Photos of NPS convention held at Bengaluru

Jan 8th & 9th 2019 strike demands

NATION WIDE TWO DAYS STRIKE ON 
8th & 9th JANUARY 2019

strike demands

 *SCRAP NPS & RESTORE OPS.

*HONOUR ASSURANCES GIVEN BY GROUP OF MINISTERS on INCREASE MINIMUM PAY AND FITMENT FORMULA.

*REGULARISE GDS EMPLOYEES, CONTRACT & CASUAL LABOURERS.

* Fill up all vacant post.

SETTLE 10 POINT CHARTER OF DEMANDS OF CONFEDERATION.

*Our wages and other benefits are under attack.

* Our job security & social security is under attack.

* Our trade union rights are under attack.

     Struggle is the right path participate in the strike make 8th & 9th JANUARY 2019  a grand success

Meeting on NPS issue on 19th December 2018 from 2 pm to 5pm

New Pension Scheme Demand To Scrap it.

NEW PENSION SCHEME (NPS):

The New Pension Scheme is made compulsory for Government employees was brought into effect 2004, this has effected them a lot, lot of agitations are being carried out on scrapping the New Pension Scheme,   this agitations has forced many State Governments such as Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi  State Governments to reconsider this New Pension Scheme and formed an expert committee to review this New Pension Scheme. This New Pension Scheme was not implemented by  West Bengal State Government.    In this angle an analysis is made all about New Pension Scheme and ways to scarp or   modify the New Pension Scheme to benefit the Government employees at large is suggested.  

Need for Pension :

The Pension System thus started in India was finalized by the Indian Pension Act of 1871. It appears that the British Government had the conception of providing its pensioners increase in their pensions to neutralize the effect of inflation.

Pension is a reward for past service. It is undoubtedly a condition of service but not an incentive to attract new entrants, the Pension is paid for past satisfactory service rendered, and to avoid destitution in old age as well as a social welfare or socio-economic justice measure, the fact that the cost of living has shot up and correspondingly the possibility of savings has gone down and consequently the drop in wages on retirement.

That pension is neither a bounty nor a matter of grace depending upon the sweet will of the employer and that it creates a vested right subject to 1972 rules which are statutory in character because they are enacted in exercise of powers conferred by the proviso to Art. 309 and clause (5) of Art. 148 of the Constitution; (ii) that the pension is not an ex-gratia payment but it is a payment for the past service rendered; and (iii) it is a social welfare measure rendering socio-economic justice to those who in the hey-day of their life ceaselessly toiled for the employer on an assurance that in their old age they would not be left in lurch.

As on 01-01-2018 there were 51.96 lakh pensioners in the country, including from Central Civil Services, Railways, and Post, Defence and Defence civilians. 

EVOLUTION OF NEW PENSION SCHEME (NPS) IN INDIA:

In 1991 Government of India as introduced diverse economic reforms to pull the country out of economic crisis and to accelerate the rate of growth. These reforms are often described as the New economic policy (NEP) or policy of LPG where L for liberalisation; P for privatisation; G for globalisation. The Congress Government under the Prime Ministership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri  P. V. Narasimha Rao, the signed an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to get the IMF loan in which the IMF had imposed various conditions to get the soft loan which includes pension reforms , which the Indian Government Congress Government had accepted it to reform in  a 10 years period .

On the basis of the decision taken in the Eleventh Conference of State Finance Secretaries held in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) during January 2003, a Group was constituted by the RBI in February 2003 to study the pension liabilities of the State Governments and make suitable recommendations.

The "Pension Fund" to be created under the proposed revised schemes should be kept completely outside the States' Consolidated Fund and the Public Account

The pension systems, both for Civil Servants and other citizens, as evolved over the years have begun to show signs of financial stress in many countries, including India. Since the pension benefits of Government employees are usually paid from the general revenue of the Governments, the steep rise in such liabilities adversely affect the fiscal soundness of the Government entities. In India too, the increasing pension liabilities of the Central and State Governments have emerged as a major area of concern, especially in the wake of fiscal deterioration in recent years. About 20% of the state Government funds are spent on pension.

