FAST AT THE CALL OF NCCPA BEFORE PARLIAMENT

FAST AT THE CALL OF NCCPA BEFORE PARLIAMENT

NATIONAL CO-ORDINATION COMMITTEE

OF PENSIONERS ASSOCIATIONS

13-C-Feroze  Shah Road,

New Delhi. 110 001.

Dated: 10^th July, 2018.

President: Com.Shiv Gopal Misra.      9717647594

Secretary General.  Com.KKN Kutty. 98110 48303

Dated: 20^th March, 2019

Dear Comrades,

Dharna fast at Jantar Mantar on 15.3.2019

                As has been decided by the National Executive Committee at its meeting held at Chennai on 5.08.2019 the dharna fast programme was carried out on 15^thMarch, 2019 at Jantar Mantar.  We had to encounter quite a number of problems as has been the case on the earlier occasions to get the permission of the Police authorities of Delhi to conduct the programme.  This time, the excuse for refusing permission was the notification (Press release) of the Election  Commission declaring election for the 17^th Lok Sabha.  The Police authorities  wanted us to get the permission of the Election observer  at Delhi for which our comrades at Delhi has to endeavour for a whole day.  At the end of the day,  the Election Observer rightly observed that she was appointed as an observer for holding the election and  not for holding Dharna.  In the evening, a meeting of the available comrades was held  and it was decided that what may, we will hold the Dharna Fast at Jantar Mantar.  The Police ultimately did not object and the programme went on without any further hindrance.

                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 16^th 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.

National Sectt. Meeting: 16.3.2019.

                The meeting was held at AIRF Library Hall, presided over by Com.V.A.N. Namboodiri, Patron of NCCPA.  The Secretariat reviewed the conduct of and participation in the programme, the conclusion of which has been detailed in the preceding paragraph.  In order to comprehend the strength and weakness , which is the very purpose of such reviews, the meeting has decided to call for details of participation from each of the affiliate and State Unit so  that corrective steps could be taken to remove the weakness in the organisation.  The meeting noted that the absence of the important office bearers of NCCPA, i.e. Secretary General, Deputy and Assistant Secretary Generals, who had to be  away from 24^th Feb. to 9^th March, to attend the TUI  meeting at Bogota must have acted as a debilitating factor, which was in any case unavoidable. 

                Agenda Item No. 2. Court Cases:

                Option No. 1.  The suggestion of the Secretary General, emanating from the discussions, he had with the Advocates to the effect that petition must be filed before the Pr. Bench of the Tribunal was accepted by the house.  The proposal of CGPA Kerala to engage Shri Kaleeswaramraj & Associates was also accepted.  The package deal for the case is reported to be Rs. 2 lakhs, of which one lakh has to be paid at the time of filing the case.  The Secretary General will meet the Advocates in the first week of April and  will finalise the  matter so that the petition could be filed when the court re-opens after the summer vacation.  It was decided that   each affiliate and the State Committee will contribute to the litigation fund.  The amount to be contributed will be worked out by the Secretary General after ascertaining the membership base of each of them. 

                MACP Case.  It was decided to file the case after obtaining application from those who are affected or benefitted.  Each applicant will be asked to pay Rs. 1000 initially and the advocate identified at the instance of AIPRPA will be engaged.  All affiliates and State units will collect the applications and forward the same to the CHQ without further loss of time. 

                NCCPA Journal.  The journal, it was noted, is running in losses.  To obviate the difficulties the only way was to increase its price, which can  only be done at the next conference.  In the meantime, the Assistant Treasurer and the comrade  in charge of printing the magazine at Kolkata will prepare an Income and Expenditure Statement  from 2015 to date and send the same to the CHQ.  They will also indicate the amount of dues outstanding so that steps could be taken to recover it. 

                Finance:   It was brought to the notice of the house that the travelling expenses to go over to Bogota had to be met  by the Secretary General from his personal funds and the same has to be reimbursed.  While the outstanding dues as per the present provisions of the constitution will be worked out by the treasurer it was decided by the house to seek donation to carry out the day to day activities of the CHQ.  The Secretary General indicated that he was not in possession of the list of all the affiliates till date and Com. Pavitra Chakraborty has promised to provide him a copy thereof immediately.  In the meantime, all affiliates are requested to provide the details of membership for the year F.Y. 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 separately.  This will enable the Sectt. To work out the details of outstanding. 

                Next Conference:  At the last National Executive Committee meeting,  Comrades from Rajasthan CGPA had been requested to undertake the exercise of feasibility of conducting the conference.  It was informed to the house that so far no concrete suggestion has come from them.  The house discussed the matter further as the Conference was overdue.  The meeting decided that in any case conference must be held before the end of 2019. A final reply from Rajasthan may be solicited before the end of the month.  AIPRPA, Tamilnadu State Unit will in the meantime explore the possibility of holding the conference at Chennai and intimate the outcome of their discussions to the Secretary General. 

