MUTA Cadre Orientation Camp

27-29 April 2011

Kuttikanam, Kerala

The MUTA Cadre Orientation Camp organized from 27^th to 29^th April 2011at Kuttikanam was attended by 75 members including 10 women teachers.

Inaugural Session 27-04-2011 10:00 am

Prof.P.Vijayakumar

Former General Secretary

MUTA

Former General Secretary -MUTA

The Camp was inaugurated by Prof.P.Vijayakumar, former General Secretary of MUTA. In his inaugural address, Prof.Vijayakumar traced the history of the political economy since 1945 and the establishment of IMF, World Bank, GATT and WTO and pointed out the difference between the term ‘Internationalism’, marked by cooperation and ‘Globalisation’, marked by competition. He elaborately dealt with the growth of Petro Dollar, Euro Dollar and the Finance Capital, culminating into international finance capital. The emergence of the process of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation and the dominance of international finance capital in the global political economy was emphasized. By narrating the emergence of 11 Latin American governments which have rejected the neo-liberal policies, he stressed the need for a fight against these anti-people policies. Prof. M.Ananthakrishnan, former President, MUTA chaired the session, while Dr. Ezhil, Treasurer, Zone I welcomed all the participants and Prof.Kandasamy, Vice-President, Zone III delivered vote of thanks.

First Session 27-04-2011 12:00 Noon

Caste, Politics and Society

Adhavan Theetchanya

Joint General Secretary

Tamilnadu Untouchability Eradication Front

Prof.S.Navaneethakrishnan, President, Zone III gave his welcome address in the first session chaired by Prof. S.Kalyanaraman, Secretary, Zone II. Mr.Adhavan Theetchanya, through his precise analysis, traced the establishment of the Varna System, the Brahmanism and subsequent emergence of the Caste System. He also cited the emergence of Buddhism and its fall at the hustings and elaborated the dynamics of caste in the present day politics and society. In his address, he explained the concept of untouchability, proposed the ways and means of eradicating untouchability and the establishment of a casteless society. Prof. Suresh, Joint Secretary, Zone I proposed vote of thanks.

Second Session 27-04-2011 03:30 pm

Global Economic Crisis and its Impact on India

 Arumuga Nainar

Former President

Bank Employees’ Federation of India (BEFI)

Dr.R.Murugesan, Vice-president, MUTA presided over the session and Dr.V.A.Radhakrishnan, Secretary, Zone III welcomed the participants. Mr.Arumuga Nainar introduced the participants with the development of the capitalist system by explaining how the mode of production decides the form of society. The current capitalist system of production is the basis for the capitalist society. It decides the politics of the society. He asserted that there were two phases of capitalist growth. The first phase was upto World War II. After the liberation of colonial countries after the World War II, the second phase was upto 1989 which is the golden period of capitalism. He traced the oil shock of 1972 and the subsequent emergence of Neo-liberalism on the world economic horizon. Neo-liberalism advocates minimal state, he said. He explained how the finance capital appropriated the surplus in the economy and became international in character and the conflict of interest between the nation-state and the international finance capital. The world economic crisis was born out of the Structural Adjustment Programme advocated by the IMF and the World Bank. He explained how the sub-prime crisis in the housing sector in the US developed in to a financial crisis and how several financial institutions went bankrupt including the development banks. As a contagion the financial crisis in the US spread to Europe and the world is in the throes of economic crisis. Since the financial liberalisation was not fully carried out in India, the impact of financial crisis did not affect the Indian financial system.  The intervention of left parties also saved the financial sector during the UPA-I government. However, he added, that the world economic crisis will indirectly affect India. He pointed to the fact that the GDP growth in India fell in Oct 2008 due to the world economic crisis. Wage cut and contractualisation were the products of the crisis born out of neo- liberal policies followed by the nation-states. He emphasized the need for a consistent fight against international finance capital and neo-liberalism to create an alternate economic order. Prof.Sanal Kumar, Joint Secretary, Zone IV gave vote of thanks.

Third Session 28-04-2011 11:00 am

Trade Union Movement in the Neo-Liberal Regime

A.Soundararajan

General Secretary

Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), Tamilnadu

Dr.T.Chandraguru, Convener, Legal Wing, MUTA chaired the session. Dr. Mohamed Sherif,                  EC Member, Zone I welcomed the participants. Mr. A.Soundararajan traced the history of the trade union movement since 1918 in Tamilnadu. He indentified the two trends in the Indian trade union movement. The first trend is that the working class should fight for their rights and the emancipation of the people. The second trend is that of reformist which advocates that the working class should not fight for its rights.  He also explained how the working class fought against capitalists spontaneously by smashing machines and even electric bulbs. These spontaneous struggles went on for eight decades before the working class got itself organized into trade unions Resistance was there all along against the exploitation of working class by the capitalist class. The circumstance was such that the capitalists were forced to recognise trade unions and negotiate with them. Now under the neo-liberal regime, the right to form trade unions, a right hitherto recognised by the capitalists themselves, is being taken away.

