Welcome to the official website of All India Postal Employees Union Group 'C'- अखिल भारतीय डाक कर्मचारी संघ वर्ग 'सी' की आधिकारिक वेबसाइट में आपका स्वागत है

Saturday, June 29, 2013

SECRETARY GENERAL, NFPE ADDRESSED THE IPS PROBATIONERS

Com. M. Krishnan, Secretary General, NFPE & General Secretary, AIPEU Group ‘C’ (CHQ) was invited by the Postal Training Academy (Rafi Ahmed Kidwai National Postal Academy) Ghaziabad for an interaction with the IPS Probationers of 2011 batch who are completing their induction training by the middle of July 2013. The subject given is_“Why are Service Unions important”. Secretary General in his one hour address explained every aspect of the subject in detail. After his presentation there was an interactive session for an hour. Secretary General answered all the questions and queries raised by the IPS Probationers. Details will be published in the Journals.
CONFEDERATION OF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES & WORKERS
(Central Head Quarters)

1ST FLOOR, NORTH AVENUE POST OFFICE BUILDING, NEW DELHI – 110001

                                                                                                                       
Dear Comrade,
            The representatives of AIRF, AIDEF, Confederation met at AIRF Office today under the Chairmanship of Com. Umraomal Purohit. President, AIRF. The following Comrades were present.
Com. U. M. Purrohit, President AIRF
Com. Shiv Gopal Mishra, General Secretary, AIRF
Com. S. N. Pathak, President AIDEF
Com. C. Srikumar General Secretary AIDEF
Com. J. S. Sharma, Org. Secretary: AIDEF
Com. S. K. Vyas, Advisor, Confederation.
Com. K. K. N. Kutty, President, Confederation.
Com. M. Krishnan, Secretary General, Confederation
Com. Virigu Bhattacharjee, Finance Secretary Confederation.
           
            The meeting decided to forge a Joint Council of Action to pursue the enclosed Charter of Common Demands of CGEs. Com. Umraomal Purohit President AIRF will be the Chairman and Com. Shiv Gopal Mishra will be its Convenor. The following shall be the members of the Council.

1.         Com. U.M. Purohit – AIRF
2.         Com. Shivgopal Mishra-AIRF
3.         To be nominated by AIRF
4.         Com. S.N. Pathak – AIDEF
5          Com. Sree Kumar –AIDEF
6.         To be nominated by AIDEF
7.         Com. S.K. Vyas – Confederation
8.         Com. KKN Kutty – Confederation
9.         Com. M. Krishnan- Confederation


The following demands were included in the Common Charter of demands:

1.    Set up the 7th CPC and frame its terms of reference after consultation with Staff Side.
2.    Merge DA with pay for all purposes.
3.    Scrap the New Contributory Pension Scheme.
4.    Regularize (a) Gramin Dak Sevaks of Postal Department.(b)Daily rated workers , (c) Contract Labourers:
5.    Remove 5% Ceiling on Compassionate appointments.
6.    Settle all 6th CPC anomalies raised in the National Anomaly Committee and implement the Arbitration Awards.
7.    Remove Ceiling of Rs. 3500 on computation of Bonus.

            All organizations may include the department –specific and other demands in Part B of the Charter and seek settlement thereof with the appropriate authorities.

            The meeting also decided to submit the Charter of demands to the Cabinet Secretary and seek negotiated settlement.

            The Council will meet again in the first week of August 2013 to decide upon the date of National Convention and other programmes of action in pursuance of the Charter of demands.



(M. Krishnan)

Secretary General

Next time you go to the Post Office, it may well turn out to be a bank


A long-pending dream of  to have banking operations is now taking a final shape. The  has moved a Cabinet note with the government providing Rs 500 crore as seed capital to India Post for this purpose. This is the minimum paid up capital required under the final norms for banking licenses put up by the Reserve  of India. 

Financial help from the government is needed since India Post ran a deficit of Rs 5,805.9 crore in 2011-12, though 8.5% lower than Rs 7,899.3 crore in the previous year.
 
India Post plans to start banking operations in 50 branches, a key official said. 

The official said all the initial work on applying for a banking license to  has been completed and the only task left now is to formally submit its application. 

The deadline for submitting applications is July one and in between only two working days are left. 

"Our officer is in Mumbai and we will file the application before the deadline," the official said.

When asked that it would be too costly an affair to convert a  into a bank, the official explained that both post office work of India Post and banking operations will simultaneously exist.

