Press Release of All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA)
Press Release
India became a more unequal country in Amritkal – P. Sainath
29th National Conference of AIBEA deliberates labour issues
Mumbai, May 14: India is a more unequal country in its 75th year in terms of the human development index, press freedom, hunger, but ranks third in the world in the Forbes list of billionaires, said Ramon Magsaysay awardee and senior journalist P. Sainath here on Saturday.
As the chairman of the reception committee of the AIBEA conference which started on 13th May in financial capital, Sainath first time actively participated in such a conference.
In his welcome address, Sainath said, “It is very important to realise that you cannot and should not be content with fighting against the privatization of banks alone. The public sector as a whole has helped our country to progress and you should remain integrated with all the struggles against the policies of privatization of any public sector undertaking in our country”, Sainath said adding that Kisan Andolan (farmer agitation) survived 53 weeks in the country while occupying Wall street could not go beyond nine weeks.
Speaking about the rising tax disparity, Sukhdev Singh, a farmers leader, pointed out that the lower strata of the society with ownership of around three per cent of the total wealth were contributing 74 per cent of the total GST collected in the country due to bringing essential commodities like curd and wheat under the ambit of indirect tax.
On the other hand, the government incurred a revenue loss of Rs 1.84 lakh crore in the two fiscal years of 2019-20 (Rs 86,835 crore) and 2020-21 (Rs 96,400 crore), due to the reduction of corporate tax rates, Sukhdev Singh said. He urged all trade unions to support AIBEA to oppose bank privatization.
Amarjeet Kaur, General Secretary, All India Trade Union Congress said, India will not have any pay commissions if BJP again comes to power in 2024. The government has also so far de-recognized four labour unions and has passed the four labour codes on wages, industrial relations, safety & health and social security that are detrimental to workers, said Kaur, who is also the Vice-President of World Federation of Trade Unions.
She said that job security is at stake as the government has not filled 60 lakh sanctioned posts in a country where only 7-8 per cent of workers are protected by labour laws. In 2014, India formed the last pay (seventh) commission mandated to decide the pay structure of civil and military divisions and was implemented in 2016.
Speaking at the conference, Pambi Kyritsis, General Secretary, World Federation of Trade Unions, in his address said that the adverse change in labour laws by the Indian government is pursuing policies that are helping the richer sections of the country.
Having more than 5 lakh members of bank employees and officer union, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) organized its 29th National Conference in Mumbai. The three-day Conference was attended by over 3,000 delegates from India and 39 countries.
AIBEA General Secretary C. H. Venkatachalam briefly explained the motive of the conference while AIBEA President Rajen Nagar presided over the conference. United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) Convener Sanjeev Bandlish was present as Special Guest for the conference. Secretary of the Reception Committee and General Secretary of Maharashtra State Bank Employees Federation (MSBEF) Devidas Tuljapurkar honoured foreign delegates with mementos.
(ENDS)