In Tamilnadu, in the name of industrial peace, the government is not ready to recognise the trade unions. Trade unions may be registered but they are not recongised and hence the factory managements are not ready to negotiate with the trade unions. Outside leadership to trade unions is not accepted. All labour laws were diluted. The factory managements reduced the strength of permanent workers by 50%. The remaining 50% was filled by contract workers. He observed that the militancy of the permanent workers is at the low ebb. In Hyundai, there are 1,200 permanent workers and 8,000 non-permanent workers. The working time is longer and wages are meagre in all the factories in the Special Economic Zone in and around Chennai. Workers in Hyundai, Foxcon, Nokia factories struck work spontaneously. The workers in these factories did not have faith in trade unions and trade union leaders. He also asserted that the new young workers are ready to fight and organize struggles. In their struggle, the state, the police and the court got exposed. It is the onerous duty of the trade union movement to instill confidence among young workers who are ready to fight for their rights, he asserted. Dr.Wilson, President, Zone IV proposed vote of thanks.

Fourth Session 28-04-2011 03:30 pm

Gender and Culture

Tamilselvan

General Secretary

Tamilnadu Progressive Writers’ and Artists’ Association

Dr.R.Murali, Joint General Secretary, MUTA chaired the session. Dr.C.Radhakrishnan, Secretary, Zone IV, MUTA welcomed the participants of the session. Mr.S. Tamilselvan in his humourous, satirical and inimitable style delivered his lecture which was enjoyed by the participants. He started his lecture tracing the meaning of the word ‘culture’ by quoting a sentence of a song from Kalithogai “culture means the way one behaves” in a society. To prepare a person’s mind to get along with the society is culture. Whether a culture is good or bad is decided by answering the following questions: who cultures whose mind? Why he cultivates one’s mind? What he cultivates in one’s mind?  A MUTA member must understand that culture has a political role, he insisted. There is a close link between politics, economics and culture. He explained this link with a graphic narration of the development of an industrial capitalist and the mindset of the workers.  The worker firmly believes that he is not the owner of the asset he created through his labour. Every mind is cultured according to the needs of the ruling class.  Educational institutions, family, media, caste, religion and trade union were all cultural institutions. These cultural institutions shape the mind of every person in the society. Every mind is cultured by this society. Every mind is cultured to accept the caste ridden, class divided society. In this society, there is no gender sensitivity. Male chauvinism among men as well as slavish mentality among women is seemed to be natural in our society. To get rid of these ills, we have introspective ourselves and change our mindset, this change should start from our home. Ultimately we have to create an alternate culture which is good for the society. Dr. Vellammal, Convener, Women’s Wing, Zone III delivered her vote of thanks.

Fifth Session 29-04-2011 10:00 am

Open Session

Prof.M.Ananthakrishnan, former President of MUTA, Prof.S.Vivekanandan, President, MUTA and         Prof.T.Manohara Justus, General Secretary, MUTA were the presidium in the open session. The Open session was an interactive session. Prof. M.Ananthakrishnan explained the worsening situation in the higher education sector in Tamilnadu, especially in self financing colleges. He criticized the apathy of the rulers and educational administrators. He exhorted our young participants to rise against injustice and fight for better working conditions in the higher education institutions.

Prof.S.Vivekanandan elaborated the strength and weakness of our organization. Considering the challenges we have to face in the higher education sector, he emphasized that we will not be able to achieve our goal, he cautioned. He called for strengthening the organization so that we could face the challenges unless we revamp and strengthen our organization, Prof.T. Manohara Justus narrated the pitiable service conditions of the teachers in self financing colleges and courses. He called for mobilizing them into the organization. Only by organizing them, we will be able to improve the service conditions the teachers working in the self financing colleges and courses.

In the discussion that followed, Mr.Palani-MTN College, Madurai, Ms.Thilagavathi-Mano College, Sathankulam, Mr.Ramasubbu-MTN College, Madurai, MR.Sampathkumar-Mano College, Nagampati, Mr.Thiagarajan-The Madura College, Madurai, Mr.Dharmaraj-MKU College, Aundipatty, Mr.Pattabhi-Mano College, Puliangudi, Mr.Shanmugaraj-Arul Annandar College, Karumathur, Madurai, Mr.Stepen John-Annai Velanankanni College, Mr.Manikandan-Lakshmipuram College, Neyyoor, Mr.Prasanna Subramanian-MKU College, Aundipatty, Mr.Sathuragiri, MKU College, Aundipatty participated and expressed their views on matters ranging from the functioning of MUTA Units, the necessity for mobilizing new members, the problems arising out of aided teachers engaging self financing courses and the retired teachers taking up positions in unaided colleges/courses and the steps to be taken to build up the struggles to emancipate self financing teachers.