She said India Post can always squeeze a little space in its existing post offices. "We can give the bank a completely different branding and so the bank and post office can coexist ," she said.

"That little space for bank branches will be built from the scratch. But, the existing infrastructure across 1,50,000 post offices will be leveraged. We are naturally the most fit candidate to open a bank as no one can match the department's reach," the official said.

She said India Post has around 1,50,000 post offices, while all the other bank branches combined would come to around 50,000 only. 

"So, other aspirants have a reason to worry, but we qualify RBI's eligibility criteria in all respects," the official said. 
When other private banks can have a lean and mean approach in terms of bank branches and can still be successful, so can India Post, the official asserted. 

But, the idea is to not to open branches across all the 1,50,000 post offices, but have a selective play. "If we cover the entire network, it will be too extensive, therefore we will open in places where there are not other banks etc. And our post man could act as a banking correspondent enabled with micro-ATMs," she said.

To become a bank, India post will have to restructure its shareholding. There is a stipulation in the RBI's norms that promoter companies of entities wishing to set up banks should be 51% held by the public. At present, India post is 100% government of India holding.

India Post has long nursed an ambition to start a bank, called Post Bank of India. 

Earlier, the finance ministry is understood to have opposed India Post’s plan as the postal service doesn’t have the expertise needed in relevant areas, such as handling credit.

The Department of Post has a few savings instruments like post office savings scheme, besides acting as a distributor for mutual fund companies. It also has a life insurance scheme— Postal Life Insurance.

India Post's plans will also help the UPA’s ambitious Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) Scheme as the programme falters because of poor last mile connectivity of banks.

The official said the banking correspondent model as enshrined in DBT will be performed by postman. He will get an additional commission of 0.07% over and above his regular salary for every new deposit.  The official said that moves are also afoot to link all post office branches with core banking solutions (CBS), which would further enable them to function as a full-fledged bank.

Courtesy: Business Standard, 29th June 2013

GRANT OF VIGILANCE CLEARANCE TO MEMBERS OF THE CENTRAL CIVIL SERVICES/CENTRAL CIVIL POSTS: DOPT'S LATEST GUIDELINES

GRANT OF FAMILY PENSION AND GRATUITY TO THE ELIGIBLE MEMBER OF THE FAMILY OF AN EMPLOYEE/PENSIONER/FAMILY PENSIONER REPORTED MISSING — CONSOLIDATED INSTRUCTIONS

PENSIONERS PORTAL ORDERS 2013: GRANT OF EX-GRATIA TO THOSE PRE-1986 CONTRIBUTORY PROVIDENT FUND (CPF) EMPLOYEES WHO RETIRED OTHERWISE THAN ON SUPERANNUATION AFTER 20 YEARS OF SERVICE – REGARDING

EXPANSION OF ELECTRONIC FUND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (eFMS) – REGARDING.CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

Postal dept to launch quicker parcel service from July 19

he department of post is set to launch a revamped parcel service, with quick delivery period, better packaging and security features from July 19.
The new product would be launched in 20 cities across India, including Lucknow and Agra in the Uttar Pradesh circle. “With a centralised delivery system in place, the parcel service would cut down parcel deliveries by at least two days,” postal headquarters UP circle director Vivek Kumar Daksh said. He added that a new mechanised parcel and logistic hub-processing centre was also under consideration for improving services.
In Lucknow, the new parcel services would be made available at prominent post offices, including General Post office (GPO), Chowk, New Hydrabad, Gomti Nagar, Nirala Nagar, Mahanagar, Aliganj, Indira Nagar, SGPGI, IIM, LDA colony, Aminabad, Alambagh and Rajajipuram. The facility would be available for both retail and bulk customers in ordinary and express forms.
Senior officials at the postal department said the new system, which was an India Post initiative, would scrap at least two processes involved in the route of booking to delivery, that would help cut down on the delivery time. As of now, after the booking at the post offices, the parcel is sent to the Railway Mail Service (RMS) office of the source station, where it is processed and directed to the RMS of the destination station. Thereafter it is sent to the concerned post office and dispatched for delivery.
Officials explained that as in the new system, the processing time at the RMS centres could be saved it would save at least two days in case of distant parcel deliveries.
Courtesy: Hindustan Times, 28th June 2013

Friday, June 28, 2013

Dept. of Posts applies for banking licence


TODAY'S PAPER » BUSINESS
NEW DELHI, June 28, 2013

The Department of Posts, on Thursday, submitted an application before the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a licence to offer full-fledged banking services.
“We have approached the RBI today [Thursday], and hopefully having met all the conditions of RBI, an in-principle approval might be given. If it is given, I think, it will be a revolutionary step because it will bring banking, subject to Cabinet approval, to the doorstep of the ordinary man in this country,” Telecom and IT Minister Kapil Sibal told PTI.
The RBI is in the process of granting fresh banking licences and has set July 1 as the deadline for applying.
The Department of Posts has plans to start 50 bank branches in the first year and scale it to a total of 150 branched in five years.

