58TH GENERAL CONFERENCE OF ICEU, CHENNAI DIVISION-1

The 58th Annual General Conference of ICEU, Chennai Division-1, was an unprecedented success in terms of elaborate and informative speeches by the leaders of the mighty organization, the AIIEA, the attendance of almost 75 percent of the members of the Division from all over its jurisdiction, an exhaustive and comprehensive Report presented by the leadership of the Union and in terms of decisions taken to carry forward the movement and struggle. Despite the advice tendered by the AIIEA to conduct the conference in a low-key manner in view of the massive destruction and devastation caused by the recent floods in and around the city of Chennai and the leadership of the Divisional Union had followed the advice tendered, the conference was a tremendous success. The inaugural session of the conference was attended by more than 500 comrades including a record 300 women comrade. Senior leaders of AIIEA, Comrades R.Govindarajan, S.Rajappa, Chidambaram of the LIC Pensioners Association, Thiruvananthapuram, R.D.Dharanipathi, H.M.A.Mallick, S.R.Krishnamurthy, D.Devaprakash, V.D.Somasundaram, K.David, N.S.Rajan and some leaders of the general insurance sector formed part of the audience.

The conference, presided over by Com.L.Palaniappan, President, ICEU, who  hoisted the flag of AIIEA at the beginning,  was inaugurated by veteran leader of AIIEA, Com.N.M.Sundaram, on 26-12-2015.  Com.Sundaram recalled the struggles launched by the AIIEA to defeat the move of the Manmohan Singh government earlier and later by the present NDA government led by Narendra Modi, despite the fact that the both the LIC and the four public sector general insurance companies had been contributing lakhs of crores of rupees to the government for various development activities. The ruling party’s affiliated Sangh Parivar was indulging in all sorts of disruptive activities to deny religious, cultural and other democratic freedoms and while fighting against such divisive tactics, the LIC employees should aim to safeguard the LIC in the public sector besides forcing the ruling party to abandon its reform policies in order to ensure an unemployment-free situation for the   young people. He also called upon the audience to make sure that the LIC continues to serve the policyholders and the people, remaining in the public sector.

Com.K.Swaminathan, General Secretary, SZIEF, said that the conference was being held in the midst of a good wage revision secured by the AIIEA according to its tradition and also in the backdrop of the unprecedented floods in Tamil Nadu. The AIIEA would continue its efforts on solving the remaining problems of  another option for pension, New Pension Scheme, five-day week, etc, he said. He also pointed out that it had been the demand of the AIIEA that the wage revision should reflect the all-round growth achieved by the LIC. He appealed to the comrades to conduct an elaborate campaign among the policyholders and the general public against the imposition of income tax on claim amount and service tax on premium, which amounted to attacks on social security. He elaborately discussed the various flood relief operations undertaken by the comrades of all the Units and called upon the comrades to make the AIIEA a frontline leader in the arduous tasks ahead.

Comrades G.Kannan, Joint Secretary, GIEA, South Zone and K.Manoharan, General Secretary, ICEU, Chennai Division-2, greeted the participants. Com.D.Ramesh, Joint Secretary, ICEU, Chennai Division-1, proposed a vote of thanks.

DELEGATES’ SESSION: In the Delegates’ Session that followed, Com.S.Rameshkumar, General Secretary, ICEU, Chennai Division-1, placed the Report of the Executive Committee, on which 12 comrades including one woman comrade spoke. There was absolute unanimity on the view that the movement and struggle to safeguard the LIC in the public sector should be continued more vigorously and attempts of the government to weaken the premier public sector undertaking should be defeated. Greeting the participants, Com.R.Govindarajan, former Joint Secretary, AIIEA, in an emotion-filled address, was highly critical of the leaders of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar for their anti-Pakistan statements, the state of intolerance that prevails in the country in the cultural, religious and historical spheres. In proof, he cited the instances of killing of progressive writers, removal of the Chairmen of Indian Council of Cultural Affairs, Indian Council of Historical Research, etc. to accommodate leaders of the Sangh Parivar. In the prevailing  tense situation, the attempts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring in foreign capital for growth of the economy would fail. This view has also been expressed by persons of eminence like N.R.Naryana Murthy of the INFOSYS and Raghuram Rajan of the RBI, he pointed out. He called upon the comrades to fight against these policies in order to make advancements. Comrades N.Ananda Selvi, Joint Secretary, SZIEF and K.David, former Manager of Insurance Worker, greeted the conference.

After a spirited reply to the debate by Com.S.Rameshkumar, General Secretary, the Report was adopted unanimously. The Statements of Accounts presented before the house by Com.K.Sridhar, Treasurer, were also approved by the house unanimously. The conference elected Com.NMS, S.Rajappa, K.David and R.Boopathy as honorary members. The conference elected Comrades L.Palaniappan, S.Rameshkumar and K.Sridhar as President, General Secretary and Treasurer, respectively, for the next term. The meeting elected the members of the Executive Committee and the Delegates to the 33rd General Conference of SZIEF to be held in January, 2016 at Thanjavur. A number of resolutions were also adopted by the meeting.

 S.Rameshkumar, General Secretary