid-century China will become an advanced nation and will be a global
leader in all categories of human importance - economics, governance, science,
technology and culture. India’s relation
with China received a jolt when the stand-off occurred at Dhoklam in June 2017
on the Sikkim border. After the peace
agreement in 1993 and the border defence cooperation agreement in 2012-13 the
border between the two countries have been relatively calm.
Cuba
Cuba
faced a miserable existence when its economy suffered due to the collapse of
the Soviet Union.. By sheer hard
work the Cubans salvaged the country.
In 2015 Cuban economy grew at 4% but slid back to 2.6% in 2016. USA lifted its age old sanctions after 54
years. After 80 years stand-off Obama
visited Cuba. However, the election of
Donald Trump changed the scenario to worse.
He reintroduced the sanctions demanding that Cuba must revert to a
multi-party election, return all Americans who had been granted assylum in
Cuba. Speaking at the 50th death anniversary of the great
revolutionary Che guevare ,
Muguel-Dias-Cann Cubas first Vice-President rightly said that imperialism can
never be trusted and asserted that Cuba would not make any concession to its
sovereignty and independence nor negotiate its principles or accept the
impositions or conditions.
Vietnam
The
Vietnamese economic growth was 6.7% in 2016.
However, this high rate of growth has also intensified the
inequalities. Vietnam has signed the
trans-pacific pact. Its relationship with China has become cordial, their
differences were ironed out on sea related issues.
ISREAL
Israel
, as we all know, was created to provide asylum for the Jews , who were
displaced during the 2nd world war especially
from Germany, where Nazis hounded them out before and during the war. The
present day Israel which includes Jerusalem is considered to be the home state
of Jews. In the 7th decades of its existence, it has now become a
world power in all its senses including the nuclear bombs in its arsenal. It
was the Palestinians who lost their home land for the creation of Israel by the
western nations. The western powers without exception had been fully supporting Israel , irrespective of the
fact whether their actions were in
defence or as an aggressor.
Palestinians
commemorate Land day on March, 30 every year to remember Nagba (Catostophe)
that led to the displacement of Palestinians
from their ancestral land. The massacre of more than
100 Palestinian in Dar Yasin in
April, 1948 ignited the Palestine
resistance to the brutality of Israel.
30th March, 2018, the Palestinian organised a peace march along with heavily guarded
border fence which was met by
Israel through cold blooded murder The number of Palestinians killed by the
Israel during April 2018 went up to 37 Palestenians and 3 children. The world
community kept its strange silence. In Gaza Israel continues its aggression and
eviction of Palestinians in their cleaning exercise.
After
an acrimonious debate in Knesset (the Israel Parliament) on 19th July, 2018 the Israeli Parliament passed a
bill declaring Israel as the National
home land of all Jews irrespective of their nationality.
The
Palestinian and other minorities have been reduced to second class citizen. The
next logical step might be to expel them
from Israel. The Israeli Education Minister has already been empowered to ban
those critical of Israel’s occupation of
Palestinian territories speaking in Educational institutions. The Knesset has
prohibited Palestinian from appealing to the Supreme Court against land
disputes in West bank. The new basic law has been approved by the Israeli
Parliament. Omar Barghouti of the Palestine BDS National council said that the
passage of law is effectively declaring itself an apartheid State and dropping
its worn out mask of democracy. Since
1967, more than 50,000 Palestinians residing in Jerusalem have had their
residence rights revoked by the State of Israel. In March, 2018 the Israeli
Parliament passed a law allowing the Interior Ministry to revoke the residency
rights of Palestinian on ground of breach of loyalty to the Jewish State. It is
the support of Donald Trump
Administration of US that has emboldened Israel to take all these steps against
Palestinians who were the original settlers in the land before it was taken
over for creation of Israel. The US has
now recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and has moved its embassy to
there. Almost 60% of the West Bank is in possession of illegal Jewish Settlers.
The new Law will give Israel state the constitutional basis to claim
Palestinian land.
TURKEY
The
Presidential election in Turkey was held in June 2018. The President Reep
Tayangb Erdogan of the Ruling Justice and Development Party won the election by
a very narrow margin of 52.3 percent of the votes polled. His closet rival
Maharron Ince got more than 33 per cent. Simultaneous poling was held for
Parliament, for the first time in Turkey’s modern history. In 2017 Turkey made
change in the constitution through a
referendum. Parliamentary democracy was replaced. The President now will
have executive power. There will be no Prime Minister. President will
appoint Vice President, Ministers and
Senior Judges. The President is granted powers to declare emergency, and
suspend rights of citizens.
Erdogan
enjoyed vide popularity among Turks as is reflected by his Victory. He is
credited with the upswing of Turkish economy. It was booming continuously for 5 years till 2016. The Government under
Erdogan has improved the Turkish infrastructure.
It now suffers a faltering economy, double digit inflation and growing unemployment, which explains his
narrow margin of victory. The opposition has no free say in the elections. The
Govt. had controlled almost 90% of the media. The state of emergency had given
vide and draconian powers to the Govt.
As many as 150,000 civil servants and army men were dismissed. The
Turkish Jail is overflowed with students activists, army men and civil servants. The strong methods has helped
him to retain Presidency but his party though the largest does not enjoy
majority. However, that has become no
relevance today for the Parliament has
been divested of all powers..
ZIMBABWE
Since
1980 Zimbabwe was ruled by Robert Mugabe. In July 30 the country went into
election to elect a New President. The first shot against Robert Mugabe was
fired by his own admirers who were members of the Veteran Freedom Fighters
Association. The country’s economic
decline began in 1991. Hyper inflation
made the life of ordinary people miserable. There had been no land reforms in
Zimbabwe and for a long time even after independence 70% of the land were owned
by Whiteman of Zimbabwe. The people’s movement compelled Mugabe to
redistribute the land but that irked all
his western allies. The election was preceded by year long agitation. The
President was to be impeached. However Robert Mugabe resigned in 2017. The army had a big hand in the political
development of this country. In 2018 election brought Emmerson Mnangagwa
as President
from the Zanu –PF party of Robert Mugabe. The MDC which was the main opposition party did not
accept results as the matter is now before the Supreme Court. There had been
widespread agitation rocking the country in 2017 and 2018. The fact that the
Army has helped Emmerson to come to
power is now an open secret. The land
reforms can not be now put back.
VENENZUELA
Even
since Hugo Chavez become the President of Venezuela the US commenced its dirty
trick to destabilize that country. What
irked the US Administration was the socialist victory of the country which has
one of the largest oil reserves in the world. The Policy of US relations with
Venezuela had been identified under
George Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. In August, 2017 Trump said that the
US had military option in Venezuela.
This is nothing but collusion with a section of Military in Venezuela for a
rebellion and overthrown of a Government elected with the peoples mandate.
After the death of Shavez , Nicholas Maduro took over as President. US imposed
sanctions on Venezuela unilaterally and insisted the allies in Europe , Middle
East and East to follow suit. Maduro Govt. could withstand all internal
rebellion and external pressure exerted by US so far. The sanctions imposed has created an intolerable economy slowdown and crisis
followed with hyper-inflation. That has
hurt the common people and they have started fleeing the country. At the instance of the US the self styled
Presidency of Juan Guaido has been
recognised by many countries who are satellite
Nations of US. Juan Guaido had been openly instigating the army to
revolt. There was a rebellion of armed forces which the Govt. could quell
effectively . Surrounded by Brazil, Panama, Columbia, Venenzuela, has been threatened by the right
wing forces effectively. So long the farmers, who are in the real agony due to
sanctions imposed by US and its allies do not share the platform setup by US,
the regime change in Venezuela may not come about.
THE
BREXIT
The
methodology of Britain’s exit from E.U. had been a nagging affair so far. The
result of referendum where the people of U.K. voted in favour of exiting from
E.U has not yet been operationalised. The Govt., which was in power when the
referendum took place, had to bow out as
the opinion got elicited from the people was in divergence of the one held by
the PM and a good section of his
supporters. The view of the people at large is not divided on the party lines.
Conservatives, Liberals and Labour choosing either of the opinion. Theresa May who became Prime Minister on a
conservative ticket had to resign recently as she could not put on an
acceptable proposal before the Parliament. Her Proposal reflective of her
upbraiding character lost at the voting. She introduced changes in the U K
Social Security whereby effective cut was made on the entitlement which has pushed
a quite number of people into poverty. The British governance after the
BREXIT had been devastating to
say the least.
DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF CONGO
One of the
biggest mineral rich country in the world inhabited by the largest number of
poor people is the Democratic Republic
of Cango which went to polls in
December, 2018. Contrary to the predictions of the western media, that Emmanual
Rangznni Shadary will win the election with the support of the longest ruling
President Juseph Kabila proved to be wrong. Felix Tshisekedi, the leader of the
Union for Democracy and social progress, was declared elected as President with
38% vote. Martin Faxulu who was the favourite, could garner , as per the
Election Commission only 34% votes. Josheph Kabuller, the 17 year old
President, it is alleged, has played a vital role through the Election
Commission in such a verdict. In the election that was held in Congo President,
his party has the largest number and their nominee shall become the Prime
Minister, who is vested with vast Power. Since the constitution does not permit
him to contest for a third consecutive term, the arrangement appears to be a win-win situation for UPSP
and PPRD of Kabila. The UDSP has only 46 members in the Parliament whose total
strength is 500. Kabila’s party has 288 members and the Faxulus’s party has 94
seats. Faxulu has not accepted the verdict as is so by many African and Western
countries. Kabila has amassed wealth of a great proportion. He who became
President at the age of 29 is so young and experienced and is likely to contest
the next election as there will be no constitutional bar there. Faxulu has
claimed that he is the truly elected President by the people and added that
constitutional court has falsified and countered the truth of the polls to
serve an unjust cause and perpatuate a regime
our people hate.
2018 FIFA WORLD
CUP
It was the 21st edition of the world cup, an International
Foot Ball tournament contested by the Men’s National Team. It was held at
Russia from 14th June to 15th July 2018 . With a 14.2 billions it was a
very expensive world event. There were
32 teams and 12 venues. France became the Champions and lifted the Coveted FIFA
world cup. The final was held at Luzhniku stadium at Masco between France and
Crotia. France won the cup for the
second time.
2019 CRICKET
WORLD CUP
The world cup
which is quadrennial is played in one day international format. It was the 12th edition that was hosted by England and Wales.
The tournament is conducted by ICC. It was played during a long duration
between 30th May, 2019 to 14th July, 2019. The final was at Lords ,London
where England in an extremely thrilling match lifted the cup for the first time, beating New Zealand. The
England victory was on Boundary count
after being tied at the match and the
super over.
Our neighbouring
countries
Nepal
After the
monarchy was overthrown nine governments have come and gone in Nepal The Constitution adoption process got delayed. There had been agitations by the Madheshi
parties which received the solemn support from the Indian side. The trade blockage that became a part of the
agitation hurt the Nepal economy severely.
Despite all this in September 2016, Nepal adopted a secular democratic
republican constitution. Pushpa Kamal
Dahal (Prachanda) of Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) took over the
reins of administration with the support of Nepali Congress. In the succeeding elections the two communist
parties joined together and fought. They
won 70 percent of the seats. Madheshi
party have 21 members in the Parliament and the rest are others.
Sri Lanka
In October
2016, the Steering Committee set up by
the ruling party to redraft the constitution submitted its report. The committee had no representatives from the
opposition political parties and sections of
Sri Lankan society. The decade
long civil strife and the grave violation of the human rights are issues
which paved way for the re-emergence of disharmony
amongst the people at large. The
International Community has demanded that Sri Lanka appoint a Council of Judges
of both foreign and Sri Lankan judges to look into the human rights
violation. Sri Lankan government has not
agreed to this so far. On October 26,
2018 the President of Sri Lanka Sirisena sacked the Prime Minister Ranill
Wickramesinghe and installed the former President Mahindra Rajapakshe as the
Prime Minister. The Parliament threw him
out. The President dissolved the
Parliament and called for snap elections which
are stayed by the Supreme Court.
In its final judgement the Supreme Court has given the verdict that the
dissolution of Parliament was unconstitutional.
Ranil Wickramesinghe has reassumed the office of the Prime
Minister. The political crisis in Sri
Lanka continues.
Bangladesh
The Indian
Parliament passed the constitutional amendment on land boundary issue bordering
Bangladesh. This was the same proposal
mooted by the UPA government which was then opposed by BJP and TMC. The amendment has brought about good
relationship between the two countries.
Bangladesh continued to suffer from fundamentalist forces. The Australian Cricket team cancelled its
tour of Bangladesh due to this. The ISIS
have been recruiting people from Bangladesh.
The Supreme Court of Bangladesh
has recently declared the Constitutional Amendment empowering the Parliament to
remove judges for incompetence and misconduct as null and void. The general election in Bangladesh is due in
December 2019. The religious
fundamentalist forces are mounting an offensive to make Bangladesh an Islamic republic. The main contest will be between the Awami
league and the Bangladesh National Party.
The outcome of the elections in Bangladesh will have a bearing on Indo-Bangladesh
relationships.
Naional
Assessembly Elections in Pakistan
akistan National
Assembly has 342 seats of which direct elections take place for 272. 10% of the seats are reserved for religious
minorities and 60 seats for women on the basis of proportional representation.
In the election that was held on 25th July,
2018, the PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf)
won 110 seats and became the single largest party. They marshalled the
rest 27 from independents and defectors. The 25th July, election had been the bloodiest in the
Pakistani history. 30 people were killed
in suicide bomb attack and 149 in terror attacks. There were widespread
allegations of rigging, ably assisted by
the Pakistan Army., The Pakistan army, as all indications show, had favoured
PTI to capture power as they expected that Imran Khan being inexperienced will
depend on their expertise and guidance to govern. Despite the presence of
International Election Observers, there had been widespread allegations over
irregularities and partisan approach. It is alleged that PPP was not even
allowed to select its best candidates. The umpires were not neutral.. The election commissioner took more than 24 hours
to release the results. The delay was attributed to breakdown of RTS (Results
transmission system) Breakdown of computer system had been the Ploy employed by
many countries to appropriate election results. The Mexican election of 1988
being the exemplary example. The computer system got mysteriously collapsed.
When it was restored the voting turn out
got changed to the opposite direction.
The Ruling party which was tralling emeged as winner.
70% of Pakistanis
population is under 30 years of age. The Imran’s image built up against
corruption might have been a factor that
had attracted the young. Imran in his election propaganda accused Nawaw Sheriff being soft forward to India.
Punjab Province
is the stronghold of PML(N). The eleventh hour defection managed by the deep
stake and this mechanism prevented it from fielding its best candidates. Punjab
has the largest number of seats in the National Assembly like U.P. in Indian
Parliament. In 2013 election of PTI had won very few seats. In 2018 they came
on the top in this province.
Imran has a great task ahead if he and his party is to
retain the power, which they have acquired with the help of the deep state. Pakistan rupee has been sinking
and unemployment growing. The infant mortality rate is the highest, the Power
sector has become sick. The challenges
he has to face are many. Rhetoric and enemy bashing may perhaps help him to
retain power. For some time.
National Scenario
The 2014 general
election had provided BJP comfortable single party majority in the Indian
Parliament. The success at the Hustings
was mainly due to the support unambiguously provided by the most vociferous
middle class and equally by the disillusioned poor having not received the
support from the UPA government it expected.
The 2014 general elections brought in a single party majority stable government . The 2015-2019 period witnessed great many
numbers of executive decisions affecting the economy of the country and the
living standards of its people. We make
reference to some of these issues which had a great bearing. Over the living
conditions of the people at large.
Goods and
Services Tax
The Indirect
taxes reform was an idea mooted by the successive governments that came to
power in the country starting from 1986 when V.P. Singh became the Prime
Minister of the country. Those
governments tried to create uniform indirect tax structure and then arose the
VAT. When the NDA came to power in 1999 under the Prime
Ministership of Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, a committee was set up to study and
report the feasibility of the unification of the indirect tax system. The committee was headed by Asim Dasgupta who
was then the finance minister of West Bengal.
The major
objection to the proposal of a uniform tax regime was from the states as many
of them perceived the GST as an infringement of the powers and authority of the
provincial governments which if permitted would erode its very independent
existence. Since the GST is essentially
a tax on consumption the States which are base for manufacturing industries had
expressed an additional fear of losing its revenue substantially. The initial opposition from Tamil Nadu,
Gujarat, Maharashtra and Haryana stemmed from this perception. The propaganda blitzkrieg in support of the
GST in the media was at the instance of the big business of the country. The stark reality was that the imposition of
the GST would not make any difference to the common man for he had been paying
these taxes earlier and would continue to pay it in the years to come.
In the neo-
liberal era where the states were competing to woo the manufacturing
industries to base their factories in
their states by providing large scale
concessions in taxation and infrastructure, the introduction of GST which is
designed as a destination based consumption tax stood to lose out in terms of
revenue. Across the political spectrum
of the country, there had been unanimity of opinion of the need to have a
uniform indirect taxation policy.
However, politics being paramount
the BJP and the Chief Ministers of the BJP ruled states continued to
oppose the attempt of the then UPA Government as introduction of GST required a constitutional amendment. The present Prime Minister of our country had
stoutly opposed the GST when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat. On assuming the reigns of the governance
after the 2014 elections, GST became the most important tax reform. While addressing the Lok Sabha on August 8,
2016 Prime Minister invoked the name of Mahatama Gandhi and his clarion call to
the British to Quit India on the same day in 1942 to term the GST as an instrument
to liberate Indians from tax terrorism.
The slogan of ‘One Nation One Tax’ attributed to the GST and the
characterisation of it as good and
simple tax by the Prime Minister, when the 122nd Constitutional amendment was moved at the
joint session of the Parliament, It was
the beginning of the euphoria. On 1st July 2017 (midnight of 30th June 2017), GST was launched together by the
President and the Prime Minister of the country at the central hall of the
Parliament attended by the high profile guests from the business and the
entertainment industry. The Indian
National Congress boycotted the GST launching
session so were the members of the TMC, CPI(M), CPI and the DMK. They said that with the varying rates of
GST it was no more a uniform taxation
and had no difference with the existing indirect taxation system. The GST had subsumed several formal taxes and
levies such as Central Excise Duty, Service Tax, Additional Customs Duty,
Surcharges, State Level Tax and Octroi, Levies on Inter State Transportation
of Goods, etc. However, the real estate business was
exempted from the purview of the GST so also the petrol and petroleum products.
The mechanism of the GST council where the Government of India has 1/3rd voting right made it impossible for the
smaller states to either get their voice heard or their views translated into
action.
The euphoria
created by the media died down so quickly that the criticism from the common
people over this One Tax One Nation regime took over the centre stage. The three months of the new tax regime were
reported to be a nightmare for business particularly the small
tax payers. The entire nation awaited
for the outcome of the GST council which was scheduled to meet on 6th October 2017.
People in business across the country,
be they the poultry farmers or in
the pharmaceutical trade, textile entrepreneurs, weavers, chikan makers, power loom operators, traders in Kanpur or Ghaziabad
or anywhere in the country, all were restive.
The cosmetic reduction in the tax rates neither satisfied the business
people nor the consumer community. The
tax regime continued to be volatile disturbing the business, the market and
slowing down the economy itself. Most of
the intellectuals in the society blamed the flawed design of the GST as the
reason for the fiasco. So long as the
multiple rates continued varying from 0.5% to 28% and some of the goods being
exempted out of the network, the GST is bound to be cumbersome and
complex. There had been widespread
political outburst against this One Nation One Tax regime of GST even from the
former Finance Ministers like Yashwant Sinha and P.Chindaram but also from Arun
Shourie who was a former bureaucrat turned minister in the previous NDA
government.
Demonetisation
In the characteristic
of a surgical strike the Prime Minister announced through televised address at
20.00 HRS on 8th November 2016 that the currency notes that was in circulation of Rs.500 and Rs.1000
denominations would be invalid past midnight.
Immediately after the announcement, the day after, both the BSE and NIFTY sensex fell over 6
percent of the day. The Indian Govt had
demonetised bank notes on two earlier occasions, first in 1946(pre-Independent
era) then in 1978. On both the occasions
it was conceived for the sake of combating black money. In 1946, it was primarily targeted against
the businessmen who had amassed huge wealth doing business during the Second
World War. The second was in 1978 when
the Janata Party demonetised bank notes of Rs.1000, Rs.5000, Rs.10000
announcing its objective of curbing the counterfeit money and destroy the black
income. It had been proved beyond doubt
that on both these occasions the objective of seizing the black income could
not be achieved. In 2012, on a study
conducted by the Income Tax Department it had been brought to the notice that
most of the black income is held in the form of benami properties, bullion and
jewellery and only 6% or less of such
wealth is kept in cash. So the third
experiment was not to yield the objective for it was mounted. The later events that unfolded after the
announcement of the demonetisation has proved beyond an iota of doubt that except creating hardship
for the common man it did not make any impact in the direction of arresting or
seizing the hoarded black income in the country. Earlier, the govt., had announced an Income
Declaration Scheme giving an opportunity for the unscrupulous tax evaders to come
clean whereby they were provided with the amnesty from levying interest,
penalty and prosecution. This exercise
had fetched Rs.30000 crores in the form of disclosure. The disclosed amount of income was of the
order of Rs.70000 crores. In the initial
stages of the demonetisation exercise there had been statement from people in high positions in the
business, politics, academics, etc., in support of demonetisation. Ms. Arundatti Bhatarcharya, Chairperson,
State Bank of India, Ms. Chanda Kochhar, MD of ICICI Bank appreciated the move
stating that it would help curb black money.
Some other great business people opined that the move would accelerate
e-commerce. Infoysis founder
N.R.Narayana Murthy was one among them.
Amongst the politicians Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar and Andhra
Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu, Social Activist Anna Hazare, Indian President
Pranab Mukherjee all hailed demonetisation as a revolutionary step. However, there had been certain strident
criticism against the move. The Supreme
Court observed while hearing a petition that it appeared to be carpet bombing and
not surgical strike. Amartya Sen
criticised the demonetisation calling it as a despotic action. The Chief Economic of the World Bank Kaushik
Basu called it as a major mistake and said that the damage it is likely to
create on the economy would be much greater than any possible benefits. Pranab Sen Former Chief Statistician called
it as a hollow move. Those who
criticised the demonetisation exercise included Prabhat Patnaik, former
professor of economics JNU, T.N. Nainan, Steve
Forbes and all oppositional party leaders. The New York Times described the
demonetisation as atrociously planned.
The Harward Business review called it as case study in poor policy and even
poorer execution. The success and
failure of the demonetisation is normally gauged from the fact of how much
currency notes which were in circulation got exchanged for the new ones. In August 2017, the RBI stated that 99% of
the Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes that were demonetised returned to the banking
sector which was much more than what was in 1946 and in 1978. In the light of the fact of the final report
of the Central Bank (when the money exchanged outside India is still to be
counted) has proved that it was a
disastrous decision. It is not
incomprehensible to access what this announcement has ultimately turned out to
be.
Confronted with
the severe criticism the way in which a decision with good motives was put into
operation, Govt’s spokesmen started making announcements on different
objectives that the move was intended to achieve other than combating black
income. In a swift move of shifting goal
post, it was said that the exercise had been with the intention to attack
counterfeiting and terror financing.
Then it was shifted to create a cashless society. The fact remained that while the common
people suffered to get the money exchanged from the banks as there had been a
scarcity in the supply of new notes, the exchange racket strived in the market,
the rich were in a position to convert the money for a commission extending
from 10 to 15 percent depending upon the locality and the amount of transaction
involved.
“The Income Tax
Departments’ recent haul of cash of more than Rs.5.7 crore from the residences
of two government officials indicated that nearly Rs.5 crore was in the new pink
notes. If a person were to stand in a
queue and draw Rs.2000 each day, it would require him/her to queue up every day
for almost 45 years, if the person had so much money in the first place. What
this mean is demonetisation is a double whammy on the poor: their lives are
wrecked, apparently because the government is suddenly determined to go after
the rich, but they have to suffer even more because these same rich folks have
found ways to escape demonetisation.”