The Department of Posts has started inter-ministerial consultations for seeking Cabinet approval on around Rs.1,900 crore fund requirement to start Post Banks. The total amount includes Rs.500 crore paid-up capital required under new banking licence guidelines. — PTI

Thursday, June 27, 2013

SOME IMPORTANT LETTERS TO DG (Posts)

Promotion cannot be withheld because of the mere pendency of investigation, rules CAT

The Central Administrative Tribunal, Madras Bench, has ruled that promotion cannot be withheld because of the mere pendency of investigation and directed the Defence Ministry to promote an Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS) officer within 45 days.
Disposing of an application filed by M. Ravi, a 1975 batch officer, the Bench, comprising members B. Venkateswara Rao and Naresh Gupta, held that the defence authorities had erred in withholding his promotion without valid reason. The Bench also said, “No charge sheet has been issued to the applicant. The promotion was withheld merely on the ground of pendency of criminal investigation by the CBI.”
Mr. Ravi is presently working as Senior Deputy Director of General, Armoured Vehicles Factory, Avadi.
He contended that he served in various capacities in other factories. The Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) convened in January 2012 and 2013 recommended his name along with S.K. Gupta and B.N. Singh for promotion to Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) for its final approval.
He was not promoted on the ground of a criminal investigation by CBI pending against him. The investigation was a result of an alleged irregularity that took place when he was working at ordnance factory, Medak, between 1999 and 2005.
In an application before CAT, he also sought a direction to the defence authorities to promote him. He also contended that the promotion had been withheld because of ‘long pending’ investigation but there was no disciplinary action of any kind initiated against him. Hence, Mr. Ravi said that the authorities postponed the promotion indefinitely.
The defence authorities contended that six vacancies arose in the level of member to the Ordnance Factory Board.
In fact, the recommendation of DPC should be approved by Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) for effecting promotion. Along with others, the candidature of Mr. Ravi was also considered. In view of the investigation by the CBI with respect to him, the ACC accorded its approval to others and directed the Defence Ministry to resubmit the proposal for promotion of Mr. Ravi after completion of the ongoing investigation.
The Tribunal also pointed out that a draft charge sheet which did not fructify into regular charge sheet and that should not be a ground for withholding promotion. The Tribunal added, “Unless a regular charge sheet is issued, no disciplinary action can be initiated against the officer of the government and no promotion can be withheld by the mere pendency of investigation.”
The Hindu, June 24, 2013

CAT Cuttack Bench directs the Principal Chief PMG Odisha Circle to keep the selection process to the post of Postmaster Grade-III, abeyance


Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Speech made by mrs. Sandhya rani, ips, postmaster general,
(business development & technology) ap circle, as chief guest in the women’s convention held at hyderabad on 09.06.2013, in connection with the 9th federal council of nfpe
President of the National Federation of Postal Employees Women’s Convention, Mrs. Shakunthala, distinguished guests on the dais, leaders and invitees who have come from across the country to attend the 9th Federal Council meeting of the National Federation of Postal Employees, ladies and gentlemen, my heartfelt greetings to all of you. It is a pleasure to be here with you today and I would like to thank the organizers for inviting me.
From the time I joined the Department of Posts as an young officer some 25 years ago, many changes have come in, especially in the role, approach and scope of Trade union activism. The nature of industrial relations and collective bargaining has also changed in the light of globalization, technology, changed business processes, etc.
I would like to share, my thoughts with you today in the context of three broad themes
i.      The first one relates to Women & Trade Union movement in the Indian context,
ii.     The 2nd one is about women in Department of posts,
iii.    Thirdly I will touch briefly upon about the significant organizational changes underway in Dept.of Posts and possible responses while balancing our personal aspirations and staff unions’ concerns.
In the context of Women and Trade Union movement, the questions that are often asked are: inadequate women’s participation, equality of women, discrimination in workplace, lack of adequate safeguards for women employees, continuing with the responsibility of housework, etc. Women in our country, as elsewhere in the world, have been discriminated against in every sphere – within the family, at the workplace, in society and in public/political participation. Women are increasingly joining the workforce to supplement family income, especially in urban areas. In rural areas they have always participated in agriculture labour and related works.
According to the Directorate General of Employment and Training in 2005, among the 393 lakh job-seekers enrolled with them, only 106 lakhs are female job seekers. In other words female job seekers account for only about 27% of the total job seekers. This is also indicative of the fact that much of the employment of women is in unorganized sector pushing them into exploitative and low end jobs.
Increased employment in organized sector, while empowering women to earn higher incomes, and take up challenging jobs, has also made them to more vulnerable to stress, struggle to balance work and home life and sometimes to sexual harassment in different forms. Further, either due to personal choices or due to the intangible glass ceiling operating very few women are found in higher managerial positions.
Overall the unionized labour is a very small number in our country, (less than 2% according to ILO in year 2000). According to the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), in 1999-2000 out of total workforce of 397 million, only 28 million workers were employed in the formal sector and thus formally unionized. Active participation of women in labour union movement has been historically very low. In recent times with overall decreasing union memberships, far lesser number of women join them or actively participate in the TU deliberations on regular basis. With few of them attending regular TU meetings it is not unexpected that issues of concern to women employees do not get center stage in union items. Women are also under-represented at all levels of union leadership and decision-making.
I believe that Trade Union leadership can and should do much more to encourage and facilitate participation of women in trade union activities. Being effective home makers ensures that women have certain refined skills, especially at balancing competing interests/concerns, negotiating impossible situations. Hence, they should be encouraged to take up leadership roles in the Union actively. Issues relating to women should also get center stage, like lack of amenities in work places, exploitation, especially of unorganized contingent women employees, often working long hours and not drawing even minimum wages, etc. should be taken up actively. At the policy level, Trade Unions can also take up the case of special investment opportunities for female employees with say higher interest rates. This will help the women become more secure and empowered as well as greater productive investments will be made for development of the country. Another area that TUs can also pushing for a special bench or special sessions of CAT and higher Courts to be held periodically to handle cases field by Women employees on priority, so that they are not required to miss office or use personal/home time in running around CAT and other courts. Trade Unions should facilitate greater leadership development and Training for its Women members.
My second theme relates to women employees in Department of Posts. As per census of Central Govt. Employees, only 7.53% of total Central Govt. Employees are women. However, an interesting aspect of this is that in Communications and IT sector, the share of women employees is 12.20%. It is p[ossible that in some Circles, especially in South India, the percentage of women employees could be 30-50%. Surprisingly in Railways Women employees are only 4.63% of the total work-force. Considering the number of railway employees being the largest of the central govt. work force, in actual numbers this would be much higher than many departments. It is seen that in AP postal Circle less than 15% of total departmental staff are women.
In the Department of Posts there are several issues of concern to women employees working as GDS, Post Women, Postal Assistants, Post masters, Supervisors, Inspectors & Officers. Some of these are lack of basic amenities in post offices, restrictions relating to rule-38 or rotational transfers under spouse category, child care leave not being granted on administrative grounds, posting of women in night sets, increasing number of cases of sexual harassment at work place etc. Issues relating to women GDS employees and especially of the unorganized sector contingent women employees like sweepers, water women, scavengers, etc. which do not even form part of the Trade Union activism.
Women employees face typical unreasonable biases in the department like the perception of not being as capable as men at work. Sometimes one comes across Supervisors asking for male members in the team so that they can sit late hours to complete work! I do not obviously agree with that view. Women employees are by and large committed and sincerely attend to their work. They are the best asset that the department has. However, we do come across instances of lack of adequate sensitivity in dealing with women employees in the department.
