Luck & Destiny

Luck, Fate, Destiny, Next World Hell & Heaven are the words which weak, selfish & coward people used to cover their incompetence. In reality there is no such thing. People are more concerned in what they can snatch from this world, rather than what they should get. This is not about what you Want, but this is what you Deserve for. Everyone is more concerned in what he is getting from the nation, rather than what he should do for it.

Each & every God in every religion stated strongly that there is no scope of “LUCK”, but it is “KARMA” (Deeds). Even though all religion followers, strongly believe in Luck & Destiny & they say themselves the follower of Hinduism, Islam, Buddha or Christ.

Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, taught his followers not to believe in luck. The view which was taught by Gautama Buddha states that all things which happen must have a cause, either material or spiritual, and do not occur due to luck, chance or fate.

Lord Krishna well stated in Geeta that Do your KARMA, as without Deeds, nothing can be happened.

Also in Islam there is no concept of Luck in Holi Kuraan.

Even then people say that wearing stone in finger ring or on arm- band is a good luck & keep some evil spirit eg. Shani, Bad Luck or even Death. Some individuals are obviously getting benefited by this which includes Babas, Sadhus, Maulvis, Guru Jis etc. All these persons are befooling civilians openly and misguiding them from their moral duties & responsibilities.

In these days one is having trouble in giving `5 to a Rickshaw driver or a labor person, but he easily give a cheque of `500000 in the name of Bhagwan, Allah, Guru ji to a Baba & consider himself a servant of God, who is fulfilling all his duties & responsibilities. After all this he thinks that God will bless him good luck & each & every problem will be resolved automatically by the magic of God/ Baba.

Society & Nation can not grow & can not be prosperous until we hate our own kind only because he is of different color, caste or religion. Also we need to recall our moral responsibilities & duties for our society & for our Nation, only then we can make a better tomorrow.

My sincere appeal to all readers please stop your blind faith & superstitious nature, as there is no God who can make things right which you are doing in a wrong way. There is no Luck which can brought you a better tomorrow.

An appeal to extend support to the agitating workers of Maruti Suzuki at Manesar

Dear friends,

More than 2000 workers of the Maruti Suzuki factory at Manesar, Gurgaon are on strike since last June 4 and are sitting inside the factory itself. Their demands are totally lawful. For now they are just demanding that their legal right to form their own union be recognised. According to them, the Maruti Udyog Workers’ Union based at the Gurgaon plant which is recognized by the Maruti management is totally under control of management and it has been ignoring the demands of the workers of Manesar factory. As per the labour law, they have all the rights to form their own union and all the workers support this demand. These include a large number of contract workers and apprentice workers who have been working in the factory for years.

But the management of Maruti, in a totally illegal manner, has refused to give recognition to the union and is adopting fascist tactics to break the agitation. It is getting open support from the Congress government of Haryana in this move.

The documents which were submitted by the workers to the office of labour commissioner of Haryana at Chandigarh by the workers were immediately sent by the labour commissioner to the management of Maruti Suzuki through fax. After this, the management started pressurising the workers to sign on a blank paper. According to the workers, it was to be used as an undertaking from them that they wanted to remain in the old union itself. It was against the threats and intimidation and forcibly taking signatures that the workers went on strike from June 4 and decided to stay put within the factory itself.

The management immediately declared the strike as illegal and the 11 leading workers were dismissed. Even the Haryana government followed suit and has declared the movement as illegal.

The workers are sitting inside the factory gates for last 10 days. The management has disconnected the electricity and water supply in the factory premises and even the canteen has been closed down. The workers are sitting in the same dress for last 11 days in excruciating summer heat but they are sticking to their demands. Large number of police personnel and armed security guards of Maruti are deployed at the factory gate who stop everyone at a distance of 100 meter from the factory gate. Not even the media persons and the relatives of workers are being allowed to meet the workers. The relatives who take food to the workers inside are also being threatened and intimidated.

The state government is brazenly standing with the management of Maruti Suzuki. For last few days, a farce of negotiations was being played in the presence of the labour minister of the state in which the management remained  adamant on not giving recognition to the union and not reinstating the 11 dismissed workers. But the labour minister has given a statement that “the kids (i.e. the workers) are committing stupidity. These days one hardly gets a job  and therefore they must return to work”. Openly forsaking his responsibility to enforce law he has said that now the state government would not intervene between the management and the workers. In other words, the management is free to deal with the workers in whatever manner it wants.

