Origin, Bye-Laws and Scope of CFTRI-EU

The CFTRI Employees’ Union was formed in April 1989 and was registered under the Indian Trade Union Act of 1926, at Office of the Labour Commissioner (Mysore) on 29.04.1989 with the following seven Prime Members as Signatories : N. Suresh Prasad, S. Siddaiah, C. Gangadhara Murthy, M. Nagoji Rao, R. Ramaiah, M. Ramachandraiah and Syed Ghouse Khan. The first Open General Meeting of CFTRI-EU was held on 05.04.1989 in front of the CFTRI Departmental Canteen at 3.30 PM, and the same was addressed by the CFTRI-SWA Leaders and N. Suresh Prasad. The Meeting was attended by a mammoth 300-400 members. A scanned copy of the Bye-Laws of CFTRI-EU, approved by Labour Commissioner, is attached.

The main pillar behind formation of CFTRI-EU was Anthony and very well supported by (1) his colleagues S.Shivappa and C. Manjunath and (2) CFTRI-SWA Leaders Dr. K. Udayasankar, Dr. K. Unnikrishna, etc. As Anthony (and also his 2 colleagues) was working on Work-charge Basis, he could not be a signatory as Prime Member for seeking registration in Labour Commissioner Office. But for the continuous persuasion of Anthony and other SWA leaders, CFTRI-EU would not have been formed and N. SURESH PRASAD (Founder General Secretary) would not have taken the lead to rigorously pursue Union activities in CFTRI. From the inception of Union and till it’s probable Closure in August 2012, N. Suresh Prasad (NSP) and Anthony had exercised the Leadership with total sincerity & dedication and were able to achieve several demands/objectives besides restoring democracy in CFTRI by preventing any onslaught from any of the Directors (except Prof. Ram Rajasekharan). Priceless to mention that both NSP & Anthony were fully supported by other Office Bearers/EC Members (from time-to-time) like N. Chandrashekar, M.A.Nagendra, P. Venkat Rao, B.S. Rama Prasad, G.Shankar Rao, P.Thilakkan, S.Siddaiah, Basavaraju, C.V. Venkatesh, the one-and-only warrior Lady Mrs. Leela Vijayakumar, Mrs. Asha Dinaker and a few others. A complete list of Office Bearers/EC Members over a period of 23 years is mentioned under a separate heading. The Bye-laws of CFTRI-EU is attached. The CFTRI Employees’ Union sought full-fledged affiliation from Federation of CSIR Employees’ & Workers’ Unions & Associations (abbreviated as CSIR Federation or All-India Federation or AIACE) during its Annual Conference held at CDRI (Lucknow) in September 1989.

Role of CFTRI-SWA (CSIR Scientific Workers’ Association) in Formation of CFTRI-EU :

Besides Anthony, Dr. K.Udayasankar, Dr. P.Unnikrishnan, Dr. R.Rangaiah Naidu, Dr. K.M. Dastur, Dr. Narendra Singh (the great Veteran TU Leader) and other one or two SWA leaders played a vital role in formation of CFTRI-EU. In fact, for the first 6 months of the Union Activity, CFTRI-SWA leaders Udayasankar and Unnikrishnan guided the Union Leaders in their activities. As the Union Leaders were not experienced, a temporary arrangement was made to precisely guide the Union Activities. Dr. Narendra Singh and Dr. K.M. Dastur were made the ex-officio Presidents (with 6 monthly tenure) of CFTRI-EU during 1989-90. As the Federation Constitution did not permit for them to be the Presidents, the CFTRI-EU had to unwillingly replace them with the regular members of CFTRI-EU. But these two, particularly Dr. Dastur, were always advising the Union leaders whenever they were approached. A few other Scientists who were SWA WC Members and who supported Union were : John Periera, Dr. GCP Ranga Rao, R.Y. Vasudeva, Dr. Umesh Kumar, etc.

Convening of Annual General Body Meetings and Holding Elections

Without fail, till 2011, GB meetings were held annually, and a copy of the Proceedings (along with a copy of the elected list of EC Members) was being sent to Labour Commissioners’ Office at Mysore and also to Central Labour Commissioner’s Office at Bangalore. The Assets & Liabilities List was also being sent to them annually without fail.

Allotment of Office Room to CFTRI Employees’ Union – Formal Recognition Obtained

After great persuasion / struggle and intervention of CSIR Federation, the CFTRI Employees’ Union was able to get an Office Room from Director (CFTRI), Dr. V. Prakash, with full fledged furniture, Almirah, Filing Cabinet, Notice Board, etc. in 1994. This signaled for Recognition of CFTRI-EU. An Inaugural Function was organized where Dr. V.Prakash cut the tape, followed by speeches from him, N.Suresh Prasad, Mr. K.M. Dastur, Dr. Udayasankar, Mr. John Pereira and a few others. Photographs of this function clipped to this website.