For instance, majority of our POs are C class POs, usually located in rural areas, which lack basic amenities or facilities. Instructions exist about hiring good buildings. But sometimes practically such buildings are not available. Ideally, as a policy all Departmental POs should have own buildings with proper facilities, considering that Government is a model employer. While this is not always feasible, considering the resource gaps, the Divisional Heads should ensure that buildings with basic amenities are hired, or landlord should be insisted upon to provide basic amenities. Further, Divisional Head should also keep in mind availability of basic facilities in a PO, while considering posting women employees there.
While the Central govt. rules require posting of spouses to the same station, as far as possible, in practice there are lot of gaps in implementing these instructions. The restrictive handling of Rule 38 requests under Spouse category based on lack of vacancy, non-fulfillment of minimum 5 years condition for granting Rule-38 transfer, etc. should be used sparingly by the competent authority. Sometimes adequate managerial posts may not be available, but for the operative staff as far as possible spouse category requests should be accommodated.
Another service condition that comes to mind is the recognition that women as the principal home maker and allows them child care leave. Though every women employee is entitled to avail 730 days of child-care leave during her entire service, in practicality it is not being granted owing to various administrative reasons. While the shortage of staff is one reason, the other one is the reluctance of the fellow employees to undertake additional responsibility if one among them is badly in need of child-care leave and wants to avail it immediately. I must confess that I am personally not a great advocate of child care leave as an entitlement, and that it should be taken with great responsibility. However, I do recognize that there will be certain conditions in an employee’s life that may require granting of the same without delay. Women employees should use this privilege judiciously and should be allowed to do so.
It is true that there are certain areas of work where women are given priority in the department. One such thing that comes to my mind relates to Compassionate appointments. Such appointments are restricted to 5% in case of departmental employees, but for Grameen Dak Sewaks there are no such restrictions. While assessing eligibility for compassionate appointment special consideration is given to wife of the deceased employee in terms of calculation of points, as well as selection. Under the definite, accurate and transparent yard-sticks to assess the extent of indigent circumstances of the family of the deceased employee, points are awarded to various attributes relating to indigent circumstances. Any case which scores 51 points merit selection. IN an obvious and encouraging policy guidelines for ensuring that dependent women get a better chance, if the wife of the deceased is the claimant for compassionate appointment and not her children; 15 additional points are awarded in her case automatically. This boosts her chances of getting the compassionate appointment. Trade Unions can do much to promote awareness about this provision among all GDS employees and their families.
There are many women centric issues that TUs should take up provision of Crèche/day care facility at or near work place with more than 10 women employees; rest room/change room facility, annual medical checkup for over 40 years women, taking a clear and uncompromising stand against sexual harassment at work place, etc.
The third and last theme that I would like to touch upon today relates to the significant organizational changes that Department of Posts is undergoing. The issues that I would like to highlight relate to the approach of all officers and employees, especially women employees in meeting the emerging challenges. With an aim to retain the existing customer base and also win new clientele and businesses several innovative technologies are being put in place. Huge amount of technological changes are emerging in the department. The Core System Integration applications, Core Banking Solutions, the new initiatives relating to mail operations are going to herald major changes in the way we do work in the Department. With this, the work culture of the Department will see a sea-change. The departmental employees and GDS at different levels need to rise to the challenge and do their best to make this as smooth as possible. Officers, Post Masters and Supervisors need to work with their System Administrators and PAs as a team to reach higher standards of performance. With an aspiration to provide the last mile connectivity to all kinds of services, 1,30,000 Branch Post Offices are going to be provided with Hand held devises. It will certainly make the life of GDS Branch Post Masters relatively easy, especially in terms of book keeping. But it would also mean greater responsibility.
In the emerging changes in the technological and business environment, we need to work in teams, understand our individual roles, educate and skill our fellow colleagues. Unfair expectations of the administration, if any, could surely be challenged. But we all should work towards realizing the positive objectives of the major projects underway in the Department of Posts. That is the only hope for us to remain relevant as an organization and play significant role in the development of our country.
While at the micro level we all should work towards making work places more safe and secure for women employees, there is an extra responsibility on all of us to welcome the inevitable changes in a positive manner and skill ourselves adequately to meet the changing needs of the internal and external environment. I am sure in the Federal Council meetings all related issues will be discussed in thread bare and based on your respective ideological positions certain policy decisions will be taken. I request that while balancing personal expectations/aspirations of the cross section of employees, the organizational interests/requirements need to be kept in mind.
In the final I believe each one of us should ask ourselves the question to what extent we are making work places safe, empowering and invigorating to women employees. And we each need to do our bit to enhance the same in which ever office we are working in.
I wish all the participants at the Federal Council meeting and especially women employees interesting discussions and courage to take challenging decisions and work towards achieving the same.
I thank the organizers once again for inviting me to this Women’s Convention.
(E-mail ID of Mrs. Sandhya Rani, IPS is pmgbdap@gmail.com)
 *   *   *   *   *

