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STATE BANK OF INDIA OFFICERS’ ASSOCIATION [Chennai Circle]

REPORT OF THE GENERAL SECRETARY PRESENTED TO THE

25TH GENERAL BODY MEETING HELD ON

16TH NOVEMBER 2014 AT

COIMBATORE

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REPORT OF THE GENERAL SECRETARY TO THE

25th GENERAL BODY MEETING OF STATE BANK OF

INDIA OFFICERS’ ASSOCIATION (CHENNAI CIRCLE)

HELD ON 16th NOVEMBER 2014 AT COIMBATORE

My Dear President and beloved Comrades,

From the bottom of my heart I thank the visionary leaders, militant Executive Committee Members of the past and present and the huge army of soldiers who created this great edifice through struggles and sacrifices. The Present Executive Committee amd myself have been too fortunate to be here in the historic Silver Jubilee General Body conducted in the Golden Jubilee year. The General Body will prepare the road map for the future of the Organisation. The three year period has been a period of turmoil, struggles and victories. In the report we will critically analyse the functioning of the Organisation with an aim to correct ourselves where necessary. Change is inevitable. The Organisation has been changing over a period of time adjusting to the situations learning from the experiences of the past and also with a futuristic view. We are aware that we will not be here forever and We will definitely hand over the Organisation to the future generation as a strong, militant, knowledgeable tech-savvy, caring and member centric peoples movement.

Our Court Cases brought back some glory of the Organisation. Our strike call made us strong. The attack on the leadership taught us many lessons. The elections proved that our membership at large is above caste, creed, religion and language.

We know that we are subjected to scrutiny.

We know that we have to fulfil the aspirations.

We know that we are only the trustees for a while

We know that we have a larger responsibility to the nation as a whole

We know that we should continue to be a role model for others

We know that we have been elected to serve

We know that we are accountable to the future generation

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We know that we have to practice and not preach

We know that the expectations are very high

We know that we are at a critical juncture

We are ready to sacrifice,

We are ready to fight,

We are ready for challenge,

We are here to fulfil your aspirations.

Appreciate us if we do something good

Crucify us if we commit mistake.

Let this Conference be an eye opener.

Let this Conference see the blossoming of democracy.

Let this Conference create a bench mark.

Yes, Comrades, We will be always at your service.

Let us discuss what is happening around us, within us and prepare a vision for the future.

Homage

Com. R.N. Godbole , Former President, SBIOA (Chennai Circle) ,Former

General Secretary, AISBOF, Founder General Secretary, AIBOC & PWTUC First

Officer Director, Central Board of State Bank of India passed away on

04.09.2012 at Chennai.

Com. M. Muthukrishnan, one of the founders of the Association who played a

major role in registering the Association was a Assistant Secretary when the

Association was formed and played a vital role in the initial stages. He was

very regular to all our meetings in the last few years. He passed away on

24.04.2014.

Com. P.S. Santhanakrishnan, who was one among those who helped in

registering our Association passed away on 23.12.2013.

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Shri S. Ramasamy, former President of SBIOA(CC) passed away on 04.10.2013

at Chennai

Com. N. Radhakrishnan, former Zonal Secretary, retired from Puraswalkam Branch passed away on 20.01.2014 at Chennai.

We have lost few of our colleagues during the period under review. We pay our homage to them

Late S/Shri Branch Date of Death

K.R. Arokiaraj, Mgr Salem 11.08.2011

Sudalai DM Arni 28.10.2011

P.R. Thiruvenkataramani Mrg RACPC, CBE 29.02.2012

M. Visalakshi AM Cheyyar 23.03.2012

S. Sabari AM(S) Woraiyur 28.04.2012

V. Viswanathan Mgr AO, Coimbatore 30.04.2012

S. Natarajan AM Udhagamandalam18.06.2012

K. Marimuthu BM Karanthai 10.08.2012

Confucius AM TFCPC 01.09.2012

S. Karuppasamy AM IFB Chennai 16.09.2012

C. Karuppaswamy AM LHO, Chennai 30.09.2012

G.K. Irudayaraj CM AU, Mdu 01.11.2012

P. Ravindran AM Jallipatti 13.12.2012

K. Natarajan DM LHO, Chennai 16.04.2013

R. Kalaichelvi BM Vadavalli 08.05.2013

M. Masthan Ali DM CCPC Mdu 20.07.2013

C. Raja Mgr SARC Trichy 07.08.2013

Shanmuga Kumarasamy AGM IFB, Chennai 24.11.2013

T. Elango AM Tidel Park 24.11.2013

R. Gopalakrishnan AM Mylapore 11.03.2013

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D. John DM LIBM 10.02.2014

M. Sundararaju DM Aranthangi 07.02.2014

P. Dharmalingam AM Kethanur 10.01.2014

R. Raju AM Sankari 21.02.2014

Sivasundaram MKB Nagar 31.05.2014

S. Sendhil DM Harur 11.06.2014

Jayakumar CM RASMEC, Madurai

Sundararajan DM RASMEC Salem

Palani Mgr Narayanapuram

We have lost many Trade Union Leaders, political leaders and stalwarts during this period. We have also lost many soldiers in skirmishes with Pakistan. We have lost many innocent people due to attack by terrorists. We pay our homage to all of them.

May their souls rest in peace.

ABOUT COIMBATORE

Coimbatore city is situated on the banks of the river Noyyal surrounded by Western Ghats. Coimbatore existed even prior to the 2nd Century AD as a small tribal village capital called Kongunad until it was brought under Chola control in the 2nd or 3rd Century AD by Karikalan, the first of the early Cholas.

According to ancient manuscripts, Coimbatore's history can be traced to the Irula tribal chief Kovan and his clan who were it's earliest settlers and the founders of "Kovanpatti " a part of Kongunadu. Years later, the surrounding forests were cleared, and a new village was formed called "Kovanputhur", which over the years came to be known as "Coimbatore". Coimbatore is the third largest city in Tamilnadu with a population of more than 15 lakhs. There are more than 30,000 tiny small, medium and large industries and textile mills. The city is known for its entrepreneurship of its residents. It is famous for the textile industry, and often referred to as the Manchester of South India. Trade associations such as CODISSIA, COINDIA, SITRA AND COJEWEL representing industries are vibrant in the City. It is also known for manufacture of pumps.

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The city is also known for it's educational institutions of fame in technology and agriculture. Coimbatore Agricultural University is renowned as one of the best colleges of it's kind in South Asia. In spite of it's industrial and technological growth, traditions and age old customs are still held in high esteem. The temples bear witness to the religiousness and love of art and architecture of the people, viz. Patteswarar Temple, Perur Murugan Temple, Marudhamalai; Arulmigu Echanari Vinayakar Temple, etc. There are also a number of places of tourist interest around Coimbatore viz. Aliyar Dam, Near Pollachi; Monkey Falls, Near Aliyar; Salim Ali Ornithology Centre, Anaikatty; Kovai Kutralum, Siruvani Hills; Valparai Hill Station; Cholayar Dam; Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park etc. Ootacamund (Ooty for short), is one of the most popular tourist spots in India. Working class politics emerged in Coimbatore in 1930s and '40s, when the workers of textile mills in the city began to demand better wages and working conditions. The first trade union in the city, Coimbatore Mill Workers Union, was formed in 1937. "Those days, special overseers armed with whips were posted in mills to ensure that employees work for at least 16 hours daily without rest,". Coimbatore is synonymous with workers' movements and struggles for securing the rights of the men and women, who made the spindles spin and earn the city its title of the Manchester of South India.

Naturally, mill workers formed the fulcrum of trade unions in the city followed by employees of garment units and mechanical manufacturing units that were booming sectors. The city's trade union leaders and activists like Jeevanandam, K N Sinnayan, N K Krishnan, Parvathy Krishnan, A Subramaniam, U K Vellingiri and P S Chinnadurai are nationally known.

A turning point in the trade union history of Coimbatore was when 15 mills including Kaleeswara mills, Pankaja Mills and Cambodia Mills were declared sick units in 1967. The workers protested the mismanagement of the mills that led to their decline. Over 5,000 workers were imprisoned and the strike led to the formation of the Tamil Nadu Textile Corporation, which took over the mills. "The movement in Coimbatore was spearheaded by Parvathy Krishnan and other leaders, which laid the foundation for the central government to draft a bill in 1974 and form the National Textile Corporation,"

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One of the milestones in Trade Union history of Coimbatore was the five-and-half month-long strike at the Lakshmi Machine Works Unit in Coimbatore when 400 workers were imprisoned for 22 days in 1977. The agitation was triggered when the management decided to terminate two permanent employees. The workers carried the agitation till the workers were reinstated.

We are glad that we are in this citadel of the trade union movement. Let us go around the world to see what is happending. .

Around the World

Death of Nelson Mandela

His wellbeing had been a cause for concern for months, but Nelson Mandela finally succumbed to a chronic lung infection that stemmed from his years of incarceration. Mandela’s death was mourned by world leaders and those who fought for his freedom and the end of South African apartheid.

Death of Hugo Chávez

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez emerged victorious for the fourth consecutive time in October 2012. He died on 5 March 2013 at the age of 58. His death triggered a presidential election which was constitutionally obliged to be called within 30 days. Vice President Nicolás Maduro served as interim president following Chávez's death until 14 April, when he was officially elected. Chavez challenged American Supremacy and united the Latin American countries. He was representing the working class and he is respected like Che Guvera & Fide Castro.

Chávez was first elected as President in 1998 and was re-elected in 2000, 2006 and finally in 2012. However, Chávez was unable to be sworn in for a fourth term after the 2012 election due to his illness.

US Elections: Obama wins another Term

Barack Obama, and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, were re-elected to a second term, defeating the Republican nominee, former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney, and his running mate, Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin in the November 2012 elections. The year 2013 dawned with optimism. A triumphant President Obama had won reelection and his signature law would soon take effect. In Congress, Republicans and Democrats found common ground on gun control and long-awaited immigration reform. However, 2013 was one of the least

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productive years in history on Capitol Hill. The Obama Administration was buffeted by a surveillance scandal and its own failure to smoothly implement the Affordable Care Act. The economy is still not able to recover. During this year China has over taken US as the worlds No.1 in terms of GDP. EUROPE Japan & Abenomics

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe embarked on a massive, audacious plan of reform nicknamed Abenomics in order to revive his country’s economy. Consisting of quantitative easing coupled with infrastructure investment and tax increases, the program is designed to get his country out of an economic slump and traps that it found itself in during the ’90s and 2000s. While some have been critical of the plan, it has certainly generated enough publicity to be worthy of some praise; the result for Japan’s economy, on the other hand, is yet to be fully seen.

GERMANY Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), won a big victory in the elections held in Sept. 2014 ,but ended just shy of an outright majority to form a government. The second-biggest electoral winner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), won more than a quarter of the vote,. The new German government introduced a minimum wage of $11 per hour to take effect in 2015. Following the March 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced in May 2011 that eight of the country's 17 nuclear reactors would be shut down immediately and the remaining plants would closed by 2022. Germany hopes to replace nuclear power with renewable energy. Before the shutdown of the eight reactors, Germany relied on nuclear power for 23% of its electricity generating capacity and 46% of its base-load electricity production. Will India learn about nuclear power? FRANCE Since 2013 there has been an increasing consensus, even in France, that the French economy is in the doldrums, while president Hollande keeps reaffirming that things are going to get better. In mid 2012, as the new socialist government set to work, the economy was sluggish, and deficits remained high. President François Hollande pledged to balance the budget by 2017, but for the time being France's national debt continues to rise before it starts to fall back, and there is considerable scepticism among analysts as to whether Hollande will be able to meet the challenge. Initial

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measures announced by the new government, such as the partial rolling back of the retirement age to 60 for those having worked 41 years, and the creation of new jobs in the public education sector, have been seen in many quarters as more liable to damage France's economy than stimulate it.  

UNITED KINGDOM The British economy grew at the strongest rate in six years in 2013, having ended the year on a strong note as the recovery became more entrenched. However, while growth and falling unemployment are to be welcomed, a severe cost of living crisis that is blighting millions of people in Britain is yet to be addressed. SPAIN

The conservative Popular Party, led by Mariano Rajoy, won the November 2011 election and has since introduced the largest budget deficit–reduction plan in Spain’s history. Spain received a €41 billion loan from the EU to bail out its banking sector. Thanks to high unemployment, emigration is also a long-term problem. In 2013, Spain appears to have pulled out of its double-dip recession, but growth remains low. Spain’s steadily increasing unemployment rate stands at 27 percent, and youth unemployment stands at an estimated 55 percent. In recent years, increased incidents of political corruption and the downturn in the economy have exposed the relations between politicians and construction magnates that fed a disastrous housing bubble. PORTUGAL Portugal formally exited its eurozone bailout in May, 2014 after three years of painful austerity that was the condition for it to receive 78bn euro (£63bn) in loan guarantees from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. During the European sovereign debt crisis, lending institutions conditioned rescue packages on austerity measures and growth enhancing measures. The two main ideas behind this mix were that public spending needed to be reined in to sustainable levels, and that sustainability can ultimately be guaranteed by economic growth. The government estimates that 120,000 Portuguese left the country last year in search of work. Portugal's jobless rate is 15.2%, which is still twice the level of a decade ago, and youth unemployment actually rose slightly in March 2014 - to a shocking 35.4%..

BRAZIL Brazil’s first woman president Dilma Rousseff faced yet another election in 2014. An overwhelming support for the incumbent in the impoverished

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northeast, where millions receive benefits from huge welfare programs the ruling Workers Party (PT) has rolled out over the past decade. The programs have helped lift out of extreme poverty some 40 million people, who formed the bedrock of Rousseff's support and helped to defeat the business world favorite Aecio Neves.

VENEZUELA

A presidential election was held in Venezuela on 14 April 2013 following the death of President Hugo Chávez on 5th March 2013. Voters gave Nicolás Maduro—who had assumed the role of acting president since Chávez's death—a narrow victory over his opponent Henrique Capriles Radonski, the Governor of Miranda.

The Country continues its policies which are socialistic and Maduro was a Trade Union Leader.

CHILE Former President Michelle Bachelet (2006-2010) was elected to a new four-year presidential term in December 2013 and assumed office on March 11, 2014. Her center-left “New Majority” coalition also won majorities in both houses of the Chilean Congress after campaigning on a platform promising significant education, fiscal, and constitutional reforms designed to reduce inequality and improve social mobility. Bachelet may face some challenges holding her ideologically diverse coalition together, but she should be able to enact much of her policy agenda. Strong economic growth—paired with targeted social assistance programs—has also contributed to a significant decline in the poverty rate.

ARGENTINA ARGENTINA, has suffered through a 60-year cycle of financial booms and busts, seems to be headed toward bust again. Since the beginning of the year, its currency, the peso, has lost nearly 20  percent of its value and dollar reserves have plunged to a seven-year low. Despite the devaluation, the dollar trades at a 50 percent premium on the black market. Inflation, which some analysts say could hit 30 percent, seems sure to soar higher, and bond markets are guessing that the country may not be able to make debt payments due next year. President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, has nationalized the country’s largest oil company to combat inflation. EDWARD SNOWDEN SHAKES THE SURVEILLANCE STATE The biggest news story of 2013 began with one man's decision: NSA contractor Edward Snowden left a comfortable life in Hawaii in May, holed up in a Hong Kong hotel room, and turned thousands of classified documents over to journalists, blowing the whistle on a global system of

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mass surveillance still making headlines all over the world. "So long as there’s broad support amongst the people, it can be argued there’s a level of legitimacy even to the most invasive and morally wrong program, as it was an informed and willing decision," he told an interviewer, explaining his motives. “However, programs that are implemented in secret, out of public oversight, lack that legitimacy, and that's a problem. It also represents a dangerous normalization of 'governing in the dark,' where decisions with enormous public impact occur without any public input." Snowden is now in Russia, where he was stranded when the United States revoked his passport. His long-term fate is yet to be determined: He has sought both another country to give him political asylum and requested a grant of clemency from the United States.

BRADLEY EDWARD MANNING LEAKS

Bradley Manning is a United States Army soldier who was convicted in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses, after releasing the largest set of classified documents ever leaked to the public. Manning was sentenced in August 2013 to 35 years' imprisonment, with the possibility of parole in the eighth year, and to be dishonorably discharged from the Army.

Assigned in 2009 to an Army unit in Iraq as an intelligence analyst, Manning had access to classified databases. In early 2010, she leaked classified information to Wiki Leaks and confided this to Adrian Lamo, an online acquaintance. Lamo informed Army Counter intelligence, and Manning was arrested in May that same year. The material included videos of the July 12, 2007 Baghdad air strike, and the 2009 Granai air strike in Afghanistan; 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables; and 500,000 Army reports that came to be known as the Iraq War logs and Afghan War logs. Much of the material was published by Wiki Leaks or its media partners between April and November 2010.

His incredible disclosure of secret documents to Wiki leaks helped end the Iraq War, and may have helped prevent further conflicts elsewhere. THE ARAB SPRING: The Arab Spring that began on 18 December 2010 and spread throughout the countries of the Arab League and surroundings have not been followed, unfortunately, by much democracy, or stability. The wave of initial revolutions and protests had expired by mid-2012. Egyptians get to enjoy violent repression from a military junta, until Islamic extremists took over. The Taliban won’t have to hide in the “safe” hills of Pakistan much longer.

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Al-Qaeda is scouting franchise opportunities in Libya. Ironically, violence in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya where the Western Forces intervened to put an end to terrorism are the feeding ground to terrorism and thousands and thousands of innocent people face the brunt of terrorism. It has also given rise to the formation of the most dangerous group under the banner of ISIS.

ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ AND SYRIA(ISIS ) is a Sunni, extremist group originated in 1999. This group was the forerunner of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). In 2006, it joined other Sunni insurgent groups . In 2008, its violent methods led to a backlash against it and a temporary decline. In April 2013, it grew significantly under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, gaining support in Iraq as a result of perceived economic and political discrimination against Iraqi Sunnis. After entering the Syrian Civil War, it established a large presence. In June 2014, it had at least 4,000 fighters in its ranks in Iraq and the CIA estimated in September 2014 that it had 20,000–31,500 fighters in Iraq and Syria. It had close links to al-Qaeda until February 2014 when, after an eight-month power struggle, al-Qaeda cut all ties with the group, citing its failure to consult and lack of compromise. It claims religious authority over all Muslims worldwide, and aims to bring most traditionally Muslim-inhabited regions of the world under its political control which approximately covers Syria, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Cyprus, and part of southern Turkey. The group has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United Nations, the European Union the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Israel, Turkey, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia. The United Nations and Amnesty International have accused the group of grave human rights abuses, and Amnesty International has found it guilty of ethnic cleansing on a "historic scale".

This is the result of the killing of Sadam Hussain who was accused of chemical weapons and bomb and killed when Iraq was a wealthy secular country. The same US which trained Osama Binladen had to face him and finally kill him. But the divided Iraq has become a nation of Turmoils. Now nobody talks about the role of US in Iraq. Nobody questions its human rights violations.

ISRAEL- PALESTINE CONFLICT

The struggle of the Palestine people ever since 1967, when Israel occupied most of its territories has been kept alive and very often Israel uses excessive power to control the people of Palestine. The main issues currently obstructing an agreement are: borders, security, water rights, the status of Jerusalem and freedom of access to religious sites, ongoing Israeli settlement expansion, and legalities concerning Palestinian refugees including the right of return. On 8 July 2014, Israel launched Operation Protective Edge, Thereafter, seven weeks of Israeli

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bombardment, Palestinian rocket attacks, and ground fighting killed more than 2,200 people, the vast majority of them Gazans. Around 520,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip (approximately 30% of its population) might have been displaced, of whom 485,000 needed emergency food assistance and 273,000 were taking shelter in 90 UN-run schools. 17,200 Gazan homes were totally destroyed or severely damaged, and 37,650 homes suffered damage but were still inhabitable. There is no hue and cry about the violations. United Nations has become a lame duck.

TUNISIA

On the 17th of December 2013 a young Tunisian vendor immolated himself with fire outside a government building. A few hours after this event hundreds of young people who suffered the same kind of humiliation, concentrated in protest around the same building. Someone made a video of these protests that became viral on the internet, and in the days that followed, several spontaneous demonstrations flourished all over the country. From a catalyst event a revolutionary mobilization process took place. In fact, this event lead to the so called “Arab Spring”.

The causes that explain the emergence of the revolt in Tunisia, suggesting three fundamental elements: (1) the existence of an unemployed graduate youth, able to lead the revolt bypassing the traditional power and representation structures, (2) a very strong cyber activism culture, which helped to create a critical public space against injustice and (3) a high rate of diffusion of Internet use, either in household connections, cyber cafes or educational spaces which, combined with the existence of juvenile sectors with high qualifications and no job, made youth a central actor of the events.

THE END OF EGYPT’S REVOLUTION?

In a televised speech July 3,2013 the Egyptian army chief Abdul Fatah el-Sisi told millions of Egyptians that the military had removed democratically-elected President Mohamed Morsi. The move was welcomed by millions of Egyptians who had taken to the streets to protest the divisive, one-year rule of the Islamist president, who, critics said, exploited his position to simply consolidate the power of his Muslim Brotherhood.

But the ouster was followed by mass protests from Morsi’s backers that led to ongoing clashes between supporters of the two camps, polarizing Egyptian society. The military-backed interim government ultimately cracked down on Muslim Brotherhood leaders and their supporters in the streets, culminating in a raid on two camps of demonstrators that left hundreds of people dead. As the dust settled, Sisi and the new technocratic

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regime have solidified their grip on power. While ostensibly preparing for the return of democracy, they have cracked down on dissent so harshly that many say the Egyptian revolution has come full circle since the dramatic, euphoric ousting of long-ruling dictator Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. The euphoria over democracy has gone with the military rule. But more churnings and revolts are expected.

IRAN’S NEW CHAPTER

It was clear the new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, elected in June, was trying a new strategy when he wished Jews, in a tweet, a “blessed Rosh Hashanah” on the Jewish new year.

In the space of a few months, Rouhani and his new cabinet transformed the atmosphere surrounding Iran, a nation made into something of a pariah by the bellicose rhetoric of previous President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In September 2012, after charming the international press corps at the U.N. General Assembly, Rouhani held a historic phone call with President Obama—the first direct dialogue between an American and Iranian head of state for three decades. In November, Iran reached a tentative agreement with the U.S. and other global powers to curtail its nuclear program in exchange for waiving billions of dollars worth of sanctions. Skeptics abound — Israel is at the head of the pack — but the deal could also jumpstart a new era of rapprochement with the Islamic Republic that will have repercussions across the region.

SYRIA’S CIVIL WAR

In the civil war that is going on in Syria since Aug 2012, at Damascus there was a sarin gas attack, a grim event in a civil war that had already cost the lives of 100,000 people and spurred the largest refugee crisis in a generation. Chilling videos of women and children, some twitching, others lifeless, brought out the strongest reactions yet from an international community that has sat on the sidelines for much of the country’s grinding two-year-long civil war.

Ten days later, after releasing to the public an intelligence report determining that Syrian President Bashar Assad fired the weapons and killed at least 1,429 people, President Barack Obama announced that he was going to ask Congress for authorization to strike Syrian chemical weapons installations. While Assad and his allies dismissed these allegations, the rebels seeking his overthrow appeared poised for a major breakthrough.

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And then it never happened. US public opinion was dead set against another intervention in the Middle East. Russia, one of Assad’s closest backers, managed to convince Damascus to cede its chemical weapons stockpile to a UN Security Council mandate. The Assad regime has reportedly been cooperating with UN inspectors as it goes about now eradicating its stockpile.

All the while, the civil war rages, hollowing out cities and scattering communities. The rebels — a loose coalition of militias at the best of times — have grown more fragmented, with rival Islamist and secular-leaning factions even clashing with each other.

PUTIN WINS ELECTION AS RUSSIAN PRESIDENT:

In March 2012, Vladimir Putin won the Russian presidency with an overwhelming number of votes- 64% as predicted, but he returned to that office with his strong hand weakened and many of his countrymen far more assertive and ambitious than when he first took power 12 years ago. “We have shown that nobody can impose anything on us,” he said, his voice rising as he once again sounded his campaign theme of enemies .  

He was the target of huge demonstrations in early 2012 in which many thousands have found the courage and solidarity to speak out against him. After the decisive action by Putin in Ukraine, People in Russia including members of the intelligentsia and professionals who have long been critical of President Vladimir Putin’s anti-Western stance, have suddenly turned into America-bashers. Many have been swept away by Putin’s arguments that the United States, not the Kremlin, is destabilizing Ukraine.

RUSSIA ANNEXES CRIMEA, PART OF UKRAINE

Ukraine, which was part of the erstwhile USSR is wedged between Russia and Europe. It was part of the Soviet Union until 1991, and since then has been a less-than-perfect democracy with a very weak economy and foreign policy that wavers between pro-Russian and pro-European.

This all began as an internal Ukrainian crisis in November 2013, when President Viktor Yanukovych rejected a deal for greater integration with the European Union, sparking mass protests, which Yanukovych attempted to put down violently. Russia backed Yanukovych in the crisis, while the US and Europe supported the protesters.

Since then, several big things have happened. In February, anti-government protests toppled the government and ran Yanukovych out of the country.

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Russia, trying to salvage its lost influence in Ukraine, invaded and annexed Crimea the next month. In April, pro-Russia separatist rebels began seizing territory in eastern Ukraine. The rebels shot down Malaysian Airlines flight 17 on July 17, killing 298 people, probably accidentally. Fighting between the rebels and the Ukrainian military intensified, the rebels started losing, and, in August, the Russian army overtly invaded eastern Ukraine to support the rebels. This has all brought the relationship between Russia and the West to its lowest point since the Cold War. Sanctions are pushing the Russian economy to the brink of recession, and more than 2,500 Ukrainians have been killed.

It appears unlikely that Ukraine will get Crimea back. It remains unclear whether Russian forces will try to annex parts of eastern Ukraine as well, how the fighting there will end, and what this means for the future of Ukraine.

EBOLA OUTBREAK IN WEST AFRICA   An overview of the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa that has been described by the World Health Organization as the largest, most severe and most complex outbreak in the history of the disease.

The epidemic began at the end of 2013, in Guinea. From there it spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal. Many of the affected countries face enormous challenges in stopping its spread and providing care for all patients.

Thousands of people have died and many are at risk as the fatality rate from this virus is very high. As the crisis worsens, as well as the enormous health challenges involved, the social and economic consequences may set these countries back, reversing some gains a number of these countries have made in recent years.

Nigeria has succeeded in arresting the epidemic with clear Government directions and people’s involvement.

CHINA

Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao bowed out of the top leadership of the ruling Communist Party of China after a 10-year stint in power, as the Party's key Congress wrapped up its meeting after electing a new set of younger leaders including Xi Jinping.

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Xi Jinping became the military chief and general secretary of the Communist Party in November 2012 and president in March 2013. Mr Xi has been sending a clear message that the country is not just ruled by a faceless party—it is ruled by a man. He has even acquired a nickname: “Xi Dada”, or Uncle Xi, as internet users and sometimes even the official media call him.

A survey published by a research center in December 2012 reported that the gap between China’s rich and poor is widening to alarming proportions. China’s Gini coefficient has now reached an all-time high of 0.61, which is a level that is generally considered to elevate social unrest. It is also considerably higher than China’s Gini readings only a few years ago.

China’s wealth gap is now the second largest among the world’s major economies. It may even surpass South Africa to reach the non-coveted top position before long.

China’s government continues to increase already tight controls on the country’s explosively growing social media. Most recently, new rules have been proposed that will legalize the deletion of posts or pages which are deemed to contain ‘illegal’ information and require service providers to hand over such data to the authorities. Social media users are already required to use their real names when they sign up to network providers.

PAKISTAN

General elections were held in Pakistan on 11th May 2013 to elect the members of the 14th National Assembly and to the four provincial assemblies of Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The legacy of the elections has been marred by allegations of rigging along with tampering within the bureaucracy. The election commission itself admitted that there had been serious rigging in the elections and in its report it blamed the Returning officers of the lower judiciary. These reports further damaged the claim of the incumbent government that the elections were the most "free and fair" in Pakistan's history.

None of the parties achieved the 172 seats needed for an overall majority. The Pakistan Muslim League (N), led by Nawaz Sharif, won the largest number of votes and seats but still fell six seats short. This resulted in a hung parliament, however, Nawaz Sharif became the President of Pakistan. Though he is a democratically elected President he is constantly influenced by the Army and ISI, the intelligence agency of the country. Recently, the Pakistan Awami Tehreek and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf parties

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lead by Tahir-ul-Qadri and Imran Khan respectively joined together and launched an agitation to dislodge Nawaz Sharif. The Army asked the President Nawaz Sharif to talk to the protesting leaders. These developments have forced Nawaz Sharif to take a virulent anti India stand and blow up the Kashmir issue and increase the border skirmishes with all it’s neighbors other than China .

BANGLADESH

Throughout most of 2013, Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its alliance of 18 opposition parties led by three time former Prime Minister and Opposition Leader Khaleda Zia called more than 85 days of nationwide general strikes and blockades that brought the entire country to a grinding halt.

On 13 December 2013, Jamaat-e-Islami's Abdul Quader Mollah became the first person to be executed for war crimes related to the Bangladesh Independence War resulting in violent protests by the Islamist opposition.

In this background, general elections were held in Bangladesh on 5th January 2014. The elections were controversial, with almost all major opposition parties boycotting and 154 of the total 300 seats being uncontested.

Today many contend that Bangladeshi civil society lacks the autonomous oppositional character needed to engage with state institutions and the political elite. The two major political parties unofficially control workers unions, business associations, student groups and many newspapers and consequently, civil society is unable to exert the oppositional strength necessary to influence public policy.

AFGHANISTAN

Presidential elections were held in Afghanistan on 5 April 2014. Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani were the major candidates. With the results not conclusive, the second round was held on 14 June. Incumbent President Hamid Karzai was not eligible to run due to term limits. On September 19th, the Independent Election Commission announced Ghani the winner. Five hours later, Abdullah and Ghani signed a power-sharing agreement, with Ghani being named president and Abdullah taking on an important position in the government; the deal was signed in front of the presidential palace, with incumbent president Hamid Karzai in attendance.

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With the United States accelerating its withdrawal from Afghanistan after helping to establish a new unity government there, a congressionally created watchdog warned that despite the signs of progress, Afghanistan is more unstable than ever: Insurgent attacks are on the rise, funded by an under-investigated and thriving opium-based economy, and the competence of the Afghan security forces is in doubt. The one bright sign in the Afghan situation is the recent election of President Ashraf Ghani, who "might be” a supporter of counter narcotics efforts.

Afghanistan is another example of killing a country in the name of bringing democracy by the US.

MYANMAR

For most of its independent years, the country has been engrossed in rampant ethnic strife and a myriad of Burma's ethnic groups have been involved in one of the world's longest-running unresolved civil wars. During this time, the United Nations and several other organisations have reported consistent and systematic human rights violations in the country.

After unexpected reforms in 2011, NLD senior leaders have decided to register as a political party and to field candidates in future by-elections. The by-elections occurred on 1 April 2012 and the NLD won 43 of the 45 available seats; previously an illegal organisation, the NLD had never won a Burmese election until this time. The 2012 by-elections were also the first time that international representatives were allowed to monitor the voting process in Burma.

The general election of 2015 is scheduled to take place in last week of October or first week of November. It will see voting takes place in all the constituencies of Burma (Myanmar) excluding seats appointed by the Military, in order to appoint Members of Assembly to seats in the House of Nationalities, the upper house and House of Representatives, the lower house of the Assembly of the Union. The opposition National League for Democracy party confirmed that it will contest even if a constitutional measure barring Aung San Suu Kyi from running for president is not amended.

NEPAL

Till the fag-end of 2013, the political environment remained extremely volatile, with a looming threat of violent escalation. Indeed, the clouds of political uncertainty that had enveloped Nepal in 2012, after the dramatic gains of 2011, had deepened, exasperating the political class. Political developments thereafter have, however, made freedom from insurgency-

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related violence sustainable, even as they have resulted in a diminution in political violence itself.

After the removal of the king's powers, the Constituent Assembly elected to write a new constitution has not finished the task despite several extensions . It was dissolved in May 2012 and the next Constituent Assembly elections were held in Nepal on 19th November 2013. The vote was repeatedly delayed, having previously been planned for 22 November 2012 following the dissolution of the 1st Constituent Assembly , but it was put off by the election commission. The Nepali Congress emerged as the largest party in the 2nd Nepalese Constituent Assembly, winning 196 of the 575 elected seats. A coalition Government has been formed.

SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka at the end of the 25 year Eelam War and the defeat of the LTTE had a wonderful opportunity to open a new chapter in equitable ethnic relations. But what is happening in Sri Lanka shows that from the word go it was never interested in it. The victory in the war meant, take it all….”

Though the Government promised devolution of powers to the provincial council, in June 2013, it initiated steps to do away with the 13th amendment of the constitution which provides for the devolution of powers. To sustain Indian support during the Eelam War, Rajapaksa went through various committee manoeuvres and promised to “improve” the 13A, which was never fully implemented. The Indian Government had to sternly warn the sri lankan government not to make any attempt to dilute the 13 A provisions.

The resettlement and rehabilitation of the displaced Tamils is very tardy and Sinhalese people are systematically settled in Tamil areas. There have been constant attempts to ask for an independent investigation on the war excesses by the Sri Lankan Government. India abstained from voting on the US-sponsored resolution on human rights in Sri Lanka. While India had supported the resolution in 2012 and 2013, the latest resolution was much tougher, calling for an independent investigation into Sri Lanka. The resolution passed with 23 votes for, 12 against and 12 absentions.

The 1st Northern Provincial Council election was held on 21 September 2013 as per 13 A , the 13th amendment of the Sri lankan Constitution which provided for devolution of powers to the provincial councils. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the largest party representing the Sri Lankan Tamils, won 30 of the 38 seats. The United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), which was in power nationally, became the second largest group after winning 7 seats. The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) won the remaining seat. Devolution of powers still remain a distant dream.

WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS

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The 2008 global economic crisis originated in developed countries weakened world economies and threatened progress that developing countries have made during the past several years. The crisis spread quickly and took many governments and international organizations by surprise. Recovery from the economic crisis that originated in the US in 2008 is not in sight and the cascading effect of it is felt all over the world including the Indian economy. The US has suffered five years of worst economic crisis since the great depression of 1930s. It is also the most indebted in the world. The total indebtedness stood at 15.03 billions in 2011. Bailout packages running into billions of dollars are given from public money. Wage cuts, lay offs and compulsory retirements have become routine. Public funding of health and education has been reduced drastically. This gives a lesson to the world that the economy can not be left to the market dominated by the private sector.

EUROPE UNDER ECONOMIC CRISIS.

The crisis that started in the US soon engulfed Europe and all the European countries have been struggling to come out of the crisis. There have been many public uprisings against their sovereign governments as public disenchantment grew when Governments started to cut wages in the Government and public services, pension, education, health care etc. Greece and Portugal paid heavy price where unemployment grew to new high levels. Many entrepreneurs have committed suicide in Italy. Spanish people took to streets against their Governments as unemployment grew. In Cyprus, Banks were closed for many days as there was panic among the people. Government imposed a levy of 6.7% on Savings above 20,000 Euros. Many European Countries depend on World Bank, IMF and other International Financial Agencies to come out of the crisis. The lesson is that increasing unemployment will lead any country into a crisis.