Wealth holders
have sought many avenues “gold was the most important among them”. It was reported that several politicians
especially in Karnataka had been actively purchasing paddy and other
agricultural products to whitewash their stock of black money. The adage that a
crisis is an opportunity was never ominously true as it had been at the time of
demonetisation distress. The massive
transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich did not happen only in agriculture. The small scale sector lost their business
almost permanently to larger entities.
The demonetisation helped this process in a significant manner and that
can be attributed to the comments made by some in the business community to the
effect that it was a master stroke.
The combined impact of the GST and
demonetisation on the economy was simply devastating, There had been sharper
criticism from the ruling party stalverts. In an article written in the Indian
Express Yeshwant Sinha former Fiance Minister in a focused analysis of three
key economic policy issues, demonetisation, GST, and escalating NPAs pointed
out that it exposed the Govt.s lack of planning and faulty implementation
leading to unmitigated economic disaster. The PMs counter-attack was that “some
pessimists can get sleep at night only if they spread despair.”
The fact however
is that there had been a discernible slowdown in the economic growth during the
current year and the earlier and is presently knocking at the doors of continued
recession.
Union Budgets
Budget 2016-17-
An Exercise in Deception
The Budget of the
Union Government presented by Shri Arun Jaitley , Finance Minister on 29th Feb.
2016 had been full of promises. Among the many promises, he held out , the
most significant was that Shri Narendra Mody’s
Government will double the income of farmers by 2022. He has of course not mentioned whether it would
be the real or nominal income. We know
that during the period 2006 and 2014, even according to the highly defective
cost of living index prepared by the Labour Bureau Shimla with the sole
objective of depriving the labour their legitimate wages, crossed the 100%
mark, making the emoluments of wage earners who have cost indexed wage
structure to double within a period of 8 years.
Prima facie, the promise which received the thunderous applause of the
Treasury Bench, looked wonderful and injected a “feel good factor” or Acha Din
perception amongst the largely un-educated farming community, but was in
reality conceived as an elixir for them to forget the unforgettable past misery
and agony and look forward with hope.
This was needed for the ruling party in power to garner support and vote
of a large majority of them.
The Finance
Minister has not stated or rather was ambiguous as to what he really meant or
as to how he proposes to fulfil the promise.
There has been no concrete proposal as to how the farm income could be
increased, make farming a sustainable enterprise. It is often stated that more than 60% of
Indian people depend upon agriculture for their sustenance. Our country had been a much sought after
destination in the 10th to 18th Century for it had perhaps the most salubrious
climate, planes and terrains suitable for the best farming and perhaps the best
living standard on the earth. It is the
loot that made our countrymen beggars in their own land. The advent of the neo-liberal policies is dragging
them once again to that situation as otherwise how could one explain away the
enormous number of farmers’ suicide in this country since 1991. Be it a wheat
or rice grower, coconut or rubber plantations, vegetables or pulses, cotton or
other cash crops, without exception, every one of them has become the victims
of the vagaries of the market economy. In the first decade of the post
independent era, projects to increase the farm production and consequently the
farm income were planned and executed paving way for the green and white
revolutions. The sustained efforts had
its salutary impact in as much we became self reliant in food and food
production. While that had been the
rosy side of the picture, the dark side belonged to the small farmers and agricultural
labour force. As the benefits of such
projects were garnered by the big landlords, the other segments became much
more exploited and were compelled to migrate to urban agglomerations. The agony
of the situation today is while the cost of inputs rose to unimaginable
heights, there had been no marked increase in the output or in the prices of
the end product. The neo-liberal
economic policies ruined the most significant segment of our economy i.e agriculture. Being wedded to the same policy perceptions,
the ruling party which received the mandate to govern could not provide
anything tangible to improve the lot of the poor multitude of the country,
except hollow and unmeant promises. That
is what the Finance Minister had been doing in the three successive budgets he
had presented. An unprecedented
propaganda blitzkrieg has been unleashed by the ruling party through the
control of print, electronic and social media unashamedly presenting fairy
fiction as facts. The unusually long
budget speech telecast through Doordarshan
and other electronic media was with the obvious purpose of
influencing the Indian electorate in
five States who might reach the Polling booths in April and May, 2016.
Take the case of
fertilizer subsidy. The allocation made
for 2016-17 is Rs. 70,000 crores. In fact Rs. 2438 crores less than that of
2015-16. Fertilizer is the most important ingredient input in farming. Inflation alone will raise its prices in the
current year. The reduction in the
subsidy and the inherent increase on account of inflation in its selling price
will pauperise the farmers further.
Still the Budget is flaunted as a pro-farmer exercise by the corporate
controlled media and the party in power.
As we all know the Bank
Nationalisation was intended to increase the credit facilities to the
agriculture. No doubt the stipulation
for the Nationalised banks to ensure that of the total credit facilities, 40%
must be for farming sector, had its salutary impact. The market economy and the advent of private
and foreign banks changed the scenario.
Most of the credit facilities offered even by the Nationalised Banks are
for agri- business, which is accounted for as agricultural loans, to comply
with the stipulation of 40%.. It is
reported that the bank branches in urban areas had given more bank loans for
“agricultural” purposes than by the rural branches. In almost all sectors, be it in
education, employment generation, other
social sectors, like health etc, the allocation if computed on real terms is
either less than last year or only had a meagre percentage increase. The
proposal to tax the provident fund refunds had to be dropped in the face of the
stiff resistance from the organised working class movement. But the proposal itself is indicative of the mindset
of the present day rulers.
Like his
predecessor, Shri Arun Jaitley was also obsessed with the IMF prescription of
pegging down the fiscal deficit to 3.5% of GDP. Therefore the expenditure proposal in the
Budget was only Rs. 19,78,600 crores registering an increase of just 10.9% than
what was provided for in the last budget
i.e. Rs. 17,85,391 crores. If one
is to give credence to the Finance Minister’s statement that the GDP is
expected to grow by 11% in the current year then the budgeted expenditure this
year will be less than what it was in the last fiscal in percentage terms.
Shri Arun Jaitely’s budget envisages a short fall
in the direct taxes collection of the order of Rs. 1060 crores, while preferring to garner an additional revenue of
Rs. 20670 crores from the Indirect taxes
as he had done in the budget of
15-16. This is the perfect reflection of
the political philosophy of the party in power i.e. to tax the poor and provide
even unsolicited concessions, deductions and exemptions to the rich and
corporate class of tax payers. In
short, the long speech on 29th February,
was designed and conceived to deceive.
Budget 2017-18
The 2017-18
Budget presented by the Finance Minister, Shri Arun Jaitely on behalf of the
NDA Government had three distinctive departures from the custom and conventions
so far followed.
(a)It was
presented on 1st February, 2017 instead of the last day of the February which
had been the practice hitherto.
(b)The proposals
for the biggest public enterprise in the country, the Indian Railways, were
integrated into the General Budget for the first time since the colonial
times. The British Government had
followed the practice of a separate budget for Railways on the ground of giving
importance for the expansion of the railway net work in the country.
(c)The
bifurcation of expenditure as Plan and Non plan was changed into capital and
revenue.
During the
Financial year, 2016-17, the Government had introduced the Income Disclosure
Scheme- (an amnesty scheme) giving yet another opportunity to the hoarders of
black money to come clean. The scheme
ended on 30th September, 2016. Closely
following this decision, the Government instructed the Income tax Department to
advance the limitation date for completion of assessment to 31st December, 2016
from the statutory date of 31st March, 2017 to facilitate the Department to
concentrate on collection of taxes in the last quarter of the financial year.
These two directives from the Government had forced the officers and employees
of the I.T. Department, which had a depleted staff strength (more than 40% of
the sanctioned posts lying vacant) to work beyond the stipulated work
period. On 8th November, the Prime
Minister announced the demonetisation programme making Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000
currency notes invalid from that date.
Since the
replenishment of the withdrawn currency notes with fresh ones was a time
consuming process, the economy had an enforced recession period immediately
after the announcement of demonetisation.
The Banks were saddled with enormous workload stretching the bank
employees beyond their capabilities. The
Common people had to hang around the banks and ATMs for months together. It was by the end of such an eventful year, the budget for 2017-18
was presented in the Parliament.
In his Budget
speech, the Finance Minister admitted that the demonetisation was disruptive
but was meant to cleanse the economy and would eventually increase the capacity
of the Banks to lend at reduced rates.
He also claimed that the recession which has set in as a consequence of
the demonetisation would be short lived and will have only transient impact on
the economy. He further stated that the demonetisation was meant to eliminate
corruption, black money, counterfeit currency and terror funding. As per the media report, however, 98% of the
old currency notes in circulation as on the date of announcement of the Prime
Minister has already been got exchanged with fresh ones.
Some of the notable
features of the Budget which have an impact on the lives of the common people
of the country were:
1. The MGNGREGA was a scheme the UPA I
Government introduced which was received by the rural Indian working people
especially in the unorganised sector with gratitude. To a great extent it had tried to wipe off
the tears from the eyes of so many poor people as it had assured their
employment for certain number of days in a year. The mere increase of Rs. 501 corers (Rs.
48000 – Rs. 47499 (RE 2016-17) was, therefore, extremely disappointing.
2.The Budget
allocation for the Indian Railways was just Rs. 10,000 corers, incapable of
even meeting the cost escalation of the ongoing projects.
3.The integrated
Child welfare scheme, another welfare measure to create a healthy future
generation received lesser allocation than the last fiscal.
4.The new road
map for disinvestment of the Navaratna Public Sector Undertakings through the
Exchange Trading Fund is considered as a disastrous reform step by many in the country.
5.The inclusion
of ten Private Educational Institutions in the proposed Enabling Regulatory
architecture is considered as a diversion of public fund into the private
hands.
6.The budgetary
outlay for school education and for development of agriculture on percentage
terms were less than last fiscal.
7.Capital
expenditure proposed in the Budget is comparatively less than as a percentage
to GDP of the 2016-17 RE.
8.On the positive
side is the appreciable allocation made to two new schemes under the
nomenclature of SANKALP- Rs. 4000 crores and for STRIVE – Rs. 2200 crores.
Coming to the
taxation proposals in the Budget the earlier approach of reducing direct taxes
and raising resources through indirect taxation has been repeated. Near about
20,000 Cr. is given away in the form concessions and deductions etc. under
direct taxes and the proposal is to increase the indirect taxes by Rs.75000
crores. It is stated that of the 76
lakhs individual direct tax payers having declared income of more than Rs 5
lakhs, 56 lakhs are salaried employees. The pointed issue is that despite
pleadings by very many organizations representing the employees and workers,
the Government did not deem it right to re-introduce the erstwhile provisions
of Sec 16(1) of the IT Act, which had provided for deduction of 1/3 of the
taxable income, for meeting out the
probable expenses an employee is likely to incur to earn the income. There had been no
justification, at the outset for the withdrawal of this just and reasonable
provision in the IT Act. While all other categories of tax payers are assessed
to tax over their net income, that is income as reduced by the expenses
incidental to earn the said income, the exception is only the of salaried tax payers.
On the assumption
of a very high rate of growth the Govt. has pinned the hope for a whopping
increase of 1.3 lakh crores this fiscal from income tax collections. Given the present state of affairs of the
economy and the depleted manpower availability in the Department, the target is
certainly at a very high pedestal.
2018-19
The NDAs 2018-19
Budget was the last full fledged budget before the impending Lok Sabha election
in May 2019. The budget exercise has
been therefore, a repackaging exercise; amalgamating a few schemes together
with a new brand name ; to provide insurance cover under a group insurance
scheme for an identifiable set of people; where the state has no liability for
the premium being taken from the beneficiaries.
The Budget was
presented in the background of a large scale disruption imposed on the Indian
economy before 2016 and 2017 through demonetisation, GST, etc. The GST caused great distress to the
vulnerable section of the society besides curtailing the fiscal space of the
State Governments. Demonetisation set
the economy back as 86% of the currency in circulation was withdrawn without
replacement for months together.
Turning to
outlays and expenditures in the Budget, the overall expenditure of the Union government
from budgetary resources for 2018-19 is Rs.24.42 lakh crore as per Budget
Estimates (BE) as against the Revised Estimates (RE) of Rs.22.18 lakh crore for
2017-18, an increase of hardly 10 per cent in nominal terms. If one takes into
account the claim that the GDP is to grow at above 7 per cent and that
inflation is around 4 per cent, it turns out that the total budgeted Central
expenditure as a share of the GDP actually falls from 13.2 per cent last year
to 13 per cent this year. This implies a contractionary fiscal stance,
especially unwarranted in the wake of the deflationary impact of demonetisation
and the disruption caused by GST.
Allocation for
the two departments of (a) Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and (b) Rural
Development, taken together, rises from Rs.1,57,139 crore in RE 2017-18 to
Rs.1,66,904 crore in BE 2017-18, an increase of only 6.2 per cent in nominal
terms, implying little increase in real terms and a decline as share of the
GDP. This brings out the hollowness of the claim that this Budget is rural
economy and rural development centred.
the allocation for health and family welfare was Rs.51,551 crore in RE
2017-18. It is Rs.52,800 crore in BE 2017-18, a rise of around 2.4 per cent,
implying a decline in real terms from already abysmally low levels. The outlay
for education was Rs.81,868 crore as per RE 2017-18. It is Rs.85,010 crore in
BE 2018-19, a nominal rise of 3.8 per cent, implying no change in real terms
and a decline as a share of the GDP.
An especially
important negative impact of demonetisation has been on employment in the
informal sector. There was a widespread expectation that the Budget would
address this issue by substantially increasing allocation for the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS). But this has been
belied. There has been only a modest increase in nominal terms for the scheme.
Even this has to be weighed against considerable wage arrears. There will be a
decline in the number of days of employment per household registered in the
scheme. A larger point needs to be made. As data from the Labour Bureau surveys
remind us, job creation has nosedived over the past couple of years. This was a
key issue for the Budget to take into account. However, the Budget has made no
serious effort in that direction.
Turning to
taxation issues, the indirect tax burden, a large share of which is borne by
working people, is rising steadily. Over the duration of the present
government, the share of indirect taxes in the total tax revenue of the Central
government has risen to almost 50 per cent. Taken together, the government’s
tax proposals have been especially friendly to the corporate sector, as has
mostly been the case in the period of neoliberal economic reforms.
The proportion of
wealth in the hands of the top 1 per cent of the population was 49 per cent
when this government came to office. By the end of last year, this figure had
reached 58 per cent. The Budget did not
address the issue of the huge wealth and income inequality in India at all.
Another important
aspect of this Budget was to obtain about 100,000 crores for disinvestment of
public sector unit assets. It is a ruinous policy that sells the family silver
to reduce debt.
What the 2019
Budget is all about
The budget of the
NDA Government, presented by the Finance
Minister was awaited with eagerness as it was to be presented after a
spectacular victory at the General Elections to constitute the seventeenth Lok
Sabha. Listing out the projects
undertaken by the first NDA Government, she
asserted :
“we have showed
by our deeds that the principle of ‘reform, perform and transform’ can
succeed.”
The Finance Minister has hoped that the
economy of the country will grow into a 5 trillion $ one by 2024. However,
contrary to the expectation generated by the huge victory at the hustings and
the Prime Minister’s statement of reaching the economic peak by 2024, the
Finance Minster did not spell out any concrete proposal to spiral the growth
nor did she recognize the fact of the slowing down of the economy in the
concluding years of the earlier government. The Government’s direct spending
and investments are considered as a sure stimulus to growth. No such steps have
been indicated, whereas the taxation proposals provide relief to the corporate
and impose burden on the common man through increased indirect taxes. Barring a paltry 0.7% of the companies, the
entire corporate establishments will benefit from the lowering of the direct tax rates for companies. If one is to take into account the various exemptions,
exclusions and deductions available under the statute, the effective tax rate
for the corporate will be less by 10% than the notified tax rates. The growth deceleration, the declining job
generation, the reduction in the actual tax collection compared to the
estimatesof the budget, has all been glossed over. But still the Finance Minister expects the
economy to grow at a faster pace and the deficit to be brought down to the
level of 3.3% of GDP. She has characterized
the great electoral victory as the seal
of approval of the common man for the economic policies of the earlier
Government; the hype created over nationalism and the cross border terrorism
and the response to it from the Indian people
having been thoroughly excluded.
It is rather
disturbing that the Finance Minister has decided to revisit the proposal ( a
tried and collapsed Congress experiment of 1980s) when she made the following statement in para 103 of the Budget
speech.
“103. India’s
sovereign external debt to GDP is among the lowest globally at less than 5%.
The Government would start raising a part of its gross borrowing programme in
external markets in external currencies. This will also have beneficial impact
on demand situation for the government securities in domestic market.”
The Congress led
Government’s experiment of a debt based development strategy was an
unforgettable experience. At the end of
the decade of 1980s, the country faced the worst financial crisis and loss of
credibility and had to succumb to the pressures exerted by the world lending
agencies to open up its market and economy and adopt the then coined
Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalization programme. It was considered as a panacea by a good segment of Indian intelligentsia.
The one and only proposal which might attract the
foreign direct investment and foreign institutional investments and hearten the
Indian monopoly houses is the creation of a Labour code to replace the very many labour related welfare legislations including the Minimum wages Act. In the new Labour Code, some of the welfare
measures presently available to the workers will be withdrawn. The Govt. has already decided to re-fix the
minimum wage through the suggestions of the committee set up specially for this
purpose. The Committee’s recommendation,
in sum and substance, is to discard the Dr.Aykhroyd formula on fixation of Minimum wage, the one which is a product of consultation and
agreement with all the stake holders as early as in 1957 . The new Committee’s
formulation is to deny the legitimate minimum wage to the workers, thereby
reduce the cost of labour and the cost of production to facilitate the
maximization of profit. It is another
matter that the previous Governments had never acted upon this formula on the
specious plea of the inability of the employer to pay. The present Government and the Finance
Minister wanted to legitimize the denial, despite having no guarantee that even
the minimum recommended by this committee and notified by the Government would
be ever implemented in the private sector.
To reach out to
the ambitious budget estimates of the Finance Minister, it is reported in the
media that the net tax revenue must increase at a whopping rate of 25.3% and
the non- tax revenue at 27.2%. Given the
present trend of tax collections, to register such a fantastic rise is not only
unlikely but appears to be impossible.
Read with the
list of tasks to be undertaken in the next 100 days which include the
corporatization/privatization of the five production units of Railways, PPP in
infra structure projects including National Highways, disinvestment to fetch
Rs. 105,000 crores, this fiscal, the direction of the policies has become
undoubtedly clear. The disinvestment in
the PSUs appears to be not only with the objective of pinning down the deficit
but rather a loud pronouncement of the economic policy itself. Most of the PSUs own presently costly lands
in the urban agglomerations which had been acquired for pittance by various
State Governments under the archaic enactment made by the British and handed
over to the PSU in the national interest.
The disinvestment will ensure that these lands would be transferred to
the private hands. The IRCTC is now
empowered to run trains and tomorrow it could be anybody. With the present level of privatization
venture the Railways are likely to follow quickly and quietly the BSNL way.
The individual
income tax payers nursed the illusion of getting some concessions from this
Govt. That hope has been belied. There
had been no rise in the quantum of standard deduction with the result even the
income arising from the reimbursement of expenses is got taxed. There had been no logic in the present
dispensation of segregating the taxpayers as below 5 lakhs and above 5 lakhs,
asking those to pay tax beyond the non- taxable maximum the moment his income
crosses over Rs. 5 lakhs.
Coming to the
direct taxation proposals the Finance
Minister has made a ‘paradigm shift’ in the main function of the Income Tax
Department i.e. to compute and assess the exact income of a person. The scheme of faceless assessment in
electronic mode involving no human interface is what is suggested. The scheme is prima facie a welcome feature
as its objective is to eliminate the possible arbitrariness and
corruption. In the absence of details,
it will be difficult to comment upon its possible success. The limitation of an
in depth investigation, the scheme might bring about, especially into the new
modes of evasions, the assesees might employ, is an area the CBDT will have to
look into. The random scrutiny presently
acts as a deterrent. Since the orders
are subject to judicial scrutiny it will have to be drafted and finalized as
one capable of standing the test of tough probing by a judicial mind.
In fine, as per
the view of the economists of the country, the budget has presented a catalogue
of aspirations, without stating any tangible proposition to reach out to those
objectives or to arrest the deceleration of the economic growth, worsening unemployment
situation, the inability of the job generation capacity of the economy, the
widening gaps between the haves and have-nots etc. It has proceeded on true lines of the
neo-liberal economic policies and has given the appearance of another fine page
in the obituary to a self-reliant and sovereign India.
Disinvestment and
Privatisation
Contrary to the
perception that a strong and able economy must have a performing public sector,
the post 1991 witnessed a complete reversal of that. Concerted attempts were made by the
successive governments in power to ensure that the shares of the government in
the public sector are sold out. In every
budget proposal a certain amount has
been shown as expected receipt on account of disinvestment. Since there had been no differences for the
NDA government with their predecessors in so far as the economic policies are
concerned the disinvestment had always been an objective. Privatisation was often justified on the
claim that most of them were inefficient earning low profit or incurring losses
and acting as a drain on already stretched resources of the government. However, the proceeds of the sales of these
shares often have been used to cover the deficit in the budgets. Though the disinvestment strategy had been
difficult the governments have been able to garner funds through this
route. The enormity of such receipts
could be gauged from the fact that the target of 1994-95 was a mere Rs.4,843
crores. It rose to a huge figure of
Rs.24,349 crores in 2014-15. It is the
sale of the profitable public sector units that could make partial success of
this endeavour. The prices offered for
these profitable private enterprises were far less than its market value. It was a sheer transfer of public asset into
the private hands. The public private
partnership route which is often resorted to are projects were government carries
all the risks and the private partners
garners all the profits. There had been no sector that had been left
out in this privatisation exercise. The
banks in the financial sector, the profit making petroleum sector,
telecommunication, coal, power generation, etc., were targeted. Where such transfer of public sector
enterprises into private hands have taken place, the user charges had been whoopingly increased.
In 2015-16, the PPP in energy sector was of the order Rs.41836 crores. Social and Commercial Sector
Rs. 4574 crores, Transport Rs.610590 crores, Water and Sanitation Rs.18768
Crores. The PPP is espoused as a
readymade solution to bring about faster development. By placing the national, regional and local
governments at the mercy of shoddy operators, PPP does undermine the efficacy
of an elected government and the very system of democracy itself.
Apart from these
ongoing proposals approved by the Budget, the NDA government sought to
privatise three segments of the government departments viz. The Defence
Production, The Railways, and the Air
India.
There are 41
ordnance factories presently functioning under the Ministry of Defence. They were set up on various occasions in the
post independent era to cater to the requirements of the armed forces. During the cold war period and earlier too
the country did not receive any help or assistance from any nation in the world
especially from the super powers in the matter of maintaining the efficacy of
our military. These indigenous factories
were the product of hard work put in by the workers. The government had to divert quite an amount of its scarce
resources for establishing these factories, for the external threat was not
only real but also imminent. They played
a vital role in the security and the integrity of the country.
Sale of Arms and
Weapons is a lucrative international business.
Most of the western countries make enormous profit out of this
business. Significant role is being
played by the business interest of these countries in igniting conflict
worldwide. Besides providing employment
for thousands of people these factories play a vital role in our security
system. The recommendation of the VII
CPC enabling the armed forces to source their uniform materials from private
agencies would render thousands of workers in some of the factories under the
defence production ministry redundant. The decision of the government to either
privatise these factories or organise them under a corporation has been stiffly
opposed by the workers in these organisations.
Unmindful of the objections raised by the workers on whom a large number
of people depend upon, the government has decided to privatise these factories
in the current year.
The continuous agitation that is going on in
these factories against privatisation has received solidarity and support from
quite a number of people in the country
due to the iconic image these factories obtained at the critical time of our
history. The privatisation of these
factories will make the armed forces to depend upon the private organisations
sometimes controlled by the multinationals jeopardizing the very security of
the country. It is very sad that the
government has decided to go ahead with its proposal to privatise this vital
production unit of the defence department.
