37 th AGM of AIFPA Chennai on 22nd July 2016- Inaugural address by Justice D.Hariparanthaman (retd) .Key address by S C Maheshwari Secy Genl BPS

SCM key note address on 37^th AIFPA conference on 22.7.2016

Honourable Chief Guest, Guests of honour, other dignitaries on the dais, respected Senior comrades, affiliates & members of AIFPA. Ladies and gentlemen:

I am honored to be speaking to you on the occasion of 37^th AGM of All India Federation of Pensioners Associations here at Chennai. On this occasion I congratulate the leaders, Management, Affiliates and members of AIFPA & wish them many successful years ahead.

AIFPA and Bharat Pensioners Samaj are MOU partners together they represent over 10 lac pensioners and have successfully walked through decades, serving the cause of pensioners.

Ladies & gentlemen, we are retired but not tired, our endeavor is to bring all pensioners together. As, when 54 lac CG pensioners,80 lac state pensioners & 45 lac EPS 95 pensioners will walk together, all their woes will get resolved. As they will then have the strength to change the political scene of the country.

We strive not only to seek Govt. support in deficient areas but also to develop systems which will enable all of us to act as one family with mutual confidence, support and growing interdependence.  our organizations have also been motivating pensioners to indulge in social welfare of the civil society. Whenever there is a natural calamity, pensioners come forward not only with monetary assistance but physically also they stand shoulder to shoulder with civil administration and the fellow citizens in distress. With our motivation, Pensioners are coming forward to donate not only organs but even their whole bodies so that someone after their departure can survive to see this beautiful world. Several of our affiliates are monetarily helping underprivileged children to continue their studies. Similarly, poor ladies in distress are being helped to earn honorable living.

We have been moving together struggling jointly & severally for the common issues of pensioners i.e.

1. Financial Security

2. Healthcare  &

3. Social security.

We represented these issues to the 7^th Central Pay Commission. Pay Commission though listened to us patiently. But alas! outcome is not encouraging. Inspite of the fact that 7th CPC in principle accepted few of our submissions, bureaucracy appears to have negated these.

          We had represented that wide gulf between minimum & maximum paid should be narrowed down to 1996 level of 1:8 and a common multiplication factor for revision of pay & pension be worked out so that everyone gets uniform raise. PC instead of reducing, further raised   minimum maximum paid gap to 1: 13.88 & worked out 2.57 common multiplication factor. This 2.57 fitment factor recommended by the 7th CPC and accepted by the Govt.is essentially a multiple factor which is the ratio of the new minimum pay arrived at by the 7th Pay Commission i.e. Rs 18,000 and the existing minimum pay Rs7,000. This provides only 14.29% rise in Salary (which in terms of money is Rs 2250/ {15750 to 18000} and difference in take home will be just Rs 500 after 10 years) as well as in Pension which is the historically lowest raise given by any Govt. in the past seventy years. This has happened because of incorrect calculation of minimum revised salary resulted not only by adoption of lower prices of commodities but also due to adoption of Aykroyd formula of 1948 without updating it.

       It is surprising as to how a gender bias 1948 formula of Dr Aykroyd adopted by ILC in 1957 is applied, without updating, in digital India of 2016. In today’s scenario how can Indian civil society accept a formula for minimum requirement which treat the lady of the house as 0.8 unit compared to the adult male of the house as 1 unit, further this formula does not at all take into consideration the minimum requirement of today’s digital India i.e. a smart mobile phone with internet connection.

      Considering wife to be .80 unit is nothing but gender bias indicating a colonial mindset of Dr Aykroyd. In the present scenario a wife too puts in the same amount rather more of physical and intellectual work as compared to the husband. She needs more nutrients & healthcare to keep herself fit to be a mother and as an educationist for her school going children. She needs better clothing than 1957. A lady whether she is a wife of a labourer or of a Secretary to Govt. of India, has a basic right to keep herself reasonably presentable for which she needs some minimum add-ons. As such treating her to be less than a unit is gross injustice, gender bias and unconstitutional. Similarly growing children of up-to 14 years of age need more of proteins, fats & carbohydrates, need to take sufficient exercise & field activities for healthy growth. Today they need much better and more clothing, better education & healthcare compared to 50s. The Nation needs healthy & stout young citizens. It is against the National interest to restrict their need based minimum requirement to .6 unit.

     Thus the Minimum Salary & correspondingly the fitment benefit of 2.57 needs upwards revision. As of now Govt. has agreed to refer the issue to a high-powered committee which will submit its report within next 4months.

          The 2^nd big issue is 100 % parity between pre & post 1.1.2016 retirees: 7^th CPC recommended vide their Para 10.1.67 that: All the civilian personnel including CAPF who retired prior to 01.01.2016 shall first be fixed in the Pay Matrix recommended by the Commission, on the basis of the Pay Band and Grade Pay at which they retired, at the minimum of the corresponding level in the matrix. This amount shall be raised, to arrive at the notional pay of the retiree, by adding the number of increments he/she had earned in that level while in service, at the rate of three percent. Fifty percent of the total amount so arrived at shall be the revised pension. This recommendation has been accepted by the Govt. subject to feasibility.

On 26.5.2016 BPS received information that the department of Pension- Pensioners Welfare and the Ministry of Defence were pitted against & were insisting for outright rejection of this recommendation on the ground of its being unfeasible for want of records. BPS , AIFPA & NFRP staunchly disputed the stand taken by DOPPW & the MOD. Consequently, the Govt. vide their press release dtd 29.6.2016 has accepted the said recommendation subject to the condition of its feasibility to be studied by a committee. We have represented to the Govt. that there is no necessity of any committee, recommendation in question can be smoothly implemented as the records needed are available & in case any one’s record is missing for any reason, same can be reconstructed and thus the word “subject to feasibility” be deleted NCJCM (Staff side) is supporting us on this issue. As the notification for implementation of 7^th CPC recommendations as accepted by the Govt. is still awaited final outcome of our representations is not known.

     Barring the above recommendations i.e. common multiplication factor 2.57 & parity between pre & post 2016 retirees, 7^th CPC did not recommend anything else favorable to the pensioners. So we will have to Communicate, coordinate, contribute and consolidate to continue our efforts to get better deal with respect to additional age related pension, Health care & fixed Medical allowance in lieu of OPD facility.

          Bharat Pensioners Samaj is holding the Mega meet of Pensioners on the occasion of its 61^st AGM at constitution club Rafi Marg New Delhi 01 on 13.11.2016,  I cordially  invite all of you to attend.

Jai Hind, Jai Bharat

S C Maheshwari