OCCUPY WALL STREET (OWS) is the name given to a protest movement that began on September 17, 2011, in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district.

The main issues raised by Occupy Wall Street were social and economic inequality, greed, corruption and the perceived undue influence of corporations on government—particularly from the financial services sector. The OWS slogan, We are the 99%, refers to income inequality and wealth distribution in the U.S. between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the population.

It had an impact on consciousness. It was not effective in realizing change. But social and political movements don't happen overnight. They don't bring

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change immediately--we have to build a critical mass of understanding of the issues. But getting inequality out there into the consciousness was important. Though the movement has not succeeded in bringing overall change, it has proved that the majority who are poor cannot be ignored.

BRICS FORMS NEW DEVELOPMENT BANK Leaders of the BRICS emerging market nations launched a $100 billion development bank and a currency reserve pool on 15th July 2014 in their first concrete step toward reshaping the Western-dominated international financial system. The bank, aimed at funding infrastructure projects in developing nations, will be based in Shanghai, China, and India will preside over its operations for the first six years, followed by five-year terms for Brazil and then Russia, leaders of the five-country group announced at the 6th BRICS - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - summit.

Formation of the BRICS Bank demonstrates the viability and dynamics of the BRICS despite all the skepticism and criticism in recent years . The BRICS bank is significant because it is a direct challenge to the global order led by the West. Many view the new BRICS bank as a response to the failed reforms at the IMF and World Bank as developing countries like China and India cannot increase their influence within those institutions. However, it should be kept in mind that the BRICS bank is not currently challenging the international liberal economic order. China and India are perhaps the two greatest beneficiaries of an open liberal economic order; and thus the BRICS bank should try to push the IMF and World Bank to be more open and transparent.

POVERTY About 1.5 billion people are afflicted with 'multi-dimensional poverty', that is, they suffer from overlapping deprivations in education, health and living standards. A further 800 million are at the brink of falling back into poverty. Nearly 80% of the global population lacks comprehensive social protection. About half of all workers — more than 1.5 billion — work in "informal or precarious employment.

The lingering global economic crisis has caused a dip in income growth in US, Europe, Arab countries, Central Asia, and all the other countries across the world. The expected number of years of schooling too is not growing adequately, with 43% primary students dropping out before completing primary education worldwide. Life expectancy growth has slowed down in Asia, although there is improvement in child mortality rates in Africa.

The global economy and politics is undergoing a dramatic change. Few major corporations whose outreach is so large

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control the economy and the politics. “Manufacturing consent” as narrated by Antonio Gramsci is visible as the entire mass media like newspapers, TV channels and internet are under the control of a few. Inspite of that there have been many upraisings, struggles alternative ideas and peoples movements. A visible change is seen in the latin American Countries which are showing a different path than that of the first world. (So called Developed Countries). Time has come to question the theories and practises of the west. Time has come to evolve new theories, new economic policies and new way of practicing politics which should be all inclusive.

SPORTS

The Commonwealth Games 2014

The 20th Commonwealth Games were held in Glasgow, Scotland from 23rd July 2014 witnessed a total of 18 sporting events with competitors from 71 member nations. India participated in the above Games and fielded a strong 215 member contingent from 14 sporting disciplines. Our country by winning 64 medals was at the 5th position in the overall rankings. While women participants won 29 medals for India, men won a total of 35 medals.

Highlights of the performance:

Ø Vikas Gowda won gold in the Men's Discuss Throw event, thus winning the first gold medal for India in men's athletics in 56 years

Ø Joshana Chinnappa and Dipika Pallikal scripted history by winning the first gold for India in Squash at Commonwealth Games.

Ø Kashyap Parupalli won gold in Badminton Men's Singles, becoming the first Indian male shuttler in 32 years to win a gold medal in the singles event at the Commonwealth Games

FIFA World Cup

The Quadrennial Football extravaganza "The 2014 FIFA World Cup" Which was held in Brazil, the cradle of world football. Germany won the tournament and took its fourth title; it's first since the reunification of West and East Germany in 1990 by defeating Argentina Led by World footballer Lionel Messi. By winning the final, Germany became the first European team to win a World Cup in the Americas. The national teams of 31 countries advanced through qualification competitions to participate with the host nation Brazil in the final tournament. A total of 64 matches were

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played in 12 cities across Brazil. For the first time at World Cup finals, match officials used goal-line technology, as well as vanishing foam for free kicks.

During the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the FIFA Fan Fest in the host cities in Brazil received 5 million people, and the country received 1 million guests from 202 countries around the world

Prize money The total prize money on offer for the tournament was confirmed by FIFA as US$ 576 million.

Ø James Rodríguez was awarded the "Golden Boot" - Highest goal scorer of the tournament (6 Goals) the first time that a Colombian player received the award.

Ø Lionel Messi of Argentina awarded the "Golden Ball" - The best player of the tournament

Ø Manuel Neuer of Germany awarded the "Golden Glove" - The best goal keeper of the tournament

Ø Paul Pogba of France awarded the "Best Young Player" of the tournament

Ø FIFA fair play trophy awarded to "Colombia"

The biggest disappointment was the attack on the Brazil’s foot baller Neymar da Silva Santos Junior in the peak on his career which made him immobile.

Asian Games

The 2014 Asian Games, officially known as the XVII Asiad, was a multi-sport event celebrated in Incheon, South Korea from September 19 – October 4, 2014, with 439 events in 36 sports and disciplines featured in the Games. Incheon was the third city in South Korea after Seoul (1986) and Busan (2002) to host the Asian Games.

India was the proud team to win the Men's hockey finals, after a long gap of 16 years by beating archrivals Pakistan 4-2.

The final medal tally was led by China, followed by South Korea and Japan. 14 World and 27 Asian records were broken during the Games. Japanese swimmer Kosuke Hagino was announced as the most valuable player (MVP) of the Games.

Our country ranked 8th in Medals Tally by winning a total of 57 medals.

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Our Students

Our student of SBOA Junior College won a bronze medal in the Asian Artistic roller scatting championship. Tejeswar of SBOA matric won a bronze medal in Asian Roller scatting championship. The first Indian to get a medal.

AROUND OUR COUNTRY

LOKPAL BILL PASSED BY THE PARLIAMENT

After eight unsuccessful attempts over the last five decades, Parliament on 18th December 2013 passed the historic Lokpal Bill 2013. The Bill seeks to establish an anti-corruption watchdog that will have power to investigate corruption charges against a wide spectrum of public functionaries including the Prime Minister. After the dismal results in the assembly election, political observers saw the ruling party’s new zeal for the Lokpal Bill as an attempt to make up lost ground with electorates, in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls. Likewise, the matching zeal of other political parties also having a focus on the coming elections, could make the bill see the light of the day after five decades.

The passage of the Bill has been welcomed by anti-corruption crusader and social activist Anna Hazare, who sat on the fast for the Lokpal Bill passage for the fourth time on 10 December 2013. However, though the Lokpal and Lokayukt Bills have been passed in the Loksbha, absence of consensus on appointment and composition of Lokpal, has rendered the Lokpal a non – starter.

However, Arvind Kejriwal, who was part of the ‘India against corruption’ movement for a strong Lokpal bill, with Anna Hazare, stuck to his view that the Government has passed a bill that is far too weak to check corruption. The Jan Lokpal bill approved by the Delhi Government is getting trapped in unnecessary technical controversies.

TELANGANA

Celebrations broke out after the Congress leaders announced the decision of formation of seprate Telangana State. Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) and other groups were jubilant. As a fallout of the announcement, people from Andhra and Rayalseema started agitation by organized rallies, human chains, fasts, community kitchens and various other forms of protest at different places in the two regions. Govt. employees remained on strike for more than two months and wheels of Secretariat barely moved. Even Ministers had to work from

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residences. However, strike was later called off in view of a cyclone that hit the state.

The Andhra Pradesh assembly which was expected to endorse the above decision, on the contrary, rejected the creation of Telangana with active support of the Chief Minister, Kiran Kumar Reddy, embarrassing the Centre and posing a moral dilemma for President Pranab Mukherjee. Now elections have been held and new Governments formed.

MUZAFFARNAGAR RIOTS

Clashes between two religious communities of the Muzaffarnagar District, UP, claimed 47 lives and left 93 injured. The incident got triggered when there was unfortunate incident of eve teasing which resulted in retaliation leading to murder of three persons of two different communities. The resultant riots could have been averted, had the local police authorities, bureaucrats and political leaders not closed their eyes to the event. There had been meetings organized by local Panchayats of different religious communities and the hate speeches inciting the general public were made. The irony is that neither the political Leaders nor the bureaucrats paid heed to the spreading hatred by taking any measure to avert the crisis. The blame game being played by different quarters is all the more shameful and cannot assuage the hurt caused to the people of the country. What may be dubbed as double standard is transfer of some of the Police officials of the area under unrest! It is the same Government which did not hesitate to suspend the young bureaucrat Ms. Durga Shakti Nagpal, who had been fighting against the ‘sand mafia’ operating in the state at a large scale on ground that one of her action could have led to clashes amongst religious communities. In a pleasant development, she had been reinstated after the issue came into lime light.

INDIA’S PRUDENT MARS MISSION

The Indian Space Reasearch Organisation- ISRO -- staged a flawless launch on 5th November 2013 of its Mars-bound spacecraft, to probe for life on the red planet making India first such Asian country. India already ranks among the top six space-faring nations in technological capabilities -- the others being the US, Russia, China, France and Japan. Indian ingenuity in cutting costs and "frugal engineering" were on display with the ‘Mangalyaan’. Mangalyaan has started sending information. It’s a great achievement

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CORRUPTION UNABATED

Corruption is an evil, so deep rooted that it has been destroying the very fibre of our culture. It really is agonizing that as per the annual list of 177 countries compiled by Transparency International, India has been ranked among the world's highly corrupt nations, placing 94th on a global list in consecutive while ranking of its neighbor countries are: Pakistan (127th), Nepal (116th) and Bangladesh (136th). Sweden and switcherland rank first and second. I.e least corrupt.

The Nation has been witness to a myriad of problems of catastrophic proportions in social, economic and political life in the period under review. Scams of various hues and quanta confirmed to occupy centre state; from CWG to 2G and 3G spilled over from year to year, including the “VVIP Chopper” deal with the Agusta Westland of Italy. Corruption and scams hitting the headlines have virtually pushed other national issues to the background. The judiciary played an active role and ordered arrest of corrupt politicians. The investigations reveal that politicians, corporate lobbyists, business houses and even media have a role in it. During the period under report various scams were reported with controversial attempts either to shelve them or to conclude them under wraps. Few of these are reported as under:

2G SCAM :

The country witnessed one of the biggest scam during this period. The licensing of 2G spectrum to corporate and the tenders were floated and closed in a whimsical fashion by Mr. A Raja, the telecom minister, directly involving himself in all the violations. CAG assessed loss of revenue to Govt. of India at around Rs. 1.74 lakh crore. Telephonic conversation tapes of Ms. Neera Radia revealed the nexus between the corporate world, Politicians and the Government Machinery in the organized financial crime. Investigation of this fraud is being done by CBI, under supervision of Supreme Court. Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was also constituted for a fair investigation. Mr. A Raja, and other accused were arrested and charge sheeted. The Lok Sabha adopted the controversial JPC report in December, 2013, exonerating the Prime Minister and finance minister of any wrong doing, while blaming former telecom minister A. Raja for the faulty allocation of spectrum, amid pandemonium and walkout by some of the members. Pandemonium was witnessed in the Rajya Sabha also as the JPC report on 2G spectrum scam was tabled, restricting discussion on ground of its being adopted duly by the committee amongst opposition by the Members of BJP,

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Left, TMC and other parties vociferously opposing the tabling of the 2G spectrum scam report. Charge sheet has been issued to Mr. Raja & Ms. Kanimozhi.

S-BAND SPECTRUM SCAM :

S-band spectrum scam, re-emerged in the form of Antrix-Devas Deal made by ISRO with charges that the contract was signed without a competitive bidding process, raising questions about the preferential spectrum allocation, which could have cost the exchequer a loss of over Rs l lakh crore. Consequently, the former ISRO Chairman and three other space scientists had been barred by the Department of Space from holding any government posts, present or future.

CWG SCAM : which saw large sums of money paid to non-existing entities, delayed execution of many projects, abnormally high payment for products and services for games, blatant violations of rules and procedures and ultimately law taking its course with the arrest of Mr. Kalmadi. Then Chief Minister. Ms. Shiela Dixit and then Lt. Governor Tejinder Khanna were rapped by the CAG over the execution of CWG projects on charges of gross administrative mismanagement. The trial in the Delhi court has begun. Ms. Shiela Dixit became Governor of Kerala & now resigned.

COALGATE: CBI Director’s personal nine page affidavit, on its probe of alleged irregularities in coal block allocations which benefitted companies by Rs.1.86 lakh crore, stated that government made a minimum of four changes to the CBI’s draft status report on the coal allocation scam by the Law Minister, officials from PM’s Office and the Coal Ministry. CBI admitted ‘aberration’ and promised not to share reports in future to anyone on Supreme Court’s probe into change of Heart of Coal Report. Supreme Court directed Central Government and CBI to come out with law to insulate CBI, shut out all ministers, law officers from probe and to bring back DIG who probed coal block case. Government of India has formed a Group of Minister (GoM) to draft a law to insulate the investigating agency from external influence.

Registration of a case by CBI against Jindal Steel and Power ltd. (JSPL), a company owned by Industrialist Member of Parliament, sparked another problem for the UPA government, which was sequentially dumped with bad governance and corruption. In one of the developments, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea seeking its direction to the CBI to name Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in its FIR filed against industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former Coal Secretary P. C. Parakh in a coal block allocation case. It is also

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reported that it will be filing a fresh case in connection with alleged irregularities in allocation of coal blocks in which it may name a corporate and certain former officials of the Coal Ministry. The Supreme court has cancelled all but 4 licences to excavate coal blocks.

SOCIAL MEDIA- INDIA AGAINST CORRUPTION AND AAP

The 2011 Indian anti-corruption movement started a series of demonstrations and protests across India intended to establish strong legislation and enforcement against perceived endemic political corruption. The movement gained momentum when anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare began a hunger strike at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi . The chief legislative aim of the movement was to alleviate corruption in the Government through introduction of the Jan Lokpal Bill.

Grievances of mass protesters focussed on legal and political issues, including political corruption, and other forms of corruption. The movement was primarily one of non-violent civil resistance, featuring demonstrations, marches, acts of civil disobedience, hunger strikes, marches and rallies, as well as the use of social media to organise, communicate, and raise awareness. The protests were non partisan and most protesters were hostile to attempts made by political parties to use them to strengthen their own political agendas.

Shri Arvind Kejriwal, one of the leaders of the movement used the opportunity to enter into politics and formed a political party named Aam Aadmi Party.

Within a year the outfit born out of the massive anti-corruption movement, took charge of the city-state of Delhi, home to India’s capital. Arvind Kejriwal became the chief minister of Delhi. AAP’s remarkable success and soaring popularity had shaken Indian politics, because they have highlighted a powerful anti-corruption sentiment across the country. At the same time, AAP struggled to define and mold that anti-corruption sentiment. AAP’s vision of a corruption-free India requires going after petty policemen and government officials, high-ranking bureaucrats and politicians, and businesses big and small. That is a lot of enemies for a fledgling political party to make.

Despite its success in Delhi, AAP did not hold the majority of seats in the state’s 70 member legislative assembly. To survive, the Delhi AAP government relied on the Congress party and as a young party, AAP needed its government in Delhi to show the country that it can deliver on its promises.

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AAP did a remarkable job tapping into India’s anti-corruption sentiment. However, with only 28 seats, 8 short of an absolute majority and too many self styled leaders acting differently without any co-ordination, the Government fell apart within a period of 49 days. The Cabinet has now finally decided to dissolve the assembly, paving the way for fresh elections. It is to be seen whether AAP will be able to cash in the momentum created nearly a year back.

BLACK MONEY TRAIL

Recovering black money was high on BJP’s election manifesto as it cornered the UPA Government that it protected black money holders. However, after the formation of the Government, it refused to part with the list of black money holders citing various secrecy clauses and international treaties it had signed. Ultimately, the honourable Supreme Court had to pass an order to submit the list to the Court. The Government submitted the list to the honourable Court, which however, handed over it to the Supreme Court appointed SIT without even opening the cover. The Court asked the SIT to follow up with investigations and take action. “SIT will decide what further action is to be taken on black money issue," the court said. SIT chief Justice MB Shah said that there is no new detail in the list. He said that the names given in the list were already with them and they have to interrogate those people. The government in an affidavit to the Supreme Court had named three people who had accounts in Swiss banks with black money Pradip Burman, former executive Chairman of Dabur Pankaj Chimanlal Lodhiya, a Rajkot-based bullion trader and Radha S.Timblo, a Goa-based miner and owner of Timblo Pvt Ltd.

While there are no official estimates, Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington-based think-tank, has estimated that Indians had parked USD 462 billion in overseas tax havens between 1948 and 2008. It is Rs.28,39,683 crores whereas the country’s GDP is only Rs.11,53,638 crores. THE NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY ACT

With the assent of President of India, the National Food Security Bill 2013 became the Act on 10th September 2013. The Act seeks to provide highly subsidized food grains to nearly 70 per cent of the country’s population. Dubbed as a ‘game-changer,’ the flagship measure of the UPA government will give a legal entitlement to 67 per cent population (75 per cent rural and 50 per cent urban) for getting subsidized grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TDPS). A beneficiary will be entitled to 5kg of rice, wheat or coarse cereals at Rs. 3, Rs. 2 and Re.1 per kg, respectively, a month. The

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opposition saw the move as a political gimmick as general elections are due next year. The objective of providing food and nutritional security to the masses is laudable but the challenge is in getting it right, fixing the leaky public distribution system and providing adequate infrastructure for storage and movement.

LAND ACQUISITION BILL

After fierce opposition from farmers to the land acquisition in different parts of the country, Land Acquisition bill was passed by the Lower House of Parliament. This will replace the British era’s Act of 1894. Acquisition of land for industrial use will be at four times the prevailing market rates in rural areas and twice the market price in urban areas. The Bill also stipulates mandatory consent of at least 70 per cent of people for acquiring land for PPP projects and 80 per cent for private companies. The small farmers and land owners may get some respite due to bill as land mafia may find it a little difficult in grabbing the land forcefully. The practicability of the proposed law is seen with many question marks.

PFRDA BILL PASSED

After eight long years, amidst much din and many walk-outs, the Government successfully got the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill passed in both houses of Parliament. The Bill also changed the name of the New Pension System to the National Pension System (NPS). The corpus of the NPS, with 52.83 lakh subscribers (including those of 26 State governments), is measured at Rs. 35,000 crore. The Bill gives authoritative status to the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, which existed till date on an Ordinance, passed in October 2003. The Bill failed to address the concern of the beneficiaries about the investment risks which will entirely be borne by the employees and there is no explicit or implicit guarantee on the pension wealth, except in cases where the subscriber purchases market-based guarantees. We can conclude that operation of fraud on service class is being legalized with this bill.

RULER’S ATTEMPT TO SUBSERVE THEIR INTEREST SUBVERTED

Central Information Commission’s (CIC) order bringing Political parties under the ambit of RTI Act was fought tooth and nail by the Political parties by attempting to pass RTI Amendment Bill. In the absence of any consensus among the political parties, Parliament failed to provide safety net by amending the RTI act to exclude political parties.

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ATTEMPTS TO SHIELD CONVICTED MPS, MLAS THWARTED

The Supreme Court had formally issued a decree to the government and the Election Commission to comply with its order withdrawing protection from disqualification of MPs and MLAs who are convicted in a criminal case and being sentenced to at least two years behind bars. Almost all the political parties joined hand in protesting the ‘erosion’ of ‘Parliament’s supremacy’ in lawmaking with leaders describing the Supreme Court order as an assault on their rights. Ultimately the cabinet approved an ordinance to reverse the Supreme Court judgment mandating the immediate disqualification of lawmakers convicted for a criminal offence punishable with a jail term of more than two years. But after the public utterance of Congress’ Vice President Rahul Gandhi that such an ordinance should be torn and thrown in the dustbin, inviting a lot of public and political reaction, the ordinance was withdrawn by the UPS Government.

Congress leader Rasheed Masood was the first to lose his seat in Parliament as per a Supreme Court ruling followed by Lalu Prasad Yadav who was sentenced to imprisonment in fodder scam case.

SOCIO- POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT

Largest democracy of the world witnessed most bitterly fought five week long election process to constitute 16th Lok Sabha of our country. The malicious, vitriolic campaigning set all time low standards in politics with all parties hitting one another below the belt. Religious, regional and caste sentiments were used to seek electoral favours. The single positive heartening feature of this sprawling, noisy election was the soaring voter turn outs in all constituencies across states. 66.38% of voter turnout was a record, credit for which largely must go to Election Commission which deployed technology, diligence and imagination to draw voters to the polling booths.

The aggressive mobilization strategies consisting of old as well as innovative techniques used by the political parties also impacted the response of 1st time voters and larger sections of electorate. For the first time use of ‘NOTA’ option i.e. ‘None of the above’, was exercised by about 59 lac voter which constitutes 1.1 % of votes. In the end, the voting turn outs points to the fact that with all its imperfections, India’s democracy remains an engaging and capacious idea. High turn outs of election 2014 are not just an accomplishment for the new Government, but be viewed as an enormous responsibility towards the people of the country.

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The election results for the 16th Lok Sabha turned the tide in favour of BJP which routed the Congress and came into power comfortably. The BJP led by Shri Narendra Modi, registered its best electoral performance by winning 282 seats alone making total of 336 seats for the NDA alliance, while the Congress, head of UPA, which ruled the country for a decade, fell to a record low and could succeed only on 44 seats and UPA could bag only 59 seats.

The amount of money spent for the elections indicate that only powerful political parties can participate in the elections. This is a danger to democracy. PM NARENDRA MODI ADDRESSED 69TH SESSION OF UNGA The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on 27 September 2014 addressed the 69th session of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. He addressed the 193-member UN General Assembly in Hindi, which was televised by all TV channels live.

some major points of his speech at UNGA were

• He termed the 69 UN peacekeeping missions since 1948 as the blue helmet, the colour of peace.

• India is ready to engage in a serious bilateral dialogue with Pakistan but in a peaceful atmosphere, without the shadow of terrorism, to promote our friendship and cooperation. For this purpose, Pakistan should take its responsibility seriously to create such an environment.

• He also called for concerted multilateral action to meet the challenges like fragile global economy, terrorism, Ebola health crisis, climate change and poverty.

• While calling for concerted international efforts to fight with terrorism, he termed that it takes new shape and new name and there is no country either big or small across the world is free from threat. So efforts should be made to combat terrorism and extremism by keeping aside the difference by adopting Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism

• All G-groups should be converted into G1 or G-All

• The United Nations including the Security Council should be made more democratic and participative

• Development and empowerment should be spread at the speed of Facebook or Twitter

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• The eradication of poverty must remain at the core of the Post-2015 Development Agenda

• Technology and capabilities of the countries should be shared with each other

• International Yoga Day should be adopted .

TAMIL NADU CM JAYALALITHAA HELD GUILTY IN DISPROPORTIONATE ASSETS CASE J Jayalalithaa, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 27 September 2014 was found guilty in the disproportionate assets case by the Special Court in Bangalore. The Court pronounced a jail term of 4 years and fined 100 crore rupees to her. The judgment of the 18-year-old 66.65 crore rupees disproportionate assets case against Jayalalitha was pronounced by the special court in Bangalore amid tight security. Apart from Jayalalithaa, the court also accused three others in the case, namely Sasikala Natarajan, Ilavarasi and Jayalalithaa's disowned foster son V N Sudhakaran.

With this conviction, she became the first incumbent chief minister in India to be disqualified from holding office due to conviction in a disproportionate assets case. She was later released on bail by the Supreme Court.

Following the verdict, the AIADMK Treasurer O Panneerselvam was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 29 September 2014.

He is the 28th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu since 1920.

Elections in Maharashtra and Haryana

In a show of strength, Bharatiya Janata Party bulldozed the opposition – the Nationalist Congress Party, Congress and estranged ally Shiv Sena -- to wrest power in the state. It won 122 seats in the 288 member Assembly. The four way contest made it easy for BJP. The NCP which won 41 seats has extended unconditional support. The alliance between BJP and Shiv Sena however, is in doubt.

In Hayana also the BJP won 47 out of the 90 seats and for the first time won an absolute majority to form the Government.

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE TO KAILASH SATYARTHI AND MALALA YOUSAFZAI

Kailash Satyarthi was on born 11 January 1954. He is a children’s rights advocate and an activist against child labour. Given up his career in

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teaching, he founded the Bachpan Bachao Andolan in 1980 and has acted to protect the rights of more than 83,000 children from 144 countries. It is largely because of Satyarthi's work and activism that the International Labour adopted convention no 182 on the worst forms of child labour, which is now a principal guideline for governments around the world.

His work is recognized through various national and international honours and awards including the Nobel Peace Prize of 2014, which he shared with Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani female education activist . He is only the second Indian winner of the Nobel Peace Prize after Mother Teresa in 1979.

UNION GOVERNMENT NOTIFIED ENHANCING THE SOCIAL SECURITY COVER LIMIT UNDER EPFO Union Government on 28 August 2014 notified enhancing the social security cover limit under the social security schemes run by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) - the retirement fund manager of the Union.

As a result, all the employees covered under the schemes run by EPFO now will be entitled to a minimum monthly pension of 1000 rupees under Employees Pension Scheme -1995 (EPS-95). This would benefit 28 lakh pensioners including 5 lakh widow pensioners who used to get less amount. Enhanced wage ceiling of 15000 rupees from 6500 rupees to become the subscriber of EPFO. This would bring 50 lakh more workers under the domain of social security schemes.

Enhanced maximum sum assured under the Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) Scheme to 3 lakh rupees. Thus, the maximum sum assured under the EDLI is 3.60 lakh rupees which includes 20 percent ad hoc benefit over the prescribed amount under the notification.

SC ADVISED THE PM NOT TO INCLUDE CHARGE SHEETED PERSON INTO HIS CABINET Supreme Court on 27 August 2014 advised the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers not to include chargesheeted persons into their cabinet. A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha, asked the Prime Minister to take the responsibility not to induct any persons who are facing trial for offences as their ministers. Though, the Constitution of India did not put any limitation or restriction which debars any Member of Parliament or Legislative Assembly to be included in the Cabinet.  

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UNION GOVERNMENT NOTIFIED SECURITIES LAWS AMENDMENT ACT, 2014 Union Government on 25 August 2014 notified the Securities Laws Amendment Act, 2014 (SLAA, 2014). The Act came into force on the day it was notified amending the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992, the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 and the Depositories Act, 1996.

Main Highlights of the SLAA, 2014

• The Act empowers the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to clamp down on illicit money-pooling schemes, arrest of defaulters, to access call data records and other frauds.

• It is a part of the government and regulators’ efforts to tighten noose around fraudsters in the wake of several cases of illicit money-pooling activities that includes ponzi operators.

• It would also facilitate setting up of a special SEBI court to fast-track the investigation and prosecution process.

• It also grants approval for search and seizure operations in suspected cases of frauds.

• It has as many as 57 clauses to amend various sections of the SEBI Act and two other related legislations.

SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT ON TAINTED POLITICIANS The Supreme Court on 10 July 2013 had held that charge sheeted Members of Parliament and MLAs, on conviction for offences, will be immediately disqualified from holding membership of the House without being given three months’ time for appeal, as was the case before. A Bench of Justices A.K. Patnaik and S J Mukhopadhaya struck down Section 8 (4) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 as unconstitutional. Section 8 (4) of the RPA, 1951 allowed convicted lawmakers a three-month period for filing appeal to the higher court and to get a stay of the conviction and sentence.

Looking at what is discussed about the country is undergoing a tremendous change. We should look at the history scientifically. We should appreciate the achievements of the past. But we should also realise that we cannot go back to the pre historic age.

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The vision of Gandhiji, the vision of Nehruji , the vision of Patelji and the vision of Ambedkarji have remained half fulfilled. The visions were correct. We have to find new methods, new ways, new ideologies, new practises and new way of life to fulfil the dreams.

INDIAN ECONOMIC SCENARIO:

POVERTY GIMMICK In what has been termed as a political gimmick, the planning commission declared that poverty has fallen from 37.2% in 2004-05 to 21.9% in 2011-12. This poverty ratio has been arrived at as per the methodology devised by Tendulkar panel, which has taken into account per capita expenditure on health, education, sanitation besides calories intake while arriving at scales. Political parties have rubbished this claim of planning commission which is based on a data of per person expenditure per day of Rs. 27/- in rural areas and Rs. 33/- in urban areas. Experts have attributed the release of data to abysmally low poverty line which fails to reflect huge inflationary impact on an average person. Gujarat Government joined the controversy by relying on the document of planning commission of 2004 which had set the poverty line at income of Rs. 11 per head per day. We disapprove such type of statements and declaration particularly by a constitutional/political authority and wish that instead of sub serving the political masters, methods and policies should be suggested based on realities which lead to inclusive growth in the country.

HUNGER SITUATION ALARMING IN INDIA

Hunger is decreasing globally, but the largest number of people going hungry is in South Asia, with India falling in the category of 19 countries out of total 120, where situation is ‘alarming’ even as its hunger score improved from 32.6 in 1990 to 24 in 2005 and 21.3 in 2013. Pakistan has a score of 19.3, Bangladesh 19.4 and China 5.5. According to the report published by the International Food Policy Research Institute, India and Timor-Leste have the highest number of underweight children under five-more than 40% in both countries. The report also cites social inequality and low nutritional, educational and social status of women as the major causes of child under nutrition in South Asia.

FDI NORMS EASED ACROSS THE BOARD

The Government went ahead with its agenda on FDI without any opposition worth noticing. It eased the norms on sourcing, back-end infra, and cities for

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stores, for foreign retailers to set up shop in the country and raised FDI caps in several sectors with stated objectives like, to boost forex inflows, to revive the floundering economy and to check rupee’s free fall. Retail sales outlet can now be set up in all states that allow foreign retailers irrespective of its population as against the earlier population ceiling of more than one million. Regarding mandatory 30% sourcing for the overseas investors from the small and medium enterprises, the $1 million investment ceiling for identification of SME has been increased to $2 million and investment limit would be applicable only at the time of engagement. Relaxing the norms, it is clarified that the required 50 percent investment of FDI in the back-end infrastructure would need to be complied only in respect of the mandatory first tranche of $100 million while subsequent will depend on the retailer. The Govt. also hiked the FDI limits in a host of sectors notably oil refineries, commodity bourses, power exchanges and stock exchanges and allowed 100% in telecom, asset reconstruction companies and courier services etc.

DISINVESTMENTS IN PSUs/LOSS TO SHAREHOLDERS

Government has continued with its policy of disinvestment despite protests from different quarters to achieve its disinvestment targets and to comply with minimum public shareholding norms, selling of stakes by the Govt. in companies like Hindustan Copper, NMDC, RCF, Nalco, and SAIL, below market price has resulted in reduction in prices of shares of these companies. The Govt. could have instead sought time from SEBI to comply with offer for sales (OFS) than to sell its stake in such a manner and causing loss to shareholders of PSU companies. Selling of its stakes below market price by the Govt. has resulted in reduction of share price of these companies and causing loss to the public which had purchased the same considering them a safe bet.

The Department of Disinvestment (DOD), which was looking at mopping up Rs. 40 thousand crore from the sale of shares in public sector units this fiscal, could raise about Rs. 2925 crore so far. Indian Oil Corporation Limited is known to have opposed, the Union Governments move to sell a 10% stake in the company, as it believed that the share price is unduly depressed currently. The plans to start 3 nation road show to attract foreign investors for the IOC stake sale of 19.16 crore shares was called off in view of the wrong timings of disinvestment. However, an empowered group of ministers (EGOM) headed by Finance minister approved sale of 10 % Govt. stake in IOC to ONGC and OIL to raise Rs. 4800-5000 crores. But, the experts have opined that this would affect the Balance sheet of both buyer companies adversely.

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Giving a big boost to the disinvestment programme to raise Rs.40, 000 crore this fiscal, The 17 per cent follow-on public offer of PGCIL, including 13 per cent fresh equity and 4 per cent stake sale by the government, got cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and hit the market on Decmber 3rd, 2013 at Rs. 90 per share. It was the second follow-on offering from Power Grid, which sold a 10 per cent stake along with a similar stake divested by the government in November 2010 at an issue price of Rs.90 a share. Post-FPO, the government stake in the company has come down to 57.89 per cent from 69.42 per cent. The company garnered close to Rs.5,400 crores while the government could get Rs.1,600 crores.

Engineers India Ltd. (EIL) follow-on offer has also got ministerial panel approval. The Government intends to divest 10 per cent of its 80.40 per cent holding in EIL. Sale of 3.36 crore shares at the current market price of Rs.146.65 will fetch Rs. 492.7 crores to the Govt..

The Government has also confirmed that it is considering stake sale in BHEL through block deals to institutions while efforts are on to complete the residual stake sale in Hindustan Zinc before March 31, 2014.

7th PAY PANEL ANNOUNCED AHEAD OF TIME

What was seen as a move to appease its sizeable chunk of 80 lac employees and pensioners, the Central Government approved the setting up of 7th Pay Commission to review their salaries and pensions. The announcement was made to beat the code of conduct that was to come into force after the announcement of state polls. The hurriedness in the action was apparent from the fact that the appointment of commission was announced without naming members and terms of reference. Sh. Ashok Kumar Mathur, a retired judge has now been appointed to head the commission. According to information available, the government's intention to constitute 7th Pay Commission before going for general Elections was clear as it has made provision of Rs 3.5 crores in the second supplementary demands for grants in this regard which was approved in the Winter Session of the Parliament last year. Chairman of Chiefs of Staff, Air Chief Marshal N. A. K. Browne, has demanded full representation of Armed Forces in the commission. There was a strong information that Government could raise retirement age of its employees to 62 years with certain conditions, which has not happened so far.

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ECONOMIC SURVEY 2014-2015

Indian economy is likely to grow in the range of 5.4 to 5.9 per cent in 2014-15 overcoming the sub-5 per cent GDP growth of past two years, even as poor monsoon and disturbed external environment remain a cause for concern, says the Economic Survey.

..with the global economy expected to recover moderately, particularly on account of performance in some advanced economies, the economy can look forward to better growth prospects in 2014-15 and beyond," it said. After recovering in 2009-10 and 2010-11, GDP growth slowed down to decade's low of 4.5 per cent in 2012-13. It picked up marginally to 4.7 per cent in 2013-14.

The survey further said the measures taken by the government to improve investment climate and improve governance could push up growth to 7-8 per cent in the coming years.

The priority of the new government, the Survey said, should be to revive business sentiments "that could be at the heart of restarting the investment cycle." "Though some measures have been initiated to this end, reversion to a growth rate of around 7-8 per cent can only occur beyond the ongoing and the next fiscal," it added.

