Smt. Leelawati Devi, wife of Com.Chandeswar Singh, General Secretary, NFTE-BSNL has passed away at 10 AM on 06-12-2016 at Patna. She was ailing for some time long.
AIBDPA conveys heartfelt condolences to Com.Chandeswar Singh and other family members.
Kollam District Branch has paid rich tributes to Comrade Fidel Castro, the great revolutionary of the century.In the well attended meeting held in this regard at K.G.Bose Centre, Kollam on 05-12-2016 ,Com.R.Aravindakshan Nair, CHQ Treasurer delivered the key note address. Com.M.D.Rajan, District President presided. Coms. C.Muraleedharan Pillai, District Secretary, BSNLEU and K.Sukumaran Nair also spoke. Com. N.Sasidharan Nair, District Secretary welcomed the gathering and Com.M.S.Thulaseedharan Pillai, ADS thanked.
Ms.J.Jayalalitha (68), Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu has passed away at 11.30 PM on 05-12-2016. She was a popular leader and affectionately called,Amma. She battled for life for the last 75 days in Apollo Hospital, Chennai and the end came after a massive heart attack. It was the 4th term as Chief Minister for the actress turned J.Jayalalitha.
AIBDPA pays respectful homage to Ms.Jayalalitha and conveys heartfelt condolences to her family and the people of Tamil Nadu.
3rd biennial District Conference og Nagercoil was held on 28-11-2016 with good participation of pensioners. Com.K.Shakul Hameed, District President presided. Com.S.Mohandoss, CHQ Vice President & Circle President inaugurated the conference covering current developments and pensioners issues. Com. C.K.Narasimhan, Circle Secretary delivering the special address dealt on organisational matters including the ensuing Circle Conference being held at Tenkasi on 19-20, February, 2016. Com.K.Kaliprasad, CHQ Organising Secretary and other leaders also addressed.
After adoption of biennial report and audited accounts, office bearers were elected unanimously with Com.K.Shakul Hameed (President), Com.A. Meenakshisundaram (District Secretary) and Com. A. Hariharan (Treasurer)
Photo: César A. Rodriguez.
The WFTU General Secretary, George Mavrikos traveled to Cuba to take part in the ceremony of Fidel Castro’s funeral. The WFTU General Secretary conveyed the condolences and the solidarity of WFTU to the Cuban people for the demise of their leader.
On the occasion of his visit to Cuba he gave the below interview to http://www.granma.cu/ on December 3rd :
“George Mavrikos, General Secretary of the World Federation of Trade Unions, arrived in Havana to participate in the funeral ceremonies of our “Comandante en Jefe” Fidel Castro Ruz in Santiago de Cuba.
“For me it is an honor to be on the island these days that are so important for the people of Cuba and for the Revolution” said G. Mavrikos, during a press conference held on Friday in Juan Marinello hall, of the “Central de Trabajadores de Cuba” (Central Union of Cuban Workers, CTC).
He affirmed that he came on behalf of 92 million workers of the WFTU, from 126 countries, to express his sincere condolences for the passing away of “Comandante en Jefe”, whom he knew personally.
“Fidel is immortal”, appreciated the General Secretary of the first workers’ organization in the world. “He will be with us for the centuries to come, with his glow and his example. The WFTU will defend his ideas of international solidarity and of struggle against imperialism, always united with the Cuban people and with CTC”, Mavrikos explained.
In honor of the memory of “Comandante en Jefe” Fidel Castro Ruz, the World Federation of Trade Unions and the National Secretary of CTC, decided that in the framework of the celebrations of May 1st, in 2017, Habana will host the meeting of the Presidential Council of WFTU.
Therefore, leaders of the Federation from 55 nations will visit the country to discuss topics that concern the international working class, and to build in this way the alliance between the working class and the farmers, in search of a fair society, without exploitation of man by man.
“Fidel is an example of dignity, of optimism and of struggle. We will dedicate the next meeting of the Council to his legacy”, he added.”
The First Asian Regional Conference of the Trade Union International (Pensioners & Retirees) will be held on 3rd December 2016 at Kathmandu, Nepal. After the formation of the TUI(P&R) in the Congress held at Barcelona in 2014, this is the first Regional Conference of Asia-Pacific Region. It is expected that delegates from about 20 countries will attend including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka etc.
From India, Comrades K.K.N.Kutty (NCCPA), K,Raghavendran (AIPRPA) and V.A.N.Namboodiri (AIBDPA) will be participating.
In the entire capitalist countries not only the rights of the workers are being attacked, but the pensionary benefits and other concessions granted to the pensioners are being withdrawn. In the name of austerity, attack on the toiling masses continues. It is in this context that the Regional Conference is being held. The Nepal Comrades under the leadership of Com. Mohan Bahadur, Vice-President, TUI(P&R) are making all arrangements for the comfortable stay and holding of the Conference. WFTU and TUI(P&R) leaders also will be attending.
