Date:07/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/07/stories/2008100754360400.htm

Kerala - Palakkad

AITUC to intensify stir against SEZs

Staff Reporter

Kanam Rajendran re-elected State general secretary, C.A. Kurian president

AT THE HELM: Kanam Rajendran, C.A. Kurian and K.C. Jayapalan who have been elected general secretary, president and vice-president respectively of the State unit of the AITUC.

PALAKKAD: The four-day State conference of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) ended here with a call to intensify the agitation against Special Economic Zones (SEZ).

Addressing mediapersons here on Monday, general secretary of the State unit Kanam Rajendran said that the policy of the AITUC was to oppose SEZs because it took away all the rights of workers that were won through centuries of hard struggle. “In Kerala, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) has come out with 13 conditions to allow SEZs. After the government notifies it, the AITUC will examine whether the same mode of agitation has to be adopted in the case of Kerala,” Mr. Rajendran said.

Owing to the wrong procedures followed by the Central government, rural workers, including agricultural and plantation workers in Kerala, were categorised as Above Poverty Line (APL) instead of as Below Poverty Line (BPL). The AITUC would launch an agitation against the Central government’s stipulations on BPL and APL, so that rural workers were given the benefits of the BPL category.

The conference unanimously re-elected C.A. Kurian as the president of the State unit for the fourth time. Mr. Rajendran was re-elected as general secretary. It elected nine vice-presidents; including K.P. Prabhakaran, a veteran leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and former Minister.

It also elected nine secretaries, including former MLA P. Raju and former MP T.J. Anjelose.