Thursday, October 30, 2014

EDITORIAL POSTAL CRUSADER NOVEMBER-2014

JCM STAFF SIDE UNITY SHOULD BE FOR STRUGGLE

            History of Central Government Employees reveals that Government has taken undue advantage to deny the justified demands of the Central Government Employees, whenever there was disunity among the JCM staff side organizations. On the contrary, whenever staffside stood solidly united the Government was compelled to concede the legitimate rights of the employees to a great extent.

            After Fifth  Pay Commission recommendations, the JCM National council staffside submitted to Government a common charter of demands for modifications of the recommendations of the Pay Commission, which included upward revision of fitment formula and removal of certain glaring anomalies. When Government refused to concede it , notice for indefinite strike was given and finally the Government had to appoint a high-power Group of Ministers Committee under the chairmanship of then Home Minister Shri.Indrajith Gupta and negotiated with the staffside.  In the negotiations also the staffside took a united uncompromising stand which ultimately resulted in Government accepting the demand for 40% fitment formula and some other important demands.

            Unfortunately, when the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations were  submitted to Government, the JCM National Council Staffside miserably failed to take such a firm and united stand and no serious agitational programme was conducted demanding modification of the retrograde recommendations. Instead the dominant leadership of JCM staffside took a compromising stand and depended only on negotiated settlement , without mobilizing the entire rank and file membership behind the demands. Ultimately Government took advantage of this weakness of the leadership and unilaterally announced the implementation of the 6th CPC recommendations, without conceding majority of the genuine demands raised by the staffside during negotiations. Faulty formula adopted for calculation of  Need Based Minimum Wage , glaring disparity in fitment and fixation formula between lower level officials  and Group- A officers, unscientific pay band and grade pay system and serious anomalies arising out of it , MACP anomalies   everything remained as such  which could not be settled even after seven years.

            Again , when the Government announced the New Contributory Pension Scheme with effect from 01.01.2004 for the new entrants in Central Government Services without any consultation with the JCM National Council Staffside, the dominant  leadership of the JCM staffside did not protest and kept silent. This has emboldened the Government to go ahead with the implementation of the neo-liberal pension reforms. Had the entire JCM Staffside including Railways, Defence and Confederation taken a united stand to oppose the New Pension Scheme and given call for serious agitational programmes including indefinite strike the Government would not have dared to implement the NPS. Of course , Confederation of Central Government Employees and workers opposed the New Pension Scheme and has gone to the extent of conducting one day strike. JCM leadership raised the demand for roll-back of NPS after a very long time and by that time Government succeeded in fully implementing the scheme.

Confederation of Central Government Employees and workers has always stood for unity among the Central Government Employees .When confederation submitted a 15 point charter  to the UPA Government in 2011 demanding appointment of 7 th CPC , 5 year wage revision , Merger of 50% DA, Inclusion of Gramin Dak Sevaks under 7th CPC etc, the  other major organizations in the JCM were not ready to raise the demands in 2011. Finally confederation was forced to go it alone and conducted series of agitational programmes including Parliament March, one day strike and two days strike. Of course, the lonely struggle conducted by confederation represented the mood of the entirety of Central Government Employees and ultimately the Government was compelled to announce constitution of 7th CPC in the month of September 2013.
           
                        Now NDA Government which came to power after General   Election has rejected all the main demands of the Central Government Employees which includes merger of DA , Interim Relief , Date of  effect  from 01.01.2014 , inclusion of GDS in the terms of reference of 7th CPC ,scrapping of New Pension Scheme etc. Further Government declared 100% FDI  in Railways and Defence. Public Private Partnership in Railways was also announced in Railway budget. More than five lakhs posts are lying vacant in various Departments out of which about 2.5 lakhs vacancies are in Railways alone. The UPA Government has unilaterally announced the terms of reference of the 7th CPC rejecting the draft proposal submitted by JCM staffside.  The memorandum submitted by JCM staffside to the NDA Government for grant of merger of DA and Interim Relief also was totally neglected. The JCM Staffside leadership could not do anything and the employees are suffering. In fact the JCM staffside has become a laughing stock among the employees and its credibility in the eyes of the employees has eroded like anything.

                        It is in this background , eventhough belatedly , the JCM National Council Staffside has decided to organize a National Convention at New Delhi on 11th December 2014 , to discuss and finalise its strategy to combat the above humiliation meted out by the Government . Better late than never. The decision is well received by the entire Central Government Employees and they are eagerly waiting for the outcome of the convention.

