The letter refers to section 4 of the Trade Union Act 1926 to substantiate the cancellation of the union, which says that only the workers employed by the company are eligible to get union membership.

The conflict arose at auto manufacturing company Bellsonica’s Manesar plant two years ago in 2021, when the Bellsonica Employees Union granted membership to a contractual worker named Keshav Rajput. The union provides two types of membership: an ‘ordinary membership’ to the company employees and an ‘honorary membership’ to a worker from another firm (per the union’s constitution). Rajput was a worker with Bellsonica and joined in as an ‘ordinary member’.

However, the management of the firm sent a letter to the Trade Union Registrar of Haryana and requested the labour department to cancel the union’s registration. Acting upon the letter, the labour commissioner cum registrar sought an explanation from the union in December 2022. The department determined the response of the union ‘unsatisfactory’, prompting the issuance of a formal ‘show cause notice’ to the union.

In response to the show cause notice, the union temporarily suspended the membership of the ‘contractual workers’ and submitted its response. Additionally, these workers filed the contractual workers and then approached the Punjab and Haryana high court against this decision. The matter is still pending in the court currently.

Speaking with NewsClick, Mohinder Kapoor, former president of the Bellsonica Employees Union, who is currently on suspension, stated that the registrar’s decision was ‘unconstitutional’.

“The constitution gives the individual the right to unionise. When the workload and working hours of the permanent and contractual workers are the same, why should there be any difference in the rights of the contractual workers? Who is the labour department protecting here by passing such an order?”

A protest took place in Gurgaon against this decision yesterday. The protest saw the participation of Maruti Suzuki workers across all plants, along with Bellsonica’s current and former (suspended) workers. The protest took place in the form of a rally, at the end of which the workers submitted a memorandum to the district commissioner demanding the registration of the union and a firm action against the trade union registrar.

As reported earlier, a series of protests and suspensions have occurred at the Manesar plant of the Bellsonica firm. In a press conference organised by the workers earlier, they alleged that the company has been trying to dismantle the union for a long time, and the labour department is complicit in the process.

With clients such as Maruti Suzuki, which is also in the Gurgaon industrial belt, Bellsonica is a first-tier vendor in the auto sector.

In addition to 700 permanent employees, the company employs approximately 1,600 contract workers. Additionally, the workers have been planning to challenge this decision in the high court in the coming days.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Haryana: Workers Protest Against Labour Dept’s Decision to Revoke Registration of Their Union at Bellsonica appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Since morning, the protest site and the area nearby areas saw a heavy police deployment. All the gates leading to the site were heavily guarded by the Delhi Police personnel. Several mediapersons were kept away from the protest site. The police informed reporters that only PIB-accredited press was allowed to go inside – which resulted in the exclusion of a huge chunk of digital media.

However, around 11 am, the wrestles started moving towards the new Parliament building. Consequently, the Delhi Police started detaining the protesters, pushing them inside the buses which were present at the site.

Geeta Chaudhary from Bhartiya Kisan Union spoke with NewsClick while she was being detained. She alleged that the police manhandled the wrestlers including women.

Sakshi Malik and Bajrang Punia – who have been among the ones spearheading the protest – were also taken into custody along with several activists from All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA).

Malik could be seen being dragged by the police while she was raising slogans.

Mandeep, one of the wrestlers, alleged that her clothes were torn apart and her already fractured hand got injured in the kerfuffle.

After all the wrestlers were detained, the Delhi Police also wound up their tent and closed the site for media access.

According to the police personnel, the detainees were sent to multiple locations including Kapashera and Jajjhar.

NewsClick spoke with a few other people who had come to express solidarity with the wrestlers but were stopped by the police.

Madhu Prasad, a former professor at the Delhi University, who had come to extend support said that the BJP is the new ruler and doesn’t see itself as the government. “For them, this is a  king’s rule,” she said.

“Civil liberties in this country are on a decline since this government has come to power. This brutal assault on protesters and dissent in general has validated this fact,” said Prasad.

She also questioned the politics behind keeping the accused, Brij Bhushan Singh, safe amidst such a huge protest.

