Coal ordinance: Modi govts ambitious reforms push runs into RSS wall New Delhi: The ambitious coal sector reforms of the BJP-led government at the Centre have found resistance in unexpected quarters - the RSS-affiliated trade union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS). BMS, the largest central trade union in the country, has raised sharp objection to the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Ordinance 2014, which the government plans to push through in both houses in this session of Parliament to make it law. In September, the Supreme Court had cancelled 214 coal blocks and in October the government promulgated Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Ordinance 2014 in order to facilitate auctioning of the cancelled coal blocks. Representational Image. Agencies. Some areas over which the right wing trade union has raised objection are privatization of coal mining, dilution of shareholding in profit-making public sector undertakings (PSUs), e-auctioning of mines and payment to contractual workers functioning as permanent workers at par with the latter. Privatization would lead to rise in coal prices which would impact the lives of common man, argues the BMS. It feels that the previous as well as the present government have maintained a stoic approach to the demands of the coal sector that employs more than six lakh workers. “Nothing has moved in the last six months on the issues we raised. We’ve conveyed our objection over the ordinance to the Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal. If the ordinance gets legislated in its current form, it will give rise to more exploitation and corruption in coal mines. The price of coal will escalate, increasing the price in several sectors, including electricity,” said All-India vice president of BMS, Dr BK Rai. Besides BMS, four other central trade unions – AITUC, CITU, HMS and INTUC - have jointly opposed the government’s proposal to allow private players to mine coal and sell it in the open market, a right till now reserved with the state-owned Coal India Limited (CIL). As for e-auctioning of mines, BMS feels that ‘direct process of auctioning’ would lead to rise in coal price and jeopardize the economy. It also has reservations on disinvestment in CIL and other profitable PSUs. “Modiji (Narendra Modi) in his election rallies in Jharkhand, Bihar and Maharashtra had said that shares of profitable PSUs won’t be sold. The government shouldn’t dare to privatize the profit-making PSUs. But, now CIL is on its way to sell another 10 percent of its shares. This will transfer 20 percent of stakes to private hands. It would adversely impact CIL’s functioning,” justified Rai, who also heads the steel, coal and mines issues in BMS. Referring to the Balco disinvestment during the Atal Behari Vajpayee regime in 2001, Rai added, “Today the condition of Balco after disinvestment is known to all. We don’t want such a repetition in the coal sector or any other PSU.” According to a CIL source, the absence of a chairman and managing director in the company has also affected the dialogue between the company and its workers. “In 2010, the then CMD Partho Bhattacharya had addressed 20,000 CIL workers in Ranchi and took them into confidence, before divesting 10 percent of CIL stake. But, now it’s just opposite, as there is no direct communication with the employees in the second phase of disinvestment,” the source added. The inequity in wages has been flagged as another reason for the rise in coal prices. “Unlike the CIL, the private miners pay very low wages, and also don’t take extend medical and other social security benefits. This reduces the overhead cost to private miners, making coal mining cheaper to them. They will sell coal in the open market at a higher price, putting CIL in an uncompetitive situation in future,” said Rai. Other unions agree. “This is a conspiracy of the government to end Coal India under the garb of disinvestment and rapid privatization of coal industry. CITU has decided to undertake a long-term strategy of strike and agitation in coal sector across the country,” remarked ex-MP, CPI (M) and general secretary, All-India Coal Workers’ Federation, Jibon Roy. He added, “The Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act, 1973 mandated that exclusive rights of selling coal remain with the CIL. But, now the government wants to allow private miners, who at present mine coal for its captive use, to also sell in the open market. This is dangerous.” But, what made the trade unions, including the BMS to call-off the nationwide coal strike proposed on November 24? “The BMS didn’t participate due to the pressure from the RSS, as it was told not to go for any protest for a year. A charter of demand was drafted in Nagpur on July 31 regarding the strike. The other three unions withdrew after a ‘talk’ with the ministry. We staged a two-hour closure protest, as we didn’t agree with the others,” a CITU leader said. “We didn’t participate in the strike, because the time wasn’t ripe. It fell during J&K and Jharkhand polls, and moreover it was designed as a political strike, rather than that of a trade union,” claimed Rai. The involvement of the BMS also forced the government to have a dialogue with the unions and simultaneously keep BMS in good humour. The ministry has reportedly assured the BMS that they would be the “first to be consulted on further developments”. “Our minister will take up the issue with the PM. Meanwhile, he has had dialogues with the BMS and other unions, and our effort is to make them understand that the said Bill won’t have any adverse impact on CIL’s functioning or on the coal sector,” a coal ministry official said requesting anonymity.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Nov 2014 12:12:05 +0000
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