Secretary, Posts, ordered filling up of all GDS BPM Posts immediately


Monday, June 24, 2013

Uttarakhand tragedy
confederation appeals to all central govt. employees to donate one day wages to
prime minister’s relief fund
               Excessive and unexpected rainfall resulting in furious floods has battered beyond measure, the Himalayan hill state of Uttarakhand.  Whole villages, stretches of roads and communication links have been affected.  More than 1000 persons met with tragic death.  Thousands, including those from other parts of the country who were undertaking pilgrimages to religiously significant temples in the region, remain stranded.  Hundreds of houses and buildings along the banks of Alakananda and the Bhagirathi has been swept away in Rudraprayag district alone.  Thousands have become homeless.
               As the magnitude of the tragedy caused in Uttarakhand continues to unfold, Prime Minister Sri. Manmohan Singh has issued an appeal for generous donations to support the victims who have suffered extensive devastation.  Prime Minister appealed that - “At this moment, the affected people need our help to tide over the calamity that has fallen upon them, to survive and to rebuild their lives.  I request all citizens of India to stand with our distressed fellow countrymen, and actively participate in the national effort to support them at this difficult time”.
               It is needless to say that the Central Govt. Employees have an urgent and important role to play in helping the flood victims and we shall have to rise upto the occasion, as in the past when such national calamities occurred.  The National Secretariat of the Confederation of Central Govt. Employees & Workers calls upon the entireity of Central Govt. Employees to donate one day’s salary to the Prime Minister Relief Fund and extend our full support to the flood victims to rebuild their lives.
          All the Affiliates of the Confederation, State Committees (C-O-Cs) and CHQ Office bearers are requested to make maximum efforts to collect and remit the donations to Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.

(M. Krishnan)

Secretary General, Confederation

Friday, June 21, 2013

EDITORIAL - BHARTIYA POST, JULY 2013

STRENGTHEN ORGANISATION
ENSURE DEMOCRATIC FUNCTIONING
BUILD UP CLASS-ORIENTED MILITANT ORGANISATION

It is an admitted fact that our organisation, AIPEU Group ‘C’ and NFPE, has grown in its strength and in terms of its movements and intervening capacity throughout the country. But there is no room for complacency, given the challenges before and the responsibilities fallen on us. We have to strengthen our organisation further both quantitatively and qualitatively.

In building, running and strengthening a trade union organisation, democratic functioning plays the role of a cornerstone. To put it differently, the source of many of the ills of our organisationlies in the absence of democratic functioning. Therefore the importance of democratic functioning should be clearly understood by everyone of us.

Democratic functioning in essence is to involve the mass of the workers in the decision making process and their implementation. This requires a well knit and functional system of regular contacts and participative communication with the workers at grass root level on the one hand and collective functioning of the leadership team at various tiers of the organization.

To mention a few specifics of democratic functioning of a union are (a) mode of discharging their responsibilities by the leadership (b) attitude while dealing with the rank and file workers (c) relationship between the leadership bodies of the union and general workers, (d) the norms for working of the various committees, (e) collective functioning in the process of decision making and implementation, (f) conducting meeting of the committees and conferences of the union, (g) management of the union fund and maintenance of books of accounts etc. and the last but not least a functional mechanism of communicating with the mass of the workers at grass root level and also hearing from them. Growing bureaucratic practices in the functioning of the Union are creating serious impediments in strengthening democratic functioning in the Unions at some places. Individualistic way of working by some of the leaders and activists promotes bureaucratism within the organisation. To fight such as situation what is needed is to ensure the collective functioning, to and fro communication amongst the leaders, cadres and general workers.

Another vital area of the democratic functioning is the meetings of the Executive committees and office bearers of the union. In some places regular meetings of these bodies are generally not taking place. Attendance is also much below the required level and defaulting comrades are not dealt with according to the norms of democratic discipline. Then again, the meetings are not properly planned. No written report reviewing the developments of the period between the two meetings and status of implementation of the decisions of the previous meeting is placed before the body concerned. Similar is the situation with regard to a written statement of accounts, membership position etc. Holding the union conferences regularly is a very important organizational requirement. Unfortunately, there are instances of conferences not being held regularly, in violation of constitutional provisions. Such failure is bound to have serious organizational problems and weaknesses. For efficient and effective functioning of an organisation the above mentioned deficiencies are to be dealt with seriously.