The survey also made a case for repealing of archaic laws governing market access, expansion and entry/exit of firms and revamp of the dispute resolution mechanism for commercial disputes to lend greater predictability to policy, giving boost to physical infrastructure and improving productivity in agriculture. Targeted measures by the government and RBI, it added, "have improved the external economic situation significantly, even as India remains exposed to risk on/off sentiments of investors and to policy shifts in advanced economies."

GENERAL BUDGET 2014

Debut budget presented by Shri Arun Jaitley has accepted the fiscal deficit target of 4.1% for 2014-15 set by his predecessor, Shri P. Chidambaram. It shows the continuity in policy of the previous Government. The budget assumes a somewhat optimistic growth in taxes, record high disinvestment and a reduction in fuel subsidies. All these are not without risks and if these

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assumptions go wrong, expenditure cuts will be required to meet the targets. The interim budget targets of Rs. 51,925 cr. from disinvestments have been enhanced to Rs. 58,425 cr. Of which Rs. 43,425 cr. is expected to come from stake sales in Public Sector Units and another Rs. 15,000 cr. from sale of government’s residual stake in erstwhile State run companies.

Aggressive disinvestment targets presages flood of cheap offerings of Public Sector Unit shares, debt funds have been made less attractive as long term capital gain tax has been raised from 10% to 20%. Uniform KYC norms proposed and inter usability of KYC records across the financial sector is a welcome step. A single operating Demat account for consumer to access and transact all financial assets will be introduced for better tax management. Individual tax payers have got some relief from the budget. Exemption limits of the tax have been raised by Rs. 50,000/- to Rs. 2,50,000/- for ordinary tax payers and to Rs. 3,00,000/- for senior citizens. Double bonanza has been offered for home loan availing tax payers with exemption limit on interest payments raised to Rs. 2,00,000/- and by raising deduction available under section 80C to Rs. 1.5 lac. One time Robin Hood surcharge levied by the former Finance Minster as a onetime measure in 2013 has been retained which means the super rich will continue to pay 10% levy.

The Finance Minster surprised consumers by making soaps, footwear, TVs and E-book readers cheaper. However, with fiscal and personal health in mind, the duties on cigarettes, other tobacco products and sugary aerated drinks like colas have been raised.

Although, no big-bank reform in banking have been proposed but the permission to sell shares in the domestic market to raise capital and to float long term bonds without statutory pre-emption such as mandatory bond holdings and setting aside cash will have the long term implications on the banking industry. Banks which have comparatively much lower government stake like Bank of Baroda (56.26%), Dena Bank (58.01%) SBI(58.60%), PNB (58.87%) and Allahabad Bank (58.90%) will have difficulties in raising the capital from the market except at the risk of lowering the Government stake below 50%.

The policy declaration of more licenses to small banks in niche areas with the stated purpose of attracting small depositors and to serve farmers and migrant work force is fraught with risks which were attributed to the concept of local area banks, which remained a non starter. There is also a proposal to set up six new debt recovery tribunals to reduce the burden on the present set up and for quicker recovery. However, unless the steps to improve upon the functioning of the DRTs and ensuring the non corrupt system are taken,

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these proposals will not have any improved results. Budget proposals in the name of consolidation state the policy of the new government on merger of the Public Sector Banks and merger of Association Banks of State Bank of India with SBI. There is a need of caution on this declaration of the Finance Minister which has been given despite the contrary views of the Trade Unions particularly in the banking industry

Other highlights of the Budget are:

• Govt’s plan expenditure pegged at Rs. 5.75 lakh cr. and non-Plan at Rs. 12.19 lakh cr.,

• Govt. expects Rs. 9.77 lakh cr. revenue from taxes,

• Gross borrowings will be to the extent of Rs. 6 lakh cr.,

• FDI limit to be hiked to 49% in defence, insurance,

• Set aside Rs. 11,200 cr. for PSU banks capitalization,

• Govt. considering giving greater autonomy to PSU banks while making them accountable,

• 5 IIMs to be opened in HP, Punjab, Bihar, Odisha and Rajasthan,

• 5 more IITs in Jammu, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala,

• 4 more AIIMS like institutions to come up in AP, West Bengal, Vidarbha in Maharashtra and Poorvanchal in UP,

• Govt. proposes to launch Digital India programme to ensure broad band connectivity at village level,

• National Rural Internet and Technology Mission for services in villages and schools and training in IT skills proposed,

• Rs. 100 cr. scheme to support about 600 new and existing Community Radio Stations,

• Rs. 100 cr. for metro projects in Lucknow and Ahmedabad,

• Rs. 2,037 cr. set aside for Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission called ‘Namami Gange’,

• Kisan Vikas Patra to be reintroduced, National Savings Certificate with insurance cover to be launched,

• Provision of Rs. 500 cr. for rehabilitation of displaced Kashmiri migrants,

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• Rs. 7,060 cr. for setting up 100 Smart Cities,

• Long term capital gains tax for mutual funds doubled to 20%; lock-in period increased to 3 years,

• Rs. 4,000 cr. set aside to increase flow of cheaper credit for affordable housing to the urban poor/EWS/LIG segment,

• EPFO to launch the ‘Uniform Account Number’ service to facilitate portability of Provident Fund accounts,

• Mandatory wage ceiling of subscription to EPS (Employee Pension Scheme) raised from Rs. 6,500 to Rs. 15,000,

• Minimum pension increased to Rs. 1,000 per month

SWATCH BHARATH CAMPAIGN

Clean India campaign is a welcome idea as it involves everybody. Government, Corporations, municipalities and Panchayats should involve their machinery with Peoples support. We will play an active role in the noble National cause. For our members interest we are reproducing an article from Indian Express.

‘Clean Home, Clean City’: Alappuzha municipality shows the way

With the Modi government’s Swachh Bharat Mission kicking up a dust, the Kerala CPM recently resolved to take up “comprehensive garbage management as a new mission”. It doesn’t have to look very far. The Alappuzha municipality ruled by the party has managed to put in place a successful solid waste management system within two years of its launch.

As part of its ‘Nirmala Bhavanam, Nirmala Gagaram (Clean Home, Clean City)’ programme, the municipality set up biogas plants, pipe compost units in households and aerobic composting units in public places. It also set up surveillance cameras across the city, linked to the police control room, to catch those littering public places.

Twenty-two months later, the municipality with a population of 1.74 lakh no longer has 40-50 truckloads of garbage headed daily to a nearby dumping yard, saving Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 a day on fuel bill alone.

The programme was conceived following a protest by residents of Sarvodayapuram in the monsoon of 2012. They objected to more waste coming to the dumping yard located near the town. The yard at the time got 40-50 tonnes of unsorted waste daily.

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As the Alappuzha municipality couldn’t send its waste to Sarvodayapuram, it started collecting in the city. Alappuzha MLA and CPM central committee member Dr T M Thomas Isaac was involved in the talks. The architect of the people’s planning movement started by the then LDF government in 1996 — under which local self-government units (panchayats or municipal bodies) were empowered to formulate development plans and execute them — the former finance minister asked why waste couldn’t be managed at the source itself.

“If human waste could be processed at our own houses, why couldn’t we manage kitchen waste? The idea of ‘Clean Home, Clean City’ began thus,” he says.

In November 2012, one of the 52 wards in the municipality was selected for implementing a pilot scheme. Biogas plants, both portable and fixed, were installed in households, with 50 per cent subsidy from government agencies. Within a month, the scheme was rolled out in 11 more wards, a few of them represented by the Congress.

The size of the biogas plants was decided on the basis of the quantity of solid waste a household produced. Those households which could not install plants due to financial or space constrains were urged to deposit their domestic waste in biogas plants of their neighbours.

Those who could not go in for biogas plants were told to opt for pipe composting, which was cost-effective and easy, involving two pipes lowered into a pit where waste would gather and get treated.

Aerobic composting units were then set up in various parts of the city, in places where people would dump their waste for collection by the municipality. These were meant for biodegradable waste and for commercial establishments, hotels and households that had not gone in for biogas plants. Each unit, comprising two bins, processed 2,000 kg of waste and converted it into fertiliser within 90 days. Households were told to keep their plastic and other non-degradable waste separate or deliver it at aerobic bin clusters after segregating. This waste was separately collected once a month by the municipality from the clusters or households, and handed over to private ventures for recycling. To involve students and hence get through to their families, water and sanitation clubs were set up in schools. Students were told to gather plastic waste at home and bring it in. One kg of plastic waste fetched them a book coupon worth Rs 20 from school. Municipal workers collected the plastic later from school for recycling. The municipality hopes now to get a sponsor for this scheme. Since

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November 2012, the Alappuzha municipality has established 2,500 biogas plants, 4,000 pipe composting units and 75 aerobic bin units. Last month, three wards in the municipality were certified “clean” under the project after 80 per cent of their households had opted for either biogas plants or pipe composting. Seven more wards are expected to join their league soon, and by next June, authorities hope to declare the entire municipality free from garbage. The project has also changed the life of the municipality workers, a majority of whom now man aerobic composting units rather than hauling the garbage themselves, risking their health. “Earlier I used to mop up and load the dirt in trucks. Everyone looked at me with scorn. Now I find dignity in my job. I have to just help people deposit their domestic waste in bins and fill these with dry leaves for processing,” says K A Antony, a municipal worker in charge of an aerobic composting bin. Jaya Dananjayan, a homemaker, is happy about her reduced LPG bill. Her family of five installed a biogas plant two years ago. Isaac says the major challenge was to bring in an attitudinal change among people, who are generally cynical. “We, the people’s representatives, led the movement from the front. When you mean business, that gives a certain degree of confidence to the people,” he says. Instead of intervening when people were fined for littering public places, the MLA adds, politicians demanded more stringent punishment. The Congress’s Thomas Joseph, the opposition leader in the Alappuzha municipality, says they wholeheartedly support the waste management system, and their only objection is to the lack of a workable solution to address plastic waste. While it took two years to implement the project in 12 wards, Isaac expects the rollout in the rest of the municipality to be hassle-free. “The public mood is conducive to expanding the clean drive,” Isaac smiles, Express said.

BANKING INDUSTRY JAN DHAN YOJNA’ The Jan Dhan scheme was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his Independence Day address and was formally launched on August 28. On the opening day itself, banks opened over 1.5 crore accounts. The government has set a target to open 7.5 crore such no-frills accounts by Republic Day next year. Each of these accounts comes with Rs 5,000 overdraft facility (after 6 months) and a Rs 1 lakh accident cover and are linked only to the RuPay cards. Led by state-run banks, the system has opened over 5 crore accounts under the Jan Dhan scheme as of September 25. It is said that all these accounts will be seeded to the Aadhar number and will have biometrics to avoid the duplication. The scheme, no doubt, is noble and in the National interest and for the benefit of common man but

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launching a scheme at such a large scale without proper groundwork may lead to a lot of complications like opening of fraudulent and duplicate accounts apart from putting a lot of burden on the Bank employees who already are under tremendous pressure due to inadequate staff strength and would have to depend on outsourcing which already is a grey area. Mr. Raghuram Rajan, Governor RBI has also expressed his concern on this. Banks were directed to organize camps on every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m by DFS and the order was passed on by the Bank Management to their staff.

Pradhan Mantri Jan - Dhan Yojana (Accounts Opened As on 10.11.2014)

(Data Source - Banks)

S.No     No  Of  Accounts  (In  Lacs)  

No  Of  Rupay  Debit  Cards  

(In  Lacs)  

Balance  In  Accounts  (In  Lacs)  

No  Of  Accounts  With  Zero  Balance  (In  Lacs)  

Rural   Urban   Total  

1   Public  Sector  Banks   316.77   267.49   584.26   377.75   459859.28   439.13  

2   Regional  Rural  Banks   102.46   18.06   120.52   12.6   64756.75   95.15  

3   Private  Banks   9.72   10.03   19.75   7.12   36503.82   13.49  

  Total   428.95   295.58   724.53   397.47   561119.85   547.77  

Statewise  Account  Opening  Weekly  Statistics  

BANKING SECTOR DEVELOPMENTS

Indian banking sector emerged largely unscathed from the 2008 global financial meltdown. Our prudent supervisory regime and absence of leveraged positions were primarily responsible for the resilience of our banking system. During 2010-11 and 2011-12, global economy, however, was in a slowdown mode due

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to the crisis in U.S and European Union. Our domestic banking sector clocked deposit growth of 15.8% and 17.4% during 2010-11 and 2011-12 while gross advances grew 21.4% and 19.3% respectively during the period. Lower growth in advances was due to economic slowdown while higher deposit growth signifies higher interest rates and banks resorting to bulk deposits during the period. However, during 2012-13, deposits and advances grew by only 14.3 per cent and 14.1 per cent on a yearly basis which clearly shows the impact of a slowdown.

This was the period when the global financial markets realized the inadequacy of Basel-II guidelines and decided to go for a more prudent method to regulate the banking sector. Accordingly, Basel-III came into fore. Banks across all jurisdictions were supposed to be Basel-III compliant by 2019 while the RBI advanced it a year earlier for Indian banks. The capital requirements under Basel-IIII are more onerous compared to previous regimes. However, going forward, Indian banks would require huge capital to be Basel-III compliant. For PSBs, raising capital is a challenge since Government shareholding cannot go below 51%. Even so, most PSBs have raised capital through market borrowings. Of late, banks also issued Basel-III compliant bonds.

Our opinion is Public Sector Banks which have the sovereign guarantee of our Government need not follow Basel III guidelines.

The weakening domestic macroeconomic conditions coupled with subdued global growth and its increasing spillover risks posed challenges to the banking sector from 2010-11 onwards. On the regulatory and supervisory front, the move towards risk-based supervision, initiatives for improved cross border supervision and cooperation and enhanced oversight of financial conglomerates are important. In the short term, the stress on banks’ asset quality remains a major challenge. Many policies are contemplated to expand and strengthen the banking infrastructure. Banks need to capitalise on these and play a major role in supporting economic activity and meeting the financial needs of all the sections of society.

India’s banking sector is constantly growing. Since the turn of the century, there has been a noticeable upsurge in transactions through ATMs, and also internet and mobile banking. Following the passing of the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill by the Indian Parliament in 2012, the landscape of the banking industry began to change. The bill allows the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to make final guidelines on issuing new licenses, which could lead to a bigger number of banks in the country. Some banks have already received licences from the government, and the RBI's new norms will provide

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incentives to banks to spot bad loans and take requisite action to keep rogue borrowers in check.

Over the next decade, the banking sector is projected to create up to two million new jobs, driven by the efforts of the RBI and the Government of India to integrate financial services into rural areas. Also, the traditional way of operations will slowly give way to modern technology. Already 62% of the Banking transactions are routed through alternate channels as per a report of RBI.

Market size

Total banking assets in India touched US$ 1.8 trillion in FY13 and are anticipated to cross US$ 28.5 trillion in FY25. Bank deposits have grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.2 per cent over FY06–13. Total deposits in FY13 were US$ 1,274.3 billion. Total banking sector credit is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 18.1 per cent (in terms of INR) to reach US$ 2.4 trillion by 2017.

In FY14, private sector lenders witnessed discernable growth in credit cards and personal loan businesses. ICICI Bank witnessed 141.6 per cent growth in personal loan disbursement in FY14, as per a report by Emkay Global Financial Services. Axis Bank's personal loan business also rose 49.8 per cent and its credit card business expanded by 31.1 per cent.

Investments

Bengaluru-based software services exporter Mphasis Ltd has bagged a five-year contract from Punjab National Bank (PNB) to set up the bank’s contact centres in Mangalore and Noida (UP). Mphasis will provide support for all banking products and services, including deposits operations, lending services, banking processes, internet banking, and account and card-related services. The company will also offer services in multiple languages.

HDFC Bank Ltd has emerged as the No. 1 brand with a worth of US$ 9.4 billion in the list of India’s 50 most valuable brands, in the first-ever BrandZ ranking which was commissioned by WPP Plc, the world’s top communications services group. Bharti Airtel Ltd was ranked No. 2 followed by the State Bank of India (SBI).

Microfinance companies have committed to setting up at least 30 million bank accounts within a year through tie-ups with banks, as part of the Indian government’s financial inclusion plan. The commitment was made at a meeting of representatives of 25 large microfinance companies and banks

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and government representatives, which included financial services secretary Mr GS Sandhu.

Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) will increase its focus on supporting project exports from India to South Asia, Africa and Latin America, as per Mr Yaduvendra Mathur, Chairman and MD, Exim Bank. The bank has moved up the value chain by supporting project exports so that India earns foreign exchange. In 2012–13, Exim Bank lent support to 85 project export contracts worth Rs 24,255 crore (US$ 3.96 billion) secured by 47 companies in 23 countries.

Government Initiatives

The RBI has given banks greater flexibility to refinance current long-gestation project loans worth Rs 1,000 crore (US$ 163.42 million) and more, and has allowed partial buyout of such loans by other financial institutions as standard practice. The earlier stipulation was that buyers should purchase at least 50 per cent of the loan from the existing banks. Now, they get as low as 25 per cent of the loan value and the loan will still be treated as ‘standard’.

The RBI has also relaxed norms for mortgage guarantee companies (MGC) enabling these firms to use contingency reserves to cover for the losses suffered by the mortgage guarantee holders, without the approval of the apex bank. However, such a measure can only be initiated if there is no single option left to recoup the losses.

SBI is planning to launch a contact-less or tap-and-go card facility to make payments in India. Contact-less payment is a technology that has been adopted in several countries, including Australia, Canada and the UK, where customers can simply tap or wave their card over a reader at a point-of-sale terminal, which reads the card and allows transactions.

SBI and its five associate banks also plan to empower account holders at the bottom of the social pyramid with a customer call facility. The proposed facility will help customers get an update on available balance, last five transactions and cheque book request on their mobile phones.

ROAD AHEAD

India is yet to tap into the potential of mobile banking and digital financial services. Forty-seven per cent of the populace have bank accounts, of which half lie dormant due to reliance on cash transactions, as per a report. Still, the industry holds a lot of promise.

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India's banking sector could become the fifth largest banking sector in the world by 2020 and the third largest by 2025. These days, Indian banks are turning their focus to servicing clients and enhancing their technology infrastructure, which can help improve customer experience as well as give banks a competitive edge.

There are debates regarding the need for improving the present banking structure. There are different shades of thought regarding a suitable banking structure for India. Since 1991, the Indian economy has undergone significant transformation in terms of its size and composition. The economy has diversified substantially and has been opening up in its quest to further integrate with the global economy. Viewed from this perspective, there is a need and scope for further growth in the size and strength of the existing banking structure.

It is felt that there is scope for increasing the size and capacity of the banking structure. There is also an imperative for increasing the outreach of the banking structure. With the size of the economy increasing, banks require a large international presence. The need for the presence of specialized and niche banking entities to cater to the specific needs of a growing and dynamic economy is also a focal point these days.

Issue of new bank licenses has been hogging the limelight of late. With a view to meet the needs of a dynamic real economy, the banking system needs to grow. According to RBI, increasing the number of banks will promote financial inclusion, foster competition and thereby reduce costs while improving the quality of services. Accordingly, the Reserve Bank invited applications for Licensing of New Banks in the Private Sector. It received 26 applications for new bank licences.

The objective of granting new bank licenses and permitting greater foreign banks’ participation in India was primarily to increase competition and promote efficiency of the local banking system. At present foreign banks are operating in India through branches. According to RBI, from the perspective of financial stability, a move towards subsidiarisation of foreign banks is welcome. India needs foreign banks to participate more in the growth process, but in exchange it is important to have more regulatory and supervisory control over their local operations. RBI stated that encouraging qualifying foreign banks to move to wholly owned subsidiary structures, where they will enjoy near national treatment, will be a policy that will be consciously encouraged subject to the condition that Indian banks are granted reciprocal treatment as regards opening more foreign branches and the commitment is implemented both in letter and spirit.

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Asset quality has been an area of concern for banks. The NPA ratio of major banks weakened during 2012-13. Gross NPA ratio for the banking system was 3.6% as on March 2013. While the primary driver of deteriorating asset quality was the domestic economic slowdown, the contribution of other factors like policy parlance, Court verdicts effecting stoppage of many infrastructure and mining activities, delays in obtaining statutory and other approvals was also significant. Further, credit concentration in certain sectors and higher leverage among corporates also increased stress on asset quality. In recent years there has also been a sharp increase in the amount of debt restructured under the corporate debt restructuring mechanism.

RBI has been of late insisting on the need for banks to develop an early warning system for detecting NPAs and to use such early warning signals to put in place an efficient preventive asset quality management framework. The Reserve Bank has also advised banks to strengthen the information sharing mechanism among lenders by making it compulsory for banks to receive/share information on borrowers before sanctioning loans. RBI has also started conducting forensic audits and audits of special mention accounts in various banks. The increasing number of cases being referred to the debt restructuring mechanism is another area which has caught RBI attention. RBI is expected to bring stern measures against willful defaulters. Shri Raghuram Rajan, Governor, has also proposed to include a new category of borrowers called’ non cooperative borrowers and to initiate measures to make it expensive for them to borrow in the future. However, going forward, it is anticipated that asset quality might improve if there is a pick-up in the growth rate coupled with an improvement in project implementation

In December 2013, RBI came up with a discussion paper outlining the framework for dealing with distressed assets in the economy. The Discussion Paper outlines a corrective action plan that will incentivize early identification of problem cases, timely restructuring of accounts which are considered to be viable, and taking prompt steps by banks for recovery or sale of unviable accounts. The main proposals in the Discussion Paper are summarised below:

1. Early formation of a lenders’ committee with timelines to agree to a plan for resolution.

2. Incentives for lenders to agree collectively and quickly to a plan – better regulatory treatment of stressed assets if a resolution plan is underway, accelerated provisioning if no agreement can be reached.

3. Improvement in current restructuring process: Independent evaluation of large value restructurings mandated, with a focus on viable plans

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and a fair sharing of losses (and future possible upside) between promoters and creditors.

4. More expensive future borrowing for borrowers who do not co-operate with lenders in resolution.

More liberal regulatory treatment of asset sales

a. Lender can spread loss on sale over two years provided loss is fully disclosed.

b. Takeout financing/refinancing possible over a longer period and will not be construed as restructuring.

c. Leveraged buyouts will be allowed for specialised entities for acquisition of ‘stressed companies’

d. Steps to enable better functioning of Asset Reconstruction Companies mooted.

e. Sector-specific Companies/Private equity firms encouraged to play active role in stressed assets market.

With asset quality issues in mind and to prevent banks from undertaking highly leveraged positions, RBI has come out with draft guidelines on Counter cyclical Capital Buffers (CCCB). Countercyclical Buffer is a capital cushion to be provided by banks during stable financial conditions. The primary aim of CCCB regime is to build up a buffer of capital to achieve the macro-prudential goal of restricting banking sector from indiscriminate lending during periods of excessive credit which may lead to system-wide risks. The CCCB framework ensures that not only individual banks but also the banking sector has capital in hand to help maintain the flow of credit in the economy during economic downturns and periods of stress. The Basel Committee prescribed credit-to-GDP ratio as the starting reference point for implementation of CCCB. The difference of the credit-to-GDP ratio from its long-term trend indicates the build-up of excessive credit growth in the system. The major recommendations of the CCCB guidelines are

Credit-to-GDP gap is proposed to used in conjunction with other indicators like Gross NPA growth in India.

1. Given the lag in a crisis trigger, it is felt that the CCCB should be triggered well before the expected increase in GNPA. Further, in line with the Basel Committee prescription, it is proposed to announce the CCCB decision with a lead time of up to 12 months to provide banks sufficient time to raise capital.

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2. The lower threshold when the buffer is activated proposed at 3 percentage points of the credit-to-GDP gap and higher threshold at 15%.

3. The CCCB to increase linearly from 0 to 2.5 per cent of the risk weighted assets (RWA) of the bank.

4. The incremental C-D ratio for a moving period of three-years along with GNPA growth to be used as a supplementary indicator for the CCCB decision.

5. Interest coverage ratio also to be used as an indicator

6. The capital surplus created when the countercyclical buffer is returned to zero not to be unfettered

7. Indian banks with international presence to maintain adequate capital under CCCB as prescribed and communicated by the host supervisors.

8. All banks operating in India to maintain CCCB on solo basis and consolidated basis.

Keeping in view the repercussions faced by the global financial system from the 2008 meltdown and the lessons learnt from the same, RBI has decided to classify banks in India into Domestic Systematically Important Banks (D-SIBs). Systematically important banks are those that are considered too big to fail and are having a systemic importance on the domestic financial system. The indicators to be used to assess domestic systemic importance of the banks are i) Size ii) Interconnectedness iii) Lack of readily available substitutes or financial institution infrastructure iv) and complexity.

Salient features of the RBI methodology for finding D-SIBs.

1. Banks having size as a percentage of GDP equal to or more than 2%.Five largest foreign banks based on their size will also be added in the sample.

2. Size to be given a weight of 40% and other three indicators to be given a weight of 20% each

3. Banks classified as D-SIBs will be subjected to additional Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital requirements ranging from 0.20% to 1%.

4. If a D-SIB is not able to meet the additional capital requirement, it will be subjected to restrictions on profit distribution etc. The higher capital requirements applicable to D-SIBs will be applicable from April 1, 2016 in a phased manner and would become fully effective from April 1, 2019.

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5. Banks designated as D-SIBs will be subjected to more intensive supervision in the form of higher frequency and higher intensity of on- and off- site monitoring.

An objective assessment of existing banking structure in India brings to the fore the need for expanding the commercial banking system and calls for decisive changes in the present structure to enable it to grow in size, resources, efficiency and inclusivity. The Reserve Bank has initiated a debate on re-orienting the banking structure in the country to better serve the needs of the real economy. As the Indian economy expands, more resources will be needed for supporting the growth process. To support economic growth as envisaged in the 12th Five Year Plan, the banking business needs to expand significantly to an estimated Rs. 288 trillion by 2020 from about Rs. 115 trillion in 2012. The Indian banking sector also needs to match up to the likely acceleration in the credit to GDP ratio as the economy expands. The overall thrust of the re-orientation should be on imparting dynamism and flexibility to the evolving banking structure, while keeping it safe from depositors’ perspective.

To finance greater economic activity and to facilitate 8% GDP growth, banks should have at their disposal sufficient capital buffers. Estimates suggest that public sector banks will require an additional capital to the tune of Rs.4.15 lakh Crore for meeting Basel-III norms, of which equity capital will be of the order of Rs.1.4 - 1.5 lakh Cr, while non equity capital will be of the order of Rs.2.65 - 2.75 lakh Crore. Being the majority stakeholder, Government has been infusing capital in these banks. During the last five years, the Government has infused INR 47700 Cr in public sector banks. The Government will infuse another Rs14000 Cr in the public sector banks during 2013-14. The present level of Government share holding in these banks ranges from 55 per cent to 82 per cent. Through so called reforms the Government is finding ways to exploit sufficient headroom available to it for dilution of its stake in a number of public sector banks.

Financial inclusion is recognized as one of the key socio economic objectives of our banking system. With this in view, the Nachiket Mor Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low Income households submitted its draft report. The key highlights are summarized below:

1. The Committee, suggested providing a universal bank account to all Indians above the age of eighteen years by January 2016 and recommended a Vertically Differentiated Banking System with

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Payments Banks for Deposits & Payments and Wholesale Banks for credit outreach with relaxed entry point norms of Rs.50 crore.

2. By January 1, 2016, each low income household and small business to have convenient access to suitable investment and deposit products at reasonable charges. By that date, each District to have Total Deposits and Investments to GDP ratio of at least 15 per cent. This ratio to increase every year by 12.5 per cent to reach 65 per cent by January 1, 2020.

3. With slow enrolment of Aadhar in some areas and low penetration of biometric devices and internet network connectivity in many areas, intermediate authentication methods such as PIN numbers and OTP could be used.

4. Restore the permission of NB-NBFCs to act as BCs of a bank. In addition, eliminate the distance criteria between the BC and the nearest branch of the sponsor bank. Allow Banks to decide operational criteria.

5. Allow high-quality White Label BCs to emerge with direct access to settlement systems subject to certain prudential conditions.

6. Under the Banking Regulation Act, a set of banks to be licensed referred to as Payments Banks. Given that their primary role is to provide payment services and deposit product to small businesses and low-income households, they will be restricted to holding a maximum balance of Rs. 50,000 per customer.

7. They will be required to meet the CRR requirements applicable to all SCBs and to deposit the balance proceeds in approved SLR securities with duration of not more than three months and will not be permitted to assume any kind of credit risks. The minimum entry capital requirement for them will be Rs. 50 crore.

8. RBI must represent to the MoF to restore the tax-free status of securitisation SPVs as pass-through vehicles for tax treatment pointing out the role it would play in ensuring efficient risk transmission.

9. Banks to be permitted to purchase portfolio level protection against all forms of rainfall and commodity price risks, including through the use of financial futures and options bought either within India or globally.

10. RBI should constitute a Working Group comprising TRAI, CERC, and Credit Information Companies to develop a framework for sharing of

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data between telecom companies, electrical utilities, and credit bureaus.

11. The Committee recommends that a unified Financial Redress Agency (FRA) be created by the Ministry of Finance as a unified agency for customer grievance redress across all financial products and services which will in turn coordinate with the respective regulator.

12. For the provision of food-credit, Food Corporation of India (FCI) and State Governments should be required to originate warehouse receipts and raise low-cost funds in the market against these receipts instead of being reliant only on bank credit.

The requirement of PSL target at 50% is a tall order. Though waiving CRR and SLR is also advocated to facilitate this, it may be difficult to implement since both these statutory reserves were instituted with a purpose. This may also lead to higher NPAs. The report talks of payment banks which mobilizes short term deposits and invests in short duration papers. However, it may be a loss making proposition for banks since the report also stipulates that the return on deposits should be over and above CPI inflation while the return from short duration investments will be lower. The concept of wholesale banks with deposits of more than Rs.5 crore will inflate the cost structure of banks. Meanwhile the report advocates commercial rates of interest on priority sector loans. This goes against the very ethos of priority sector lending and will make it difficult to repay. The report asks banks to hedge against commodity risks by way of put options. The issue here is banks are not permitted to trade in commodities. Moreover, we do not have option of trading in commodities yet. THE BANKING LAWS (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2012

The Banking laws (amendment) Bill 2012 which was passed by both the houses of Parliament had been a matter of controversy for the past several years. The trade unions in the Banking industry as well as the left parties were opposing the bill tooth and nail for several years. Officers and employees in the industry had observed All India Strike on several occasions in the past in protest against the amendments. The proponents of liberalization and entry of foreign capital were clamoring for passage of the Bill in the guise of “reforms”. The UPA-II Government which was under criticism of lack of political will on reforms front has ultimately ignored the legitimate democratic

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protests and took the plunge under pressure from business houses and foreign investors. The bill contains the following main provisions:

• Increasing the cap on voting rights of shareholders, other than the Government, in Public Sector Banks from the existing 1% to 10%, even if he holds equity shares in excess of 10%.

• Public Sector Banks can raise their Authorised Capital without any ceiling now, with approval from the Government and RBI.

• Increasing the Paid up Capital of PSBs through public issue or by rights issue or by issue of bonus shares.

• Increasing the cap on voting rights in Private Sector Banks from the existing 10% to 26%.

• Raising capital through preference shares with the prior permission of RBI in a banking company.

• Prior approval of RBI for acquisition of 5% or more of shares or voting rights in a banking company by any person and empowering RBI to impose such conditions as it deems fit in this regard.

• Empowering RBI to collect information and inspect associate enterprises of banking companies.

• Empowering RBI to supersede the Board of Directors of banking company and appointment of administrator till alternate arrangements are made.

• Primary co-operative societies to carry on the business of banking only after obtaining a license from RBI.

• Special audit of co-operative banks at the instance of RBI by extending applicability of Section 30 to them and

• Creation of Depositor Education and Awareness Fund by utilizing the balances lying in inoperative deposit accounts.

A glance at the provisions would generate mixed reactions. In respect of Public Sector Banks which need huge capital to maintain prescribed regulator capital i.e., Capital Adequacy Ratio under Basel-III and to support credit expansion in a growing economy, the provisions regarding removal of ceiling on the capital and enabling PSBs to raise capital through a public issue or rights issue or bonus issue would help them in their quest for increasing capital. Even though the Government reiterated its commitment to provide necessary capital support to PSBs, the amendment reduces the burden on the part of Government for infusing capital in PSBs through budgetary provisions.

The Bill provides enormous power to RBI including one to supersede Private Sector Banks’ Boards and also legalizing the guideline for entry of private

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banks to obtain prior permission from RBI to acquire shares in excess of 5% equity of any Bank. The Bill also empowers the RBI as the ultimate arbitrator to sanction merger and acquisition of Banks.

But the negative aspects are going to have far reaching consequences. In respect of Private Sector Banks, increasing the cap on voting rights to 26% will enable the corporate houses and Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) to exercise considerable clout in the Boards of Private Banks, utilizing the increased voting power. This will weaken the well-run old generation private sector banks, as they will be the targets of these investors.

Even in respect of Public Sector Banks, the increase in the cap on voting rights to 10% would enable FIIs, Mutual Funds etc. to enter the PSB Boards by getting elected the shareholder Directors of their choice. This provision is likely to be used by corporate houses, who fail to get bank licence, to enter bank Boards through back door through their investment arms.

It is an irony that the amendments are made in the name of deepening financial inclusion. It is well known fact that the need for nationalization of banks arose out of the failure of private sector banks in meeting social banking obligations.

NEW BANK LICENCING POLICY OF RBI

After the enabling provisions came handy, RBI on 22nd February, 2013 set the stage for entry of new banks in the private sector by unveiling the much awaited final guidelines. As per the guidelines issued, entities in private sector, public sector and NBFCs will be eligible to set up a bank. As per the policy, entities/groups which intend to float a bank will have to set it up through a wholly-owned non-operative financial holding company (NOFHC) which will be registered as a non-banking finance company. The NOFHC and the bank cannot have any loan exposure to the promoter group. Further the bank cannot invest in the equity/debt capital instruments of any financial entities held by the NOFHC.

Fit and proper checks to be adopted while considering the applications have also been enumerated by RBI, which include promoters’ track record, sound credentials and integrity, financial soundness and successful running of their business for at least 10 years, feed back from other regulators, enforcement and investigative agencies.

The initial minimum paid up voting equity capital of the new bank, whose board should have a majority of independent director, has been set at Rs. 500 crore. The holding company will initially hold a minimum 40% of paid-up

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voting equity capital of the bank, which will be locked in for a period of five years and will be brought down to 15 % within 12 years. A CAP of 49% has been kept on foreign aggregate share holding for the first five years after which this limit can go up to 74%. The new banks are permitted to have their subsidiary/joint ventures if legally required. New Banks will have to open minimum 25% of branches in un-banked rural centers.

The first time the Reserve Bank of India issued guidelines for new banks was two decades ago on January 22, 1993, just as the economy was opening up. Of the 10 Banks that started in 1994, four did not survive. Three (Times Bank, Centurion Bank which had taken over Bank of Punjab merged with HDFC Bank while GTB was forced to merge with the public sector OBC). RBI in 2004, once again allowed two private banks-Kotak Mahindra Bank and YES Bank. In view of the past track record of private sector Banks and crumbling value systems, we have got our strong reservations for the new banks. Our opposition to new banks is not ill founded. Unhealthy competition is bound to start in favour of new Banks. Despite stringent checks suggested by RBI, vulnerability of the interests of the common depositor cannot be avoided. There are all chances of diversion of funds of the new banks to the business houses of their promoters. Huge investment of funds from Escrow A/c of Airport Metro project to the funds managed by Reliance is one of the examples as to how funds are used and manipulated by private entrepreneurs.