Sixth Session 29-04-2011 12:15 pm

Challenges of Higher Education

Prof.A.James William

President

 AIFUCTO

Prof.J. Johnson, Vice -President, MUTA was the chairman of the session. Prof. S.Raja, Vice-President, Zone I welcomed the participants. Prof.James William stated that an academic revolution is going on globally and at the national level and it is unprecedented in scope and dimension. The ICT revolution changed the world in so many ways. But there are challenges and opportunities in the higher education sector. He traced the evolution of society from agricultural to industrial and then to the present knowledge society. In an era of emerging knowledge society, there is massification of education. He gave some statistics about the access rate of higher education.  In India, it is 10%, China 20%, Norwegian countries 70% to 80%, European countries 60% to 70%. In the globalised economy, rapid cultural and social changes came. English become the dominating language in the globalised economy. The process of globalisation has been dominated by MNCs and international finance capital. In the field of higher education, the generation, distribution and distribution of knowledge are taking place. Education is not only for providing skills but it is working to the need of the ruling class, he said. Earlier under Gurukul system kings and priestly class only got education.

 In India the social philosophy of education is to achieve social justice. In order to achieve social justice in higher education, 80% grant was given to aided colleges in Tamilnadu and then it was increased to 100% grant. Since 80s no grant was given to new colleges. Self financing engineering, arts and science colleges came into being. This is because of the policy of neo-liberalism. In neo-liberal regime, higher education is being privatized in India. Structural changes are taking place in higher education in the form of bringing new legislations to suit the needs of international players. The Foreign Educational Institutions Bill, 2010, The Prohibition of Unfair Practices in Technical, Medical Educational Institutions and University Bill, 2010, The Educational Tribunals Bill, 2010, The National Accreditation Authority for Higher Educational Institutions Bill, 2010, The Universities for Innovation Bill, 2010, The National Commission for Higher Education and Research Bill, 2010, The Protection of Public Funded Intellectual Property Bill, 2008, National Academic Depository Bill and a Bill to enable Public-Private Partnership in Education are some of  the legislations which await passage in the ensuing sessions of the Parliament. These bills, if passed in the Parliament, will legitimize the commercialisation of higher education. If foreign universities are allowed to come in India, there will be no reservation in these institutions and hence social justice will be summarily denied. The unitary university concept is an attempt to privatise higher education in Tamilnadu. To stall privatisation and commercialisation of higher education, recently a National Forum in Defense of Higher Education was formed. This forum of teachers, students, parents, non-teaching staff, peoples’ science movement and youth dedicates itself to fight against the effects of neo-liberal policies in the field of higher education. Our teachers should join theae struggles against neo-liberalism under the banner of MUTA and AIFUCTO, he exhorted. Ms.Kumari Selvi, Mano College gave her vote of thanks.

Valedictory Session 29-04-2011 03:30 pm

Prof.S.Vivekanandan, President, MUTA elaborated the link between the different topics chosen for these sessions in the present context of the neo-liberal regime in the field of higher education. These topics would give the participants the whole idea of the society in which different forces like caste, religion, politics, gender, culture, neo-liberalism, international finance capital, trade union movement are operating, he said. Further he insisted the participants to internalize the issues we have discussions so that we would be able to operate optimistically in the field of higher education despite severe challenges.

The participants by forming four groups among themselves had group discussions on the lectures delivered in the camp on 27 and 28-04-2011. The group discussions were fruitful and sharpened the views of the participants. The reports based on the discussions were submitted by Dr.N.Ezhil-SVN College, Madurai, Sanalkumar-Malankarai Catholic College, Kaliakkavilai, Stephen John-Annai Velankanni College. Palani-MTN College, Madurai.

            The feedback about the Cadre Orientation Camp was received from all participants and Saravanan-SSA College, Devakottai, Subburaj-VHNSN College, Virudhunagar, Randheerkumar-MDT Hindu College, Tirunelveli, Manikandan-Laksmipuram College, Thilagavathi-Mano College, Sathankulam presented their views about the Camp in the valedictory session.

Prof.T.Manohara Justus, in his valedictory address urged the participants to build up the units, strengthen them so that the problems of self financing teachers could be taken up effectively in future. He assured the self financing teachers that the MUTA will unleash struggles against victimizations and to improve the service conditions of self financing teachers.

Prof.Ganesan, Joint General Secretary, MUTA, in his vote of thanks, said that the self financing teachers recognise the steps taken by MUTA, but still the problems of victimisation, poor service conditions persist. These problems could be redressed only by organsing all the self financing teachers under the MUTA banner.

            The Cadre Orientation Camp came to a close with the thundering slogans, like Teachers Unity Zindabad! Students Unity Zindabad! Long Live MUTA! Long Live AIFUCTO! raised by the participants which were  reverberating in the hills of Western Ranges.