Nirsa, the coal capital of Dhanbad, bore witness to the deaths of a dozen women and men on 1st February, 2022, in a mining accident. CPI-ML General Secretary comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya, the state secretary Com. Manoj Bhakt and MCC (Marxist Coordination Committee) ex MLA Arup Chatterjee, visited the accident site of collieries at Nirsa on 3rd February along with several activists.
With the Modi government's flashy words and misleading talks, central budget 2022-23 is another blow on the hardworking public of the country, facing drastic decline in economy due to unemployment, inflation and loss of income and wages during the corona pandemic. Instead of getting them out of this crisis and suffering, this budget has proven to dig deeper holes in their pockets.
The Propaganda March of Sanitation Workers
Sanitation work is a dehumanising occupation and is one that is reserved for the Dalit community across the country. Sanitation workers are not merely individual members of this workforce out of pure choice; but members, by birth, with inerasable identity and inter-generational continuity. Most sanitation workers are women, and are victims of triple oppression, by virtue of their class, caste and gender.
Migrant workers of the biggest industrial estate in Puducherry, Sederapet, have been demanding various industries in the estate to improve working conditions and to adhere to the regulations regarding health and safety. A recent tragic accident, where a worker Ajbar Malik died while working for a company called Ganges Internationale, as a result of the company’s negligence, was the point of trigger for the subsequent workers’ outburst and for the current ongoing struggles.
When the ASHA workers of Uttar Pradesh tried to submit their memorandum of demands to the CM Yogi Adityanath when he came for a program in Shahjahanpur on 9th November, the police not only stopped them from submitting the memorandum, but also brutally attacked them. One of the ASHA workers, Punam Pandey’s hand was broken, was stamped under the boot and was also attacked in the genitals. After physically assaulting the workers, the police filed cases against ASHA workers themselves.
Thousands of construction workers demonstrated on 30th November 2021 before district labour offices in several districts throughout country to observe All India Protest Day at the call of All India Construction Workers Federation (AICWF) against anti-labour, anti-farmer, anti-people policies of the Modi Government.
ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activists) workers are part of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) launched in 2005 to provide rural areas access to better healthcare facilities. ASHA workers form the backbone of this scheme. The scheme was initially designed to make sure that there is ‘doorstep delivery’ of health services to rural communities, and ASHA workers became the veritable foot soldiers of this scheme. The burden of reaching the homes of people in rural areas fell on the shoulders of ASHA workers.
In 2014, the Modi-led BJP government decided to dissolve the Planning Commission (which was constituted in 1951 along the lines of a socialist model of centralised planning) along with the National Development Council formed to monitor the development of sectors like agriculture, education, health and also national transport systems like Railways, Roadways and Airways. Finally, on the conclusion of the 12th Five Year Plan in 2017, the Planning Commission was dissolved and was replaced by the NITI Ayog (National Institution of Transforming India).
The Mid Day Meal scheme was initiated in Jharkhand in 2004-05. The Village Education Committees were entrusted with the responsibility of employing cooks for the scheme. In the initial phase, mere 25-30 paisas were fixed as honorarium for every meal cooked for a student. If meals for 100 school kids were cooked, the total honorarium to be paid was 25 rupees.
It has become a regular feature of the Modi Government to violate existing laws and rules applicable for protection of rights of contract workers as the Railway administration has no viable mechanism to monitor the compliance of statutory laws and rules applicable for contract workers.