Trade Unions got vindicated when the Parliamentary standing Committee on Finance, on 9th April 2013, almost in one voice wanted the Reserve Bank of India to drop the move to issue new banking licences. Members of the committee apprehended that the subjective nature of guidelines could open an avenue for corruption and therefore urged RBI to drop the move. The panel members have told the Governor of RBI that the global situation demands more caution from the RBI to issue new banking licences. It was reiterated that even countries such as the US have not allowed corporate players to enter the banking sector. Referring to a sting operation by a Web site, some members apparently alleged that a few private banks in the country are involved in money laundering. They also urged RBI to ensure that allowing more private players in the country does not lead to generation of more black money and thus jeopardize the country’s security. Earlier a panel of Economists of Harvard University, which by quoting the regulations in United States, had already warned Indian Government of the consequences of giving licences to Industrial houses.

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Even the International Monetary fund (IMF) warned India against licensing corporate entities to step into the business of commercial banking, saying the risks associated with such a move potentially outweigh the benefits of creating more banks.“The legal, operational and regulatory framework for consolidated supervision of both bank-led groups and financial conglomerates is still missing some important elements,” it said, while also flagging concerns about the lack of total independence for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from government influence.

Massive demonstrations were successfully held on the issue of ‘New bank Licensing Policy’ at a very short notice in protest of new bank licensing policy of Govt./RBI all over the country on 18th March, 2013 , under the banner of UFBU.

It is really unfortunate that despite our protest through various fora and warnings by other quarters, there was no change in Govt’s stand on this issue. The process of granting licenses is already in the pipeline.

Licences have been given to two organisation and now RBI is talking about more licences.

ALL ROADS LEADING TO PRIVATISATION

The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council headed by C. Rangarajan, has recommended phased dilution of government stake in Public Sector Banks from 58 per cent to 51 per cent, and introduction of on-tap licensing of new Banks. It estimates raising of additional capital of more than Rs.55000 crore, required to implement the Basel III norms, meant to strengthen the banking system. It has advocated for abolishing the present system of "stop-go" licensing of new banks, and making it ongoing process, in which licenses can be given whenever the central bank feels an applicant meets the strict eligibility criteria. This can be done if private banks fill in the space vacated by their public-sector counterparts, the council has said. In his maiden press conference as Reserve Bank of India Governor, Raghuram Rajan had also favoured the process suggested by the council.

Further, the government has liberalised the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy for entry of asset-reconstruction companies and investments in security receipts of ARCs. It has asked RBI to urgently consider steps to ensure the policy framework is implemented. The government has approved Axis Bank’s proposal to raise the foreign investment limit in the bank to 62% from 49%, which will facilitate the sale of the government’s stake in it apart from allowing overseas entities to pick up shares. The government expects the higher limit could yield an inflow of about Rs. 7,250 crore. The government

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stake in the bank is 20.72% through the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SU-UTI), which is worth nearly Rs. 13,000 crore. The government has in all budgeted Rs. 55,000 crore from disinvestment. The government has so far managed to raise only Rs. 3,000 crore. It also allowed FIIs to raise stakes in Karur Vyasya Bank to 40% through Primary/Secondary market subject to composite sectoral cap of 49%.

FOREIGN BANKS ANOTHER DANGER TO ECONOMY

The statement given by Shri Raghuram Rajan, Governor of Reserve Bank of India, in Washington opened another threat window to Indian economy. Though the stand of the trade unions in the banking industry and AIBOC in particular are known to all quarters, the confederation preferred to write a letter to the Governor on 15th October 2013, making its stand once again clear that foreign banks can do no better to our economy. The Governor offered two models of banking to the foreign i.e. wholly owned subsidiary and branch network. The statement of allowing more concessions in case they expand in the form of wholly owned subsidiary structure raises many doubts. Despite all opposition, not only from within the country but also from authorities like world bank and US banking wizards, the Reserve Bank of India has declared the policy guidelines also for the foreign banks. Going ahead with these indications, some old generation private banks have already made provisions for enhanced foreign capital up to 75% through their board resolutions. We strongly oppose this action of Reserve Bank of India and shall communicate with all other trade unions for opposing the move which is detrimental to the interest of Indian economy and its citizen.

NAYAK COMMITTEE REPORT

Since the last few days, a series of press reports and comments have been appearing in respect of the recommendations of Dr.Nayak Committee report, released recently by the Government of India. The RBI had appointed an Expert Committee to Review the Governance of Boards of the Banks in India during the month of January 2014. The terms of reference also included, inter alia, the need to examine the working of Bank’s Boards, including, whether adequate time is being devoted to the issues of strategy, growth, governance and risk management and to review Central Bank’s regulatory guidelines on bank ownership, ownership concentration and representation in the board etc. It also aims at analyzing the representation on the boards to examine whether the boards have the appropriate mix of capabilities and the necessary independence to govern the institution, and to investigate the possible conflicts of interest in board representation including among owner representatives and regulators etc. The terms of reference in itself was

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indicative of the nature of the expectation of the RBI and the Government from the committee and justification of the intention of the Government to hand over the banking industry to the private sector.

2. The Committee went ahead with the work in a systematic manner to bring out a beautifully drafted, more appropriately, a directed report for the purpose for which the committee was set up. The report is very comprehensive. In order to save time from going through the voluminous report, an overview of the report is also given in the form of a summary, so that the readers should be able to comprehend and assimilate the entire gamut of the report in a short time.

3. Let us examine each issue that was referred to by the RBI to be examined by the Committee. The heading of the reference to the Committee was to review Governance of Boards of the Banks in India. The terms of reference included the broader areas of the objectives for which the Committee was constituted and not for mere assessment of the performance and review of the Boards of the Banks. The first and foremost issue is that of the ownership of the Banking Industry. To-day, the Banking industry is owned by the people of the country through the public ownership and held by the Government of India and not a few individuals. But the Committee has sadly, repeated the recommendations of Narasimhan Committee and suggested the following measures:-

a) The Government of India should get out of the ownership at the earliest by diluting its ownership to less than 50%.

b) The equity held by the Government should be transferred to a holding Company to be set up in the name of Bank Investment Company which will hold all the equity of the Government in respect of the banking industry.

c) The BIC to be all powerful in the days’ to come and would take over the responsibilities in relation to the governance of Banks in due course. Its role and responsibility will be referred to in different areas as could be seen in the report in different chapters.

d) In respect of the equity required by the Banks to ensure the implementation of Basel III, the banks would be allowed to raise the required funds from the Authorized Bank Investors who will have powers to raise funds from the market including mutual funds, pension funds etc. and invest the same in the banks to the extent of 25% of equity without the approval of the regulator. Incase they have their nominees on the board, upto 15% of the equity, without the approval of the regulators.

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e) The present rule of restriction on the voting rights to the extent of 10% of the share holding should be removed and proportionate voting rights should be conferred on the investors to a maximum extent of 25% of the equity.

REGULATORY RESPONSIBILITIES:

1) It is very obvious that with the dilution of ownership, the regulatory responsibility of the RBI and the Government gets diluted. However, the Committee has categorically recommended that the present control of the banks and their boards, which vests with the RBI and Government, should be stripped off and instead should be entrusted to the Bank Investment Company, which will have the full control and regulatory powers. The RBI should not interfere in the day to day functioning of the banks. In order to facilitate this position, the Committee recommends that the Government and RBI Directors should be withdrawn from the Boards of the Banks.

2) The responsibility of choosing the chief executives of the Banks, the other Executives, the Non-executive directors, the independent directors etc., should be entrusted to a separate entity to set up under the name of Bank Boards Bureau, which will initially address all these issues and later the function would be taken over by the Bank Investment Company.

3) In order to facilitate entrusting of these powers to the various authorities, the Government should repeal all acts relating to the Banking Industry viz., the Banks Nationalization Act, the SBI Act, the SBI Subsidiary Act etc., and bring the Banking Industry under the Company’s Act.

4) The Committee further states that the banking industry is under pressure and unable to discharge its function effectively due to the operation of CVC and CBI as well as the applicability of RTI Act. Hence, to provide a level playing field for the Public Sector banks with that of the Private Sector Banks, the banking industry should be brought out of the purview of these legislations. What a tragedy that the Public Sector Banks under the ownership of the Government, which is nearly 80% of the size of the industry, feels that by stripping off the public sector character of these banks, they would enabling these banks to compete with Private Sector Banks in the country. We have seen a large number of private sector banks, in particular, the new generation private sector banks collapse in the recent past due to misadventure and mismanagement, not only in our country but also abroad.

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HUMAN RESOURCES:

The Committee has suggested sweeping reforms in the area of Human Resources Management. It talks about compensation system, building a strong cadre of professional banker’s, enhancement in the retirement age of Senior Executives, the Directors on the Boards of the Banks etc.

The committee has also recommended incentive linked compensation in the form of stocks to be issued to the performing employees as well as the Executives and the Directors on the Boards of the Banks in the name of promoting professional competence amongst the senior officers in the banks, as is available in some Private Sector Banks, which will ultimately form a part of CTC.

Some of the major recommendations are summarized below:-

a) The Banks Boards Bureau will advise on all matters of the appointment of the senior executives and members of the Boards, until the Banks Investment Company eventually takes over the responsibility of controlling the HR management.

b) The Committee has suggested that in order to ensure continuity in the top management, the appointment of the Chairman and the Managing Directors should be for a period of 5 years. The superannuation can be at the age of 65 years.

c) In order to ensure professional management and responsibility in the affairs of the Bank, the Chairman and the Managing Director should be separated and two independent persons should hold control of the Management.

d) The Managing Director would be responsible for the administration of the Bank and the Chairman should be heading the Board and will be responsible for the conduct of the Boards affairs, the business strategy etc.,

e) The CEO, Managing Director, and other whole time directors and the Directors appointed by the BIC will constitute the inside directors who would be connected with the investors etc., and will be responsible for the conduct of the affairs of the Banks. The other nominees on the Board will be treated as independent directors.

LEVEL PLAYING FIELD:

In the name of the level playing field, the committee has recommended that the licensing policy should be uniform for all categories of Banks. It rather suggests a free for all concept as regards the opening of the new banks.

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The Committee has also suggested that the Government should not issue instructions, directions in respect of the various schemes and policies etc only to the public sector banks. Instead it should be for all the Banks so that the other categories of Banks are also brought under the purview of the implementation of such schemes etc.

The Government should not interfere in the matter of administration of the banks. The public sector banks should eventually be guided and controlled by the Banks Investment Committee, ably supported by a separate entity in the name of Banks Boards Bureau (BBB) under a Government notification and ultimately, in a phased manner, the BIC should take over the functions of the Banks Boards Bureau as well.

Old Private Sector banks have received a special mention in the report. According to the Committee the BBB should take over the responsibility of ensuring a properly constituted professional board in these banks. As these banks are community based and fully controlled by the Promoters, who have major shares, the appointment of the CEO should be with the advise of the BBB initially and thereafter by the direct involvement of the BIC which will be the ultimate regulator of the banking industry.

GENERAL:

The Committee has made such recommendations which would provide a smooth passage for the handing over of the Banking Industry on a platter to the Corporate world. The banking industry would be free from the surveillance of the people of the country through the Parliament. The resources mobilized from the masses of this country, which is massive, will be handed over to the multinationals and the corporate for their greedy investment in the capital market and other adventurous business, at the cost of the safety and the security of the people’s savings. There are several sugar coated recommendations in the name of the independent and effective governance by the Board, but the ultimate aim is to take away the banking industry from the ownership of the people of this country. One of the most dangerous fallout is that, with the dilution of Government equity below 50%, the Banks come out of the purview of RTI Act, CBI, CVC etc., thereby enabling a free for all situation, which is extremely detrimental to the public interests, probity in financial dealings etc. Apart from this, the one enabling factor that had built confidence in the minds of the Public is the Public Sector Character and the Governments stake in the Banks. The ownership by the Government had created great faith in the public and ensured that the Public Sector Banks, with all imposed constraints and restrictions of priority sector lending’s, poverty alleviation programmes, loan waivers, etc have

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given the Private Sector Banks a run for their money. Indian Public Sector Banks have survived the financial crisis of 2008 and 2011 and are growing. With a little bit of capital infusion they can overcome the present situation which has arisen out of a global economic slowdown, affecting all Banks equally, public and private, alike. In view of the above, the report not only needs to be rejected in Toto but deserves to be condemned by all right thinking and rational people who are interested in the uplift of the common man and the nation. Let us therefore be in readiness to launch a massive campaign against the ill advised recommendations of the committee and be prepared for launching a struggle to see that these recommendations are not accepted and implemented by the Government.

UNIFORM HOLIDAYS CALENDAR UNDER CTS

Grid-based Cheque Truncation System (CTS) has been launched in Chennai and Mumbai covering several States/Union Territories with the objective of streamlining the procedures in cheque clearing system. Holidays in Banks of state are declared under Negotiable Instrument Act 1881 by the respective state governments. As local clearing houses are gradually being subsumed into the CTS, there is a need to devise a policy of uniform holidays so as to ensure the smooth functioning of grid based CTS operations. The practice of uniform holidays is already in place since 2010 for the CTS operations at New Delhi which encompasses bank branches in New Delhi as well as NCR in adjacent states. RBI decided to put in place the uniform holiday arrangement at the three CTS locations with effect from October 7, 2013 as under:

1) The CTS centres in New Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai will adopt RTGS holidays as uniform holidays for the respective grid.

2) Additionally, CTS operations will be closed on such days when all the participating states in the grid are observing holidays, even though RTGS is working on such days.

3) The President of the respective CTS location will notify the list of such uniform holidays well in advance to enable the participating banks to put in place inward clearing processing infrastructure at the grid location.

THE GREAT BANK ROBBERY NON PERFORMING ASSETS

Bank robbery always makes big news. But, not when it is craftily conducted by clever corporates. Corporate robbery of banks even carries a fashionable nametag, ‘non-performing asset’. It refers to loans that have gone sour and are not recoverable. Banks simply write them off. Unlike

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other categories of bank robbers who, if caught, face prosecution under a host of sections and sub-sections of the Indian Penal Code, big-time corporate bank robbers mostly go scot-free, although several of them are even known to be habitual loan defaulters. (Think of Vijay Mallaya who can buy a cricketer for Rs.13 cr and run formula I race cars but will not repay loans to banks)

Banks, mostly in the public sector, have restructured or written off loans worth over Rs. 3 lakh crore to favour large loan defaulters in less than the last two years of the UPA regime. The scale and depth of the recent loan write-offs and debt restructuring by banks have embarrassed even the union finance minister, the Reserve Bank and Parliamentary standing committee on finance. Thanks to judicial protection received by those large corporate loan defaulters, stakeholders don’t even get to know the names of the concerned corporate promoters and their guarantors.

The rise of PSU bank NPAs, led by the State Bank of India, has been phenomenal since the last financial year, assuming almost scandalous proportions, seemingly vying with such mega scams as 2G and ‘Coalgate’ in terms of amounts involved and the number of high-profile business houses blowing up bank funds. According to CRISIL, a top rating agency, banks’ gross NPAs this fiscal may grow by Rs.1 trillion to Rs. 4 trillion in March 2014. The amount is really big if compared with RBI’s estimate of gross bank NPAs since 2001 at Rs. 6 trillion. Data collected by RBI over the last one year blew the lid off what goes as banks’ loan classification.

Gross NPAs of PSU banks have risen from Rs. 71,080 crore as of March, 2011, to Rs. 1.55 lakh crore by the end of December 2012. The gross bank NPAs was 3.3 per cent in March, 2013. It rose to 3.7 per cent by the end of June. Crisil predicted it could grow to 4.4 per cent by March 2014, turning almost Rs. 1 trillion worth bank credit as NPAs within such a short span. Bulk of the NPAs was on account of only some 30 top loan defaulters, stated by the then Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram himself. Admittedly, a key reason behind the sudden spurt in bank NPAs is the economic slowdown. But, it would be naïve to believe that banks and large corporate borrowers did not notice the early warning. The personal assets of the Corporate businessmen keep increasing only.

Yet, what is the government doing about it? Who are those 30 top loan defaulters? What are their business profiles? How could they access such large sums of large bank funds, despite the risk factors linked with their businesses in view of the current economic slowdown and their past loan repayment records? And, who were their guarantors? These are some of the questions long bugging stakeholders, including depositors and ordinary shareholders. They would like to have some convincing answers from those

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big NPA-hit banks or the government. Government banks are bleeding. Taxpayers’ money is being doled out to recapitalise these public sector banks. The depositors and general public are in the dark. Even the Parliamentary standing committee on finance had expressed concern over the phenomenal rise in PSU banks’ NPAs in less than 18 months.

Notably, the impression one gets from recent statements-to-strictures by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, the former financial services secretary, Rajiv Takru, and the former RBI deputy governor K C Chakrabarty on the alarming rise of PSU banks’ NPAs caused mainly by some three dozen large loan defaulters is that they are helpless about the way the public funds are openly stolen or taken away by some smart corporate cookies. Takru wants banks to ‘act tough with willful defaulters.’ Why are those banks not paying heed to the top finance ministry bureaucrat? Could it be because of some high-level political interference? Who are they? It is common knowledge that several of the top loan defaulters are builders and real estate developers, all boasting top political connections in Delhi.

The former RBI deputy governor Chakrabarty’s frustration over the massive increase in bank NPAs is even more telling. At a recent bankers’ meet, he spoke about how banks sacrificed over Rs. 1,00,000 crore by writing off ‘bad loans’ to corporates which, he said, was much higher than Finance Minister Chidambaram’s farm loan waiver in 2008 before the Lok Sabha polls that invited strong criticism by big industries and their apex bodies. What is preventing Chakrabarty, himself a former chairman of Punjab National Bank, from wielding his stick against the truant PSU bank managements as a deputy governor of the country’s central bank? Why aren’t the government and RBI naming the defaulters and attaching all their assets along with their credit guarantors’?

Bad loans are being recast like never before to save large corporate defaulters and banks themselves from public criticism in the name of corporate debt restructuring (CDR), mostly with retrospective effect, ignoring its impracticability and risk factors in many cases. CDR is often misused to temporarily window-dress balance sheets by both banks and loan defaulters.

According to a FICCI report, banks have cumulatively recast loans to the tune of Rs 2.5 trillion under the CDR exercise, mostly during the last few months. Last year, banks had restructured loans worth Rs. 75,000 crore, almost double the 2011-12 figure. Bankers privately fear that a good chunk could turn unproductive. The CDR provides relief to companies which are unable to repay existing loans by extending the payback period, reducing or partly waiving the interest rate, giving a repayment holiday and the option to convert a part of loan into equity. During last April-June alone,

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PSU banks had restructured loans of some one dozen companies for a total amount of Rs. 20,000 crore.

How many of the PSU banks do proper diligence before sanctioning credit and how fewer of them approve CDR on merit? By the RBI deputy governor’s own admission, a majority of the write-offs involve big accounts, underscoring the need to hold top executives who clear the big loan proposals, accountable for its decisions. “Wrong appraisal is leading to diversions, leading to over- leverage, leading to fraud, leading to NPAs…they are all inter-related,” he said. Large bank NPAs in the last two years, the huge loan write-offs and the sudden spate of CDRs before the Lok Sabha election are far worse than occasional bank robbery. They rob depositors and shareholders of better returns and the government of tax revenue to shield large corporates who have been traditionally running away with bank funds, turning companies sick and throwing workers out of jobs, all seemingly with the consent and connivance of bank managements.

Kingfisher Airlines is biggest defaulter of public sector banks.

According to the All India Bank Employees Association, Kingfisher tops the list of 50 biggest defaulters of PSBs that owes Rs40,528 crore. In order to highlight the increasing bad loans or non-performing assets (NPAs) menace in PSBs, the bank employees observed 5th December 2013 as 'All India Demands Day' by wearing badges and holding rallies.

According to AIBEA, Mumbai-based Winsome Diamond and Jewellery Company (erstwhile Su-Raj Diamond India Ltd), with dues of Rs2,660 crore, is the second highest defaulter, followed by Electrotherm India Ltd at Rs2,211 crore.

In May 2013, ratings agency CRISIL downgraded the Jatin R Mehta-led Winsome Diamond to a ‘D’ rating while placing it under watch in view of continuous defaults of the company’s overseas customers and consequent development of letters of credit (LoCs). At that time, Punjab National Bank, the lead bank of the consortium, had an exposure of more than Rs1,800 crore to the Winsome Group.

Some of the other big-ticket defaulters include, Zoom Developers Pvt Ltd (Rs1,810 crore), Sterling Biotech Ltd (Rs1,732 crore), S Kumars Nationwide Ltd (Rs1,692 crore), Surya Vinayak Industries Ltd (Rs1,446 crore), Corporate Ispat Alloys Ltd (Rs1,360 crore), Forever Precious Jewellery and Diamonds (Rs1,254 crore), Sterling Oil Resources Ltd (Rs1,197 crore) and Varun Industries Ltd (Rs.1,129 crore)

“There are 7295 names in which about Rs 68,000 crore loans are involved Rs 1 crore and above. That has to be published. Incentives are being given for corporate delinquents. In fact, about 3.25 lakh crore of which about Rs

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2.70 lakh crore of bad loans are being restructured as good loans, as performing loans. These are all pertaining to the corporate people. Restructured loans / CDR accounts are nothing but hidden NPAs. It's a volcano. Anytime the bomb can blast." The Unions have demanded PSBs to publish list of bank loan defaulters of Rs1 crore and above, make wilful default in bank loan a criminal offence, order investigation to probe nexus and collusion (between the borrower and officials), amend Recovery Law to speed up the process, take stringent measures for recovering bad debts and not to incentivise corporate delinquency. Associations are now demanding that banks publish the list of defaulters of Rs 1 crore and above and classify “wilful default” as criminal offenders. Currently, RBI collates the data of wilful defaulters for improving bank supervision. Finance Ministry and RBI have been concerned about the way promoters renege on their loan repayments. They had asked banks to go after wilful defaulters aggressively and even look at management takeover as part of the recovery process. But nothing has happened.

TRENDS IN NPA

Slowdown of the economy, hardening of lending rates, rising inflation, dwindling asset prises, global economic situation and wilful default are the major causes of increasing NPA.

SSIs, Personal Loans, Infrastructure Loans and Loans to power sector contribute to the growing NPA. As already stated Corporate Sector is the major villain. Priority Sector including Agriculture recovery percentage is comparatively better.

If the Government does not take efforts to recover corporate debts it may lead to collapse of many banks. Lessons have to be learnt from the United Bank of India crises. The Government should pay to the banks the loans outstanding in infrastructure and power sector which were given due to the directions of the Government. The Government also should come heavily on the large borrowers with outstanding more than Rs.1 cr whose number is less than 10,000 but the loan outstanding is so huge. The personal assets of the major share holders have to be taken over and the Government may have to nationalize many of these companies and take control of them. BANKS TOLD TO FILE FIRs AGAINST WILFUL DEFAULTERS Determined to address the problem of rising bad loans, the finance ministry has asked banks to register first information reports (FIRs) and initiate criminal proceedings against willful defaulters. Public sector banks have been told to

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show zero tolerance towards willful defaulters and lodge FIRs against them. Taking over the company management from such defaulters is also a must. The ministry is also planning to hold more frequent meetings with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as well as regulators Reserve Bank of India and Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to avert and/or tackle potential dangers to the banking system caused by wilful defaulters, The Reserve Bank of India has also decided to create a central repository on large borrowers both individuals and entities with exposure of more than Rs 10 crore to help banks deal with credit risks. However, long pending demands of the Trade Unions to publish names of defaulters in the public domain and to treat the deliberate defaults as criminal offence punishable under criminal proceedings and latest instructions of RBI are yet to be implemented.

FRAUDS RIPPED PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS

Public sector banks cumulatively lost a massive sum of Rs. 22,743 crores due to cheating and forgery in the last three years alone. Indian Overseas Bank is the worst hit with a loss of Rs. 3,200 crores as against State Bank of India (SBI) which lost Rs. 2,712 crores. Between April 2010 and September 2013, the number of bank fraud cases have shown a slight decrease in numbers but the amount of money lost has been increasing year on year. Interestingly, by way of comparison, Indian Overseas Bank lost more to fraud than it earned in profits. It registered a net profit of Rs. 2,848 crores between 2010 and 2013 but lost Rs. 3,200 crores for the same period. For SBI, the blow was cushioned. It registered a profit of Rs. 39,692 crores between April 2010 and September 2013. In the corresponding period, the bank lost Rs. 2,712 crores to fraud.

The number of fraud cases, for instance, came down to 2,996 in April 2012 to March 2013, from 3,748 in April 2010 to March 2011, but the amount shot up to Rs. 10,179.42 crores from Rs. 3,275 crores. Loans on forged documents are the main component of these losses. The increase in alternate channels of delivery including internet banking and even use of ATMs which has reduced human interface with the customer and banks has led to increased frauds.

BHARTIYA MAHILA BANK

The country’s first women’s Bank- the Bharatiya Mahila Bank was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India on 19th November 2013, in a function organized at Mumbai. UPA Chairperson Mrs. Sonia Gandhi was also present on the occasion. Finance Minister had announced the setting up of this bank in this year’s budget as part of the government’s efforts to target three key constituencies—the youth, women and the poor— as it prepared for

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a raft of state polls to be followed by the general election. Parliament passed the supplementary demand for grants, allocating Rs.1,000 crore as initial capital to establish the women’s bank, clearing the way for final approval from the Reserve Bank of India.

Presently, bank's nine branches, one each in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Indore, Bangalore, Guwahati and Lucknow, are all operational with its Headquarter in Delhi. It will be scaled up to 25 branches and 127 cash machines and serve more than 33,000 predominantly women customers at the end of the first year. It aims to become profitable by the fifth year of operations. The bank aims to service women and women-run businesses, support women’s self-help groups and their livelihoods and promote further financial inclusion in a country where only 35% of Indian adults have access to a bank account. Usha Ananthasubramanian, Executive Director of Punjab National Bank is the Chairperson of the bank, which is predominantly employing women. The bank is initially staffed by officials selected on deputation from other public-sector banks.

SALIENT FEATURES OF RBI EXPERT COMMITTEE ON DEVISING A MONETARY POLICY FRAMEWORK The RBI Expert Committee on Monetary Policy constituted under DG, Urjit Patel submitted its report on January 21, 2014. The major findings are,

Retail inflation, as measured by Consumer Price Index, to replace wholesale inflation as the policy anchor since it better reflects cost of living and inflation expectations. The responsibility of the central bank should be to bring retail inflation down to 4%, with a variation to 200 bps on either side. Monetary Policy Committee to be set up, headed by RBI Governor with the responsibility of achieving the nominal inflation target set by it. The composition would be- RBI Governer, one DG, and Executive Director and two external members. The tenure of the Committee to be three years and should meet once every two months. A bi-annual inflation report to be released in public domain. If the Committee fails to achieve the target for three quarters in a row, it has to issue a public statement with reasons and remedial measures to be adopted. Roadmap is to cut inflation from 10% to 8% in one year and to 6% in two years. The committee thus envisaged a rule based framework to make the conduct of monetary policy more effective and transparent. It spoke about

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the need for a firm commitment from the Government to cut fiscal deficit to 3% of GDP by FY 17. The committee advocated LAF, Repo rate to be single policy rate in Phase-1 and 14 day term repo to emerge as policy rate in Phase-II. Weighted average call rate to be the operating target in Phase-1. Committee suggested RBI’s OMO should be for managing liquidity and not for managing yields. It advocated phasing out of market stabilization and cash management bills since that would be eventually managed by the debt management office. It advocated government to do moral suasion on banks for effective monetary policy transmission. Other measures advocated include reduction in SLR, more frequent reset of small savings rates and revisiting the issue of interest rate subventions to farmers. The panel also advocated the need for all fixed income financial products to be treated on par with bank FDs for tax purposes. The Committee also deliberated on the issue of volatile capital flows and adequacy of forex reserves. The target of 4% is ambitious particularly in an imperfect market like India. Reduction of SLR is possible only if Government is able to cut fiscal deficit considerably. We still have a low tax/GDP ratio. Hence, achieving the recommendations of the committee depends on effective coordination between monetary and fiscal authorities. Reduction in CPI inflation will reduce the attractiveness of instruments like CPI linked inflation bonds introduced recently. 14 day policy rate to emerge as operational rate in Phase-II will aid in the development of a term money market curve. However, giving a specific policy anchor will make RBI more independent to base its decisions and can avoid Government interference in this matter. Phasing out of market stabilization and cash management bills to debt management office signals RBI emerging more as a monetary manager and gradual withdrawal from debt management functions. The placement of bi-annual inflation report in public domain will improve communication and enhance transparency.

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Labour Movement

WORKERS’ STRUGGLES

The neo liberal policies pursued by countries in the European Union lead to a big financial crisis that countries such as Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Spain etc. faced a severe debt repayment crisis. The large scale debts, unemployment and severe cuts in public spending lead to social unrest and many struggles across Europe. There is now a rising tide of struggle internationally. This kind of generalisation is not easy to make because the struggle is always at different levels and taking different forms in different countries…There have not been sustained workers’ struggles anywhere, even in Europe, it has been episodic. In 2010 the leading role was played by Greece where there were eight general strikes, plus many major demonstrations and street battles. But there were also general strikes in Spain and in Portugal…and a huge struggle over pensions in France involving mass strikes and huge street mobilisations of up to 3.5 million people. In Iceland the government was forced into a referendum over their IMF bailout and lost it. There were 50,000-100,000 on the streets of Milan greeting the defeat of Berlusconi in that city. In the United Kingdom also there were several protests against the State withdrawing several public welfare measures. In Europe more than 5.5 million under-25s are without work, and the number rises inexorably every month. It's been called the "lost generation", a legion of young, often highly qualified people, entering a so-called job market that offers very few any hope of a job – let alone the kind they have been educated for. As of mid 2012, Greece, Ireland, and Portugal were bailed out by the European Union.

WORKERS STRUGGLES IN INDIA

The laws relating to payment of wages, restrictions on contract work, basic rights and liberties at the workplace, the right to unionize – all these are violated by private corporations with impunity. And they are done in close coordination with different wings of the government. The mantra of growth comes in at every stage to legitimize every wrong, every illegality and every act of corruption indulged in by the joint forces of government and private capital. The struggle of workers throughout the world is uniform as the Honda Workers in China and the Hyundai workers in Korea also go through a series of struggles.

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The legitimate space for workers demanding fair wages and working conditions are thwarted by appointment of contract workers, closely monitoring each worker by increasing his work load, publicizing workers demands as unreasonable, portraying workers struggles as violent, anti industry and anti growth and when these measures do not yield result, Managements throw the “shut out” card laying off hundreds of workers which makes them deflect from their actual demands to the demand of reopening of the industry. MARUTI WORKERS STRUGGLE The workers’ struggle in the Maruti Suzuki India Ltd plant at Manesar, Gurgaon, has been in the national news ever since July 2012, when an ongoing unrest in the plant turned violent, leading to the ghastly death of the General Manager Awanish Dev. This was followed by hundreds of random arrests, dismissals and slapping of criminal cases on workers.

The violent suppression of the struggle of Honda Motors and Scooters in 2005 and Rico Auto Industries in 2009, where a worker had been beaten to death. In all these cases, the major bone of contention has been the right of workers to form independent unions – as opposed to management sponsored unions.

Recently, a delegation of the International Commission on Labour Rights, comprising academics and trade unionists from the US, Japan and South Africa, visited India to investigate the situation at Maruti where a couple of hundred workers are still under arrest and over four hundred have been terminated following the violence. The management, expectedly, refused to meet the members of the commission. The delegation however met the police officials, officials of the Labour Department of the Haryana government, attended court hearings, and met different trade union organizations. Their report indicts the management of Maruti-Suzuki India Ltd. for continued unfair labour practices and holds it guilty of violation of various Conventions of the International Labour Organization.

AIR INDIA WORKERS STRUGGLE

The workers of Air India — pilots, engineers, ground staff and cabin crew have been waging a protracted struggle against the anti worker policies of the Air India management and Civil Aviation Ministry. One of the biggest attacks on these workers has been the nonpayment of wages for months on end. This has forced the workers of Air India to go on strike or refrain from duty numerous times over the past nearly two years. In the course of these

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struggles, the workers of Air India have increasingly realized the necessity to forge unity of different sections of workers of Air India. They have recognized that the problems of different sections of workers are substantially the same. They have come to the conclusion that they need to fight unitedly the anti worker, anti national policy of the government which is working overtime to liquidate the company as a prelude to privatization.

The Joint Forum of Air India Employees consisting of eight unions, representing a cross-section of staffers ranging from pilots, cabin crew, engineers and ground staff joined together saying that they would implement 'No pay no work' policy as the management was "withholding" their "legitimate wages" for over five months. The Indian Pilots Guild, Air India Officers Association, Air India Engineers Association and Air India Aircraft Engineers Association are part of the Joint Forum which was formed in June 2011 in the course of the struggle against the government’s anti-worker moves.

KING FISHER AIRLINE WORKERS STRUGGLE

Several hundred employees at privately-owned Kingfisher Airlines in India have engaged in strikes and other job actions over the past month to demand back wages owed to them since March. Rank-and-file workers—who are not represented by any unions—have organized the job actions themselves.

The most recent strike, which began September 30,2012 involved airline engineers who were soon joined by pilots and some cabin crew. The company’s domestic and international flights out of Mumbai and New Delhi were halted by the walkout. The media reports that 500 employees, including 30 pilots, 250 engineers and cabin crew, have been involved in the strikes.

This was the fourth walkout by the Kingfisher employees over the last eight months. In August pilots struck twice the non-payment of salaries. In some cases, employees have reported they are owed as much as 300,000 rupees. The employees now face an uncertain future. BAJAJ WORKERS STRIKE AT CHAKAN

When 950 workers at the Chakan (Pune) plant of Bajaj Auto struck work on 25 June,2013 among their demands for improved wages and work conditions was one that generated much controversy – the union asked for equity shares, or what is called employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), at Re 1 a share . After outrightly rejecting the demands of the workers and initiating repressive actions against a few, the company, in Feb 14 decided to give a hike of Rs 10,000 per month in a phased manner to workers at the plant.

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NEYVELI LIGNITE WORKERS STRIKE.

Historic Indefinite Strike by NLC Unions : In yet another Historic Indefinite Strike launched by the employees of Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) against privatisation, the employees succeeded and the shares were bought by the TN State Government. The order of the H’ble High Court of Madras to withdraw the strike did not deter them and the strike was a great success. Let us salute them.

Strike by contract workers at Neyveli

Since 21st April, 2014 more than 13,000 contract workers belonging to Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) are on strike at Neyveli (Tamil Nadu). They have been fighting for equal wage for their work and regularization of their employment. Even after 13 rounds of talks held between the unions and management, no settlement has been reached. The contract workers got an increase in pay of just Rs 60 during their previous contract in 2010. The workers have been demanding an increase in pay to Rs. 25,000/- from the current Rs. 10000/- and also regularize their work. On 16th April, 2013, the honourable Supreme Court ordered that contract workers need to be regularized. However, the apex court did not specify a cut off date for implementing its order or specify the number of employees to be regularized. Close to 13000 contract workers heve been employed there and they went on a strike from 4th Sept 2014. Their consistent struggles and the Supreme Court’s judgement have not given them any relief. When it comes to meeting the demands of workers, Governments are no different from individuals and Corporates.