The management is trying to end the strike by tiring out the workers, threats and cheap tricks to demoralise them. The contract workers are being forced to take their remaining wages and leave the premises. Even the workers' families are being pressurised to ask them to end the strike.  The farce of talks is being extended even while  the Maruti Suzuki management is not ready to negotiate on any of the demands.

The central unions have played the same role they have been playing in most of the struggles in the past years. Some unions have been trying to "own" the agitation and claiming that the newly formed union is affiliated to them but the reality is that they have done nothing to support this militant strike continuing since July 4 except issuing statements in the media.

At least 2 million workers work in hundreds of units situated in the vast industrial belt in and around Gurgaon. There are around 1 million workers work in the units of automobile industry alone. These workers who produce auto parts for companies from all over the world in modern factories have to work in very bad conditions. More than 90 percent of these are contract workers who work for 10-12 hours for 4000-5000 per month. The workload and speed is extremely high and they have to face verbal abuse and even beatings by the supervisors and security guards. Most of the factories do not have unions and where the workers have managed to form a union, they have to face constant harrassment. The established big unions do nothing except paying lip service to the issues and in many cases have ditched the workers in favour of the management. In this scenario, the issue of the right to form a union is a common and universal issue in the Gurgaon industrial belt.

The workers of Maruti Suzuki, Manesar may earn a little bit more than other workers but they too work in very bad conditions. The work load is very high and sometimes they have to work for even 16 hours at a stretch. Getting a leave or off day is extremely difficult and heavy fines are imposed for even a few minutes delay. They get two short breaks of 7-8 minutes for lunch and tea, even toilet breaks are not allowed in between. They have to face abuses and threats if they refuse to work overtime. This is the reason behind the resolute struggle of the workers to form their separate union.

We appeal to all democratic rights activists, intellectuals, jurists, media persons and justice loving citizens for solidarity and support to their just struggle.

What you can do:

- We request that you send a letter of protest through email, fax, phone, letter and telegram to the Chief Minister, chief secretary, labour minister and labour secretary of Haryana and the officials of Maruti Suzuki India and Suzuki Japan, send memorandums and run a signature campaign to protest the repression of workers. The addresses, email ids, fax number etc are given below.

- Spread the news of this agitaion through your website, blog and facebook and appeal for support. 

-  We request that teams of civil rights activists should come to Gurgaon and investigate the situation, prepare their report and let the voice of justice reach the government and people.

- We urge that you organise protest demonstrations on this issue in Delhi, Chandigarh and other cities of the country.

-  If friends from Delhi and other cities can come to Gurgaon and extend their support to the workers’ movement and launch a 'satyagrah' in their support, it will strenthen their struggle.

- Citizens Front in Support of the Maruti Udyog Workers’ movement

Contact: Sandeep (8447011935), Sourav (9811841341), Satyam (9910462009), Rupesh (9213639072)

email: sandeep.samwad@gmail.com, souravbanerjee25@yahoo.co.in

Contact details of officials of Haryana govt., Maruti and Suzuki:

Sh. Bhupinder Singh Hooda,

Chief Minister of Haryana

Room No. 45, 4th Floor, Haryana Civil Sectt.,

Chandigarh

Office Phone: 0172-2749396, 2749409, Fax: 0172-2740526, 2740519

Residence Phone: 0172-2749394, 2749395, Fax: 2740596

EPBAX Ext. 2401, 2402

Email: cm@hry.nic.in

Shri Pt. Shiv Charan Lal Sharma

Minister of Labour, Haryana government

2740145 Ext : 2638, 2794617

Maruti Suzuki India Limited

Nelson Mandela Road,

Vasant Kunj,

New Delhi-110070

Board no.46781000

Fax : 46150275 and 46150276

Email: contact@maruti.co.in

Suzuki Motor Corporation Head Office:300 TakatsukaHamamatsu, Shizuoka 432 8611Japan Mailing Address:Hamamatsu-Nishi,

P.O. Box 1Hamamatsu, Shizuoka

432-8611 JapanTel: (81) 534402061Fax: (81) 534402776Email: autopr@suz.com

A major victory for the agitating workers in Gorakhpur

A major victory for the agitating workers in Gorakhpur
Factory owners buckle under pressure - Locked out mills to start from  June 3. Dismissed workers taken back