List of Office Bearers / EC Members

All the procedures required in holding elections were followed mutatis mutandis as per the Bye-Laws like Calling of Nominations, Scrutiny of Nomination Papers, Withdrawal of Nomination, Specifying the Date of Elections, etc. without fail. Accordingly the Office Bearers and EC Members so elected from year-to-year are mentioned below on a random basis :

Anthony (Permanent Vice-President), N. Suresh Prasad (Permanent President / General Secretary), S. Siddaiah, P. Venkata Rao (General Secretary), B.S.Ram Prasad (General Secretary / Joint Secretary), N. Chandrashekar (General Secretary / Joint Secretary), S. Shivappa (Vice-President), M.A. Nagendra (Treasurer / EC Member), M.P. Kelappan, M. Ramachandraiah, R. Ramaiah, Syed Ghouse Khan, Basavaraju, T.S.Murthy, P. Raju, G. Shankar Rao, P. Thilakkan, M. Mahadevaiah, Gurusiddaiah, Arokianathan, H. Suresh, R.N. Sundrachari, N. Laxminarayana, N. Kempe Gowda, Subbaraya, R.N. Ramesh, H.C. Jayaram, C.V. Venkatesh (one year he was President), K. Shivanna, D. Judhishti, Keshav Hegde, R. Krishnamurthy, K. Mukunda, P. Bharath, N. Kumar, K.P. Rangaswamy, C. Seetharam, D. Krishnoji Rao, Nagoji Rao, Brahmalinga, M. Nagaraju, G. Santhosh, C. Nataraja, D. Krishna, C. Gangadharappa, Smt. Leela Vijayakumar (Permanent Lady EC Member since inception and till her retirement), Smt. Asha Dinaker and a few others whose name might have been inadvertently missed.

Of all these OBs/EC Members, Anthony and Leela Vijayakumar, from the start to the end, were pillars of strength to CFTRI-EU headed by the versatile & dynamic N. Suresh Prasad, who was also the General Secretary of CSIR Federation for around 2 decades and sacrificed his official career for the cause of staff members all across CSIR (He did not write any departmental exams for Assistant (G) or SO or PS during his career spanning almost 4 decades).

Internal Auditors were during the different periods : Shri S.Dhanraj, Shri M.R. Mukunda, Shri K. Lakshmivenkatesh and Shri B.S.Ramesh

Role / Attitude of CFTRI Directors in Functioning of CFTRI-EU

When Dr. B.L. Amla was the Director of CFTRI (in 1989), CFTRI-EU was formed. Dr. Amla was very good but anti-Union, and ruled the CFTRI for 16 years. He retired in December 1990. Although Federation was de-facto recognized, he was adamant not to recognize the Union and talk to the representatives of both CFTRI-EU and CFTRI-SWA (which existed since more than a decade before formation of Union). After a few requests for discussions were refused, both CFTRI-EU & SWA jointly launched a Dharna before the CFTRI Main Building when the DGCSIR, Dr. A.P. Mitra, had visited CFTRI for a Peer Committee Meeting (sometime during November 1989). The first Dharna Movement of CFTRI-EU/CFTRI-SWA was a massive success with more than 300 staff members attending the Dharna (photographs scanned). After two hours (where SWA President, Dr. Unnikrishna / Dr. Udayasankar, and CFTRI-EU GS, N.Suresh Prasad, addressed the gathering; and ultimately Dr. Amla was forced to come before the staff members (on dharna) and assure for a meeting with the representatives of EU & SWA, ofcourse separately. Accordingly, meetings for the first time were held by Dr. Amla separately, ofcourse with no tangible results. This is how the journey of struggle / functioning of Union started in CFTRI.

Consequent upon retirement of Dr. Amla, Dr. D.Rajagopala Rao took over as Acting Director. In 1991 Dr. S.R.Bhowmick was appointed as Director. As he was a NRI, he could not cope up to the nuances and system prevailing in CSIR / CFTRI. During this period also, the Union was very active and injustice was prevented in CFTRI by a few flashes of demonstrations and protests. Ultimately, he was forced to resign in 1993. On August 5, 1994, Dr. V.Prakash, who was Head (PCT) & Scientist-EII, was appointed as Director of CFTRI superseding 35 of his seniors. The period of 17 years from 1994 to 2011 was a very good period for CFTRI-EU. Till 2001, ie. till the implementation of CCS(RSA) Rules, the Director was holding formal discussions with Union representatives. After 2001 and till his retirement, only informal discussions were held (ofcourse under pressure) and many demands/issues were settled by Dr.V. Prakash. In a nutshell, Dr. Prakash’s period in CFTRI was almost a Golden Period (compared to the period of Dr. Ram Rajasekharan) and there was a wonderful working/cordial relationship between Dr. Prakash and Union Representatives. The Union appreciates Dr. Prakash and places on record his super relationship with the Union representatives.