Finally we must always remember that without imparting trade union education and inculcating trade union consciousness and class consciousness in the cadres and workers the present malices in the unions narrated above cannot be addressed. Whole package of neo-liberal reforms and the philosophy and strategy supporting the same are meticulously designed for marginalizing and weakening the trade union movement. Trade Union is the only social force, which if properly organized can, pose a challenge against the neo-liberal regime and mobilize the people around it. In fact, tackling trade union movement and subordinating the same has always been the life and death question for the capitalist system and in the era of neo-liberal reforms they are much more focused on this goal of theirs with all their ideological and organizational weaponaries at their command. It is therefore, all the more imperative to ideologically empower our leaders and cadres to powerfully counter the onslaughts of the capitalist class.

General Secretary’s Desk

Dear Comrades,

This is from your General Secretary and hope that you would have organized very effectively for the 20.06.2013 Confederation Dharna Programme demanding formation of Seventh Pay Commission etc. as well as for the GDS programme to be conducted on 25.06.2013. Let us discuss some important issues herein.

NFPE Federal Council

As you are aware that the NFPE Federal Council was held in Hyderabad from 09.06.2013 to 13.06.2013 and I have been elected as the Secretary General once again. With all your cooperation, I am Confident that we will deliver goods and leave no stone unturned in mitigating the issues of Postal employees as well as putting stiff resistance to the globalization policies, the Government desires to introduce in the communication sector.

Federal Council decisions

The Federal Council has decided to organize the programme of action and let us sincerely carry out them with 100% participation of all rank and file.The following are the most important decisions of the 9th Federal Council.
1.      To Celebrate the 60th year of NFPE as the Diamond Jubilee year for one year and convene a Diamond Jubilee All India Convention of NFPE in Jamnagar, Gujarat, on 24th November 2014.
2.      To conduct indefinite strike along with other Central Government Employees organisations under the banner of Confederation, if the demands raised by the Confederation in its 15 point charter of demands including setting up of the 7th Pay Commission and the 50 % merger of DA are not accepted by the Government.
3.      To conduct joint indefinite strike, if the Government refuses to include the GDS employees under the purview of the 7th Pay Commission.
4.      To oppose and defeat the National Postal Policy which envisages opening up of postal services to the private sector.
5.      To organise agitational programmes including indefinite hunger fast for settlement of the demands raised by the Postal Joint Council of Action (NFPE & FNPO) in the memorandum submitted to the Secretary, Department of Posts, including the issues of GDS and casual labourers.
6.      To take initiative to form and build up an All India organisation for Postal and RMS pensioners.
7.      To make maximum effort to organise women employees including GDS in all circles and Divisions.
8.      To conduct Trade Union Education Camps.
9.      To form Circle co-ordinating committees in all Circles.

Confederation News

In the 24th Kolkata National Council held from 04.05.2013 to 06.05.2013 the Confederation decided to organize programme of action very effectively on 15 Point Charter of Demands and also to coordinate with Railway & Defence Federations for a joint programme of action demanding immediate formation of the Seventh Pay Commission. Accordingly, a meeting is scheduled to be held on 29.06.2013 at New Delhi and AIRF, AIDEF & Confederation will finalise the programme action culminating in indefinite strike, if the 7th CPC & merger issue is not sorted out.

Ensure Democratic & efficient functioning

For an efficient and well-organized organisation, adoption of democratic principles and functioning is the must. There should be transparency in all activities and there should be no gap between the members and the leaders. We are not receiving the list of office bearers of divisional unions as well as Biennial report & accounts for more than 40% division/branches. This is no good. Please ensure the prompt communication of the same and there should be no gap in between the CHQ and the divisional unions. Please ensure the following.

(i)        Holding of Division/Branch/Circle Conference within the stipulated time as per the provisions of the union constitution i.e. 24 + 3 months. Failure to adhere to the constitutional provisions will be viewed seriously.
(ii)      Holding of Divisional Working Committee, General body meetings, circle council at regular intervals and discuss all the issues.
(iii)    Forwarding the copies of the official minutes of meeting to the next authorities i.e Circle & All India, intimating the unresolved issues for taking up such cases at their levels. Remember, only satisfied membership will extend more support to the functioning of the union.
(iv)     Ensure holding of monthly meetings, Bi-monthly meeting, Four months meeting, RJCM meeting etc. with the administration without fail. Any difficulty or problem in holding the official meetings shall be brought to the notice of the CHQ. Please don’t hesitate to take up more issues in the monthly meeting/RJCM as there is no limit of subjects to be placed therein.
(v)       Issue frequent Circulars/Bullettin and distribute to the members. Please appraise all the developments then and there to the members and keep them ready for any organizational activities. Visiting web sites alone is not sufficient and the news obtained from there shall be propagated to all members.

