BMS NATIONAL OFFICE BEARERS MEET IN HARIDWAR
BMS national office bearers meet in Haridwar
—Swami Satyamitranand Giri
Ravindra Saini
“Labourers play a key role in the development of any nation, industry or the institution. It is must to respect their contribution. But today the condition of labourer and the industries in the country is highly painful. It is the responsibility of the employer or the government to ensure that the workers should remain happy and their grievances should be resolved timely. If a worker ties black strip while working in Japan, his grievances are redressed immediately. But in India nobody pays respect to such means of protest. Therefore, agitation remains the only remedy for the workers in our country today,” said founder of Bharatmata Mandir Swami Satyamitranand Giri while inaugurating a three-day meeting of BMS central office bearers in Haridwar on May 4. A total of 36 senior BMS leaders from all over the country participated in the meeting.
Swami Satyamitranand Giri further said the BMS came into existent so that Bharat should not become a carbon copy of the West. He appealed to the government to pay adequate attention to the grievances of the workers.
RSS Sahsarkarayvah Shri Dattatreya Hosabale was also present in the meeting for all three days. He said as the BMS work is expanding in different sectors, the BMS workers should work with more dedication for protecting the rights of the workers.
BMS president Shri CK Sajinarayan described the February 28 strike as a historic event in the history of trade union movement as for the first time all the trade unions joined hands with the BMS. He however regretted that the government did not pay adequate attention to the demands of the workers. “Therefore, the agitation has to be taken to new heights. During the last two decades the workers have lost job security, social security and also the wage security. The agitation is the only way left out before the workers to save these three vital things,” he said demanding Rs 10,000 minimum wage for the workers across the country.
BMS general secretary Shri Baijnath Rai spoke about the poor condition of flagship schemes of the central government. Referring to NAREGA he said last year (2011-12) a total of 52-day employment was provided under NAREGA. But now since the central government has reduced its budget from Rs 39,100 crore to Rs 33000 in this financial year, this number of working days will further decrease. “More alarming fact is that 6 per cent of this 33000 crore will be spent on administrative work while 40 per cent will be spent on construction activities. The question is how can the government provide the employment of 100 days in just Rs 17,000 crore, as promised by it under the scheme, Shri Rai asked.
Similarly, the hiked honorarium of the Anganwadi workers has not been paid in many of the states, as the central government has not yet released the funds. He also spoke about the similar problems being faced by people involved in other schemes like Asha, mid-day meal, etc.
According to Shri Pawan Kumar, organising secretary of Uttar Kshetra, the BMS has decided to organise the rural workers and this work will be done in phased manner. He said a training camp for the workers who will do this work would be organised in Bhusaval (Maharashtra) from July 14 to 15. Similarly, a three day camp will be held in Delhi from August 12 to 14 to discuss the problems of women workers. He said a mass awareness campaign would be organised all over the country from July 23 to October 14 to educate the rural workers of the rights.