Defence Workers
Strike
The Defence
Workers Strike, which commenced in the early hours of 20th August, 2019 was the
offshoot of the failure of negotiation,
commenced by the Govt reluctantly, to avert the inevitable strike. The strike, was not for any pecuniary benefit
for the workers, but in the national
interest; to force the Govt which talks
of patriotism in every breath to be really patriotic. In the face of
the decision of the Government to privatise the operations of the 41 ordnance
factories under the Ministry of Defence, assiduously built over the years by
the tax payers money and hand over the same to their cronies who are in search
of avenues to make huge profits, the
strike became inevitable . The workers
have rightly pointed out that the Govt has put the national security at the
mercy of profit mongering corporate and foreign monopoly houses.
The defence
workers along with the other segments of the Indian Working class had been
fighting the ill-conceived neo-liberal policies whose only objective had been
and continue to be to allow the loot of natural and state-owned resources for
private profit. Those who amass huge profits are presently called as wealth
creators requiring immunity from all punishable offences.
The defence
workers had to undertake a long and strenuous campaign against the
anti-national attitude of the present Govt in the face of the euphoria created
by the pseudo- nationalists and propagandists of the ruling party. The near
cent percent support they could elicit
from the defence workers should stand a
great testimony for all those who
strive to oppose the hegemony of the ruling class. The present step of the govt to go in for complete
privatization of 41 ordnance factories within the 100 days of the government
coming to power, imperilling the country’s security and the life of Jawans who
toil in the extreme bad weather conditions at the Border is to say the least
chicanery at its worst.
In this strike action every defence worker,
irrespective of his/her political perception participated giving no room for
the government to divide and rule, though tried with hope after hope. No doubt they could wean away the officers at
the Managerial levels, who had assured
of their participation in the national interest earlier The threat of invoking the provisions fo ESMA
and other draconian laws against the striking
workers did play its salutary impact on these officers.
It was the solid
unity of the workers at the grass root level that compelled the Government to
authorise the Defence Secretary to recommence the negotiation and roll out
assurances to the effect that the Government would set up a committee to
address the concern of the workers and to solemnly state that the Government
has not taken a final decision on the issue of corporatisation - a ploy used to
get out of the situation. The Defence workers organisations are fully aware
that those were unmeant assurances and can only be ensured through the
continued unity and determination of the workers. They have suspended the action giving room for
the Government to retrace their earlier decision of handing over the factories
to private cronies. The leaders and cadres of the Defence Workers
Federations deserve our congratulations
for preserving the unity of workers and waging
a historic battle.
Privatisation in
Railways
We also saw during this period the greatest privatisation
drive of the largest public sector undertaking i.e. the Railways. Selected railway stations along with prime
land belonging to them were leased to private operators as a prologue to handing over the entire
railway station to private corporate players.
Government was expecting to bring in an investment to the tune of Rs.
100,000 crores through the Public Private Partnership programme. 2200 acres of land was thus leased out for a
period of 45 years. The move to
privatise stations is bound to have a far reaching implication on the lives and
livelihoods of thousands of people.
There are 7600 stations under the Indian Railways. Private parties have been entrusted for modernising 411 stations.
The Bansal group which is primarily operating in the education sector
received 17,245 sq.mtrs. of land for 45 years.
Design, Finance, Construction and Maintenance including production
activities have been either outsourced or privatised. Laying of signal lines, installation of
telecommunication equipment, cleaning and washing of stations and coaches,
on-board cleaning, cleaning of engines,
providing water in coaches, ticket booking, catering, sanitary work all
have been either outsourced or privatised.
Quite a number of private lines connecting the industrial estates have
been privatised through the PPP. As
mentioned elsewhere on the basis of the recommendations of the Bibek Debroy
Committee, the Railway budget has now been made part of the General Budget and
would be presented by the Finance Minister.
It looks that it would be just a matter of time that the largest public
sector industry in the country will be in the private hands.
In the recently
announced 100 days action plan of the new Modi Government the Railway Board has
proposed that two passenger trains will be offered to IRCTC which would provide
ticketing and other on-board services. These trains will run on important
routines connecting major cities. As per the report that is now available the
Railway Board has also decided to hand over the running of premier trains
including Rajdhani and Shatabdi Express trains to private operators for which
the tendering process is on anvil.
Another proposal
which is included in 100 days action plan is corporatisation of the 7
production units of Indian Railways at Perambur, Varanasi, Chittaranjan
Locomotive, Kapoorthala, Rae bariely, Bangalore. There had been tumultuous
agitations in many of the centres where the production units are located. Ms.
Sonia Gandhi, president of Indian National Congress raised the issue of
corporatisation of the production unit situated at the Rrae-bareilly ( her own constitutency )
in the Parliament, forgetting that it was her own party when in power initiated
the privatisation process in railways. While replying to her, the Railway
Minister is reported to have stated that the Corporatisation was meant to bring
in investment to Railways and consequent expansion of the production units.
True to their announcement, the Government has already allowed
the IRITC to run the trains in certain selected routes. The production
units in all the 7 locations do have large
areas acquired from the common people for the sake of establishing these
units. The private entrepreneurs are interested in only those costly real
estate area rather than producing coaches for the Indian Railways. The Railway
organisations have began to realise the serious nature of the attack unleashed
by the Government. It is only through
militant actions that the Government’s proposal which is extremely injurious to
this country especially to common people can be defeated.
Air India Privatisation
What is stuck in
the memory whenever a discussion on Air India takes place is its famous mascot Maharaja. Once a proud and most admired symbol of
Indian Aviation industry has now been reduced to the crude caricature. The
nationalisation of Air India to make it the National Airlines Carrier of the
country has now become Sick. Whether it
has become sick or the injuries were inflicted can be a matter for debate. While the blame could be apportioned between
the NDA and UPA governments equally for the denationalisation have been clarion
call of the neo liberal policies to which both were wedded. While a comparatively new entrant in the
aviation industry is making huge profits and is increasing its passenger share
in the market almost every day, the downfall of Air India which had the most
experienced personnel to manage and the finest aircrafts to carry and a mighty
government to support financially is inexplicable. The merger of Indian Airlines and Air India
into one company was never a well-thought out plan. Even after merger, the two wings of the
amalgamated company are reported to have functioned separately. There are quite number of factors for the
continuing sickness of the company but the most significant is considered to be
the acquisition of aircrafts at an
overall cost of Rs. 46549 crores in 2005-06.
It is considered to be the most reckless and egregious decision to order
for 111 aircrafts. The C&AG who had
gone into these deal had a serious doubt over the lack of application of mind
in the decision making process of such a big deal. The very decision on the basis of an inflated
forecast of traffic or nonstop flight to New York and Chicago following the
acquisition of aircraft, the C&AG has stated as a flawed one. Some of the policy decision that the Govt of
India took in the neo liberal policy days allowing certain concession and
benefits to the private airline, disallowing a level playing field for Air
India have gone to reduce its operational profits to a great extent. The open skies policy of the government which
hit Air India’s International operations was also not only one of the features
that landed the airlines in trouble. In
the name of the proposed privatisation initiative taken during the first NDA
government the purchase of aircrafts was delayed due to which the airlines lost
out to the passenger traffic in the market.
One June 28,
2017, the Govt of India set up a committee after obtaining the in principle
approval for the strategic sale of the governments ownership in the
airline. The decision of the cabinet
committee meant the virtual handing over of the management control to a private
entity. The committee consisting of the
group of ministers called “AISAM”(Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism) is
headed by the Finance Minister. The committee is to decide as to how the
hopping debt of Rs.52000 crores of Air India is to be handled; the modalities
of this strategic sale and the disinvestment of the profitable
subsidiaries. The Air India has five
subsidiaries viz. The Air India Engg Services Ltd, Air India Air Transport
Services Ltd, Air India Charters Ltd, Airline Allied Services Ltd, and Hotel
Corporation of India Ltd. The Air
India’s privatisation as and when it takes place will be nothing but a transfer
of public asset into the private hands.
Labour Code and
Land Acquisition Bill
The widening gap
between the precept and practice and the un-kept promises made during
electioneering are looming large. The
working class in the country, especially in the organised sector did not have
any illusion either at the time of the general election or thereafter of the
direction in which the economy of the country would be driven by the BJP led
Government, given its ideological and political right wing attitude.
Almost every
decision this Government has taken after its assumption of office was to
facilitate the pursuance of the neo-liberal policies; to ensure that a
corporate friendly climate pervades in the country so as to attract the foreign
investment. The Corporates wanted
maximisation of profit, in other words larger return on their investment; to
ensure that the labour welfare legislations in the country are either taken out
of the statute book or not enforced; they must not be accountable for disaster
of the environment or even for the loss of life due to callous managerial
attitude.
One must look at
the two enactments proposed by the Government in the Parliament from the above
perspective. The Land acquisition Act of
1894 was no doubt draconian. It had
empowered the Federal and provincial Governments to forcefully acquire land in
(an undefined) public interest. There
were sensible upsurgence in the country whenever or wherever the Government
attempted to acquire land from the kisans,
as such acts, howsoever justifiable it may be, often divested the farmer
of his livelihood and driven him and his family to penury. Taking note of this genuine concern and the
growing discontent over an unjustifiable enactment made by the colonial rulers,
the UPA Government was compelled to bring in a legislation primarily meant to
protect the interest of the farmers, called the right to fair compensation,
transparency in land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement Act,
2013. It is not anybody’s contention
that the said enactment of 2013 was flawless but certainly was a significant
step in the direction of protecting the interest of farmers.
Various provisions of the said enactment came in for severe criticism in
the corporate controlled media, by the so called right wing intellectuals, who
were the loudest proponents of the economic reforms. BJP was in opposition and
had a sizeable presence both in the Lok
Sabha and Rajya Sabha then. It is with
their open support, the enactment could be made by the UPA Government. Being
now in the Government, they want the very provisions of those enactments, which
they have voted to make it a law, to go, not to ensure the interest of the
common people or farmers, but the Corporate houses. The ordinance could not be validated in the
floor of the Parliament and got ultimately lapsed. The consent of the land owner, which has
been made a pre-requisite in the 2013 Act is sought to be removed, if such
acquisition is for industrial corridor or infra structure projects in PPP. This apart, the protection enunciated in 2013
Act, against acquisition of multi-cropped irrigated land and the provisions of
return of unused land within 5 years are done away with or weakened. The
proposed amendment also empowers the government to acquire land one kilometre
on both sides of a designated highway or Railway line.
Both inside and
outside the Parliament, the voice of people who resented the anti-farmer
attitude of the Government resonated and the Govt. was forced to refer its
proposal to a Parliamentary Committee.
Many of the
labour welfare legislations that exist in our Statute book were the product of
bitter and militant struggles waged by the Indian working Class both in the pre
and post independent days. Innumerable
articles had appeared in Indian Press in the post 1991 period to exaggerate its
negative impact on the industrialisation
and growth of economy. The Corporates
which have now become the surrogate Governments throughout the world had been
successful in dismantling these enactments in very many countries. They are aware that maximisation of profit is
possible only through exploitation of workers.
No other ingredient in the cost of production is capable of giving the
impetus to reduce the price of the product in the market. They have therefore, made it clear to the
present Government in power that the location of the establishment of TNCs and
their production centres would largely depend upon this single significant
factor. The previous BJP Government in Rajasthan, which
enjoyded a brute majority in the State Assembly was the pioneers in ‘reforming’
the labour ‘laws. The Rajasthan Government
made drastic amendments to Factories Act, Industrial disputes Act, Contract
Labour Act, and the States of A.P and Madhya Pradesh followed. Maharashtra and Haryana have declared that
they intend to so very soon. These amendments provide the unfettered right to
the employers to hire and fire and will take away almost 70% of the workers in
the country out of the purview of many labour welfare Acts. The “Small Industries bill” introduced,
purportedly to help the small entrepreneurs (who employ less than 40 workers)
will take these establishments out of
the ambit of 14 Labour laws. Besides,
all security benefits, which are presently mandatory, viz. Employees’ Provident
Fund, Employee Pension Scheme, Employees State Insurance etc. will be denied to
the workers of these so called “small establishments.” The advisory issued by
the Government of India to the State Governments may not be mandatory but we
are witness to the demeaning situation of these elected Governments kneeling
before the Giant corporations offering them various concessions.
(Financial
Resolution & Deposit Insurance) FRDI Bill 2017
The Government of
India has now introduced a bill in the Parliament called the Financial
Resolution & Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill.
It is likely to come up for discussion at the next session. The objective of the bill is stated to be to
provide a framework for the resolution of failures of financial institutions. Presently, the diverse financial sector as
different regulatory authorities like the RBI for the Banks, IRDA for
Insurance, SEBI for Mutual Funds, PFRDA for Pension Funds, etc. The nationalised banks which have a 70
percent share in total banking assets and the LIC are governed by separate
legislations. FRDI seeks to amend these
legislations listed in Schedule IV of the Bill to bring in Resolution
Corporation in case of failure of any financial entity under the Resolution
Corporation. The resolution authority
has the power of acquisition of assets, merger or amalgamation, liquidation or
utilising the new instrument like bailing and creation of bridge service
provider. The bill is on the lines of
what was suggested by the G20 and the Financial Stability Board which came into
existence after the global financial crisis.
The power and the authority conferred on the Resolution Corporation to
deny emoluments and bonus for employees for a financial service provider, to
change their service conditions, terminate them without recourse to other
avenues of arbitration, etc. are diabolic in character and requires
amendment.
In a major
departure from the banking practices that was prevalent prior to 1991, the neo
liberal policies that came into existence thereafter backed and implemented
measures of financial liberalisation and used bank credit as a stimulus for
growth. Such liberalisation paved way
for accumulation of nonperforming assets especially in the public sector banks
where the govt as an owner had a responsibility. The NPAs grew in an alarming proportion. The RBI as a regulatory body had to intervene
and state that the true state of affairs must be reflected in the balance sheet
of the banks. There were quite a number
of devices that were employed to conceal the quantum and nature of the
irrecoverable loans. The directive of
the RBI brought the true picture of the banks both in the public and private
sector to the public gaze. It eroded
the credibility of the banks and the confidence of the people at large, the
very vein of the banking system. The
Resolution Corporation which is formed with certain powers under the FRDI is to
look into the ailing financial institutions in a bid to protect the interest of
the consumers. The Resolution
Corporation was a replica in the Indian context of a regime recommended by the
Basel based financial regulatory board of USA in the wake of the global crisis
of 2008. The bill allows the Resolution
Corporation to ensure appropriate the bank deposits beyond the insurance
coverage to be used when the collapse takes place. The stipulation in the bill restricts that
any depositor whatever may be the quantum of such deposits will only get a maximum amount of Rs. 1 lakh. In other
words, even if a person has got millions of
rupees in bank deposits, the banks which are covered with this act, is
entitled to provide a maximum of Rs. 1 lakh in the event of restructuring,
liquidation or collapse.
One Rank One
Pension
OROP has been a
major demand of the defence personnel for the past many years. When the new
Govt. assumed office there was a feeling that the long pending demand of the
armed forces personnel will be conceded. However, that was not to be. The
veterans who fought many a battle to secure the borders of our country had to
wage battle of a different kind to force the Govt. to accede to their demand.
The ex-servicemen went on a relay hunger strike at Jantar Mantar, in New Delhi
on the issue. When the nation was on month long celebration to commemorate India’s
victory over Pakistan in the 1965 war, the veterans were facing a police action
to evict them from their Dharna venue which only made the matters worse. This
was not expected from a leadership which always swear by the sacrifices of the
armed forces. This led to 10 former Service chiefs to write an open letter to
the Prime Minister. After the veterans organised a Rally on 1st February, 2015, the Defence minister called
them for discussion and assured that OROP will be implemented. The agitation
was called off on Feb, 2015, only to resume it on 14th June, 2015 as no concrete action was taken by
the Govt. to act on the assurances. Ultimately when the Govt. agreed to concede
the demand, the decision that military personnel who took voluntary retirement
would not be entitled to OROP made the veterans angry and the Prime Minister
had to intervene and clarify that OROP benefit will be extended to personnel
retired prematurely. It is pertinent to mention that if the scheme is not
extended to the prematurely retired personnel more than 45% of the retired
personnel would have been kept out of the benefit. Inspite of the assurances by
the PM, the seed of doubt was sown in the minds of the veterans about the
sincerity of the govt. They continued
the agitation till the written orders were issued. There were other issues also
–that the pension will be recalculated every 5 years and not every year as
demanded; they also opposed constitution of a one member committee to go in to
its complexities instead of a 5 member committee including ex-servicemen. Even
though the agitation was called off with cynicism and scepticism, the
disturbing aspect that has emerged out of the whole issue is the trust deficit
between the service personnel and the civil administration.
The demand for an
equitable Pension scheme for all retired personnel on the lines of OROP has
been raised by the Civil Servants before the 7th CPC. Though it is not feasible to have the
same scheme extended to civil service the vast disparity between the past and the
present pensioners was sought to be removed. The7th CPC after hearing all the
stake holders suggested a particular proposition in the form of Option I &
II. The Commission virtually put the choice in the hands of the pensioner as
that course would have avoided a large amount of litigation. The Govt. of
India, however, instead of accepting the recommendation asked the pension
department to go into the feasibility of Option-1. Despite agreeing that in 84%
of the cases the relevant records are available they suggested to the Govt. for
rejection of the recommendation of the 7th CPC.
Political
Scenario
Assembly
Elections 2015
In the beginning
of 2015 and at the end two provinces of the country went to poll to elect new governments.
Delhi
Assesmbly
The elections for
the Delhi assembly was held in February 2015 whereas the Bihar went to polls in
November the same year. The AAP under
Mr. Kejriwal was the main attraction of the Delhi electorate. In the previous election the AAP could not
muster a majority and the coalition exercise did not last long. Being brand new to Indian politics, AAP
approached the electorate with a clear perspective written in unambiguous terms
in their manifesto. The manifesto talked
about concrete issues such as taxes to drinking water, cheaper electricity,
better sanitation, ensuring women safety, quality education sponsored by the
government, better health care, new hospitals, internet facilities,
regularisation of contract workers, etc.
While it concentrated on the issue, its campaign was very
innovative it did not hold extravagant
public meetings whereas the BJP indulged in slanderous campaign. In all the rallies the Prime Minister
addressed he had hit out at Kejriwal calling him an urban naxalite and
anarchist. Kiran Bedi was declared the
Chief Ministerial candidate who had never been in the party and in the Delhi
politics by the BJP. The AAPs strategic
refusal to get provoked by the BJPs remarks
paid rich dividends to it. The
Indian National Congress was nowhere in the picture. The AAP was clearly the hope and choice of
the people as it revived a long forgotten political language of welfare. It is
reported that while the rich and a large section of the upper middle class
favoured the BJP, the poor and lower middle class supported the AAP. While Congress could not win even a single
seat, BJP could get only three of its candidates elected to the Assembly.
Bihar Assembly
The Bihar went into polls in November 2015
with Nitish Kumar as the Chief Ministerial candidate on behalf of the grand
alliance of political parties comprising of the JDU, the Laloo Prasad led RJD
and the Congress. The central issue in
the election was explained by Shri Nitish Kumar in unambiguous terms. When he said it was a battle between two
ideas of development; the concept of development with a social justice on the
one side and the notion of development that promote crony capitalism on the
other. Of the 243 seats, RJD won 80,
JDU-71 and INC-27. 4 seats were taken by
the independents. BJP could win only 53
seats and its ally LJP got only 2 seats.
What has ultimately come out in the Bihar election is that there is no
one stop solution to all the travails in the country.
Assembly
Elections 2016
In the calendar
year 2016 provincial assembly elections for Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil
Nadu and West Bengal. All these
elections were held together in the month of May 2016.
Assam Assembly
By winning 60
seats BJP became the largest party in Assam along with their allies i.e. the
Assam Gana Parishad and the Bodoland Peoples Front the two regional parties, they swept the
polls defeating the Congress which was the ruling party lock, stock and
barrel. The All India United Democratic
Front could win only thirteen seats as against the eighteen seats it won in the
2011 election. The electoral victory in
Assam placed the BJP in a very commanding position not only at the national
level but particularly in the North Eastern Region where it would now be
possible for them to dictate terms with the regional parties. In a state where the Muslim population is
about 35 percent which is the highest in any India State barring Jammu and
Kashmir, the victory for the BJP was significant. The most talked about political propaganda
that was unleashed by the BJP both in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections was
the massive illegal migration taking place in Assam from Bangladesh. They could convince the Assamese people that
if the process of migration continues the demographic map of Assam will vastly
change in the years to come. The Indian
National Congress suffering from an anti-incumbency difficulty ensured that
some of its stalwarts and leaders switched over to BJP because the Chief
Minister Tarun Gogoi decided to introduce his son Gaurav Gogoi into
politics. It is reported that the
indigenous people of Assam has massively voted for the BJP coalition.
West Bengal Assembly
The TMC’s stormed
back to power in West Bengal winning 211 seats of the 294 seats, the CPI(M)
which was the ruling party for 35 years could muster only 26 seats, Congress
alone secured 44 seats. The formation of
an alliance between the Left and the Congress and other secular parties in West
Bengal gave an initial impression that the TMC would fall this time. This illusion which was created by the
section of a media and the opposition unity shattered at the end and TMC
regained power. During the election
process Trinamool faced serious setback on account of the surfacing of the
footages of a sting operation carried out in 2014 by the news portal Narada and
the collapse of a flyover in the heart of the city. It appears that the people
of West Bengal really believed that Mamta Banerjee will be able to run a
non-corrupt, efficient, pro-poor government.
They had no doubt it appears in the honesty and integrity of Mamta
Banerjee and that should have been the reason why the corruption charges raised
by the opposition parties could not click.
The 2016 election verdict was decisive and over whelming positive in
favour of Trinamool Congress. The electoral
tie-up between the Left and the Congress turned out to be damp squib. Despite the alliance, the Left and Congress
contested in as many as 18 seats against each other. Their had been no cohesiveness either in the
public statement or in the nature of the alliance formed. The alliance could not even project a Chief
Ministerial candidate. In the West Bengal
election, BJP could secure 10.2 percent of the votes and three seats. The National Democratic Alliance tally in the
state rose to 6 percent which included the three seats won by Gorkha Jana Mukti
Morcha.
The 2016 election
has proved once again that Mamta Banerjee is the single most powerful mass
leader in Bengal today.
Kerala Assembly
The United
Democratic Front a combination of parties led by the Indian National Congress
was the ruling alliance in Kerala upto 2016.
Having won the election with a very slender majority, it was to its
credit that it could retain power and rule the state for five years. During the five year period it has to face many
embarrassing scams and corruption charges which gave an impression to the mass
of the people that the UDF politicians were already corrupt. Despite this negative image, it must be said
to their credit that they fought the 2016 election and created an impression
that they had a chance. The Left
Democratic Front, especially the CPI(M) which led the alliance had been beset
with internal dissention and differences, the former Chief Minister and the top
most leader of the party Com. V. S. Achuthananthan who rose to become a
charismatic leader of the people of Kerala often did not see eye to eye with
the views and stand taken by the party and sometimes even the Left Front. The supporters of LDF were quite unhappy over
these developments and feared that it would give an edge to the UDF at the
hustings. Cohesiveness was brought
between the party secretary and the leader and there had been no differences
aired during the election campaign. This
transformed the entire election scene in favour of the LDF and they won 91 of
the 140 seats in the Kerala Assembly.
One of the most prominent feature of the assembly elections of Kerala
was the BJP for the first time got an entry by winning the Nemon constitutency
near the capital city of Trivandrum.
Shri O.Rajagopal who was a Minister in the NDA government led by Atal Behari Vajpayee won the seat for BJP
defeating both the LDF and the UDF.
After the election also the CPI(M) could announce Shri Pinarayi Vijayan
as the Chief Ministerial candidate. BJP has garnered more than 10 percent of
the votes in this election. All their
national leaders including the Prime Minister and the party President
campaigned for the party and the alliance which included nearly a dozen
community based organisations. In the
northern most constituency of Kerala at Manjeswaram, BJPs candidate lost by
only 89 votes declaring clearly that BJP has become a party to be reckoned with
in Kerala politics.
