
Joint Council to hold marches on July 1 demanding measures for 12th pay revision
The Joint Council, the CPI service organisation, has announced marches to the Secretariat and the district headquarters on July 1 demanding the LDF government to kick off the process for pay revision of government employees.
Pointing out that the State government has, as a 'model employer,' the duty to ensure the welfare of government employees, the Joint Council has urged the State government to implement the pay revision with effect from July 1, 2024.
The term of the 11th Pay Commission, whose recommendations were implemented in 2021, had ended on June 30, 2024.
The Joint Council noted that the pay revision every five years was implemented by the C. Achutha Menon government in 1973. The first revision came five years later in 1978. All Communist governments in Kerala since then have followed the five-year model, while the Congress-led governments have sought to make it a matter of dispute, the Joint Council said.
The Joint Council is organising protest marches as the LDF government is yet to form the 12th Pay Revision Commission and launch the procedures for the new pay revision.
Joint Council general secretary K.P. Gopakumar will inaugurate the Secretariat march on July 1.
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The Print
an hour ago
- The Print
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The protests predate the new Congress government, but Siddaramaiah and the party had supported the farmers when in the Opposition. 'Either you must leave us alone to live our lives, or you must permanently imprison us with our families and declare that companies are more important to you than us,' the protestors said in a letter to the Siddaramaiah government. Farmer groups say that the Congress government has done little to alleviate the growing agrarian distress or frame policies that make it more lucrative to sell land than cultivate it. Shivakumar's insistence on expanding Bengaluru to cover regions such as Ramanagara (renamed as Bengaluru South) and other parts has led to soaring land prices. They add that in Siddaramaiah's previous term, an agricultural prices commission was in place, but such initiatives are missing this time around. Chandrashekhar and other farmer groups say the Congress government has not even repealed the Modi-led farm laws or the B.S. Yediyurappa-led decision—selling farmland to non-farmers—hence, allowing conversion of agricultural land into real estate. Also Read: Words that help us belong—how grassroots libraries are shaping lives, from Assam to Karnataka 'Defend guarantees citing socioeconomics' Since coming to power, the Congress has been launching guarantee programmes and celebrating anniversaries, and it has organised a global investors meeting, activists and analysts say. Leaders are currently busy marking the second anniversary of the Siddaramaiah-led government in Vijayanagara. Rahul Gandhi and other senior leaders are in attendance. At the time, the flooding in Bengaluru, the growth engine of Karnataka, did not improve the perceptions regarding the ruling party. On the other hand, Shivakumar has pushed for big-ticket projects, such as the Rs 17,800 crore tunnel project and the Rs 500 crore Skydeck, both of which do not inspire confidence because the government has left most of the prevailing problems, potholes, mismanaged garbage, and traffic congestion, unresolved. According to analysts and activists, the Congress has failed to hold the elections for the Bengaluru city corporation or the panchayats, retaining power at the state level and disempowering local bodies across Karnataka. The government decision to introduce a gig workers' welfare bill—based on the insistence of Rahul Gandhi—is being hailed as a progressive effort. However, there is no consensus within the Siddaramaiah cabinet on it. The state information technology department does not want it, with the interests of start-ups and e-commerce companies in mind. Meanwhile, the Karnataka labour ministry is pushing for it. On the other hand, the cabinet has stood by a decision to ban draft guidelines for bike taxis, pushed for language-based reservation—even in the private sector—and diluted labour laws to attract investments. However, A. Narayana, a political analyst and faculty member at Azim Premji University, told ThePrint that the Congress government had achieved much more than its predecessors but lacked the skills to communicate its successes to the public. 'This is a good kind of funds crunch,' he said, arguing that earlier practices of doling out grants, either spent arbitrarily or to build 'samudaya bhavanas' (community halls), had little to no long-term impact and involved no accountability. 'The government must do more to guarantee that the public perceives its decisions are conscious, setting the foundation and unlocking the next wave of growth. The government should not defend the decisions as a political strategy but talk about the larger socio-economic impact,' Narayana said. 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Muslim leaders of the Congress say their government did little to penalise those spewing hate. Last week, the government hastily introduced a bill to penalise the spread of misinformation and hate speech, but the cabinet withheld it. The cabinet ministers objected to it as no one had seen it or been consulted on it earlier. According to Vinay K. Sreenivasa from the Alternative Law Forum, the government has been 'bringing in bills to curb fake news and hate speech, but there are no consultations. The government announced the Rohith Vemula Act … all of these done with good intent, possibly, but without even consulting the groups working on these specific issues.' (Edited by Madhurita Goswami) Also Read: Amid row over 'janeu' removal at CET centres, Oppn targets Siddaramaiah govt with 'hijab' jibe