INCOME TAX PENSIONERS FEDERATION

INCOME TAX PENSIONERS FEDERATION.

A2/95 RAJOURI GARDEN

MANISHINATH BHAWAN

NEW DELHI. 110 027.

Website: itpfchq.blogspot.com.

Email: itpfchq@gmail.com.

Secretary General’ s report to the 2^nd All India

Conference/GB meeting to be held at

Vadodara on 7^th and 8^th 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 7^th and 8^th 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 30^th November, 2019.

The 4^th All India Conference of the National Co0rdination Committee of Pensioners Association to which ITPF is affiliated was held at Jaipur on Ist and 2^nd 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 8^th 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 4^th 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 3^rd 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 3^rd 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.

(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 7^th 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 7^th 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 7^th 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.

7^th 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 7^th 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 7^th 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 16^th 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.

(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.

8^th and 9^th 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 15^th 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 15^th 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 20^th 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.

47^th 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 31^st 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 30^th 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 7^th and 8^th 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 7^th 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 7^th 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

4^th 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 30^th 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, 22^nd, 2018 Mugabe announced his resignation after 37 years as the Supreme Ruler of Zimbabwe.

Mugabe died in 6^th 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 25^th 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

(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.

(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

(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

(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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 2^nd 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 25^th Feb. Night and was well received by the host Unit.

The Congress was scheduled for 27^th and 28^th Feb. 2019. The Congress had a very tight schedule in as much as the meeting commenced at 7.30 AM on 27^th 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 28^th 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

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