Rashtrapathi Used In A Fraudulent Gimmick By NDA Govt

CITU Demands Inquiry

EVEN to those who have a measure of the depths to which the Vajpayee government could sink to cling on to power, this would come as a shocker of sorts. Rashtrapathi Abdul Kalam was used by the NDA government to give a cover of respectability to its outright fraud perpetrated on the 37 crore unorganised sector workers of the country. This was an unprecedented event as never before in country’s history has a Rashtrapathi been dragged into an unauthorised venture.

This was pointed out by CITU leaders W R Varadarajan and Dipankar Mukherjee at a press conference in New Delhi on September 10. In a letter to the prime minister, Mukherjee demanded a thorough inquiry into the entire affair and the guilty must be held accountable.

Now, the details... Just on the eve of elections, the Vajpayee government perpetrated a major fraud on the unorganised sector workers of the country by hastily launching the ‘Unorganised Sector Workers Social Security Scheme’. Two functions were organised – one in New Delhi in the then union labour minister Sahib Singh Verma’s constituency and another in Lucknow, the then prime minister’s constituency. In these functions, social security cards were distributed by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to a select number of employees. In Delhi, Sahib Singh Verma distributed these cards in the presence of president Abdul Kalam in a function organised on the occasion of Golden Jubilee Celebration of the EPFO on February 25, 2003. In fact, the programme initially drawn up the EPFO envisaged presentation of the first “Social Security Card” to the President of India himself. Later, however, the programme was changed to handing over of these cards to two employee-members of the EPF by the then labour minister in presence of the president of India

That the EPFO had not been designated as the nodal agency nor had it been authorised to issue National Social Security Numbers (social security cards) has been confirmed by the present union labour minister in response to a starred question No.441 dated 26.8.2004 in the Rajya Sabha on August 26, 2004 by Dipankar Mukherjee (see accompanying box). So, in effect the President of India was gracing an unauthorised venture.

Not only this, the then government after announcing with much fanfare (obviously with an eye on the impending elections) its scheme for the welfare of unorganised workers, allotted a mere Rs 1 lakh to the scheme in the union budget 2003-04. The EPFO, which had no legal sanction nor authority, spent Rs 13 lakhs towards this scheme so far. An expenditure of Rs 25 crore has already been sanctioned by the EPFO for setting up of the National Social Security Registry. Dipankar Mukherjee in his letter to the prime minister stated that the then minister of labour utilised EPFO as a fraudulent cover for a non existent scheme without any authorisation. “I learn that such allotment of NSSN is still being proceeded with by the EPFO notwithstanding the unambiguous reply by the present minister of labour in Rajya Sabha on August 26, 2004. The much-hyped launch/allotment of National Social Security Numbers has created illusions even amongst sections of trade unions, not to speak of the gullible workers in the unorganised sector”, stated Mukherjee.

 He demanded a comprehensive inquiry into three vital issues:

1. the so-called Social Security Scheme For Unorganised Sector Workers

2. launch of National Social Security Number and

3. the unauthorised role of EPFO in allotment of social security cards.

W R Varadarajan demanded a thorough review of the functioning of the EPFO – taking into confidence central trade unions – in order to stem the rot that has set in. He termed what the Vajpayee government did as nothing but a cruel hoax on the unorganised workers. Expressing unhappiness at the new UPA government not being able to address these issues so far, he demanded action on this front immediately. (INN)