People's Democracy

Bank Employees Resolve to Fight Untouchability

S V Venugopalan

UNTOUCHABILITY in Tamilnadu had degenerated to such heinous levels that when a cell phone rang on a dalit person’s mobile and played the tune of a popular film song of yesteryears, "Naan aanai ittaal….." (If I were to issue orders.....), it could not be digested by a caste Hindu official who reacted violently and demanded to know how a dalit could ever think of 'ordering' him! Worse, dalits cannot have dogs as pet, and the shameful pretext it that they would then mate with the bitches owned by caste Hindus.

This was what S K Ponnuthayi, secretary of the Tamilnadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF) recently narrated in a striking manner, highlighting the disturbing list of over 81 forms of untouchability being practised in the state of Tamilnadu. This list was compiled after a survey the TNUEF conducted in several parts of Madurai district. 

The presentation sensitised the gathering of bank employees, where it was narrated, making them responsive to the struggle in defence of the self-esteem of oppressed sections of the society and for eradication of untouchability

The TNUEF leader, who was delivering the special address at the open session of the tenth state conference of Bank Employees Federation of India-Tamilnadu (BEFI-TN) at Chennai on August 12, 2012, said that dalit students could not even take the bicycles provided by the state government through the village streets, not to talk of riding them! Even pregnant dalit women are not permitted to wait for and board buses at the bus stops in caste Hindu dominated villages; they are forced to walk quite a distance in order to get a bus. About 85 per cent of dalits do not have any land holdings and the fight for retrieving panjami lands requires to be strengthened.

The culture of the so-called 'honour killing' has afflicted the state of Tamilnadu also and as per some reports, as many as 28 such killings have already taken place in the state. There is no action even when a woman police constable was the victim of one such crime recently in Dindigul, Ponnuthayi said. Pointing to the increasing suicides by women on their failure to repay loans taken from usurious micro finance institutions (MFIs), she appealed to the bank unions in general and the BEFI in particular to join the fight for regulations on the activities of MFIs and raise their voice for credit facilities to weaker sections at lower rates of interest, lest the government pushes through the proposed legislation and further aggravates the situation thereby. Hailing the active role played by the BEFI-TN in the TNUEF, she urged the bank employees to take up social issues as well while fighting for their economic demands.

Speaking at the conference, Sukumaran (deputy general secretary of the state unit of the CITU) drew attention to the crippling of the basic democratic and trade union rights in the industrial units, especially in those run by MNCs. Briefly summarising the global financial crisis, he asked upon the bank employees to further strengthen their struggles to defend the public sector even while fighting for their rights. Explaining the declining manpower in public sector and the defensive struggle imposed on the trade unions in the organising sector, he appealed to the bank employees to take up the case of exploitation of casual and contract labour in banks.

Pradip Biswas, all-India general secretary of the BEFI, pointed out that the conference was taking at a time when the entire trade union collective under the United Forum of Bank Unions was on the war path against the proposed amendments to banking laws that threaten the safety and security of people’s savings besides destabilising the financial sector. He asked the rank and file to go to the masses and enlist their support in order to defeat the nefarious designs of the UPA government that is acting at the dictates of the international finance capital.

T Tamilarasu, president, BEFI-TN) presided over the open session and while K Krishnan, general secretary, proposed the vote of thanks. M Duraipandian, general secretary of the Confederation of Central Government Employees, welcomed the gathering as the chairman of the reception committee. 

BEFI vice president M S N Rao inaugurated the delegates session while V Rajagopalan Nair, its advisor, greeted it. The work report presented by K Krishnan dwelt upon the struggles waged by employees in different banks in public sector, cooperative and regional rural banks, besides the RBI, in the state. It also reflected the social commitment of the federation that included a contribution of Rs 1.25 lakh to the Venmani Fund mobilised by the CITU for building a memorial for December 25, 1968 martyrs. (On that day, the landlords burnt alive hapless women, children and elders, mostly dalits, in Kizha Venmani in Nagapattinam district.) The conference resolutions included those on untouchability, price rise, Khandelwal committee recommendations in the banking industry, etc.

On August 13, the concluding day, the conference elected T Tamilarasu as president, C P Krishnan as general secretary and Shanmugam as treasurer.

WOMEN BANK

EMPLOYEES MEET

ON August 11, 2012, a special session for women employees was held, with over 200 women employees from different banks in several parts of the state participating. R S Shenbagam, convenor of the Insurance Corporation Women Employees Subcommittee (affiliated to the All India Insurance Employees Association), delivered a special address on the need for women to assert themselves and join the general movement. Invoking the late Comrade B T Ranadive's repeated utterance that no movement could ever succeed without the involvement of women, she appealed to the women bank employees to take up an active and leadership role in the union. Premalatha, joint convenor of the BEFI-TN Women's Subcommittee presented the report and Suseela Ramachandran, another joint convenor, summed up the points made by several speakers. T Tamilarasu greeted the gathering and K Krishnan delivered the concluding address.