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Thursday, March 3, 2011

CONFEDERATION CIRCULAR ON NATIONAL WOMEN CONVENTION

Dated:1.03.2011

Confdn/5/2011

Dear Comrade,

National Women Convention

The first National women convention of Central Govt. employees was held at Maulali Yuba Kendra, Kolkata on 7th and 8th Feb. 2011. The convention began with the inaugural session chaired by Com. S.K. Vyas. President, Confederation and addressed by Com. K.K.N. Kutty, Secretary General. It was followed by an impressive procession taken out from K.G. Bose Bhawan, the Hqrs. of the COC West Bengal to the venue of the convention hall, participated by not only delegates but by thousands of women workers of various Central Govt. offices in Kolkata. The processionists carried placards, banners, flags and traversed a distance of about 3 to 4 Kms shouting slogans on demands specific to women workers. The processionists were greeted by various Central Government organizations; BSNL employees union and the Pensioners Association on the way

On convergence at the Yuba Kendra, which had been jam packed and overflowing, the open session was addressed by Com. Sudha Sundaraman, General Secretary, All India Democratic Women Association, New Delhi. In her hour and half speech, Com. Sudha Sundararaman touched upon various national and international issues, the problems and difficulties confronted by the working women employees in particular and the women in the Indian society in general. She exhorted the participants to be active in the Trade Union movement along with their men counterparts to bring about a strong and militant resistance movement to the neo liberal economic policies the pursuance of which has made the common people to suffer.

Earlier Prof. Jasodhara Bagchi, Chairperson, Reception Committee welcomed delegates and guests. In her speech she underlined the significance of the Convention, the background and history of the women's movement, the sterling role played by the women in the evolution of a civilized society.

The convention was greeted, inter alia, by Com M Krishnan, Secretary General, National Federation of Postal Employees, Com.Ashok B Salunkhe, Secretary General, Income Tax Employees Federation, Com.M S Raja, Secretary General, All India Audit & Accounts Employees Association, Com.K V Jayraj, General Secretary, National Federation of Atomic Energy Employees, ComVrigu Bhattacharjee, Secretary General, All India Civil Accounts Employees Association, Com.Somnath Bramha, General Secretary, All India Printing and Stationery Employees Federation, Com K V Sridharan, General Secretary, All India Postal Employees Union Group C, New Delhi.

Subject Session

The subject session which followed thereafter was conducted by a presidium consisting of the following comrades :

1. Com.Gita Ghoshal – ITEF(W.B)

2. Com.C P.Shobhana – NFPE (Kerala)

3. Com.Pushpeswari Devi – NFPE (AP)

4. Com.Neena Kumari Kujur - Audit(Odissa)

5. Com M Durga – Civil Accounts (Chennai)

The Secretary General, Confederation presented the report. The following 22 comrades participated in the deliberation on the report:

1. Vidya Bodas – ITEF, Mumbai 2. V Narmatha – Audit & Accounts, Delhi, 3. Deepa Sen Sharma – ITEF, NER 4. Lakshmi Swaminathan – Civil Accounts 5. Aruna V.B – AG's Office, Trivandrum 6. Jyothi Samel – NFAE 7. Damayanthi Loknath 8. Ratna Shome – NFPE Kolkata 9. Mausumi Majumder - NFPE Assam 10. R Geetha – CGHS Pondichery 11. Hemavani – NFPE Andhra Pradesh 12. Neelu Goutham – ITEF Lucknow 13. Premlatha Ramaswami – AG's Office Mumbai 14. Kalpana Dutta – Civil Accounts, Delhi 15. Kalpana Adhikary – CGWB Bhubaneswar 16. Nirmala G – ITEF Karnataka 17. Ariya Devi – NFPE Kerala 18. Manisha Biswas – BSNLEU, W.B 19. Annamma - Sreechitra Staff Union, Trivandrum 20.Namitha Banerjee – Audit & Accounts 21. Pushpita Dutta Gupta – Printing & Stationary, Kolkata.


Resolution adopted

The house was composed of 190 delegates and 13 observers representing various States and different Organizations of the CG employees. This apart the inaugural function was witnessed by 373 observers representing different CG employees' organization located in the city of Kolkata. After discussions the house adopted unanimously the report. On the basis of the deliberations in the house and presentations made by the above mentioned 22 delegates the house also decided to adopt the following resolutions. The full text of which will be published later.