Director, Prof. Ram Rajasekharan’s Period :

Prof. RR’s period (from 02.08.2012 to 27.08.2017) as Director was undoubtedly the…. most horrible period in the history of CFTRI – Not only in CFTRI but also in the entire CSIR set-up. A notable Dictator / Tyrant Director had its roots as Director in CIMAP (Lucknow) for 3 ½ years and extended his Directorship at CFTRI for almost 5 years (by a tailor-made recruitment process by the former DGCSIR, Prof. Samir Brahmachari). A born anti-employee; and although nourished his education and career in Bangalore at I.I.Sc for almost 25 years, was a vociferous anti-Karnataka / anti-kannadiga. His autocratic rule has downed the heads of Kim Jong Unn, Saddam Hussain, Hitler, etc. His ego punctuated with deep attachment to tamil/tamilians had not only ruined the progress of the great CFTRI but also brought an abrupt end to, what was supposed to be, his glittering career. His tenure as Director (CFTRI) (and also at CIMAP) was mired with a flurry of controversies of the above nature plus many other aspects. His audacity and ego propelled him to suspend Dr. Umesh Kumar, Scientist-F (who had just a few months left for retirement) and transfer Mr. Sai Manohar, another highly efficient Scientist-F (who had just 3 years of service left) to Lucknow and later dismiss him. Of course, through his incessant struggle, his dismissal was converted into Compulsory Retirement. Dr. Umesh Kumar’s case is still going on. Besides, he transferred many a Class-III and Class-IV and Group-B Gazetted Administrative staff members to CFTRI Resource Centres situated at Mumbai and Lucknow. All these were biased, baseless and impromptu. He did not spared even the President of CFTRI-EU, N. Suresh Prasad – Transferred him on first occasion on Public Interest to Mumbai for 5 months at the age of 56 years (as he was apprehensive that his existence in CFTRI campus was always a threat to him and he could not rule CFTRI as a tyrant leader). He was taken back after 5 months due to an assurance made by him before the 100 & odd staff present in front of his Chamber demanding withdrawal of the transfer order. Again, on his second transfer at the age of 57 years, NSP approached CAT (Bangalore) and got the Transfer Order quashed – This was RR’s first defeat & loss of face; also Kannada Sahrudaya Balaga that existed for more than 2 decades (whose three office bearers were suspended for no reason) and CFTRI SC/ST Association (a Constitutionally recognized body), whose offices were closed and representatives tortured/victimized day-in-day out. Later, through silent struggle, 1 or 2 Office Bearers of SC/ST Association were able to take back the office from Dr. R.R. Further, the Director, Dr. Jadhav, was kind enough to Censure two of them. Added to this, the senior Scientists (level of F & G) were sidelined and his sycophants & his appointed tamilian scientists were given a place of prominence in every official activity. Even a very senior scientist-G was summoned to his chamber and he was manhandled, for which a police complaint was lodged. During his period, discrimination / prejudice was at its peak and always a sense of fear prevailed on all the sincere/dedicated staff members (including Scientists). His appointments (almost all Scientists/TOs/Assistants) were fully biased). Under the Quick Hire Scheme, he appointed only his favourites, throwing into winds all the norms formulated by CSIR – and due to this, the CSIR circulated once again these norms to be followed strictly.

The above victims plus a host of others including Kannada Activists, local SC/ST Associations started back-door fight and started writing to CVC, Hon’ble PMO and DGCSIR, highlighting them his mis-rule and complete breakdown of the system. The most unfortunate part is that the local Activists vehemently protested on the main streets of Mysore and in front of DC office demanding immediate removal of this Director. Ultimately, after a heroic struggle by the victims (particularly by the two suspended Scientists and one or two SC/ST staff members + Local Activists) and based on the PMO constituted High Level Inquiry Committee Recommendations, this infamous Director, Prof. Ram Rajasekharan, on 27.08.2017, was transferred from CFTRI to CSIR HQrs; thus bringing to an end a ghastly era shrouded with unbearable torture to almost all the Scientists / staff members (except 10-15%) by way of suspensions, dismissal, transfers, etc. [ One thing was certain, if RR would not have been involved in various controversies/victimizations and was not egoistic, but concentrated only on work for progress of the Institute, he would have been the Director till 31.12.2020 (his superannuation) or who knows even till 31.12.2022. As the proverb goes, as you sow so you reap, his sins and atrocities on innocent employees, brought doomsday to his so-called glittering career. This clearly shows “God is there” in this world ].

