Southern States - Kerala   

Call for mass resistance against globalisation

By Our Staff Reporter

KANNUR NOV. 3. The national conference of the State Bank of Travancore Staff Union (SBTSU) affiliated to the Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI) being held here has highlighted the impact of globalisation and economic reforms on the public sector banking and development.

The conference assessed that the Indian working class including bank employees who formed an integral part of that class was facing a grave situation and called for united resistance against the moves to withdraw the rights and benefits that the employees had earned through prolonged struggles.

Inaugurating the conference at a public function here yesterday evening, the former Chief Minister, E.K. Nayanar, said that the monopoly capitalists in the country appeared to have declared an economic war against the country's common people. The private sector in the country had been allowed to plunder the private sector, Mr. Nayanar said calling for a united mass resistance against these moves.

The CITU State secretary, Elamarom Kareem, said while opening the delegates' session here today emphasised the need for an international solidarity of the working class against global finance capital that was wreaking havoc on organised and unorganised sectors in the world. The working class around the globe was under attack in the name of economic reforms being pursued as part of globalisation, he said. Efforts were on to introduce casualisation of labour with the objective of making the labour market flexible, he said adding that Government departments were also planning to reduce their staff strength as part of the manpower management.

As the Government was being converted into a position in which it would be one of the facilitators of services, a time would come when various agencies entrusted to monitor the fiscal reforms of the World Bank and the IMF would secure decisive control of the Government departments, the CITU leader said. What was being imposed by the developed nations on the developing countries was globalisation of goods, services and capital and not the globalisaton of technology, Mr. Kareem said. The capitalist economy in the world, however, was not without problems, he said. Even the U.S. economy was facing stagnation as there was drop in the flow of investment to that country, he said adding that the threat of war on Iraq was driven by a hope that the war could revive the economy and ensure availability of cheap petrol.

Stating that globalisation was utilised by the developed nations to explore new markets, Mr. Kareem said the finance capitalist was slowly withdrawing from productive sector and turning into service sector, share trading and speculation. The new world order enshrined in globalisation ensured unrestricted flow of finance capital around the globe.

Though the private sector in the country had been handed out concessions at the expense of the public sector, the former could not record any great achievement, the CITU secretary said. The scheduled Global Investors' Meet to be held in the State was expected to attract investments to the tune of Rs. 50,000 crores, but it remained to be seen whether the productive sector could attract the investments. The drive for privatisation in all fields, including education, would endanger the social structure, he said. It was the educational institutions in the State that shaped and sustained a secular civil society in the State, but unaided institutions that were mushrooming in the State on religious and caste bases would lead to communalisation of education, he said.

The BEFI State secretary, P. Sadasivan Pillai, said the moves to privatise the public sector banks that had been functioning with social commitment called for united action. The Central Government was planning to introduce a Bill in the coming session that would allow disposal of 67 per cent of shares of the public sector banks to private players including foreign companies. Struggles against such moves would continue under the banner of the United Forum of Bank Employees, he said.

Mr. Pillai said the non-performing asset (NPA) of the nationalised banks crossed Rs. 30,000 crores as per the figures on March 2001. The amount that could be recovered through the Debt Recovery Tribunal was Rs. 4,090 crores.

The SBTSU president, K.G. James, presided over the function. The CITU leader, K.P. Sahadevan, was also present.

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