RSS-Affiliated BMS to Hold Nationwide Agitation Against Centre's Privatisation Drive on June 10

RSS-affiliated trade union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) on Thursday said it will hold a nationwide agitation on June 10 against the government's aggressive privatisation drive.

In a statement, BMS said the Centre is justifying the dire need of money to run the government machinery by privatising public sector undertakings (PSUs).

"It (government) has no moral right or authority to sell national assets created by its predecessors. BMS is committed to fight until it stops the government from taking the anti-public sector and anti-worker decisions. BMS will launch a nationwide agitation on June 10, 2020 under the banner 'Save Public Sector, Save India'," the body said.

A meeting of National Coordination Committee of Public Sectors of BMS was held on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The meeting was attended by representatives of BMS unions in sectors like coal, non-coal, defence, railway, postal, banking, insurance, steel, marine and PSUs like telecom, power, heavy engineering, oil and gas, aviation, chemical, currency and coins, atomic energy, etc, it said.

The meeting was held to decide the plan of action by BMS against "the process of privatisation aggressively pursued by the central government in different names in different sectors like the commercialization of coal sector, corporatization of Defence ordnance factories board and railway, strategic sale of PSUs, merger and privatisation of banks, Insurance, increasing FDI cap etc."

Public sector's contribution to the national economy has been significant, BMS said, adding it is being observed from past few decisions of the government that it is trying to push and impose unjust decisions on the workers of the country.

The advisors to the government are the dearth of ideas to generate revenue, hence the only way out they provide to the government is corporatise and privatise, it said. "Such predatory advisors are working against the interest of the nation."

The government should start consulting stakeholders to find out other means to address fiscal deficit and revenue generation, the union added. The government has already tried to sell loss-making units, but no buyer was ready to take up these, it said.

"Now the government is forced to move to their main motive of selling highly profitable sectors like maharatna/navaratnas to lure the purchaser," BMS said.