In between all these, Prof. Ram manhandled a very senior scientist, Dr. KSMS Raghava Rao, for which a police complaint was lodged and the same had appeared in important local and National newspapers. On knowing this, a team, headed by the imitable N. Suresh Prasad, Anthony, Chandrashekar, Nagendra and other Class-III / IV employees, few Scientists, Technical Officers, Sr. Technical Assistants, etc. held a massive protest in CFTRI, and suitable resolutions for immediate sacking of Prof. Ram, were adopted and forwarded to Hon’ble Prime Minister, Hon’ble Minister of S&T, DGCSIR and many other GoI Officers/Ministers. A video of the protest near the main gate of CFTRI (at the entry point) is attached below in order to corroborate the same. In this video (the protest rally which started from CFTRI canteen and culminated near the Main Gate), the speeches given by N. Suresh Prasad, R. Shiv Swamy (President of CFTRI Employees' SC/ST Association) and the affected Sr. Scientist (Dr. Raghava Rao) himself giving a speech (narrating briefly about his manhandling/necking out by Prof. Ram), is attached below (along with other videos/ photographs) for viewing by interested viewers. On 08.10.2018, this very same Sr. Scientist Dr. KSMS Raghava Rao (having less than two years of service), became the Director of CFTRI much to the astonishment of all those who supported him in crisis and others. Appointment of a person, having less than 2 years of service, to the post of Director of any National Laboratory under CSIR, is a record of all sorts. This protest, which was a foundation for Prof. Ram's removal along with the heroic/strenuous efforts of Dr. Umesh Kumar, Deputy Director Grade Scientist (who was victimized and suspended by Prof. Ram), Mr. Sai Manohar (another Deputy Director Grade Scientist), who was a victim of Prof. Ram, N. Suresh Prasad, the TU leader + his three Union Office Bearers, Mr. R. Shivswamy (another person who played a vital part) plus a very few Scientists/Technical Officers (who gave moral support), along with the Government/CSIR's policy, played a vital vital role in getting Prof. Ram transferred from CFTRI to Head Quarters - ultimately paving the way for Dr. Raghava Rao to become the Director of CFTRI. If Prof. Ram Rajasekharan (an able Scientist whose Biodata is unmatched and a perfect leader to head the great CFTRI but having the weakness of high ego, anti-kannada/kannadiga, anti-employee / pro-tamil attitude) would not have been removed, he would have continued as Director till December 2022 undoubtedly, and this Raghava Rao's ambition of becoming the Director would have remained as a dream. A bullet point is that : this Raghava Rao after becoming the Director insulted N. Suresh Prasad + his team and more importantly Dr. S. Umesh Kumar, forgetting the huge support given to him under his deep crisis-led days. In the aftermath of this insult, Dr. Umesh Kumar, who is a registered Whistleblower, did what his nature / attitude commanded vis-a-vis Raghava Rao.

Prof. RR approached CAT (Bangalore) and got a Stay-Order against his transfer; but it was short-lived, since CSIR approached Hon’ble HC and got the Stay-Order quashed, and he further tried to succeed in Hon’ble SC but of no use. After a couple of months, since there was no other alternative left for him, he reported at CSIR HQrs., Delhi, and was posted at CSIR Complex, Pusa Road, New Delhi. Later, on 02.08.2018 after completion of his tenure of 6 years, he was removed from the rolls of CSIR.

Grapevine suggests, as on date, several Inquiries (like corruption, harassment, mis-use of official machinery, etc.) are being held against him. Prof. Ram Rajasekharan’s transfer from CFTRI is the outcome of the strenuous efforts of a team which comprised of his victims like Dr. Umesh Kumar (who was suspended), Dr. Sai Manohar (who was dismissed & CSIR later granted him Compulsory Retirement), N. Suresh Prasad (the veteran TU Leader and a victim of his bias), one or two very insulted non-general category activists, a few high level Scientists, a few Technical Officers, a few CFTRI SC/ST workers & Officers, local Mysore Kannada & SC/ST Activists, Kannada Development Authority, etc. One very vital & intriguing occurrence in CFTRI is that, Dr. KSMS Raghava Rao (a noble/humble and a real Scientist with several awards & achievements to his credit), who was insulted, manhandled and virtually necked out by Ram Rajasekharan from his room was appointed as Director, CFTRI on 17.10.2018. What an irony? What could be the mental set-up of Prof. Ram at this point is beyond one’s imagination?

