UNI workers took out a militant protest rally from the UNI premises to the Parliament on April 26, 2007 against the moves to privatize the enterprise, and demanded a CBI enquiry into the conspiracy hatched by the UNI management for the sale of 60% of its shares. The rally was organized under the banner of the Joint Action Committee which is a collaboration of several organizations of the working class. Besides the Communist Ghadar Party of India, activists of political, social and human rights organizations, journalists, writers and media workers participated in huge numbers.

It is significant that UNI is one of the two principal new agencies in the country, the other being PTI. It is their principal mandate to compile news for newspapers, T.V and the radio. The two agencies disseminate national and international news promptly and at affordable rates to many newspapers published in different languages from different states. The two agencies were set up as trusts to pre-empt monopolization of news dissemination. Several newspaper publishers hold shares in UNI, but none is a majority shareholder. Both UNI and PTI are non-profit enterprises and meet their expenses from the subscriptions received from the government and private news channels.

Since the last one year, Subash Chandra, the President of the Essel Group and Zee Telefilms, as well as the proprietor of the Mumbai based DNA newspaper has been conspiring to take over UNI. In this context, UNI’s brand name, its network and the value of the real estate on which it stands, enhanced by its proximity to the Parliament in Delhi, are all factors that have motivated him to attempt this take over of land and other assets to become a monopoly player in the news dissemination sector.

The question that the workers of UNI and people of this country are asking is the following – is it possible that the take over of UNI by Subash Chandra will lead to the take over of PTI by yet another monopoly enterprise, thereby bringing to an end the existence of any country-wide, independent and non-partisan new agency?

Secondly, how can the land and other assets that were given to UNI under Section 25 of the Companies Act 1956, be now handed over to a private monopoly operating for profit?

The UNI workers are carrying out a principled struggle in defence of their enterprise despite threats of closure, lockout and lay-offs. This is not just a struggle in defence of UNI workers’ interests, but also an important one in defence of the general interests of society and the country. People’s Voice expresses its complete support for this struggle.

Among those who participated in the rally were Lok Raj Sangathan, Nishant Natya Manch, CPI (M-L) New Democracy, PTI Workers Federation, Delhi Journalists Union, and others.