During the Hon‘ble Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee  of  NDA was in power from 1998 to 2004 which implemented this agreement of IMF on pension reforms . The NDA Government constituted two committees  namely B.K.Bhattacharya  committee headed by Shri B.K.Bhattacharya, Former Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka as  chairman  and under the Chairmanship of Shri Biju Patnaik, Chief Minister of Orissa , both these committees recommended introduction of New Pension Scheme (NPS) &  Hon‘ble  Prime Minister Shri  Manmohan Singh of  Congress (UPA)  was in power from 2004 to 2014 continued to accept these pension reforms.

The New Pension Scheme (NPS) was announced on December 22, 2003 by the NDA Government, for all new government employees excepting those in the Armed Forces. This brand new system replaces the defined benefit system of pension and this includes GPF. Contributory pension scheme is for entrants who joined after 1st January 2004.

While the NPS is mandatory for the Central government employees, it has potentially a much wider reach. As of March 2007, 19 states which have decided to introduce similar schemes, mandating newly recruited civil servants to mandatorily join the NPS‐type scheme.

The NPS started with the decision of the Government of India to stop defined benefit pensions for all its employees who joined after 1 January 2004. While the scheme was initially designed for government employees only, it was opened up for all citizens of India in 2009. Over 15 lakhs Government employees are currently registered in NPS scheme.

The Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) at the Ministry of Finance, notified a new pensions regulator in August 2003, before the NPS commenced operations in January 2004. The PFRDA bill was presented in 2005, and was finally passed in Parliament in 2013.

Let us analyse why Government is adopting the pension reforms:

Slno	Indian Government View	Employees view
1	The ratio of retirees to workers is on continuous rise and further by 2030 the 25% of the population (200 million pensioners) will be above 60 years of age.	The large number of employees are effected by the New Pension reforms, hence Government should keep it in mind the interest of the large chunk   of employees
2	The Pension system shall put enormous financial pressure on the Government and take away funds meant for social cause spending, this will cause a drain on the state of economy.	About 80 % of employees are Group “C” workers, the pension amount is ultimately spent by them for their daily needs and money flows into the market and economy will not be effected , secondly Government is a model employer and it has social responsibility towards its employees.

After a decade of existence, there is need to examine the existing NPS and compare the performance of this system to the goals with which it was created.

*One of the key bottlenecks has been the lack of a sound regulatory framework, put in place by an empowered and independent regulator. The PFRDA Bill that had been pending since 2002 was finally passed in 2013. This enables the formal institutionalisation of the PFRDA as the regulator of the NPS. The PFRDA can now take on the task of both the relatively short term agenda of closing the gap between the current NPS and the original design.

*Central government employees can invest in these assets only through their Tier II account which get higher returns on longer period.

* After the enactment of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Act, 2013, it is not the exclusive liability of the government to pay the pension."

The Ministry of Finance will oversee and supervise the Pension Funds through a new and independent Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority.”

WHAT IS THE NATIONAL PENSION SCHEME?

Each Government employee contributes 10 % of his salary (Basic Pay + DA + DP) to the pension account , which is then matched by a Government contribution of an equal amount .

National Pension Scheme or New Pension scheme is a pension plan offered by the government. Investment in this scheme is via debt and equity market. The invested amount is locked until retirement. At retirement age, you can withdraw 60% of the maturity amount while the balance40% must be invested in annuity. The maturity amount is taxable. The NPS is regulated by the PFRDA and fund management is by designated fund managers from the private and public sector. NPS has the lowest charges.

From our salaries and daily allowance, 10 per cent is cut towards pension and an equal amount is given by the government. This amount is invested into the share markets under the new scheme.

An NPS subscriber can withdraw 25% of his contribution to the corpus for emergencies before retirement.  Instead of withdrawing the entire amount at retirement, you can withdraw Rs 25,000, or 25% of your contribution, earlier, without any tax incidence. The remaining Rs 1.75 lakh is withdrawn on retirement.

New Pension Scheme extension of benefits of Retirement Gratuity and Death Gratuity to the Central Government employees covered by New Defined Contribution Pension System (National Pension System)-regarding.  All these condition would be equally applicable for grant of gratuity to employees covered under New Pension Scheme.