All attached scanned newspaper cuttings and other copies are testimony to the above.

Notable Achievements of CFTRI Employees’ Union

Out of the many achievements made by the Union, a few notable ones are mentioned below :

Regularization of 12 IFTTC Hostel / Mess Staff in 2002 :

All these 12 workers working in CFTRI on contract basis for a period spanning 10-20 years approached the Union (with some important details) for regularization. The demand was placed before the Director in 1998. Several meetings and correspondences were held, but amicably the demand was not met by the Director, mainly due to the CSIR not agreeing for the same. As their case was very strong, the representatives asked these workers to approach CAT (Bangalore) and get the judgement (indirectly Director also wanted the same). Some amount was also given to them from the Union funds, which was later refunded after their regularization. They got a favourable judgement with benefits from retrospective effect. Much against the assurance made by the Director, the CSIR approached High Court challenging this CAT Order. Several negotiations / protests / demonstrations / etc were held in CFTRI. Ultimately, as there was no alternative left, the representatives launched a DHARNA before the Director’s Office for 16 days (Morning 8.30 am to evening 5.30 pm) demanding withdrawal of the case from High Court and Regularization as per CAT Order. [ During this period, Vice-President of Union, Mr. Anthony’s father expired. This was the greatest sacrifice that Anthony made to the Union since, due to the dharna movement, he could not concentrate on his father’s illness, and he delayed admitting him to the Hospital. If his father would have been admitted, he would have still been alive. One aspect to be noted is after the cremation of his father, he reported back to the dharna spot ]. This dharna movement had moral support from CFTRI-SWA and during coffee hours some general members and some SWA representatives used to visit the spot. Several requests to withdraw the agitation were rejected by the Union. Ultimately, a team of CSIR officials, comprising Mr. M.M. Sharma (OSD), Mr. B.S.Gaira (DS) and Mrs. Manju Bogoi (Legal Adviser), visited CFTRI for negotiating with the Union representatives. In these negotiations, the representatives of CFTRI-SWA (Dr. Udayasankar, Mr. John Pereira, Dr. Umesh Kumar & others) were also involved. Continuous deliberations were held; Threatening of Suspension of Union President/GS/VP were also made by the team. But these threatenings didn’t had any impact on Union Representatives.

Eventually, a compromise was reached – ofcourse with Full-n-Full discretion / acceptance of all the aggrieved 12 workers. The agreement was (1) CSIR will withdraw the case from High Court (2) All the 12 staff will be given Temporary Status & over a period of time they will be regularized) (3) All the benefits will be from prospective date (not retrospective as ordered by CAT). All the 12 will give an undertaking to CSIR that they will not go to CAT/HC in future. Although, SWA representatives wanted the 12 staff to fight their case in HC and get the benefits from retrospective date, the aggrieved staff & Union representatives agreed for the above conditions/compromise fearing that even if they win in HC, the CSIR will go to SC, which is definitely beyond the reach of the 12 staff.

This was a great Success for CFTRI-EU. (Scanned copies relevant to this vital issue attached)

Compassionate Appointments :

After the formation of Union, the representatives fought rigorously for giving compassionate appointments to the dependents of the deceased. This serious pursuance was necessitated because the GoI had issued innumerable conditions for grant of CA, the important being (a) the family of the deceased must be in utter penury (b) only 5% of the recruited posts in a year are earmarked for CAs, etc. Due to such conditions, none of the dependents in CFTRI were eligible for grant of CAs. Inspite of this, the Union fought and enabled CAs to many members whose names were S.Shivshankar (His father expired – his mother was given CA – His mother died and Union fought to get him CA), Nataraja, N. Chanchala Kumari (Her father died just 3 months before his retirement, Dr. Prakash who knew her family didn’t want to give CA as they were very well-off – which was not known to Representatives – Under pressure granted CA to her mother – Union did not agree – wanted her brother to be given CA – Ultimately Union compromised for giving CA to Chanchala), Bhuvanesh Kumar (When his father died, he was 16 years. His mother was granted CA. She refused. CA cancelled. After 2 years, when he crossed 18 years, Union fought and got him CA – this was due to G.Shankar Rao and Bhuvanesh’s mother/brothers/uncles/etc), YN Murali, Somalatha, Mahadevi, Ningamma, Kamalamma, Mary Francis, Shanthamma (GST), Shanthamma (LSTF), Gangamma, Brahmalinga, Late Yadunath, Mrs. Nagrathna Patil, Chikka, etc. Needless to mention, almost all of these Compassionate Appointees have no gratitude to the Union. That is the tragedy of this Kali Yuga. But for the Union, all these CAs (except the deceased wives) would have been on roads, working for a paltry wages as like other contract workers.

