Articles by K T Zacharias

November 24, 1979 LABOUR Jute Workers Restive Timir Basu JUTE workers are restive again. They are not on the warpath yet, but there is discontent in the air. The Indian Jute Mills Association (IJMA) has said a flat 'no' to workers' demand for 20 per cent bonus; worse, many terms of the tripartite settlement have remained on paper and workers are once again helpless in absence of any legal safeguards. The state government too has been tardy. According to the terms of the -pement, the government should have up two committees to study the work-load in the industry and to examine the pay-scales of different categories of jute workers with immediate effect. But the formation of the two committees was announced only in September, after eight months. Though the committees have been asked to submit their reports within six months, the workers have little faith in such time-schedules, for obvious reasons. Even if the committees' verdicts are given in time, the IJMA can back out, precipitating a new dispute, or the committees* recommendations could be challenged in the High Court. In that event, the govenment would be rendered a 'helpless' onlooker, as has already happened on the question of reinstatement of victimised workmen. It had been agreed by all the parties at the time of the tripartite settlement. hat the labour minister's recommendation in the matter of reinstatement of workers who bad been victimised during the Emergency for political reasons would be final. It was further agreed that the number of such workers would not exceed 55, Though the minister's recommendation should have come within two months of the signing of the agreement, he did not issue his orders before the third week of September. The minister then ordered the reinstatement of 51 victimised workmen. The mill-owners, however, ignored the order without giving any reason. The affected workers belong mainly to mills owned by Birlas and Kanorias, Deben Mazumdar, a worker of the Budge Budge Jute Mill,. was retrenched in 1976 for allegedly inciting workmen on the issue of work-load and contract labour. He still does not know when, if ever, he will get his job back. In fact, not a single victimised worker has been reinstated in any mill.

members of corpbrations. One of the most significant aspects of this election is' that for the first time in the history of our country, 18-year-olds will fce exercising their franchise, thanks to' legation eiiuctedwhen A K Antony was Chief minister. They constitute nearly 20 per cent of the electorate. In all, there are about 35,000 candidates for the nearly 10,000 seats. Elections will he held in two phases, on September 15' and 18, ' There is a serious allegation that in delimiting the seats, the Ruling Front Partners had chalked out many safe seats and split up many of the sure CPI(M) seats. Besides, Muslim commiunalism has played havoc in the delimitation, the concerned minister being a Muslim Leaguer. A glaring example is the Erattupettah panchayat' in Kottayam district. There are 11 seats in this panchayat of which one has been reserved for scheduled castes. All the other 10 seats have been delimited in Mich a, way that each ward has a muslim-majority voter-strength. ' The Ruling Front had announced that it would fight the elections to the local bodies on a non-party basis and that it would -strivefor partyless democracy at the grass-roots level. This was -not a matter of new-found devotion to Gandhian idealism hut acceptance of the stark reality existing within the Ruling Front. It was evident From the results of the bye-' elections that in the event of a triangular contest the Marxist Front would sweep the polls. In the circumstances, every party in the Ruling Front was looking tor alliance with parties outside the front to better its own prospects. The CPI thought that the partyless label would help the Ruling Front to secure an alliance with the Congress(I) and the NDP and thus enable: the revival of the anti-CPI(M) front.: The Kerala Congress and the Ruling Muslim League were also for such an understanding. But the Con-

KERALA Divided Ruling Front K T Zacharias
DEFEATED in the by-elections and with not much hope of things improving in future, the Kerala Ruling Front is divided and confused. It is conceded by all that in any triangular contest, the CPI(M)-led United Front will emerge victorious. This writing on the wall has compelled the partners of the present ruling coalition to desperately search for allies to "broaden and strengthen" the Ruling Front. But the Ruling Front is divided on the means to achieve this objective.