ईद मुबारक !

ईद त्योहार आप सभी को मुबारक हो !

तीज की शुभकामनाएँ !

॥ॐ॥ तीज व्रत की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएँ ॥ॐ॥

NOINO WZ meets ZM West Zone

On 29^th August 2011 NOINO, WZ delegation met Zonal Manager, WZ Shri R. R. Dash. NOINO delegation was led by Shri G. Kamath, All India General Secretary. Shri V.V.Shastri, Zonal Secretary, WZ; Smt Anagha Sant, Organising Secretary; Shri Manish Patankar, WZ Jt.Secretary and Shri Anil Bhagdikar, Divisional President, Nagpur DO were also present in the delegation. Smt Mini Ipe, RM(P&IR) was present from the management side to assist the ZM. The meeting continued for nearly 2 hours. Major part of the discussion was occupied by the issue of transfers & the sudden change in criteria. We discussed the following issues related to Class-I officers in this meeting:

 1. Transfers of ABM’s(S): We pointed out that in the recent round of job rotations in the cadre of ABM(S) only 6 ABM’s(S) were given transfers to their desired places. A few request-transfers of ABM’s(S) had not been considered. We demanded that these transfers should be considered forthwith. We also submitted a list of such officers.  

Zonal Manager said that there were no vacancies where these officers needed transfers. He said that due to excess number of marketing officials already posted in almost all divisions in Maharashtra, he could not transfer these officers and assured that after March-2012 he would review the situation and accordingly transfer these officers after March-2012 closing.

            We strongly protested this and said that whatever might be the situation these officers should be transferred to their desired places as they were out of their parent divisions for more than 3 years. We submitted that a few years ago the situation demanded that the marketing officials, especially in the cadre of ABM(S) & BM, were retained in the home divisions & hence the so-called excess postings were counted. If at all the excess postings were considered by the then management, the current batch of ABM(S) should not be punished for no fault of theirs. We also contested the number of vacancies as according to us there was a clear gap of 35 nos. between the number of ABM’s(S) promoted & the subsequent job-rotation from AAO to ABM(S).

  2. Less no. of Job Rotations : We informed the Zonal Manager that in the recently concluded round of Job rotations in the cadre of AAO very few officers were job rotated. We also pointed out that there were no representations from Programmers / Audit / Inspection. We also protested the postings of ABM(S) on job-rotations to the divisions only in Gujarat.

            On this issue Zonal Manager said that they were having vacancies in only Gujarat. He also informed us that they had prepared a panel of ABM(S) which would be operated as and when required and would be exhausted by March-2011, by which time most of the candidates who appeared for interview would be job rotated as per the needs arising.

  3. Delay in AAO Notification:   We had already taken up this issue with the CO. However, we requested the Zonal Manager to take follow-up with the Central Office on this issue as there were lots of resentment among the aspiring candidates as also among those who were expecting transfers to their desired places.

            On this issue Zonal Manager said that notification was being issued by Central Office and because of issue of change in age criterion in case of 1B pending with Ministry of Finance, the CO was not in a position to issue notification, but assured to take up the matter for early issue of notification.

  4. Biased attitude of the Manager(P&IR)DM, Nagpur DO:  We informed the Zonal Manager that Shri M.K.Joshi, Manager(P&IR)DM, Nagpur DO who was also the Mentor of Class-I federation was acting in a totally biased manner thereby creating lots of problems in the Nagpur Division. We protested this and expressed surprise that a person who was an office-bearer (or a pseudo-office-bearer) in the Union was continuing merrily with the portfolio of P&IR. We reminded the ZM that in the past we had pointed out to the Zonal Management that the Nagpur management was posting some officers in the divisional office or Nagpur City on promotion while officers who spent 3 years or more were being posted away from Nagpur - to remote areas. No action had been taken so far in this matter. We, therefore, demanded immediate action in this matter.

            On this issue Zonal Manager assured to look into the matter.