Re-instatement of Three Retired Administrative Employees through Induction :

Due to a marathon struggle for uniform retirement age, the CSIR Federation was able to get the Induction Scheme introduced in the CSIR for the benefit of Administrative / Driver / Non-technical employees. According to this, those staff members below the level of Assistant (G) were inducted into Technical Side after some training either in-house or outside. After induction into technical side, the concerned staff members were eligible to retire at 60 years (or else all administrative / NT retirement age was 58 years – till implementation of 5th CPC). Three administrative staff members, Mr. Parthasarthy, Mr. M.Madaiah and Mr. Chandrashekar, were denied Induction by the Director and were superannuated at their age of 58 years. This case was not taken up by the Union since they were not the members and also they did not approach the representatives in this regard. On the day of their superannuation (Friday – 1995), the President and VP (NSP & Anthony) of CFTRI-EU were at Delhi for a Federation Meeting with DGCSIR (Their Pension and other retirement emoluments were settled by the Administration). They returned on Sunday. Monday was a general holiday. On Tuesday, these three staff members (retired) along with Mr. M. Ramachandraiah, Mr. N. Krishnamurthy and a few others approached the President and requested for help to re-instate them on the rolls of CFTRI. Both President / VP reluctantly held an emergency meeting of CFTRI-EU Executive Committee. At first instance, the EC unanimously refused to take up this case since all three were anti-Union & not members of Union, and were ardent supporters of Management; but after the President / VP / GS (P.Venkata Rao) convinced the EC members, as a special case they agreed to take up the case on a war-footing. After lengthy discussions / arguments with the Director / CoA / other Mgmt Members, the Director was forced to retract the superannuated orders and were placed them on the rolls of CFTRI through induction process. If they were not taken back, the benefit of 5th CPC (effective from 1.1.96) would not have been extended to them and they would have been under huge loss both in Pension as well as pension emoluments. This was a great achievement of Union.

5-Day Week for Malis and Safaiwalas :

Right from the time when Dr. HAB Parpia (former Director, CFTRI) introduced 5-day week for CFTRI, in late 1960s, only Malis and Safaiwalas were forced to work for 6 days in a week. Even after the GoI’s implementation of 5-day week for all CG Organizations in 1986 (after 4th CPC), these beleaguered lot were forced to work for 6 days/week. After formation of CFTRI-EU in 1989, the representatives fought tooth-and-nail and succeeded in introducing 5-day week for Malis & Safaiwalas (in 1992). Although, it was highly essential for some of these staff to come & work on Saturdays considering the cleanliness and maintenance of lawns/garden, these staff were either given OT or Compensatory-Off. Indeed this was also a great achievement of Union in its infancy stage.

Streamlining of Quarters Allotment :

Before the Union came into existence, the quarters allotment was biased – the seniority concept was throttled and many allotments were made at the mercy of the Management’s personnel. The emergence of Union saw that the allotments were fair and strictly on seniority only, and a Union Office Bearer was a member of the SQ Allotment Committee.

Proportionate Consultancy Distribution to all Staff Members :

This was a vex issue being pursued by the Federation since 2-3 decades but of no use. Both Union and SWA took up this case during the period of Dr.Bhowmick (in 1992) itself. At that time, Dr. Bhowmick constituted a Committee under the Chairmanship of Dr. J.V.Prabhakar (Head (LSTF) and members being Dr. V. Prakash (Head, PCT) and Mr. M. Gurumurthy (CoA). The Committee, after studying the pattern of distribution at NEERI (Nagpur) and NCL (Pune), recommended NEERI pattern of Distribution in CFTRI. Before submitting its recommendations to the Director, the Committee through Overhead Slides, explained to the Union/ SWA representatives the NEERI Pattern for adoption in CFTRI. The representatives after some discussions fully agreed for its adoption in CFTRI; and they applauded the Committee for their wonderful recommendations. Before these recommendations were adopted, Dr. Bhowmick resigned; and Dr. V. Prakash coincidentally became the Director. As Director, Dr. Prakash had some reservations in adopting this NEERI pattern in CFTRI. A huge struggle took place – discussions / arguments were held; and ultimately the NEERI pattern of distribution was adopted and for the first time in the history of CFTRI, all the staff members got proportionate distribution of the monies derived from Consultancy / Sponsored Projects and Analytical Services. Although this was vehemently opposed by a few Scientists who were directly involved in the Projects, but they could not do anything before the power of Union. Later, a few amendments were made in every distribution in order to give some weightage to the staff members / scientists who were directly associated with the Projects. During Dr. Prakash’s period of 17 years, 5 times the distribution took place. Mind you all, this had the approval of DGCSIR.

