KERALA- Political Repression Report of an Investigation

Labour Minister.
The Labour Minister offered his 'interim formula' on the eve of the expiry of the strike notice that had been earlier extended by four days. The formula stipulated upward revision of wages inclusive of basic pay, dearness allowance and variable DA for the employees working under different groups of industry as follows: Group A, Rs 40; Group B, Rs 50; Group C, Rs 65; and Group D, Rs 80. The amounts were thus Rs 5 lower for each group of employees, except Group D, than the original offer made by the management on its own during the bipartite negotiations with the unions. In fact, the employers themselves were evidently surprised by the official benevolence of the interim settlement, While there was much furore from labour, pacification of workers was attempted by offering two increments at a time. The staff of the big operators would be benefited by these doles. The weightage condition of seven years at least of continuous service was clearly aimed at pacifying the employees of the KERALA Political Repression: Report of an Investigation A NUMBER of writers, cultural activists and ordinary working people were arrested in Kerala between May 21 and July 31. Many of those arrested were allegedly tortured. The People's Union for Civil Liberties and Democratic Rights, Delhi, undertook an investigation of these arrests. The investigation was carried out by Mukundan C Menon who visited Kerala from August 24 to September 7 and met a cross-section of people in the three districts of Trichur, Emakularn and Kottayam. lie also met some of the arrested persons. What follows is an abridged version of the report prepared by Mukundan Menon. On July 15 in the morning, four persons were arrested in different parts of Trichur district. They are K Sachidanandan, a well known young writer in Malayalam who drew wide attention particularly during the early 1970s for his progressive1 writings; K S Sadasivan, editor of Preruna, a literary monthly in Malayalam; Meghanadan, an advocate, and Karthikeyan, a degree-class student. Their arrests caused a chain reaction of protests throughout Kerala, and inspired a number of write-ups in journal and newspapers. On the same evening, a demonstration was held hi Trichur town protesting against the arrests, and 32 of