Consumer Price Index

Consumer Price Index for January 2013 is 221, for February 2013 it is 223 and for March 2013 is 224. As such, DA will rise by 26 slabs (3.90%) w.e.f. 1^st May 2013.

NOINO writes to Chairman on pending issues

NOINO today wrote to the Chairman on the pending issues of Class-I Officers and Employees of the Corporation which need immediate attention of the management. The letter is reproduced below:

18.4.2013

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The Chairman,

L.I.C. of India.

Respected Sir,

Re: Pending issues of Class I Officers & employees

           The Financial Year 2012-2013 has come to a close. Our beloved institution will now gear up to face new challenges in the new Financial Year. We are aware that these challenges are likely to be manifold & complex. We assure our continued co-operation in our institution’s continuous endeavour to innovate & excel in all fields.

          It cannot be denied that the work-force of any institution, especially in a service-oriented industry like ours, is the backbone of that institution. The Class I Officers are crucial to the success of our institution. The various justified & pending demands of the Class I Officers need to be addressed quickly to boost their morale.

        Of-late, the Corporation has indeed considered our long-standing demands like the Preventive Health Check-up scheme, Mobile re-imbursement etc. We thank the management for the same. However, there are many issues which still remain to be resolved. Some of these issues can be resolved immediately. Following are the issues:-

1. Discussions on wage-revision: - The wage-revision is due since 1^st August 2012. NOINO has already submitted its charter of demands on 23^rd July 2012. We demand that the discussions should start immediately.
2. One more option for pension: - This issue is pending since long. We have raised this issue several times earlier. We urge you to solve this issue at the earliest. We also re-iterate that this issue should be solved before & outside our Charter settlement.
3. Recruitment of Class III employees: - We have been demanding that Class III employees should be recruited on a massive scale. This would reduce the burden on the Class I Officers who have to per-force perform non-supervisory work. We also reiterate our earlier demand of recruiting Assistant-cum-cashiers to resolve the issues at the Cash counter, the brunt of which has to be faced by Class I Officer.
4. Sabbatical leave to female employees: - NOINO had raised this demand last year on 17.3.2012. Since then, we have been regularly following up this issue. The Public Sector Banks have introduced this leave a year back, i.e. from 1.4.2012. We demand that this leave should be introduced without any further delay.
5. Anomaly in fixation after grant of Computer Increment:- This issue has been raised several times by NOINO. The anomaly is so clear that there is no logic in denying justice to the affected employees. We have also brought to your notice that SBI had resolved this issue long back in 1996, when an identical anomaly occurred there. This injustice should be removed immediately & the affected employees should be granted one more increment or one more option for re-fixation.
6. Revision in GSLI:- There has been no revision in GSLI since 19.9.2007. There should be no further delay in the revision.
7. Granting of Metro status to Pune & considering Panvel as an agglomeration of Mumbai & treating it as “A” class city:- These issues too, need to be resolved immediately.
8. Modification in the High cost treatment scheme:- We had raised this demand on 27.3.2012 & had demanded:- a) increase in the limits of re-imbursement to 20 lakhs b) Removal of condition of a fixed percentage of re-imbursement instead of full re-imbursement & c) Removal of condition of time restriction of 180 days for all diseases. We have been following up this issue regularly. Considering the rising cost of medical treatment, we demand that this issue should also be resolved forthwith.
9. Restoration of NGI:- Though we were not part of it, but, in the interest of Class-I community as a whole, we demand the restoration of NGI against the strike dated 18^th February 2010.

We request you to consider all the above demands at the earliest.

Yours faithfully,

Sd/-

Anagha Sant

GS, NOINO

नव संवत्सर की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएँ !

चैत्र शुक्ल 1, विक्रम संवत् 2070 तदनुसार 11 अप्रैल 2013
नव वर्ष की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएँ !

Group Mediclaim Premia reduced

The Premiums of Group Mediclaim have been revised for the year 2013-2014 (refer CO circular ref. CO/PER/ER-A/031/2013 dated 5^th April 2013). The premiums have been significantly reduced. We are giving, here-in-below, the revised rates of premiums for the year 2013-2014 as also the amount of reduction for some age groups:

	Age group
SA	0-35	36-45	46-55	56-65	66-70	71-75	above 76
85000	1220	1334	2025	2348	2791	3002	3861
110000	1582	1732	2623	3037	3610	3885	4996
165000	2370	2599	3926	4549	5408	5821	7486
100000	1434	1577	2382	2761	3281	3530	4540
200000	2705	2971	4740	5476	6545	7048	9061
300000	3784	4151	6761	7867	9416	10142	13039

Some examples of reduction in premiums:-

	Age group
	0-35	36-45	46-55	56-65
SA	Reduction	Reduction	Reduction	Reduction
85000	88	97	147	170
110000	114	125	190	220
165000	172	189	285	329
100000	104	114	173	200
200000	197	215	343	396
300000	273	300	489	569

NOIP (Pensioners’ Union) Circular

Date: 04-04-2013

Dear Brothers/Sisters,

1)     NOIP’s efforts bore fruits –Pre-1986 Retirees’ Case- You are aware that NOIP had been consistently following up with LIC management to enhance the ex-gratia being given to pre-1986 retirees. Our tireless efforts bore fruits since the LIC issued the circular dtd.11^th March 2013, which is reproduced overleaf. Rs.1000 pm for pre-86 retirees and Rs.500 pm for the spouses of such deceased retirees has been granted as medical allowance in addition to what they are already getting. Though the allowance is less, it gives some relief. We shall demand substantial amount in our next visit.

2)      Cashless hospitalization-  On NOIP’s continuous follow-up, LIC has finalized the list of 4,677 hospitals throughout  the country for cashless hospitalization. Cashless is available only in respect of 5 surgeries viz, Cancer, Cardiac, Neuro, Renal failures and Accident-Trauma cases. The TPA is M/s Medi Assist India Pvt Ltd. NOIP has demanded cashless for all types of hospitalization, may be any type of surgery or any treatment whatsoever. For some diagnostic reports also reimbursement can be claimed though not hospitalized. The details are given in the excerpts printed overleaf.

3)      Contempt case in SC- The Jaipur HC transferred the contempt case to SC. On 15-3-2013, SC heard the counsels and ordered the LIC’s counsel to file detailed replies to the objections raised by Mr.Aasthana, within 2 weeks and posted the case after 3 weeks. It is learnt that next hearing in SC is fixed on 15-4-2013. It is to be noted that LIC has deposited only difference of Dearness Relief to pre-8/1997 retirees at 100% neutralization, but has not deposited difference on account of up gradation of basic pension after every wage revision.

4)      Computation of basic pension- We have been following up with LIC to undo the anomaly being suffered by those pensioners who retire within 10 months from the effective date of every wage revision. In this regard, in case of bank employees IBA has issued a circular (without referring to Finance Ministry) to all Signatory Banks to the Bipartite Agreement, to add DR portion to the old basic and then calculate the pension payable. We have written to CO enclosing the copy of IBA’s circular, reiterating our stand that this needs no Govt approval as it is an anomaly and can be undone by Chairman’s administrative instructions.

5)      Obituary- We mourn the sad demise of Shri.Kumar N Deshpande of Nagpur who breathed his last on 7-3-2013, at the age of 72. May his soul rest in peace!

With greetings,

General Secretary

Transfer-Promotion lists on Internet

The L.I.C. Management has taken a welcome step. It has decided to display the transfer / promotion lists on the Internet in addition to Intranet. This is a good move because usually the lists are released / issued in un-earthly hours & the officers in the Zone of promotion are on the tenterhooks as most of them are unable to view the lists till they join office in the morning the next day. Now they can view it on their home PC’s, laptops, smart phones, iPads etc. The details can be found in the circular ref: Per.admn/ZD/260 dated 3rd April 2013 on Jeevan Sanchar.

You may be also aware that NOINO has already demanded vide its note on Transfer / Posting policy submitted to the management on 25th August 2012 that 1) the lists should be issued during office hours 2) there should be a fixed deadline for issuing these lists( 30th April for AO & above & 31st August for AAO’s) 3) There should be a roster for transfers of Class I Officers at all levels(DO/ZO/CO) & that such roster should be displayed on the respective Personnel sites.

We welcome the step of displaying Promotion and Transfer Orders on the internet through which the officers would be able to view it immediately if the lists are published after office hours. It serves the purpose of our demand no. 1.