Here is a brief mention on the distribution pattern adopted in CFTRI which is purely as per CSIR laid-down rules/procedures. If a sum of Rs.1.00 Lakh is available for distribution in consultancy, Rs. 65,000 (65%) would be distributed to the direct consultants (who constitute all the Group-IV Scientists and all Group-III Technical Officers exluding Group-III(1 & 2); Rs.15,000 (15%) to Group-III(1&2), all Group-II staff – ie. Technical Members; Rs.15,000 (15%) to all Group-I and other NT + Isolated staff (like Receptionist / Hindi Officer, etc.) + all Administrative Staff – ie. Support Staff; and Rs.5,000 (5%) to CSIR Welfare Fund.

The money was distributed to all the respective staff members by arriving at a Factor. That Factor was arrived in each of the above three groups of Staff members. In the first group of Direct Consultants say Rs.65,000 is earmarked (out of the total distribution money of Rs.1.00 Lakh). The Basic Pays of all the Scientists / Staff Members in this group are added. Then, Rs.65,000 is divided by the total Basic Pays so added. A factor like 0.2 or 0.5 or any other factor will arrive. This Factor is multiplied by the individual Basic Pay of all the employees in this Direct Consultant group. This is the proportionate distribution pattern adopted in CFTRI and first time distribution made.

In the next distribution, 10% of the total distributable money was kept aside for separate distribution to the staff members directly associated in the project (whose name figure in each of the projects). In the next distribution 20% was kept aside and further in the next distributions it was 30%.

Detailed formula / pattern is mentioned in the attached Scanned Copies.

This was a great achievement of Union since this pattern was adopted only in three laboratories – CFTRI, NEERI and NCL.

The tragic part of this distribution was that, the CFTRI-SWA representatives who were initially fought for proportionate distribution as recommended by the Committee (in 1992) and adopted in CFTRI, backtracked and became total Opponents of this distribution pattern. This aspect led to rift between Union and SWA. On one or two occasions, the Union Members organized protests against these SWA representatives and forced the Director to continue with this distribution pattern.

Cancellation of RAC-2001 Advertisements :

Advertisements were made for several posts of Scientists and Technical Officers in CFTRI. Although several issues were fought in collaboration with CFTRI-SWA, this was an important issue as lot of procedures were violated by CFTRI Authorities at the time of Screening of Candidates for calling them for Interviews. After seriously pursuing with CSIR and CVC, many of the Advertisements were got cancelled and for a few others, proper screening was held. In this achievement, CFTRI-SWA’s role (particularly by Dr. Umesh Kumar) was prime.

Keeping at Bay the Prices of Food Items / Beverages in Canteen :

A notable aspect under the regime of CFTRI-EU was, the prices of food items / beverages were kept at reasonable level due to constant intervention / protests / discussions of the Representatives of CFTRI-EU with the Canteen Committee and Director / CoA / AO. In this connection, twice an Input-Output Cost Calculations were made by the Representatives with the help of general members and Canteen Staff Members. A marathon exercise was made in this regard. The Input-Output Calculations made and other necessary details on this aspect are scanned and attached to this website.

Cauvery Water March – Protest Organized by CFTRI-EU in Support of Karnataka’s Stand :

While NSP, the President of CFTRI-EU (& GS of Federation) was away at Delhi, the office bearers/EC members led by Anthony, P.Venkat Rao, B.S.Rama Prasad, N. Chandrashekar, M.A. Nagendra, G.Shankar Rao, P. Thilakkan, Leela Vijayakumar and a few others, extended their support to the Federation by organizing demonstrations/March within CFTRI premises (during coffee hour in F/N) every working day for the entire period of 55 days and sent resolutions to the DGCSIR, President (CSIR), etc. When sometimes sufficient members were not there, only Anthony, PVR, BSR, GSR, PT organized the protests. The heartbreaking aspect of this Rs.1640-2900 movement was that except one or two none of the Administrative staff participated in this protest, although the benefit of the Federation’s movement was only for Admn staff. Complete details mentioned in this website under Federation History.

New Year Parties Organized by CFTRI-EU during 2001-04 :

In order to keep the spirit of unity in CFTRI and expose to the Management the Strength of CFTRI-EU, the CFTRI Employees’ Union Hosted New Year Parties during the period 2001-04 and mobilized all the Staff members (including CFTRI-SWA members + Students/Temporary Staff). On these occasions, speeches were made by Union and SWA Leaders including NSP, N. Chandrashekar, Dr. K. Udayasankar / Mr. John Pereira, and a sumptuous High Tea was arranged. After 2004, the CFTRI-EU stopped arranging NY Parties for various reasons.