Tamil Nadu
Assembly
It was under the
charismatic leadership of J.Jayalalitha the AIADMK contested the assembly
election in 2016. Barring three minor
parties she had chosen not to have any alliance for contesting the
elections. Virtually there had been no
anti-incumbency factor. This was mainly
due to the freebies she has chosen to distribute amongst the people especially
the women. In Tamil Nadu Bicycles, Lapops, Uniforms, Textbooks, Notebooks, Chappals,
Atlas are all given free of cost to the children studying in the schools. This apart the question of food security is
taken care of through the public distribution system whereby every person
whether below or above the poverty line is entitled to get food consumables
almost free of cost from the ration shop.
Unlike in the earlier elections there were no serious allegations of
corruption against the government or her council of ministers. Despite such positive factors in favour of
the ruling party, the election was very close.
Of the 234 seats (election held for 232 seats) AIADMK led alliance won
134 seats. The DMK which was the main
opposition party had won 98 seats. In
the city of Chennai however the AIADMK could win only 6 of the 16 seats perhaps
due to the people’s perception that the government did not do anything tangible
when the city was submerged in flood waters.
Most of the other alliances which came into existence on the eve of the
elections could not click and could not garner support and was almost
decimated. M. Karunanidhi former Chief
Minister of Tamil Nadu and the veteran leader of the DMK won the Tiruvaroor
constituency by a record margin of 68366 votes.
Karunanidhi had turned 93 at the time of election. His election with such a large majority shows
the inner strength of DMK and the affection the people of Tamil Nadu has got
towards Karunanidhi. Commenting on the
verdict, Ms. Jayalalitha said that she would continue to work on the basis of
the Taraka Mantra that “I am because of the people and I am for the
people”. In her manifesto Ms.
Jayalalitha had promised that every women in Tamil Nadu who gets married will
get 8 grams of gold, a mobile phone, ration card, free supply of 100 units of
electricity, 50 percent of subsidy for women buying a scooter or moped.
Puducherry
Assembly
Puducherry is a
Union Territory with 30 assembly constituencies comprising of Pondicherry,
Yanam and Mahe. The outgoing council of
Ministers were headed by Shri N Rangaswamy who had split the Congress and
formed a new party called All India N Rangaswamy Congress. In the May 2016 elections, the DMK and the
Indian National Congress joined together to form an alliance. The INC could take a revenge in defeating
their arch rival N. Rangaswamy. The
Congress-DMK alliance won seventeen seats.
One of the prominent features of this election is that the Union
Territory recorded the highest poll percentage of more than 80 percent. In the assembly, the All India N Rangaswamy
Congress has 8 seats and the AIADMK has 4, One independent is supported by the
CPI(M) in Mahe.
Assembly
Elections 2017
In the year 2017
seven provincial assemblies had their general elections. 5 of them were held in the month of March
2017 and the rest 2 were held in December 2017.
Those which went into poll in March were Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar
Pradesh and Uttarakhand. In Uttarakhand
and Uttar Pradesh, the BJP/NDA won the election hands down. In Punjab Indian National Congress, rested
power from BJP-SAD alliance.
In Goa of the 40
seats that went to polls, INC won 17, BJP 13 and the rest 10 by others. Though INC became the largest political party
in the assembly, BJP could successfully manoeuvre and
come back to power with the help of the independents and others. Shri Manohar Parrikar who was the defence
minister of the country was deployed to GOA by the BJP to take over as the
Chief Minister of the coalition which came into existence after the
election.
Manipur returned
a fractured verdict and a hung assembly and stopped both the Congress and the
BJP from forming the government.
Independently, INC won 28 seats,
BJP 21 seats in the 60 member assembly.
BJP could form the government with the Naga Peoples Front(4), The
National Peoples Party(4), The Lok Shakti Party(1). The paradoxical situation in this election
was that Irom Sharmila who was on a hunger strike for 16 years to press for the
repeal of the dreaded Armed Forces Special Powers Act lost out. She had floated a new political party called
the Peoples Resurgence and Justice Alliance.
Of the 117 seats
in Punjab, Congress won 77, BJP 3, Shiromani Akali Dal 15, Lok Insaf Dal 2, and
Aam Aadmi Party 20. Throughout the election
campaign there had been great support for the Aam Aadmi Party and its alliance
partner Lok Insaf Dal. Against the expectations the BJP-SAD combine could
marshal 25.2 percent of the votes poll whereas the AAP got 23.7 percent. What came as a rude shock for AAP was the
diminished performance of that party compared to the 2014 Lok Sabha
elections. In the parliamentary election
the AAP had registered 24.4 percent of the votes polled and was leading in 33
assembly constituencies. Capt. Amrinder
Singh who spearheaded the campaign for INC and could muster an unprecedented
majority in the assembly reiterated
the electoral commitment made during the campaign to the effect of eradicating
the drug menace, loan waiver, taking initiative in the health care and the
education sectors.
The Samajwadi
Party which was in power at the time of Uttar Pradesh elections was reduced to
a minor force in the assembly with just 47 seats. The other major political outfit the BSP
could make 19 of its candidates to the Uttar Pradesh legislature. The election in UP was turned out to be a one
sided affair though through the campaign period it gave a picture of tough
triangular fight. The BJP after the election selected Yogi Adityanath for the
post of Chief Minister and Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma as Dy. Chief
Ministers.
The Harish Rawat
led INC was routed out in Uttarakhand in the assembly elections. Of the 70 seats BJP won 57 having a 3/4th majority.
Even before the election, Congress had been reduced to a warring house
with dissentions and disruptions within the party. Throughout the campaign it was clear that the ruling
party would be defeated. However the
final verdict was something unprecedented.
The only redeeming feature for the Congress is, it has more or less
retained its vote share of 33.79 percent against 34.4 percent in 2014.
Himachal Pradesh
has, since 1985, seen change of government in every five years. Accordingly, BJP and its allies were to win
in Himachal Pradesh and the Virbhadra Singh government of Congress to go
out. The election verdict in 2017 was a
clean sweep in favour of BJP. The won 44
seats and captured power. Congress’s tally
was 21, the CPI(M) which fielded 13 candidates won the single seat from the Theog
constituency when its candidate Rakesh Singha was declared elected. The dissention in BJP which was cause of
their defeat in 2012 when the Himachal Lokhit party was formed could be
successfully healed by the party leadership.
The HLP was merged with BJP before the elections itself. While the Congress retained its vote share as
it was in 2012, BJP increased it with 10 points. Even though the BJP swept to power it lost
its Chief Ministerial candidate Prem
Kumar Dhumal so also the fate of the BJPs State President Satpal Singh Sati.
In a keenly
contested election in Gujarat which spread over a period of two phases, BJP
scraped through and retained power in Gujarat.
Of the 182 seat assembly, BJP could win 99 seats obtaining a slender
majority of 7 seats. Unexpectedly, the
Congress performance in the election is considered spectacular by many. In most of the constituencies where the
Congress lost was with a thin margin. Their performance was considered as the
best since 1985. The Saurashtra Kutch
region was responsible for the higher Congress tally. Of the 56 seats in the region Congress won in
32. The two young campaigners in the
Gujarat election stood out prominently.
They were Jignesh Mewani and Hardik Patel. The Hardik Patel launched agitation years
back for the reservation of the Patel community in employment and the way the
Gujarat government quelled the upsurgence played a vital role in the
elections. However, the agitation did
not polarise the community in as much as quite a number belonging to Patel
community especially in urban areas voted for BJP. Though the Congress is defeated it is now
seen as a serious electoral force in Gujarat with a potential of a strong
opposition party in the assembly.
Presidential
Election 2017
As the term of office
of the President of India was to expire on 24th July 2017, the country had to go in for the
Presidential Election. The NDA and particularly the BJP surprised the
opposition by selecting Shri Ram Nath Kovind the then Governor of Bihar for the
highest executive post in the country. The
selection of a Dalit candidate by the BJP at the time when the opposition
allegation of intensified communalism was gathering momentum had its
impact. The opposition had to field a
dalit candidate and they found Ms. Meera Kumar, daughter of the charismatic
dalit leader of the country, Jagjeevan Ram to that position. The opposition parties barring the JDU led by
Nitish Kumar joined together and campaigned for Ms. Meera Kumar. In her election campaign which started from Sabarmati,
she urged the voters to listen to their inner voice of conscious because in her
opinion the Presidential Election was a battle of ideologies. The
decision of Nitish Kumar to switch over the side to support Mr. Kovind was by many in the opposition as the art of chicanery at its best as he had
been an active participant in the opposition conclave whose assigned
responsibility was to select a an apt candidate for the post. Despite the repeated plea by Lalu Prasad
Yadav that in an ideological battle personal choice should not play a decisive
factor, was disregarded by Nitish Kumar.
The statement made by Ram Nath Kovind as a spokesperson of the BJP
earlier in 2010 was used by the opposition to characterise him as a non-secular
rabid hindu politician. He had said as
a comment to the Ranganath Misra Commission report that Islam and Christianity
are alien to the idea of India. It was
said by many political observers in the country that the joining together of
RJD, Samajwadi Party, TNC, the Left Parties and the Congress on the same stage
for this election need not necessarily be the scenario during the ensuing Lok
Sabha elections in 2019 as factors operating at the time of general elections
are totally different. As expected Ram
Nath Kovind won the Presidential elections handsomely defeating the combined
opposition candidate, Ms. Meirakumar.
Intolerance
at its worst
The
gruesome, premeditated shooting of Gauri Lankesh, Narendra Dabholkar, Govind
Pansare and MM Kalburgi raises worrying questions about the growing intolerance
to independent voices. The intolerance towards dissent has been on the rise
since the last 3 years. The fringe groups started to intervene on the issue of
beef eating and also on issue of culture and on anything on which they had a
differing view. The killing of Com. Govind Pansare who championed the cause of
the oppressed and the marginalised and the murder of MM Kalburgi, an erudite
and prolific writer, progressive thinker and anti-superstition activist point
to a diabolic attempt to silence the voice of dissent. Com. Narendra Dabholkar
who was a progressive social activist was also shot dead similarly. The killing
of Gauri Lankesh was the latest in a series of murder of prominent activists
who fought against rising tide of religious fundamentalism. Gauri Lankesh
through her tabloid “Gauri Lankesh Patrika” took on the communal forces and
battled for the rights of Dalits, farmers and minorities. It is indeed
disturbing to see that most of the time the attack was on the progressive
activists or the improvised and marginalised communities like Dalits and
minorities. The cow vigilantes who took the law in their hands in various
states to attack the minority community in the name of alleged killing or
eating beef created an air of fear among those sections. To create majority
community hegemony in the social, cultural and political space of the country a
climate of intense intolerance is being developed across the country. The
killing of Mohammed Akhlaq in the village of Dadri on a trumped up propaganda
that his family has indulged in caw slaughter and stored the beef in their
house was a case in point. The mob invaded his house and lynched him. Later it
was revealed on forensic examination that was not beef but was mutton. Numerous
such attacks have taken place across the country on Muslims and Dalits by such
fringe groups. Anyone who questions any aspect whether in the intellectual or
artistic sphere or whether of food habits and life style are targeted,
persecuted and even murdered. Whether it is MM Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar,
Govind Pansare or Gauri Lankesh or Mohamed Akhlaq – all killed by gun totting
criminals or lynch-mobs – are victims of the growing culture of intolerance in
our country. In all these cases, the justice still alludes. The Govt. drags its
feet. More than three dozen writers, poets and artists have returned their
Sahitya Academy awards as a symbolic protest against the killings. Some 50
historians in a signed statement wrote that “difference of opinion are being sought
to be settled by using physical violence. Arguments are met not with counter
arguments but with bullets. When a poor man is suspected to have kept a food
item that certain sections do not approve of, his fate is nothing short of
death by lynching....”
The
Cattle Protection Enactment 2017
Ever since the NDA Government came into power,
cow protection had been a vociferous cry of the fringe elements. It was not for the sake of protecting a
domesticated animal “cow” from the human cruelty that the cacophony was raised.
It was more in the name of religion as cow is considered as a sacred
animal. There had been many instances of
people being lynched in the name of cow protection. It therefore raised a huge hue and cry when
the Union Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change notified the
prevention of cruelty to animals (The regulation of Livestock Market Rules
2017) under the patent act the prevention of cruelty to animal act 1916 which
banned the sale of animals in any market for the purpose other than
agriculture. It was reported by many
journalists that study of the rules revealed that the notification had been
designed not with the intent of preventing cruelty to animals but with the
objective of harassing people involved in the meat trade and by implication,
members of the Muslim committee. It was
considered a political expediency by the opposition political parties in the
background that India had the largest livestock population in the world and
where crores of people depend on livestock products.
Student
Unrest
Some
of the other significant issues that rocked the Indian political scene during
the period under report was the agitation of the students of Jawaharlal Nehru
University in Delhi, the Hyderabad Central University and the Aligarh Muslim
University. The suicide of Rohit Vemula
in Hyderabad Central University on the alleged discrimination of the Dalit
students triggered a wave of indignation and agitation amongst the student
community throughout the country. The
incidents at JNU involving the arrest and detention of the then President of
the JNU student’s leader Kanhaiya Kumar on the allegation of shouting
anti-national slogans created a storm of unrest. In the case of AMU the controversy has arisen
of the status of the University as the Government of India contrary to its
earlier stand at the Allahabad High Court informed the Supreme Court through
its Attorney General Shri Mukul Rohtagi that (it is the stand of the Union of
India that AMU is not a minority university) as the executive government at the
centre, we cannot be seen as setting up a minority institution in a secular
state. The attack by the professional lawyers of Delhi High Court when the
students were presented in the court was considered by the media to be the darkest
possible event that could take place in the premises of the judiciary.
Farmers
Distress
Ever
since the new economic policies were ushered in the farmers and farming
community as a whole was facing challenge to their life and living. There had been a concerted effort on the part
of the Government to suppress the commodity prices in the market whereas it
consistently and continuously saw to it that the subsidies on various items in
the farm sector are withdrawn. Be it of
the agricultural implements, seeds, fertilizers, pesticides name anything
connected with the farming, prices were allowed to be zoomed. While the cost of production of agriculture
produces went on increasing the output prices went on decreasing. The demand for a remunerative price mechanism
for the farming community went into the deaf ears. As per the statistical information provided
it is reported that more than 300000 farmers in the country had committed
suicide being unable to repay the loans they had contracted for various purposes. When the banks were nationalised one of the
primary objective was to ensure that the agricultural sector is provided with
loans at reasonable rate of interest. It
was decided that 41 % of the total bank loans should go to the agricultural sector. The liberalisation and the financial sector
reforms compelled the commercial banks to ignore this stipulation. More than 80 percent of the NPAs in the banks
today are clearly due to the fact that the big corporate and industrial houses
refuses to pay back the debt and either the government and the banks were
unwilling to start the recovery proceedings.
While several enactments to bail in and bail out are made to assist the
big corporate defaulters, nothing tangible is being done to distress of the
farmers caused by the fall in the prices.
The severe agitations and programs that have been undertaken by the
farming community throughout India in the last two years are indicative of the
growing discontent and resentment. One
such serious action took place on 6th of June
2017 at Pipliya Mandi near Mandsaur in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh. The distressed farmers had called for a ten
day agitation to commence from 1st of
June. The agitation had been planned to
draw the attention of the government to the plight of the farmers who had abundant
crops but low returns. Thousands of the
farmers gathered at the Mandi. The
agitation spread to Indore, Devas, Shahjapur, Shevore, Bhopal and many other
places in the State of Madhya Pradesh.
The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh unfortunately took some of the
activists of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh and announced the calling of the
agitation. Irritated by the
pronouncement the angry farmers blocked the National Highway, forced closure of
the markets and clashed with the police.
In the confrontation that ensued thereafter the police had to resort to
fire killing six farmers. Though
compensation was announced by the Government the agitation could not be
controlled. More firing and more killing
ensued. Most of the farmers belonged to
the Patidar and Dhakad community in Madhya Pradesh. The Mandsaur violence could have been
avoided had there been a realistic assessment of the situation by the
government. If the distress hitherto
have been driven them to commit suicide it is now turning into the form of
agitations sometimes even violent agitations too. There had been a great mobilisation of the
Kisan Agricultural Workers, their family members, in Delhi against the growing
impoverisation of the farmers and the farming community. They rightly point out that their standard of
living has gone down immeasurably. The
number of suicides that is reported is actually one the tip of the ice berg as
in many cases the cause of the death is often shown in the police and official
records as normal illness.
Aadhar
Invasion
Aadhar
conceived as a unique identification card containing biometric information was
meant to effect efficient delivery of benefits and services. The extension of the utility of this unique
identity card was questioned before the Supreme Court on the pretext that such
usage will violate the privacy which is guaranteed to every citizen of the
country. Presently, the government has
virtually made it mandatory for everything thing in the country. This obviously negated the right to privacy
guaranteed by the Indian Constitution.
The datas from the Aadhar cards are possibly transportable to be private
hands and need not necessarily be with the government. It is argued that the State cannot enact a
law or create a situation by which its very design and operation will place the
State in an extremely dominant position in relation to every citizen. Constitutional limitations are such that the
government cannot engage in surveillance of citizens even when, each of the
citizen volunteers subject to surveillance.
While collecting the biometric the government acts as a trustee at every
stage, the roll of a trustee must be exercised by the state or the organs of
the state alone and cannot under any circumstances be delegated to private
parties operating without any government supervision. This crucial contention is now before the
Supreme Court and the same has been referred now to a constitutional
bench. In the meantime this government
has been extending the linkage of Aadhar to too many usages.
Jammu
& Kashmir
In
the general assembly elections in J&K held in December 2014 the PDP became
the largest party having however no majority to independently rule. It formed an alliance with the BJP which is
supposed to have a diametrically opposite political ideology to rule that
state. Mehbooba Mufti became the Chief
Minister of Kashmir. The unrest continued unabated. There had been very few in the State who will
support the Army action and the Pak infiltrators added fuel to the fire. The Government was ultimately toppled, when
BJP decided to withdraw support to PDP and the President’s rule was
promulgated
It was a radical “transformation”
that the honourable Home Minister of our Country Shri Amit Shaw wanted to bring
about on August, 5, 2019, when he moved the resolutions to abrogate the special status enjoyed by the
Kashmiris and revoke Artcle 370 and 35A
of the Constitution, in his own words.
The unprecedented security measures undertaken both before and after the moving of those
resolutions, which transformed the State of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union
Territories (in future perhaps three
entities) including the arrest of the mainstream political leaders of Kashmir,
imposing curfews for days together blocking the movement of people; the termination of all communication
facilities and deployment of Army and
other security personnel in large
numbers created an impression that we have declared war on that State. The landslide victory at the recently
concluded Parliamentary elections, the NDA could derive under the leadership of
their Prime Minister no doubt emboldened BJP to take this bold but disastrous
step, which that Party had been campaigning all along right from its
inception. The One Nation-one tax; the
one Nation-one language, the One Nation-one culture ideology is incapable of
tolerating the One Nation-two flags situation.
That had been amply manifested in the moving of the two resolutions in
the Parliament. Article 370 had been
amended on various occasions resulting
the so called autonomy guaranteed by the provisions of Article 370, when it was incorporated in the Constitution
having been eroded to become a complete hollow today. It is only Article 35-A which guarantees
protection for Kashmiris in losing their lands that could now be attacked with
any sense. And that it what was done by
the abrogation.
The autonomy to the State was a
solemn assurance, promise made by India to Kashmiris at the time of
accession. The modifications of Article
370 without causing consultation with the genuine leaders or representatives of
the Kashmiri people had been the root cause of unrest in the valley . The alienation provided ample opportunities
for Pakistan to infiltrate and influence the Kashmiri Youth to take an
anti-Indian posture.
BJP had been part of the ruling
coalition along with PDP when in the last Assembly election, none could must
majority in the State Assembly. They
ruled the state under the PDP leadership
They withdrew support to PDP and the Government lost majority in the
Assembly and along with the right to rule.
The Centre imposed President’s rule and their nominee took over the
reins of administration of the State as Governor. It is that Governor, who cannot be under any
stretch of imagination could be taken as the leader or representative of the
Kashmiri people, who gave the consent to move the abrogation resolution. The matter including its constitutionality is agitated at the Supreme Court. It may be years, as things stand today, to receive a verdict from the Supreme
Court. By the time, the verdict comes,
lot of water would have flown down in Ganges.
If modification of Article 370 had been the cause of unrest in Kashmir
valley, the transformation now made by
the Government is certain to bring more lasting damage.
Kerala
floods:
Kerala had been suffering from a
lack of rainfall in the decade. The torrential rain seldom visited the State
except for a day or two in the monsoon seasons. It had been a below average
rain fall for many years and in 2017, it was a draught like situation in the
months of March to May.
The torrential rain revisited
Kerala in 2018, the fury of which had never been experienced by the present
generation. The heavy rain that lashed Kerala in mid August, a rare phenomenon
earlier, brought devastation of an unprecedented level. It was reported by the
metrological department that Kerala had received 164% above normal rainfall
between August 1-20, 2018 . For the first time in the history of the dams( all dams big or small numbering about
45) had to be open as the reservoir
began to overflow. The Mullaperiyar dam which is controlled by Tamilnadu Govt.
had also to open its shutters as the water flown was beyond its capacity. The
rivers began to overflow, some amongst them changing its course. The flood
water reached even to the traditional safe places. Heavy landslides happened in
mountains destroying all that were in its downward journey. While the people
who had their houses on hills and mountains suffered due the landslide and
discharge of water from the dams those in the plans, who had built their houses
in the erstwhile paddy field and river beds had to suffer the fury of flood
water in the rivers. The change of course of these rivers and the unprecedented
rainfall which prevented its quick
disposal to the sea took care of the other inhabitants of Kerala. The
continuous rainfall caused the destruction of all communication links,
transportation through land (Bus and rail) and air. The Kochi Airport had to be closed down for
days. Almost everybody In Kerala became the victim of the deluge for which
there had been no precedence in the history.
The
rescue operations undertaken by the Govt. of Kerala was the most praiseworthy
and received the appreciation from all over the World. The Chief Minister
cancelled his foreign trip planned for treatment and remained in the forefront
of the operation. He elicited the entire people’s support to face the disaster.
He appealed all political parties in the State to come together and jointly
organize rescue operation. The entire Kerala stood as one entirety to bring
about relief and arrange rescue operations. The innumerable number of
volunteers from all walks of life involved themselves in the operation. The
fishermen community of Kerala received the greatest approbation from all for
their selfless service during the rescue operation. They came with their boats
at their own cost to rescue the people
who were trapped in the flood water. As R. Krishana Kumar has narrated in the
frontline “As Voluntary Agencies, neighborhood clubs, Health workers, social
media groups, youth organizations, students and media organizations joined
hands, Kerala could bridle what would have been a calamity of unimaginable
proportion within the shortestpossible time.” There had been very many stories of bravery,
selflessness, heroism and compassion.
The
role of the armed forces of the country who were put in service by the Central
Govt. was examplary and they received the adulation from the entire people of
Kerala.
It is
reported that more than 370 people lost
their lives in this great natural calamity. But about 12.5 lakh people were
rescued from the Jaws of death as they were kept in rehabilitation camps
numbering more than 5000 in different parts of Kerala. The Govt. is
struggling to provide the rescued people
permanent relief, to help them to
rebuild their houses, reacquire the
goods they lost in the floods. As the flood were unprecedented, so had been the
help rendered both financially and otherwise by the people. From organizations
throughout the country, the Kerala Govt. has received donations. The Govt. of
India provided a 600 crore immediate relief to Kerala to tide over the differences.
While
the rebuilding of Kerala was undertaken by the State eliciting continued help
from all, the 2019 rains again in August was equally devastating. The 2019
rains brought in its course disaster to the whole of the State, northern
districts of Kerala. The landslide took away the lives of more than 60 people
in Malappuram district alone. As was in August 2018, the rainfalls in August
2019 was also very heavy.
The
great deluge that happened in Kerala point out to the danger emanating from not
regarding the ecosystem with the
importance it requires.