  5. Shifting of Mumbai DO-IV to Sanpada in Navi Mumbai:   We informed the Zonal Manager that the proposal of shifting of MDO-IV to Sanpada in Navi Mumbai would result into lots of problems for the employees. At present, most of the employees were from the western route and commuting from western route to central harbour route would be very difficult for them. We, therefore, demanded the cancellation of the proposal of shifting of MDO-IV in the interest of majority of the employees. Zonal Manager assured us to look into the matter.

  6. Shortage of Staff Quarters for Officers: - We informed the Zonal Manager that in almost all the divisions there was acute shortage of Staff Quarters. It was also observed that while considering the proposal for constructing staff quarters the exact no. of officers in that area was not being taken into consideration, as a result of which many of the officers had to either stay in a leased accommodation, that too with enhanced rent or had to live in a  rented house. Hence, many officers suffered monetary losses after promotions. We, therefore, requested the Zonal Manager to take immediate action in this matter.

            Zonal Manager responded immediately on this issue by seeking information with the concerned authorities. He also informed that he had given a green signal for construction of new staff quarters at Jeevan Shanti, Santacruz on that very day. He assured us that due care would be taken and if needed he would ask Engineering department to build quarters accordingly.

  7. Information Sharing Meeting: We informed the Zonal Manager that all the Divisional Offices were holding information sharing meetings for Development Officers & Agents  on regular basis. However, all the divisional offices were not conducting information sharing meetings for all classes of employees. We demanded that information sharing meeting should be conducted for class-I officers at Zone level and also at Division level.

            On this issue he was positive and assured that he would take positive steps in this regard.

(As reported by Shri V.V.Shastri, Zonal Secretary, NOINO, WZ)

NOINO Guwahati Divl unit formed

The relentless march of NOINO continues!! On 28th August 2011, the Guwahati Divisional Unit (under Eastern Zone) of NOINO was formed. Shri Pulak Dey, our dynamic GS of NOINO EZ was present to guide the deliberations. Following are the elected office-bearers:-

     President: Shri K K Sarma, ADM/FM, DO

     Working President: Smt K J Rance Mao, DM, PGSS, DO

     Divisional Secretary: Shri Subhasis Bhattacharjee, AO, Ombudsman

     Treasurer: Shri K C Das, Manager(F&A), DO

     Org Secr:  Shri  P Bhandary, AAO, Biswanath Charali Br.

     Joint Secr: Shri Sudarshan Sahu, AAO, Nagoan Br

     Executive committee members:-

           Shri M B Roy, SBM, Biswanath Charali Br.

           Shri M Choudhury, AAO, GBO-I

           Smt. Tarulata Singh, FM(ADM), STC

           Shri P C Das, AO, Lalganesh SO

On the following day i.e. 29.08.2011 Shri Pulak Dey, GS, NOINO, EZ along with the newly elected committee members of Guwahati Divl Unit met the Sr DM of Guwahati Division Shri S Kumar at 10.30 AM in his chamber. The meeting with Sr DM was in a frank and cordial atmosphere.

The formation of Guwahati Divisional Unit is an important mile-stone for NOINO as it is the Capital town of North Eastern States of our country. The contribution of Shri Sibabrata Saha , Divisional Secretary, Silchar Divl Unit in this regard is praiseworthy. Shri Saha was himself present on this occasion and played key-role in organising this meeting.

Annual GB meeting of NOINO Belgaum Divn

The Annual General Body Meeting of Belgaum Divisional Unit of NOINO was held at Gokak on 28th August, 2011. It was also a "Sneh Sammelan" of BMS affiliated unions in LIC. The representatives of NOIW and NOIP also participated in this meeting. NOINO members of Dharwad Division and Raichur Division who participated in good numbers added colour to the meeting.