                Affiliation application.  The application from the Punjab National Bank Pensioners association was considered.  The representatives of the said organization were present at the meeting.  The members had the opportunity to hear them explain their case.  The Bank Comrades will be provided with the copy of the constitution  of NCCPA.  The meeting authorized the Secretary General to grant affiliation to them. 

                Any other matter.  Com. Somayya presented a paper containing the grievances of the CGHS beneficiaries to the meeting.  It was told that JCM is making efforts to have a meeting with the health secretary to discuss the issues.

                Com. Secretary General informed the house that the NCCPA has been granted the PAN No. though the communication is yet to be received in writing.  He hoped that the same will be delivered at the Treasurer’s residence soon. 

                TUI 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 Committee member, 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. 

                With greetings,

Yours fraternally,

Sd/-

K.K.N. Kutty

Secretary General.

Left is always on our side! Let us support the Left in the coming general elections!

CPI(M) Election Manifesto has covered various peoples' issues including against NPS and for Universal Pension to all Senior Citizens! The extracts are as under:

Under Para heading "Highlights":

Old age pension with minimum monthly pension which is not less than half the minimum wage, or, Rs. 6,000 per month, whichever is higher, for all citizens.

Under Para heading "Working Class":

Scrapping of the “New Pension Scheme” and the PFRDA Act and putting in place a benefit-defined pension scheme with adequate funding by employers and government for all workers/employees ensuring at least a pension of 50 per cent of last pay drawn with indexation.

15.03.2019 Delhi Chalo! 

At the call of NCCPA, all of us have to march to Delhi to attend the 'Token Fast' by CG Pensioners at Jantar Mantar from 11.00 a.m to 4.00 p.m.

For AIPRPA comrades coming to Delhi from distant states arrangement for stay on 14th 15th is made by CHQ in Chug Dharmsala, Udyan Marg, Near Goal Market CNG station, New Delhi 110001.

General Secretary K.Ragavendran will be available in Delhi from 13th morning itself. You are free to call for necessities.

Come in large numbers!

Come with banners and flags!

KR GS AIPRPA

Grant of Dearness Relief to Central Government Pensioners / family pensioners - Revised rate effective from 01-01-2019 ...

Grant of Dearness Relief to Central Government Pensioners / family pensioners - Revised rate effective from 01-01-2019 ...

MESSAGE OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

MESSAGE OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

Usha Bonepalli

bonepalliusha@gmail.com

Type of ship     :     A small mini-ship.

Location           :     Highseas, in the South Pacific Ocean.

Between Lyttelton (New Zealand) and Falkland Islands (Argentina)

Climate             :     Rough weather, stormy winds, extremely cold climate.

Ocean waves of 7 metres height.

                                Wind speed of 60 knots (i.e. 112 km/s – speed of Rajdhani express)

Nearest port    :      5000 kms away, on both sides, at least 20 days to reach.

Crew                :      Only six members on the mini ship.

Comrades, this is not a story of fiction. And I am not talking about a voyage of Magellan, about whom we studied in history text books, as the first person who sailed around the world. I am talking about 6 women, who sailed around the world, in a small ship, from Sep 2017 to May 2018. Braving storms on high seas in treacherous oceans. The total strength of crew is 6, and all 6 are women. Vartika Joshi, Pratibha Jamwal, AishwaryaBoddapati, P Swathi, S Vijaya Devi, Payal Gupta. These 6 women sailed on INSV Tarini and circumnavigated the world in 9 months. Let me repeat, only 6 crew members on the ship, all 6 are women.

This display of nerves of steel, steely resolve, resolute determination, determined steadfastedness – these are attributes that each and every woman is born with. Except that these qualities are not recognized. Even by herself.

As the famous story goes, an eagle’s egg was placed with hen’s eggs and hatched. Eagle baby grew up with hens, thinking that it is a hen. When it sees an eagle flying high, it thinks –if God blesses, I will be born as an eagle in next birth.

A woman is conditioned to think that she does not have the bouquet of abilities that she is born with. Stereotypes are created, projecting women as weak, meek, fragile, dependent, and delicate. In households, peer groups, societies, films, advertisements, mass media, and every facet of life that women encounter - as a budding girl, a teenager, a young lady and a woman. It gives immense satisfaction when women break these stereotypes, and emerge as courageous, path breaking icons.