The
damage, such as destruction of forest for the construction of resorts was never
even a talking point at the beginning. While the mountains were devastated by
the flood of cultivation of spices of this paddy fields were taken over to
construct dwelling places. Paddy cultivation over the years, say, by the latter
of 20th century became a losing proposition in Kerala
as the cost of production was increasing. The green revolution that brought
about the self-sufficiency in food for the country however did not visit
Kerala. It so happened for Keralites, the importing rice from other states
became economical than indulging in its production. Though the land reforms
gave a boost to cultivation at the beginning but by the second half of the 20th Century it no more remained an attractive proposition.
The
report submitted by the Western Ghats Ecology Experts panel headed by Madhav
Gadgil needs urgent consideration and implementation of the steps indicated by
the penal without further loss of time. It should not continue to allow to
gather dust. To a great extent the floods and rain in Kerala cannot be
attributed to the nature alone. The people of Kerala have in pursuit of
urbanization and profit have inflicted irreparable damages to its ecosystem.
The State has to promulgate a land use plan and bring out a scheme so that the
aspiration of the people to own a house is met. Only when it is green and
infested with thick forest over the western Ghats, rivers and rivulets in the
plains making the sound of unheard music, it can really be called the God’s own
Country.
Karnataka
Assembly Elections
It
was a hectic campaign unleashed by the three contenders in Karnataka in the
elections slated for 12th May for the 224 members
Assembly i.e. Indian National Congress, Bharathiya Janata Party and Janata Dal
( Secular ). The election results which was declared on 15th May,2018, was of a fractured verdict. BJP won 104 seats, congress 78 and the Janata
Dal 37 seats. Other who garnered the rest of this seats were BSP, Karanataka
Pragnyavantha Janatha Party and Independents one each (2 seats no election).
Governor invited BJP to form the Government. The Congress and Janata Dal
(Secular) formed a quick post poll alliance and stated their claim.
B.S.Yediyurappa was sworn in as the Chief Minister on 17th May,2018. The Congress-Janata Dal combination
approached the Court against the Governor’s decision. The BJP’s poaching
efforts were thwarted by the combine effectively. The Supreme Court asked
Yediyurappa of BJP to prove his majority within 24 hours. Having failed to do
so, he had to resign just after 56 hours remaining as Chief Minister. The
Congress offered support to Kumaraswamy of Janata Dal( Secular ) to form the
Government. The Kumarswamy Government lasted only 13 months. The BJP’s poaching
venture ultimately gave results. 15 MLAs (12 from Congress and 3 from Janata
Dal (s) became the willing targets. They were taken to Mumbai and were kept in
a Hotel. BJP could successfully defeat the coalition, which have been formed as
a product of necessity to acquire power. BJP and its chicanery triumphed.
At one point of time in the past
and on many occasions later BJP had been talking of high moral values in
politics. The triumph through deceit and chicanery to seize political power in
Karnataka demonstrates its hollowness.
Rohingya
Refugees
In
a brutal attack the Burmese army outrooted more than 7 lacs rohingyas from
their home land in the northern Rakhye
State of Myanmar. They are the stateless minority people living in this region
for years., The Myanmar security forces have treated them terrorists, a word which gives licences
to any Sovereign Governments to act like barbarians. An estimated 4 lacs people
have gone to Bangaladesh as refugees. They are accommodated in make shift camps
at Cox’s Bazaar by the Bangaladesh Government.
Repeated attempts by Bangladesh
Government with the United Nations Secretary General to bring international
pressure on Myanmar has not borne fruit except that the Myanmar Government has
promised to take back after verification of their antecedents in a phased manner,
which if implemented would take atleast a decade to send back the people in
Bangladesh Camps.
The Myanmar Government has
already started construction of military settlements in the area vacated by the
Rohingyas. It appears that Myanmar Government has no intention to take them back. United Nations
with all the great number of resolutions on human rights appears to have no
real power to prevent the abuse and misuse of State power against the poor people.
The
Rafeal Deal
Deals
in defence equipments had been the source of illegitimate income for the Indian
Rulers. It had two distinct advantages.
The first was that the entire deal could be shrouded in secrecy and allegations
of corruption could be easily defended in the name of national security, safety and interest.
The allegation of receipt of commission had rocked in the Bofors case. The
Indian National Congress could succeed in delaying the process of investigation
and could erase it from the public domain. After Bofors, to ensure that such
corrupt practice should not reoccur an
elaborate Defence procurement procedure was evolved and notified.
BJP which came to power in 2014
promising a corruption free Government has received a jolt when the inexplicable position of Rafael deal came to
light. The serious charge of not adhering to the Dedence procurement procedure
has been levelled against and no reasonable response was provided by the Government. As per the notified
procedure neither the political
authority, nor the bureaucratic set up in the Government has been given any
independent power to take decision on defence deals. Therefore, it is alleged
that the Prime Minister’s announcement on Rafeal deal was clearly in violation
of the set procedure. This apart, the decision to enhance the price of the
aircraft exorbitantly annulling the earlier agreement of the UPA Government
unilaterally without assigning any reason whatsoever ; choosing Reliance
Defence Limited, a Company of Anil Ambani in replacement of HAL, the Public
Sector enterprise are serious
allegations raised without having any straight reply or explanation. This has
put the Government in an extremely bad light and the allegation of corruption
and corrupt practice has stuck. The price negotiated earlier was Rs.650/750 Crore which has been revised
to 1666 crores.
On 11th September,2018, Advocate Prashant Bhushan,
Shri Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shoury,
former Minister of NDA Government,
explained before the media as to how the deal compromised the national
security by-passing the established procedure. They termed the deal as the largest defence scam that the county
had seen.. They alleged that the Prime Minister was guilty of criminal
misconduct as defined in the prevention of Corruption Act. In the wake of this
allegation Anil Ambani is reported to have made an attempt to gag the press by
issuing notice to the Hindu and news
click editors Mukund Padmababhan and Prabhir Purkayarta. Notice was also served
on journalist Navalkha. Shri Navlakha
was later arrested by Pune Police under the stringent unlawful activities (
Prevention ) Act. Notices were also served on many Congress leaders asking them
to avoid, cease and desist from making “false and defamatory statements.”
The
Charge of Seduction
Section 124 A of the Indian
Penal Code came into prominence once again when the Delhi Police filed a 1200
page charge sheet against 10 Jawaharlal Nehru University students on 15-01-2019
for merely raising or supporting slogans, which are seemingly “Anti- national at a gathering at the
University campus on 02-02-2016. Many
cases have been filed by the Police of various states against politicians,
Journalist, Novelists, film makers and film characters, bureaucrats and others
from various walks of life. The number of such cases and persons proceeded against
is reported to have increased during NDA rule
Strangely this includes a caseagainst minor
boys for dancing to the tune between 2014 and 2019.
Strangely this includes a case against minor boys for dancing to the tune of a music, which had its lyrics,
critical of the Indian State. In a paper
submitted last year, the Law Commission of the Country had observed inter-alia
as under :
Expressing a thought that is not
in consonance with the policy of the Government
of the day, a person can not be charged under this Section. If the country is not
open to criticism, there lies little difference between pre and post independence
eras. Right to criticise one’s own
history and the right to offend are rights protected under free speech. Section
124 A was enacted by the British Government in the colonial period. So long as
it remained in the statute, the Courts are to take cognizance thereof. What is
required is an amendment , whereby dissent is tolerated and disaffection
redefined and sedition unambiguously defined.
During the debate in the
Parliament on the first amendment of the constitution, Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru
spoke against this section in the following words :
“So far as I am concerned that
particular section (124 A) is highly objectionable and obnoxious and it should
have no place both for practical and historical reasons, if you like, in any
body of laws that we might pass. The sooner we get rid of it, the better. We
might deal with that matter in other ways, in more limited ways, as every other
country does but that particular thing, as it is, should have no place, because
all of us have had enough experience of it in a variety of ways and apart from
the logic of the situation our urges are against it.”
Unfortunately
the political class in our country vehementally opposes the provision when they
are not in power and uses it to subjugate all who are opposed to that when they
get the State power.
Pulwama
and Balakot strikes
The most important event that
must merit mention in this report is the Pulwama Surgical attack by Kashmir
Militants on a convoy of the central Reserve police forces, killing 40 Jawans.
It received the greatest condonation
from the Indian people and loud demand for retaliation, for which the Govt.
responded with the Balakot attack. The tragedy it has struck was no doubt
severe. The CRPF or the Indian army had not suffered such devastating tragedy
before in Kashmir. It was the deadliest attack but carried out single handedly
by the 19 year old home grown jihadist, Abdule Ahamed Dar from Gurudibagh
village of south Kashmir. In his death he has risen himself to the most adorned Kashmir amongst
the Kashmiri youth. That is equally a tragedy for Kashmiri people as the
response and counter response will continue unabated for many more years to
come. The situation will become dangerous for the country as the local born
Jehadi terrorist will out number the Pakistani Military who had crossed over
the border with the sole intention of brewing unrest and catastrophe in Kashmir
valley. It has been reported by quite a number of security personnel posted to
Kashmir that of late the local born Kashmiri youths are in good number amongst
those picking up stones or guns to
attack Indian security forces . The emotional response to the dastardly attack
which was impulsive at the beginning in the form of Candle light procession
etc. turned into an undesirable call to
attack all Kashmiris The Kashmiri students in very many
universities of India, who were admitted to those institutions through the
benefit of the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship programme were attacked.
There had been great many number of causalities the Indian Army, BSF and CRPF
suffered in Kashmir especially in the past a decade. The operation all out
which was introduced in January,2017 to
contain the militancy in Kashmir Valley by the Government of India, sadly has
resulted in the growth of local kashmiri youth militancy. The Pakistani induced
infiltrators are happy of the fact that they now need only to provide training
not to be in the front runners in the terrorist attacks. The growing militancy
in Kashmir visible through the
increasing number of killings of
militants ( 113 in 2014, to 240 in 2018 pertaining to the Indian Jawan’s martyroom)
may be of the same curve has to be addressed through political
response. What Kofi Annan, the former Secretary General, UN spoke in 2003 in a
different context of containing terrorism is worth quoting. He said that “if we
are to fight terrorism effectively and avoid mistakes in doing so, we need more
debate, not less, regarding policy responses.
National
citizenship Register –Assam
Assam has the unique distinction of having the national citizenship register.
Ever since Assam became a colony of the British India, it has received
immigrants from various parts of the country ( British India )
predominantly from East Bengal due to
its geographical proximity. The large scale immigration had threatened the
Assamee culture and more so the Assame language. Over the years the Assamee
speaking people became lesser and lesser than the people who spoke other Indian
languages. In 2001 census indicated in its language date that only 48.85
of Assamee polulation speak Assammee
whereas the corresponding figure for 1991 was 57.81 %. The Bengali speaking
population for the same period was increased from 21.67 % to 27.54 %.
The continuing inflex of
refugees or migrants to Assam disturbing and threatening its culture trigged an
agitation initially started by students but
later spread to all sections of Assam population. The agitation
which took a virulent form lasted for 6 years. The Assam accord was signed on
15th August 1985. In was agreed to identify the
migrants who have entered after 01-01-1971. Indian Citizenship Act was amended.
The efforts to identify the immigrants legally entered or otherwise or as refugees, was to be done through updating
the Citizenship Register.
The task though undertaken could
not be completed for years together. The Government agencies come almost to the
conclusion that it was an impossible task.
The matter was agitated through
writ petitions before the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court vide its order in
the year 2013 directed the updating of the Register and issued detailed guidelines. The final NRC has
been published on 31-08-2019. The final list has left out as ineligible
19,06,657 persons. They are to appeal to the
Foreigners Tribunal and will have to be ultimately detained in detention
camps
The publication of the first
draft list and exclusion of 1.9 crores people brought about unrest of a very
high order. The BJP has brought to the
fore the idea of amendment of citizenship Act, whereby all immigrants other
than Muslims would be granted citizenship. The basis of segregation has to be shifted from language
to religion, This was opposed by all other parties. The victory of BJP in Assam
both at the Assembly and Parliament election goes to show that the idea of segregating the
Assam population in religions lines is gathering support and momentum.
It
may not therefore be out of place to say that the four year period between 2015 and 2019 was
politically and socially tumultuous,
disturbing the fabric of unity and amity to a great extent by actions
sometimes unmeant, sometimes accidental and sometimes intentional - whatever
may be the cause, it needs to be addressed in order to strengthen the unity of
the people and for building a strong and vibrant nation which can carve the
path of development in a stable and peaceful atmosphere.
Work report
3rd Triennial Conference of NCCPA
The 3rdTriennial
conference of NCCPA was held at Kolkata on 6-7th November, 2015. We are meeting after exactly four
years. The constitutional provision of 3 years could not be adhered to. There
were various reasons but the prominent among them was finance. The 3rdconference
had the presence and blessings of many great leaders of Trade union movement.
Besides it was inaugurated by former Finance Minister of West Bengal Shri Ashim
Das Gupta (report of the conference including the list of office bearers
elected is enclosed-( Annexure 1)
It
was Com. S.K.Vyas, who took the initiative to form NCCPA. It had been his dream
that there must be a platform to project and seek settlement of the problems
and issues of pensioners, which are of
common and general in nature. With his vast contacts among the retired
personnel of Central Government, the NCCPA was to emerge on an all-encompassing platform. The setting up of
7th CPC and the urge to submit a common memorandum
on behalf of the pensioner’s community added as a catalyst to this venture.
The
convention, convened at Chennai for this purpose was a huge success and was a
really great brain storming session. The
draft he placed at this convention was appreciated by one and all. Though the
house wanted various other demands to be included in the memorandum, Com. Vyas pointed out to the house that the
memorandum must focus only on certain important issues which if conceded will
bring benefit for larger number of persons.
The memorandum was ultimately finalised with a few modifications. Com. Vyas
passed away before he could see the outcome of his efforts. The 7th CPC, as was we are all aware, had conceded the
demand for parity between the old and
new pensioners. We must record our gratitude and appreciation to this great
comrade, who led the Central Government employees for more than 4 decades. The
large number of persons especially, those retired prior to 2006 owe a great
debt of gratitude to Com. S.K.Vyas. NCCPA was to say literally got orphaned due
to his demise. It is difficult to
visualise a meeting, far less the
conference without his presence. But as is the nature the world will have to
move on. In the 4 years that had gone by, there had been not a single day, one
or other of us would not have remembered or talked of him. We submit this
report, with a fervent appeal to all of
you not to make a comparison of the past with the work of the 4 years. We have no hesitation to admit that we have
not been able to acquit ourselves creditably but we have made strenuous attempts. Though we had been able to obtain a
PAN No., the formalities of registration have gone into rough weather. We
require certain amendments to the byelaws
which only a Conference/ General body
is entitled to make. We have proposed those elsewhere. We have ensured
that our journal is published regularly. There is not a single month, when we
have missed out in spite of the insurmountable financial difficulties. The
conference also will have to address the financial aspect, for which separate
proposal has been made. With this brief
preface, we give you an account of our activities during the last four
year period.
The
National Executive/secretariat meetings
During
the period under report the National Secretariat of NCCPA met on four occasions viz. 8th December, 2015, 8th February, 2016, 27th June, 2016 and 16th March, 2019. The National Executive met on 19th August, 2017 at Nagpur and on 5th August, 2018 at Chennai. Briefly, we give the
crux of deliberations:
8.12.2015
The
meeting mainly discusses the 7th Pay
recommendations concerning pensioners. Com. S.
S Roy working President presided over the meeting. The meeting decided
the issue to be taken up with the Government for improvement, alteration,
amendments of the 7th CPC recommendations.
II.
other decisions:
Maintenance
of website-by Com. K. Raghavendran; opening a joint account in the name of
Treasurer and Secretary General, at
Delhi or at a a place, where the
treasurer could operate the same; publishing journal from Kolkatta by Com. Pavitra
Chakroborty . He was authorised to open a bank account in the joint
names with the Asst. Treasurer at Kolkata.
III.
suggestions/comments on NCCPA constitution to be elicited.
IV.
The NCCPA will carry out the call of NJCA
8.02.2016
1.
Discussion on decisions taken at the conference at Kolkatta
2. To
give importance on the following issues:
(a) Parity
(b)
modifications to option No.1
(c)
full pension for those completed 20 years of service
(d)
to raise the Fixed Medical allowance to Rs.2,000 pm.
3.
Enlisting Railway Pensioners Association with NCCPA
4.
Finance
5.
Postal Registration to the journal
27.06.2016
Decisions:
1.
Organize Dharna in pursuance of Charter of demands at all state capitals.
2. To extend solidarity and support to the
working employees whenever they are
to organise strike.
3. To
organise a National Convention at Delhi against NPS
4. To publish list of affiliates who are in
arrears.
5. To
widen the subscriber base of the journal
6. To
talk BPCC office bearers for holding General Body meeting.
NE
Meeting on 19.08.2017
The
first NE meeting of NCCPA in the period under report was held at Nagpur on
19.08.2017. The Secy.Genl. could not attend the meeting due to his ill health.
Decisions
There
must be option No. 1
The
fixation of pension as per the new formulation
of the Govt. has to be based upon the post or cadre and not pay
scale.The P & T Pensioners may not be asked to pay the lump sum at 7CPC rates. Other departmental employees must
be admitted to CGHS like those in
U.T.The health related recommendations of 7th CPC may be expeditiously implemented.FMA to be
increased to Rs.2,000 Timely implementation of orders. Commutation period to be
reduced. Grant of additional pension on attaining the age of 80 and above.
National secretariat to chalk out appropriate agitational programmes.
Other
issues that were discussed were steps to strengthening the organisation,
Keeping contact with other Pensioners Associations, solidarity support etc.
Resolution adopted at the National Executive meeting over the 7th CPC
issues is as under :
RESOLUTION
ADOPTED BY THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE OF NCCPA HELD AT NAGPUR ON 19.08.2017 ON SOME
BASIC ISSUES OF CG PENSIONERS AFTER THE IMPLEMENTEATION OF 7th CPC RECOMMENDATIONS:
The
National Executive of the National Coordination Committee had discussed various
aspects of the 7th CPC recommendations and the implementation of
them by the Central Government. The attitude of the Government viz., rejecting
some of the recommendations made like the Option Number 1 of pension fixation
in favour of the pensioners on the grounds of non-feasibility but accepting
many recommendations made by the CPC against the interests of the employees
without any modifications like rejection of many allowances etc is deplorable.
The attitude of the Government is not only retrograde but also time consuming.
The tactics to form committees and delay the matters for several months in
order to tire out the employees and pensioners is condemnable.
The
Central Government has finally rejected Option Number 1 fixation of pension to
Pre-2016 Pensioners after much delay. The recommendation of the Pay Commission
for giving the benefit of number of increments earned by the Pensioner in his
last stage of employment would be more beneficial to a section of Pensioners
than the Option Number 3 offered and implemented by the GO dated 12.05.2017.
There were scores of Government Employees who stagnated for years without any
promotion before their superannuation. This type of stagnation was pronounced
to those sections for whom the MACP system was not extended before 2008. The
Option Number 1 would have been more beneficial to those Pre-2008 retirees. The
Option Number 3 is no doubt an improvement to Option Number 2 of fixation by
applying 2.57 fitment factor; but still the better benefit under Option Number
1 to those Pensioners has been out-rightly rejected by the Pension High Level
Committee and the Government in the name of non-availability of records of
increments for nearly 18% of Pensioners. The stand taken to reject Option
Number 1 despite the arguments of the Staff Side and Pensioners Associations to
convince the authorities that reconstruction of records is not impossible even
for those 18% cases of pensioners is unjust. This National Executive is of the
considered opinion that the rejection of Option Number 1 of pension fixation is
authoritative and unjustified and based on wrong notions and arguments.
Secondly,
the Option Number 3 implemented in lieu of Option Number 1 contains a basic
flaw. The Option Number 3 is nothing but the recommendations of 5th CPC for pension fixation by notionally fixing
the salary in the fitment table of successive pay commissions to the Pre-2016
Pensioners also and finally fixing 50% of the notionally arrived last pay drawn
with reference to the Pay Matrix Table of the 7th CPC. In doing so the important aspect of 5th CPC to fix the salary in the new scale of pay
implemented to the post or cadre in which the pensioner had retired or died is
ignored by the Government. Instead the pension is calculated only on the basis
of the replacement scales. Unless and otherwise the full aspect of 5th CPC recommendation is implemented, the Option
Number 3 formula also is denying the full benefit to many pensioners in whose
cases their cadre or post got any upgraded pay scale through successive pay
commissions. As the Government had agreed to implement OROP to Veteran
Pensioners, similar fitment benefit to Civilian Pensioners also by calculating
notionally in the same pay scale granted to the serving employees would have
rendered justice. This National Executive urges the Government to reconsider
this aspect and issue necessary orders to set right the flaw.
In
nut shell, this National Executive resolves to reiterate its considered opinion
that the Pensioners should be given the choice to opt between the Options 1,
Option 2, and Option 3 with the element of higher pay scales granted to the
cadre or post.
This
National Executive notes with concern that the Government is obstinate in
refusing the fixation benefit of pension in the higher scales of pay
implemented to the post or cadre despite several court cases went in favour of
the Pre-2006 Pensioners. The Pre-2006 Pensioners were denied the benefit of
higher scales of pay given to the serving employees from 1.1.2006 and on
approaching the court of law many pensioners got the benefit implemented w.e.f.
1.1.2006. The Executive notes that based on this fact the Department of Pension
& Pensioners welfare had recommended to Finance Ministry for extending the
benefit to all similarly placed Pre-2006 Pensioners. Unfortunately the
Department of Expenditure had showed adamancy and refused to grant the benefit
even today. It is also unfortunate that when this issue was taken to the PMO
for redressal, the PMO had also taken an unjustified position that since the
Finance Ministry had taken a position it cannot be reversed. This Executive
notes that PMO is the final authority for all issues and the opinion of Department
of Expenditure cannot be supreme against the directions of several courts of
the land. This National Executive resolves to urge upon the Government to come
down from the adamant position and extend the benefit of fixation of pension to
all Pre-2006 Pensioners based on the upgraded pay scale if any was implemented
to the post or cadre in which the Pre-2006 Pensioner had retired or died.
This
National Executive of NCCPA notes with satisfaction that at last the P&T
Pensioners also are allowed to enter the CGHS system without any discrimination
through the GO dated 19.07.2017. However, we note that since this is a very
belated step taken after two decades of discrimination that prevented many
P&T Pensioners retired between 1998 and 2017 from joining the CGHS on
payment of subscriptions at the prevailing rate at the time of their
retirement. The present order ending the discrimination of the P&T
Pensioners demands them to pay at the post-7th CPC rate of subscriptions. We all know that the
post-7th CPC rates are fixed based on the new higher
pay scales after 7th CPC. Fixing the same
rate of subscription to all Pre-2016 pensioners irrespective of the year of
their retirement is unjustified and exorbitant. This National Executive of
NCCPA resolves to urge upon the Government for necessary reconsideration to
order to fix the rate of subscription commensurate to their year of retirement.
At
the same time this National Executive notes that the Health Ministry’s
objection to P&T Pensioners alone was withdrawn to facilitate inclusion of
willing P&T Pensioners into CGHS while some other smaller departments are
still out of the ambit of CGHS. This discrimination shall go. There shall be no
discrimination for any Pensioner of any department in the matter of joining
CGHS on the untenable plea that a separate Dispensary System is in existence
for that department. In addition the CGHS Directorate General has issued
a recent order on 21st July declaring the CG
Employees and CG Pensioners in Union Territories are not entitled to join CGHS
and those who were erroneously admitted also have to be sent out. This order is
most unjustified and while correcting an injustice the Government is trying to
introduce another injustice to the employees and pensioners of Union
Territories. This Executive urges for immediate withdrawal of 21st July orders also.
There
are many other health related recommendations of the 7th CPC that requires immediate decision by the
Government. The recommendations (1) to merge the existing Postal Dispensaries
with CGHS; (2) to issue Medi-insurance Cards to employees and pensioners to
ensure cashless treatment in authorized private hospitals; (3) to merge various
departmental vise health systems to form one broad medical system for the Government
Employees and Pensioners; and (4) all pensioners also to be made eligible to
medical treatment on par with the serving employees under CS MA Rules 1944,
require positive approval by the Government. The Pensioners are the senior
citizens whose medical requirements are very important at their old age. The
present flaws in the existing medical systems should be removed by accepting
the recommendations of the Pay Commission to end any discrimination between the
serving employees and the Pensioners.
