For viewing any object in its true perspective, it is necessary to explain thebackground or history which forms an inalienable part. RRBs, through theirhistorical development have come to occupy a pioneering role in planned ruraldevelopment through their significant contribution in rural credit dispensation.RRBs or Gramin Banks as they are popularly known have achieved great synergyand integration with the lives and economic activities of the rural people, the

AFFILIATED TO AIBOC, AIUCBOF & AIRRBOFNATABAR PAL ROAD, CHATTERJEE PARA MORE, TIKIAPARA,

HOWRAH - 711 101

My young friends,

I am extremely happy to greet you all at this youth convention being held today.You represent the youthful faces of our Bank as well as of our Association.

Our Association of Officers of Paschim Banga Gramin Bank is an exclusivelyOfficers Association and recognised majority Officers' Association. Our Associationis affiliated to All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC),All India UCO BankOfficers Federation (AIUCBOF) and All India Regional Rural Bank Officers'Federation (AIRRBOF).Our objective is to secure for officers of the Bank throughnegotiation, collective bargaining, fair condition of service, effective machinery forredressal of grievances and protection against victimization and exploitativepractices of the management. Our organisational structure is one CentralCommittee and four Regional Committees.

Centra I Com m ittee

I

I

, , •• ••

Howrah regional Hooghly regional Bardhaman regional Suri regional

committee committee committee committee

There are many among you who have already participated in our associationprogrammes and meetings. They might be wondering what necessitated thisparticular convention. The reason would be amply clear from what follows.

However, we were ultimately able to convince the majority of officers about thenefarious designs of the unprincipled and corrupt leadership coterie. They came toour fold giving us a clear and convincing majority status. Our management wascompelled to accord us formal recognition. We have continued to grow andconsolidate our association and now around 90 percent of the officers belong to ourassociation.

mainstay of our population. We are therefore justifiably proud of being associatedwith this immensely fulfilling task.

Gramin Banks set up through an ordinance and later sanctified by an Act of ourParliament, have far exceeded their brief. But this success story was the result ofthe devotion and steadfast perseverance of the dedicated RRB staff, who fullybelieved in the cause of rural development and worked with missionary zeal. On onehand they protested vehemently against unfair working conditions and againstdeprivation, whereas on the other hand they continued to serve the rural masseswith smiling faces.

The prolonged struggle of the RRB staff bore fruit, yielding us recognition asmainstream bank officers and employees an pay parity was ultimately conceded

'1-'1.0

under the law of the land. However, all in bet well and discriminatory policies stillpersist. Many perquisites and benefits enjoyed by the officers in nationalised banksare still denied to us and the issue of pension at par is still far from being settled.Gramin Banks continue to groan under multiplicity of controlling authorities andeven after a period of 41 years they are still subject matters of spasmodicexperimen tation.

Initially there were 196 RRBs in the country, but after amalgamation the numberhas been reduced to 56 and is likely to go down further while the pros and cons ofsuch a measure continue to be debated, Gramin Banks have shown their mettleand despite several handicaps and constraints like huge cliental base resulting inhuge footfall, lack of level playing field, ill formulated and ill conceived policydecisions and inadequate man power have emerged overwhelmingly in profit,justifying the rationale behind their creation.

Our bank, Paschim Banga Gramin Bank was formed by amalgamating threedistinct entities, Bardhaman Gramin Bank, Howrah Gramin Bank and MayurakshiGramin Bank through a Gazette notification on 26/02/2007. This brought about asea change in the scenario and some of the fallouts were calamitous.

Officers' Association under the banner of AIBOC were active in all the erstwhileRRBs. However, post amalgamation there was a rapid down slide in ourmembership. A certain composite association, comprising both officers and awardstaffs began to build up a fear psychosis systematically among the officers whichled to a decimation of our ranks. This depraved and corrupt band interfered in thefunctioning of the Bank resulting in rapid deterioration of the work environment outof greed for personal gain, a huge chunk of our funds was parked in extremely lowyielding G-SEC (Rs.1800 crore) causing a great loss in income for the Bank. We stillcontinue to suffer the ill effect.