The meeting began with Shramik Geet by Shri M B Karjol of NOIW. Shri Lakshminarasimhan, SBM of Gokak Branch welcomed the gathering and noted with satisfaction the presence of more than 50 participants in the meeting. Newly joined members of NOINO were given floral welcome by Shri B P Rao, MM of Belgaum Division and active member of NOINO, who presided over the meeting. Shri C T Joshi, addressing the gathering dealt at length the history of NOINO and its phenomenal growth in a short span of 8 years. He discussed the prevailing scenario in LIC before the formation of NOINO and the decision of few officers at Mumbai to form NOINO. He also said that due to the efforts of NOINO, officers got many benefits which were not even thought of by Cl-1 federation in its more than 45 years of existence.

Sri M A Bapat, Vice President, NOIW stressed the need of co-ordination amongst the BMS affiliated unions in LIC. He also declared that a Unit of BLIAS had started recently in Belgaum Division and exhorted all members to strengthen BLIAS. He also suggested to have combined different committees of NOIW & NOINO covering different subjects to have better solutions to the problems faced by employees and Officers.

Shri S G Elangadi, Vice President, NOINO in his inimitable style narrated the achievements of NOINO. He also dealt with the pending problems of officers that were taken up with Management by NOINO. He appealed every body present to enrol atleast ONE more member and come to the next meeting with one new member. He also stressed that we should meet at least 3 times a year to keep ourselves charged.

Shri H Bhogesh Rao, then spoke on the methods to be followed to achieve a good growth in membership. Shri B P Rao, MM Belgaum and an activist of NOINO in his presidential address exhorted everybody to remember the Objectives of BMS and work to implement these objectives.

All members present spoke on the occasion telling their experiences. The meeting also elected the following Office bearers :

  President: Shri S G Joshi, Manager(Claims), DO, Belgaum.

  Divisional Secretary: Shri H Bhogesh Rao, AO(NB), DO, Belgaum.

  Treasurer: Shri V R Sidhanti, AAO, SO Khanapur.

The meeting came to an end with vote of thanks by Shri R K Sangam, AO(Athani BO).

Shri N K Amminabhavi, Dn Secretary, Dharwad Division anchored the program.

Shri R K Sangam proposing Vote of Thanks. Seated from L to R : Shri G Lakshminarasimhan, SBM, Gokak; Shri C T Joshi, VP, NOIP; Shri B P Rao, MM, DO, Belgaum; Shri S G Elangadi, VP, NOINO; Shri M A Bapat, VP, NOIW

NOIP writes to Current-in-Charge

NATIONAL ORGANISATION OF INSURANCE PENSIONERS

(Affiliated to Bharateeya Mazdoor Sangh)

3AB, Hashim Bldg., 40, Veer Nariman Marg, Hutatma Chowk, Mumbai 400 001. Tel. : 022-22040958

President : Shri S. L. Burman Working President : Shri Ashok J. Joshi General Secretary : Shri C.Y. Kalele

Date : 26th August 2011

The Current-In-Charge,
Life Insurance Corporation of India,
Yogakshema, J. B. Marg,
Mumbai - 400 021.

Dear Sir,

Re. : Important Issues of LIC Pensioners.

We wish to place before you important issues of LIC pensioners and look upon you to initiate steps for reddressal of the long pending issues confronting LIC Pensioners.

We would invite your kind and immediate attention to the following major pending issues:

1) Recently on 19th Aug. 2011, Rajasthan High Court, Division Bench Jaipur has dismissed the Review Petition of LIC on pensioners’ issues. We request you to ensure, in response to the High Court verdict, immediate implementation of the High Court verdicts of 12-01-2010 and 21-01-2011 without taking recourse to avenging the affected pensioners.

2) We request you to initiate steps to amend LIC Pension Rules, 1995 providing for upgradation of Basic Pension of all pensioners irrespective of the dates of their retirement, at the time of every wage revision of existing employees in consonance with the Central Govt. employees’ pension rules.

3) Loss in gross pension is inflicted upon pensioners who retired within less than ten months from the effective date of new wage revision period e.g. who retired during the period from 01-08-2007 to 31-05-2008 when new wage revision came into effect from 01-08-2007. We have detailed some representative cases in our letter of 21-04-2011.