The struggle being waged by the NLC contract workers is important in the sense that it has challenged the current system of contract employment which has become the norm of employment ever since the unleash of neo-liberal reforms in India two decades ago. NLC workers struggle is in line with the long lists of strikes that have occurred in India recently since 2011.

BSNL Employees Succeed: The BSNL Employees have succeeded in their struggle demanding implementation of an agreement signed a year ago regarding merger of DA. More than 2.5 lakh employees had announced an indefinite strike starting from June 12. The demand was accepted on June 10 and the strike was withdrawn. Kudos to the BSNL Employees.

The major positive development in the labour movement is the coming together of major Trade Unions for a common goal,

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forgetting the ideologies. If this is nurtured properly the Trade Union movement can change the future of the working class, peasants and the deprived and bring in a society with equity, equality and justice, which should be really democratic.

TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN THE COUNTRY

Central Trade Unions Unite

National Convention of Workers expresses serious concern / decides action programmes. 6th August, 2013 was yet another historical day in the Trade Union Movement of our country. National Convention of Workers from all recognized eleven trade unions namely BMS, INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU, AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, UTUC, LPF and Independent Workers/Employees Federation was held in the famous Mavlankar Hall at Rafi Marg, New Delhi. Hall was overflowing with more than 800 workers occupying their seats before the scheduled time of the convention. Leaders of all the eleven central trade unions formed the presidium and eleven speakers from these organizations were also on the dais. Com. Harshvardhan M.-President, Com. Harvinder Singh-General Secretary, Com. Sunil Bali-President ABOA, Com. Ameetaa Sharma-State Secretary, Women’s wing Delhi and other comrades represented AIBOC in the convention. The Central Trade Unions had demanded concrete response from the GoM on the following 10 issues:

1) Minimum Wage not less than Rs 10,000, 2) Universal Social Security Cover for all workers, 3) Assured Pension for the entire working population, 4) Same wage and benefits for contract workers as regular workers for

same and similar work, 5) Strict implementation of Labour Laws, 6) Concrete measures to contain price rise, 7) Concrete measures for employment generation, 8) Stoppage of disinvestment in Central and State PSUs/Undertakings, 9) Remove all ceilings on payment and eligibility of Bonus, Provident

Fund; Increase the quantum of gratuity and 10) Compulsory registration of trade unions within a period of 45 days

and immediate ratification of the ILO Convention Nos. 87 and 98.

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Joint Forum of Public Sector Officers’ Associations

JOINT FORUM OF PUBLIC SECTOR UNDERTAKINGS

SEMINAR ON 4TH AND 5TH OCT. 2014

There is a growing need for wider unity amongst Officers, Executives, Engineers and Professionals working in Public Sector Banks and other Public Sector undertakings to oppose the Anti public sector, Anti workforce and Anti people policies of the government. AIBOC, during the working committee meeting held on 23/6/2014 at Mumbai decided to form a joint forum of AIPEF, NCOA and SNEA/MEA and held a 2 day workshop on the State of the Economy at New Delhi on 16th and 17th August 2014.

Our Circle Association has once again took the lead as it has done under the leadership of our General Secretary, who has been chosen as the convenor of the Joint Forum of Officers’ Organisations of Public Sector Undertakings in Tamil Nadu and organised the first seminar under the aegis of AIBOC, Tamil Nadu outside Delhi on 4th & 5th October, 2014.

On the 4th October, Shri. Gurumurthy, Corporate Advisor and commentator on economic and political affairs, addressed the members of the organisations at Vidhyodhaya School Auditorium at Chennai. Com Vijayasenan, Secretary, AIBOC, Tamil Nadu welcomed the gathering.

The Next day, despite the intermittent rains, the seminar was held at the SBOA School & Junior College Auditorium at 10 a.m. It was attended by the leaders of the participating PSUs as well by other prominent luminaries. The following speakers have participated and have spoken on different topics .

Dr.Venkatesh Athreya, Economist from M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation spoke about the State of the Economy in National and International Context. Com.K.Ashok Rao, President, NCOA put forth “10 Vital points on the Public Sector Undertakings and it’s relevance. The policy of privatisation of profits and nationalisation of losses has to be defeated only if the PSU employees unite together, he said. Dr.Arunachala Ramanan, General Manager of Reserve Bank of India has detailed the role played by RBI in saving the Indian Economy from the onslaught of Globalisation.

Com.M.Y.Jothi Muhammed, Neyveli Lignite Corporation and NCOA narrated how the Coal Sector played an important role in nation building. Com.Sebastian, General Secretary of SNEA has narrated the spread of Communication across the country and it’s pivotal role in nation building. He

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narrated how BSNL was deprived of license and permission to import machineries when private sector was luring and snatching customers away from BSNL by their networking across the country with imported state of the art machineries. Com.K.Apparsamy, President of TNEB put forth facts and figures to underline, how the power sector shaped the nation’s fortune and how Government strangulates power producing PSUs by asking them to stop production so that power produced by private sector could be purchased and put to use. Government of the days play a vital role in making PSUs as lame ducks.

UFBU JOINS CENTRAL TRADE UNIONS IN THE NATIONWIDE STRIKE

UFBU joined the Central Trade Unions in a nationwide strike on the 20th and 21st Feb 2013. The SBI Management resorted to the dubious method of hoodwinking and terrorizing the rank and file across the country. The Management of the bank resorted to a series of measures aiming at denigrating the strength of the Federation and also its leadership across the country with a view to dissuade our members from responding to the call given by the Federation along with the other Central Trade Unions and also the strike notice served by the United Forum of Bank Unions on our behalf. However, it did not impact the striking will of the members of the Federation and the strike was a huge success.

UFBU – A BINDING FORCE

NATIONAL CONVENTION ORGANISED BY U.F.B.U.

A National Convention was organized by UFBU in Delhi on 20th May, 2011 to protest against increasing attempts to expedite banking sector reforms, outsourcing permanent and perennial banking jobs and services, foist the retrograde recommendations of Khandelwal Committee Report in the Industry and the inordinate delay in resolving the important issues of the bank employees and officers. More than 600 delegates from the constituent unions participated in the Convention. The leaders of the Central Trade Unions namely Dr. Sanjeeva Reddy, Com. Gurudas Dasgupta, Com. B.N. Rai, Com. A.K. Padmanabhan, Com. Umraomal Purohit etc. also took part in the convention congratulating the UFBU for the unity and united struggle and extended their total support and solidarity to our demands and strike action.

NOTICE OF STRIKE ON 7TH JULY 2011 & ITS DEFERMENT

In accordance with the decision taken in the national convention, IBA was served with a strike notice on 7th June, 2011 under Section 22 of I.D. Act-1947

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on behalf of all the nine unions in the Banking Industry. Main issues listed in the notice were as under:

1. Do not privatise Public Sector Banks

2. Do not reduce Government’s equity in Public Sector Banks

3. Do not avail World Bank Loan to capitalize Public Sector Banks

4. Do not proceed with merger of Banks including the Associate Banks with SBI.

5. Do not allow unrestricted entry of foreign capital in banking sector.

6. Do not delete Section 12(2) of Banking Regulations Act

7. Do not remove the ceiling on voting rights of foreign investors.

8. Do not issue license to industrial houses to start their own Banks.

9. Do not outsource permanent banking jobs and normal banking services

10. Do not proceed with the scheme of private business correspondents

11. Do not violate provisions of Bipartite Settlement on outsourcing

12. Provide adequate staff in Banks through recruitments to maintain and improve customer services.

13. Revive BSRBs for recruitment of staff in Public Sector Banks.

14. Implement the compassionate appointment/ financial compensation scheme as finalized between IBA & UFBU.

15. Issue revised uniform guidelines on house building loan, vehicle loan and festival advance to bank staff.

16. Implement 5 days banking

17. Regulate and define working hours of bank officers.

18. Improve Pension Scheme in banking sector on the lines of Central Government Scheme-updation of Pension along with wage revision of in service employees, uniform D.A. neutralization, improvement in commutation, Family Pension, Ex-Gratia of pre – 1986 retirees, etc.

19. Withdrawal of Government’s arbitrary instructions to Banks not to improve/ amend any service condition without their permission.

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20. Scrap Khandelwal Committee Recommendations.

Agitation programme which included submission of Memoranda at various levels, Badge wearing, Lunch time demonstrations, rallies and dharnas, chalked out by UFBU was being implemented by the unions. However, amidst successful implementation of the agitation programme, date of strike was deferred to 5th August 2011 so as to coincide with the changed dates of Monsoon session of Parliament.

ANIL KHANDELWAL COMMITTEE REPORT The Government had partially accepted the Anil Khandelwal Committee report on the HR policy, which are the bipartite issues and has unnecessarily entered the sensitive area of Promotion Policy, Recruitment, Outsourcing, Compensation System, Classification of Banks, variable pay etc. The representatives of AIBOC had made their position very clear, when they appeared before the Committee and made an exhaustive presentation on almost all the issues that were being considered by the Committee. One of the suggestions made by the Khandelwal committee was to earmark 3% of the profits towards the welfare activities and for funding the incentive scheme in respect of high performers. The Confederation has rejected most of the recommendations of and demanded that the Report should, lock, stock, and barrel be rejected by the Government. But the Government is resorting to implement many of the recommendations through the back door. A meeting of UFBU was held on 13th December 2011 in Delhi to decide about future course of action with a special focus on Khandelwal Committee, followed by a Seminar in the evening at Constitution Club. A Dharna was also held on 14th December, 2011 at Jantar Mantar at New Delhi. The representatives of Constituent Unions/Associations of UFBU met the Chairman, IBA on 16.12.2011 and urged to resolve the following pending issues with IBA / Govt.

1. Compassionate ground appointments and Financial Compensation Scheme.

2. Adequate recruitment of Staff 3. Revival of BSRBs 4. Uniform guidelines for Staff Loan 5. Business hours in Bank 6. Defined working hours for officers 7. 5 Day Banking 8. Improvement in Pension Scheme

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9. Implementation of New Pension Scheme for employees joining / joined from 01.04.2010

10. Outsourcing permanent and regular jobs 11. Unwarranted Banking reforms 12. Khandelwal Committee Recommendations UFBU in its meeting held on 24/03/2012 decided to observe All India Protest Day to intensify the struggle for all pending demands and against Government’s anti- labour policies, on 21/05/2012. A mammoth rally was organized by Delhi unit of UFBU. The address of the leaders at the rally attracted the attention of the local media and a wide coverage was given by electronic and print media.

A delegation under the leadership of convener of the UFBU met Shri D.K.Mittal, Secretary, D.F.S., M.O.F. on the same day and submitted a detailed memorandum addressed to the Hon’ble Finance Minister of India, as per the decision on the following issues:-

a) Closure of Rural Branches. b) Amendment to Banking Laws. c) Outsourcing of routine banking transactions. d) Khandelwal Committee Report. e) Staff Shortage. f) Non Resolution of residual issues such as:

i) Compassionate Appointment/ ex-gratia scheme; ii) Improvements to staff loans at concessional rate of interest; iii) Denial of 2nd option on Pension to VRS optees, Resigned and

compulsory retired. The Finance Secretary assured to look into the pending issues and to give appropriate directives to IBA, but justified the stand of the Government on others. The UFBU conveyed their strong resentment about the moves of the Government and desired that some of these issues should be rolled back to avoid the future confrontation between the unions and the Government

and decided to observe two days’ strike on 25th and 26th July’2012.

In view of the assurance given by IBA before CLC on 18th July 2012 conciliation meeting before CLC to hold bipartite discussion within a week, UFBU decided and agreed to temporarily postpone/defer the two days strike action. In the Bipartite meeting between IBA and UFBU held on 24th July, 2012 IBA could not give positive commitment on any of the issues nor agreed for time bound solution to our demands. It was therefore, decided to go ahead

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with the proposed strike action on 22nd and 23rd August, 2012. In the conciliation talks on 21st August, 2012, the IBA again did not offer anything concrete and UFBU leadership decided to observe the strike as planned. The strike was a grand success with momentous show of strength of solidarity all over the country. The protest demonstrations everywhere were massive and participated by thousands of members of all the affiliates and cadres.

In the post strike review meeting of the UFBU held at Chennai on 28th September, 2012, it was decided that in view of the continued attempts of the Government to pursue their banking reforms agenda and non-resolution of our demands, resistance to any attempt to get the Bill passed in the next winter session should be continued with follow-up actions of submission of memorandum letters to the IBA by all our unions in October/November, 2012, campaigning against the Banking reforms and other anti labour policies of the Government, through meetings with all central trade unions, political parties, MPs, mass signature collection from general public and bank customers and submitting petition to speaker, Lok Sabha during November/December, 2012.

SUCCESSFUL NATIONWIDE GENERAL STRIKE ON 20TH - 21ST FEBRUARY 2013

UFBU in its meeting on 31st January 2013, welcomed the joint call of all Central Trade Unions for the nationwide General Strike on 20th and 21st February, 2013 against the anti people, anti labour, Neo-liberal economic policies being pursued by the government. The meeting also took note of the Government attempts at consolidation and merger of banks and to grant licenses to industrial and corporate houses to start their own private banks depicted Govt.’s policy of double standards- expansion of private banks and consolidation of public sector banks, serious efforts to outsource the regular banking jobs and service to private contract agencies which would jeopardize the jobs and job security in the banking sector. An unanimous decision was taken to participate in the nationwide 2 days strike on 20th and 21st February, 2013, in support of the 10 point agenda of Central Trade Unions.

With this background, the strike notice by UFBU was served on the IBA with following issues and demands:

• In support of the 10 point Charter of Demands of Central Trade Unions • Control alarming price rise • Hands off trade union rights • Stop Banking Reforms • Stop Outsourcing • Early wage revision

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• Settle pending issues like compassionate appointment scheme. • Anti Trade Union actions of Government and Management

It was for the first time in the history of this country that workers’ unions of all hues came together on common demands and participated in country wide two days general strike. All organised and unorganised workers from various industries, services, voluntary & social organisations participated in unprecedented and unexpectedly successful strike on 20th& 21st February 2013. Banking services were totally paralysed while other key services including postal & transport were severely affected on both the days. A massive demonstration was held in the heart of capital city of Delhi at Allahabad Bank building, Parliament Street culminating into a rally that marched through Parliament Street and assembled at historic Jantar Mantar and was addressed by all the prominent leaders. Com. Gurudas Dasgupta, while referring to the Government’s claim of reaching out to the unions, informed that it was just a “made-up-show” as the four Ministers were directed by the Prime Minister to meet unions only on Feb.13, 2013 whereas the notice of strike was served in September, 2012 and on the day of talks, the most important Finance Minister P. Chidambaram was “Conspicuously absent”.

CHANGES IN UFBU LEADERSHIP

Com. P.K. Sarkaar, who was elected as convener of the UFBU on 6th July, 2012 upon superannuation of Com. G.D. Nadaf, laid down his office on 30th June, 2013 on his retirement. UFBU in its meeting dated 4th July 2013, at Chennai elected Com. M.V. Murali, General Secretary, NCBE as its new convener. UFBU also decided to create an additional position of Chairman for better cohesiveness and co ordination, and Com. K.K. Nair, General Secretary of Indian National Bank Officers’ Confederation (INBOC) was unanimously elected as first Chairman of UFBU.

STRIKE CALL OF AIBEA & BEFI ON 25/09/2013

UFBU in its meeting held on 4th July, 2013 deliberated on various issues including the issues of New Licensing Policy of the Government and reports about the merger of Associate Banks with SBI. It was resolved to take up the issue with the appropriate authorities demanding review of New Banks Licensing Policy. The constituents were unanimous that the time is not ripe for strike on the issue and decided to adopt other methods to stop move of the Government including writing to Ministry of Finance, taking out rallies, organizing demonstrations and educating public at large about the vagaries

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of Private Sector Banks on the basis of past experience. However, decision of

AIBEA and BEFI to go on strike on these issues on 25th September, 2013 came as a surprise. The Confederation questioned the unilateral decision of the two constituents by writing a letter to the Convener of the UFBU and by endorsing a copy to all constituents but as a responsible organization, Confederation decided to extend the fraternal support to the strike which was deferred after the clarification in the Conciliation meeting held before CLC on 23/9/2013 that no proposal/decision is there on merger of Associate banks with SBI and merger of any PSB at any level.

UFBU DELEGATION MET THE FINANCE MINISTER

A nine member UFBU delegation, led by Shri. Basudev Acharya, Member of

Parliament, met the Finance Minister Shri. P. Chidambaram on 6th August, 2013. The Delegation submitted a memorandum to the Finance Minister for his kind attention, consideration and favourable disposal of the pending issues and demands as mentioned below:

1) Compassionate ground appointment scheme in Banks; 2) Wage revision for employees and officers in the Banks; 3) Introduction of 5 Day Banking; 4) Grievances of the Bank retirees; 5) Industrial Relations in State Bank of India; 6) Proposals of SBI management to merge Associate Banks; 7) Proposals of RBI to permit corporate and business houses to start their own banks.

Finance Minister, after going through the Memorandum and listening to oral representation, assured the representatives of faster wage negotiation exercise and asked the delegation to negotiate first four issues with IBA. He also assured that he will seek information on the Industrial Relation position in SBI and will take a view on that. However, on the issue of merger of Associate Banks and proposals of new Banks, he emphasized that these are policy matters and decision on them will be taken after due consideration. The delegation once again urged upon him to have a positive consideration on the issues.

DHARNAS/RALLIES/DEMONSTRATIONS ON 30TH OCTOBER 2014 Demonstrations throughout the country calling for early and reasonable settlement was held successfully. Chennai, a city known for its militant trade union activities, was equally massive and successful and more than 2000 members gathered at Syndicate Bank, Annasalai, near VGP Square to mark their protest. In Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Pondicherry and all the

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District head quarters and even in smaller towns members gathered in large numbers and held demonstrations.

AIBOC - GUARDIAN OF THE BANK OFFICERS

AIBOC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING AT BANGALORE IN MAY 2012

The EC met at Bangalore on the eve of the retirement of Com.G D Nadaf, General Secretary from the services of the Bank on 31.5.2012. The meeting recollected the contributions made by Com.G D Nadaf to the Bank Officers movement and a fitting farewell was given to him. Com.Rishabadas, General Secretary AISBOF was elected as the new General Secretary of the confederation.

AIBOC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING AT CHENNAI IN APRIL 2013

The EC meeting at Chennai was held after a long gap. Unfortunately, the General Secretary, Com.Rishabadas was hospitalised on that day and couldn’t attend the meeting. Com.P V Mathew, Senior Vice-President presented the General Secretary’s report and deliberations took place on the same. The issue of the industrial relations in State Bank of India was discussed in detail.

AIBOC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING AT KOLKATA ON 28TH JUNE 2013

In the absence of Com. D.S. Rishabadas who had submitted his resignation citing ill health, Com.P. V. Mathew, Senior Vice-President for the second time presented the General Secretary’s report and transacted the agenda. In view of Com. P. K. Sarkar, President of the Confederation laying down his office on 30.06.2013 the EC co-opted Com. Harshavardhan Madabhushi, General Secretary of Associate Banks Officers’ Association as President and Com. Harvinder Singh, General Secretary of All India Nationalized Bank Officers’ Federation and General Secretary of Federation of Bank of India Officers’ Association, as the General Secretary of the Confederation, on acceptance of resignation of Com. D.S. Rishabadas. AIBOC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING AT KOCHI ON 1st OCTOBER 2013

It was a business like meeting and its proceedings were highly appreciated by all the participants. The meeting was not attended by AISBOF. The General Secretary briefed about the conciliation efforts being made by him to break the impasse with AISBOF by being in touch with the leadership of AISBOF telephonically and through personal meetings. He told the members that it was evident from their talks that they wanted to be a part of wage

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negotiating team. On suggestion of the General Secretary, a committee of four senior leaders to take steps to find a solution was formed. Another committee to help in negotiations was also formed. On the proposal of the General Secretary to finalise the dates and venue for the Triennial Conference which was due, the house decided to hold next Triennial session in Kerala tentatively on 8th, 9th & 10th March 2014 at Trivandrum.

ISSUES RELATED TO BANKING INDUSTRY RAISED BY THE CONFEDERATION

WORKING ON SUNDAYS/HOLIDAYS

It had become a practice that for each and every requirement of any of the Government departments, Banks were asked to work on holidays. Government Departments/CBDT were invariably approaching RBI with a request that it should in exercise of its regulatory/supervisory powers instruct the Banks to keep their branches open on holidays/extend the working hours. Whether it is for tax collection/Financial Inclusion/Transfer of subsidy benefits directly by linkage of Adhaar Cards etc and the Banks extended their

working for extra hour/ on Sundays/ holidays. On 11th Sept, 2013, CBDT once again requested RBI and IBA to make arrangements for opening of the Bank

Branches for full day on 14th Sept. (Saturday) and on 15th September, 2013 (Sunday) to facilitate Advance Tax Payers without any consideration to the fact that the days coincided with Onam festival in Kerala. Taking cognizance of the instructions sent by RBI to Banks to open the branches, the Confederation strongly took up the issue with IBA and D.F.S (MOF), opposing such decision. The letter of protest was sent through email and got delivered by hand to the authorities on 13/09/2013. Request was also made for appropriate compensation to officers for working for extended hours and for working on holidays and suggestion was made to extend the dates of tax collection. The copy of the letter was sent to all affiliates also for onward submission to their respective managements and ensuring compensation. The Kerala State Unit of UFBU who took a bold decision to boycott the RBI instructions and all Bank branches remained closed in Kerala on 15th of September 2013. I will be failing in my duty if I don’t congratulate Kerala Unit for this Spontaneous decision.

We are glad that our initiative and collective protest has compelled the finance ministry to desist from issuing instruction to banks to open its branches on holidays for similar reason. The Finance Ministry extended the date for payment of the December installment of advance tax by two days as December 15 was falling on Sunday.

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FIVE DAY WORKING WEEK IN BANKING INDUSTRY

On coming to know that Sh. Veerappa Moily- the Hon’ble minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas is contemplating to put forth some suggestions for energy saving as one of the measure to control ‘CAD’, General Secretary- AIBOC, grabbed an opportunity to put forth one of the most cherished demand of the Banking staff of ‘Five Days’ working and sent a letter to the Ministry for Petroleum & Natural Gas, advocating and persuading for implementation of ‘Five days working’ in the banking Industry as one of the measure for energy saving, with a copy marked to Secretary, DFS, MOF. Despite the negative stand by the Government on our logical demand, we need to explore all fora and make consistent and unrelenting efforts for this demand to come true.

From our Circle Association we prepared the following note and circulated all over the country and we lobbyed with many members of Parliaments. The lobbying continues:

The demand for 5 day a week in the Banking Sector is based on scientific practices with regard to the health of the employees, productivity and environmental concerns. We put forward the following which explains and justifies the need.

The ILO has passed many conventions on this issue, some of which are reproduced below:

Article 19

C047 - Forty-Hour Week Convention, 1935 (No. 47) Convention concerning the Reduction of Hours of Work to Forty a Week (Entry into force: 23 Jun 1957)Adoption: Geneva, 19th ILC session (22 Jun 1935) - Status: Instrument with interim status (Technical Convention). Preamble The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation, Having met at Geneva in its Nineteenth Session on 4 June 1935, Considering that the question of the reduction of hours of work is the sixth item on the agenda of the Session; Considering that unemployment has become so widespread and long continued that there are at the present time many millions of workers throughout the world suffering hardship and privation for which they are not themselves responsible and from which they are justly entitled to be relieved; Considering that it is desirable that workers

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should as far as practicable be enabled to share in the benefits of the rapid technical progress which is a characteristic of modern industry; and Considering that in pursuance of the Resolutions adopted by the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Sessions of the International Labour Conference it is necessary that a continuous effort should be made to reduce hours of work in all forms of employment to such extent as is possible; adopts this twenty-second day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-five the following Convention, which may be cited as the Forty-Hour Week Convention, 1935: Article  1  

Each   Member   of   the   International   Labour   Organisation   which   ratifies   this  Convention  declares  its  approval  of-­‐-­‐  

§ (a)   the   principle   of   a   forty-­‐hour   week   applied   in   such   a   manner   that   the  standard  of  living  is  not  reduced  in  consequence;  and    

§ (b)  the  taking  or  facilitating  of  such  measures  as  may  be  judged  appropriate  to  secure  this  end;  

and  undertakes  to  apply  this  principle  to  classes  of  employment  in  accordance  with  the  detailed  provision  to  be  prescribed  by  such  separate  Conventions  as  are  ratified  by  that  Member.  

Article  8  

How  is  work  during  the  weekend  regulated?  

I  LO  Weekly  Rest  Conventions  No.  14  (1921)  and  No.  106  (1957)  require  that  each  worker   have   at   least   24   hours   of   uninterrupted   rest   every   seven   days.  Whenever  possible,  the  rest  day(s)  should  be  simultaneous  for  all  employees  of  an  undertaking  and   correspond  with   the   traditions   and   customs   of   the   country.   As   noted   above,  Arab  countries  often  choose   the  Friday,   instead  of   the  Sunday,  as   the   rest  day   for  the  week.   In   China  and  Hungary,   two  days   off   are   laid   down   in   national   laws.   In  European   Union   (EU)   member   States,   the   EU   Working   Time   Directive   (93/104)  entitles  workers  to  a  minimum  of  24  hours  of  rest  per  week,  principally  on  Sunday,  in  addition  to  11  hours  of  rest  each  working  day  (between  shifts).  In  most  countries,  although  only  one  day  off  per  week  is  prescribed   in  national   legislation,  collective  agreements  or  commonly  accepted  norms  set  the  standard  of  a  five-­‐day  week.  

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Following are the benefits of a 5 day work week:

1. Reduced fuel costs. Employees would have to endure the dreaded commute one day less each week, thereby saving money at the pump with reduced fuel consumption.

2. Decreased absenteeism. On a six-day schedule, employees are forced to cram their one day off with personal errands, chores, games, and social outings. By the time Monday comes around, there hasn’t been a minute of rest and employees are tired. So they call out of work. This wouldn’t happen so frequently if employees have a second day to accomplish the work they have to do outside of office.

3. Increased productivity. It’s a well-established principle of productivity that workers become less efficient where no deadline looms. That’s why we’re more efficient in the week before vacation—we know, we have to get it done by the time we leave. The same idea is transferable to a shortened workweek. Employees are least productive on Saturdays so why not just eliminate them altogether?

4. Improved job satisfaction and morale. Satisfaction with what goes on in the workplace may be tied to what goes on outside the workplace. Employees who spend more time with family and friends, who have the flexibility of two days off, will return to work refreshed.

5. Reduced personnel turnover. Happier employees tend to leave less often. If they like the job, they’re more likely to stick around.

6. Reduced energy costs. By closing for two, instead of one day each week, Banks stand to reduce substantial energy costs. These costs can be significant.

7. Improved work-life balance. As a result of the added day, employees who work a five-day week will have more time to spend with their families and friends.

8. Reduced traffic congestion. This potential effect may be seen largely on Saturdays, which is the day most employers are converting to a non-working day.

The First Company to give 5 day week: It was Heny Ford who introduced the 5 day, 8 hours per day, work week for the first time in 1926. Ford was tired of continuously losing good employees, he was trying to increase employee retention and at the same time increase profits, so he basically doubled wages and implemented a

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5-day work week, and in the process effectively invented the modern weekend. It is Henry Ford who is widely credited with contributing to the creation of a middle class in the United States.

His reasons had nothing to do with charity, and everything to do with increasing profits and dealing with the forces of competition. It is also proved that every reduction of the length of the work week has been accompanied by an increase in real per-capita income.

The New Economics Foundation has recommended moving to a 21 hour standard work week to address problems with unemployment, high carbon emissions, low well-being, entrenched inequalities, overworking, family care, and the general lack of free time. The Center for Economic and Policy Research states that reducing the length of the work week would slow climate change and have other environmental benefits.

Around the world  Chile, China, Colombia, European Union, Austria,Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Pakistan, Tunisia, Japan, Mexico, Mongolia, Newzealand, Russia, USA etc. work five days a week from Monday to Friday. Islamic countries: Saudi Arabia has a Thursday- Friday weekend and Oman, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Mauritania, Qatar, Sudan, Syria , United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Israel etc have a Friday- Saturday week end.

In our country:

In the light of the revolutionary changes that have taken place as regards the technology initiative, such as tele-banking, Internet banking, core banking, any time banking and anywhere banking and also the banking expansion through a large ATM net work, there is a strong case for immediate consideration of demand for introduction of a 5 day week. 62% of the Banking Business is done by alternate Channels of Banking as per RBI. This will also reduce global warming to an extent. Further, 5-day week will provide good health to bank employees and reduce expenditure on electricity and fuel.

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So there is total justification for 5 day week to be introduced in the Banking Industry following the footsteps of RBI which has defined 8 hours work, five day week and flexible working hours.

DEFAMING ADVERTISEMENT BEING TELECAST/AIRED

Maintaining the dignity of our fellow officers is one of our prime concerns. The undersigned came to know about an advertisement of “Adhaar Card”, derogatory to the image of Bank officers/Managers, being telecast/aired. The issue was raised by the Confederation immediately by sending a complaint letter to the Advertising Standards Council of India, Mumbai. Requests were also made to Secretary, Information and Broadcasting, Secretary D.F.S., Ministry of Finance, IBA and Dy. Director, Doordarshan to arrange for stoppage of the advertisement causing false propaganda and image loss to Banking community. The issue was personally followed up and after two days we got a telephonic confirmation of withdrawal of the advertisement. We are happy that we succeeded in our efforts and the advertisement has since been stopped.

PROTEST TO COMMON HOLIDAYS UNDER CTS

The EX on 1st October, 2013 decided that the issue of CTS should be taken up immediately with IBA/RBI to mitigate the inconvenience caused to Bank employees due to calling them on holidays after adoption of uniform holiday calendar. The issue was immediately discussed with the convener UFBU on the very next day and a letter No. UFBU/IBA/2013/18 was sent to the Chief Executive, IBA, on 3rd October, 2013. The General Secretary of the Confederation, gave a call for boycott in the AGMs of Dhanlaksmi bank, South Indian Bank and farewell function of Secretary General of Indian Bank Officers’ Associations at Chennai in the presence of leadership of AIBOC State Committees of Kerala and Tamilnadu. The issue was later discussed on 11/10/2013 during Bipartite Talks with IBA. We advised you that the IBA had appreciated the difficulties of the employees/officers on reasons adduced by the UFBU and assured to take up the matter with the authorities concerned. We are pleased to inform you that IBA Managing Committee, at its meeting held on 29th October, 2013, after considering the representations of the Associations/Unions and after deliberations on the issue, has decided that banks may approach the President of the Clearing House at CTS locations for blocking the presentation drawn on bank branches in the state(s) which is/are observing holiday. IBA sent a communication Ref. PS & BT/CTS/8184 dated 31st October, 2013 to the Chief Executives of Member Banks to this effect. The communication once again clarified that “Blockage”

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function in the CTS System has been designed to handle different state holidays. The circular to ensure that the option of ‘BLOCKAGE’ is exercised by the respective Banks for the states which are observing holidays on a particular day was sent to all units.

10TH TRIENNIAL GENERAL COUNCIL ON 8TH, 9TH AND 10TH MARCH 2014

The 10th Triennial General Council of the Confederation was held at A.K.G.Memorial Hall, Trivandrum, Kerala from 8/3/2014 to 10/3/2014. Business Session was held from 9/3/2014 to 10/3/2014 .Com.Y.Sudershan, General Secretary of AISBOF was elected as President and Com.Harvinder Singh, General Secretary of Bank of India Officers'Federation was elected as General Secretary of AIBOC unanimously.

ALL INDIA FEDERAL BANK STRIKE

'Federal Bank Officers' Association (FBOA) was on warpath due to vindictive

and whimsical acts of its Management and its irresponsible indifference in

settling out the members' long pending demands. The major issues were

several victimization transfers of the officers, abject negation of eligible

transfers and displacement of officers on the pretext of alleged non

performance, and other long pending issues being undue delay in settling

internal charter of demands, acute staff shortage in branches, discrimination

in lateral recruitment, wild card promotion offer, non distribution of PF dues,

unjust imposition of assessment test for PO confirmation, unsuitable House rent

allowances for leased accommodation, withdrawal of branch delegation

and hasty setting up of credit hubs with the entailing unresolved issues, huge

incentives to Executives and the extravaganza of people kept on contract

basis without any justification, gave disparity in ESOP distribution, denial of

shift duty allowances in Chennai/CTS centre, rampant outsourcing and non-

filling up of vacancies of ED and CGM from within. It is due to the vindictive

and negative stances of the management that the industrial relations have

worsened in the Bank and the FBOA was compelled to observe one day

strike on 15/5/2014 which was a legendary success.

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At the call of the confederation, all its affiliates extended moral and active support in the agitational programmes.

Our members are aware that Federal Bank Officers’ Association, a very strong unit of AIPSBOF an affiliate of AIBOC was on struggle path for the last almost one and half months on the issues advised vide our circular No. 2014/39 dated 26/05/2014. Our affiliate set yet another example of unity, strength, militancy and fierce struggle by demonstrations, withdrawal of extra co-operation, one day strike on 15th May, 2014 and call for two day’s strike on 16th & 17th June, 2014. We are extremely happy to inform you that after a protracted discussions and dialogue a settlement has been reached by FBOA with its Management and all agitation programmes including two day’s strike have been withdrawn. We reproduce hereunder circular No. 47/2013-15 dated 12th/ 17th June, 2014 issued by Com. Paul Mundadan, General Secretary of FBOA for your information: QUOTE:

MINUTES SIGNED AND 2 DAYS STRIKE CALLED OFF

Heroic struggle Glorious Victory

Hats off to FBOAians! Marking yet another victory of our rock-built unity and unfailing fighting spirit an

amicable understanding has been arrived at and minutes signed on 11th

June 2014 at 9.46 pm between the Management representatives and leaders of Federal Bank Officers' Association after protracted discussions on the various demands raised by the Association. Accordingly all agitation programmes

including the proposed two days All India strike on 16th and 17th June 2014 stand withdrawn. The salient features of the minutes signed are the following:

• Management agreed to rectify majority of transfer anomalies/grievances taken up by the Association.

• Management lays down in the Minutes norms and general guidelines for Officers' Transfer.

• Understanding reached on Internal Charter of Demands. • All allowances and staff loan limits enhanced. • Interest rates on Education Loan reduced. • Lease rental ceilings enhanced substantially. • Management promises to make substantial recruitments this year itself

with a view to compensate existing manpower shortage. • As a result of our sustained efforts Bank as distributed PF dues pertaining

to Family Pension part amounting to Rs. 5.51 crores received as interim

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amount from the PF Commissioner as per Court order and Management has further agreed to make legal and other efforts for the early release of the remaining amount of PF dues.

Management has agreed that Assessment Test is not intended to be a barrier in the career of Probationary Officers but as a learning option and will only be conducted with proper and sufficient notice in future.