There is no shortage of such path breaking icons. On Jan 4 2019, when Arunima Sinha climbed Mount Vinson in dead-chilly Antarctica, she covered all the highest peaks in all seven continents. She is an amputee, lost her leg when she was pushed from running train while she fought robbers. She was also the 1^st female amputee in the world to scale Mount Everest.

Justice Indu Malhotra became the 1^st woman judge to be elevated as a Judge to Supreme Court directly from the Bar. For the 1^st time, we have three women Judges in the Supreme Court. Flight Lieutenant Avani Chaturvedi became the 1^st Indian woman pilot to fly solo in a MiG-21 Bison fighter jet. ManikaBatra led India to gold in Table Tennis in the 2018 Commonwealth games, defeating Singapore, which never lost in Commonwealth games since table tennis was introduced in 2002. She was featured on cover of July 2018 Femina. 

Indra Nooyi became 1^st independent female director of International Cricket Council(ICC). Debjani Ghosh became 1^st woman President of NASSCOM, organisation which champions the $ 167 billion Indian IT services industry. Anny Divya from Vijayawada became world’s youngest woman commander to fly a Boeing 777. Himadas, daughter of a farmer from Assam, became 1^st Indian sprinter to win a gold medal at an international track event. She is India’s 1^st ever youth ambassador of UNICEF. Jayshree Ullal, CEO & President of Arista Networks, is one of just 72 self made women billionaires globally. For the 1^st time, an all women contingent of Assam Rifles, oldest paramilitary force in the country, walked down Rajpath on Republic Day 2019, led by Major Khusboo Kanwar, daughter of a bus conductor in Rajasthan.

We need to recount, applaud and celebrate these icons, who broke the stereotypes, and proved that women can excel in any given field. Many of them came from middle class and poor livelihoods. But today, they are rich trailblazers to a generation of young eager women trying to explore their potential, trying to make a mark in the world, in their individual fields.

It is this trail that is the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day, as given by UN Women: THINK EQUAL, BUILD SMART, INNOVATE FOR CHANGE.

The motto of THINK EQUAL is what churned the organised working women movements around the world. Historically, women are not paid equal pay to equal work. Even today, in the words of Chidi King, Director of the Equality Department of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the main international trade union organization representing the interests of working people worldwide, and a member of UN Women and ILO’s Equal Pay Champions initiative, women across the world still get paid 23 per cent less than men. From ages, women kept waging struggles against such discrimination, but these struggles were routinely ignored or crushed. The exploitation did not weigh them down, it made them think, made them organised. One of the first sparks flew at Massachusetts in 1834.

Women workers at Lowell Cotton Mills in Massachusetts worked for 14 hrs per day. The working conditions were filthy, there was no ventilation, they worked in confinement, noise, and the air was filled with lint. The wages were 1/3rd as compared to men. When these wages were also cut, they felt enough is enough, they organized and went on strike. Women in several other mills joined them. Management crushed the strike within a week, but it stood out as the first organised women workers’ movement in history.

In 1836, when management of the same Lowell Textile Mills announced a rent hike to be paid by textile workers living in company boarding houses, the female textile workers formed Lowell Factory Girls Association and organised a strike. This went on weeks, and eventually, Board of Directors withdrew the rate hike.

In 1945, the workers started Lowell Female Labour Reform association, which was the first working women’s association. It was started with 12 operatives, but membership grew to 500 in 6 months, and continued to expand rapidly. The association was run completely by women, held their own meetings, set up branches in other mill towns. They ran huge petition campaigns and political action, asking the Massachussets state legislature to cap working hours in mills at 10 hours. In 1847, New Hampshire became the 1st state to pass a 10 hour working day. This was the first success for organized working women in any part of the world. This success fuelled organized women movements throughout the world’s working class. Today, we remember that struggle with a sense of pride and honour.

The first National Women’s Day was held in NewYork in 1909 to commemorate the 1908 garments workers strike. On 8th March 1908, 15000 women garment workers marched through Union Square to demand economic and political rights. The three month strike against Triangle Shirtwaist and other mills became hugely successful. This success was celebrated throughout Europe and Soviet. Clara Zeitkin, a German socialist proposed designating a day as ‘International Women’s Day’ at International Socialist Congress in Copenhagen in 1910. From 1911, we are observing International Women’s Day. From 1975, UNO began celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8th.

Comrades, it is because of such glorious struggles in all parts of world that we could secure statutory framework that protect from discrimination against women.

The Convention concerning Equal Remuneration for Men and Women Workers for Work of Equal Value, or Equal Remuneration Convention was framed by the ILO in 1951. The Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), was adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly. It is often described as an international bill of rights for women.India is a signatory to both.

Movements of working women have also ensured that statutory safeguards were included in Maternity Benefit Act 1961, Factories Act 1948, Equal Remuneration Act 1976, Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013 etc. None of these acts were made by way of compassion, but were a result of prolonged struggle of the working women.