An individual can claim tax deduction of upto 10 percent of the salary contributed towards NPS under Section 80 C. For those contributing through the corporate scheme, an employee can claim tax deduction on contribution made by the employer, not exceeding 10 percent of his basic salary plus dearness allowance (if any) Under Section 80 CCD (2). This is above the overall limit of Rs.1 lakh offered under Section 80C.

How New Pension Scheme (NPS) is affecting the Government employees.

The New Pension Scheme is highly disadvantageous to the Government employees under the present situation the pension amount is invested into the share markets under the new scheme.  If the markets are doing well, the employees will get a good pension if the share market fails no pension is available to them. Under the old system, employees would get a fixed amount as pension that was 50 per cent of their last basic salary. When the salary was hiked, the pension amount too would be revised. Under the present NPS system, there is no security as pensions depend on market conditions. Secondly the NPS is highly disadvantageous if the length of the Government service is less if a employee serves for 20 years, he draws a pension of about Rs 3,000/- to Rs 5,000/ only. If he completes 33 years of service he draws about Rs 12,000/- to Rs 15,000/- compared to Rs 15,000/- to Rs 20,000/- in the old pension system, this new pension system needs a deep study and its minimum pension should be at least 50% of the last pay drawn. It is upto the Government how and where the money is invested, but a minimum guarantee of   50% of the last pay drawn should be assured by the Government to the employee.

Under New Pension Scheme  is in reality much steeper than what the quantum of pension would indicate the differential treatment for those retiring  under Old Pension scheme and New Pension Scheme, would be according differential treatment to pensioners who form a class irrespective of the type of retirement and, therefore, would be violate of Art. 14. It was also contended that classification based on fortuitous circumstance of retirement in old or New Pension Scheme, fixing of which is not shown to be related to any rational principle, would be equally violate of Art. 14.

Pension Scheme around the Globe :

The USA, Canada, United Kingdom, China , Germany etc. Governments  have  a scheme of a  Defined Benefit (DB) pension is where you receive a specific amount of pay out that is guaranteed by employer, regardless of how their pension investment performs. Your defined benefit amount depends on how much is paid into the plan and your years of service with that employer.

CONCLUSION:

The Indian Government should also have a similar Defined Benefit (DB) pension scheme like other major countries in the world have, as many state Governments are re thinking on the New Pension Scheme,  hence this New Pension Scheme should be remodelled to suit the Government employees.  The Government should take up more social responsibilities of protecting its employees.

We request the government to reintroduce the old pension system.  For this a greater movement should take place amongst the New Pension Scheme employees forcing Central Government to rethink the new pension policy adopted after 2004.

P.S.Prasad

Working President

COC Karnataka  

Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) - October , 2018 & DA

The All-India CPI-IW for October , 2018 Increased by one point now stands at  302 (three hundred and two). 

DA as on  October  2018 is 11.87%.

Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) - September, 2018 & DA

The All-India CPI-IW for September, 2018 remained stationary at 301 (three hundred and one). On l-month percentage change, it remained static between August, 2018 and September, 2018 and it was also static between the corresponding months of previous year.

DA as on September  2018 is 11.38%.

Expected DA is 12 %  from Jan 2019 if the CPI raises less than 5 points in coming three months , if it raises more than 5 points DA shall be 13%.

The minutes of COC Karnataka meeting held on 25-10-2018

The minutes of COC Karnataka meeting held on 25-10-2018 at 6-30pm at ITEF, Queen's Road, Bengaluru is detailed out as under:

The president Com.Radhakrishna  welcomed all COC affiliates.

Gen. Secretary Com.Vinod also welcomed all the members present and requested the working president Com. P.S. Prasad to brief the outcome of  Convention of the Confederation held on 10-06-2018 at Hyderabad. 

Com. P.S.Prasad briefed that, about 30 Comrades from COC Karnataka attended the Convention, in which  there was a decision  taken by our Confederation to have a independent strike in November or  join the All India Trade Union General Strike slated nearby.