Management has agreed to resolve anomalies in the lateral recruitment shortly.

• The offer for Wild Card promotion to few chosen officers was put

on hold. • Appointment of retirees for Inspection duty was put on hold. • Additional officers posted to compensate Manpower shortage

in Chennai CTS centre and Management agreed to restore Allowances for officers working in shift duty/odd hours there.

• Management agreed to discuss and settle other pending issues shortly.

We salute and congratulate all the FBOA'ians, the valiant soldiers of FBOA for your active involvement in all the agitational programmes announced by FBOA

including demonstrations, one day All India strike on 15th May 2014 and withdrawal of extra co-operation all culminating in the unprecedented success story of Bank Officers' Trade Union movement.

We are happy to place on record that the entire Federal Conscience has been with us in our struggle irrespective of Scale or Cadre difference. The determined support and active involvement of our officers including lady officers and youngsters in all our agitation programmes was appreciably remarkable and all of them turned to be the power houses of strength for us. Our members have firmly stood identified with FBOA which is the only guardian and protector of their right to work with self respect in this institution. Hats off to you Comrades who are the real architects of our great victory. No doubt the future of FBOA and Federal Bank will be absolutely safe in the hands of Federals in the years to come. Let us keep up the spirit and pride in our Great Institution, Federal Bank and our Great Organization, FBOA. We acknowledge with gratitutde the timely strong support of Federal Bank Employees’ Union and its leaders during this struggle and initiative taken to instruct their membersh not to undertake on our strike day the work hitherto done by the striking officers and declined the custody of the keys held by striking officers. We are also thankful to Federal Bank Staff Union and its leaders for strong fraternal support extended to us.

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We profusely thank Com. Y Sudarsan, National President and Com. Harvinder Singh , National General Secretary of AIBOC and Com. Anandakumar K, Sr. Vice President of AIBOC and National President of AIPSBOF who all have been solidly with us through out this critical period. AIBOC General Secretary had communicated with our MD & CEO espousing the cause raised by our Association and has been co - ordinating with AIBOC State leadership and our sister organizations in AIBOC movement for ensuring massive support to our agitation. Com. P V Mohanan, President and Com. Abraham Shaji John, Secretary AIBOC Kerala State Committee and its senior leaders deserve our gratitude for their continued support and involvement in all our action programmes.

We are thankful to Sri Shyam Srinivasan, MD & CEO, Sri. Thampy Kurian, General Manager and other Members of the Management Team who represented the Bank in the negotiations and in its successful culmination. FBOA Team was led by Com. Anitha P, President and Com. Paul Mundadan, General Secretary. As per the understanding the full Text of the Minutes of the discussions and decisions will be published soon after the board meeting.

Comrades, this unique and epoch-making success of our struggle is going to be in the annals of the glittering history of Trade Unions in our Country. You are the vibrant Architects of this great and sparkling victory of our unity and determination. Comrades! Salutes to All of You! Let us keep up this spirit of Unity and the Will to work for the growth of our institution and resolve to fight for justice and prosperity of Federals under the great banner of FBOA, AIPSBOF and AIBOC. We have once again undoubtedly proved that no Force on earth can win over our unified strength and make any casual ride on our right to work with self respect and dignity. Let us move forward with the " Federal Family Spirit" instilled in us by our great founder late K P Hormis and take our Institution to greater heights of Glory and Growth in the coming days with total involvement and dedication.

SCHEME OF APPOINTMENT ON COMPASSIONATE GROUNDS IN PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS.

Due to the continuous demand with the Government by the Confederation, now the Government has cleared the scheme of appointment on compassionate grounds and the provision of ex gratia in lieu of compassionate appointment was discontinued. This is a historical achievement and the provisions are,

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1. To open the Compassionate Appointment in PSBs on the lines of Central Government,

2. Discontinuing the provision of ex-gratia in lieu of compassionate appointment in PSBs

TRANSFER OF FEMALE EMPLOYEES IN PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS

It has been brought to the notice that the female employees of PSBs , married or unmarried, when placed/transferred away from their husbands or parents, as the case may be, to distant locations face a genuine hardship and develop a feeling of insecurity. Due to the efforts of the AIBOC, the Govt has given instruction as under.

1. To accommodate as far as possible placement/transfer of married female employee, on her request, at a place where her husband is stationed or as near as possible to that place or vice versa and

2. To accommodate as far as possible placement/ transfer of unmarried female employee, on her request, at a place where her parents, are stationed or as near as possible to that place.

Leave Fare Concession – Efforts needed from AIBOC

Leave Travel Concession is a precious facility obtained by the officers and is part of their right to welfare to be provided by the employers for rendering dedicated service to the bank. Such facility is recognized as aiding the well being of an officer who can come back after such a holiday and serve with renewed and refreshed vigour. As early as 1982, the Indian Bank’s Association issued a circular pursuant to such bilateral discussions with AIBOC, permitting L.T.C facility to cover foreign travel also. This was continued and reiterated in the IBA’s circular dt. 8/10/2008. All the public sector Banks, the State Bank of India, the Scheduled Commercial Banks and the Regional Rural Banks have implemented and extended the facility to their officers.

Leave Travel Concession to the officers is governed by Service Rules in their respective Banks.

On 4.4.2007, SBI issued detailed instructions regarding L.T.C enroute foreign country. Further, clarifications were issued by the bank’s circular dated 29.10.2013. Similar Circulars have been issued by different Banks. Officers were advised to provide valid bills and tickets in order to avail of the facility

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and to prevent mis-utilization. The Officers herein of the bank are thus availing the aforesaid facility along with their families to visit other countries, which falls within the four year block period. Usually, an officer makes his own arrangement for booking the tickets, after prior sanction of the bank which grants an advance. Thereafter, the officer undertakes the journey with his family and comes back and submits the tickets, bills and expenses for having made the payment which is reimbursed by the bank.

It is to be noted that the total LTC bill reimbursed to the officers is well within the overall eligibility of the Officer to travel to the farthest place in India. The facility of travelling enroute foreign country therefore does not cost any extra money to the Banks.

On 27.04.2010, IBA consisting of representatives of all Banks and AIBOC signed a bipartite settlement, with effect from 1.11.2007, on various conditions of service. Existing terms were revised. The fare eligible under LTC was agreed upon. Other terms were continued. As stated above discussions are on for the next settlement. The officers continued to get the facility of foreign travel being covered by LTC. On 12.07.2012, IBA issued another letter clarifying the fares the officers are entitled to. The letter was marked to AIBOC, who are “parties to the Bipartite settlement”

On 7.04.2014, the Indian Bank’s Association unilaterally took a decision to withdraw the LTC for overseas travel. The decision was not preceded by any notice or discussion with AIBOC, SBI followed the same, by its circular dated 15.4.2014 informing that it has decided to withdraw the facility and the officers were not be entitled to visit overseas countries/ centres as part of L.T.C or H.T.C (Home Travel Concession). The instructions come into with immediate effect.

We immediately sent separate protest letters dated 16.4.2014 representing that it was highly arbitrary on the IBA’s part to withdraw the facility unilaterally and without any due notice and discussion with us. We pointed out that the service conditions are always subject to mutual discussions and bipartite settlement. Hence IBA and other Banks were not justified in such unilateral withdrawal.

We filed a writ petition on behalf of AISBOF & AIBOC in Madras High Court on the following grounds:

i. The decision of the respondents to withdraw the LTC/HTC facility for foreign travel given so far to the petitioners’ members is highly arbitrary and unreasonable.

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ii. The impugned action of the respondents is contrary to the State Bank of India Act, 1955 and the Banking Companies (Acquisition & Takeover of Undertaking) Act,1970, under which officers’ representatives are appointed as Directors of banks. The impugned action is violative of the principle of participative management contained in Article 43 A, also statutorily recognized.

iii. The petitioners have a statutory right under the aforesaid statues to be informed of any decision affecting the officers of the bank and no change therein can be made without proper discussion with the petitioners.

iv. Having framed the provision for facility of foreign travel as part of LTC/HTC, pursuant to bilateral settlements, the respondents cannot withdraw the same without notice and hearing the petitioners.

v. The right to foreign travel being reimbursed through LTC/HTC under the service rules is a precious right accrued to an officer and cannot be withdrawn in the manner effected by the respondents.

vi. As far as the members for whom sanction has already been granted for foreign travel, or for whom four year block period has already been commenced, the right is an accrued and vested right and cannot be taken away by an unilateral administrative order issued by the respondents. Such an action is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India and hence unconstitutional.

vii. The impugned circulars are highly unfair and irrational and hence violative of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.

It is also submitted that the members of the petitioners will suffer irreparable loss, if the impugned circulars are allowed to operate. As already stated, many of the members of the petitioners have already applied for such travel with their family members and got tickets after due sanction by the banks. Their loss will be immense.

For the abovementioned reasons, it is prayed that the Hon’ble Court may be pleased to stay the operation of impugned circular letter No.CIR/HR & IR/F/2014-15/9195 date 7/4/2014 issued by the 3rd respondent read with the e-circular bearing No. CDO/P&HRD-PM/7/2014-15, dated 15.04.2014 issued by the 1st respondent and signed by the 2nd Respondent herein, pending final disposal of the writ petition and render justice.

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We further submited that the impugned circular dated 15.4.2014 is an e-circular and there is no original printed copy of the same. Similarly, the circular dated 7.4.2014 was not served on the petitioners. They only have a true copy of the same. Hence, this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to dispense with the production of the original copy of the impugned circular letter No.CIR/HR & IR/F/2014-15/9195 dated 7/4/2014 issued by the 3rd respondent read with the e-circular bearing No. CDO/P&HRD-PM/7/2014-15, dated 15.04.2014 issued by the 1st respondent and signed by the 2nd Respondent herein, pending final disposal of the writ petition and render justice.

For the aforesaid reasons, it is prayed to the Hon’ble Court to issue appropriate Writ, Order or Direction and in particular a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus to quash the impugned circular letter No.CIR/HR & IR/F/2014-15/9195 date 7/4/2014 issued by the 3rd respondent read with the e-circular bearing No.. CDO/P&HRD-PM/7/2014-15, dated 15.04.2014 issued by the 1st respondent and signed by the 2nd Respondent herein, after calling for the concerned records from the respondents and consequently direct the respondents to continue the LTC/HTC to cover foreign travel as provided to the officers of the respondent Bank and members of the 3rd respondent prior to 7.4.2014 and pass such other orders and directions as are necessary to meet the ends of justice including an order for costs.

The Hon’ble High Court of Madras stayed the circular issued by IBA paving way for hundreds of officers to continue LFC facility which includes travel of abroad. The stay has been extended at our request four times. Neither IBA nor SBI have filed any counter so far. The counsel for State Bank of India has asked for time to file a counter. We cannot depend completely on the Court to get Justice. Hence there is a requirement for serious lobbying with the Government and IBA and also with the respective Bank Managements. A draft letter is given below for lobbying. To The Prime Minister of India / Finance Minister / Secretary, DFS / IBA / Chairman of Banks Dear Sir,

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Restoration of Leave Fare Concession facility with Travel Abroad at the cost of the Officer. Leave Travel Concession is a precious facility obtained by the officers and is part of their right to welfare to be provided by the employers for rendering dedicated service to the bank. Such facility is recognized as aiding the well being of an officer who can come back after such a holiday and serve with renewed and refreshed vigour. Similar facilities are available over the world in Public & Private Sector. In our Country Officers in Bank make use of this facility mainly to visit religious places which is their life time ambition. For example people from south go to Kasi for a holy dip in ganges or Jammudavi temple at Jammu. People from North travel to south to Madurai, Rameswaram & Kanyakumari. Because of the cheaper flight fares available and tour operators taking care of the entire tour at an extra cost, officers travel abroad enroute to their place of destination. The Banks pay only the cost of travel within the eligible class within the country. The extra expenditure is totally met by the Officer concerned not only for travel abroad but also for the boarding and lodging within the country also. This has helped the tourism industry to grow providing employment opportunity to number of persons in travel agencies, Airlines, Hotels and small traders around the temple. This also increases the income of the temples which in turn is used for charity. As early as on 18.9.1982, the Indian Bank’s Association issued a circular pursuant to such bilateral discussions with AIBOC, permitting L.T.C facility to cover foreign travel also. This was continued and reiterated in the IBA’s circular dt. 8/10/2008. All the public sector Banks, the State Bank of India, the Scheduled Commercial Banks and the Regional Rural Banks have implemented and extended the facility to their officers.

Leave Travel Concession to the officers’ is governed by Service Rules in their respective Banks.

On 4.4.2007, SBI issued detailed instructions regarding L.T.C to foreign country. Further, clarifications were issued by the bank’s circular dated 29.10.2013. Similar Circular have been issued by different Banks. Officers were advised to provide valid bills and tickets in order to avail of the facility and to prevent mis-utilization. The Officers herein of the bank are thus availing the aforesaid facility along with their families to visit other countries, which falls within the four year block period. Usually, an officer makes his own arrangement for booking the tickets, after prior sanction of the bank which grants an

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advance. Thereafter, the officer undertakes the journey with his family and comes back and submits the tickets, bills and expenses for having made the payment which is reimbursed by the bank.

On 27.04.2010, IBA consisting of representatives of all Banks and AIBOC signed a bipartite settlement, with effect from 1.11.2007, on various conditions of service. Existing terms were revised. The fare eligible under LTC was agreed upon. Other terms were continued. As stated above. discussions are on for the next settlement. The officers continued to get the facility of foreign travel being covered by LTC. On 12.07.2012, IBA issued another letter clarifying the fares the officers are entitled to. The letter was marked to AIBOC, who are “parties to the Bipartite settlement”

On 7.04.2014, the Indian Bank’s Association unilaterally took a decision to withdraw the LTC for overseas travel. The decision was not preceded by any notice or discussion with AIBOC, SBI followed the same, by its circular dated 15.4.2014 informing that it has decided to withdraw the facility and the officers were not be entitled to visit overseas countries/ centres as part of L.T.C or H.T.C (Home Travel Concession). The instructions come into with immediate effect.

We immediately sent separate protest letters dated 16.4.2014 representing that it was highly arbitrary on the respondents’ part to withdraw the facility unilaterally and without any due notice and discussion with the petitioners. They pointed out that the service conditions are always subject to mutual discussions and bipartite settlement. Hence IBA and other Banks were not justified in such unilateral withdrawal.

As there was no response, we filed a writ petition at Madras High Court which has stayed the circular issued by Indian Bank’s Association. Instead of waiting for the Court to render justice we request you to kindly restore the facility by permanently withdrawing the Circular issued by Indian Bank’s Association on the following grounds.

1. The facility helps to fulfill the aspirations of number of officers and employees to visit holy temples to fulfill their vow.

2. This will rejunuvate the Officers and also give them lot of happiness which in turn will enable them perform better.

3. The Banks do not have to incur even a single rupee extra to continue the facility.

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4. Facility can be extended to the Central Govt. Officers also who envy of the facility given to Bank Officers.

5. The continuation of the facility will provide employment opportunity for thousands of people in the country.

We request you to kindly take steps to continue the facility by withdrawing the circular issued by Indian Banks Association.

BASEL    III  :  VIEW  FROM  THE  OTHER  END  

The frame work for risk and capital management requirements was implemented to a greater extent in the banking system through Basel Regulations. In the year 1988, as per Basel I accord, the minimum capital requirement was set to 8%. This was arrived based on two ratios viz., tier one (equity) and tier two (undisclosed reserves, subordinated debt and provisions on losses on account loans). After few years, the Basel Committee reviewed the Basel I accord of 1988 and replaced the same with a new set of regulations in June 1999, namely Basel II accord. When almost all the developed countries reeled under financial crisis in the year 2008, economists and financial experts observed that Basel II was almost a failure. The financial crisis was triggered primarily by excess global liquidity, too much leverage, too little capital of insufficient quality and inadequate liquidity buffers. It had also been viewed that a very few big international banks were able to rewrite the Basel II rules for their own benefit at the cost of their smaller competitors. It was argued that Basel II didn’t address some of the very important risks which are very vital to systemic financial stability. Also, the Basel II rules overestimated bank’s capability to handle such risks.

A survey conducted by Ernst & Young in the year 2006 among more than 300 banks revealed that the regulations of Basel II would benefit mainly very big banks which are adopting most sophisticated risk modeling systems at the cost of those financial institutions/banks which are unable to adopt them. Later on, the Basel Committee proposed new set of rules revising the Basel II paving way for Basel III regulations. While the Basel III was designed to address the past crisis, the Committee’s main intent was to prepare the banks and the banking sector for the next crisis. The idea is to have a set of capital measures that are much less volatile than regulatory or economic capital ratios, less model-dependent and less affected by economic cycles. An independent risk-based measure, based on a methodology consistently employed across the sector, represents a more appropriate way of assessing solvency than a crude leverage ratio.

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The Basel III rules specifically envisage Global regulatory standard on bank Capital Adequacy & Liquidity. The implementation of Basel III was scheduled to commence from 01st January 2013. The Bank for International Settlement (BIS) has set the deadline for full implementation before 2019; whereas, the RBI prefers that Indian Banks had to comply by 2017. The Basel regulations is to ensure that the financial institutions have sufficient Capital to meet its obligations and absorb unexpected losses. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) provide recommendations in respect of operational/market/capital risks and accordingly how much amount of Capital a bank should have to offset the unexpected losses if any. According to the Union Finance Minister, the govt would ensure that Public Sector Banks meet both the regulatory requirement of 8% Tier-1 capital and the Basel III norms. The Basel III regulates that a minimum capital of 10.5 per cent may finally be achieved by 01st January 2019. This comprises a minimum of 6% in Tier-1, 2% in Tier-2 and a 2.5% capital conservation buffer.(However there is a change in the definition of Tier I capital, some of the existing tier I capital will be disqualified under the new rules, thereby increasing the cost of capital) To enable the banks to keep 2.5% as capital conservation buffer, banks are required to set aside profits made during good times to enable to draw the same during the periods of stress. According to some of the banks, Capital in the form of equity is expensive to raise. And if the requirement of equity is more, the same may shrink the delivery of credit and make lending less profitable.

Now, the governments of many countries and banks are seriously debating on the necessity/relevance of capital requirements suggested by BCBS. France and Germany want relaxation in Basel III rules and accordingly, the Finance Ministers of both the countries jointly called for important ratios of the Basel III to be watered down.

In the present global scenario when the world is on the brink of economic melt down, while implementing Basel III, the largest banks in the developed countries will have to shrink their balance sheets to raise the capital whereas Banks in India will raise capital to expand their balance sheet/finance growth. The RBI has stated that the Indian Banks are ready to move for Basel III implementation.

For Indian banks, capital requirements, including equity, would be substantial for supporting the high GDP growth and the fact that Credit to GDP ratio, which is currently quite modest at about 4.5 per cent, is bound to increase substantially on account of structural changes in the economy i.e. Financial Inclusion programme, increase in loan requirements from more credit

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intensive sectors such as manufacturing, infrastructure, etc. downward pressure on the banks’ ROE. While the higher capital requirements would bring down risks in the banking sector and eventually investors would recognize the lower risks and be willing to settle for a lower ROE, in the short term, the only answer is raising productivity.

For the implementation of Basel III, unsure of how to meet the large amount as capital of Indian Banks, the govt had set up a committee to suggest frame work for capital infusion. Most surprisingly, the committee includes Citi Bank, ICICI Bank and two Public Sector Banks. The RBI on 21st Feb 2012 released the draft guidelines on Basel III frame work.

While implementing Basel III, our dilemma is (a) where our capital regulations are more stringent, should we continue with the more stringent norms? and (b) should we adhere to the extended timetable or step up the implementation schedule, given the fact that the banking system would be comfortable at the starting point i.e. at transition? Other areas that need strengthening include securitization related regulation, market risk management tools and improvement to the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process of Pillar II of Basel II as per the Basel III enhancements .

The norms suggested for Basel III are questioned by many economists. In a country like ours, wherein the Public Sector Banks are owned by government, the faith of the people in the solvency of the government is the prime capital. Thrust has to be given to the sovereign guarantee which is nothing but the faith of the people in the government.

Moreover, PSBs have huge properties valued at Re.1 after depreciation. If these properties are revalued to market price the fixed assets of the Bank will rise and the balance sheets will improve.

Hence in our country the Basel III Norms have to be debated and changed for the Public Sector Banks.

AIBOC should take a lead in this debate.

Outsourcing in the name of Business Correspondents  

AIBOC has been consistently opposing outsourcing of regular Banking business. It is also one of the demands in our Charter of Demand submitted to IBA. Under the guidelines of Reserve Bank of India, Banks have introduced Business Correspondents and Business facilitators under the financial inclusion plan to provide Banking services to the people from unbanked areas . Initially Non Governmental Organisations and Federations

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of self help groups were used as Business Correspondents who in turn could appoint individuals as Business Facilitators. Over a period of time, under the RBI guidelines non banking financial companies and companies under Section 16 of the Companies Act were also included as Business Correspondents. The Business Correspondents were operating in small areas especially in the rural areas where Banking services were not available. For quite some time the Business Correspondents and Business facilitators were given the minimum role of opening accounts and making small payments through Customer Service Points using a laptop and a biometric identification instrument. We also did not protest considering the insignificant role of these BCs and as a support to the Government’s Financial Inclusion Plan. Subsequently, the Reserve Bank of India has enlarged the area of operation which now includes Semi Urban, Urban and Metro Centres also. The activities which can be undertaken by the BCs have been also enlarged to cover almost all Banking activities. The activities allowed by RBI are given below:-  

Identification of borrowers & fitment of activities.  

Collection of preliminary processing of loan applications including verification of primary data.  

Creating awareness about savings and other products offered by the Bank and education and advice on managing money & debt counselling.  

Processing & submission of applications to the Bank.  

Promotion, nurturing, monitoring and handholding of Self Help Groups/Joint Liability Groups/Credit Groups and others.  

Post sanction monitoring in case of advances / loans granted by the bank.  

Follow up of Recovery.  

Disbursal of small Value Credits strictly as per instructions of the Bank.  

Recovery of principal / interest from the borrowers and prompt deposit of the same with the Bank.  

Collection of small value deposits & prompt deposit of the same with the Bank.  

Sale of Micro/Insurance/mutual fund/pension and other third party products as may be decided by the Bank.  

Receipt & delivery of small value remittances / other payment instruments.  

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Any other service as may be advised by the Bank in writing to the Service Provider.  

The following are the products that can be handled as per RBI Guidelines:  

No –Frills SB Accounts through Kiosk banking model  

Home loans / Loans Against Property  

Auto Loans  

Loans against TDR/NSC/KVP etc.  

Gold Loans  

SME Loans  

General purpose Credit Card (GCC)  

Kisan Credit Card (KCC)  

Current Account  

Savings Bank account (other than No Frills Account)  

Term Deposits  

Recurring Deposits  

Mutual funds on a referral basis.  

Additional products may be added by mutual agreement. Products may be amended from time to time.  

The above list indicates that BFs can just sit outside a Branch and earn their commission even for the walk in business of branches showing it as their mobilisation.

What is further worrying is that a scheme that was brought to give thrust for financial inclusion is now used to kill the Banking Industry. There is no need for introducing the scheme at Metro and urban centres as there are mushrooming of banks and branches in these areas, so there is no question of taking care of the so called 'unbanked areas'. It is rather to draw out business and profit out of the Banks and donate it to the private sector through back door in the name of Business correspondents.

In course of time, we can expect that the transaction cost will be thrust on the people who avail the facility.

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Moreover, there are already instances of business facilitators charging for opening of accounts and roling out their own schemes and exploit the gullible masses with loan products at higher rates of interest.

This is a clear exploitation of the Bank's goodwill which will damage the reputation of the Banks.  

From small Business Correspondents now the Banks are allowed to have State Level Business Correspondents and National Level Business Correspondents. A perusal of the list of national level Correspondents show that there are Private Universities, Computer Education Institutions, Big NGOs and Companies registered under the Companies Act are included as National level Business correspondents. This applies to all Public Sector Banks.  

Somehow, we were not alert when the RBI guidelines were revised. We also did not oppose when National Level Business Correspondents were appointed. Only when the Reliance Money Infrastructure Ltd agreement with State Bank of India was brought to lime light in News papers in Kerala the issue became important. While the State Bank of India has stated that it was only a renewal of the agreement and it will not have great impact, time has come for us to have a detailed review of the functioning of Business Correspondents and we have to oppose outsourcing of regular Banking activities to Business Correspondents in the areas where Banking services are already available through vast network of PSBs, RRBs, Co-operative Banks and Private Sector Banks. Whereas there is a need to expand the Branch Network, outsourcing of regular Bank job to Business Correspondents will create lot of difficulties.  

Already there are many complaints of Business Correspondents and their agents / Business Facilitators disappearing with the money collected.  

The other issue is that it is going to increase the burden of the Officers and make them accountable for acts done by the business correspondents  

For the Accounts opened by BCs / BFs , the KYC norms have to be approved by an Officer. It is an Himalayan task for the Officer and for any mistake the accountability will be fixed on the Officer only.  

When Loans and advances are permitted to be handled by the BCs / BFs the sanction is going to be done by an Officer and accountability will be only on the Officer in case of any mistake or default by the Borrower.  

Some of the Business Correspondents like RMIL are capable of taking over the Banking business of the Banks for which they are Business Correspondents when they are given a Banking Licence under the revised

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RBI Guidelines. Hence AIBOC has to take up the issue with IBA , Reserve Bank of India and the Finance Ministry at the earliest. We can also assure them that for the Financial Inclusion Plan they can involve the Bank’s who are already playing the major role and also consider the option of giving Banking licence to the Post Offices which have a vast network even in the interiors of the country.  

Reduction in Government Share Holding in Public Sector Banks

Action Plan Proposed

Press Statements issued by the Secretary Department of Financial Services

Indicate that the Government of India is seriously considering reduction of share holding of the Government to 51% . This is a dangerous step. With the majority in the Parliament, if one fine day the Government decides to reduce it further to 49% the Corporates in the Private Sector can take over the Public Sector Banks over night. The reasons stated by the Government is that the Government does not have adequate funds to fulfil the Basel III norms. The Government is also proposing to reduce its share holding in other public sector undertakings. Unless we act now the danger of Privitising the public sector will be put through by the Government which is pro corporates. The following action plan can be implemented by AIBOC, UFBU and Trade Unions in general.

Prepare a detailed note on the performance of Public Sector Banks, there role in alleviating poverty, development of the rural areas, generation of employment, financial inclusion etc and lobby with the Members of Parliament irrespective of their political affiliation.

Ascertain the total dividend paid by the Public Sector Banks to the Government and highlight the same through news paper articles.

Organise seminars in which personalities like Mr. Gurumurthy,(Swedishi Jaagran Manch) Mr. T.T. Ram Mohan, Dr. Y.V. Reddy, Dr. Subbarao etc and get wide publicity for the same through the media.

Organise debates in the media using our contact on the subject.

Meet Chief Ministers of the States and submit Memorandum.

Meet Finance Minister and the Prime Minister and also the Secretaries to both of them.

Campaign among the public through book lets to high light the role of the Public Sector and mobilse public opinion.

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Conduct hunger fast in all State Capitals to bring the issue into focus

Organise demonstrations / Dharna under the banner of UFBU

Organise workshops / seminars in the name of the platform called “Save Public Sector Platform” in which all like minded Trade Unions can be brought together.

Strengthen the efforts to have a co-ordination committee of officers organisations in Public Sector by providing funds and forming Committees at different levels.

Bring out articles in all our News letters, News papers and magazines like Economic and Political Weekly, Frontline, India Today etc

Start a face book page as “Save Public Sector” and allow people to contribute their views with a co ordinator to permit what can be published and what should not be.

Have mass signature campaign among the customers to solicit their support and submit it to the Finance Minister.

Prepare short documentaries on the success of Public Sector Banks and upload in youtube.

AIBOC, which is an offshoot of AICOBOO has been doing great things in the banking industry which has to provide intellectual leadership. It has to look beyond the boundaries. What AIBOC does today should be followed by others tomorrow. We have contributed to AIBOC through many notes like five day week, Leave Fare Concession , Reduction in Government Share Holding in Public Sector Banks, Outsourcing in the name of Business Correspondents, BASEL III : VIEW FROM THE OTHER END to the Executive committee, through the booklet on Banking sector reforms and through periodic debates and discussions. We will continue to play that role through our research wing.

AIBOC TAMILNADU STATE UNIT

AIBOC Tamil Nadu State was dormant for some time has become very active. Your General Secretary was co-opted as the State Secretary after the retirement of Com. D.S. Rishabadas on 31st March 2014. A massive members meet was organised at Ethiraj College on 9th April 2014. It was addressed by

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Com. Y. Sudarshan and Com. Harvinder Singh. We also hosted the AIBOC EC at Chennai.

As per the decision of the Executive Committee of the Tamil Nadu State Unit we organised a massive women’s convention at our SBOA Junior College on 6th July 2014. It was addressed by Mr. Latika Saran IPS, former DGP, Dr. K. Radhakrishnan IPS, ADGP, Mrs. M.S. Sheela Jayaprakash Advocate and Dr. A. Tamilselvi, Madras Medical Mission.

As per the decision of the AIBOC which has a principle of one man one post in the All India Executive Committee the undersigned has taken over as President of AIBOC Tamil Nadu and Com. P. Vijayasenan has taken over as State Secretary. It has been decided to revitalise the Dist committees. We congratulate AIBOC Coimbatore District Committee headed by com. G. Selvaraj for organising two massive rallies during this period.

SALARY REVISION

The 9th Bipartite Settlement expired on 31st October, 2012. The charter of demand drafted by the charter of demands / negotiating committee constituted by the executive committee of All India Bank Officers’ Confederation had finalized for 10th Bipartite Settlement after consulting other officers’ organisations. It was historical day when on 30th October, 2012 all the constituents of UFBU under the leadership of Com. P.K. Sarkar, Convener of UFBU, presented the common charter of demands for consideration of the IBA with a request for an early commencements of negotiations. Common charters of demands were presented by 4 Officers’ organization and 5 award staff unions. AIBOC team was represented by Com. P.K. Sarkar, President, Com. D.S. Rishabadas, General Secretary, Com. Harvinder Singh, Sr, Vice President, Com. Anandha Kumar, Vice President, Com. D. Thomas Franco, Treasurer, & Com. Dilip Saha, General Secretary, PNBOA. The Chairman of IBA, Shri K.R. Kamath after welcoming the UFBU leaders accepted the charter of demands in the presence of Shri T.M. Bhasin, Vice President, IBA and CMD, Indian Bank, Shri D. Sarkar, CMD, Union Bank, Shri S.L. Bansal, CMD, OBC, Shri K. Unnikrishnan, Deputy Chief Executive of IBA and others. The representatives of the officers and award staff emphasized the need for the satisfactory wage revision in view of the fact that real wages have been eroded due to steep rise in price index since the last settlement, the increase in business volumes in the banking industry by many folds and expansion of bank branches with reduction in staff strength causing enhanced work load on the bank employees. The trend of wage hike in various sectors of the economy

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and constitution of the 7th pay commission was also cited as one of the reasons for a handsome salary rise.

Shri K.R. Kamath reacted to the request of the representatives of the officers of award staff by stating that your aspiration is our aspiration also and my constraint should be accepted by you also as your constraints. However, he assured of an early and satisfactory wage revision. He also assured that negotiations on the salary revision will be of regular basis and accepted that this exercise will be completed by August 2013.

DATE WISE DETAILS 22.2.2013 - First Meeting with IBA was held with the representatives of Workmen Unions and Officers Associations. The meeting was chaired by Chairman, IBA. This was a background meeting where pleasantries were exchanged and both the parties expressed their view point and expectations. 22.4.2013- Formal negotiations with Unions/Associations started. Indian Banks Association placed their demands for discussions which included CTC, Fixed and Variable Pay, Insurance Policy in lieu of Hospitalization scheme prevalent at Industry Level. 07.6.13 CTC model prepared by the Consultant M/s. Deloitte appointed by IBA was presented. Other management issues were also taken up. The Unions/ Associations demanded from IBA to finalise substantive issues like – 1. Effective date of agreement 2. Merger of points at CPI 3. Quantum of increase. 12.8.2013 - The decision regarding (i) effective date of settlement i.e. 1.11.2012, (ii) Merger of CPI at 4440 points (60.15%) as on November 2011 was taken after long deliberations. Representatives of Unions/Associations were informed that increase in quantum is under discussion with the Government. 11.10.2013 Core Group of IBA met with the representatives of Unions/ Associations and discussed on charter of demands, other than quantum of increase. 14.12.13 IBA conveyed its initial offer of 5% increase in pay-slip components and requested Unions/Association to reach a consensus on the following management issues flagged out for discussion:

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ü Cost to company model ü Introduction of variable pay ü Restricting negotiations for officers only upto Scale III ü Introduction of a Medical Insurance Scheme in lieu of existing

reimbursement scheme.The above Management proposals were declined by the constituents of UFBU. The offer of 5% increase on Pay slip components was also rejected as it was “too meager”. UFBU decided two days strike on 20th & 21st January 2014 and served a strike notice on IBA. IBA Called for next round of talks on 29/01/2014 which was preponed at the intervention of CLC.

Our Note on Cost to Company and Variable Pay

As employees of state-owned banks bargain hard for a steep rise in pay, the finance ministry has asked the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) to consider moving towards a cost-to-company (CTC) structure to reflect the actual remuneration, including all perquisites and incentives.

If the proposal goes through, every paisa the bank spends on an employee, from concessional rates of interest on loans to the employer's share in the provident fund, might be shown as part of CTC/salary.

The report of a committee on personnel issues of public sector banks in June 2010 had suggested banks consider variable pay as a major component of wages and have the discretion to go for a CTC concept, a trend prevalent world over.

At present, a raise to bank employees is given on gross salary, which primarily includes basic salary, dearness allowance, city compensatory allowance and house rent allowance (HRA) in some cases. Besides, there are various allowances for travel, buying furniture, cleaning material, telephone, newspapers, leased house rent (if HRA not availed) and medical expenses, among others.

Typically, a government bank probationary officer gets a salary of about Rs 26,000 a month. The perks and facilities could add at least Rs 10,000. There is no upper limit on these, as perquisites are not fixed by the government; these vary from bank to bank. The government believes in many cases the total cost incurred by the bank on an employee is double his or her basic salary.

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Some banks also offer allowances in the name of mid-year transfer, deputation, posting in a hilly region or special area, halting, lodging, discomfort, briefcase, entertainment and club membership fees. IBA is likely to ask for a 25 per cent rise for the 800,000-odd employees in the 10th bipartite agreement on wage revision. The rise is due with effect from November 2012. Though wage settlement negotiations usually go on for about two years, as bank unions begin with very high expectations, this time the government might settle by the end of 2013, since general elections are due in 2014.

"If PSBs have to run like a professional company, then why not behave like one and move to the CTC concept? We have given this suggestion to IBA," a finance ministry official told Business Standard.

What is CTC? Salaries in some companies India are quoted in terms of CTC or cost to company. CTC is nothing but the cost that the company incurs to employ you and keep you employed. It includes your pay and anything else that the company may incur to keep you in employment. It’s important because a lot of components of your CTC may not translate into actual take-home cash every month. So what happens to the difference? There are many components that are offered in addition to the CTC, ESOPs being a good case in point. So what are the things you need to look at there?