National
Executive Meeting on 5th August, 2018 at Chennai
The
NE net at Chennai at 5.08.2018. The meeting was hosted by AIPRPA, Chennai Unit.
It was a well-attended meeting. The following decisions were taken:
1.To
organise post-card Campaign
2.To
Participate in the 5th Sept. rally at Delhi.
3. To organise Dharna at the following
stations:
(a)
Trivendrum (b) Chennai (c) Hyderabad (d)
Bangalore (e) Kolkatta (f) Jaipur (g) Ambala-Chandigarh (h) Lucknow (i) Bhopal (j) Nagpur (k) Mumbai.
4. In
the month of March, 2019 a fast programme will be organised by NCCPA
5.
The 10 point charter of demands will be popularised.
6. To
file Court cases for option No. 1 and MACP
7. To
hold the next conference at Jaipur
8. To
grant affiliation to :
a.
Pensioners Association of Central Water
Commission
b.
Central Ground Water Board Pensioners Association
c.
Central Leprosy Teaching and Research institute ,Chengelpet
9.
Constitution copy circulated/.
10.CGHS
facilities.
The
meeting adopted the following charter of demands and decided to pursue the same
through agitational programmes.
1.
Implement Option No. 1 as a pension fitment formula as recommended by the
7th CPC and Grant MACP benefit w.e.f 1.01.206 as
per the Supreme Court judgment.
2.
Revise the Pension of BSNL absorbed retirees immediately with 15% fitment,
recommended by the 3rd PRC and approved by the government from 01-01-2017,
delinking the wage revision in BSNL.
3.
Revise pension of Central Autonomous Body pensioners.
4.
(a) Provide notional fixation of pension under Option No. 3 on the basis of the
pay scale/pay level of the cadre or grade from which the pensioner retired. (b)
Provide fixation of pension in the case of all pre 2006 pensioners on the basis
of the grade pay/pay level or pay scale of the post or cadre from which one has
retired as per the judgments of Courts.
5. Extend
the benefit of CS(MA) Rules to all pensioners who are not covered by
CGHS.
6. Increase
the FMA to Rs. 2000 as has been granted to PF Pensioners.
7. Raise
the minimum pension to 60% of the Minimum wage. i.e. Rs. 10,800 p.m
8.
Restore the commutation portion of pension after 10 years.
9. Provide
increased rates of pension on attainment of 70 years onwards.
10.
Scrap the New Contributory pension scheme and restore the defined benefit
pension to all CGEs irrespective of their date of entry into the
Government service.
National
Secretariat Meeting on 16.03.2019
The
National Sectt. met on 16.3.2019 at New Delhi immediately after the programme
of mass fast dharna at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. The meeting took the following decisions.
Decisions.
To
grant affiliation to PNB Pensioners Association. Next conference at Jaipur.
To
collect subscription arrears
To
Pursue Court cases for MACP and option No.1. TUI (Pensioners and retirees) conference at Columbia.
The
Sectt. adopted the following resolution for circulation amongst the members of
NCCPA.
RESOLUTION
ADOPTED BY SECRETARIAT ON GENERAL ELECTIONS
The
National Secretariat of NCCPA, which met at New Delhi on 16th March, 2019 while reviewing its efforts in the
last five years getting the Government to address the issues, concerns,
grievances and demands of Central Govt. Pensioners came to the conclusion that
the nugatory attitude of the Government in power at the Centre was the root
cause of not finding resolution to any of the issues. It was so
disappointing for the entire Pensioner community that the Government chose to
crush their expectation for a decent pension raised by the recommendation of
the 7th Central Pay Commission by rejecting the Option
No. 1 on the specious ground that it was not feasible to be implemented due to
the non availability of records in the case of a minor segment of them. The
recommendation, if accepted, would have brought about the much sought after
parity between the past and present pensioners.
The
meeting noted with dismay and anger that during the five year period, the
NDA under the BJP was in power they had acted contrary to the directive
principles enshrined in the constitution of the country i.e. to provide justice
to the people, social , economic and political. It had continued
with the hated neo-liberal economic policies, the change of which was the
ardent hope of the people when they voted them to power in 2014. The
UPA-2 regime’s adherence to these policies, discarding the welfare scheme
evolved by the successive post independent governments of the country,
which had been the greatest source of sustenance of the poor people; permitting
the unhindered foray of private enterprises in every sphere of economic and
industrial activities; the rampant corruption were the significant
concerns of the Indian multitude in 2014. They expected
a change, a change that will bring about deliverance from abject poverty
and hunger. They were disappointed and are despondent.
The
Central Government employees and pensioners know well how this government took
decisions on the recommendations of the 7th CPC. There had been no negotiation at
all- a complete departure from what had been the practice hitherto. Assurances
held out to force withdrawal of the indefinite strike slated to commence in
July, 2016 was never honoured. Not even once the group of Ministers met
the union representatives, thereafter. The JCM which was set up as a
forum for effecting negotiation with the employees never met even once during
the Modi regime. Even small issues, which has a bearing only over a very
small segment of the employees were not addressed. Only those benefits the
higher echelons in the bureaucracy received consideration and favourable
nod. The employees were dragged to litigation and there had been an
eruption of petitions before the Courts. Contrary to its own directive
not to prefer appeal over the verdicts of the Administrative Tribunals, this
Government had been preferring even writ petitions against the Tribunal’s
orders as a matter of routine, derailing the process of an expeditious justice
delivery system. This attitude resulted in the litigants ( who are often
pensioners or low paid employees) to shell out enormous amounts to
plead their cases before Courts to seek justice. Even after such
procrastinated and inhuman journey, the Government either will not act upon
these judgements or restrict the application of those judgements only to those
who were the petitioners in the court. This has been the gruelling story
of pensioners and employees in the last five years. Never in the history of
wage negotiations the Government especially in the matter of pension had taken
recourse to rejection of a recommendation made by the Pay
Commission. Before the Courts, the Government avers that the
recommendations of the Pay commissions are to be treated as one that has
emanated from an expert body after deliberations of all pros and cons.
The opinion No. 1 was conceived by the Commission to bring in
parity between the past and present pensioners in real terms. It was
rejected on the malicious ground that it was not feasible to implement in
the absence of relevant records. It was admitted unashamedly that the
records were available in 86%of the cases and in the rest of the cases
supplementary evidences could be collected to operationalise Option No
1. It is not difficult to discern the real reason behind such
rejection as the said recommendation was not providing the requisite benefit
for the personnel in organised Group A services, as they are favoured with a
time-bound promotion scheme throughout their service career. The alternate
suggestion made by the Committee headed by the Secretary Pension was to benefit
the very same personnel in Group A services. It was strange that
even the most sensible suggestion put forth by the Staff Side to offer
all the three options to the Pensioners were summarily rejected.
Throughout
the five year reign, this Government had been pursuing crony capitalism.
The decision taken just before the announcement of the elections to hand over the
six Indian Airports to private influential Group of companies is a
befitting example. The country had been going through a continuous
period of crisis, be it in agriculture, farm prices, industry, trade or
employment. Farm income has crashed to its lowest levels
against the poll promise of doubling it; rural wage growth was abysmally poor
at 0.5%, unemployment has risen to the highest peak in the last 45 years as per
CME, whose report has been concealed; the money collected over the sale of
PSU shares had been doubled in the five years; all constitutional
institutions were subjected to attack eroding its autonomy; resurgence of
corruption in defence deals involving crores; indulgence in jingoistic
nationalism to garner votes; to put faith beyond the pale of constitutional law
and above all systematic disruption of the social harmony had been some of the
hall-marks of the present Government in its five year long governance.
The
meeting thus came to the inescapable conclusion that a relook into the
issues concerning the working people and pensioners would become possible
only and only if a change is brought about by replacing the present
people in the governance of the country . The inevitable democratic process for
which the country is committed to, provides an opportunity to its
citizens to make a change every five years. The coming two months will
witness a fierce battle between those who want to retain the power and those
who want to stop them at all costs. The meeting decided to appeal all its
members to strive hard through diligent exercise of
their franchise enlisting the support of all sections of the working class
to bring about a change of Government in the country in the coming elections.
The
state of economy and society
After
the five years of NDA regime
1.
During these five years every area of economic activity has been
opened up for direct foreign investment promoting maximisation of profit
by them
2. Large
scale of privatisation of public assets and handing over prime assets to chosen
foreign and Indian corporates.
3.
Unfettered promotion of crony capitalism as reflected in the Rafale scam,
the granting of rights to privatise domestic airports , India’s first
power sector SEZ to the Adani Group on the eve of election, removing all
previous curbs on funding political parties , introduction of electoral
bonds as the route to reap the spoils of such cronyism,
4.
Facilitating and promoting the loot of public money as reflected in the Rs.11
lakh crore plus amount of NPA.
5. Destruction
of livelihood of crores of people surviving on cash transactions through
demonetisation.
6.Virtual
destruction of the micro small and medium enterprises the largest employment
provider after agriculture through the implementation of the GST. The
Mudra loan NPAs rose to 53per cent in the first nine months of 2018-19 from
2017-18.
7. Farm
income crashed to the lowest in 14 years during the last quarter of
October-December, 2018 at 2.67 per cent (Central Statistics Office) RBI
reports that loans that are not returned in the farm sector increased to Rs;
1lakh crore in September, 2018 from Rs. 70000 crores in September,2017.This is
the level of agrarian distress leading to rising distress suicides of farmers.
8. Our
youth are frustrated due to the sharp fall in employment opportunities during
the last few years. Modi had promised creation of 2 crore new jobs annually
i;e. 10 crores by now. Reality is that the unemployment rate rose to the
highest levels in 45 years at 6.1. per cent. (NSSo) Unemployment rate
inFeb.2019 increased to 7.1. per cent from 5.9 per cent in 2018 (Centre
for Monitoring Indian Economy) Situation in rural India is worse. NSSSO
reports a 3.2.crore job loss of casual labourers from 2011-12 to 2017-18
affecting over1.5 crore families dependent on income from Casual labour and
agriculture.
9.
As per the Gujarat Assembly records, the crime against SC and ST
increased by 32% and 55% respectively during the last five years in that state.
10.
Women have been subjected to increased violence. The year 2016 reported a
big increase in crimes against women- four rapes on an average per hour.
Since then the Government has stopped publishing statistics by the National
crime records bureau in this regard.
11.
During these five years the share of the total wealth accruing to the top one
per cent of the population increased from 49 per cent in 2014 to 73 per cent in
2018.
12.
The lowest growth rate of GDP during these five years from.8.2 per
cent in 2013-14 to 7 percent in the first three quarters of 2018-19 even
according to the modified data series introduced by the Government. According
to the earlier data series this stands at mere 4.7 percent.
13.
In the last quarter, the GDP growth rate fell further to6.6 per cent
indicating that the economy is sliding into a recession. So much
for Modi’s claims of India being the “fastest growing economy” in the world.
14.
GST collection despite all the tall claims shown steady decline
from 7.6 per cent in 2017-18 to 5.8 per cent in 2018-19. This
reflect a massive slowdown in the economy.
15.
Demonetisation and GST were a double whammy attack undermining the country’s
economic fundamentals. Pre-demonetisation global GDP was 2.6 per cent and grew
post demonetisation to 3.1.percent. In contrast, the post demonetisation
India’s GDP growth fell from. 7.6 per cent to 6.8 per cent.
16.
Destruction of people’s livelihood has led to a drastic fall in
levels of domestic demand crippling manufacturing and industrial growth. As a
consequence, the country’s leading automobile manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki has
announced a production cut of 27 per cent citing the fall in
demand. The eight core infrastructure industrial growth saw a
decline of 2.9 per cent between February, 2014 and January,
2019. The index of industrial production registered an abysmal low of 0.3
percent in November,2018 compared to an average growth of 5.7 per cent in the
preceding seven month.
17.
Depreciation of rupee to its lowest levels- the value of the rupee to a US
dollar was 63.19in 2014. This shot to71.76 in 2019 .
18.
Drastic fall in India’s export earnings – Between Feb.2014 and January, 2019
India’s trade balance declined by whopping 29.8per cent. Growing current
account deficit ie. Gap between India’s export and Import value has been
registered during these five years. The current account deficit increased
from 1 per cent of the GDP in 201718 to. 2.9 percentin 2018-19. In dollar
terms this translates into deficit growth from 6.1. billion US dollars to 19.1.
billion.
19.
Agriculture growth is at a record low during these years. Agricultural growth
rate fell from 5.1. percent to 2.7 per cent and further to 1.7per cent between
Feb. 2015 and Feb,2019(CSO) The fourth successive negative growth rate
registered in the last four quarters.
20.
The incidents of terror have exponentially gown between 2009-14 and
2014-19. The number of terrorist attacks increased from 109 to 626.
The number of security personnel killed increased from 139 to 483.
The number of civilians killed increased from 12 to 210 and the number of
ceasefire violations increased from 563 to 5596.
21.
There is an alarming rise in the number of local youth joining militant
groups. Local militants killed rose from 16 in2014 to 191 in 2018.
22.
Foreign policy orientation changed to dovetail to US global strategic interests
reducing India as a junior partner of US imperialism.
23.
Deterioration of friendly relations with all neighbouring countries.
24.
Deepening defence ties with USA and Israel.
25.
Virtual abandonment of India’s leadership role in the non- aligned movement.
26.
Abandoning India’s traditional solidarity with the people of different
countries whose sovereignty is being attacked by US Imperialism including
military interventions. The latest instance being Venezuela.
27.
During these five years, the BJP , particularly Narendra Modi has betrayed
every single promise that was made to the Indian people. Generation of
two crore jobs every year i.e. ten crores by now and
MSP of 1.5. times the total cost of production to the farmers, return
of black money and depositing 15 lakhs in the account of all Indians and so
on.
28.
Engaging in a despicable politicising of the issue of terrorist attacks when
the entire country and all opposition parties stood as one to fight
terrorism.
29.
Sharp decline in the working conditions for the working class and employees is
accompanied by unbearable hike in the price of petroleum products with the
Government refusing to reduce its taxes and duties.
30.
Deepening agrarian distress leading to the ruination of the Indian
farmers and growth in distress suicides.
7th CPC Issues
As
indicated in the preceding paras, the memorandum submitted by NCCPA was
exhaustive.
The
details of the recommendations made by the 7th CPC pertaining to the Pensioners had been
communicated to the members through wesite.
As
per the decision taken at the Sectt. meeting, we had communicated the issues to
be taken up with the Government to the Secretary, NJCM as through that forum
only, we were able to clinch the issues.
We reproduce hereunder the NCCPA letter to
NJCA on pension related issues.
The
NJCA had accepted all these and incorporated the same in their charter of
demands to the Government. The demands we formulated were as under:
(a)
Parity between the past and present pensioners to be brought about on the basis
of the 7th CPC recommendations with the modification that
basis of computation to be the pay level of the post/grade/scale of pay from
which one retired, whichever is beneficial.
(b)
Pension to be 60% of the last pay drawn in the case of all eligible persons who
have completed the requisite number of years of service.
(c)
The family pension to be 50% of the last pay drawn.
(d)
Enhance the pension and family pension by 5% after every five years and 10% on
attaining the age of 85 and 20% on attaining the age of 90.
(e)
Commuted value of pension to be restored after 10 years or attaining the age of
70 whichever is earlier. Gratuity calculation to be on the basis of 25 days in
the month
(f)
Fixed medical allowance for those pensioners not covered by CGHS and REHS to be
increased to Rs. 2000 p.m.
(g)
Provide one increment on the last day in service if the concerned employee has
completed six months or more from the date of grant of last increment.
ISSUES
TAKEN UP WITH AUTHORITIES FROM TIME TO TIME
7TH CPC issues – detailed in the preceding paras
Representation
for NCCPA in SCOVA
Charter
of demand (10) points
NPS-
withdrawal
CGHS
a) empanelling hospitals procedure
(b) to clear the bills of dispensing chemists
(c)
countering the temporary/casual service,
(d)
expansion of CGHS to other cities
(e)direct
consultation with specialists,
(f)
On line appointment with specialists
(g)
Indication of ward entitlement on cards
(h)
Lifetime entitlement for mentally retarded children
(i)
extension of CGHS facility to BSNL pensioners
6.
implementation of CAT /High Court /Supreme Court decisions.
7.
Pension benefits to employees/pensioners abolished PSUs
8.
Charter of demand – 10 points..
We
had written a detailed letter dated 20.02.2016. to Shri R.K. Chathurvedi, Joint
Secretary (I/C) Department of Expenditure, Govt. of India, New Delhi explained
the above mentioned issues in detail.
The same has been published in our website too. (Annexure II)
Health
Insurance –
The
recommendations of the 7th CPC on health insurance
of Government employees including pensioners have been reproduced in Annexure
-III/
Direct
Membership
The
NCCPA’s constitution provides for membership for only organisation of
pensioners incorporated either for the benefit of pensioners/retirees of a
region/state or those who retired from a particular department of Govt. or
entity or autonomous organisations. Clause 6 of Rules and regulations sate as
under:
Member
mean a constitutional Federation/Association/Confederation/Co-ordination committee
etc. eligible for membership as explained in rule (ii) above.
A
pensioner who is settled at a place, where
existing pensioners associations, organised region-wise and those
pensioners who were members of departments of Govt. residing in a place where
organisation of pensioners retired from such departments do not exist often approaches seeking membership.
While we should not encourage membership for stray individuals, who for
undefined reasons, do not seek
membership with our affiliates, we must have some methodology by which the
deserving persons are given membership perhaps on a lifetime basis. The matter
may be discussed at the conference proper and appropriate decision taken.
Regisration
Not
much progress has been made in this regard. This should be viewed as a
shortcoming. From the sources it is understood that the primary requirement is that we should have an office
in a premises, whose owner will provide us an affidavit in Bond paper of his no
objection /or consent. It is our proposal that a small committee consisting of
the following members of the incumbent
posts may be constituted by the conference to consider all aspects including
amendments to the bye-laws(not of a fundamental nature) and do whatever needed
to overcome the objection of the Registration authorities:
Com.
Secretary General
Com.
Treasurer
Com.
Gl. Secy AIPRPA
Com.
GlSecy AIBOPA
The
Secretary General will act as convenor. The Conference will empower them to
spend money for this purpose up to Rs. 5,000 and beyond which with the
permission of National Secretariat.
Subscription
The
present rate of subscription is Rs. 1 per member per annum. A cursory glance
through the receipt and payments will convince this conference that NCCPA
cannot run its office at CHQ with a meagre income, leave alone undertaking the
task of widening the membership. It may not be possible to go in for very high
jump over the rate, which has remained static right from the inception of
NCCPA. We suggest that the present rate may be allowed to be increased to Rs.3
per annum. The National executive may be empowered to raise special fund to
meet certain unexpected or huge expenditure.
Journal:
NCCPA Bulletin
With
happiness we can make this statement that despite extreme financial
difficulties we had been able to bring about the journal regularly every
month. Not a single month had gone by
without journal. During this period we substantially increased the subscriber
base of the journal. That goes into the cost of production are the printing
charges, paper cost and despatch expense. Due to exhorbitant
cost of paper we are compelled to use the newsprint.. We do not have
professional people to format it in a desirable manner. Photo are seldom printed because the space
required for printing photos is large.
We must improve its get up, its format and its content and presentation. For all these to be possible, we must
increase the rate of subscription and the number of subscribers. We suggest
that the conference agree to increase
the journal sale price to Rs. 10 per copy.
Report
on programme of action
During
the period under report, we carried out the following programme in pursuance of
the charter of demand. This apart, the affiliates had their own programmes of
action. Our members have participated in all agitational programmes which the
National Joint Council of Action has decided. The programmes of action
emanating from Central Trade Unions
opposing the Economic policies had also the participation of our members. In
other words the members of NCCPA had taken a role, which no other pensioners
organisation had dared to take. We have shown our concern to the problems of the workers and supported them in their
struggles. We have in fact aligned ourselves with the working people of our
country.
NCCPA
is the only organisation (besides its
own two affiliates; APPRPA and AIBDPA,) which is affiliated with TUI (
Pensioners and Reireees) and have paid
the affiliation fees to TUI. NCCPA also
sent its representative to the second world conference of the TUI . We can be
proud of the fact that during the period under report we have strived to make
NCCPA a fighting organisation to realise
the demands and resolve the issues of our members and advise them appropriately
of what is the best course open to them in all pension related matters. The continuous participation of our members
in all demonstrative actions, chalked out by the Central Trade Unions joint
platform, the Confederation of CGEs and workers, the National JCA does show the
level of consciousness we could raise amongst our members during this period.
The NCCPA had been and shall continue to be in the fore front of the struggles
against the new contributory pension scheme along with the employees who joined
Govt. service after 1.1.2004.
Programmes
of action conducted under the banner of NCCPA.
30.6.2016
demonstration and adoption of the following resolution;
This
protest meeting of ________________________ affilitated to National
Coordination Committee of Pensioners Association held on _________2016 is
extremely distressed over the most condemnable decision of the Government of
India in referring the 7th CPC recommendation concerning option
1 which grants a small relief to the Pensioners to the committee headed by the
Secretary Pension, who had suggested to government for its rejection ab initio.
By rejecting that recommendation, the Government has proved beyond doubt that
it is led by the obnoxious advice tendered by a self serving bureaucracy who
are basically anti-poor and anti-worker. The Government must rescind this
anti-pensioner decision and ask the Pension Department to allow Option Number 1
to all Pensioners as an alternate fitment formula.
07.2016
Dharna at all state capitals and memorandum sent to FM
“This
meeting of the pensioners held at…….. request the honourable Finance
Minister that the 7th CPC
recommendations to allow Option No. 1 to the Pensioners may be accepted and
implemented removing the words appeared in the Government Press Statement “subject
to feasibility”. The pensioners are extremely worried that the said
phrase, if included in the Gazette Notification will be taken advantage
of by the Pension Department of the Government of India to deny the legitimate
benefit to the pensioners, even though the Government has decided to accept the
recommendation made in this regard by the 7th CPC. “
25.10.2017 Mass Dharna at Jantar Mantar New
Delhi by NCCPA
(As
per the decision taken by the NCCPA
National Executive which met at Nagpur, a massive dharna programme was
organized at Meghdhoot Bhawan, Puza road, New Delhi on 25th October,
2017.
A
meeting of the National Secretariat will be held soon (the date will be
communicated on 10th November, 2017) to review the implementation of the
programme and to chalk out further course of action in pursuance of the
ten point charter of demands. We had planned to elicit the participation
of about 1000 comrades in the dharna programme on 25th. We have reached
near about that figure, thanks to the strenuous efforts of some of the
affiliates and the State Units. From the register of participants, in
which many had not assigned their signature and other details due to some
logistical difficulties gives a fair picture of the efforts of the various
affiliated organizations It would not certainly be an exaggeration that the
dharna was massive and there had been all-round enthusiasm from the members in
the programme. It is to the credit of NCCPA that it took the initiative
in organizing a programme exclusively for the pensioners’ demands in the post
7th CPC period. We take this opportunity to congratulate everyone who
took the pains to come over to Delhi and participate in the programme and place
our sincere gratitude to all affiliates and State Units for making all out
efforts to ensure the success of the programme. As per the reports, we
have received, financial constrains has come in the way of mobilizing large
number of comrades to participate and there had been last minute cancellation
due to health problems by some of the Units.
We
could commence the dharna only at 11.30 AM due to various transport related
problems, though large number of our comrades had assembled at the venue from
9.30 AM onwards. The organizing committee at Delhi had to face
innumerable problems on the eve of the programme. The Delhi Police
refused permission at Janta Mantar citing the NGT decision. We decided not to
confront the Government and the Police authorities as we were eager to ensure
hassle free event. We had, with the help of the NFPE leaders
obtained permission from the Chief Post Master General to hold the Dharna in
the premises of Meghdhoot Bhawan. However, the Delhi Police and IB
contacted our organizing secretary Com. Deep Chand on 24th night to inform of
the denial of the permission to organize the programme even at Meghdhoot
Bhawan.
