College teachers in Punjab, Chandigarh on 72-hour strike

Teachers of government and non-government colleges in Punjab and the union territory of Chandigarh went on a 72-hour strike on Tuesday demanding higher pay.
The 72-hour 'Education Bandh' was called by the Punjab Federation of University and College Teachers' Organisation (PFUCTO) in support of their demand for implementation of the new notifications of the University Grants Commission (UGC) on pay scales for faculty.
Over 10,000 teachers of five universities, 54 government colleges and 170 non-government colleges of the region are associated with PFUCTO
"There was some confusion among teachers of some colleges Tuesday because of the implementation of model code of conduct but nearly 7000 of them participated in the strike. However, from Wednesday, there will be no teaching activity in any of the colleges and all 10,000 will go on strike," Jagwant Singh, general secretary of PFUCTO, told sources.
He said in the past few days states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh had also implemented the UGC notifications but the "comparatively rich" Punjab has shown no signs of working in this direction.
"Discontentment among teacher community is rising and in the next two-three meetings we will also discuss the issue of boycotting Akali government in the forthcoming elections," said Singh.
Singh said: "We think that code of conduct has nothing to do with the implementation of already announced notifications but we will also talk to the election commissioner before deciding our future course of action."
The Punjab government has to contribute only 20 per cent and central government would release the remaining 80 per cent of funds, but still the state government is reluctant, he said.
The new UGC notifications came Dec 31, 2008 with the approval of the central government. Earlier they were supposed to come in October last year but got delayed because of assembly elections in Delhi. IANS
Source: Indiaedunews.net

Anomalies in state pay hike order irks teachers and employees

The UP state government move to woo teachers of the higher education and employees before Lok Sabha elections by implementing sixth pay commission may boomerang.

While the order issued for pay revision of teachers gives hiked salaries only from December 1, 2008 instead of January 1, 2006, as recommended by the University Grants Commission (UGC), the government forgot to issue an order for the employees of the corporations. Teachers were shocked to see the government order issued on Tuesday on pay hike which said that the revision will be applicable from December 1, 2008.

It also did not mention about revision of pension to retired teachers. Interestingly, 80% of the hiked salary of teachers will be given by the union government for next five years and state has to bear only 20% of the expenses. The Centre will give about Rs 700 crore and state government will dole out Rs 170 crore in 2009-10 financial year.

There are 17,500 teachers in 12 state universities, 345 government-aided colleges and 125 government colleges in UP. Over 20 lakh students are enrolled in these institutions. Describing state government's act as "cheating", Moulindu Mishra, president, Lucknow University Associated Colleges Teachers Association (LUACTA), said that teachers will be forced to launch an agitation, if government fails to correct the anomaly soon.

However, a "correction" seems unlikely in near future as election code of conduct has come into force and will continue till May 16. "In such a situation government should take permission from the Election Commission and issue another order providing full benefits to teachers from January 1, 2006, as it is being implemented in centre university and other state universities," said LUACTA president.

Pushpendra Mishra, general secretary, Lucknow University Teachers Association, also secretary, Federation of UP Residential University Teachers Association, said that government's act amounts to cheating and it will face the consequences in elections, if the order is not corrected soon. "Government is not treating teachers at par with employees as all others have got revised scale with effect from 2006," he said.

On the other hand, retired teachers were left out in the order. It happened in 1996 as well, when fifth pay commission report was implemented. Later, government implemented the revision for retired teachers but with effect from 2000 leading to huge losses. Sources also said that state government forgot to include RML National Law University in its pay revision order. The same is the case with the employees of the corporation who have been left out while pay revision has been implemented for all other state government employees.

Now, UP Jal Nigam officers and employees have formed a joint committee and have launched an agitation. Ram Sevak Shukla, convener of the committee, has started a hunger strike to protest against government apathy. "Government has given sixth pay commission to about 9 lakh employees but 18,000 working in corporations have been left out," said Shukla. A A Farooqi, president, UP Engineers Association, has also supported the agitation.

Source:Indiatimes.com