Farmers Detained at Singhu Border, JNU Students ‘Prevented’ from Joining Wrestlers 

Amid heavy deployment of police, jawans, and paramilitary forces, 100 farmers who tried to enter Delhi from the Singhu border were detained by Haryana Police.

Tejvir Singh from Bharatiya Kisan Union (Shahid Bhagat Singh) said that they could apprehend a massive crackdown by the police and administration in Ambala after officials from the intelligence wing “started calling farmers’ leaders about the mahapanchayat”.

Talking to NewsClick, he said, “The deras suddenly announced that there would be huge langars on Sunday. It is not a coincidence. So, we found it very difficult to find buses. We had to call buses from Punjab and Kalka to take people to Delhi. Then we started receiving calls from intelligence officers enquiring about our plans and the extent of mobilisation. Social media handles were closely monitored. Our buses were stopped at Manjit Sahib Gurudwara in Ambala. Other leaders were raided too.”

Singh added that the children in the family were particularly frightened as they did not know anything about the ongoing movement to seek justice against sexual harassment.

Ranjit Singh Raju, secretary of Ganna Kisan Sangharsh Samiti Rajasthan, said that he had been consistently getting calls from farmer leaders about “run and chase”. He opined that the police and administration have not learnt anything from the farmers’ movement. “They do not know that youths have joined the movement and there will be a sea of people on the streets soon.”

He added that the farmers are on the streets as they share the pain and misery of women wrestlers who are seeking justice against sexual harassment. “Had Modi listened to them, we would not have been on the streets. It is clear that he does not consider them daughters of India,” said Raju.

Pavel Kussa from Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta Ugrahan told NewsClick that they have organised a large assembly in Chandigarh to express solidarity with women wrestlers. “We will be mobilising people from across Punjab to tell them how democracy was butchered in the name of the new parliament.”

Gaurav Rajpurohit, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Sonipat told NewsClick, “The farmers were detained after they tried to stage a protest at National Highway 48. We have taken them into preventive detention and they will be questioned about the intent of the protest. So far, no places have been designated as temporary jails.”

Several Students leaders from Jawaharlal Nehru University too alleged that they were taken into custody from the gate of the institute itself when they were going out to extend solidarity to the wrestlers.

Madhurima, an AISA activist, said, “I was physically restrained just as I stepped outside the JNU main gate. The female police gheraoed me and tried to intimidate me by taking videos from their personal phones. There is heavy police deployment in and outside JNU to stop students from going to Mahila Panchayat”.

Aishe Ghosh, president of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union, told NewsClick that the police officials asked them not to let any student go outside the exit gates of the university. “Several students and even teachers were detained at Vasant Kunj police station. It is sheer irony that the inauguration of the new Parliament building is being celebrated as a festival of democracy; whereas, the democratic rights of citizens do not matter in the eyes of this government!”

Tikri Border Transformed into a ‘Camp’

Following in the footsteps of Singhu and Ghazipur, Tikri Border witnessed a dramatic transformation into a fortified camp today, employing imposing barricades, massive stones, and significant deployment of police forces. The motive behind this imposing display was to deter a group of women farmers who had planned to journey from Tikri Border to Delhi in solidarity with the wrestlers staging a protest at Jantar Mantar. However, the police authorities denied them entry, preventing their passage across the border.

Undeterred, the farmers at Tikri Border held a protest, raising strong slogans against the Modi government and the Khattar government in Haryana. They reiterated the demand for the arrest of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The farmers stated that they would continue their protest until the authorities take action, and they will only stop when Brij Bhushan is arrested.

As the farmers’ protest grew more intense, the police responded by arresting everyone involved. The farmers were taken into custody and transported to the Mahila Shahar police station in Bahadurgarh.

(With inputs from Ravi Kaushal and Ravi Dubey)

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Tughlakabad is adjacent to affluent neighbourhoods like C.R Park and Greater Kailash, highlighting the stark inequality that exists not only in human rights reports but also in the lived experiences of its inhabitants.