What
degeneration has taken place in our democratic polity over the years became
obvious on that night. There was a time when lakhs of people used to
assemble at Boat Club (located in front of the Rasht apathy Bhawan and the
Parliament house) to voice their grievances and seek solution from the
democratically elected Government and the party in power. Discernible was the
resentment of the rulers from these voxpopuli demonstrations. In
the name of maintaining the cleanliness of the place, such demonstrations were
first banned at the Boat Club which resulted in the opening the Parliament
street-Jantar Mantar junction to air the voice of opposition. Police never
permitted any demonstration there in which more than 3000 people participated.
For nearly two decades, that place became the venue for people from all walks
of life to assemble and voice their protest. Now the Green Tribunal has
passed the order prohibiting any such demonstration to take place in front of
Jantar Mantar on the same ground by virtue of which Boat club was closed
down. The days are not far off when the entire New Delhi would be barred
for the Indian people except for the sycophants of the ruling coterie, which
would enable the rules to hear only the voice in praise of them and be divorced
from the reality of the people’s life who had elected them to
power. The organizing committee could ultimately overcome the
difficulties and hold the dharma in a peaceful atmosphere at Meghdhoot Bhawan,
for which we are no doubt grateful to the CPMG and the leadership of NFPE.
The programme went on upto 3.00PM. Com.Shiv Gopal Mishra was
the first speaker in his capacity as the President of NCCPA. The programme was
inaugurated by the veteran trade union leader and the erstwhile leader of the
telecom employees Com.VAN Namboodiri, Patron of NCCPA. On behalf of the
organizing Committee, Com. Deepchand conducted the proceedings of the house and
Com. Rajinder Prasad of AIPRPA presided over. Com. KKN Kutty, Secretary General
NCCPA informed the participating members of the need to fill up the register
with the derails which could be used by the CHQ for a faster and effective
communication mechanism in future. He also drew the attention of
the comrades of the Booklet which had been brought out by the NCCPA explaining
the ten point charter of demands, which was being sold at the venue for a price
of Rs. 10/-. About 650 copies of the booklet were sold out at the venue
itself. We are proposing to send a few copies to all affiliates and State
Committees to ensure that the same is sold and the publication cost
realized. Com. Tapan Sen, General Secretary CITU and Member of Parliament
were one of the prominent speakers. The programme was concluded by his
address to the members. There had been a galaxy of speakers who were
leaders of various Trade Union organizations and Pensioners associations.
Prominent among them were:
M.S.Raja
(SG Audit and Working President Confederation of CGE &W);
S.C.Maheswari
(General Secretary, Bharath Pensioners Samaj)
D.Balasubramanian
(GS All India Federation of Pensioners Associations)
Com.
K.G.Jayaraj (GS All India BSNL and DOT Pensioners Association)
K.Ragavendran
(GS All India Postal and RMS Pensioners association.
Com.SwapanChakraborti
(Dy.GS BSNLEU)
Ashok
Ghosh (Dy.Secretary West Bengal COC of CGPA)
Com.
Somaiah (GS All India Ground Water Board Pensioners Association)
Com.
A. K. Kanojia (President, Income tax Employees Federation)
Com.
Lajpat Rai (Patron, Income tax Pensioners Federation)
Com.
M.N.Reddy (General Secretary, All Pensioners and Retired Persons
Association)
Com.
Rajinder Prasad Verma ( All India Vice President AIPRPA)
Com.
Deep Chand. (State General Secretary, AIPRPA, Delhi)
A
delegation met the Chief Post Master General to hand over a memorandum addressed
to the Honourable Prime Minister. The CPMG has assured the delegation
that the same will be officially forwarded to the Prime Minister’s office. A
few photographs of the programme have already been placed on the website.
05.08.2018 Dharna at selected state capitals in
all twelve centres
27.11.2018
Post Card Campaign in the
format given hereunder:
Post
Card Campaign to Hon’ble Prime Minister:
I
solicit the kind attention of the Honourable Prime Minister to the memorandum
dated 27.11.2018 submitted by the National Co-ordination Committee of
pensioners in which I am a member on certain pension related
issue. I seek the intervention of the Honourable Prime Minister to
ensure settlement thereof.
(Signature)
(Name)
(Pensioner’s
of Department)
_____________________________PPO
Number
20.3.2019- Dharna fast at Jantar Mantar
The
programme commenced at about 11.30 AM.
Com. V.A.N. Namboodiri, Patron
NCCPA was the first speaker and detailed the purport of the programme. Com. Shiv Gopal Misra , President, NCCPA
inaugurated the programme and the same was conducted by the Secretary General,
Com. KKN. Kutty. We had invited all the
Federations and Associations of the working employees and most of them could
come and greet the programme. Com. Deep
Chand on behalf of the Delhi Unit
welcomed the participants. Other
speakers included Com. Pavitra Chakraborty, Com. K. Raghavendran, Com.
Jayaraj, Com. I.S. Dabas, Com. H.S.
Sidhu, Com. Rehman, Com. T.M.
Parameswaran. Com. Parasar, Com. Giriraj Singh, (Both from NFPE) Com.
Brighu Bhattacharya,(Civil Accounts) Com. Ashok Kanojia, (Confederation)Com.
Ajoy Tewari, (ITEF) were the
speakers who greeted the dharna
fast programme. Almost all the speakers
exhorted the participants to take note of the nugatory attitude of the
Government towards Central Government pensioners for the past 5 years and utilize the strength
and power to vote them out of power
. The programme was concluded at 2.30
PM.
The
National Executive had targeted to ensure the participation of about 2000
comrades in the programme. Though we
could not achieve it ( the participation was estimated to be about 1500), it
had been a fantastic programme. We
publish hereunder a photograph we have taken almost about 1.00PM, when the
programme was going on, which no doubt will bring out the success of it in
clear terms. The National Secretariat
which met on 16th had unanimously opined that despite the
hurdles created ,( the IB and its
sleuths spreading the canard of cancellation of the programme on the pretext of
the declaration of the election) was
nassive and magnificent. . Some of the
comrades, unfortunately without even
verifying the facts had cancelled the tickets believing the rumour spread. There had been some other cancellations too
as the last minute problem of physical
disabilities of the participating comrades and cancellation of flights
especially the Jet flights. . It was
heartening to note that every affiliate of the NCCPA had tried to adhere to the
quota, some exceeding . As on the last occasion,
this time also the best participation
came from the All India BSNL and DOT
Pensioners Association, who had earlier organized a march to Sanchar
Bhawan from Eastern Court to highlight their own specific demands and problems.
The NCCPA Sectt. has requested its affiliates and State
Units to undertake a proper review to
identify the deficiencies so that it could be removed effectively before we
could undertake further programmes. The
NCCPA will be grateful if the affiliates and the State Units convey to us
immediately on receipt of this communication of the extent of participation of
their members (State-wise) to have a clear picture. Before I conclude, let me place on record
that the programme had been a grand success in as much as we could demonstrate
the discontent and grievances of the Central Government pensioners in an
extremely magnificent manner and the credit for which goes to each and every
participant and the leaders at the State and district levels who took the pains
to elicit their participation, look after them properly and ensure that they
return to their homes with fond memories .
The message that the time has come to think seriously to bring in a
government which will think in terms of the welfare of the Senior Citizens and
the poor in the country has gone unambiguously and loudly amongst the pensioner
community.
TUI
Second World Congress
The Second world
congress of the TUI (Pensioners and Retirees) was held at Bogota in
Columbia. The NCCPA was represented by
its Secretary General, Com. K.K.N. Kutty and oln behalf of AIPRPA, Com. K.
Raghavendran and on behalf of AIBDPA, Com. K.G. Jayaraj attended the
congress. A detailed report over the
congress has been placed on the website and the same is carried by our journal
for this month. It is to be noted that
there had been no other representatives from India. All the Indian delegates
have been elected to the administering Committees of the TUI. Com. K.G. Jayaraj has been elected to be one
of the Executive Committeemember, Com. K.Ragavendran in the Technical and
Research Commission and Com. K.K.N. Kutty in the Finance Control commission.
The TUI (P &R) is a vibrant international body and had been functioning in
the last five years very well and have extended its influence to all continents. The responsibility of the expanding its base
in Asia particularly is now cast upon NCCPA, even though the Nepalese
delegation has been elected to be one of the office bearers. Com. K.G. Jayaraj particularly will have this
carved out for him and our success will make NCCPA a world respected body.
Attendence
at Meetings
The
first meeting of the National Sectt. Of
NCCPA felt that the Secretariat must meet at leastonce in 3 months. Had this
decision been implemented, at least 12 meetings ought to have taken place. We
realised that the said decision was without taking into account certain
realities. The frequent meetings were costing the comrades too much which they
were unable to meet out. This gave a natural death to that laudable objective.
While this is an explicable
situation, the absence of large number of office bearers in the meetings, had
no reasonable ground at all, except that they would like to remain dormant. This cannot be an acceptable
proposition. We want all regions and all affiliates to be represented in our
apex level leadership. But that can only be worthwhile if we can ensure their
active presence at the meeting. The conference will do well, if this aspect of
our functioning is taken seriously.
Rotation
of NE Meetings:
In
the next 3 years, the NE is to meet at
least six times. The National Executive meetings are of a full day duration and the comrades
attending such meetings may not be able to return on the same day. This
requires an overstay arrangements for good number of comrades and consequently
requires sizeable funds for the host units. It is our suggestion that the NE
Meetings may be hosted by affiliates and state Units on rotational basis. The
bigger affiliates can plan such meetings either one day priorto or after their meetings so that the fund
crunch could be effectively addressed.
Resolution
on certain important issues and on policy and programme are annexed.
It is
our firm belief that the neo-liberal economic policies that are followed by the
successive Governments of our country
since 1991 is injurious to the interest of the working class. We had
been active participants with all like-minded organisations in opposing it, in
propagating its pernicious effects and in participating agitational programmes.
Over the years, the entire working class in the country realised the dangerous
direction and trajectory of these policies and more and more sections started
joining hands in opposing these
policies. All Central TUs, irrespective of the political ideological
differences joined together in this endeavour.
To ensure that
our members continue to be active and committed to this position we have to
strive that the workers as a class is not allowed to be in different camps on account of the penetration of the
religious and caste feelings. It is in our interest that the social fabric of
our country remains secular, its polity is democratic, every individual citizen
has the right to express his/ her views, he or she is not intimidated, justice
is rendered to all sans delay, basic requirement of human existence is provided
to all, the standard of living of all is constantly and continuously raised, the society is not
fractured by fundamental and obscurantist ideas; scientific temper grows;
superstitions are not allowed to pervade, peaceful co-existence is ensured; and
above all an egalitarian society where exploitation is non- existent is
created.
Our task includes
that our members have better social security facilities, they get a decent pension; their health problems are cared for; sense of
equity prevails and the Governmental functions are carried out by the Civil
servants only We must be in the
forefront of building a powerful movement of Pensioners NCCPA; is strengthened and alround unity of employees
are brought about to ensure creation of better bargaining capacity.
It must also be
our endeavour that our members realise the dangers of pension reforms, the need
for a universal social security system
to cater to the requirements of all senior citizens in the country and most
significantly we prepare our members to
be participants in the fight against the
new Contributory Pension Scheme, which was unitarily imposed in 2004 and which
has now obtained the parliamentary
sanction. We have to bring home the fact that the legislation passed by
the Indian Parliament PFRDA does provide the authority and power to the
Government of India to amend or even end the statutory pension presently
received by our members.
We must strive to
make our members realise that capitalism
is an exploitative system; and the strenuous efforts on the part of the Print
and electronic media ( which itself is owned by the big corporate houses) to
spread falsehood over the viability of the system;
We must also make
our members to realise that peasants and
agricultural workers are our fellow
travellers, and comrades; they suffer
deprivation and exploitation as we do, and it is also our responsibility to
support them in their struggles;
It is only
through powerful resistance movements
that we would be able to raise the level of consciousness of our fellow
members We have to accomplish these
tasks, howsoever difficult it is. Let us march on with the determination that we
shall.
On behalf of the
National Executive, we convey our fraternal and warm greetings to all the
delegates, observers and senior leaders attending 4th all India Conference at Jaipur and requested
them to deliberate & make
suggestions to enrich this report.
With Greetings,
Yours
fraternally,
K.K.N.Kutty
Secretary
General.
nccpa
3rd Triennial Annual Conference Kolkata
A
Short Report
Dear
Comrade,
16.11.2015. The third triennial all India
Conference of NCCPA was held at Kolkata on 6th and 7th November, 2015. The
Conference was inaugurated by Com. Ashim Dasgupta former Finance Minister,
Government of West Bengal. More than 200 delegates and observers from various
parts of the country and hundreds of members of West Bengal Central Govt.
Pensioners Co-ordination Committee attended the inaugural session. The hall of
the conference was named after the legendary leader of the Central Government
Employees and the former Secretary General of NCCPA, Com. S.K. Vyas.
The
Conference commenced with the flag hoisting (National flag by Com. Sisir
Bhattacharya, the Senior most leader of the P & T movement and NCCPA flag
by Com. R.L. Bhattacharya, President NCCPA). Floral tributes were paid by
leaders and delegates to the martyrs column. The inaugural session was
impressive with a galaxy of leaders decorating the dais and addressing the AIC.
Before the formal inauguration cultural folk songs were sung by the Kolkata CG
Employees and Pensioners. After welcome address by Com. Sisir Bhattacharya,
Chairman Recepsion Committee, the inaugural session was also addressed by Com.
K.K.N. Kutty, President, Confederation of CGE & Workers, Com. V.A.N. Namboodiri,
Patron NCCPA, Com. Pijush Roy, State Secretary of Co-ordination Committee
of CG Employees, Com. Subroto Majumdhar, West Bengal State Govt. Pensioners
Association, Com. Aparesh Bhattacharjee, Bank Pensioners Association, Com.
Himadri Roy (LIC Pensioners Association), Com. Subendu Mukherjee (Railway
Pensioners Association), Com. Ananta Bhattacharya and Com. Jyotsna Bose.
In
the subject session, that commenced at 2.00 PM on 6th and ended at 2.30 PM the
next day, the report accompanied by the statement of accounts was submitted by
Com. Pavitra Chakraborty, Secretary General. In the discussion that ensued
thereafter, more than 16 delegates participated. The house also adopted the
following resolutions.
(a)
On Policy and programme
(b)
Affiliation of NCCPA with TUI-Pensioners and retired personnel
(c)
Against escalating prices of essential commodities
(d)
Appealing to maintain communal harmony,
(e)
Observance of rs” Feb. Every as S.K. Vyas memorial day.
(f)
On implementation of court verdict to all similarly placed pensioners.
The
house also adopted the proposal moved from the presidium to enlarge the number
of office bearers by amending the relevant provisions of the constitution.
The
house unanimously adopted the panel of office bearers presented by the outgoing
Sectt. and accordingly the following comrades were elected as the office
bearers for the ensuing term of three years. Com. PavitraChakraborthy, while
summing up the discussion, stated that the suggestions put forth by the members
who spoke are all acceptable and the same would be incorporated in the final
report. The house then adopted the accounts and the report unanimously.
The
open session was the concluding session in which Com. Basudev Acharya former
M.P. who always fought for our cause both inside and outside the parliament
addressed elaborately on the type of attacks let loose on the workers and
pensioners. The Open Session was also addressed by Com. KKN Kutty and also by
Com. SujathaSaha the Councillor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
The
AIC concluded with the singing of International Song of Working Class by the
Cultural Troup and all Delegates.
Patrons:
1.
Com.VAN.Namboodiri
2.
Com.R.L.Bhattacharyaa
Chairman:Com.Shiv
Gopal Mishra (JCM Staff Side Secretary)
Wkg.Chairman:
Com.S.S.Roy (West Bengal)
Vice
Chairman: 1) Com. C.L.Mathur (Rajasthan)
2)
Com. D.V.Dhaktod (Maharashtra)
3) Com. H.N.Joshi (M.P)
4)
Com.T.S.Parameswaran (Kerala)
5) Com.S.Rahman (Assam)
Secretary
General: Com.KKN.Kutty
Dy.Secretary
General: 1) Com.Pavitra Ranjan Chakraborty (WB)
2)
Com.K.Ragavendran (AIPRPA GS)
Assistant
Secy General: 1) K.G.Jayaraj (AIBDPA GS)
2)
Prabakaran Nair (Telengana
3)
S.K.Sharma (Rajasthan)
4)
C.P.Shobana (Kerala)
5)
I.S.Dabas (Delhi)
Treasurer:
Com.H.L.Sidhu (Haryana)
Asst.TRR:
Com. S.Laha (WB)
Organising
Secretary:
1)
M.A.Karlekar (Maharashtra)
2)
T.I.Sudhakaran (Kerala)
3)
N.Somaiah (Telengana)
4)
Geetha Goshal (WB)
5) K.P.Sharma
(Rajasthan)\
6)
G.R.Verma (U.P)
Internal
Auditor: Com.A.K.Ghosh (WB)
Letter
to Shri. R.K. Chathurvedi, Joint Secretary, MOF. GOI
Dear
Sir,
Sub: 7thCPC recommendations on retirement
benefits- Reg.
The
National Co-ordinating Committee of Pensioners Association is the apex
organisation of Associations/Federations of Central Government
Pensioners. We had submitted a detailed memorandum to the 7th CPC on various demands, problems and
grievances of the Central Government Pensioners. However, it must be
sadly admitted that most of the issues, which we had projected before the
Commission did not have a proper consideration, may be perhaps, due to the
Commission’s perceived anxiety over the financial constrains of the Government
of India. We have every reason to believe that their anxiety was not well
placed, for the Government’s finances are far better presently than what it was
two decades back. The memorandum submitted by the Staff Side JCM National
Council had elaborately dealt with the issue concerning the relative capacity
of the Government to pay its employees and pensioners in the background of
accelerated growth of the economy, reduced tax burden on both business
houses and the common people the reduced percentage of expenditure on
wages, salary and pension with reference to the Government’s revenue resources,
revenue expenditure and the GDP itself. The denial of the need based
minimum wage,(in accordance wit Dy. Aykhroyd formula) in other words, the bare
existence wage in the circumstance by the 7th CPC is incomprehensible. We are pointing
out this aspect of the recommendations, for the successive earlier
Commissions had denied the need based minimum wage on the specious plea of the
inability of the Government to pay. We hope you will appreciate
that the present pensioners, who were in active service in 1960s, 1970s, 1980s,
1990s, did suffer immensely as they were denied even the bare existence
wages. They suffered on many counts, as they could not provide a decent
standard of living to their families, could not construct a residential
dwelling, could not educate their children properly for sheer want of requisite
finances, so on and so forth. The Pensioners’ community is presently
concerned again with the minimum wage as the re-fixation of pension on
account of the wage revision effected by the 7th CPC is linked to the minimum wage. We,
therefore, appeal that the grievances presented by the Staff Side, National Council
JCM on the determination of the quantum of minimum wage by the 7th CPC must be considered seriously and necessary
corrections made.
Another
important issue we would like to present before you, concerns the New
Pension Scheme introduced by the Government of India, with effect from.
1.1.2014. Both the Serving employees and Pensioners organisations placed
before the Commission, rather passionately, to consider their submissions made
for the replacement of the newly introduced defined contributory system of
pension for those who entered the Government of India Service from.1.1.2014
with the time tested defined benefit scheme of pension. As of date the
Government employees, by virtue of the new contributory pension scheme
are divided into two classes viz. a good number of them receive
emoluments after deduction of 10% towards pension contribution whereas
the other for the same job is provided with a higher rate of emoluments.
It is nothing but a blatant denial of equal pay for equal work. We had pointed
out to the Commission in no uncertain terms that the new scheme was conceived
as an idea to allow the flow of the hard earned income of the employees to the
Stock market and permit the access of those funds for the corporate
houses with no guaranteed return to the contributor. We had pleaded
before the Commission to recommend for the exclusion of the Government
employees from the purview of the NPS, if the scrapping of the scheme is
infeasible in the light of the enactment of PFRDA. The Commission, as you
could see from the report, has enumerated innumerable flaws, defects,
deficiencies and what not in the administrative apparatus of the NPS, which has
now amassed huge funds and its coffers are swelling enormously day by
day. They have still not evolved a mechanism to monitor the remittances
by the concerned employers. The Commission has suggested in the light of their
findings, cosmetic remedial measures which in all fairness one should
admit, will not address the issue. In short, the Commission has not
been emboldened to make a positive recommendation for the exclusion
of the Central Government employees from its ambit, even though they have been
convinced of the force of our submissions and arguments. We may also
state that the Commission which was anxious of the increased financial
outflow on account of the revision of wages and pension did not, rather failed
to recognise the enormous outflow of tax payers money to the pension fund in
the form of Governmental Contributions. Without stating the various other
demerits of the New Contributory Pension Scheme, as it has been oft-repeated,
we plead that the Government employees be excluded from the Contributory
Pension scheme and all of them irrespective of their date of recruitment be
brought within the purview of the time tested defined benefit pension system.
Besides
the submissions made in the preceding paragraphs, we enumerate hereunder some
specific issues concerning pensioners and request the Implementation Committee
to consider the same and place it before the empowering committee for
acceptance.
1.
Parity between the past and present pensioners be brought about on the basis of
the 7th CPC recommendations with the modification that
the basis of computation be the pay level of the post/grade/scale of pay from
which the employee retired, whichever is beneficial to him.
The 7th CPC has recommended the modus operandi for
bringing about parity between the past and present pensioners. While
issuing orders in acceptance of this recommendation, we urge upon that care may
be taken to provide the benefit to the pensioners as envisaged by the
Commission in its letter and spirit. Often we find when the orders are
issued, the same is interpreted by the pension disbursing authority in such a manner
that the envisaged benefit is denied to the deserving personnel on flimsy
technical grounds. We want you to appreciate that it is not a perceived
grievance but a real and genuine one. To cite a recent example:, When the
orders on the question of modified parity was issued after the 6th CPOC recommendation, the benefit was
denied to a large number of pensioners by such an interpretation made by the
Offices of the Controller General of Accounts. The issue had to be
agitated in the Central Administrative Tribunal, where the CGA’s interpretation
was set aside. The Government dragged the poor pensioners upto the
highest court of justice in the country, the Supreme Court, before the
concerned order was amended. Even in the amended order, care was not taken
to convey the benefit to certain pensioners fully on the specious plea that the
words employed in the original orders speaks only of the scale of pay and not
of the revised scale of pay. It is highly unethical to drag the
pensioners to the Courts. They are compelled to bear the huge expenditure
involved in the litigation at the level of the Supreme Court . To avoid the
recurrence of such a scenario, we plead that the orders must specify in
unambiguous terms, that the parity must be with reference to the level of pay
of an individual employee of the post/grade/scale of pay from which he/she
retired, whichever is beneficial to that individual. This is to take
care of the situation where the concerned Government servant had been
granted MACP, or the pay scale/pay band/grade pay/ had been revised by
the Government either suomotu or on the basis of the recommendation of
the Pay Commission.
2.
Pension to be 60% of the last pay drawn and family pension to be 50% of
the last pay drawn. Minimum pension to be 60% of the minimum wage
and minimum family pension to be 50% of the Minimum wage.
In our memorandum, we had demanded that pension to be 66.6% of the last pay drawn
and the minimum pension to be 66.66% of the minimum wage. The CPC has not
conceded this demand. Our present request in the matter is that the pension
must be fixed at 60% of the last pay drawn and the minimum pension at the rate
of 60% of the minimum wage. This is on the ground that minimum wage is
computed taking into account the family consisting of three units of two adults
and two children ( i.e. 1+0.8+0.6+0.6=3) Since the requirement of the children
can be excluded in the case of pensioners, the rational approach will be
to provide 60% of the minimum wage as the minimum pension Both the
pension and the minimum pension has to be at the rate of 60% of the last pay
drawn (or average emoluments) and the minimum wage respectively. The present
stipulation of computing the pension at the rate of 50% and the minimum pension
at 50% of the minimum wage has no basis at all. Family pension is granted
mostly in the case of the surviving spouse or unmarried or widowed
daughter. To reduce the pension beyond 10% is to heap misery and agony on
the survivors. Our suggestion in the matter is that the surviving member
of the family be provided with at least 50% of the pension.
