Bharat Bandh: Workers pledge to counter 'heinous' religious fanaticism, jingoism

Counterview Desk
In a joint statement, the platform of Central Trade Unions (CTUs) and Independent Sectoral Federations/ Associations* on nation-wide mass mobilisation of working class on farmers’ Grameen Bandh, claimed it was a “grand success” in which students, teachers, youth, women, professionals, artists, writers and other social movements participated make it a “great national protest.”
Stating that the call of mass mobilisation all over India “received immense response”, in a joint statement, CTUs said, protesters pledged to counter “heinous religious fanaticism and jingoism to bring the real livelihood issues of the people back to the national agenda.”

Text:

The nation witnessed rural India in action against anti-farmer, anti-workers, anti-agricultural, anti-public sector policies of the Government working to the advantage of corporates of Indian and foreign brands.
The coal sector, road transport, NMDC, BHEL and several major industrial areas/zones went on strike. The state government employees in many states were in action including strikes in some of them. Those in banks and insurance sector, in the electricity, telecom, steel, copper and oil sector among others, organised protests at work places as well as participated in the joint processions and meetings. The jute, cotton plantation workers in action with their demands.
The Railway unions organised demonstrations outside Railway stations in several areas and defense employees mobilised at factory gates. Students and teachers extended support and were part of mobilisation in several states. The taxi and auto drivers in many states took to the streets for demonstrations in support of the action.

The hawkers/vendors unions, construction and beedi workers, home based workers and domestic workers were part of processions and road roko at many places. The scheme workers -- anganwadi, ASHA, mid-day meal and those in other various schemes were in major mobilisations, after strikes in several states.

The action of mass civil disobedience was organised in West Bengal on 13th February itself due to board examinations commencing on 16th February in the state. It was a successful action throughout Bengal with Anarul Islam loosing life in brutal lathicharge on protesters in Domkal, Murshidabad. Despite that the actions were organised by some unions today also.
In Assam the programme was conducted on 15th February again due to examinations on 16th February. The state witnessed sectoral strike by scheme workers, construction workers, venders and hawkers among others and the employees of BSNL and oil sector as well as the workers/employees of almost all private industries and chakka jam throughout the state. There was mobilisation in all districts in rural and town areas and rural bandh as well.
In Delhi the joint actions for closure of industries were organised in all zones of industrial clusters, a demonstration at Labour Commissioner office and another at Jantar Mantar were organised. The national and state leaders addressed the gatherings at different places of protest.
They condemned the ruling party in the centre and wherever they are ruling in states having used oppressive methods against the protesting workers and farmers. The brutal lathi charge, firing with pellets, and using drones for tear gas charge on farmers marching towards Delhi on 13th February are symptoms of the ruling party having lost confidence of people as well as realizing that they have lost the ground as because they know that they failed to deliver results in every promise they made to various sections of Indian masses.

The Central Trade Unions and SKM had called upon in their joint press conference on 17th January 2024 to intensify struggle until they achieve the demands of MSP@C2+50% for all crops with guaranteed procurement, dismissal of Ajay Mishra Teni and registration of case on him, Comprehensive loan waiver to small and middle farm households for freedom from indebtedness, minimum wage of Rs 26,000 per month for workers, repeal of 4 labour codes, repeal the draconian amendments made to IPC/CRPC, guaranteed employment as fundamental right, no privatisation of PSUs including railway, defence, electricity, coal, oil, steel, telecom, posts, transport, airports, port and dock, banks, insurance etc., No to privatisation of education and health, no contractualisation of jobs, scrapping of fixed term employment, strengthen MGNREGS with 200 days work per person per year and Rs 600 as daily wage, restore old pension scheme, pension and social security to all in formal and informal economy, scrapping of sec 104 of newly introduced bns, welfare boards for all categories of unorganised workers on the lines of the Construction Workers Welfare Board, Implement the LARR Act 2013 (Right to Fair compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013) among others.
It was also said that they would counter the heinous religious fanaticism and jingoism to bring the real livelihood issues of the people back to the national agenda.
They once again reiterated today that they are in a struggle to save the basic principles of democracy, federalism, secularism and socialism enshrined in the Constitution of India.
Therefore, they called upon the people that this ruling regime in the central government with anti-worker, anti-farmer, anti-national policies be ousted from power.
---
*The Platform of Central Trade Unions & Sectoral Federations/ Associations: INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF, UTUC

Comments

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat* As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra* It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Women's rights leaders told to negotiate with Muslimness, as India's donor agencies shun the word Muslim

By A Representative Former vice-president Hamid Ansari has sharply criticized donor agencies engaged in nongovernmental development work, saying that they seek to "help out" marginalizes communities with their funds, but shy away from naming Muslims as the target group, something, he insisted, needs to change. Speaking at a book release function in Delhi, he said, since large sections of Muslims are poor, they need political as also social outreach.

Warning bells for India: Tribal exploitation by powerful corporate interests may turn into international issue

By Ashok Shrimali* Warning bells are ringing for India. Even as news drops in from Odisha that Adivasi villages, one after another, are rejecting the top UK-based MNC Vedanta's plea for mining, a recent move by two senior scholars Felix Padel and Samarendra Das suggests the way tribals are being exploited in India by powerful international and national business interests may become an international issue. In fact, one has only to count days when things may be taken up at the United Nations level, with India being pushed to the corner. Padel, it may be recalled, is a major British authority on indigenous peoples across the world, with several scholarly books to his credit.

Gujarat Bitcoin scam worth Rs 5,000 crore "linked" with BJP leaders: Need for Supreme Court monitored probe

By Shaktisinh Gohil* BJP hit a jackpot in the form of demonetisation, which it used as an alibi to convert black money into white in Gujarat. Even as party scrambles for answers of how the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB), whose director is BJP president Amit Shah, received old currency worth Rs 745.58 crore in just five days, and how Rs 3118.51 crore was deposited in 11 district cooperative banks linked with Gujarat BJP leaders, a new mega Bitcoin scam, worth more than Rs 5,000 crore has been unraveled.

Counterview

Search This Blog