As reported earlier, the  Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) carried out a demolition drive in the area in the first week of May, leaving thousands of residents here homeless, without providing any rehabilitation. The area’s economic profile indicates that it primarily comprises a working-class community where residents work as domestic help, security guards, street vendors and factory workers. Most women workers work in the nearby area of C.R Park and Greater Kailash as domestic help.

The demolition drive has resulted in homelessness for the residents of the area, who are now facing several other social issues ranging from women’s safety to lack of education and hunger.

Homelessness and Hunger

Two primary issues that have become the talking point being repeated by each community member here are homelessness and hunger. Despite the demolition that has left no trace of homes, the area’s residents have refused to leave. Most of the families here have set up tents in the same place where once their houses stood. Others have started shifting towards the adjacent jungle.

Additionally, the locals report a sharp rise in rent in the surrounding area with at least a 20% -30% rise. Sarita Devi’s tent in the jungle validates this fact. Due to the high rent, she couldn’t afford a house in the surrounding area. She works as a domestic help in CR Park and is now forced to live with her four kids in a tent.

The other woman in the area echoed her concern and other issues, such that landlords prefer to rent properties to families with fewer people. Due to this, Sindhu (31) and her four children are staying in a tent on the debris of their former home.

“They want small families to rent out their properties. If someone with four children approaches the landlords, it’s a straight rejection for them. Also, even if someone rents the property to a large family, the rent is skyrocketing. We can’t afford that much,” she added.

Amid the scorching heat of May in the national capital, the inability to have two square meals a day has become a primary concern for families here in Tughlakabad. Many women reportedly here have been unable to go to work for the past week and have not received any aid or assistance from civil society organisations in the form of food or water. Giving an example of the lack of empathy towards the residents here, Ritu (35) pointed out

“The NGO here is distributing food to the stray dogs, but they can’t see thousands of human beings with hungry stomachs,” she said. Also, the lack of support has been exacerbated by the scorching heat.

“The combination of inflation and high prices makes it difficult to afford food from outside sources. The demolition not only took away our homes but threatened our lives,” she added.

Women’s Safety and the Future of Education

Women’s safety has emerged as a significant concern among the residents who have set up their tents around the nearby jungles. Sarita expressed her fear of drunk men, which has increased since the demolition drive. She is worried about her elder daughter, who is 15 years old and has to leave her at her workplace in CR Park. She moves back and forth between the protest site and the tent during the day, as leaving the tent unattended would result in losing all her belongings.

The fear of women’s safety has been a recurring theme among the residents, especially women. Protesters here also question the PM’s much-used slogan ‘Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao’, which according to them, is nothing but a farce.

Another concern that has been grappling the residents with anger and anxiety is the loss of education that their children are enduring due to the demolition.  Laxmi(40), a mother of three, has worked in the factory for the last nine years. She, along with her family, has been living in the area for the last eight years. She alleged that due to the sudden eviction, she did not get time to collect her belongings and documents of her children.

“I didn’t want my children to work in the factory like me. Now their documents are lying under this debris. The way this eviction took place, it didn’t even give us time to collect the educational documents of my children,” she said.

Since the demolition drive, the locality kids have stopped going to school. Several parents here have received calls from the schools threatening to cancel the admission of their children in case of more absences. The parents can also not provide a stable environment for the children due to the lack of housing, electricity, and water. The loss of education due to this drive also raised some serious questions about the government—commitment towards the right to education.

The residents also questioned the way the drive was organised. According to them, no notice was served to them before the drive. The only notice sent out to them by the ASI was sent in January.

“The officials should have informed them a week or at least 24 hours before uprooting a population of almost 20,000,” added Laxmi.

Speaking with NewsClick, ASI’s spokesperson Vasant Kumar Swarnkar defended the government’s position on how the demolition occurred. According to Mr Swarnkar, the residents were served with a notice in the month of January only and given a time of 15 days to evict the area. He further said the ASI can not harbour illegal construction around archaeological sites.

Regarding providing rehabilitation to the residents, he stated, “Rehabilitation is a matter of the state, and ASI can not comment on the matter of the state.”