1)COC Karnataka resolved to hold a Convention  on 'SCRAP NPS' preferably during 2nd week of December 2018, in order to mobilize the  membership for General Strike to be 

held during January 2019. The date of Convention will be intimated shortly after finalising the venue for the same.

2) Issue Regarding Women's Convention was deliberated upon, scheduled at Haridwar on 29th and 30th of October. No. of women Comrades participation is yet to give their confirmation to attend the Convention. 

3)It was decided to open an MIS A/c in Postal and to auto transformer the I retest to SB Account and also to give necessary standard instructions for the I t amount to be paid as monthly RD, in the name of Gen.Secretary and Treasurer, as authorised signatories to operate the Bank Account.

4) The President Com. Radhakrishna briefed about Bombay High Court"s judgement on MACP to be effected from 01-01-2006.

5)Subscription of Rs.800 (2017-18 and 2018-19) was paid by Survey of India Class III SA and 

Rs.800 was paid by Survey of India MSI. Postal Accounts paid Rs.1500 and Postal Admin remitted 

Rs.1000. payment was also remitted by RMS R3-Rs.5000 and R4-Rs.3000.

6)Com.Dominic has been promoted as AAO and has been transferred to Jammu. He was bid farewell by way of honouring with a shawl and bouquet by COC Karnataka,

Com.Dominic resigned as Joint Secretary and Com.Padmini Rudraiah, has been co-opted from Postal in his place. 

7)Com. Jayashree, Assistant Secretary CoC promoted as ITO and transferred to Goa and in her place Com.Gerald Manuel has been co-opted from IT Dept.

8)Com.Dominic voluntarily donated a sum of Rs.1000/- as Individual contribution to CoC Karnataka. 

Meeting concluded at 8pm with vote of thanks by Genl. Secretary Com. Vinod

COC Meeting on 25-10-2018

Respected Comrades of all affiliates of COC karnataka,

Meeting of COC karnataka will be held at 6.30 pm 

on 25-10-2018 @  ITEF Association room, Queen's Road Bengaluru.

Agenda: 

Outcome of Confederation meeting held at Hyderabad on 10-6-2018.

Out come of Central Government employees rally at New Delhi on 5th  September 2018.

Strike call of Confederation given  on 8th and 9th  Jan 2019 by all Central Govt Employees & Trade unions 

Subscription of all affiliates to COC Karnataka.

Any other matter.

All are requested to attend the meeting without fail. 

Revolutionary greetings, 

Vinod

Gen Secy

COC Karnataka

Travel entitlements of Government employees for the purpose of LTC post Seventh Central Pay Commission

 "It has been decided to allow the claims of the Government employees in Level 6 to Level 8 of the Pay Matrix, who had traveled by air as per the revised TA rules while availing LTC during 13.07.2017 to 19.09.2017".

CLICK HERE FOR ORDERS 

Bonus Order

Grant of Non-Productivity Linked Bonus (Ad-hoc Bonus) to Central Government Employees for the year 2017-18

CLICK HERE FOR ORDERS 

ALL INDIA WOMEN’S TRADE UNION CAMP 2018 OCTOBER 29th & 30th HARIDWAR

CONFEDERATION OF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES & WORKERS CENTRAL HEADQUARTERS

IST FLOOR, NORTH AVENUE POST OFFICE BUILDING, NEW DELHI-110001

                                                            Dated 03-10-2018.

WELCOME TO ALL WOMEN DELEGATES & LEADERS

ALL INDIA WOMEN’S TRADE UNION CAMP

2018 OCTOBER 29th & 30th HARIDWAR

                 All Affiliates, C-O-Cs and Women Comrades are requested to mobilize maximum number of delegates to attend the Camp.  Affiliates, please instruct all your units to ensure maximum participation. Book tickets immediately.