We request you to initiate steps to amend LIC (employees) Pension Rules, 1995 regarding computation of Basic Pension taking 50% of the average emoluments of last ten months or 50% of last pay drawn, whichever is beneficial to the retiring employees AND arrange to issue instructions to review all such cases of anomaly right from the wage revision effective from 01-08-1987 upto the present one effective from 01-08-2007 and refix the basic pension of all those who have suffered the reduction in gross pension.

4) The quantum of ex-gratia payment to pre-1986 retirees is too meagre. The number of pre-1986 retirees is dwindling fast. We request you to raise the ex-gratia amount being paid to pre-1986 retirees without any further loss of time.

Over and above the aforesaid major demands, we also urge upon you to look into the other demands contained in our Charter of Demands submitted on 23-07-2007 and subsequent representations.

We are eager to meet you in person to discuss these pending issues of LIC pensioners in detail.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,

C. Y. Kalele
General Secretary
NOIP-BMS

Special Mention in Rajya Sabha by Dr. Bharatkumar Raut, MP on LIC

You are aware of the sustained campaign by the BMS affiliated unions (NOINO / NOIW / NOIP / BLIAS) in LIC against the proposed amendments in the Insurance Act & LIC Act. You are also aware that the Maha-Dharana organized by the above 4 unions on 1st August 2011 in New Delhi was a grand success forcing the Government to keep the issue on the back-burner in this session. Many MP's actively supported this movement(Dr. Murali Manohar Joshi, Prakash Javadekar, Chandan Mitra, Bhagatsingh Koshyary, Sumitra Mahajan(All BJP); Kalikesh Singhdeo(BJD); Sharad Yadav(JD-S); Dr.Bharatkumar Raut (Shivsena)).

However, to keep up the pressure, we requested Dr. Bharatkumar Raut to make a special mention in the Rajyasabha. Based on a note prepared by us, Dr. Raut was kind enough to make a special mention in the Rajyasabha yesterday, i.e. 25th August 2011. A written reply is awaited on this matter from the Finance Ministry. We will keep you updated on the same. We once again thank Dr. Raut for taking up our cause in the Parliament.

                                                                       

SPECIAL MENTION IN RAJYA SABHA on 25-8-2011

by DR. BHARATKUMAR RAUT, M.P.

Proposed motive of the Central Government for Corporatization of LIC through amendments in Insurance Act, 1938 & LIC Act, 1956

            Sir, I wish to mention an important issue of proposed amendments in Insurance Act.  The proposal to further hike FDI in Insurance Sector from 26% to 49% and other proposed amendments will affect crores of policy holders and its employees, officers and agents.

            Life Insurance Corporation is the backbone of the Indian economy with its huge investment in public infrastructure.  It is also a stabilizing factor in the volatile market.  With huge funds, its role will be more crucial in the days to come.  The need of the hour is to give some more incentives to LIC, not to cut its limbs by diluting and removing the sovereign guarantee on LIC policies.

            The proposed amendment to distribute 90% instead of existing 95% of the valuation surplus to its policyholders would mean that they would get lesser bonus.  This will affect LIC's credibility and image, ultimately reducing its business.  The proposed amendment that 5% of valuation surplus may be utilized by the Central Government in any manner that it thinks fit is devoid of logic. 

            The proposal of increasing the equity capital of LIC from 5 to 100 crores  and then to any extent through the notification shows the intention of Government to by-pass the Parliament and corporatize LIC through a public issue at a later date.

            I request the Government to stall the proposed amendments and save  the interests of LIC and its policyholders, officers, employees and agents.

श्रीकृष्णजन्माष्टमी की शुभकामनाएँ !

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत ।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम् ।।
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् ।
धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय सम्भवामि युगे युगे ।।

॥ॐ॥ श्रीकृष्णजन्माष्टमी की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएँ ॥ॐ॥

Anomaly in fixation of AAO's

Due to June 2000 notification anomaly arose with the AAO’s appointed (direct-recruits) / promoted (class-III 1b) before November 1993 and fitted at the minimum of the scale of AAO {or AO (on promotion) as the case may be}. The matter was brought to our knowledge recently and we immediately wrote to the ED(Personnel) pointing-out the discrepancy and requesting for immediate redressal of the anomaly. The letter written by us is reproduced below. We assure that we will follow-up the matter till its logical end.

