Labour Day in India

The Labour Day in India is celebrated in order to honor the contribution of working men and women. It is observed on the first day of the month of May. The Labour Day in India is also known as the May Day. May 1 corresponds to the International Workers’ Day which is celebrated around the world. It is observed as a national holiday in around 80 countries including India. 

History of Labour Day in India 

Labour Day in India or May Day was first celebrated in Chennai (then known as Madras) on May 1, 1923. The initiative was taken by the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan. The leader of the party, Comrade Singaravelar arranged two meetings to celebrate this occasion.

One meeting was held at the Triplicane Beach, and the other took place at the beach opposite Madras High Court. On the meeting, Singaravelar passed a resolution which stated that the government should announce a national holiday on the May Day or Labour Day in India. He also emphasized the need for non-violence within a political party. This was the first time a red flag was used in India.

Origin of the Labour Day 

The history of the Labour Day dates back to May 1, 1886. On this day, labour unions in the United States of America decided to go on a strike with the demand that workers should not be allowed to work more than 8 hours a day. This strike was followed by a bomb blast in Chicago’s Haymarket Square on the 4th of May. This led to the death of several people and police officers. In addition, more than 100 people were injured in the blast.

Although the protests in the U.S. didn’t lead to any immediate result, yet it helped establish the 8-hour work day norm in India and other countries in the world. Since then, the Labour Day is observed as the day for parades and demonstrations all around the globe.

Labour Day celebrations in India 
The Labour Day is celebrated as the day for protests not only in India but around the world. This is when the working men and women participate in processions to defend their rights and safeguard their interests. Various labour organizations and trade unions come up with their processions so that the economic reforms they’ve proposed become effective in a short period of time. Other than processions, you’ll find contests being organized for children to participate and understand the bond of togetherness. This way the children can understand the strength of unity which is the essence of the processions that are a part of the Labour Day celebrations. In addition to processions, there are public speeches held by leaders of various political parties in order to celebrate May Day. This is the day when Maharashtra and Gujarat attained statehood in 1960 once the old Bombay State was divided on the basis of language. Hence, the May Day is celebrated as the Maharashtra Diwas and Gujarat Diwas in the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat respectively. The Labour Day is a special occasion when people worldwide celebrate the true spirit of the working class. It’s the day when workers get together and showcase their strength which indicates how effectively they can struggle to bring in positive reforms for the working class of the society.

***A.K.ROY***

A misfit(अनुपयुक्त व्यक्ति) in the present political milieu(परिवेश), it is people like him that keep democracy ticking. Toil in the Dhanbad coal belt has chiselled him into a worthy diamond, kindling a ray of hope among the people of the area.
            A.K. Roy, 69, who is contesting for the ninth time from a seat he has represented thrice earlier, is a man with a difference. A stickler for principles, he was expelled from the CPI (M) and formed his own party, the Janwadi Kisan Sangram Samiti. He later converted it into the Marxist Coordination Committee in the early 1970s.
This firebrand revolutionary began life as a chemical engineer in a company where he was dismissed from service for supporting a workers' strike in 1966-67. He then entered politics..
For over three decades, he has been running the MCC from a one-room office with an old table and two wooden chairs, apart from books and other reading material.
          A paragon of simplicity, Mr. Roy cleans his office and home himself daily before stepping out, in a pajama and kurta, to dress up the lives of the people who work in the collieries, currently facing the threat of privatisation. "Privatisation is no answer to the ailing coal industry. If it had been so it would not have been nationalised in the first place."
Mr. Roy owns no car despite having been an MP thrice, and an MLA on as many occasions. He walks a lot, covering about 20 villages a day. "People move on foot even today. Technology is no supplant. We face no difficulty. You can't be divorced from ground realities."
He sleeps on a mat and his staple food is sattu. Yet this fragile man has it in him to pressure the coal mafia into conceding the miners' due. His struggles have taken him to jail four times, including the one during the JP movement of 1975 when he was the first to resign his membership of the Bihar Assembly. In the aftermath of the Emergency, he successfully contested in the Lok Sabha election from behind the bars.
This time, he says the situation is in his favour in a triangular contest, and banks on the support of the 25,000-odd members of the Bihar Colliery Kamgar Union.
            Mr. Roy's election symbol is a book, perhaps, very apt for the man who has Rs. 26,000 in his bank account. He owns nothing else. He was the lone voice stalling the Rajiv Gandhi proposal for increasing the salary and perks of MPs in the Lok Sabha.
In true spirit, Mr. Roy's pension as former MP goes directly to the President's relief fund. He does not avail of any of the facilities due to him as a former MP and lives on his own; rather, on what his comrades make available, including his clothes. He may not be a Mahatma Gandhi, but Mr. Roy's life is also devoted to the masses. At times he visits his nonagenarian mother. He is still a bachelor. Why? "Because," he shrugs, "nobody married me."