1. Certain components of CTC may not be cash components A company may beef-up your CTC with components that don’t really translate into month-end cash or that may have just a notional components. Some examples include: -Value of perquisites is included in CTC. So if you are provided with a company accommodation, car, driver, child education expenses and so on, the value of these get included in the CTC. -Banks may include interest subsidies in CTC. That is, if you are a bank employee, you are entitled to a discounted rate on loans. The difference between the market rate and the discounted rate maybe considered part of your CTC. Even corporate give out loans and advances at subsidized interest rates and the subsidy would be added to the CTC.

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-Companies may include the cost of group medical or life insurance. Some companies may add food subsidies, that is, you may be getting a subsidy on your lunch in the office canteen. If you carry your lunch from home, you may not actually benefit from this component. Similarly, if the company provides transport, there may be transport costs or subsidies. -Companies include gratuity in the CTC. Gratuity is a sort of bonus that is paid out when you resign or retire from your company. The catch: You are entitled to gratuity only after completing 5 years in the company. -Employer’s contribution to your provident fund is included in CTC. This amount is deposited by the employer in your provident fund and so this does not form part of your take-home. You will get this amount only at the time you resign or retire.

2. Deductions further reduce monthly take home Even after you have arrived at the cash value of your take home, there are certain deductions made from it. Tax is one such deduction. It is nothing but the taxes withheld from your income by the company. It is the equivalent of ‘withholding tax’ that several countries have. How much tax is deducted depends on the various components of your salary. In addition to income tax deduction, you will find a professional tax deduction being made every month. A lot of companies may allow you to choose the components in your salary. For instance, they may allocate a certain amount as a ‘flexi pay’ component. Within this amount, you maybe able to choose components such as HRA, medical reimbursement, etc depending on what maybe most tax efficient for you. If you are in a higher income bracket, it would be wise to consult a professional to help you optimize your salary to make it tax effective. The other deduction is your contribution to provident fund. This amount is deducted from your monthly salary and deposited in the provident fund. This is your contribution and comes out of your monthly salary, thus reducing your take-home. Again, a lot of companies make this deduction optional. However, making provident fund contributions maybe a wise saving tool. Currently company provident funds earn tax free returns of 8.5% per annum. Over a long period of time, that would build up to a decent corpus.

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3. Annualised and variable components

There are certain components that are paid out to you annually or subject to your performance; these do not become part of your monthly take home. Examples include leave travel allowance, annual bonus etc. Variable salaries can range between 15-50%. For programmers the variable pay would be around 15% of the CTC while for marketing professionals it could go up to 50%. Before the 2008 crisis, most companies paid out the variable components in full, but that has changed now. There are various factors that come into play while arriving at the variable pay outs. The company’s performance as well as your individual performance would both matter.

Summary:

"Cost to Company" to calculate the total cost to them (the Company) to employ you. I.e. all the costs associated with the employment contract. Cost to Company could include the following: 1. Gross salary 2. All contributions to Medical, Pension/provident, UIF, SDL, Group

insurance etc. 3. 13th Cheque and Bonuses 4. Use of company property such as car, petrol card,

computer/notebook, software etc. 5. Cost of any loans, bursaries and interest free or low interest loans 6. Cost of any expenses paid on your behalf such as insurance &

telephone at home etc. 7. Costs of share options & incentive schemes etc.

Total cost" includes both the so-called "employer" and employee contributions to benefit funds. As a consequence, any differentiation between the employer and employee portions is largely driven by what is allowable for tax purposes in each case.

What are the demerits of CTC?

It benefits only the employer and not the employee. It gives an illusion that the Pay is so high. One should know that without employee the company or Bank cannot work. From time memorial the employers were providing certain facilities to employees so that they provide better output. For example the Landlords gave accommodation and food to

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agriculture labourers. The salary and perquisites are not charity but given out of the profit generated by the employees. So the concept of CTC is totally against the employee.

Why certain benefits should not be added to CTC?

There are certain benefits which are due for the employees for their contribution which they will enjoy after retirement.

• Gratuity: It is statutory considering various facts and the requirements of a staff when he or she retires

• Provident Fund: This is a security for the staff and the family after retirement.

Why perquisites should not be added to CTC?

• Conveyance: It is for the purpose of increasing the productivity and the amount is actually spent

• Newspaper: It is for enhancing the knowledge to increase the output

• Labour Charges: It is actually spent on the labour

• Entertainment: It is spent on the Customer

• Concessional Interest: This is to encourage the employee and the fact is it is 100% secured and no NPA

• LFC: Actually spent by the employee.

If all perquisites & retirement benefits are added it will appear that the Bank is paying so much. But the Bank is actually benefiting out of all these and earning better profit. With every promotion the seniors get better perquisites. This is in appreciation. By including them in CTC seniors will stand to lose a lot.

What is happening in Private Sector?

It is the private sector which introduced CTC concept but today qualified and experience employees do not accept CTC but want clear terms of salary & benefits

In the Banking Sector today many join because of the security and the assured salary. If CTC is introduced the income will appear high but actual will be very less. Take home pay is what matters. In SBI nearly 70% of the Probationary Officers have left IT sector and joined because they are not satisfied with the salary on CTC basis and the other service

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conditions. Once they see that Banking sector is also similar they will not join & those who have joined will leave.

A comparative study of salary & CTC in SBI is given below which shows the CTC appears to be almost double.

Variable Pay:

The Khandelwal Committee has recommended variable pay to only 15% of the employees. This will lend to two categories of employees and officers. i.e. performers & non-performers (NPA?)

In the Banking Sector performance depends on many factors which are environmental. For example Urban area scope is more. Performance of Branch Manager and Accountant will be different.

In companies where variable pay is prevalent there are complaints of partiality, vindictiveness and even sexual harassment. “To please the boss” is the main criteria to get better performance allowance or variable pay.

Hence, in Banking Sector the concept is not acceptable at all.

17.1.2014 - IBA offered a wage hike of 9.5% on the salary slip. As a result, UFBU deferred the strike call given on 20th & 21st January 2014 and expressed that the offer did not meet their expectation and demands submitted in Charter of Demand. 7.2.2014 - The offer was further enhanced to 10% on the pay slip, the impact of which on balance sheet was Rs.6739 Crores.The Unions/Associations termed the offer as “inadequate” and “not acceptable. IBA expressed that demand of 30- 35% hike in wages as indicated in Charter of Demands could not be met as none of the banks would be in a position to bear the huge burden. Some banks have already indicated that they may face difficulty in honouring the present offer. The Negotiating Committee requested Unions/Associations to adopt a pragmatic approach so that issues can be settled at the negotiating table amicably. IBA also announced to hold the next meeting on 13.2.2014. Since the offer of IBA was no where near to the expectations, UFBU issued a Strike Notice on 27.1.2014 itself for two days strike call on 10th & 11th February 2014. 3.3.2014 - Chairman, Negotiating Committee emphasized that in the present scenario, most of the banks have expressed their inability to afford even the offer of 10% hike on the payslip, made by IBA earlier. The representatives of

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Unions/ Associations expressed that 10% hike in payslip components is inadequate and demanded that offer of IBA should have started from what was given in the last settlement. The Chief Executive, IBA urged the representatives of Unions/ Associations to come forward with a pragmatic approach on the issue with a reasonable demand and for an amicable solution. He requested the representatives to give their offer of increase on payslip components as against the 10%. UFBU insisted that there are many other issues in the charter of demand and advised IBA to give view on those demands such as 5 days week, Regulated Working Hours of officers, compensation to officers for working on Sundays and Holidays, Revision in Hospitalisation Scheme, LTC, etc. which are directly or indirectly related to the increase in pay.The Negotiating Committee of IBA advised the Unions/ Associations that these issues will be discussed with DFS on 5.3.2014 and Core Committee will look into the details of the issues and meet the representatives of Unions/ Associations within the next ten days. 14.3.2014 - Core Group of IBA negotiating team met with Unions/ Associations and discussed the Charter of Demands submitted by UFBU, other than the quantum of increase in wages and allowances. 13.06.2014 - IBA offered a hike of 11% and again pleaded that most of the Banks do not have paying capacity. According the IBA this offer will cost Rs.3465 cores in pay slip components and Rs.7055 crores in establishment expenses. We disputed the calculation of superannuation cost calculations and demanded the work sheet and rejected the above offer. IBA at this juncture insisted UFBU to spell out their exact demand in percentage of increase in wages, to which UFBU demanded 25% increase in salary slip components. Unions/ Associations were told that their demand of 25% increase is nowhere near to the offer of 11%. IBA urged the Unions/ Associations to scale down their demand in view of the performance of the Banking in the absence of which it would be difficult to proceed further.Issues (other than wage hike) which are part of charter of demands of unions/associations discussed at the Core Group meeting held on 14.3.2014 were again discussed. Officers’ organization once again rejected the IBA’s demand of discussion of CTC, fixed and variable pay and also that salary revision discussions will be upto scale III officers. Thereafter, UFBU decided that since IBA has not come up with any adequate increase in their offer, further course of action would be decided shortly after mutual consultations amongst the Constituent Unions and also to go ahead with its decision to take a delegation of UFBU to the Finance Minister to apprise him of our issues

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and demands. Accordingly, the 9 member UFBU delegation met the Hon’ble Finance minister Mr. Arun Jaitley on 27th June 2014 and submitted a Memorandum on wage revision, the details of which have been circulated vide our Circular dt. 2014/42 dt. 27.06.2014. The delegation urged upon him to intervene for reasonable salary revision. He was receptive to the arguments put forth andassured of an early action after consultation with officials of DFS, MOF. However, so far, there has not been any response. UFBU again met on 15th July, 2014 and decided to demand IBA to expedite wage negotiation by calling an immediate meeting and to chalk out strategies to secure early and decent wage revision. UFBU waited for the response from the IBA / Government and Finance Minister for reasonable time. Efforts were once again started by the leadership of the Confederation by following up with the Ministry officials. One D.O. letter was sent by the DFS in the second half of August to IBA asking them to resume the talks. It was learnt that IBA informed the DFS that due to reconstitution of the Negotiating Committee in the next Management Committee of the IBA and due to the CEO of the IBA being abroad, the talks could not be resumed and the same shall be held at the earliest. Our leadership also offered the Convenor of the UFBU for arranging a meeting with the Finance Minster once again but the Convenor advised that he is already in the process of arranging the meeting through some Central Minister. The leadership at large was getting restive and lot many suggestions were pouring in for expediting the settlement process. Your General Secretary after consulting few senior leaders of the Confederation decided that in order to involve the entire membership in the process, a letter addressed to the Prime Minister should be sent, whereby, the role played by the officers and employees of the Public Sector Banks is highlighted and, thereby, our claim for a justified pay revision can be demanded from him. The letter was drafted and sent to all affiliates along with a circular on 5th September, 2014. All the affiliates were requested by AIBOC to ensure that all members sign the letter and send it to the Hon’ble Prime Minister through mail / fax / post. LAST TWO ROUNDS OF NEGOTIATIONS ON 17th & 26th SEPTEMBER, 2014 Consequent upon elevation of Shri T. M. Bhasin as Chairman, IBA and Shri Rajeev Rishi, CMD, Central Bank of India assuming the assignment of Chairman, Negotiating Committee w.e.f. 20.8.2014, negotiation started with them on 17th September, 2014.

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UFBU sought certain clarifications on Compassionate Appointment Scheme. The IBA conveyed that the matter would be referred to Government and necessary clarifications will be issued on their advice. UFBU expressed its apprehension on accounts to be opened under ‘Jan Dhan Yojna’ as:

1. The compromises on KYC norms may lead to opening of fraudulent accounts for which employees should not be held accountable

2. Due to pressure of achieving stipulated targets of opening of accounts, regular banking activities and services to existing customers are adversely affected,

3. Due to stipulation on timings for opening of accounts from 8am to 8pm, employees areforced to work beyond their working hours and are put to severe stress for achieving this stipulated target.

IBA assured that no employee will be held responsible provided instructions issued in this regard are followed. IBA once again informed that UFBU’s demand of 25% increase in pay slip components is beyond the paying capacity of banks and insisted to review its demand to which UFBU reiterated that IBA should substantially revise its offer of increase and discuss other important issues simultaneously, like regulated working hours, 5 day banking, improvement in pension related matters in time bound manner and to hold negotiation meeting regularly at frequent intervals to ensure expeditious settlement. UFBU stated that flexibility in its demand would depend upon the response of IBA on all these matters. However, IBA once again took shelter of paying capacity and refused to enhance the offer of 11%. Your General Secretary in a clear message to IBA clarified that officers/employees of the Banking Industry cannot be held responsible for paying capacity. In his 15 minutes’ presentation all arguments of IBA were demolished and IBA was clueless on the issue. IBA soon invited UFBU for its next meeting on 26th September, 2014. The meeting though held at a short interval, was a complete disappointment to UFBU. In this meeting, a broad in principle consensus was mutually agreed upon mediclaim scheme and it was agreed to work out the final scheme on the basis of suggestions given by UFBU to address its apprehensions. The following issues were also raised for discussion:

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• Pension related matters i.e. 100% DA on pension for pre-Nov. 2002 retirees, improvement in family pension, provision for periodical updation of pension

• Introduction of 5 days banking / 5 days working • Regulated working hours for officers

IBA expressed its inclination to favourably consider the demand of 100% DA on pension for pre-November, 2002, retirees, informed that cost aspect of improvement in family pension is being worked out and a decision on the same would soon be taken. However, it expressed that it will be difficult to agree to updation of pension demand due to cost factor. IBA initially expressed its inability to accept 5 day banking but later agreed to consider the issue afresh on receipt of detailed note with requisite logic and rationale from UFBU and also agreed to take a fresh view on regulated working hours for officers after studying the note submitted by officers’ organization. IBA sought views and reactions on introduction of cost to company method as well as fixed and variable pay concepts, to which UFBU reiterated its stand point that the same is not acceptable. UFBU also declined IBA’s insistence for limiting the wage revision discussions upto scale III officers instead of upto scale VII. Your General Secretary once again stole the show and lambasted the IBA with arguments on raising the issue of settlement up to Scale III. It was made amply clear that the issue is a closed chapter and he asked IBA not to unnecessarily provoke the Officers’ Organizations. UFBU expressed its strong displeasure over the rigid stand of IBA on improvement of offer from 11% increase. Subsequent to the meeting with IBA, UFBU decided to observe 1 day protest strike preceded by following action programme. 10.10.2014 BLACK BADGE WEARING 17.10.2014 COUNTRY WIDE PROTEST DEMONSTRATIONS Between 18.10.2014 and ONE DAY DHARNA AT ALL STATE CAPITALS 31.10.2014 (Date shall be decided by the State Unit of UFBU) COUNTRY WIDE ONE DAY PROTEST STRIKE It was also decided that the one day protest strike shall be followed by intermittent and relay strikes as well as indefinite strike. Our Confederation expressed its clear view in the UFBU meeting held on 26th September, 2014, subsequent to meeting with IBA, that we want quick and sustained

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agitational programme against the apathy and rigidity of IBA and the Government on our just and reasonable demands. We also suggested that our strike call should be for 13th and/or 14th October preceded by programmes like no late sitting, not coming on Sundays and Holidays, Badge wearing, relay hunger strikes, rallies and demonstrations. Undersigned offered to accept the challenge to hold a rally/demonstration on 27th September, 2014 itself at Delhi. However, the UFBU decided on the aforesaid programme only. The time is ripe to take immediate and strong action because the members, particularly the younger generation is getting very jittery, aggressive and have started condemning the leaders. There have been several mails, messages and calls by the members expressing their disappointment, lack of faith on the leadership and unwillingness to join one day strike that too after such a long interval of failed talks. We need to deliberate at length our future strategy and action points to retain the faith of the membership by doing full justice to our role as leaders. As negotiation with IBA & CLC failed on 10th Nov 2014 the strike took place on 12th which was a great success. EARLIER AGITATIONS MASSIVE PROTESTS BY BANK OFFICERS & WORKMEN ON 22ND OCT.2013

A massive demonstration took place at Allahabad Bank building at Connaught Place in the heart of New Delhi 200 metres away from the venue where Finance Minister, Shri. P. Chidambaram was having review meeting with Chairmen of Public Sector Banks. Massive demonstrations/rallies were organized at Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and at all big cities/centers including Banglore, Ernakulum, Trivandrum, Nagpur, Patna, Hyderabad, Ranchi, Jaipur, Lucknow and many other parts of the country. Convener of UFBU sent a communication to Secretary, Deptt. of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India seeking his intervention for an early, legitimate and reasonable settlement.

FOLLOW UP WITH D.F.S./IBA CHAIRMAN

In order to expedite the salary revision process, your General Secretary took the initiative and met Shri. Anup Wadhawan, the Joint secretary (IR), DOFS, personally to request him to expedite the salary negotiation process. He

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assured to be a help in the matter. Thereafter, a meeting was arranged with Secretary D.F.S. which took place on 14th November, 2013. A group of four constituents of UFBU, including the undersigned briefed Shri. Rajiv Takru, Secretary, D.F.S. about the developments till date and requested him to expedite the salary revision process by appropriately directing the IBA. Shri. K.R. Kamath, Chairman of IBA was also informed of this development on the same day in his office. It is understood that IBA team including Chairman IBA, Chairman Negotiating team of IBA visited D.F.S. and had a discussion with one of the Jt. Secretaries of the department.

UFBU MEETING AT CHENNAI ON 20/11/2013

A meeting of the United Forum of Bank unions was held at Chennai on 20th November, 2013. A serious concern was shown that no real progress has taken in talks. Meeting also expressed its strong protest against the various measures being taken by Government and the RBI like issue of licenses to corporate and business houses to start their own Banks, allowing foreign banks to get national status and even to take over our Banks, attempts to privatise the Banks, merger of Banks, etc. Hence, UFBU decided to give a call for All India Strike in all the Banks on 19th December, 2013, which was later preponed to December 18 as 19th December was a holiday in the state of Goa, Daman & Diu.

Subsequent to the strike call given by UFBU, IBA called for Bilateral Negotiations on 14th December 2013. After lot of deliberations, IBA offered a meager increase of 5% over the wage expenses covered by the pay slip components i.e. exclusive of the cost on other components and superannuation benefits. The reasons cited by the IBA for such small rise was increasing NPA’s and declining profitability in banking industry.

IBA also stated that they would like to cover the discussions on salary revision only up to scale 3 officers. Our demand for introduction of 5 days banking was also not accepted by IBA as it did not find favour from the government. IBA also advised that the issue of compassionate appointments scheme is still under consideration of the government. Since the offer of the IBA fell very short of our demands and expectations, they were rejected with a request to reconsider the issues and come out with the revised offer. In the absence of any revised stand of the IBA, UFBU decided to go ahead with its strike on 18th December 2013.

The Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) held conciliation proceedings on 16th December 2013 at his office New Delhi. IBA retreated their stand and the undersigned as representative of UFBU in the absence of the Convenor

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conveyed to CLC that in view of the rigid stand of the IBA on all the issues, it will not be possible to withdraw the strike. Talks failed and UFBU decided to go ahead with all its agitational programme including strike on 18th December 2013.

The UFBU has to be more cohesive, more visionary, more analytical and more militant. The aspiration of the youth has to be taken into account. One upmanship should end. For this more brine stormings and conclaves are required. UFBU has to think beyond wage revision. It has to think beyond ideological boundaries. We are confident that UFBU which is an unique experiment which does not exist anywhere in the world as an organisation which consists of the working class and the managerial class will continue to be an example for all other Trade Union Movements in different industries to follow.

A  I  S  B  O  F – A PIONEER IN THE MANAGERIAL CLASS

All India Supervising staff Federation was formed in 1965 and it is the pioneer for managerial class associations. Let us discuss the happenings in the Federation during the triennial period.

25th TRIENNIAL GENERAL COUNCIL, THE SILVER JUBILEE OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF AISBOF

The 25thtriennial general council meeting of our Federation was held on 26th May 2012 at Radisson Blue Hotel & resort Temple Bay, Mamallapuram. The venue of the celebration was flooded by the executive committee members of the federation, leaders from all the circles, our dear comrades from far off places, press people and dignitaries from various fields. It was considered as the grandest arrangement ever conducted by any executive body in the country. The Honorable Union Minister of State for Finance Shri S.S.Palanimanickam and the Honorable Union Minister of State, PMO, Personnel Public grievances and pension Shri V.Narayanasamy added importance to the function. The 25thTriennial General council, the Silver Jubilee of the General Council of AISBOF adorned gold crown to the Chennai circle by the leaders of the federation from different parts of the country with different languages and cultures. Comrade D.S.Rishabadas was elected as the General Secretary of the Federation unanimously. In continuation of his voyage through the tides of victory, Com.D.S.Rishabadas was co-opted as the General Secretary of AIBOC at the 68th Executive Committee meeting of All India Bank Officers’ Confederation.

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INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS WITHIN SBI

Mr. Pratip Chaudhuri took office in April 2011, and the federation had a meeting with him on 23.05.2011 and in this meeting the Chairman shared the performance and position of the Bank and also the concerns and challenges facing the Bank. The Federation leadership while extending warm greetings assured him of all support to the Management. The leadership also emphasized the rich tradition of the Federation of being a partner in the growth and progress of the Bank. The meeting ended on a cordial note.

Problems started in the deliberations held at Central Negotiating Council Meeting at Mumbai on 09.07.2011. The Management expressed its view of 7 day banking and the Federation leadership in response had expressed the view that though the idea of 7 day banking is debatable, the bank should first provide proper infrastructure including relief staff, suitable compensation and weekly off and the matter can be discussed in the bi partite forum and the management should give two days off for such branches which amounts only to the demand of 5 day week. The other issues like the self lease, improvement in furniture scheme, enhancement of housing loan, release of fitment formula for the newly promoted officers etc were also not settled in the meeting.

In the following Central Negotiating Council Meeting at Patna on 20.10.2011 the Management officials stonewalled all the demands raised at the 09.07.2011 CNC with the Federation by simply saying that all the demands had to be forwarded to the Government and there was no conclusion reached on any of the demands. There has been a clear cut indication that the Management is not interested in settling the issues . Since all the efforts by the Federation had failed the Federation gave a call for a strike on 8th and 9th November 2011 and served a strike notice on the Management on 24.10.2011.

Subsequently on 4.11.2011 the Conciliation Meeting between the Federation and the Management with Chief labour Commissioner (Central) Mumbai failed.

On 05.11.2011 The Management issued misleading advertisements in all leading dailies making it appear as though the strike call has been given only on the demands which were in the nature of Industry level settlements, completely obscuring the bank level demands made by the Federation raised in various bi partite forum.

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On the same day (05.11.2011) the Management wrote to the Federation requesting it to reconsider the stand and its commitment to hold dialogue.

Based on this letter and with an intention not to affect the customer service the Federation wrote back on 05.11.2011, its decision to defer the strike. The Chairman expressed his displeasure on the strike call even in the BANCON conference held at Chennai on 4,5,6 of November 2011.

While the Management was requesting the Federation to defer the strike simultaneously at the other end it surreptitiously approached the High Court at Mumbai with a prayer to declare the strike illegal. This move exposed the mala-fide intention and ulterior motive of the Management which approached the court behind the back of the Federation. However the prayer before the court by the Management has been dismissed as withdrawn.

After the withdrawal of the strike the Chairman addressed all the employees of the Bank through web cast on 11.11.2011 and dwelt in length only on the issue of the withdrawn strike call. He came down heavily on the Federation accusing it of all the ills faced by the Bank and the video recording of the Chairman’s message was subsequently played at all Training Centres even after one year. The video recording was also played in Corporate Centre lifts which are being accessed by outsiders as well as customers.

At the instance of the Management a meeting was convened at Mumbai on 18.11.2011 and the talks remained inconclusive as the atmosphere prevailed then was not conducive for any meaningful decisions to be taken. It was resolved to address the pending issues in the ensuing meeting.

The Chairman has taken the strike call more personally and started criticizing the Federation for all the problems faced by the Bank in all the platforms he had opportunities to be present. Even in his web cast/video message on 30.11.2011 to all the members of the staff he had accused the Federation for all the problems faced by the Bank.

Our contention that the Chairman had decided to take revenge on the Federation was strengthened by the fact that he had directed all the Circle functionaries not to attend any of the functions/meetings arranged by the Association including the retirement functions of the office bearers of the Association. Hitherto all the triennial conferences of the Federation had been attended by all the previous Chairmen in the past, but in the Silver jubilee Triennial Conference of the Federation held at Mahabalipuram on 27,28,29 May 2012, the present Chairman did not attend even though the same

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conference was attended by two Central Ministers. He had also instructed the local head Office functionaries not to attend the same. All these events indicate only the deep rooted animosity and bitterness towards the Federation by the Chairman.

In the Silver Jubilee triennial conference of the Federation on 29.05.2012 a new set of office bearers for the post of General Secretary and President took charge of the Federation. CNC meeting was held on 19.07.2012 at Trivandrum, wherein a meaningful interaction and positive developments took place. The DMD & CDO who chaired the meeting was positive and assured to take forward most of our reasonable demands.

On 25.08.2012, in a meeting of credit analysts the Chairman announced about his intentions of introducing 7 day banking which was covered extensively by the print as well as electronic media. In that meeting the Chairman said that the costs incurred on the developing physical infrastructure and network does not hit the Bank as much as staff costs. In order to improve efficiency, it will therefore try to delegate routine responsibilities currently done by officers to the low cost Junior employees. (ET 26.08.2012) All the above three statements raised genuine apprehension in the minds of the membership and a spontaneous lunch time demonstration on 28.08.2012 was an expression of collective action.

The lunch time peaceful demonstration on 28th August 2012, was a legitimate trade union action. The General Secretaries of all the 14 circles of SBIOA were served with a letter by the respective DGM & CDO on 30th August 2012, which ended with “ You are hereby called upon to desist from such behaviour and not to repeat it in future.” The letter did not invite a reply. It was an advisory and conclusive letter. Hence the cause of action ended with the serving of the letter.

Subsequently, on 24th September 2012, the General Secretaries were again served with a letter alleging non submission of reply to the letter dated 30th August 2012 and also surprisingly invoking Sec 36AD of Banking Regulation Act. Any action to be initiated against an official of the Bank is to be done under the extant OSR within the Bank. By invoking 36 AD of BR Act, which in no way applies to a peaceful demonstration held before various administrative offices and there was no prevention of ingress or egress of any person. The invocation of BR Act requires the Courts intervention. This exposes the clear, vindictive and malicious action of the Management to suppress genuine trade union action.

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Even before the General Secretaries could submit a reply to the second letter dated 24.09.2012, charge sheets were served in the personal names of the individual officers who are holding the posts of the Presidents and General Secretaries on 27th September 2012. There has been an indecent hurry to victimize Com. Keshav Thaokar the General secretary of Mumbai Circle, who was to superannuate on 30th September 2012. The motive behind this hurriedly coined charge sheet was to somehow punish Com. Thaokar, GS, Mumbai Ultimately this was achieved and Com. Thaokar was retired under OSR 19(3).

The whole sequence of events reeked of malicious intent as the cause of action of 28th August 2012 was effectively closed by issuance of letter to the General Secretaries on 30.08.2012. Subsequently, there was no incident / provocation. Assuming there was, that requires to be pursued as a fresh cause of action. All Presidents and General Secretaries were charge sheeted even though the demonstration on 28th August 2012 was not conducted / attended by certain Presidents and General Secretaries who were away.

On 27th September 2012, the Chairman held a video conference with all CGMs of Circles, DMD CDO, DGM&CDO, AGM(HR)s and Officials of law department directing them to issue charge sheet to the Presidents and General Secretaries of their Circle Associations. Conveying also to them that the charge sheets will be prepared not by the Disciplinary Authority but by the Officials at the Corporate Centre and that it should be served on all the Presidents and General Secretaries on the same day. This clearly establishes that the Disciplinary Authority’s actions have been directed actions imposed by a Superior Authority.

This belief of the Federation that the Chairman is interfering even in the role and functions of the Disciplinary Authorities was strengthened by the fact that the General Manager, Network-1, Ahmedabad, the Disciplinary Authority for Com. J.C. Modi and S.B. Patel, President and General Secretary of Ahmedabad Circle were issued with the stereo typed charge sheet accusing them of conducting demonstration at Ahmedabad LHO while the fact remains that there was no such demonstration conducted there on 28.08.2012. This went to prove that the DA at the level of General Manager have not been allowed to exercise their judgment and fair play and was forced to sign on the dotted lines dictated by a superior authority.

In respect of the charge sheet issued to Com. Samir Kumar Mukerjee, the General secretary of North Eastern Circle, Guwahati, the same was withdrawn on 06.10.2012(copy enclosed) without assigning any reason. This smacks of arbitrariness and discrimination with the sole intention to break the

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Officers unity, while the alleged offence has been committed by Shri. S.K. Mukerjee

The Disciplinary Authority had no opportunity to freely and independently apply their mind and a matter which was closed as early as 30th August 2012 was reopened with issue of charge sheet to the Presidents and General Secretaries, who were neither issued explanation letters nor asked to submit reply. This shows that there was deep rooted mala-fide intention. Compelling the Disciplinary Authorities in the area of dispensation of Justice amounts to interference in administration of justice.

The clear instruction by the Chairman to the Circle authorities was very visible. Senior Officials of the grade of AGMs were sent to deliver personally the charge sheets to the Presidents and General Secretaries. In the case of President and General Secretary of Mumbai Circle, an Official of Mumbai LHO flew down to Aurangabad to serve the charge sheet where the President and General Secretary were attending a meeting. In case of Patna Circle, the Charge sheet on the President was delivered to the wife of the President in the night at home. In the case of Chennai Circle, it was delivered late in the night even though they were available in the Office throughout the day. The entire episode reeks with vengeance and to somehow discredit the leadership of the Federation.

On 28th September 2012 afternoon, again a Video Conference was conducted by DMD CDO from Delhi & CGM (HR) from Corporate Centre with all Circles. The senior functionaries and law department officials were in full attendance. The only brief was to engage in each circle a prominent senior counsel paying large amount of fees and taking preventive actions like filing of caveats on the Presidents and General Secretaries. A few Presidents and General Secretaries got almost 30 Caveats on them from all benches of High Courts and Subordinate Courts in the States. This was intended to intimidate not only the charge sheeted officials but also other senior officials of the Bank.

On 4th October 2012 at the request of the Federation, a meeting was convened at Corporate Centre with the Chairman. The Chairman had advised all the CGMs from all over the country to participate in the meeting as also the Circle General Secretaries who were available in Mumbai that day. In the opening remarks the General Secretary expressed the concerns of the Federation, the resolve to keep the Bank in its number one position and also requested to come out of the trust deficit. He also explained the aspiration of the members for five day week. He also highlighted the staff shortage whereas the support for expansion is continuing. He assured that

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the Federation will strive hard to retain the number one position of the Bank, enhance the image and also tackle the NPA. He acknowledged the facilities given by the Bank. He also highlighted the problems faced by officers in Branches and appealed to the Chairman to erase from his mind the recent developments which created the trust deficit and assured that as members of the family we will continue to be partners in progress. The General Secretary appealed to the Chairman to treat the bye-gones as bye-gones.

In spite of this, the Chairman’s response was totally negative and he went on saying that “he was not Jesus Christ to forgive and forget” and “for every action there will be a reaction” and “for every credit there will be a debit”. He also mentioned that the Federation has backstabbed him and Federation office bearers are the wolves in sheep’s’ clothing. He kept on repeatedly referring to the withdrawn strike of November 2011 and took it as personal affront. All through the meeting he exhibited his foul temper and the language used by him was unacceptably harsh and lacked polish. All through the meeting he carried on with his preconceived wrong notion about the Federation leadership. This entire happening was witnessed by 14 Chief General Managers along with the HR and IR Department functionaries besides the MD (NBG) and the DMD&CDO. Despite the positive approach shown by the Federation, the Chairman remained intransigent. Through this meeting he sent a very strong and clear message against the Federation leadership to all the Circle Heads who had assembled there. But for an obvious reason the mention about this meting convened and chaired by the Chairman was conspicuously absent in the plaint of the plaintiff. This exposed the ulterior motive and mala-fide intention of the Chairman. However most of the senior functionaries conceded in private about the wrong step taken by the Chairman and felt that it will not do good to the growth of the Bank.

On 8th October 2012, the Chairman addressed 2.20 lakhs Officers and Staff of the Bank through Video Conference and webcast regarding the recent developments and visibly expressing his antipathy towards Officers Federation and its affiliates. The address was utilized to send a strong message that he has little patience for the sole representative Organization and strong message to Disciplinary Authorities of his inclination to be harsh and somehow victimize Office bearers of the sole recognized Federation. This is a clear indication of interference on the free and fair disposal of the charge sheet. This has been done with malicious and mala-fide intention. In his address the Chairman tried to drive a wedge between the members of the organization and the leaders, “ I also assure you that we will not against the general population officer and will not take any oppressive or any

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vindictive action against the general officer community because we thin this is the handy work of the few leaders of officers Federation. Please rest assured none of it will devolve on any of the other officers in general”. The impression sought to be created by him is that the demonstrations have been conducted in 13 centers only by the leaders of the Federation while the fact remains that the demonstrations were conducted with the active and emotional participation of thousands of members across the country. The chronology of events shows that there is intent to chase, tease, harass, victimize and humiliate the leadership of the Federation by the Management.

In the meanwhile all the Presidents and General secretaries who were issued with the charge sheet had submitted their reply to the same well within the time specified for the same.

Despite the hostile attitude of the Management the leadership of the Federation which believes in continuous dialogue to resolve the contentious issues in the Bank made several attempts to reach the top management through informal as well as formal meetings during this period. The plaintiff has deliberately suppressed this fact in the plaint while the fact is contrary to the plaint.

Some of the major efforts that took place are as follows:-

a) The President, Vice Presidents and the General Secretary of the Federation met the officials in the IR Department on 30th August, 2012 to convey their concern over the deterioration in the industrial relations in the bank and sought restoration of bilateral meetings;

b) The General Secretary along with all the Presidents and the General Secretaries of the affiliates of the Federation had an exclusive meeting with the Chairman on 4th of October, 2012 to discuss the issue of the Charge Sheets served on our members with a view to close the issue and restore normalcy in the Bank.

c) Again we met executives in the IR Dept., on 5th October, 2012 and insisted for CNC meeting at an early date. They assured to convene the CNC meeting after the pooja festival.

d) Even after the Chairman’s Web cast on the 8th of October, 2012 attacking the leadership of the Federation and threatening serious actions on the leadership of the Federation, the President and the General Secretary of the Federation called on the executives of the Management on 9th & 10th October, 2012 to find a solution to the present crisis.

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e) On 22nd October 2012, the General secretary of the Federation met the DMD&CDO, CGM(HR) and the GM(IR) individually and later together only to ensure that efforts are kept open for an amicable solution.

f) Com.Sameer Kumar Mukherjee the General secretary of SBIOA(North eastern Circle) and the Officer director on the Central Board of SBI also met the Chairman after the ECCB meeting on 31st October, 2012 with a request to put an end to the current impasse.

g) Keeping up its commitment for an amicable and negotiated settlement the General Secretary of the Federation met the senior functionaries of the Bank including the DMD&CDO again on 01st November, but all these meetings yielded no result.

h) The General Secretary of the Federation sent separate communications seeking to convene the Central Negotiating Council Meeting and the follow-up meeting on these issues with a view to resolve the present stalemate.

i) Apart from these initiatives, the General Secretary was in constant touch with the officials of the IR Department including the Dy.Managing Director and CDO with the good intention of avoiding the agitation and to seek a negotiated settlement on all the points that have been raised by the Federation and the Management.