                        NFPE  firmly believes that if the present unity among the JCM staffside organizations is not channelized for building up united struggle including indefinite strike of entire Central Government Employees the National Convention will become a futile exercise and an eye-wash to cool down the growing discontentment among the employees. This shall not happen. We firmly believe in the slogan raised by our late legendary leader Com K.G.Bose- i.e  “UNITY FOR STRUGGLE AND STRUGGLE FOR UNITY”. Such a stand alone can restore the lost glory of the fighting potential of the Central Government Employees and also shall regain the lost faith of employees in the JCM staffside leadership. We cannot be a party to any compromise on the genuine and justified demands of the workers. Let us hope that the JCM staffside leadership shall rise up to the occasion.

Regularization of Casual Labour with Temporary Status(CL-TS)-Proposals from Ministries/Departments

Disciplinary proceedings against the official/officers-- Dte Instructions

Third Day of the 5-days relay Dharana by Postal JCA in front of Circle Office , Bhubaneswar

 
 
 

Sh Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister of Communications & IT and Law & Justice inaugurated the World Savings & Retail Banking Institute (WSBI) Postal Savings Banks Forum 2014, in New Delhi today

Second Day of the 5-days relay Dharana by Postal JCA in front of Circle Office , Bhubaneswar

 
 
 
 
 

POSTAL JCA (NFPE, FNPO & GDS UNIONS) 5 DAYS DHARNA PROGRAMME COMMENCED TODAY IN ODISHA CIRCLE IN FRONT OF CHIEF PMG OFFICE, BHUBANESWAR

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hon’ble President of India released Commemorative stamp on Angarika Dharmapala on 25.10.2014

 

Bureaucrats asked not to act on oral orders from ministers

NEW DELHI: Ministers or their personal staff may no longer be able to get any work done by merely passing an 'oral' order as government officials have been advised not to go ahead with any decision unless written orders are issued by their immediate superiors.

The advisory, issued as part of an office memorandum at the behest of Prime Minister's Office (PMO) last week, will be applicable to staff across ministries where a junior official will carry out oral order of his/her senior only after getting written confirmation. Written confirmation of any oral order will be a must, irrespective of whether such instructions are in accordance with the rules or not.

In recent years, ministers have often been reluctant to record their observations and have instead instructed officials verbally. While some officers insist that orders be spelt out on file, in several cases, including some crucial ones, babus have gone ahead and complied with the ministers' wishes. By issue the latest missive, the PMO has also put ministers on alert. The instructions from the PMO are the latest in a series of advisories and orders on toning up the government and improving the overall decision-making process.

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"If any officer receives oral instructions from the minister or from his personal staff and the orders are in accordance with the norms, rules, regulations or procedures, they should be brought to the notice of the secretary (or the head of department where the officer concerned is working in)", said the manual, referred to by the office memorandum (OM).

In case the orders are "not in accordance with the norms, rules, regulations or procedures", an official should approach the secretary "stating clearly that the oral instructions are not in accordance with the rules".



Though the government manual talks about certain exceptions during emergency/urgency or when a minister is on tour or sick, it still insists that the officer should obtain the order in writing from the minister's private secretary and get it confirmed when the minister returns.

The manual said, "In rare and urgent cases when the minister is on tour or is sick and his approval has to be taken on telephone, the decision of the minister shall be conveyed by his private secretary in writing. In such case, confirmation will be obtained on file when the minister returns to headquarters or rejoins."

READ ALSO: Modi issues revised code of conduct for bureaucrats

Besides spelling out such dos and don'ts for babus on oral order, the ministry of personnel through the OM also instructed all ministries to conduct a regular weekly training programme for junior officials.

Noting that the present training structures were largely meant for senior civil servants as part of their "induction training" and "mandatory mid-career training", the OM, issued on October 17, said, "Perhaps, there is no training being imparted at ministry/department level covering all its Group B and C employees on same subject."

It noted that such training is also important for officials, ranging from UDC to under secretary, in this "era of rapid transformation and heightened expectation of prompt and effective public service delivery".

"The effectiveness with which the new policies are implemented will largely be dependent on the quality of civil service administration and the ability of its members to operate effectively in the changed environment. This requires a continuous focus on training of employees," said the OM.

Accordingly, the ministry of personnel advised all central departments to hold "an hour in-house weekly training" for all employees on a regular basis without dislocating their work.