Namak andolan to Nano

A person told me that if you wanted to look at the  Fascism and Hitler reborn, visit the Gujarat Chief Minister's office.

The man who presided over the Gujarat genocide in 2002 will in all probability emerge unscathed from the latest, ham-handed, 'investigation'.

What is so terribly sad about this is that some people believe that everything would be all right if Modi just said the word 'sorry' and expressed 'regret' about the systematic progrom(तबाही) that took the lives of over 2000 Indians.

When the entire official machinery of the state had been subverted to protect the murderous hordes who carried out a progrom against a section of ts own citizens-- pillaged, burnt, raped and desecrated -- all in the name of 'anger', it's sickening to think that the ends of  justice' will be served by saying sorry'.

 

From Gandhi's Gujarat to Modi's Gujarat .. Namak andolan to Nano

So what if Modi is  a 'good administrator' - the CEO of a very successful company may be able to ensure that you have the highest salary and the best perks in the market, but if he and his pals kill your wife and rape your six year old daughter, will you let him get off with a 'sorry man, here's a Nano in compensation'? 

Think Again India...

Think Again

****Ram Dayal Munda****

"Dance to survive!" was Ram Dayal Munda's personal slogan. He is Jharkhand's only Padma Shree, awarded the honour in 2010.

He was born in 1939 in the village of Diuri near Ranchi. He studied in Khuti, near Ranchi. ...
After gaining his Master's in Anthropology at Ranchi University, he moved to Chicago University, for his PhD. He joined the university's Department of South Asian Studies and pioneered the teaching of tribal and regional Languages. He also taught South-East Asian languages at Minnesota University.
It was in the US that he came into contact with native-American activists and his commitment to the political emancipation of India's 100m indigenous people – much the largest indigenous population in the world – began to grow, says an obit in the Independent.
He returned to India and became the Vice-Chancellor of Ranchi University in 1985. After retiring from teaching in 1999, he focused on international efforts to improve the status and prospects of Adivasis.
He took part in the UN Working Group on Indigenous Peoples in Geneva and other forums. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha.

Dr. Munda has written many books on religion, language and literature. Along with these undertakings, Dr. Munda was always devoted towards the social, economic and cultural well being of the tribals. His initiative towards the welfare of the tribes got fuelled up when he was offered a position by the-then Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Kumar Suresh Singh, to start a Department of Tribal and Regional Languages. The formation of the department gave momentum to all social politico activists engaged in working towards the well being of the tribes. A number of students, passed out from the department, formed a student body All Jharkhand Student’s Union (AJSU) pushing for the formation of an intellectual base for the maintenance of the Jharkhand Movement already going at that time. This indirectly contributed to Dr. Munda’s appointment as Vice Chancellor of Ranchi University in 1986. From then onwards Dr. Munda became a medium of political dialogue between the state and the movement of the people. In 1988, when the then Prime Minister Mr. Rajiv Gandhi came on a visit to Khunti, Dr. Munda along with some 150 artists welcomed Mr. Gandhi and kept forward his demand of a separate state.
              Dr. Munda also got the chance to teach as a guest faculty at the universities of Tokyo, Syracuse and National University of Australia. Dr. Munda always valiantly and devotedly voiced the concerns of the tribals. One of the books penned down by him namely, Aadi-dharm echoes the deep studies about the conceptions and customs of the tribals. In the book, Dr. Munda has further added that it has been a tradition among the tribals to worship the nature that they follow even today.
                His achievements remain unparalleled. What he has given to the state, from its formation to the present recognition on the global platform remains incomparable. Whether we talk about his stint as a politico, a cultural ambassador, a scholar or a regional music exponent, he has always amused and inspired people.
             In April 2011, Dr. Munda was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. After receiving initial treatments at AIIMS, he went to Mayo clinic, America for further treatment. The man who always stood for the cause of others had to seek help from others for his treatment due to financial crunches. As a result the Government of India came forward to his aid. But destiny wanted him to take rest now and who knew it would be a final rest; within two months of his return to India, he bid farewell to this world on 30th of September, 2011.
Today, he is no more with us and he went away with only one desire in his heart……he just wanted five more years from life, so that he would get time to accomplish all his dreams. The dream of establishing Jharkhand as the most enviable cultural heritage of India.

All we can say is “May his dream come true”.

Air-conditioned saloon

While on a road trip to SAHIBGANJ(JHARKHAND) this week, I came across this 'air-conditioned saloon' in a village along the highway.