S.C.Maheshwari Secy Genl BPS key note address to 37th 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 37th 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 7th 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 from 1:40 in 1947 after independence 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/ {7000+125% DR
=Rs 15750 to 18000} and difference in take home after deductions 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 2nd
big issue is 100 % parity between pre & post 1.1.2016 retirees: 7th
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 which is yet to be constituted. 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 7th 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, 7th 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 61st 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
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