A. To observe the International Women's day on 08.03.2011 at all State Capitals by organizing meetings/convention etc. to explain the significance of the women's movement and the need for organizing working women.

B. To demand that the Govt. take steps to pass the Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha.

C. To set up committees in all offices to prevent sexual harassment as per the guidelines issued by the Govt.of India in this regard and ensure that such committees are headed by judicial officers of appropriate levels. To demand for an enactment in the Parliament to give the guidelines a statutory status.

D. To demand that the Govt. accepts all recommendations made by the 6thCPC in respect of women issues and orders issued thereon.

E. The orders presently issued by the Govt. in the matter of Child care leave has stipulated that the said leave has to be treated like Earned Leave. Since this has afforded discretion for the controlling officers to either grant, reject or reduce the period of leave. The house had decided to demand that such discretionary powers are not given to the sanctioning authorities.

F. To support and popularize the issues on which working class would be organizing march to Parliament on 23rd Feb.'11.

G. To ensure larger participation of women employees in all struggles against the neo-liberal economic policies.

Election of Womens' committee

In the post lunch session the house discussed the formation of a women's committee to give an organizational shape to carry out the decisions of the convention. Since a few of the affiliated organizations and certain states could not depute delegates to attend the convention, it was decided that the committee so formed should have the power to co-opt members to provide wider representation. On this understanding the convention selected the following comrades to constitute the committee.

1. Com. Gita Ghoshal - Chairperson, ITEF, W.B

2. Com. C P Shovona - Convenor, NFPE, Kerala

3. Com. Ninakumari Kujur - Member, Sudit, Odissa

4. Com. Nirmala - do , ITEF, Karnataka

5. Com. Kamalesh Kumari - do , Civil Accounts, Delhi

6. Com. Neha Talwar - do , NFAEE , Nagpur

7. Com. Lakshmi Devi - do , NFPE P3, A.P

8. Com. Rina Saha - do , NFPE P3, W.B

9. Com. Seethalakshmi - do , NFPE P4, Karnataka

10. Com. Narmada - do , Audit, T Nadu

11. Com. Mausumi Majumder- do , NFPE, Assam

12. Com. Tanushree Roy - do , ITEF, Odissa

13. Com. Roopa Bathna - do , Postal, MP

14. Com. Devaki Devi - do , Audit, HP

15. Com. Jyothi Samel - do , NFAEE, Mumbai

16. Com. Vidya Bhodse - do , ITEF, Mumbai

17. Com. Mansha Majumder - do , West Bengal

18. Com. Rumpa Kar - do , National Library, W.B

19. Com. Neelu Gautham - Member, ITEF, UP

20. Com. Geetha - do , Pondichery

21. Com. Narayani - do, Chitra Thirunal Research Institute,

Thiruvananthapuram

22. Com. Kalpana Adhikari - do , Ground Water Board, Odissa

23. Com. L Kharstum - do , Civil Accounts, Meghalaya

The composition of the House

As per the credential committee's report submitted to the house of the 190 delegates who attended the convention 44 were office bearers of various Organizations; 22 Organizations and 13 States were represented in the convention; of the 373 observers 13 were pensioners; the youngest comrade who attended the convention was 28 years old and the oldest 58; the oldest amongst the pensioners was 76 years old and youngest 60. The convention was concluded with vote of thanks proposed by Com. M S Raja. On behalf of the delegates and observers and on behalf of the Central Hqrs. Of Confederation Com. M S Raja profusely thanked the co-ordination committee of West Bengal for the excellent arrangement made for the conduct of the convention and for the boarding and lodging of the delegates. The full text of the welcome speech, the Secretary General's report and the Introductory pamphlet issued by the Reception committee are enclosed. A few Photographs of the convention held at Kolkata has been placed on the website under this Circular letter.