Com: Subhashini Ali, Ex.MP - and Fighting leader of the working class will inaugurate the camp. Com: Kirti Singh, Advocate, Supreme Court & Convenor, Legal Cell, AIDWA will take class on “Women’s Social Status and Rights in Indian Society and our Task”.  Com:T.K.Rajalekshmi, Frontline, will take class on “Media and Politics”.  Com. K.K.N.Kutty, President and Com.M.Krishnan, Secretary General and other Chief Executives of  Confederation and affiliates will speak on the subject - “SCRAP NPS, RESTORE OPS - Confederation charter of demands and Two days Nationwide strike on 8th & 9th January 2019”.  Com.Usha Bonepalli, President, Women’s Committee will preside and Com.R.Seethalakshmi, Convenor, Women’s Committee will address the camp.

                 The camp will commence on 10 AM on 29th October and conclude at 2 PM on 30th October, 2018.

                 Welcome to all women delegates and leaders.  All India Women’s Convention will also be held along with the camp.

Fraternally yours,

Usha Boneppalli,    R.Seethalakshmi

Chairperson  Convenor

Women’s Committee           Women’s Committee.

K.K.N.Kutty                M.Krishnan

President,                     Secretary General,

Confederation.             Confederation.

Com.R.N.Parashar, SG NFPE & Chairman,COC, UP State - Mob: 09718686800

Com.Virendra Tiwari, Working Chairman, COC, UP State - Mob: 09839195933

Com.J.P.Singh, General Secretary, COC, UP State - Mob: 08005445445

Consumer Price Index August 2018 & DA September 2018

Consumer Price Index Numbers for Industrial Workers on Base 2001=100.  Monthly Index  - August 2018 is 301 points.

There has been no increase or decrease in CPI in August 2018 

DA as on 1st September is 10.88%. The present DA as on 1st July 2018 is at 9%. 

Golden Jubilee of Historic Strike on 19-09-1968-Salute to participants of struggle

By 

Comrade S Radhakrishna

In the history of workers in struggle in India the nationwide strike of Central Government Employees on 19^thSeptember, 1968 has a prominent place. This year we are celebrating golden jubilee of that historic strike. All the leaders who lead and participated in the strike have retired and some of them are no more.

The indefinite strike of Central Govt. Employees in1960 was the first major strike of Central Government. Employees after independence. The five days strike from 1960 July 11 midnight was brutally suppressed by the Central Government declaring it as “Civil Rebellion”. The main demand of the strike was improvement and modifications in the 2nd CPC recommendations. The Need Based Minimum Wage, though adopted by the 15th Indian Labour Conference in 1957, was rejected by the 2nd CPC.

The Joint Consultative machinery (JCM) was constituted in 1966 as a forum for discussing and settling the issues raised by CG employees.  GL Nanda then Home minister of India inaugurating the JCM on 28-10-1966 expressed a hope that “that the strikes will be made superfluous”.  Jagajivan Ram then labour Minister expressed a hope that “I wish that the Council will function in such a way that all the disputes or differences that may arise, will be resolved by them and no occasion will be provided for the Labour Minister to exercise his authority of setting up of the Board of Arbitration.”

There was an apprehension among sections of leadership that this negotiating machinery may not settle any major demands of the Central Government employees and may become just a talking shop or a time killing business, ultimately resulting in abnormally delaying the genuine demands.   Unfortunately this apprehension became reality within one year of formation of JCM. In the very first meeting of the National Council JCM, the following three demands were notified by the staff side.

1. Grant of Need Based Minimum Wage as approved by the 1957 Tripartite Labour Conference. 2. Merger of DA with Pay and 3. Revision of DA formula.

After prolonged discussion for more than one and a half year disagreement was recorded.  According to the JCM scheme once disagreement is recorded the matter should have gone to arbitration, but Government refused to refer the matter to arbitration.  Protesting against this arbitrary stand of the Government, the staff side leadership walked out of the JCM and decided to go for one day’s strike. A Joint Action Committee was formed and the date of the strike was decided as 19th September 1968. The following were the main demands of charter of demands for the strike

1. Need Based Minimum Wage. 2. Full neutralisation of rise in prices. 3. Merger of DA with Basic Pay. 4. Withdrawal of proposal to retire employees with 50 years of age or on completion of 25 years of service. 5. Vacate victimisation and reinstate victimised workers. 6. No retrenchment without equivalent alternative jobs. 7. Abolition of Contract and Casual Labour System.