3.
Enhance the pension and family pension on the basis of the increased age of the
pensioner. Grant 5% rise in pension for every addition of 5 years of age, 10%
after attaining the age of 80 and 20% for those beyond 90.
The
decaying process of physique gets accelerated normally after 60 years of
age. To keep one fit, after the age of 60, increased expenses on various
counts are needed. It was in recognition of this fact that the earlier
Pay Commission suggested to calibrate the pension entitlement linking to the
age of the pensioner. The demand was formulated to rein in a logical
methodology for such increases. Our specific suggestion is to raise the
quantum by5% (i.e. 65% at the age of 65) and by 5% for every five year increase
in the age of pensioner. However, the increase will have to be 10% at the
age of 85 and 20% at the age of 90.
4.
Restoration of Commuted value after 10 years and gratuity as per the provisions
of the Gratuity Act.
It is
now an admitted fact that the Government recovers the full value of the
commuted portion of the pension in 10 years including the interest. However, it
has refused to accede to the demand for a revision of the period of restoration
when it was taken up in the National Council. There had been
no reason adduced as to why this demand cannot be accepted, when the issue was
subjected to discussions before the 7th CPC. Fifteen years is too long a period
and the last five years in which the pensioner is denied the full pension is
without justification. We request you to kindly place this fact before the
Empowering Committee for a favourable decision. In the matter of gratuity
our demand is that the Government must adhere to the provisions of the
Gratuity Act and no distinction between the Government employees and the
workers in the Public or private enterprises be made in the matter.
5.
Fixed Medical Allowance.
In
the case of pensioners who resides at locations not covered by the CGHS scheme
has no health care benefit at all. The serving employees are entitled for
CGHS benefit if they stay in any of the 26 cities where the CGHS
facilities are available, and they enjoy the benefit of CVCS(MA) Rules in
other places. The Pensioners staying outside the CGHS areas are to bear
the health care expenses from the3oir meagre pension amount. It is
in consideration of this fact, a fixed medical allowance was introduced.
However, the quantum of such allowance is a paltry sum of Rs. 500
p.m. In the neo-liberalised economic system, the administered price
mechanism barring in the case of a few medicines, has been dispensed with,
consequent upon which is the exorbitant prices of medicines in the
market. The pensioner is not able to afford the
prices of medicines. Either the Government must come forward to
bring in the application of CCS(MA) rules to the pensioners who are not within
the ambit of CGHS or the FMA will have to be increased. We request that
the FMA may atleast be raised to Rs. 2000 per month.
6.
Grant of HRA for pensioners.
Gone
are the days when the pensioner can expect to be looked after by their
children. In most of the cases, they are unable to live with their
children even if the children are willing to accommodate them. This is
because of the frequent transfer of workplace and many other relevant
factors. As has been pointed out elsewhere in this letter, the pensioners
of date were the serving employees of 1970s,80s and 90s. They did not have
a decent wage structure nor could they obtain loan facility from
the banks on nominal interest (which the people of the present contemporary
society enjoys), with the result they could not venture to own a house for
occupation atleast after retirement. Throughout their service career they
had been in the occupation of the Government accommodation, which they had to
vacate after retirement. The real estate business in the country
witnessed a boom in 1990s and 2000s, . The pensioners cannot compete in
the real estate market either with the consumers like serving employees or business
people. All these factors put together makes the pensioners to shell out a
major portion of his pension income only for hiring a dwelling place. We,
therefore, request the Committee may consider the demand for HRA
from a humanitarian point of view.
7.
Grant of an increment prior to the date of retirement.
Grant
of one increment in the case of those pensioners who retired on completion of
one year in service as on the date of superannuation had been the demand the
staff side placed before the Government for their consideration in the National
Council. The demand was rejected on the technical ground that even though
they had worked for a full year the grant of increment would be possible only
if they are in service on the day when it become due. The 6th CPC while
recommending uniform date of increment for all Government Servants, also
suggested that in the case of all employees who had completed more than six
months, increment might be granted. The issue was taken up before the 7th CPC too through our memorandum. The Commission
also did not recommend the acceptance of our demand. We therefore, appeal
once again to the Government that this simple issue may be settled as it has
very little coverage and the consequent financial implication is very
meagre.
These
are some of the issues, which various pensioners organisations have brought
before us to take it up with you. We therefore, once again request you
to kindly consider these issues in the light of the justification we have appended
under each of them and recommend to the Government for a positive consideration
thereof.
Recommendations
on
Health
Insurance Scheme
9.5.15
In this backdrop, the Commission opines that health insurance for the
government employees and pensioners remains the most optimal route for ensuring
complete coverage for all employees, pensioners and their dependants in the
long run. The IV CPC had suggested that feasibility and modalities of an
Insurance Scheme for government employees in lieu of medical reimbursement may
be considered by the government. The VI CPC had recommended introduction of a
health insurance scheme for Central Government employees and pensioners. It had
recommended that for existing employees and pensioners, the scheme should be
available on a voluntary basis, subject to their paying the prescribed
contribution. It had also been recommended that the health insurance scheme
should be compulsory for new government employees who would be joining service
after the introduction of the SchemeSimilarly, it had recommended that those
retiring after the introduction of the insurance scheme would be covered under
the Scheme.
9.5.16
The Commission observes that in view of the recommendations of the earlier Pay
Commissions and various high power committees, the government has been
contemplating the introduction of a health insurance scheme on Pan-India basis.
The Commission notes that although the Committee of Secretaries had given its
‘in principle’ approval way back in 2011, and an amount of ¹ 2,061 crore had been earmarked under the XII
Five Year Plan, the Scheme has still not been implemented.
9.5.17
The Commission notes that given the tardiness in the introduction of the long
awaited Insurance Scheme, as already mentioned earlier in this chapter, the
pensioners residing outside CGHS area will continue to be at a disadvantage, in
terms of medical facilities, compared to their counterparts residing in CGHS
areas. As stated earlier in this chapter, according to existing provisions,
pensioner residing outside CGHS area but subscribing to CGHS for OPD/IPD can
avail medical facility from any hospital–private or public or empanelled under
CS (MA)/ECHS–in his/her own city. However, in such cases, the pensioners have
to make upfront payment to the hospital and claim reimbursement later. The
Commission feels that this could be a limiting factor for many pensioners who
may not have the resources to pay hospital expenses upfront. The Commission
notes that under CS (MA) Rules/ECHS, there are empanelled hospitals in every
part of the country, at least in all major locations. In this backdrop, after
identification of some major centres/cities based on minimum population
threshold of pensioners, these hospitals could be empanelled by CGHS as well,
for extending medical facilities on a cashless basis.
9.5.18
Considering all the issues, the Commission makes the following recommendations:
i.
The Commission strongly recommends the introduction of health insurance scheme
for Central Government employees and pensioners. In the interregnum, for the
benefit of pensioners residing outside the CGHS areas, the Commission
recommends that CGHS should empanel those hospitals which are already empanelled
under CS (MA)/ECHS for catering to the medical requirement of these pensioners
on a cashless basis. This would involve strengthening of administrative
capacity of nearest CGHS centres. However, this step will go a long way in
ameliorating the pending grievances of these pensioners. ii. The Commission
recommends that the remaining 33 postal dispensaries should be merged with
CGHS. The Commission further recommends that all postal pensioners,
irrespective of their participation in CGHS while in service, should be covered
under CGHS after making requisite subscription. iii. Currently, there are
various health care schemes in the Central Government catering to specific sets
of employees. For example, apart from CGHS, there are Ex-Servicemen
Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) and Railways Employees Liberalized Health
Scheme (RELHS) which cover ex-servicemen and Railway employees/pensioners,
respectively. Although the patterns in these schemes vary, a combined entity of
CGHSECHS-RELHS would result in a very strong network of health facilities for
the Central Government employees across the length and breadth of the country.
The Commission recommends that possibility of such a combined network of
various medical schemes should be explored through proper examination.
Report on the 2nd World Congress of the
TUI (Pensioners
and Retirees)WFTU.
NCCPA had
received the invitation to attend the first world congress of the Trade Union
International( Pensioners and Retired)
in 2014. For reasons beyond its
control, especially due to the visa related problems, Com. R.L. Bhattacharjeee,
who was the President of the NCCPA then could not go over to Barcelona,
Spain NCCPA decided to formally seek
affiliation with the world Body at its Kolkata Conference held in 2015. Thereafter the meeting of the TUI, Asia
–Pacific region was held at Kathmandu and the NCCPA could send its Secretary to
attend the said meeting. Trade Union
International is a wing of the World Federation of Trade Unions. TUI is normally organised to have specific discussions on issues
pertaining to a particular industry. TUI
(Pensioners and Retired) is, therefore, an integral part of the WFTU. The General Secretaries of TUI normally
attend all the Managing committee meetings of the WFTU.
Due to certain
communication difficulties, NCCPA received the formal invitation to attend the
2nd World Congress rather late .
It took enormous amount of time to complete the visa formalities and
obtain visa from the Columbian Embassy in India. Bogota, the capital of Columbia a Latin
American Country in South America had been chosen to host the 2nd
world congress. It was only a day before
the scheduled departure date, the visa was ultimately obtained and the
undersigned could go over to Bogota.
NCCPA was
represented at the world congress by the undersigned along with Com. K.
Raghavendran, our Deputy General
Secretary and the General Secretary of the All India Postal & RMS
Pensioners Association, Com. K. G. Jayaraj, Asst. General Secretary and the
General Secretary of All India BSNL & DOT pensioners Association. We reached Bogota on 25th Feb. Night and was well received by the host Unit.
The Congress was
scheduled for 27th and 28th Feb. 2019. The Congress had a very tight schedule in as
much as the meeting commenced at 7.30 AM
on 27th and went on upto 8.00 PM. The next day also the deliberations commenced
at 7.30 AM and was concluded at about
2.00PM to enable the delegates to visit the National Museum of
Columbia arranged by the host Unit.
The museum had been housed in a very aesthetically designed building and had been arranged in such a manner that
one could travel through the evolution of the culture, civilisation and history
of the country. We encountered no
problem during our stay at Columbia except the difficulties of
conversation. Columbians speak Spanish
and that had been the only impediment in our interaction with them. However, with the help and assistance provided
by the Panamian delegates, Com. Danny Caldon, we could manage the affairs
well.
Most of the
speeches delivered at the Congress had been in Spanish, French, or
Portugese. Though there had been instant
translation, it could not catch or carry the nuances and content properly. Only the Indian and Russian Delegation spoke
in English.
It was in a
surcharged atmosphere, the Congress was held.
Columbian Trade Unions and their leaders were facing a very tough
situation in as much as 24 of the T.U. leaders had been hounded out and
eliminated. It was, as reported by the
Columbian delegation, a reign of terror that had been unleashed by the
Employers with the active assistance and help coming from the rightwing Government
presently in power in Columbia. The
anger and anguish of the comrades naturally spilled over to the inaugural
session, where the Labour Minister of the Country addressed the delegates. She was interrupted on several occasions and
was not allowed to make any untrue statement without being questioned. The organisers had a very difficult time to
contain the emotion of the Columbian delegates. The house unanimously placed on record the
courage and conviction of the host unit in arranging the world congress at such
trying times.
Throughout the
Conference, the political turmoil of Venezuela got reverberated. The suppression and the machinations of the
USA and other imperialist powers to destabilise the elected Government was
brought to the fore by speaker after speaker from the Latin American
Countries. Being a neighbouring country,
comrades of Columbia were fully aware of the despicable events unfolding in
Venezuela at the instance of America whose only interest was the oil reserves
of Venezuela. While the entire third
world countries had been condemning what was happening in Venezuela , Indian once the leaders of the third world
and non aligned nations had been keeping the most undignified silence. India has become so subservient to USA and
the imperialist powers, that it could not even express its opinion in a free
and fair manner. The Congress had no
hesitation at all to condemn the US and its imperialist allies over what they
were doing in Venezuela as also the
right wing Government of Columbia, who had sided with the USA in the murky
affair.
The Congress had
the presence of 60 International delegates and more than 100 Columbian
observers and representatives . The
international delegation was spread over the four continents viz. Europe,
America, Africa and Asia Quite a number
of countries could make over to attend the Congress because of the inordinate
delay at the Columbian Embassies and their totally unhelpful attitude in
providing visa to the delegates attending
the Congress. The presentations
made by the delegates clearly provided an insight into the general political
atmosphere in different countries, the attack mounted by the ruling class at
the instance of IMF and world Bank on the livelihood of the workers and
pensioners, the system of pension in existence or its absence, the social
security system or the attack thereon under the neo liberal policies, the
attack on pension especially under the austerity regime, the struggles going on
in various countries etc. etc. The
demand that arose in the house in all deliberation was of the need to have the
National Minimum wage to be the Minimum
Pension. Due to our lack of understanding of the Spanish, French and Portugese
languages, we could not pick up the full purport of the speeches delivered at
the Congress but could discern without difficulties that the IMF and World Bank
have penetrated into the internal governance of almost all countries and the
policies evolved had always been anti worker in character. The TUI has promised to provide us a
compendium of presentations made at the Congress, which may be difficult to
publish but could be made available for study.
That will also facilitate us to understand and comprehend the situation
obtaining in each of the country, be it developed, under developed or
undeveloped.
The struggles
undertaken by the Russian working class and the Pensioners and the contours
thereof had been the theme and substance of the speech delivered by Com. Sergey
Skvortsov , the Russian delegate to the Congress. He explained in details how the combined
force of Pensioners and working people could thwart the Putin Administration’s
proposal to increase the retirement age in Russia. As is the case with all the international
trade union meets, Cuban delegation received the warmest reception and felicitation
and greetings from the Congress. It was
with rapt attention that the delegates heard them explaining the manner in
which the tiny nation could overcome the brutal and inhuman sanctions imposed
by the US and other imperialist Nations. The
Congress heard with great pleasure and applause, the Cuban
delegates stating that both in respect
of Civil Servants and Military Personnel, the Government of Cuba bears the
total expenses on pension and the same is a defined benefit scheme that is in
vogue in Cuba.
All the three
Indian representatives spoke at the Congress, explaining the various facets of
the pension and social security scheme available in India. The speeches delivered by them will be
carried in the journal in the current and the next issue, depending upon the
space available. The Indian delegation
also submitted the following proposal for the consideration of the Congress and
inclusion in the final declaration. The
final declaration adopted at the Congress is still to be finalised and as and when
it is received from the TUI H.q, we shall publish the same in our journal. The TUI (HQRs) indicated to us that they
would require some time to go into the proposal, analyse its universal
applicability and take appropriate
decision. The newly elected
Executive Committee will take up the issue as and when they formally meet.
To spell out that
there must be a universal social security system in all countries financed
fully by the Exchequer.
All contributory
based annuities must have a guaranteed minimum return taking into account the
length of the lock-in period;
To ensure that
the minimum guaranteed pension must not be less than the respective National
Minimum wage.
The defined
benefit pension scheme wherever in vogue must continue.
A day may be determined
to be observed as Pension Protection day throughout the world.
There had been
very good presence of the women delegation at the Congress. Of the International delegates, 14 were women
. The Cambodian delegation also
consisted of 14 women comrades. The house appreciated the efforts taken by the
organisers for making this possible. The
TUI has decided to increase the women delegation further and a separate
commission to go into the issues pertaining to women has been set up.
At the concluding
stage of the Congress, i.e. on 28th Com. Quim Boix presented a panel of office bearers, Executive Committee
Members and Various other Commissions.
The Executive Committee had 40 members of which 13 were office
bearers. The Technical and Research
Commission has six members and the Finance Control Commission has three
members. Com. K.G. Jayaraj will be the
Indian representative in the Executive Committee, Com. K.Raghavendran in the
Technical and Research Commission and Com.KKN Kutty in the Finance Control
Commission.
On Ist March, the
elected office bearers and Committee
members along with the members of the Technical & Research Commission and
Finance Control Commission sat for about 4 hours and discussed the future
course of functioning of the TUI. The
Committee expressed their desire that the next Conference must be held within
the stipulated period provided for by the Constitution of the TUI. A view was expressed that taking into all
factors, the next conference must preferably held in the Asian Continent. The List of officer bearers, Executive Committee members and other
Commission members would be published only in the next issue of our journal as
we are yet to receive the official version from the HQRs. It is need to ensure
that the names are spelt properly and no inadvertent mistakes are crept
in.
KKN.
KUTTY
Secretary
General.
Draft resolution on Policy and
programme.
.
In the four year period
between 2015 to 2019, we were witness to quiet a number of happenings in the
world as also in our country.. The global financial crises of 2008 contrary to
the expectations of many of the economists in the advanced capitalist countries
did not vanish. The bail-out packages intended to address the difficulties
of the perpetrators of the crisis did
not bring about any tangible turn around of the economies, which were affected
by the crises. More and more stringent
austerity measures were undertaken by almost all countries, which only
pauperised the working class. They
reduced the wages, the benefits like cost indexation, pensioner etc. were
withdrawn. There virtually banned
generation of jobs, and the
existing ones were killed. In
most of the countries, especially the developing nations, on the diktat of
IMF, the public enterprises were
converted into private
establishments. All these only helped
to increase the income inequality in the society.
There had been militant
movements organised by Trade Unions and working people wherever such steps were taken by the
Governments. The voice of the suffering
people became lourder . In many
countries, the leaders of the organised movements were either jailed or killed.
. The brutal force with which the dissent is silenced has no parallel in the
history. Elections, wherever democracy
exists, are rigged either on the point of gun or through sophisticated manner.
The strikes were termed seditious acts ,
enabling the rulers to crush it with the consent of the people. The judiciary was subjugated or
placated. People ironically turned to
right, rather than left. The pseudo
nationalism , racial discrimination, religious fundamentalism, creation of
hatred towards a particular community, especially minorities were some of the
ploys employed by the ruling class to divert the attention of the people from
the real issues.
The UNO and many of its
watchdog institutions silently looked at the happenings where the mighty takes
upon the weak.. The US , particularly , was not questioned when they attacked
the sovereign states to subdue them . There had been few countries who could
oppose them when they used their army,
intelligent agencies to effect regime changes . The Asian, Latin American
and the African countries were most of
the victims.
We must look at the happenings
in our country as a reflection of what is experienced by the other poor nations
of the world at the hands of super power.
The demonetisation, it is now unambiguous was conceived with an ulterior
motive. No black income could be
unearthed through that process. No fake
currency of any great dimension could be found out. The entire old currency came back to the
RBI. It had only negative implications; it almost destroyed the small enterprises and made the people to
suffer for no benefit either them or to the Government. The one Nation one tax scheme ,howsoever
laudable it may, only created hurdles in
the growth of the economy due to the hurry in which it was foisted. Many
legislative measures were taken by the Government to bring in crony capitalism. Our country witnessed the selling away of
almost all PSUs set up by theTAx payers money, irrespective of the fact that
they were making huge profits. The hundred days plan announced by the new
Government includes the privatisation of the Railways. All I its production units manufacturing electric and diesel engines,
coaches and wagons , wheels and axles will be handed over to private players
without much loss of time. The cost of
maximisation of profit, which alone shall be
the objective of the private entrepreneurs will have to be borne by the Indian people,
especially those who are at the lower strata of the society It is only a few
years away before the Railways would be
fully privatised. When the people
suffer and begin to organise for improvement of their standard of living, they
will be offered temples and statues . They will be constantly fed with hatred
and would be told that the cause of their agony is their fate or due to
somebody who may be a member of another community. So far the diversionary tactics has
succeeded, rather it has helped the ruling class to reap unexpected
benefits.
The trade Union movement in
our country had been warning its members constantly and continuously . They
have made great many efforts in making
the ongoing resistance movements. It had its impact though not reflected in the general elections.
The Ruling party could divert the concern and attention of our people from the real problem to
divisive issues. They have succeeded and will continue to succeed if we are to lose heart and get
disillusioned.
The young comrades in central
government offices are extremely concerned of NPS. This is likely to catch fire
in the days to come. There is also the
danger of the present pensioners being
divested of their statutory pension. The people will be told that the
pensioners of this country, who are entitled for statutory pension are islands
of prosperity and are looting the public funds. The crores that were looted
from our banks will be obliterated. It is necessary that we identify with the struggling masses, their problems
and difficulties , support them and extend solidarity. It is the only way for our success and their
success.
This Government has now thrown
away the Dr. Aykhroyd formula . They
have evolved new principles and formulas whereby the minimum wage could be
reduced . In whose interest the minimum
wage is decreased, that is the question we must be able to raise. Every worker in the country must be provided with the minimum wage. Dr. Aykhroyd formula is of the need based
minimum wage. Despite the lapse of 60
years and the so called accelerated rate of growth of the economy, the
Government says it cannot afford to pay the need based minimum wage. And if it
is so, it tells the real story of the
status of our country’s economy. The PFRDA
enacted by the Inidan Parliament to take
away the statutory pension schme is a product of the joint venture of the
mainstream political parties of the
country except, left. Almost all of these are admirers of the neo liberal economic policies.
There are quite a number of
issues NCCPA had raised before the 7th CPC concerning the pensioners. There had been
no positive response at all. The
Government had accepted this recommendation of 7th CPC on the question of option No. 1. It is the
machinations of the bureaucracy that led to its rejection under the specious
plea of infeasibiulity. The fact that
the alternative which they could get accepted by the Government in the same
coin ought to have been infeasible due to the non availability of records.
The SCOVA, as was construed to
be a platform to redress the grievance
of the pensioners . It has now been got degenerated where the agenda would be
prepared by the official side, who should speak on the subject or who should
not, will be decided by the Government,
Apex level organisations of the Pensioners are left out.
The NCCPA, is the only
pensioners organisation, which has taken the decision in the past, that the
pensioners must part-take in the struggles of the workers, peasants, and all
deprived segments of the society. NCCPA
believes that only struggle will bring about
lasting benefits. Only when
continues to be vigilant, he would be able to protect his rights. NCCPA’s charter of demands is conceived to
bring in that struggle
What is needed is that we must
align to align ourselves with the movement of the workers; we must
ensure that the feeling of oneness and
unity is built in the society,; we must not allow our society is broken into
pieces on the basis of religion, caste, region or language. We
must strive our best to inculcate the scientific temper in the young
minds in the society, we must ensure that our people are not misled and our
pluralistic culture is maintained. It
is our duty to lend out helping hand to every body in need but make him/her
realise that his/her sufferings are man made and the rulers of the country
alone are responsible for that. It is
only then a really prosperous and moden India could be built. It is only then an egalitarian society is
constructed. It is only then the modern
democratic institution could be protected, it is only then a real and vibrant
India will emerge. To that objective,
we, the senior citizens should strive ;
we should raise our voice againt all forms of injustice and discrimination. It shall be our duty to propagate the high
ideals enshrined in our constitution which alone will make our country a true
democratic republic. We shall join in
the fight against all obscurantism and
fundamentalist ideals . This conference
resolves that the members of NCCPA will be the partners in all
struggles of the working people in the country for restoring their right and
for raising their standard of living, in all struggles to alleviate our people from poverty and penury. This conference resolves that t he NCCPA will
organise its members to fight against the injustice meted to our fellow
pensioners by denying the Option No 1 and other issues incorporated in the
charter of demands fully well realising that the struggles we unleash can only be
successful only when the divisive forces are defeated, the working class unity
is maintained.
The 4th All India Conference of NCCPA, while
appreciating the role played by our members
in successfully implementing of all its calls and aligning with the
struggles of the working class in the country resolves to further strengthen
the NCCPA by enlisting more and more
organisations as its affiliate and
widening its mass base . The Conference also resolves that NCCPA will work
with a clear understanding that the policies of the Government are linked to
their politics , which can be combated with a clear class oriented
struggles. This Conference further resolves that the members of NCCPA
will join in all struggles organised against the neo liberal economic policies
of the Government of India and shall pursue the NCCPA’s 10 point charter of
demands by organising independent action programmes while being the integral
part of the Indian working class.
O0O
