SAFFRON BROTHERHOOD AT WORK

HOW SANGH ORGANISATIONS ARE ADVANCING THE RSS’S SOCIAL AGENDA

LABOUR ISSUES

SANGH ORGANISATION: Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Laghu Udyog Bharati KEY MOVERS: Saji Narayanan, Vrijesh Upadhyay, B. Surendran, Jitender Gupta ISSUES OF INTEREST: Labour reforms, PSU selloffs, railway/ defence production MOST RECENT WIN Revival of National Social Security Board for Unorganised Workers (got three members on board), halted PM Modi’s labour reforms, PSU sale

EDUCATION

KEY ORGANISATION: ABVP, Shiksha Bachao Andolan, Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas, Vidya Bharati, Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh et al KEY MOVERS: Sunil Ambekar, Dinanath Batra, Atul Kothari, Kapil Kapoor et al ISSUES OF INTEREST: New education policy, alternative history MOST RECENT WIN: Hindutva ideologues appointed in key educational institutions

ECONOMY

SANGH ORGANISATION: Swadeshi Jagran Manch, Laghu Udyog Bharati KEY MOVERS: Ashwani Mahajan, Kashmiri Lal, Bhagwati P. Sharma ISSUES OF INTEREST: Alternative economics, trade balance with China, GST, public policy MOST RECENT WIN: Alterations in the disinvestment clauses of PSUs and changes in the GST implementation, tax slabs

HEALTH

KEY ORGANISATION: SJM, National Medical Organisation, Arogya Bharati KEY MOVERS: Ashwani Mahajan, Anil Sharma ISSUES OF INTEREST: Health for all, Arogya Bharat, Ayushman Bharat, generic drugs, healthcare MOST RECENT WIN: Halted introduction of RUTF, HPV, re-emphasis on National Health Insurance

AGRICULTURE

SANGH ORGANISATION: Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, SJM KEY MOVERS: Prabhakar Kelkar, Badrinarayan Choudhary and others ISSUES OF INTEREST: MSP, access to markets, irrigation, nixing GM seeds MOST RECENT WIN: Bamboo mission; re-emphasis on farmer-producer organisations; 1.5x MSP commitment in budget; halted introduction of GM seeds

COMMERCE

SANGH ORGANISATION: SJM KEY MOVERS: Ashwani Mahajan, R. Sundaram, Subhash Sharma ISSUES OF INTEREST: India’s stand at WTO, multilaterals and bilaterals, FDI, anti-dumping, patents MOST RECENT WIN: Overhaul of FTA strategy; over 100 anti-dumping duties on Chinese imports; halted FDI in multi-brand retail, brownfield pharma, security agencies