The WFTU expresses its strong condemnation for the serial “accidents” at the workplaces, particularly to many countries in Asia – Pacific region. On an almost daily basis we learn about a new work accident that took the lives of more workers who die while struggling to make a living in miserable working conditions. In the vast majority, the industrial accidents are caused by the criminal negligence and the lack of health and safety protective measures at the workplaces.
There is no doubt that the employers and the owners of the industries and plants know very well the lack of safety measures. They also know the dangers that exist in their enterprises because of the lack of the safety protective measures. According to this fact we can easily conclude that the “accidents” are nothing else than conscious murders.
The protection of the life of the working class is a main task of the trade union movement. Orientated by the resolution “platform 2016 – 2020” of the 17th World Trade Union Congress we demand the implementation immediate and adequate measures that would actually protect the workers lives. In this direction the WFTU and its affiliated members in Philippines and in Indonesia had already plan 2 joint events that will include discussion on that topic. The WFTU calls the class oriented trade unions to take initiatives for continuing and strengthening of our action and struggles:
– for health and safety measures in the workplace that will protect the short and long term health of the workers.
– we fight so that no workers life is sacrificed for profit, and for full reparation of workers or their families in the case of work related incident or illness.
– Adequate and sufficient leaves towards health issues. Under the responsibility of the special committee of Health and Safety:
– We should prepare special materials in various languages that will inform workers on health and safety.
– Organize seminars in cooperation with other WFTU affiliates for informing and educating the workers and union leaders.
– Organize International Conference on the role of the trade unions on issues of “Health and Safety”
– Strengthen international outcry against employers’ unaccountability and strengthen international solidarity for achieving goals in this sector.
The Secretariat
On receipt of numerous complaints from both BSNL and DoT pensioners regarding non-payment/ meagre payment of pension to those drawing pension from the post offices, Com.V.A.N.Namboodiri, Advisor and Com.K.G.Jayaraj, General Secretary rushed to the Dak Bhawan, New Delhi ,on 01-12-2016 with a detailed letter to the Secretary, Department of Posts. In the letter CHQ brought to the notice of the Secretary, Posts the hardships and distress being experienced by the pensioners, particularly in Assam and Bihar circles and sought his immediate intervention to mitigate the sufferings of the pensioners by arranging pension in cash by the post offices.
Unfortunately, the Secretary happened to be in a meeting and the representatives were asked to meet Shri. Manish Sinha, DDG (PFP) who is in charge of the pension matters. In the discussion that followed, the DDG took a very positive response and immediately called some of the CPMGs to ascertain the exact position. He assured that whatever possible will be done in the matter with all the seriousness it deserves.
The representatives also pointed out the inordinate delay in disbursement of Quarterly IDAs to BSNL pensioners drawing pension from post offices, insisting to get the hard copy of the IDA order, despite clear instruction to disburse after downloading the order from the website. They pointed out that in the case of certain sub post offices which are not connected with computer network,the concerned Head Post Office should be directed to provide the copy of IDA orders to such sub post offices. The DDG readily agreed to do the needful in the matter.<<view letter>>
Government Of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension
Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare
3″ Floor. Lok Nayak Bhawan,
Khan Market.
New Delhi 29-11-2016
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Sub: Processing of Pension cases mandatorily through Bhavishya (Online Pension Sanction & Payment Tracking System) wef 01/01/2017 — reg,
Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare is responsible for formulation of policy and coordination of matters relating to pension policy and welfare of Central Government pensioners. It has been seen that despite detailed guidelines and instructions to the contrary a large proportion of retiring employees do not get their retirement benefits and the Pension Payment Order(PPO) in time It is likely that such retired employees find it difficult to get the process completed after retirement. The sanction process starts more than a year before the date of retirement and requires cooperation amongst various agencies. This department has, therefore, launched Bhavishya — an online pension sanction and payment tracking system, The system by keeping track of the progress Of each case introduces transparency and accountability. Both the retiring employees as well as administrative authorities can monitor progress at each stage.
2. The system has been running successfully in the main Secretariat of all ministries/departments for the last one year, It has since been extended to cover over 3000 Drawing and Disbursing Officers and Pay and Accounts Offices from various ministries/departments and their attached offices
3.It has now been decided that all Heads of Offices will henceforth mandatorily process all pension cases only through Bhavishya. In this, where necessary, they will assist the retiring employee to submit the online application form. The Pay and Accounts Offices will process cases generated through Bhavishya through the pension module in
COMPACT till the Public Financial Management System(PFMS) is made operational and integrated with Bhavishya.
4.It is to be noted that al’ authorities will strictly follow the timelines prescribed under the CCS(Pension) Rules and in no case will the pension case be delayed on account of electronic processing through Shavishya,
5.These instructions take effect trom January, 2017.
This issues with the approval of competent authority.
(Seema Gupta)
Director
Central Government will shortly hold auction for strategic sale of Bhadravati, Salem and Durgapur Subsidiary Companies of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).
The government is bifurcating units in to subsidiary companies and then making strategic sale to private companies. This is another form of privatisation.
It is for this that Tower Subsidiary Company is being formed from BSNL. BSNL workers are going on strike against this move on 15 December 2016.
Make the strike 100% success and defeat the anti-PSU move of the Government