Conversion of Unskilled Workers to Skilled Status :

Although the provisions from the CSIR do exist, the CFTRI Management did not bother to convert these workers from Unskilled to Skilled. After a rigorous struggle the Union succeeded in this endeavour inspite of these workers not being the members of Union.

Strict Monitoring by the Representatives for Ensuring Proper Payment of Wages to Skilled Workers and Security Personnel by the Contractors and Proper Deposit of PFs into their Accounts :

As everybody is aware, in almost all the Institutions, the Contractors deceive their workers by making them sign for correct payment of wages as per rules and on the contrary giving them lesser wages. This deceiving was forbidden in CFTRI, since the Union Reps always kept an eagle eye and ensured that the workers get their wages as per rules and deposit the PFs in the respective Accounts of the Workers. With all this strict vigilance, a contractor M/s Essential Services (during the early 2000s) ditched his workers (around 75 in Nos.) a whopping amount of around Rs. 15.00 Lakhs by not depositing the PFs into their accounts. This is the only failure on the part of the Union. Although Union fought, it could not derive justice to these workers. Still their case is pending in EPF Office and their dues have not been settled.

On seeing this matter in this website, the concerned EPF authorities may please intervene and expedite settlement of the workers’ EPF dues.

Many other achievements have been made by CFTRI-EU like

(1) Timely payment of arrears of Bonus/DA to all staff members (2) M.N.Nagoji Rao’s 5 years of past service under W/C basis got counted through prolific persuasion with the CFTRI Authorities; (3) Mr. B.R.Subramanya was awarded the Watch inspite of his one year blemished CR. NSP telephoned in front of BRS to Dr. R.A.Mashelkar (DGCSIR) and convinced him, and it was followed by a Fax message; (4) Ensuring proper payment of wages to Contractual Staff and Security Staff by their Contractors (as against their attitude of paying one wage and getting signed for another one wage); Preventing unnecessary harassment to lower staff by some of their HoDs; so on and so forth. Some Scanned copies attached.

Curtains Down for CFTRI-EU – Function / High Tea Hosted by CFTRI-EU and Last Speech by the Veteran & Retiring N. Suresh Prasad :

On 4th January 2018, an Open-Air Meeting / Party was organized in front of the Canteen Premises. N. Suresh Prasad gave his last speech of his 40 year Career (30 year Union/Federation Leader) and openly admitted the closure of the powerful CFTRI Employees’ Union. More than 300 staff members / Students / Temporary Staff attended this meeting. A High Tea was also arranged. The recording of NSP’s Last Speech and a few Photographs have been attached).

It is vouched that the CFTRI Employees’ Union under the dynamic & able leadership of N. Suresh Prasad in association with Anthony, Leela Vijayakumar and other General Secretaries like N.Chandrashekar, P.Venkata Rao, B.S.Rama Prasad and all Office Bearers/EC members (like S.Shivappa & others), commanded great RESPECT from the Directors / Management Personnel and almost all the Staff Members (including Scientists) + Temporary/Contract Workers/Security Personnel/ Students/Research Fellows/etc. Under the regime of CFTRI-EU, hardly there was any victimization / harassment / corruption because every Management Personnel had utmost fear from NSP & his group. Thus, a Golden Era, ended and an indelible mark was left in CFTRI (which will be cherished by the incumbent employees – for atleast 2-3 decades) consequent to the closure of CFTRI-EU.

As the CCS(RSA) Rules-1999 have been implemented (which would be a puppet Association at the hands of the Management) and Recognition under India TU Act 1926 withdrawn in the whole of CSIR, it is impossible in future for such a Golden Era of Union to usher in CFTRI as well as in any other CSIR Labs/Institutes.

CFTRI EMPLOYEES’ UNION ZINDABAD N.SURESH PRASAD/ANTHONY/N.CHANDRASHEKAR/NAGENDRA/LEELA/VENKAT RAO/RAMA PRASAD/ OTHERS ZINDABAD INQUILAAB ZINDABAD / WORKERS’ UNITY ZINDABAD

Thus, the golden era of CFTRI Employees’ Union ended; and CFTRI-EU became History.

Inputs Prepared & Compiled by N. Suresh Prasad, President, CFTRI Employees’ Union & General Secretary of CSIR Federation [Retired Private Secretary, C.F.T.R.I., Mysuru – 570 020] and Other Prominent Leaders – September 2018