20.8.2011

-------------

The Executive Director (Personnel),

L.I.C of India.

Dear Sir,

Re: Anomaly in fixation

              We are enclosing a copy of a representation by some officers regarding the anomaly in fixation. The crux of the matter is as follows:-

1. The officers promoted under Clause 1(B) are fitted to the minimum of the scale at the time of promotion. Though they have been granted computer increment earlier, the effect gets nullified as they are fitted to the minimum of the scale of AAO.
2. Due to this, an officer who has joined after November 1993 is drawing one more increment than those who have joined earlier. This amounts to discrimination. Even in the case of Direct recruit officers, the effect of this increment gets nullified when they are fitted to minimum of the scale in the cadre of AO.
3. The issue had been raised by NOINO for a number of times during the recently concluded wage settlement as also earlier. The management had assured to look into the matter after & outside wage-revision. However, even after 1 year since the wage-settlement, this issue has not been resolved.
4. In an exactly similar situation, the State Bank of India has in the year 1996 itself (i.e a good 15 years back) has rectified this anomaly by granting one more increment to all such affected officers including in the cadre of AO’s. We have enclosed copies of two relevant circulars of SBI.

 There is no justification in not resolving this issue. We, therefore, demand that:-

A.      The employees who were getting the computer increment earlier and were fitted to the minimum of the scale on promotion should be granted one more increment either from 1^st November 1993 or from their date of promotion whichever is later.

B.     One more option for re-fixation for all the affected employees.

Waiting for your favourable response,

Yours faithfully,

Sd/-

Ganesh Kamath

GS, NOINO

NOINO WZ study class - views of AI General Secretary

Recently (on 15^th & 16^th August 2011) NOINO West Zone arranged a study-class for their activists from West Zone and Zonal Presidents & Zonal Secretaries of other Zones at Satara. Report of the study-class stands published on 17^th August. Our All India General Secretary Shri Ganesh Kamath was present during the entire period of the study-class. In the following thought he has expressed his views on the study-class.

STUDY CLASS AT SATARA

               The study class at Satara was an experience to remember for me. But first of all, let me first congratulate Shri Vishwas Shastri & his team at Satara for organizing a wonderful study class. Shri Shastri is never short of enthusiasm, many-a-time ignoring his own health. His dedication to the organization is worth emulating. It is clear that such an event required a good amount of money. However, except for the delegates fees' collected, never a word was uttered by Shri Shastri about funds. He was ably supported by Shri Daithankar, Shri Gangakhedkar, Shri Zari, Smt Chothe, Shri Sadigale & others(whose names I do not recollect, for which they may kindly forgive me) for which we all are eternally grateful.

               The lecture by Dr. Pingle opened new vistas of outlooks to the life. All present were richer by the experience. All the delegates participated with fervour. The group discussions saw even new activists discussing animatedly. The elocution competition brought forth the talent among the participants.  The cultural programme saw many talented artists coming to the fore. Our Gujarati brothers broke into an impromptu garba. Shri Vilas Purkarji, (our Zonal President with a multi-faceted personality) surprised many with first rendering an Odissi poem at the inauguration & then joining our Gujarati brothers in the Garba with gay abandon. Smt. Gore from Nagpur sang soulfully & the Gazhal which she sang to end the programme moved many.

               The trip planned to Sajjangad was a thoughtful welcome addition, one which gave the participants a chance to brush with the divine. Anagha Sant, our organizing secretary of WZ is an able lady who conducted the questionnaire part with finesse. She is a woman with clear concepts & a clean heart & needs to be complimented for her enthusiastic participation. The heartful rendition of 'Vande-mataram' by Shri Badge was the icing on the cake.

               All in all, I loved the experience. I thank all the participants for making this event a grand success.

Ganesh Kamath

GS, NOINO