Editorial August 2016

 

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 EDITORIAL         AUGUST 2016

 

              Chief                  Editor                                                                

                                                          THOTA HANUMAIAH

   ECONOMY OF NEO-LIBERALISAM AND THE FACTS OF ITS DEVASTATING EFFECTS.  

 

Ever since the initiation of the process of Neo-Liberal economic reforms in 1991, the leaders of capitalist school of thought have been shouting from room tops stating that the neo-liberal Economic reforms will lead our country to a state of economic development wherein, milk and honey flow freely. But, the experience of the past 25 years of reforms has virtually ran counter to the propagated objectives and resulted in promoting the Rich as richest and poor as poorest. This has happened because the very basic objective of neo liberal reforms is sheer profit maximization by economically exploiting the vast majority of people, by few capitalist rich, leaving the poor impoverished. In India  the richest  1%  of people own  53% of the country’s wealth, while the top 10%  of our population owns 76.3% or more than 3/4^th of the wealth, leaving only 1/4^th of  country’s wealth  to the rest of the 90% population.

 

The Indian ruling classes, the present and the past, by adopting the neo-liberal reforms led our economy in to the strangle hold of imperialist globalisation trap. The capitalist intent of maximizing the profit, has led to series of policy changes lifting the controls on the movement of capital across national boundaries. These reforms have resulted in privatizing the public services viz; electricity, water, transport, education and health etc., the reforms have affected our lives in all spheres. The inequalities are on rise. The constitutional guarantee of equality, liberty and fraternity are, in practice, not available to the vast population of India.

From the inception of these reforms in 1991, the governments have been targeting the working people and their hard earned rights. These governments have been, consistently, making false propagations against workers, labour laws and trade unions, projecting them as the hurdles in the way of Investments, Industrialisation and creation of employment opportunities. They are raising unlawful propositions of Flexibility of laws and down sizing of workers strength to appease the capitalist classes at the cost of working class. The labour laws of the country, are the products of the long drawn battles of the working people .They are targeted by the NDA government to dilute them and strip the workers of the protective shield of the labour laws in order to modify them, and/or re-enact these laws, duly incorporating the provisions that suited exploitation of workers by the capitalist classes.  In this act of change of laws the government has, also, included the right to form a union of the workers’ choice, by contemplating changes to the Trade Union Act, 1926. 

The result of the reforms was that more than 60 percent of the work force in the organised sector is denied even statutory minimum wages and social security benefits like ESI and EPF.  More than 50 percent of workers in the public sector and around 70 percent in private sector are contract workers.  These workers under different nomenclature are employed in permanent, perennial and continuous jobs in total violation of Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act and other labour laws.  12 hours work has become the order of the day in many establishments.

Another aspect of this is that the share of wages in industrial sector has been continuously declining from around 30 percent in 1982-83 to 12.9 percent in 2012-13.  This has been falling further while the share of profits increased from around 20 percent to 50 percent during the above said period. The situation has changed for the worse with the NDA government headed by the BJP coming in to power after the general elections in 2014. The NDA government is moving aggressively, creating a devastating impact on the lives and livelihood of the working people of the country.

A series of amendments have been proposed by the government of India during the last 26 months.  While the government has announced its decision to convert 44 Labour laws into five labour codes, removing all the rights and protection clauses for labour, the drafts of Wage Code Bill and Industrial Relation Code are ready to be introduced in parliament.  The Factories Amendments Bill is already in parliament and the government has rejected all the recommendations of the standing committee and is going ahead with more retrograde amendments.  Simultaneously a new Bill called Small Factories Bill is being readied.  The net result of these two Bills, related to factories, is that more than 75 percent of the factory workers will go out of coverage of the Factories Act and also 14 other basic labour laws including Minimum Wages Act, Maternity Act, ESI and EPF Acts.

In the name of ending inspection raj the enforcement machinery has been dismantled, the basic right to form a union of workers choice is being denied and all the existing labour laws are being amended to deprive workers even the minimum guarantee, which existed earlier. The net result is that of increasing the exploitation of workers and converting them literally to bonded labour.

Not only the central government, but many of the state governments, especially those under the BJP have gone ahead and amended the labour laws, mainly on the lines of the central government's proposals. In fact, with the Rajasthan government taking the lead in enacting the anti-worker amendments, the Prime Ministers Office had written to all the state governments to follow the Rajasthan government.

The working people in the country have been organising resistance against these policies from 1991 itself.  Despite large-scale victimisation, threats of outright dismissals, physical attacks by police and goondas for making efforts to form unions, there have been powerful fight backs in almost all the major industrial centers in the country.  These have happened even without formal unions being formed and some times resulting even in violence at work places. There have been strikes and struggles mainly related to these basic policy related issues at unit, sectoral and state levels, in addition to the country wide general strikes.

It is to the credit of the organised trade union movement in the country that the Central Trade Unions and National Federations have been on a joint platform to struggle against these neo-liberal policies.  The charter of demands included not only the work related issues, but demands of all sections of people.  Though from 1991 it was the Left unions Central Trade Unions and also National Federations which went on campaigns and struggles, the total unity of Central Trade Unions and National Federations could be achieved from September 2009.  A common charter of demands, consisting 12 point charter were submitted to the government of India.  None of the governments at the Centre took up these demands for serious consideration.

After the strike on September 2, 2015, the BJP headed NDA government has speeded up the `reforms’ in many sectors.  The latest was to announce the `fixed term employment’, which the Vajpayee government had introduced and the Left parties and TUs had forced the UPA government to drop. Fixed term employment will result in the end of job security of workers, resulting in a situation of hire and fire with a legal sanction. It is in such a situation that the Central Trade Unions and National Federations are preparing for the seventeenth country wide strike in the 25th year of neo-liberalism, on September 2, 2016.All trade unions and associations and their members should support, unitedly, to make the strike a grand success.

The 7^th CPC recommendations are nothing but the out come of the policies pursued by the government of India which paved the way for foreign direct investment in to the Railways, Defence, LIC, Banks etc.The foreign investors instead of investing in their own country, prefer to invest in other countries, where ever they found that they can reap maximized profits than in their own countries. They maximise the profits by exploiting the labour by paying cheap remuneration and extracting maximum out put from their toil. The government is making the ground fertile to suite these needs of foreign and private players to assure them of guaranteed maximization of profits in India. Therefore, it is the wish of the government that the 7^th CPC has translated it in to, recommending the ever lowest increase of pay for central government employees in the post independent era of India. This meager increase of pay, forces the government employees to live in sub standard living conditions far below the standards of living wage provided for in the Constitution of India. This meager increase is not at all a match for the sky rocketing market prices of all goods and services and in any case the pay rise is most insignificant by any standards. L ARTICLES

Independence Day on August 15 is an occasion to commemorate the freedom struggle against British rule which saw the participation of millions of people across the length and breadth of the country. It is an occasion to pay homage to the tens of thousands who laid down their lives for the cause of freedom. Independence of India has raised the hopes of people to secure and lead a life of dignity, free from poverty, economic and social exploitation. This quest has remained unfulfilled even after seven decades of independence.

This Independence Day anniversary was preceded by another kind of anniversary. This was the completion of 25 years of liberalisation which began in 1991. For the big business, corporates and the ruling circles, this was the dawn of another kind of “freedom”. The process of liberalisation and neo-liberal reforms initiated an era of “freedom” to loot the resources of the country; privatise the basic services catering to the people and the “freedom” to maximise profits at the expense of the people. These 25 years of right wing neo-liberal reforms have resulted in a sharp increase in social and economic inequalities which have undermined the popular aspirations expected from the independence of India. The increasing burdens of price rise, unemployment and the threats to the livelihood of workers, peasants and other sections of the working people are the results of the aggressive pursuit of neo-liberal policies.

PEOPLE ORIENTED ALTERNATIVE ECONOMIC VISION IS THE BEST FIT FOR OUR COUNTRY.             To ensure adoption of people oriented alternative economic vision that can generate a greater  economic growth and a great society, on the basis of our constitutional guarantees, we will have to: 1. abandon the neo-liberal reform trajectory, 2.stop the  huge tax concessions and the loot of our economy through crony capitalism and corruption.3.stop the annual tax concessions for the rich that would release more than Rs 5 lakh crores of legitimate governmental revenues, 4. Strictly implement the law of our land and recover the default bank loans (NPAs) that would release resources of Rs 8.5 lakh crores,    5. besides, getting back the black money stashed in the foreign country banks.  If, this huge amount of money is used for a massive programme of public investments to build our much needed economic and social infrastructure, it would set in motion the creation of massive employment opportunities for our youth, When these newly-employed youth spend their earnings, that would provide the necessary impetus for the growth of manufacturing and the industrial sector which is currently stagnating, if not declining, due to lack of required domestic demand.  This expansion of domestic demand by increasing purchasing power in the hands of our people, by itself, will bring about an inclusive growth trajectory. We, thus, have enough resources to build our infrastructure and provide our youth, the vast majority of our population today, with education, health and jobs.  This, by itself, will create a better India. There is, therefore, an alternative to this neo-liberal trajectory, that is a people oriented alternative economy, as envisaged above.

The 7^th CPC recommendations are nothing but the outcome of the policies pursued by the government of India which paved the way for foreign direct investment in to the Railways, Defence, LIC, Banks etc.The foreign investors instead of investing in their own country, prefer to invest in other countries, where ever they found that they can reap maximized profits than in their own countries. They maximise the profits by exploiting the labour by paying cheap remuneration and extracting maximum out put from their toil. The government is making the ground fertile to suite these needs of foreign and private players to assure them of guaranteed maximization of profits in India. Therefore, it is the wish of the government that the 7^th CPC has translated in to, by recommending the ever lowest increase of pay for central government employees in the post independent era of India.This meager increase of pay, forces the government employees to live in sub standard conditions of living, far below the standards of living wage, provided for in the Constitution of India. This meager increase is not at all a match for the sky rocketing market prices of all goods and services and in any case the pay rise is most insignificant by any standards. This injustice has to be fought out unitedly. Therefore, the central government employees unions came on to streets agitating against the retrograde recommendations of 7^th cpc and served strike notice. The AILRSA has taken a principled stand and agitated against the unjustified recommendations of the 7^th cpc. The AILRSA, in its Nagpur CWC meeting has decided to support the central government employees strike scheduled to be launched from 11-07-2016.It is only after that decision of AILRSA, and its field action of rallying together of all employees all over India, the central government came forward for negotiations with NJCA on 30-06-2016 and 06-07-2016 and assured to consider the review of 7th cpc recommendations in regard to minimum pay demand of Rs.26000/- as against recommended pay of Rs.18000/-and the consequential multiplying factor etc; resulting in deferment of strike action. The out come of the government’s review is awaited. In this connection, the decision taken and action initiated by AILRSA was well received and appreciated by employees and unions alike.

The 7^th cpc has given the most unjustified, unreasonable and irrational recommendations in the case of Loco Pilots, as is evident from the reading of its report. It has failed to apply its mind to appreciate the job attributes, the worth of charge, the inhuman working conditions and working against the vagaries of nature ,the risk and responsibilities involved, deprivation of sleep, family and social life, highest medical standards, compulsory sober test, highest technical knowledge of various types of locomotives of diesel, diesel  hydraulic, diesel electric, electric loco motives of Ac and Dc, hauling heavy loads at higher speeds, acquainting with the topography of road and signals  of thousands of kilometers, facing every minute a signal, working  on a track with automatic block system, absolute block system, absolute permissive block system, twin single line, double line, single line and sidings, stations of inter locking and non interlocking ,possessing highest knowledge of general and subsidiary rules, accident manual, block working manual, station working rules ,special instructions, safety circulars, track knowledge, OHE knowledge, knowledge of Guard duties, knowledge of TXR duties and knowledge of wagon and coach and their trouble shooting enroute, knowledge of locomotive  maintenance supervisors to examine the locomotives for their good fettle and fitness to haul the trains and further for trouble shooting the locomotive defects as and when they surface enroute and in practice they surface frequently, possessing  valid  certificate  of medical knowledge to render first aid to the passengers and staff as and when required etc; The pay commission  by not applying its mind to these and other vital factors, has failed to allot appropriate  pay levels of 7^th cpc commensurate with the worth of charge  held by a loco pilot of different descriptions as ALP, LP shunting, LP goods, LP passenger, LP mail  performing distinctly different duties in working the different classifications of trains. Further, the CPC caused break down of parity of pay levels of loco pilots by equating a new recruit of ASM cadre pay level with that of Mail Driver and the SM cadre was allotted higher pay level than the Mail Driver. This is the blatant distortion of parity of pay levels historically, prevailed allotting higher pay scales to Loco Pilots(drivers) than the ASM and SM, ever since the inception of railways.  The ministry of railways has a duty towards this very vital category of loco pilots to review the 7^th cpc recommendations for ensuring allotment of different higher pay levels suitable to each of the category of loco duly maintaining the historical parity with ASM & SM similarly situated other categories, so as to undo the injustice done to the LOCO PILOTS, by the 7^th cpc.

It is a well settled matter that the pay element in running allowances is part of basic pay and has to be taken in to account for fixation of pay levels in 7^th cpc also, as is the case in the previous pay commissions. The minimum increase of 14.29 % in the initial pay fixation should be ensured. It is also well settled as back as 1980 by the same RAC 1980 report as accepted by the ministry of railways that 30% of pay element taken   for calculation of running allowances  and 55% for calculation of retirement benefits and it is in vogue ,ever since 1980.. Similarly, the same RAC has prescribed the formula for deriving the running allowances rates and same is accepted and followed for the past almost 4 decades. Therefore, constitution of empowered committee SUO MOTU by railway board for review of running allowances is totally unwarranted. Even the 7^th cpc did not recommend review of running allowances. The railway Minister is, therefore, required to intervene and abolish the empowered committee, immediately.

The AILRSA and Running staff should continue their relentless struggles till they achieve their legitimate and genuine demands of pay levels and pay element in running allowances.

THOTA HANUMAIAH.