NABARD union warns: employees 'justifiably' restive, agitated, to strike on Aug 30

Counterview Desk
In a letter to the chairman, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Rana Mitra, general secretary, All India NABARD Employees Association (AINBEA), seeking wage revision in NABARD, has said there has been “inordinate delay” in signing and operationalization of the final settlement and other issues “like strengthening of development finance institution (DFI) status of NABARD.”
Rana in his letter warned, “In accordance with the provisions contained in sub-section (1) of Section 22 of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, we hereby give you notice that AINBEA, the only recognized trade union representing almost the entire body collective of Group B (Clerical, Class III employees) and Group C (Peon, Class IV employees) of NABARD all over India in all its more than 22 Regional Offices plus Head Office at Mumbai, plus training establishments, proposes to go on strike on Tuesday, 30th August 2022.”

Text:

The final settlement on wage revision based on the Charter of Demands dated 31 October 2017 submitted by the All-India NABARD Employees Association (AINBEA) is yet to be signed till date, despite the inking of the Draft Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) and the record of negotiations on 18 February 2022 at Mumbai, between the representatives of the NABARD Management and the All India NABARD Employees’ Association (AINBEA) (Copies enclosed).
The proposal has also been reportedly approved on 16 March 2022 in the meeting of the Board of Directors of NABARD having representatives from both the Union Ministry of Finance and the RBI before being sent to the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Union Ministry of Finance supposedly for final clearance. Getting the clearance from any authority including from the Union Ministry of Finance is the sole responsibility of the management of NABARD.
It is most unfortunate that by postponing the signing and operationalization of the final settlement on wages and other issues like productivity for indefinite period in NABARD due to any reason whatsoever, including the reported non-clearance from the above authority, the employees of NABARD are made to suffer for no fault of their own.
This inexplicable delay of each day in signing the final settlement and its operationalization by the Management of NABARD is forcing the employees to lose in terms of real wages in the current environ of spiraling prices of all essentials. This makes the gain in terms of enhanced wages borne out of such MoS neutralized.
Incidentally, NABARD has had wonderful financial and other development achievements since its birth in 1982 including in the last financial year ending on 31 March, 2022, in which employees have contributed immensely through their efficiency and productivity.
Additionally, the current draft MoS on wages signed on 18 February 2022 is the eighth such wage settlement in a row, and in tune with all the past negotiated wage settlements in NABARD signed between AINBEA and the Management of NABARD since the first settlement on 22 February 1986 to seventh wage settlement dated 1 March 2017.
Incidentally, all the past seven wage settlements in NABARD had received due clearances and approval of the Union Ministry Finance. Moreover, the tenure of the current settlement period, to be operationalized from 1 November 2017 to 31 October 2022, is coming to an end shortly within few months.
This makes the employees of NABARD justifiably restive and agitated as similar wage settlements in other financial institutions like in Commercial Banks, RBI (NABARD’s bench mark institution since its first wage settlement signed on 22 February 1986 to the last settlement on 1 March 2017), LICI and others were over long ago. The trade unions in these institutions are in the process of submitting their next charter of demands to their respective managements operational from 1 November 2022.
In addition to this, the issues like strengthening of the Development Financial Institution (DFI) character of NABARD through flow of concessional funds from both Government of India and RBI available till 1993 before the advent of the so-called neo-liberal economic reforms in our country, through restoration of regular significant contribution by RBI to NABARD in the latter’s fund, namely National Rural Credit (Long Term Operations) and National Rural Credit(Stabilisation) Funds, are well documented by AINBEA through its various submissions to the management.

Non-clearance of wage revision by Union Finance Ministry is making NABARD employees suffer for no fault of theirs

This may go a long way in strengthening the long term agri finance structure in the country, the weakening of it is now accepted by the policy makers too.
All these concerns forced us to embark on the path of agitation in NABARD from 9 June 2022 culminating into a full day Strike action on 30 August 2022 in the present phase. Incidentally, both the All India NABARD Employees Association (AINBEA) and All India NABARD Officers’ Association (AINBOA), who have formed a joint platform for the current united agitation programme in NABARD for wage settlement, has deferred their united programme of Dharna before the Parliament on 26 July 2022 at the written request of the Management of NABARD on 22 July 2022(copy enclosed).
The management of NABARD, while requesting for keeping such dharna programme in abeyance, has informed through this letter that the matter of wage revision for NABARD staff is under active consideration of the Department of Financial Services (DFS) of the Union Ministry of Finance.
The employees and officers of NABARD have positively responded to such request by keeping such dharna programme in abeyance for the time being. However, most unfortunately, till date there is no further tangible development on this issue, thereby adding to the frustration of the entire workforce of NABARD.
Please note that the environ of current avoidable industrial unrest in NABARD can only be improved by signing and operationalization of the Final Memorandum of Settlement on wages and other issues, the draft of which was signed way back on 18 February 2022 between the Management of NABARD and AINBEA at Mumbai.
This may go a long way in respecting the bipartite, negotiated wage agreement in NABARD with the sole recognized Trade Union of workmen employees of NABARD, in tune and line with the past seven negotiated wage settlements as detailed out above.

Comments

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat* As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra* It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Women's rights leaders told to negotiate with Muslimness, as India's donor agencies shun the word Muslim

By A Representative Former vice-president Hamid Ansari has sharply criticized donor agencies engaged in nongovernmental development work, saying that they seek to "help out" marginalizes communities with their funds, but shy away from naming Muslims as the target group, something, he insisted, needs to change. Speaking at a book release function in Delhi, he said, since large sections of Muslims are poor, they need political as also social outreach.

Warning bells for India: Tribal exploitation by powerful corporate interests may turn into international issue

By Ashok Shrimali* Warning bells are ringing for India. Even as news drops in from Odisha that Adivasi villages, one after another, are rejecting the top UK-based MNC Vedanta's plea for mining, a recent move by two senior scholars Felix Padel and Samarendra Das suggests the way tribals are being exploited in India by powerful international and national business interests may become an international issue. In fact, one has only to count days when things may be taken up at the United Nations level, with India being pushed to the corner. Padel, it may be recalled, is a major British authority on indigenous peoples across the world, with several scholarly books to his credit.

Gujarat Bitcoin scam worth Rs 5,000 crore "linked" with BJP leaders: Need for Supreme Court monitored probe

By Shaktisinh Gohil* BJP hit a jackpot in the form of demonetisation, which it used as an alibi to convert black money into white in Gujarat. Even as party scrambles for answers of how the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB), whose director is BJP president Amit Shah, received old currency worth Rs 745.58 crore in just five days, and how Rs 3118.51 crore was deposited in 11 district cooperative banks linked with Gujarat BJP leaders, a new mega Bitcoin scam, worth more than Rs 5,000 crore has been unraveled.

Counterview

Search This Blog