Owing to embargo on recruitment no staff had been recruited in our bank for a longtime. With retirement the staff strength began to dwindle. Our first task wastherefore to compel the management to recruit both officers and employees.Prolonged agitation programmes were launched and we also opposed absurd andimpractical man power policies imposed on our bank from time to time.

Recruitment is now taking place but not to the desired extent. It is needless tomention that we had to face much opposition and ceaseless negative propagandafrom the rival association, but under the guidance of the able leadership of UCOOfficers' Federation, we were able to overcome all odds. Friends, we are indebted toour Beloved General Secretary, brain child of the today's convention is Com.Soumen Roy choudhury.

Aword of caution will not be out of place. Though our rival association has shrunkto an insignificant minority, they still possess full capacity to spread falsehood andfabricate lies. We must therefore remain vigilant and maintain close contact withassociation leadership at all levels.

Myyoung colleagues, by now you may have noticed the yawing age gap between theexisting officers and the newly recruited officers. This is no less than a 'GenerationGap'. It is therefore imperative to forge a strong bond between the two age groups inthe interest of the Bank as well as for the association. The seniors have the requiredexperience, skill and knowledge and our young friends exemplify energy, drive andurge to perform and excel. Let us come together to build a stronger and morevibrant Bank and close ranks to consolidate and strengthen our Association.

The 'Generation Gap' I referred to earlier has silver lining too. Within the next sevento eight years most of the senior officers will have retired and you, I repeat, you willbe at the helm of affairs, both in the Bank and the Association. This convention istherefore an attempt to instil in our young officers, including those who are slatedto join very soon and have also been invited to this meet today, the values weuphold and cherish, for the sake of the continued growth and development of ourbank as well as of our association as the two are inextricably intertwined.

The guiding philosophy of AIBOC is NATION FIRST, ORGANISATIONNEXT andINDIVIDUALLAST. The interest of the Bank takes precedence over that of theassociation. We must therefore urge you to devote yourselves fully to the tasks ofstrengthening our bank by maintaining excellent customer relations, mobilisingdeposits and augmenting our credit portfolios. NPAbuild up is a massive threat andutmost care must be taken in NPAmanagement.

Owing to the 'generation gap' I spoke about, there is a rosy career path before youand before long; you will be seen manning the different tiers of middle managementand senior management cadre. Our fond wish is to see you well equipped andcapable of the responsibilities you will have to bear.

Our association AOPBGB believes in collective leadership. Even though I happenedto be the General Secretary, the decisions I take are collective decisions, be it onmanagement policies or directives or on promotions, transfer or posting of officers.

We have nurtured our association on democratic lines and hope in future also itwill function in the same manner for upholding and safeguarding the rights ofofficers and ensuring better working conditions. Many of the perquisites andprivileges that you enjoy are fruits of long and bitter struggles and are not availableto officers in other RRB's even. We must therefore protect these rights andprivileges most zealously.

By now, many among you have realized that our association is not solely concernedwith the issues at the work place. The welfare of our members is of prime concern.This however is possible only through building a strong unifying bond amongmembers. Whenever any our member faces a problem, be it financial, medical,social or legal, we stand by them and extend all necessary help. Our role is no lessthan that of a close family member.

Without trying to be intimidating, I must remind you of the technical nature ofbanking. Without proper care and attention one is bound to make mistakes. Beingaware of the difficulties encountered by newly recruited officers, we have taken up anumber of programs for providing you right oriehtation. It is our duty to ensure thatyou are properly groomed for a task and are made aware of the pitfalls of banking.We must be vigilant and careful in whatever we do and strictly observe the rulesand procedures. We have also impressed upon the management that need to imparttraining to the new recruits, so that they may be brought on a par. Ourmanagement has agreed to undertake the task in phases. Hopefully, many amongyou have already shown commendable performance, but the need for training willalways be there.