Effective organizational activities

(i)        For effective and efficient functioning and to resist the erroneous doings at circle levels, the unity among the NFPE affiliates as well as other unions is a must, for which let us first form circle coordinating committee of NFPE unions. Now it is in existence only in very few circles. Let us first concentrate and form NFPE coordinating committees in the circles where it is not in existence so that all the programme of actions can be effectively implemented.
(ii)      Formation of the State Committee and District Committee of the Confederation is the immediate requirement for carrying out the calls of the Confederation. At present, the full-fledged Confederation State Committee is available only in seven to eight states and the participation of Postal comrades is also not up to the mark. This position should be changed. When our Secretary General NFPE has taken charge as Secretary General, Confederation, in the last National Conference, our responsibility is certainly higher. Let us form the Confederation State committees and District committees by inviting the representatives of other C. G. Organisations and intimate the news to the CHQ at the earliest.
(iii)    As the percentage of women employees are increasing and to involve them in Trade Union activities, formation of Mahila Committee at State and divisional levels is the need of the hour. Let us form such committee at all levels and intimate the office bearers to the convenor, All India Mahila Committee for coordination.

Formation of GDS-NFPE Union – Our foremost task

After the Federal Council approved the associate membership accorded to AIPEU GDS (NFPE), it is our duty to extend all patronage to form branches at the divisional / circle level. Wherever the divisional branch is not formed, our divisional secretary should initiate immediate action and form the branch union within a month. If the issues of GDS are not remitted to Seventh CPC, NFPE has already decided to go for indefinite strike for which the organisational readiness is the foremost importance. Further it is fait accompli that we have to nurture the newly formed NFPE GDS Union. All Branch/Divisional Secretaries are requested to take this task of the formation of divisional union  seriously and sincerely and complete the task as early as possible.

JCA Programme demanding settlement of demands

Postal JCA has written a letter to Secretary seeking a meeting to discuss the pending issues and finalization of cadre review proposals etc. JCA will meet shortly and will decide agitational programme including indefinite hunger fast in front of the Dak Bhawan/Circle office, in case, the Department is not ready to settle the demands put forth in the memorandum already submitted to the Secretary, Department of Posts.

Venture, Pioneer, Avant Garde

The publications on the basis of ‘No Profit; No loss’ is being launched by the CHQ with the only one intention to educate the leadership at grass root levels on Staff rulings for their effective presentation of issues with officers. But it is unfortunate, the value of the books are not being felt by the budding unionists. Is it not a must to have such reference books by all the office bearers of the divisional union? Shall they not be updated with the knowledge? More branches have not indented and some of the branches have returned the VP stating that they are having the last Venture publication forgetting that it is revised updated edition with double the size contents and more rulings.

All Divisional/Branch Secretaries are requested to contact members/office bearers and collect the requirements and place indents to CHQ at the earliest. Really we have been disappointed in seeing the non response from some branches for such noble work executed by the then General Secretary Com. K. V. Sridharan in educating the rank and file on staff rulings.

Revision of Subscription & Remittance of Quota
With effect from 01.07.2013 the revised monthly union subscription will be Rs. 50/- per membership. The department has approved the constitutional amendments and already forwarded the same to all Circle/Divisional heads. Please ensure that the union subscription will be recovered at the revised rate of Rs. 50/- w.e.f 01.07.2013. If need be, a reference may be made to the DDO for this effect.

Similarly, the due quota may please be remitted to all higher bodies regularly and without keeping any arrears. Prompt remittance will ever be appreciated. Please clear all the arrears of quota to CHQ within 15 days.

At last

I have been forced to take up more responsibilities in the Federation and also the Confederation but I am Confident that we will come up with flying colours with all your cooperation. If the functioning of P3 is refurbished and revamped at Circle and Divisional levels, it will be an easy task to carry forward the movement further. Let us improve and enhance the standard of our functioning. Let us be a role model for all others.

Okay comrade! This Desk is fully contained with the organizational matters and its importance. Let us meet in our next shortly.

With fraternal greetings,

Comradely yours,

(M Krishnan)
General Secretary


Dated – 19.06.2013