Workers March to Parliament 23rd February, 2011

Even as per the very conservative observation 6 lakhs workers are reported to have participated in the great rally organized by the Central Trade Unions alongwith various Employees Federation on 23rd February, 2011 at New Delhi. It was a grand show of workers might and determination to fight against the neo-liberal economic policies of the Govt.of India. Confederation and its affiliates can be proud of the fact that the Central Govt. employees were part and parcel of this huge demonstration. Large number of comrades came from Delhi and neighboring States to participate in this rally. Many could not reach in time before we could start the procession from the identified spot of Jantar Mantar. Allahabad, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Gorakhpur , Bariely, Meerut, Agra, Gaziabad, Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh brought large number of Central Govt. employees to participate in the rally. Similarly Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Alwar were the stations in Rajasthan which took pains to mobilize the Central Govt. Employees to go over to Delhi and be participants in the rally. Ambala, Faridabad, Rohtak, Gurgaon, Rewari where the stations in Haryana which sent in large number of employees to take part in the procession. Chandigarh, Jalandhar in Punjab also mobilized a good number of comrades to be at Delhi.The state committee of Delhi and its affiliated organisations worked hard to mobilize large number of employees to participate in the rally and obviously it did fructify in as much asunusually a large number of comrades came on their own and also in vehicles arranged by the respective organization to swell the number of Central Govt. employees in the rally. Almost all the states have sent in comrades to participate in the rally as per quota fixed by the Confederation. It was by far the best participation of the Central Govt. Employees in the mobilization of the workers against the Govt. India's economic policy in the recent days. We are pleased to inform that the quota we had fixed as the minimum number has been surpassed by all the States as also the affiliates. We place on record our sincere thanks and gratitude to the State level leaders and affiliates for the yeomen efforts undertaken by them to make this programme memorable. This had emboldened the National Secretariat of the Confederation which met on 24th to embark upon a mass Rally of Central Govt. Employee alone in the ensuing Monsoon session of the Parliament in pursuance of the demands specific to Central Govt. Employees. We request our affiliates and State Secretaries to convey our gratitude to each and every member who responded to this call and participated in this rally.

In order to enable the Secretariat to review the efforts undertaken by the States and Affiliates, which you will agree is a pre-requisite for effective and efficient functioning of the orgasnisation, we request you to send us a report within ten days of placing this circular to the website in the following format.

1. Details of the campaign programme undertaken by the leaders and the places visited.

2. Whether any pamphlet has been issued and if so the copy thereof may be sent to the CHQ.

3. The number of comrades participated from each station.

4. Whether the quota fixed could exceed/ be met or not met.

5. Amount spent for hiring bus, affording traveling expenses to the participating comrades etc.

(A few photographs taken by our comrades during the rally have been placed on the website under this circular letter)

The National Secretariat meeting held on 24th February, 2011and decisions

45 comrades (Secretariat members and the State Secretaries) participated in the meeting held on 24th February, 2011 at the CHQ. The meeting was convened as per the decision taken at the National council meeting held on 1st December, 2010 at Mumbai. The main Agenda for discussion was organizing the State/District committees and to ensure that conferences of these committees are held as specified in the constitution.

After discussion it was decided that UP state committee is to be reorganized as a single committee on 17th March 2011, at Lucknow. The NFPE has decided to organize a camp near Lucknow on 16th and 17th and the State Conference of the Confederation will be held on 17th at 10 AM at the same venue. It was also decided as a matter of fact that the Districts where there are few Central Govt. Organisations the District secretary shall be the nominee of NFPE and the committee shall have two other members selected by other prominent organizationas of the Central Govt. employees in the District. The conference will be held on the same lines in AP, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andaman & Nicober Islands, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. Com Pijush Roy will take initiative to explore the possibility of setting up State committees in Tripura and Nagaland. The meeting noted that Meghalaya co-ordination committee was functioning well. In the absence of the representative from other State Committees, the meeting authorized the Secretary General and the available members of the Secretariat at Delhi to get in touch with those State Committee and ensure that the State Committees are formed wherever it is not functioning.

In order to propagate the demands included in the charter, conventions will be organized in all states. On 20th April, 2011 demonstration/lunch hour meetings will be organized in front of all offices to submit the charter of demands to the concerned Heads of Department. The National Secretariat will meet on 11th of June, 2011 at New Delhi to fix the date for the various programmes of action decided by the National Council meeting. The period between March to June is required to utilize for the purpose of Organizing state/District level conventions to popularize the demands. The affiliates will also organize all India meetings/conventions to popularize the demands in the charter so that horizontal and vertical campaign programme will be unleashed simultaneously.

With Greetings,

Yours faithfully

K.K.N.Kutty

Secretary General

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