Our bank management often resorts to disciplinary action for lapses on our part.Wewould therefore like to inform that we have a trained team of senior officers whohave the requisite expertise in handling disciplinary action cases. We intend to traina few among you to handle such cases and function as Defence Counsel. Butfriends, always keep your mind the preventive vigilance. So, you have to checksupplementary everyday and don't share your password to others.

For any organization to succeed it must pass the acid tests of viability andprofitability. We must therefore make efforts to contribute to the best of our abilityto ensure profitability. We cannot afford to neglect this very vital aspect ~ touchingour welfare. At the same time we must remain vigilant so that wrong policydecisions may not hamper the growth and development of our bank.

We must consciously avoid elitism. We are a part and ~Of society and deriveour sustenance from it. W~~~uld therefore try to give. society according toour capacity and p~ance. You will be glad to know that from time to time weorganize Blood Donation Camps, give financial help to indigent but meritoriousstudents, and provide prosthetics, crutches and wheel chairs to the disabled.During natural calamities we contribute generously to the flood relief fund. We hopethat our association will continue this good work in future also.

And finally a word of caution: In due course of time the leadership of theassociation will pass on to you. From the outset we must therefore be cautious

(S.K.PAL)General Secretary

regarding handling of the management-association relationship. The managementby devious means always tries to win over the leadership through coercionintimidation or by persuasion or extension of undue benefits. Our duty is thereforeto rigidly stick to principles and never to compromise our position.

International Women's Day was recently celebrated throughout the country. This isan occasion for all of us to call upon our lady officers to participate wholeheartedlyat all levels of association activities. I hope they will come forward on their own andinvolve themselves in a greater way.

I would also like to interact with you on any other relevant issues or topic. Pleasefeel free to participate in the discussion to allay misgivings, if any.

With my best wishes,

SL KEY PASCHIM BANGA GRAMIN BANGIYA GRAMIN UTTARBANGA KSHNO PARAMETE BANK V1KASHBANK GRAMIN BANK

R31.12.2015 GROWTH 31.12.201 GROWTH 31.12.2015 GROWTH

0/0 5 0/0 0/0

1 NO OF 230 XXXX 586 XXXX 152 XXXXBRANCHES

2 NO OF 1148 XXXX 2986 XXXX 643 XXXXEMPLOYEES

3 TOTAL 376056 9.27 1080419 8.95 223613 7.98DEPOSIT

4 TOTAL 184664 16.60 499650 0.73 114387 -0.74ADVANCE

5 TOTAL 560720 11.58 1580069 6.21 338000 4.86BUSINESS

6 CD RATIO 49.11 XXXX 46.25 XXXX 51.15 XXXX7 NET 38 XXXX 397 XXXX 112 XXXX

PROFIT8 PER 0.03 XXXX 0.13 XXXX 0.17 XXXX

EMPLOYEEPROFIT

9 PER 488 XXXX 529 XXXX 526 XXXXEMPLOYEEBUSINESS

10 PER 2438 XXXX 2696 XXXX 2224 XXXXBRANCHBUSINESS

11 GROSS 13047 XXXX 61761 XXXX 23600 XXXXNPA

12 GROSS 7.07 XXXX 12.36 XXXX 20.63 XXXXNPA%

Over all position of RRBs AS ON 31.03.2015

No.ofRRBs 56No of District Covered 644

No. of Branches 20024

Total staff 85549

Share Capital 197.00 croreReserves 18711.66 croreShare capital deposit 6174.52 croreTotal Deposit 273017.81 croreTotal Advance 170266.32 crorePer Branch Productivity 22.67 crorePer employee Productivity 5.31 croreC.D. Ratio Total 62.36 0/0

Gross Npa 6.15%Net NPA 3.64%

The above figure collected from NABARD, Central Office.

COMPARATIVE DATA OF RRBS AS ON 31.12.2015 IN THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL