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Friday, Nov 24, 2006
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AITUC demands comprehensive law for unorganised labour

Staff Reporter

"Common man perturbed over the rise in prices of basic commodities such as pulses and vegetables; statistics belie government claims on poverty reduction"

— Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

FOR A CAUSE: Activists of the AITUC and the BKMU taking out a rally protesting against the rise in prices of essential commodities in New Delhi on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: Activists of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and the Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union (BKMU) took out a protest march here on Thursday demanding enactment of a comprehensive law for the unorganised sector and threatened to bring the entire country to a standstill on December 14 if their demands were not met.

It was for the first time that activists of the AITUC and the BKMU from different States had gathered in such large numbers at the Ramlila Grounds here. The entire Ranjit Singh flyover was swathed in red as the flag-bearing and slogan-shouting protesters marched to the Barakhamba Road-Tolstoy Marg intersection where they were addressed by senior leaders.

Addressing the gathering, Communist Party of India general secretary and AITUC vice-president A.B. Bardhan said people from different parts of the country had gathered in the capital to make the Government realise that the common man was perturbed over the rise in prices of basic commodities such as pulses and vegetables. "How will the people survive?" he asked, pointing out that although the Government had been making tall claims, statistics revealed there had been a mere 0.74 per cent reduction in poverty over the past 20 years.

Special economic zones

Mr. Bardhan accused Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia of overlooking the plight of the masses. He came down heavily on the Centre for its decision to formulate over 300 Special Economic Zones on irrigated land, saying the move was not in the national interest.

"They say that they were inspired by China. But in China, there are only six to eight such zones, that too in places near the sea," said Mr. Bardhan. He said in the name of creating such zones, industries would be given unnecessary tax rebate. "Earlier too lakhs of such small and big industries had come up, but were they given such rebates?" asked Mr. Bardhan.

Questioning the allotment of thousands of acres to a large business house for setting up a power plant at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, he said a request of the workers for clearance of three co-operative societies was turned down by the State Government. "Where would the common man go?" he asked, demanding proper implementation of the Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

AITUC general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta accused the Government of betraying the voters. Stating that the Government policies promoted capitalism, Mr. Dasgupta said the Centre had failed to implement the Common Minimum Programme.

"The anti-poor and pro-rich policies are in a way helping the Bharatiya Janata Party," he said, adding that if the Government did not heed their demands even after the general strike called on December 14, the agitation would be intensified.

He demanded levying of more tax on the rich and using the money for providing social security cover to all workers.

Later the leaders passed a resolution demanding ratification of a comprehensive bill with Central funding for the unorganised sector, restoring the Public Distribution System, enforcing labour laws, ensuring supply of rural credit, guaranteeing reasonable price for agricultural produce, restoring the land reform process, filling up of vacancies in Government departments, a complete check on foreign investment in the retail trade, financial sector, defence and telecom.

AITUC president Pramod Gogoi later said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Lok Sabha Speaker had agreed to meet an AITUC-BKMU delegation.

Among others who attended the rally were CPI national secretary D. Raja and AITUC secretary Amarjeet Kaur and Nagendra Nath Ojha of BKMU.

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