Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) has appealed to the Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to pay immediate attention to the woes of agriculture workers and farmers who are forced to commit suicide everyday. ?The vigorous pursuit of neo-liberal policies in the case of agriculture has resulted in a serious distress situation in rural areas. Debt, poverty, misery, starvation, deaths and suicides are increasing. This is an alarming situation and the government should look to it forthwith. The government is yet to take any initiative on its assurance to bring a separate comprehensive legislation for protecting the interest of agriculture workers,? the BMS said in its memorandum submitted to the Union Finance Minister on December 29. BMS president Shri Girish Awasthi and national secretary Shri Baijnath Rai participated in the meeting. About the draft of Unorganised Sector Workers Bill, the memorandum said the government has not incorporated the unanimous suggestions of the central labour organisations in the draft Bill. ?The UPA government appears committed to ensure the welfare and well being of all workers, particularly those in unorganised sector who consists of 93 per cent of the total workforce. Social security, health, insurance and other schemes for such workers should be enacted by the Parliament,? the memorandum added. The BMS also demanded the government to put a check on sky-rocketing price rise, which has failed to speed up the procurement programme in time and has allowed the private traders and MNCs to buy and hold foodgrains. It alleged that in the name of dismantling ?Inspector Raj?, the government is shirking from its responsibility of implementing the labour laws. ?Labour law-free atmosphere is sought to be created in the export processing zones (EPZs), special economic zones (SEZs), manufacturing investment regions (MIRs) and 100 per cent export oriented units (EOUs) anywhere in the country by acquiring the fertile land of the farmers, thus encouraging them towards more suicidal attempts. Moreover, according to your statement, there is a huge revenue loss viz. one lakh crore rupees due to these SEZs. This is a very serious issue. Provisions should be made there for introduction of labour laws, so that social security of working class may be protected. However, second National Labour Commission had rejected the demand of exempting export processing zones and special economic zones from the purview of labour laws,? the memorandum added. The BMS also wants that the personal income up to Rs 2 lakh per annum be exempted from income tax and the provision be done away with returns for salaried employees in case of no refund. ?We also demand that income tax on perquisite may be withdrawn and the provision of Income Tax Act clamping the filing of return on trade unions be scrapped, since trade unions are already beyond the clutches of income tax,? the memorandum said. In view of the late constitution of VIth Central Pay Commission, the BMS demanded 15 per cent interim relief and minimum Rs 1000 DP to the central and state government employees, w.e.f. January 1, 2006 till the recommendations of the new Commission are accepted by the government. It would also reduce the financial burden of the government at the time of implementation of the VIth Pay Commission report. Similarly, pensioners should be provided interim relief of minimum of Rs 500/-p.m. The BMS also demanded merger of 50 per cent DA with the basic pay for public sector employees as has been done with the central government employees to remove disparity and their wage revision should be carried out after five years instead of 10 years period. The BMS also stressed the need to enhance interest rate on EPF, GPF, CMPF, PPF and small savings for senior citizens and the common workers. The organisation opposed the enactment of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority to enable privatisation of pension funds and channeling them to share market. Demanding an immediate amendment in the Bonus Act for removal of ceilings, the BMS said the Prime Minister had assured all the central labour organisations in this regard on August 19, 2006, but in vain. ?It is high time that it should not be delayed further and amendment in Bonus Act is done for removal of all ceilings,? the memorandum said. The BMS also suggested the establishment of Workers Bank with the corpus money from EPF to work as commercial bank in order to provide better benefit to the workers. About the growing unemployment problem in the country the BMS demanded that the ban on recruitment should be lifted immediately and an Employment Guarantee Scheme should be launched. The Finance Minister was also urged to look into the issue of granting LTC to the retired government employees for visiting the holy places. (FOC)
