Therefore, to show the outside world that the government has implemented “Make in India” in defence, the government has committed a historical mistake, by offloading more than 275 products being manufactured in the 41 Ordnance Factories as “Non-Core”. Due to this decision more than 25 Ordnance Factories are very badly affected. Former defence ministers George Fernandes, Pranab Mukherjee and A K Antony had assured the federations in the past that the work which can be done by the Ordnance Factories will not be privatized and for manufacturing any new products the first priority will be given to the Defence Civilian Employees to Go on Strike on Jan 23-25Ordnance Factories. Even the former defence minister in the present BJP government Manohar Parrikar had directed OFB to increase their production to Rs. 20000 crore per year.

Accordingly, during the year 2017-2018, the Ordnance Factories made a record production of Rs. 17650 crore of Defence Equipments. However, in violation of this the present dispensation has reduced the workload of OFB for the current year to Rs. 6500\ crore and thereafter, due to the agitation by the Federations, increased the same to Rs. 11700 crore. The government, instead of increasing the target to Rs. 19000 crore during 2018-2019, has reduced the target to Rs. 11700 crore. The target for 2019-2020 is not known and what will happen to the future of 85000 Employees is a big question mark.

The government has also taken a policy decision to close down Military Farms which were supplying pure milk to the soldiers, station workshops, depots under the army and to hand over the eight army base workshops which are giving second life to the defence equipments including the imported ones to the private sector in the name of GOCO Model. The DRDO is being forced to hand over the newly developed technology to the private sector. Manpower in DRDO is considerably reduced.

The DGQA which is playing a vital role in guaranteeing the Quality Equipments to the Indian army is also being seriously attacked and government wanted to hand over even the Defence Quality Assurance activity also to the private sector in the name of Third Party Inspection. The Military Engineer Service is also not spared. All the civil construction and maintenance work are being completely outsourced. The strength of permanent employees are getting decreased and the number of contract workers are getting increased. Apprentices trained in the defence establishments are denied employment opportunities. Even in strategic Naval Dockyards many jobs are outsourced. The contract labourers deployed in these defence units are exploited and the demand to regularize\ them is not being considered by the government.

Another major problem being faced by the Central Government Employees including Defence Civilian Employees is the draconian National Pension System (NPS). The then BJP government led by late Atal Behari Vajpayee has introduced the Contributory Pension Scheme now called as NPS, for those employees who have joined service on or after January 1, 2004. The NPS has taken away the right to pension of the government employees which the Supreme Court had guaranteed. When the NPS was introduced the government had assured that Pension from NPS will not be less than the Pension payable under the Defined Pension Scheme as provided in CCS (Pension) Rules 1972. However, the employees who are now retiring from the NPS are getting only a meagre Pension of Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 2,000, whereas the minimum Pension under the Defined Pension Scheme of CCS (Pension) Rules 1972 is Rs. 9,000 + DA. The government is not prepared to scrap the NPS and to restore the Guaranteed Pension under the CCS (Pension) Rules 1972.

The four lakh Defence Civilian Employees are very much agitated against the anti labour attitude of the present government in killing the defence industry and continuing with the anti labour NPS. Considering these aspects the three recognized Federations of the Defence Civilian Employees (AIDEF, INDWF and BPMS) have jointly decided to observe three days strike on January 23 to 25, 2019. Strike notice was served by the three Federations on January 4, 2019 and more than a thousand trade unions functioning in various Defence Establishments are to take part.

Preparations and campaigning programmes are going on throughout the country. The pressure built up by the federations and the Defence Civilian Employees have forced the government to hold two rounds of discussions with the federations. However, since there is no specific and categorical commitments from the government on the demands the three federations have decided to proceed with the strike and accordingly different preparatory programmes are being carried out throughout the country.

The defence industries are established and developed after independence for achieving self reliance in defence. The skilled workforce of these industries are continuously struggling and striving to achieve this task. However, the government, instead of encouraging and strengthening these industries, is deliberately making them sick in its attempt to liquidate the same. It is for the employees and also for the patriotic citizens of this country to raise their voice against the decision of the present government to dismantle the defence industry and to hand over the same to the private corporates whose sole aim is to earn profit and more profit. Are these policies not against the national interest? Can the defence of our country depends upon the private corporates? Is it justified to impose on the Indian army a “Corporate Culture” and making them procure whatever they want and from wherever they can. These are all issues which the country has to debate both inside the Parliament and in public domain. People have to rise together and fight back against these retrograde policies of the government. (IPA Service)