After struggling through restricted opportunities in education and employment, having to work 24 x 365 as a mother, wife, sister, daughter, having to run to office after attending to household chores and run back from office to attend house chores again, balancing multiple roles, the least a woman expects is respect in workplace. If she is subjected to sexual harassment, there is nothing more cruel than that. But it is everybody’s knowledge that women are subject to sexual harassment of varying degrees, in varying forms, and they are expected to comply or be silent. It is only in 2013 that the latest Act against sexual harassment at workplace was passed. It was not passed out of voluntary compassion, but as a result of protracted legal struggle resulting in Supreme Court issuing guidelines in the Visakha case. We should keep this in mind that nothing could be achieved unless we organize and wage struggles. We should realize that, though the working women’s movement has achieved significant results, there is a significant lot more to be achieved.

As working women, as much as we are concerned about our working conditions, we are as much concerned about our girl children and fellow women in society, and obstacles they face in their journey to emancipation. The obstacles to equal emancipation are many. If we look at some trends, among students who stopped studies after primary education, 70% are females. Most of the girls are not facilitated to study till higher education. If family size increases, schooling will be provided to boys, girls are compelled to drop out. These conditions result in lack of education, which leads to lack of opportunities. If such obstacles to education are removed, evidence shows thatwomen excel exceedingly. In a report published by American Enterprise Institute (AEI), for a ninth time in a row, women earned more doctoral degrees (Ph.Ds) awarded at US Universities in 2017, than men. Though this is a matter of satisfaction to show that women will excel given a chance, yet a detailed analysis shows the effect of stereotypes: the ratio of Ph.Ds between men and women is 75 : 25 in Maths and Computer Science, 76 : 24 in Engineering. The ratio is 39 : 61 in social and behavioural sciences, 31 : 69 in education, 30 : 70 in health sciences. In the technology areas of maths, engineering, computer science, women Ph.Ds are very less. In health sciences too, we have more women in dental, physiotherapy, gynaecology, obstetrics etc. In niche and high visible areas women are conspicuous by their absence. Women are not into specialities like cardiology, oncology, orthopaedic surgery. Remember when you have heard about a female cardiologist who did an angioplasty or a bypass surgery?In areas regarded are technologically superior, even today, women do not find encouragement to enter, mainly because of stereotyping. Women have a long way to go, to unshackle these stereotypes that women are suitable for such and such jobs only. Women need to think that they are eagles, and fly high.

Women not only have to THINK EQUAL, they need to BUILD SMART.This aspect of BUILD SMART is more critical in these times of revolutionary changes in technology. We need to see more and more women talking enthusiastically about Internet of Things, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Data Mining, Cyber Security, Cloud Computing, Machine Learning -the future of employment is in sectors like these. These new technologies are called ‘disruptors’. They disrupt the way we work. The skills, the technologies, the methods, that we are using in our workplace are suddenly becoming defunct. We see boys flocking to computer institutes to learn these skills. Unless girls focus on BUILD SMART i.e., building such skills smartly, there will be a huge gender gap in employment.Men will be doing all technologically suave jobs which pay more, and women will be relegated to less paying non-tech jobs. In this context, the UN Women motto of THINK EQUAL, BUILD SMART AND INNOVATE FOR CHANGE is compellingly relevant. 

Today is the day to think about the road traveled and about the road to be traveled. Working women’s movement made spectacular advances, we are proud of it. At the same time, we are also vigilant about the challenges. We are conscious of the frame work to achieve that :

a. Maintain a gender parity mindset (question any lack of women’s participation, identify alternatives that are more inclusive, nominate women for opportunities, always include and support women, think 50/50 as goal),

b. Challenge stereotypes and bias (question assumptions about women, challenge statements that limit women, always use inclusive language, work to remove barriers to women’s progress, buy from retailers who position women in positive ways),

c. Forge positive visibility of women (identify ways to make women more visible, extend opportunities to women first, assume women want opportunities until declined, select women as spoke-persons and leaders, support visible women),

d. Influence others’ beliefs/actions (supportively call-out inappropriate behavior, campaign for equality in meaningful ways, lead by example via inclusive actions, be a role model for equality, actively contribute to change the status quo) and;

e. Celebrate women’s achievements (believe achievement comes in many forms, value women’s individual and collective success, ensure credit is given for women’s contributions, celebrate women role models and their journeys, support awards showcasing women’s success).

As Chairperson of the Women’s Committee of Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers, I am confident that we will realize and release the eagle in us. Hearty fraternal wishes for a happy, cheerful and dynamic International Women’s Day 2019.