[Reader-list] Gurgaon Workers News: November Newsletter

[shuddha at sarai.net]

GurgaonWorkersNews - Newsletter 19 (July 2009)
(full version on: www.gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com)
 
Gurgaon in Haryana is presented as the shining India , a symbol of
capitalist success promising a better life for everyone behind the gateway
of development. At a first glance the office towers and shopping malls
reflect this chimera and even the facades of the garment factories look
like three star hotels. Behind the facade, behind the factory walls and in
the side streets of the industrial areas thousands of workers keep the
rat-race going, producing cars and scooters for the middle-classes which
end up in the traffic jam on the new highway between Delhi and Gurgaon.
Thousands of young middle class people lose time, energy and academic
aspirations on night-shifts in call centres, selling loan schemes to
working-class people in the US or pre-paid electricity schemes to the poor
in the UK . Next door, thousands of rural-migrant workers uprooted by the
agrarian crisis stitch and sew for export, competing with their angry
brothers and sisters in Bangladesh or Vietnam . And the rat-race will not
stop; on the outskirts of Gurgaon, Asia 's biggest Special Economic Zone is
in the making. The following newsletter documents some of the developments
in and around this miserable boom region. If you want to know more about
working and struggling in Gurgaon, if you want more info about or even
contribute to this project, please do so via:
 
www.gurgaonworkersnews.wordpress.com
gurgaon_workers_news at yahoo.co.uk
 
In the July 2009 issue you can find:
 
1) Proletarian Experiences -
Daily life stories and reports from a workers' perspective
 
*** Thermo Workers Power to Quit Work -
Short report by a worker who was employed on a site of the Rashtrya Taap
Vidyut Nigam / NTCP (National Thermo-Electricity Corporation). The biggest
contractor on site is the multi-national construction company Larson and
Tubro.
 
*** Worker who works his machine in various textile export factories -
Short report from a worker who is shifted from factory to factory -
together with the special sewing machines he runs. The machines are owned
by a contractor who gets orders from various textile export companies.
 
*** Short report by older daily wage worker drudging for Food Corporation
of India since 30 years-
One of 30,000 daily workers employed by the public Bhartiya Khadya Nigam.
For several years he has worked in a huge storage hall in Delhi industrial
area.
 
*** Supply Chain Gang: Five short stories of workers manufacturing parts
for Maruti Suzuki, Honda and Hero Honda in Gurgaon -
The workers are employed by Motherson Sumi, Denso, DM, Super Auto and
Hightech Auto in Faridabad and Gurgaon industrial area. The parts they
manufacture end up at the assembly lines of, amongst others, Maruti Suzuki,
Honda HMSI and Hero Honda in Gurgaon and the German company Knorr Bremse.
 
2) Collective Action -
Reports on proletarian struggles in the area
 
*** Report on struggle of temp and casual workers at world's biggest
motor-bike factory Hero Honda in Dharuhera (Gurgaon/Manesar) -
The story and outcome of their struggle reminds us of many similar
conflicts in the area's recent past: angry casual and temp workers, a
collective action, some tactical negotiations and repression from the
company, the attempt to form a union, a mass lock-out and dismissals,
hundreds of replaced workers hoping for a legal solution...
 
3) According to Plan -
General information on the development of the region or on certain company
policies
 
*** The Gurgaon Model and a Murder -
Documentation of an older article on the legal adjustments which were
undertaken in order to convert Gurgaon farm-land into real estate assets
throughout the 1990s. It gives an idea of the collaboration between village
and rural hierarchy, the local political class and (multi-national) real
estate developers. The outcome of the sudden money inflow is
brutalisation...
 
*** Water Wars -
Short glimpse on the waterfront. Short summary of a newly published report
on global water privatisation.  Then a look at the local water crisis. A
dyeing worker reports on how water-wastage in the dyeing industry in the
Delhi industrial belt is covered by police and officials. A friend from
Faridabad tells us how water gets to his slum-area - followed by a
description of how water supply expresses social hierarchies in a Gurgaon
back-yard.
 
4) About the Project -
Updates on Gurgaon Workers News
 
*** Workers' Film Documentary about Proletarian Life and Struggles in
Gurgaon: Help needed! -
A workers' film documentary on life and struggles in Gurgaon and wider NCR
area is in the making comprising many interviews with workers from
different generations and sectors. Given that we either have mothers whose
tongues did not make use of Hindi or English language or that we do not
have regular access to computers we want to ask you for help with
translating the Hindi-spoken words into English subtitles. We started with
the rough work, but need help with the subtleties. If you want to give us a
hand, please contact us!
 
*** Glossary -
Updated version of the Glossary: things that you always wanted to know, but
could never be bothered to google. Now even in alphabetical order.