Political Class’s Lack of Empathy

It is a point to note that the ruling parties, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre, have not shown much interest in the issues that the residents are facing here. The lack of empathy from their representative was visible in the conversations that were taking place at the protest site. The locals had reported that when they met the local MP Ramesh Bidhuri in January to help them, he accused them of voting for AAP in the local Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) election and used abusive language towards them. NewsClick also attempted to contact Mr Bidhuri at his residence in the same area, but he was unavailable as he had gone to Karnataka for the upcoming assembly election.

However, the Delhi Urban Development Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj from the AAP has suggested that alternative arrangements should be made for the displaced residents of Tughlakabad whose homes have been demolished. Still, no representative from his party has met the victims yet.

Courtesy: Newsclick

The post Aftermath of Demolition Drive in Tughlakabad: Hunger and Homelessness Rife appeared first on SabrangIndia.

New Delhi: Raj Kumari is among the several natives of Madwas village, in Madhya Pradesh’s Sidhi district, spending sleepless nights after being informed of the possible acquisition of their land to construct a power generator.

Despite the tension and frustration, the 33-year-old farmer left her driver husband and their two children to attend the Mazdoor-Kisan Sangarsh rally at Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi, on Wednesday.

Kumari was among the significant number of women who thronged the CITU-AIKS-AIAWU rally along with farmers and government employees from Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, UP, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka, Assam, Tripura, Manipur and Gujarat. The protesters demanded access to education, healthcare and dignified life for themselves and their children.

Kumari and her 20 villagers waited eagerly to express their grievances. “While I am here, a JCB has just bulldozed one of the gaushalas in our village. The government plans to build a power generator there and has asked for our land,” she told Newsclick.

After she and other villagers protested in Bhopal, the state government promised to spare their houses. “But what is the use of having a home if I don’t have land to cultivate?” she asked. “Besides, the government has not offered rehabilitation or alternate sources of livelihood,” alleged Kumari, who belongs to a Scheduled Tribe.

Demanding rehabilitation and alternate farmlands if farmers lose their land, she emphasised the importance of paddy and seasonal vegetables as their primary sustenance.

Nandita Dutta, a junior sports assistant at Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in West Bengal for the past 16 years, is a member of the BSNL Employees Union.

Mentioning the state of BSNL, she recalled the employee anxiety when 80,000 workers were forced to retire voluntarily. “None of us are at peace. We fear the same fate,” she said. 

Dutta’s colleague Bipasha Sarkar, who joined as a junior sports assistant in 2007, is dissatisfied with the decision to award the 5G tender to the Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio while denying BSNL access to the 4G network. Sarkar is concerned about losing thousands of customers nationwide and the lack of workforce.

“We are determined to fight and not allow the government to destroy BSNL, which has been built with our hard work and dedication”, Sarkar added.

Anupama (52), employed with LIC India in Delhi, alleged that contractual workers are not paid the minimum wage and have no minimum working hours. As someone who has worked for LIC for around 30 years, she believes that the government has “abandoned LIC’s goal of being a social organisation in favour of becoming a profit-making machine”. She and her union demanded the revocation of the New Pension Scheme and termed it a “scam”.

Jyoti Pawar, from Nandurbar district, Maharashtra, visited Delhi for the first time after protesting in Mumbai and Nashik. “The government has not paid us for the Ayushman Card on which we worked in 2021-22. The government owes us a considerable amount of money,” she said.

Pawar alleged that despite being frontline workers during the pandemic, they “have yet to receive their Covid allowances for 2022”. 

A group of ASHAs from Madhya Pradesh demanded permanent worker status. Their protest began on March 15 after the state government asked them to survey Ladli Behna Yojana. The workers refused to conduct the survey. 

Many Anganwadi workers from Punjab and Assam were also present at the rally. Karamjeet Kaur (50), an Anganwadi worker from Punja’s Monga district, attended her third gathering despite back pain. 

Kaur and her fellow Anganwadi workers have three main demands: the status of a government employee, fixed working hours and better quality of food provided. 

Kaur said that parents have started complaining about the low quality and quantity of food provided at Anganwadis. 

“Our union has helped us better our salaries through years of protests and strikes from the initial payment of only Rs 300. We’ll keep fighting for permanent employment as we did for better salaries,” she told Newsclick.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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