2 June. Workers in Gorakhpur achieved a major victory in their struggle when the factory owners agreed to start the two locked out mills from June 3 and take back the dismissed workers. 12 of the 18 workers will join work immediately and the remaining 6 will be taken back after a domestic enquiry. The workers also forced the owners to accept that no one from the management will be in the enquiry committee; it will have two members from the office staff and one workers' nominee.
The decision was taken at negotiations held till late night at the district magistrate's residence. The two owners of the VN Dyers and Processors yarn mill and textile mill, the district magistrate and deputy labour commissioner and seven workers' representatives were present at the meeting.
These two mills in the Bargadwa area of Gorakhpur were illegally locked out since April 10. Around 500 workers work in both of these mills owned by the Ajitsaria family having an annual turnover of more than 150 crores. 18 workers of these two mills were dismissed by the owners. The workers were agitating for reinstatement of their colleagues and restarting the factories.
Their movement took a new turn when around 1500 workers from several factories in Bargadwa and GIDA industrial areas went to take part in a May Day rally called by the Workers' Charter Movement in Delhi. Almost all the local industrialists were trying to prevent the workers from joining this rally and even the divisional commissioner threatened the workers' leaders that they will not be spared if they continue to "instigate" the workers.
Eighteen of the leading workers in another yarn mill Ankur Udyog Ltd were dismissed when they returned to join work on the morning of May 3. There are about 900 workers in this mill. When the workers protested against this action, they were shot at by criminals hired by the factory owner Ashok Jalan. 19 workers sustained injuries. One of them got a bullet in his stomach which went through to hit his spine. He is still in a serious condition.
The workers launched a Workers Satyagraha and faced severe repression from the police and administration who openly sided with the owners. They were lathi-charged repeatedly and were not allowed to hold even peaceful demonstrations. None of the main accused of the firing was arrested and false cases were slapped against many workers. However, their resolute struggle and widespread support from all over the country and abroad forced the administration on the back-foot and all the 18 sacked workers in Ankur Udyog Ltd were taken back and the mill restarted on May 11.
However, the owners of VN Dyers were adamant on taking back the workers and breaking their agitation at any cost. The workers launched the second phase of their Satyagraha movement from May 16 by starting a 'fast-unto-death' at the gates of the VN Dyers yarn mill. The workers were demanding the reinstatement of dismissed workers, opening of the locked out mills, arrest of accused in the firing case, compensation to the injured workers and a high level enquiry into the firing and repression on workers. 
On May 20, on the fifth day of the hunger strike, when the workers were going to meet the district magistrate, they were severely beaten, badly injuring more than 25 workers, and 73 workers were arrested. Most of the workers were released late in the night but 14 of their leaders including two women activists were sent to jail on trumped up charges. They were finally released on bail after a week. The workers gained another moral victory when the Station House Officer of the Chiluatal police station was transferred for his role in the brutal repression of the workers.
The owners, the labour department and the local administration were trying to tire out the workers or break their unity, but failed. They even held "talks" without the workers and announced the opening of the mills without the 18 workers whom they declared as "retired from service". For several days, the owners tried to start the mills but the workers refused to go back to work unless their dismissed co-workers were taken back. The owners were also threatening to start the mill by taking in new workers.
On May 30, the workers entered the yarn mill and occupied it to prevent the management from doing anything of this sort and to press for their demands. They forced their way into the yarn mill and occupied all its shops. They did not budge from their positions despite threats and intimidation by the police and PAC (provincial armed constabulary). A large number of workers kept constant vigil outside the factory and supplied  food to the workers inside.
The administration was forced to call the owners and the workers for talks on Wednesday night and a decision to end the standoff was taken after 3 hours of negotiations. Apart from the DM and DLC, the two owners and four workers from the yarn mill and three from the  textile mill were present in the meeting.
The Joint Front for Struggle on Workers' Rights  has welcomed the decision and said that this  victory is the result of the resolute struggle of all the workers of Bargadwa who stood united against the might of the capitalists and the state. However, it cautioned the workers against complacency as the administration and management have gone back on their word several times in the past. Besides, the struggle for justice in the case of the firing on workers will continue. False cases against workers have yet not been revoked.
The front thanked all those who have supported their struggle in various ways. It also asked all the intellectuals, social activists, jurists, media persons and trade unions to continue their campaign to demand high level enquiries in the firing incident as well as the rampant violation of labour laws in almost all the industries in Gorakhpur.