CITU general secretary Tapan Sen has written to the minister of labour and employment, rejecting the recommendations of the expert committee on minimum wage. He demanded that the minimum wage be fixed at Rs 18,000 per month and enforced across the country.In the letter to Santosh Gangware on February 19, Sen said that the report of “the so-called expert committee on determining the methodology for fixing the national minimum wage…is in our hand”.
ON the slogans of, no to direct cash transfer and no privatisation in ICDS; implement minimum wages of Rs 18,000 per month and pension of Rs 6,000 per month for anganwadi workers and helpers; regularise them as government employees; make anganwadis full time as anganwadi cum creches, the ALL India Federation of Anganwadi Workers and Helpers (AIFAWH) union has decided to march to parliament on February 25, 2019.This march will be a culmination of consistent struggles in last five years for the rights of the children for nutrition, health and education.
THE All India Kisan Sabha, in a statement issued on February 18, had pointed out that the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi was only aimed at creating an illusion of a farmer-friendly government while vast majority of the peasantry, especially landless and tenant farmers were excluded from the scheme and the amount per peasant was pittance.
THE 11th Maharashtra state conference of AIDWA was held at Amravati in the Vidarbha region on February 1-3, 2019. Amravati along with its surrounding districts of Vidarbha has seen the relentless tragedy of rising peasant suicides for the last two decades.The conference was attended by 264 women delegates coming from 14 districts, representing a membership of nearly one lakh.
“JANWADI Mahila Samiti has given us an identity, it has taught us how to stand and fight for our rights”“When I move around in my mohalla, people say: look here comes a leader of the Janwadi Mahila Samit.
THE death of 40 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the horrific attack in Pulwama has caused sorrow and outrage among people throughout the country. Thousands of people attended the funerals of the killed jawans who were drawn from 16 states of the country.That the Jaish e-Mohammed (JeM) is responsible for this latest atrocity has focused the role of Pakistan in harbouring the JeM chief Masood Azhar and other jihadi groups. The JeM was responsible for both the Pathankot and Uri attacks in 2016.
THE three-day strike of the employees and officers of BSNL, which started on February 18, 2019, is a huge success. It was called by the All Unions and Associations of BSNL (AUAB). Almost all the telephone exchanges, administrative offices, customer service centres, etc, remained closed throughout the country, on all the three days. The government invoked the draconian ESMA to suppress the strike.
ON February 19, student organisations including SFI joined a protest action in the national capital that saw the participation of teachers and non-teaching staff. Thousands of students, teachers, non-teaching employees and parents from different states converged at Delhi on February 19 to march under the banner of the Joint Forum for Movement on Education (JFME) and demanded a reversal of the privatisation policies that have led to social exclusion and denial of rights.
CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on February 13THE report tabled in the Parliament on the last day it met before the general election by the comptroller and auditor general `On Capital Acquisition in Indian Air Force’, raises more questions than providing answers.1) The report does not cover the issue of offset contracts. Hence, there is no mention of the Reliance Defence and how the original public sector partner, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), who was to manufacture 108 fighter jets was summarily removed by offset contract. This, we are informed, will be d
CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on February 11, 2019SHOCKING new revelations about the Rafale scam are appearing in The Hindu newspaper on a regular basis.