Strike notice was served and the Joint Action Council (JAC) decided to commence the strike at 0600 AM on 19th September 1968. Intensive campaign was conducted throughout the country. AIRF, AIDEF and Confederation was the major organisations in the JAC. Government invoked Essential Services Maintenance Ordinance (ESMO) to deal with the strike. Government also issued detailed instructions to impose heavy penalty including suspension, dismissal, termination, break-in-service etc. on the striking employees. Para-military force (CRPF) and Police were deployed to deal with the strike. Central Government gave orders to all State Governments to suppress the strike at any cost. Kerala was ruled by the Communist Government during the strike. Chief Minister. E. M. S. Namboodiripad declared Kerala Government’s full support to the strike of Central Government employees. The Central Government threatened dismissal of the Kerala Government for defying the Centre’s directive to suppress the strike.It was a war-like situation. Arrest of Leaders started on 18th September itself. About 3000 employees and leaders were arrested from Delhi alone. All over India about 12000 Central Government employees and leaders were arrested and jailed.

At Bangalore the preparations for strike was well done under the dynamic leadership of Com. P. R. Chabaque who was the convenor of the Joint Action Committee here. Intensive campaigning was done through pamphlets and office centric meetings. A massive rally was held in Railway Institute ground behind City Railway station. Some arrests under ESMO were made at Bangalore. Some of the leaders arrested included Chabaque VV Jacob, K.P. Nair and A.K.P Pille from Survey of India, Jayaram, Kopeswar Rao, and Namboothri from Railways and many other leaders from other organisations.  Houses of many leaders were raided and searched. Some of the leaders who were very active in the preparation of strike are  Raghothaman, CV Ananda, N Bhaskaran, Muthu Subramanian (RMS), MM Farooqui (Telegraph), BN Prakash (Postal),  Ramakrishna Shastri, MS Nagaraj (AGS)and many others. 

In spite of all these repressive measures the strike commenced on 18th after noon itself at many places and was a massive success all over India and in all departments including Railway, Defence, P&T, Audit etc. About 64000 employees were served with termination notices, thousands removed from service and about 40000 employees suspended. Seventeen striking employees were brutally killed at Pathankot, Bikaner, DelhiIndraprasthaBhavan and at Upper Assam in lathi charge, firing by police and military and by running the train over the bodies of employees who picketed the trains.

Though the strike was only for one day on 19th September 1968, the victimisation and repression continued for days together. Struggle against victimisation also continued including work-to-rule agitation, hunger fast of leaders from 10th October 1968. There was unprecedented support to the strike and relief work and also to agitation for reinstatement of the victimised workers, from National Trade Unions, state Government employees and teachers Unions/Federations etc. A mass rally was organised before the residence of Prime Minister of India Smt. Indira Gandhi on 17th October, 1968.

19th September 1968 strike is written in red letters in the history of Indian Working Class. The demand raised by the Central Government employees – Need Based Minimum Wage – was the demand of entire working people of India. Even today, the Central Government employees and other section of the working class are on struggle path for realisation of the Need Based Minimum Wage.

There are pages and pages to be written on the sacrifices of the workers in connection with the strike.  The strike was historic in more than one sense. The same government which refused to accept the demands were compelled to implement some of them afterwards.  No struggle goes in vain. The long term impact of a struggle for a genuine cause should be understood properly. The benefits of past struggles often accrues to the present/future generation.  Struggles are inevitable to establish more and more equitable peaceful society.

Let us salute the martyrs of past struggles.

Let us remember with gratitude all those who suffered immensely in the past struggles.

Let us carry forward the proud legacy left behind them to make the life of future generations brighter.

Let us resolve to make future struggles massive success.

Consumer Price Index July 2018 & DA August 2018

Consumer Price Index Numbers for Industrial Workers on Base 2001=100.  Monthly Index  - July 2018 is 301 points.

There has been very big  increase of 10 points in July 2018 , this increase of CPI is highest in last four years. 

DA as on 1st August is 10.36%. The present DA as on 1st July 2018 is at 9%. 

we can expect 3% to 4% DA on January 2019.