The leadership of the Federation had demonstrated tremendous patience and perseverance and was willing to discuss the issues that led to the issuance of the Charge sheet and convince the Management for an amicable settlement. The top management was determined to break all those talks and have clearly demonstrated that they had already planned to utilize these charge sheets with an intention to attack the trade union movement built by the Federation over the last 50 years.

To add insult to injury two of our senior leaders Com.Sameer Banerjee, President of our Bhopal Circle Association and Com. L.K. Mishra, President of our Bhubaneswar Circle Association who were to retire from the active services of the Bank on 30th November, 2012 even though the explanation for the charge sheet has been submitted 1½ months back have been placed under Rule 19(3) of SBIOSR. This was the last straw on the camel’s back and the membership at large were very much agitated on this issue of the Presidents and General secretaries being retired under the draconian rule of OSR 19(3). In order to show their solidarity and to show the dissent towards the senior leaders being punished for a legitimate trade union activity the

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members of the Federation held demonstrations in the evening of 30th November 2012 infront of all LHOS/Aus/ZOs of the Bank. This demonstration again was a massively attended peaceful demonstration only to highlight the unity and solidarity of the Federation.

There has been clear case of intimidation, instilling fear among subordinates which shows mala-fide intention. Legitimate trade union rights which flow from the articles 19(1)(a), 19(1)(b) and 19(1)(c), of the Constitution of India are attempted to be subverted by sheer power of position and spreading fear.

In the meantime on 30th November 2012 the Management approached the High Court at Mumbai with a case against the Federation, Mumbai Circle Association and the General secretary of the Federation claiming damages of Rs.100 crores for loss of image of the Bank and to restrain the Federation and its affiliates from holding demonstration etc within 100 meteres of any premises of the Bank. The case came up for hearing on 03rd December 2012 and Justice Kathawala of Bombay High Court posted for the case to 18th December and also passed an injunction from holding demonstration etc within 100 meters radius.

On 18th November 2012 in the hearing of the case, the Court appointed Shri. Sekar Naphade, a senior labour Counsel of the Supreme Court as the mediator and advised both parties to amicably resolve the issues.

Shri. Shekhar Naphade, Sr.Advocate convened the first meeting on the 26th December, 2012 in order to decide on the modalities for conduct of the proceedings and to complete the work before 15th January, 2013; the time set by the High Court of Mumbai.

Shri.Shekhar Naphade, presided over the meeting and explained the methodology that is required to be followed for the conduct of the meeting, the venue for the meeting and the need for both the parties to come well prepared with proper mandate from their respective constituencies so that he would be able to facilitate an understanding on the issues that are going to be raised by both the parties and also their expectations from the mediation.

After brief exchange of view points from both the parties it was agreed that the next sitting would be at the Corporate Centre, Mumbai, on 5th January, 2013. The Mediator also advised us that both the parties are now required to maintain cordial atmosphere to ensure resolution of the disputes that are going to be raised before the Mediation.

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2nd Meeting of the Mediation Proceedings was held at Mumbai on 05th January 2013 and the meeting started at 11.00 a.m. and concluded at 1.00 p.m. At the outset, the representatives of Federation/Association wanted to take the issue relating to disciplinary proceedings within the scope of mediation. The mediator requested us to keep this issue on hold and first try to explore the possibilities of resolving the issue relating to 7 days working. This issue was discussed thread bare. Both the parties have expressed their respective view points in detail. The mediator made some tentative suggestions which are under consideration by both the parties and for that purpose the parties have sought some time.

The question of including the disciplinary action within the scope of mediation was also sought to be discussed. The management has not shown any positive inclination to discuss the same. The Federation/ Association was insisting upon bringing this issue also within the scope of mediation. According to Federation/Association, this issue is a sequel to 7 days Bank working. It was informed by the Bank that Writ Petitions have been filed in Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench), Orissa High Court, Andhra Pradesh High Court, Madras High Court, Karnataka High Court, Kerala High Court , Punjab & Haryana High Court and Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The mediator informed that he has been appointed as a mediator only in Suit No. (L) 2739 of 2012 vide order dated 18.12.2012. This suit is filed by the Bank for Injunction restraining the Defendants Federation and Ors for various reliefs including holding demonstrations. In the Affidavit filed in the said suit, the Federation/Association has raised contention as regards disciplinary action also and accordingly, the Federation/Association insisted that he should mediate on this issue also.

The mediator also informed that the order dated 18.12.2012 appointing him as Mediator is to be read with order dated 3.12.2012. The order dated 3.12.2012, inter alia, states that all issues pending in the suit can be referred to the mediator.

As the question of disciplinary action is specifically raised in the several Writ Petitions, the mediator felt it appropriate that to mediate on this issue, he should also have authority of the Hon’ble Writ Court. This is more a question of propriety as it is not proper for a mediator to rule on his own jurisdiction. This is all the more necessary as Parties have not agreed upon the disciplinary issue being part of mediation. The Bank has clearly indicated that it does not want to make commitment as regards mediation in respect of disciplinary proceedings.

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The Mediation proceedings was adjourned to 25th January 2013 at 11.00 a.m at State Bank of India , Corporate Centre , Nariman Point , Mumbai.

On 25th January 2013 in the third meeting of the mediation, the Chairman was adamant that Disciplinary Proceedings cannot form part of the mediation and the mediation has to be restricted only to the issue of seven day banking and the court injunction on demonstration etc.,. We on our part told the mediator that the DP cases are a sequel to the announcement of the seven day banking by the Chairman and the resultant demonstration that took place on 28th August. The mediator held separate talks with both the Federation and the Management and sensing the adamant attitude of the Management declared the mediation proceedings as a failure. The mediator has since filed his report to the Honourable High Court at Bombay.

The case filed by the Management was slated to come up for hearing on 30th January, but due to paucity of time the case has been rolled over and the further date of hearing will be advised to us in due course.

Meanwhile as a sequel to the vindictive attitude of the Management many office bearers of the affiliates of the federation were transferred and many of them to far off places. All the transfer orders that were issued after 18th of December 2012 was challenged by us in the Bombay High Court and the Honourable Justice Katahwala advised the Management to restrain from such vindictive transfers.

The mediation failed because of the rigid stand of the Chairman regarding the charge sheets and the Disciplinary Proceedings.

In Jan, 2013 Com. L.N. Patro who was a Dy. Gen. Secretary of our Bhubaneshwar Circle Association’s Disciplinary case was published in SBI Times and the Federation wrote to the Management condemning it.

On 25, 26 and 27th Jan 2013, the Management unilaterally extended business hours by 2 hours which was opposed by the federation but the Management went ahead.

Com. M. K. Virmani, General Secretary, SBIOA Chandigarh Circle sent an SMS to Presidents’ and General Secretaries that he wants to convene a meeting of Presidents’ and General Secretaries. The General Secretary wrote to him stating that he cannot convene such meeting and it was not convened, but a dissent was created within the Federation.

UFBU gave a strike call for 20th & 21st February 2013 in which attack on the Federation was also highlighted. The Management gave strong warning

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letters to our Officers and we took up the issue with the Central Ministers through the Central Trade Unions. The strike was successful and no action was taken against the officers.

The Central Negotiation Council which was not convened after 17th July 2012 was convened on 11th March 2013 and the Chairman himself attended though he was not a member of the CNC.

He once again took a tough stand on charge sheets and the CNC did not yield much result. He did not allow the ABOA President and General Secretary to attend the meeting.

The Chairman wanted a letter of regret in writing and a letter was drafted by the General Secretary of the Federation and circulated to the Circle General Secretaries. The consensus was that no word of regret can be there in the letter and Management did not agree to the draft letter and it was not submitted.

On 31st March, 2013 the Management once again kept branches open upto midnight and the Federation sent a protest letter.

On 2nd April 2013, AIBOC EC was convened at Chennai but the General Secretary could not attend the same due to his ill health. It lead to criticism.

Subsequently meeting of General Secretaries was convened at Mumbai by AIBOC General Secretary and AIBOC gave assurance that they will standby AISBOF if we go on strike. A co-ordination meeting was held at Delhi on 25.05.2013 with Staff Federation and they also assured support if Federation goes on any action. Same day UFBU also assured support to AISBOF for any action. Letters were sent to many MPs who in turn wrote to the Finance Minister and the chairman to settle the dispute. At the request of the then General Secretary the undersigned met many trade union leaders and Member’s of Parliament giving a letter and seeking support. This included Mr. Sanjeeva Reddy of INTUC & Congress, BMS leaders, CITU and AITUC leaders and many Members of Parliaments from Congress, CPI and CPIM. Our Regional Secretaries met many MPs in Tamilnadu belonging to DMK, ADMK and other parties and submitted memorandum.

But unfortunately in a sudden and surprise move the General Secretary of the Federation resigned in the midst of an EC Meeting at Mumbai on 13th June 2013. This lead to his resignation from AIBOC also and we lost our position of General Secretary of AIBOC. 13th June 2013 was the saddest day for the Circle Association.

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With the sudden resignation of the General Secretary Com. Y. Sudarshan was co-opted as the General Secretary of the Federation.

DHARNA AT JANTAR MANTAR,DELHI ON 08/09/2013.

A massive Dharna was held at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, the capital of our country to register our protest against the victimization of Office bearers and anti trade union actions on the part of the Management. Several Trade Union from fraternal Organisations like Com. A K Padmanaban, President CITU, Com. M V Murali, Convener UFBU and General Secretary AISBISF, Com . S Nagarajan, General Secretary, AIBOA, Com Harvinder Singh, General Secretary, AIBOC , and leaders from AIBEA, INBOC etc. participated and felicitated. 42 of our Executive Committee members participated in the Dharna.

The same thing happened in 1969 leading to an indefinite strike. A churning is needed for our future tactical line or approach. A Trade Union cannot remain submissive always. The Trade Unions strength is its membership, its militancy, its critical thinking, its futuristic view and its capacity to struggle. Next few months are likely to have lot of debates and discussions and we will be involving the membership also in the decision making.

In the meantime the Circle Association continued the struggle through the Court of Law. The Single Judge, Court of Justice Chandru dismissed our petition against the charge sheet and enquiry but we appealed to a bench which admitted our petition but allowed the enquiry to continue with a condition that the findings should be brought to the court. The enquiry conducted against the undersigned was horrible and many times the courts had to intervene.

Finally the enquiry was closed exparte and the Court clubbed the appeal against the closure of enquiry with the suit against the charge sheet. The Honourable Bench of Justice. Chitra Venkatraman and Justice Vasuki heard the case for a full day and quashed the charge sheet and set aside the enquiry. It is a great achievement for the Circle Association. We acknowledge the guidance given by Com. Rishab during the initial stages and the continuous support given by Com. A. Sridhar, our former DGS upto the end. (Judgement details elsewhere)

The Bank filed an appeal in the Supreme Court through a Special Leave Petition which has been accepted but the court did not stay the order of the Madras High Court Bench.

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This angered the Chairman and he withdrew the Check off facility to all the Circle Associations. When this news came we were in a General Secretaries meeting at Mumbai. No consensus could be reached for a flash strike.

Once again our Circle Association took the lead and got a stay at Madras High Court for restoring the check off for the Circle Association and then for the Federation. As the Chairman did not implement the Court order we filed a contempt petition on behalf of the Circle Association and on behalf of the Federation which lead to the Chairman appearing at Madras High Court as a contemptee even after his retirement. Some honour was restored.

Now the Bank has restored the check off through a letter to the Federation and we have withdrawn the case and also the contempt petition. The Management has not issued a circular or placed it in SBI Times.

With the new Chairman Mrs. Arundhathi Bhattacharya assumed charge we expected things to improve. But she succeeded in getting a letter from the Federation which has been published in SBI Times. Your Circle Association was not a party to the decision. The letter was not approved by us and we have expressed our displeasure. Now we are requesting the Federation to settle the pending issues. All Punishments have not been withdrawn. Many victimisation transfers have not been withdrawn. The reduction of Telephone charges, conversion of Specialist officers to Generalists, Improvement in Conveyance Expenses, a special recruitment for officers, immediate promotion exercise from clerical to JMG, change in promotion policy, change in transfer policy and many more issues discussed in the Central Negotiation Council are pending. The case in Mumbai also has not been withdrawn. If the Management takes our goodness as our weakness we will have to take hard decisions.

The Management has not acted on the guidelines given by the Finance Ministry on Transfer of Lady employees and compassionate appointment.

There has been some improvements in the service conditions due to the efforts of the Circle Association and the Federation which are enlisted.

HIGH COURT OF MUMBAI- NOTICE OF MOTION FILED BY THE BANK IN RESPECT OF DEMONSTRATION DISPOSED OFF.

The notice of motion filed by the Bank in the Mumbai High Court in respect of holding demonstrations, dharnas and strike was disposed off on 4th April 2014. The Hon’ble Judge Shri. Roshan Dalvi. J concluded that the “ plaintiff(SBI) concede that the defendant Officers would be entitled to hold

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demonstrations, dharnas and strike in accordance with law. The defendants, the AISBOF and others, through their counsel make a statement that in future if they hold any demonstrations, dharns, strike; they would do only in accordance with law”.

Public Sector Banks – Increasing Business and Reducing Employees

The fire of hunger that will ever burn the Bank will make it impossible to satiate its hunger for more. The business performance of the Bank in comparison with the total staff strength of the Bank over the last three years will vouch for the enormous work load thrust of the work force of the Bank. The table showing the total staff strength and the total business for the last three years is appended below:-

Year Officers Total staff including Officers

Total business in crores

2011-12 80,404 2,15,481 19,11,226

2012-13 80,796 2,28,296 22,48,357

2013-14 79,755 2,22,033 26,04,238

The 36 % of growth in business terms is achieved by the workforce that has registered a negative growth of 3% numbering 6552 in absolute terms. Unfortunately, instead of understanding the sufferings and the overload of work, it is branded as the change in attitude by the workforce. If immediate remedial measures are not forthcoming, the Bank will have to pay a heavy price as frustration multiplies due to the increasing workload and decreasing workforce.

The situation in all the other PSBs may remain the same, The salient features of the performance by the suffering workforce in PSBs are tabulated below:-

 

PSBs : Ratios    

Banks Opr.Exp as % to Total

Expenses Return on Assets

CAR- Basel I Capital Adequacy Ratio - Basel II

Basel  III  

NATIONALISED BANKS 2012 2013 2014 2012 2013 2014 2012 2013 2012 2013 2014 2014

Allahabad Bank 20.62 19.05 20.46 1.02 0.64 0.57 - - 12.83 11.03 10.26 9.96

Andhra Bank 19.23 18.21 17.95 1.19 0.99 0.29 12.34 11.26 13.18 11.76 11.18 10.78

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Bank of Baroda 20.88 19.94 20.92 1.24 0.90 0.75 - - 14.67 13.30 12.87 12.28

Bank of India 19.68 18.90 19.83 0.72 0.65 0.51 11.57 11.35 11.95 11.02 10.76 9.97

Bank of Maharashtra 25.91 21.45 22.10 0.55 0.74 0.30 11.25 11.72 12.43 12.59 12.11 10.79

Canara Bank 16.79 16.41 16.58 0.95 0.77 0.54 - - 13.76 12.40 11.14 10.63

Central Bank of India 21.15 20.79 22.41 0.26 0.44 -0.47 11.96 11.33 12.40 11.49 11.96 9.87

Corporation Bank 15.30 14.36 14.44 1.06 0.88 0.29 11.94 11.38 13.00 12.33 12.21 11.64

Dena Bank 19.75 16.63 18.07 1.08 0.85 0.51 - - 11.51 11.03 11.87 11.14

Indian Bank 21.87 22.70 20.64 1.31 1.02 0.67 12.67 11.59 13.47 13.08 13.10 12.64

Indian Overseas Bank 19.71 18.10 17.98 0.52 0.24 0.23 11.95 10.74 13.32 11.85 11.15 10.78 Oriental Bank of Commerce 16.64 17.01 17.35 0.67 0.71 0.56 11.01 10.75 12.69 12.04 11.85 11.01

Punjab & Sind Bank 18.89 16.42 16.41 0.65 0.44 0.35 12.81 12.71 13.26 12.91 12.10 11.04

Punjab National Bank 23.29 23.19 25.64 1.19 1.00 0.64 11.59 12.28 12.63 12.72 12.28 11.52

Syndicate Bank 21.65 21.41 20.15 0.81 1.07 0.78 10.81 11.12 12.24 12.59 12.01 11.41

UCO Bank 16.08 15.17 16.70 0.69 0.33 0.70 11.03 12.43 12.35 14.15 13.40 12.68

Union Bank of India 21.88 20.42 20.34 0.79 0.79 0.52 NA NA 11.85 11.45 11.89 10.80

United Bank of India 20.15 18.19 17.53 0.70 0.38 -0.99 10.48 9.77 12.69 11.66 11.46 9.81

Vijaya Bank 16.49 15.97 16.38 0.66 0.59 0.35 10.96 9.58 13.06 11.32 10.97 10.56 State Bank of India (SBI) 29.19 27.99 29.09 0.88 0.97 0.65 12.05 11.22 13.86 12.92 12.96 12.44 State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur 24.64 24.25 27.28 0.99 0.96 0.87 12.81 11.81 13.76 12.16 11.71 11.55 State Bank of Hyderabad 19.25 19.79 19.28 1.15 0.99 0.70 12.39 11.88 13.56 12.36 12.52 12.00

State Bank of Mysore 22.96 21.12 23.29 0.67 0.66 0.40 11.22 11.19 12.55 11.79 11.50 11.08

State Bank of Patiala 18.61 18.99 21.08 0.93 0.68 0.42 10.79 9.92 12.30 11.12 - 10.38 State Bank of Travancore 19.75 18.02 20.30 0.65 0.66 0.29 11.18 9.44 13.55 11.70 11.52 10.79

IDBI Ltd. 12.17 13.73 13.89 0.81 0.69 0.38 12.84 12.09 14.58 13.13 13.13 11.68

TOTAL OF 26 PSBs 21.53 20.80 21.61     CAR-­‐  Basel  I  Not  Applicable  for  2014  

CAR- Basel III Not Applicable for 2012 and 2013

PRODUCTIVITY AND OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY

In the recent past, we have been comparing our operational efficiency with a few select PSUs and also Private Banks. No one Bank is compared for all parameters with Ours. The irony is that the Best of the all the Banks put together is taken as the bench mark for comparison. This defies the law of comparison, which states that only two similar entities can be compared and that too for setting achievable benchmarks. In this backdrop, let us compare our Operations in the following respects

a. Customers per Staff. b. Accounts per Staff

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c. Transactions per Staff d. Business Turnover per staff (including Miscellaneous and Govt.

Transactions)

While we strongly believe in our basic fact of Banker even for the smallest man, as symbolized in our monumental SBI logo, why should we prefer to talk from only Commercial angle, belying the hopes of millions of Indians, trusting this Bank for its Socialistic and Welfare oriented Commercial Bank, straining every nerve to be the Strong and Dependable Backbone of our Economy, balancing multi-varied activities ranging from assistance to Multinational Industries to landless labourers and aspiring poor literates of this highly potential Nation. With this background, we can still move further, in improving our efficiency of operations. With a sturdy IT enabled Banking environment, which is catering quite comprehensively to all the needs of different customers, we can take this forward with a well-trained marketing force, to ensure 80% of our transactions happening in the off-line mode. That will leave the staff with more quality time to market, update, explore newer horizons to expand our operations to a level un heard of in the history of Indian Banking. With a sound policy aptly supported by appropriate strategies in this regard, everyone of my comrades assembled here, with the self-belief and clear direction, shall strive to make this a model Bank in the World.

With a cluttered Banking design like Retail, Commercial, Mid-Corporate and CAG, let us not dwell more on the efficiency of this Bank for the common Indian. Let us take forward our rich tradition of being the premier Commercial Bank Committed to the nation’s development rather than for the development of stakeholders only. Every stakeholder shall stand by us when we claim as the proud symbol of a preferred Bank with a human touch. The talk of reaching the unbanked areas and also financial inclusion should not be forgotten as our commitments for the welfare and overall development of this Economy.

Let us also not depend on the external consultants like Mckinsey, Boston Group and Price Water House who are only looting our money, collecting information from us and tutoring us what to do without understanding the reality.

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ACHIEVEMENTS DURING THIS PERIOD

REIMBURSEMENT OF ENTERTAINMENT EXPENSES TO OFFICERS ON PROBATION

One of the anomalies in the scheme of reimbursement of entertainment expenses to officers was its non applicability to officers during probation period. In case of workmen staff, the entertainment expenses are reimbursed, and on their promotion as officer, they will become ineligible for the facility, which they had enjoyed earlier. This was an anomaly and as a matter of principle our Federation took up the issue with the Corporate Centre, for extension of the facility to all officers from the date of their appointment/promotion as they also incur cost towards entertaining the customers. The Management has since rectified the anomaly and advised the Circles to extend the facility of reimbursement of entertainment expenses to all officers, including those on probation.

REIMBURSEMENT OF TRANSPORTATION CHARGES ON TRANSFER

One of the issues taken up with the Corporate Centre Management was to revise the rates for reimbursement of transportation charges of personal effects of officers on transfer. The existing rates fixed way back as on 01.08.2006 were not sufficient to meet the actual expenses, incurred by the officers as they were being rendered out of pocket. Officers are also supposed to carry furniture & fixture on transfer; therefore, the rates fixed by IBA for other Banks were not sufficient for our officers. The Federation also took up with the Management to reimburse the expenses incurred by officers towards admission of their children at their new place of posting. We are glad that, ECCB at its meeting held on 30.09.2011 approved the same w.e.f. 1st July, 2011.

We feel that, these rates will take care of actual expenses to be incurred by an officer for transportation of his/her household articles by road. We are successful in introduction of a relief in terms of admission fees of wards of an officer on account of change of school/college at their new place of posting. Apart from this, a provision for inflation of rates in future at 5% per year of the rates, for next four years is also taken into account.

PROVISION OF MOBILE PHONES TO ALL OFFICERS

We are glad that, in response to the demand of our Federation, Bank Management has agreed to extend Mobile Telephone facility to all officers, with effect from 1st December, 2011. The details of the New Scheme are as under;

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i. All officers who have completed 2 years of service in the Bank will be provided with mobile handset.

ii. Probationary Officers/Trainee Officers or other Officers, on completion of one year of probation, depending upon their nature of work, will also be provided with mobile handset; subject to the approval of the Competent Authority of the concerned Circle.

The proposed Scheme would replace the existing practice being followed in different Circles/Offices of the Bank and a Uniform Policy in the Bank will be introduced.

IMPROVEMENT IN REIMBURSEMENT OF CONVEYANCE EXPENSES ON CERTIFICATE BASIS The matter of improvement in reimbursement of conveyance expenses to officers on certificate basis was long overdue. The Federation had been following up with the Management in the matter on a continuous basis. You may recall that, this was one of our demands of strike proposed for 8th and 9th November 2011. We are glad to advise that ECCB in its meeting held on 9th December, 2011, have approved the improvements. The above modifications were made effective form 1.12.2011. REVISION OF PENSION CEILING At the instance of our Federation, Government of India had re-opened the closed file on revision of Pension ceiling of 7th bipartite retirees commitment from IBA out of the three major issues raised by us in the letter to the GOI, the Corporate centre has responded as under:

i) Revision of pension of 7th Bipartite; it is a fact that, those who retired in SBI during the period of 7th bipartite i.e. 1997-98 to 31.10.2002, pension is fixed on the basis of their pre-revised scale i.e. 6th bipartite scale.

ii) Commutation formula for SBI Pensioners is fixed by the GOI and it is inferior as compared to GOI formula & IBA formula.

iii) Family Pension in SBI is similar to that of IBA formula. Members are aware that, due to poor balance sheet of three banks, viz., UCO Bank, UBI and Indian Bank during 7th bipartite, the pension scheme in the industry level was tinkered with, instead of actual basic pay of 7th bipartite. For the purpose of fixation of basic pension, DA was merged with the BP at 1616 points as against merger of DA at 1684 points with load factor for the purpose of serving employees and officers. A similar prescription was recommended to SBI Pension Scheme by the GOI, but it was rejected by both the Staff & Officers’ Federations in SBI. Therefore, retirees under 7th

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bipartite period were fixed the basic pension based on their pre-revised scale and not on the actual pay they drew at the time of retirement. However, during the 8th bipartite, the position was rectified by relating with the actual basic pay drawn from 01.11.2002 for the purpose of pension, whereas no improvement was made in the pension scheme of SBI w.e.f 01.11.2002. Therefore, both Staff and Officers Federations observed indefinite strike from 3rd April 2006 to 9th April 2006 demanding improvements to pension scheme in SBI. Though the Pension formula was improved from 01.11.2002, but the issue of 7th bipartite retirees remained unresolved. Hence, after the 9th bipartite, the management was urged upon for improvements in our pension scheme. As against our demand is pension at 50% of last drawn pay, without ceiling, the existing formula is linked to 9th bipartite scales. Members are aware that, FPP and PQP, which were knocked out from the formula, are restored only on account of the threat of strike. There was an assurance from the management that 7th bipartite pension will also be revised. The file was moving at GOI level. Unfortunately our Pensioners Federation filed an SLP in the Supreme Court demanding 50% of last drawn BP as pension without ceiling. The GOI unilaterally decided to treat the 7th bipartite issue as closed and advised the Corporate Centre to close the file. After the new Secretary of Financial Services took charge, the Federation moved the issue with him and we are happy that the issue got currency and the matter was considered for review. REVISION OF FAMILY PENSION

The Federation took up with the Management the issue of revision of family pension for those retired from service on or after 01.11.2007 and also to revise minimum pension on account of 9th Bipartite settlement, on salary and allowances. The Central Board of the Bank at its meeting held on Saturday the 24th December 2011 has accorded approval for revision of family pension and the minimum pension w.e.f 01.11.2007.

REIMBURSEMENT OF LODGING EXPENSES TO OFFICERS

The continuous efforts of our federation with the management for revision of reimbursement of lodging expenses to officers on official duty was agreed upon by the management with effect from 01st February 2012 for the next five years with an annual increase in the said ceiling. There is an increase of approximately 50% over the existing ceilings. (Refer our circular No. 56/04/2012 dated 10th February 2012)

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APPOINTMENT ON COMPASSIONATE GROUND

In our Bank, appointment of dependent of an employee on retirement or death was in vogue from the days of Imperial Bank of India. During those days, it was a practice to offer an appointment to one of the eligible dependent family members of the retiring employee, to continue the connection of the family with the Bank. In case of death of an employee while in service, an appointment of dependent on compassionate ground was assured.

During 1996, on account of Supreme Court Judgement in the matter of Steel Authority of India Vs Union of India, the appointment on compassionate ground was not to be claimed as a matter of right, but management to offer it on the basis of the ‘penury’ and ‘precarious’ living conditions of the family of the deceased employee. The Government of India, advised all Public Sector Banks to adhere to the spirit of the Supreme Court Judgement on compassionate appointment. They also laid down penury norms for appointment on compassionate grounds. However, in case of death while on duty, on account of dacoity, violence, robbery etc., compassionate appointment as well as cash compensation was made available.

Subsequently, based on the recommendations of the IBA, Payment of ex-gratia to the dependent family members, instead of appointment was introduced during 2005. One of the reasons for depriving the appointment was, the IBA Managing Committee felt that, such appointments will dilute the efficiency of the Bank. But, the statistics show that such appointments in Banks were less than 1% of workforce. There was no concession on qualification required for the post. The appointments were made in subordinate or clerical cadre, based on the minimum qualification of the candidate. The written test and interview was waived.

In Govt., it is permitted to offer compassionate appointments upto 5% of the workforce. Hence, in Govt. establishments, Public Sector undertakings etc., the appointments on compassionate ground continued, whereas in the banking industry quoting the Supreme Court Judgement, almost such appointments were stopped. Even for payment of ex-gratia, in lieu of appointment, stringent penury norms were prescribed, thereby in majority of the cases of officers, neither appointment was offered nor ex-gratia was paid to the dependents.

In this background, our Federation took up the matter with our management for simplification of Penury norms for payment of cash compensation to the dependent family members and for restoring the compassionate

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appointment scheme. The Federation also suggested to ensure payment of at least 50% of the eligible ex-gratia amount to the dependents of deceased employee, without applying the penury norms. There was need for extension of time limit for submission of application by the dependents for appointment/ex-gratia.

The Executive Committee of the Central Board at its meeting held on 3rd April, 2012 has approved the revised scheme for payment of ex-gratia lumpsum amount in lieu of compassionate appointment. The following is the gist of the revised scheme.

REVISED SCHEME FOR PAYMENT OF EX-GRATIA LUMP SUM AMOUNT IN LIEU OF COMPASSIONATE APPOINTMENT, W.E.F 01.04.2012

PENURY NORMS:

While the stipulation of monthly income of family less than 60% may remain, the following relaxation in primary calculation may be made:

(i) Income from other sources and presumed notional income from net corpus (other than terminal benefits received from Bank) not to be reckoned while calculating the monthly income of the family.

(ii) SBI Life Insurance claim received not to be taken into account while calculating total Investments.

(iii) Loans raised from officers/employees co-operative credit societies may be included as liabilities.

The effect of the above would be that while determining the financial condition of the family the following income/liabilities will be taken into account:

INCOME:

(i) Terminal benefits – PF, gratuity, and leave encashment (no change). (ii) LIC and other insurance policies (no change). LIABILITIES:

(i) Loans and other dues payable to Bank (no change) (ii) Loans raised from credit societies and other financial institutions.

Without approval of the Bank (These will be adjusted first from the other liquid assets of the deceased) (no change)

AMOUNT OF EX-GRATIA

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(i) The maximum amount of Ex-gratia increased as under for cases whose monthly income is less than 60% of the last drawn gross salary (net of taxes).

Cadre Amt.of Ex-Gratia Min.Amount

Supervising Rs.10 lacs Rs. 5.00 Lacs

Clerical Rs. 9 lacs Rs. 4.50 lacs

Subordinate Rs. 8 lacs Rs. 4.00 lacs

(ii) The minimum amount of ex-gratia shall be paid to all cases where the monthly income is more than 60% of the last drawn gross salary (net of taxes) so that no family of the deceased employee is deprived of ex-gratia lumpsum amount.

(iii) The maximum amount of Ex-Gratia payable shall be subject to the cadre wise prescribed ceilings.

TIME LIMIT:

It is proposed to increase the time limit for submission of applications to 9 months with a provision of condonation of delay of further 3 months in genuine cases.

PAYMENT OF MINIMUM EX-GRATIA AMOUNT OF 50% OF ELIGIBILITY

TO ALL CASES REJECTED W.E.F 04.08.2005

CADRE MAX.EX-GRATIA (A)

Rs. In lacs

Minimum Amount of Ex-Gratia (B)

Rs. In lacs (50% of A)

Supervising Staff Rs. 8 lacs Rs. 4 lacs

Clerical Staff Rs. 7 lacs Rs. 3.5 lacs

Subordinate Staff Rs. 6 lacs Rs. 3 lacs

Comrades, we are extremely happy that, one of the long pending issues has been resolved. We hope that, dependent family members of deceased officers would get a sigh of relief. Of course, loss of life of a bread winner cannot be compensated by any monetary relief. We request all our EC

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members to inform the revised norms to all dependents of deceased officials whose requests have been rejected w.e.f 04.08.2005 and to arrange for payment of eligible ex-gratia to them.

Due to the continuous demand with the Government by the Federation, the Government has cleared the scheme of appointment on compassionate grounds and the provision of ex gratia in lieu of compassionate appointment was discontinued. This is a historical achievement and the provisions are,

1. To open the Compassionate Appointment in PSBs on the lines of Central Government,

2. Discontinuing the provision of ex-gratia in lieu of compassionate appointment in PSBs

FITMENT ON PROMOTION FROM CLERICAL TO JMGS – I

In the context of 9th bipartite settlement an understanding has been reached with the Corporate Centre Management for revised fitment formula on promotion from clerical cadre to JMG – I. The following are the broader understandings:

(i) The revised fitment formula will be applicable to the employees promoted from clerical cadre to JMGS – I on or after 1st November, 2007.

(ii) Those drawing Basic Pay upto 8th stage in clerical scale will be fitted at minimum of officer scale and will draw next increment on anniversary date of promotion.

(iii) Appropriate protection of Stagnation increment(s) drawn in clerical cadre on promotion to JMGS-I.

(iv) Protection of CAIIB/JAIIB increments drawn during Clerical Cadre, even after reaching 20th stage, on promotion.

(v) At no point of time, Basic Pay of Officer is lower than Basic Pay corresponding to his/her Basic Pay in clerical cadre; appropriate adjustments will be made in officer’s basic pay.

(vi) Protection of FPP on promotion. (vii) Improvement in adjusting pay; if Basic Pay of Officer and aggregate

Basic Pay and PQP that he/she would have in receipt of notionally entitled to in clerical scale is lower than Rs.3,430/- w.e.f 01.11.2007 to 30.04.2010 and Rs.2,430/- w.e.f 01.05.2010. Such adjusting Pay will be reckoned for the purpose of DA and Superannuation benefits.

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(viii) Revision of Personal Allowance of Rs. 560/- p.m to Rs. 800/- p.m w.e.f 01.11.2007 for those who are in receipt of it. The personal allowance will be payable upto Basic Pay of Rs. 34,200/- in MM – II and thereafter tapered at ½ of allowance in future increments.

(ix) The inter-se anomalies, if any, would be looked into at case to case basis. The necessary clarification as regards payment of Personal Allowance of Rs. 560/- w.e.f 01.11.2002 for earlier promotees has also been issued (Refer our Circular No.15 dated 19-03-2012).

Comrades, we are glad that, almost anomalous free fitment formula has been evolved at Bank level, with the co-operation of the HR department at Corporate Centre. We hope that, long pending issue of our promotee officers is well considered by the Management, with our continuous persuasion. Justice is delayed, but not denied.

COMPENSATION TO BANKS EMPLOYEES/GENERAL PUBLIC WHO ARE KILLED IN BANK ROBBERY, TERRORIST INCIDENTS INCLUDING LEFT – WING EXTEREMISM

You are aware that the compensation paid by bank to the family of the employees killed in Bank robbery, Terrorist attack etc., is as per Govt. guidelines issued long back. The quantum of such compensation was inconsistent as compared to the collateral damage which takes place to the family of employees. The matter was discussed with the Govt. of India by UFBU time and again. The Govt. of India vide letter F.No. 6/4/2012-IR dated 3rd July, 2012 revised the scheme and instructed the CMD of different banks to get the scheme approved in their respective Boards. The salient features of the scheme are furnished below:

(i) In case of death of an employee as a result of or during bank robbery or attacks by terrorists, including left-wing extremism on bank employees, the family of deceased will be given compensation by the bank as follows:

In case of death of Officers : 20 Lacs

In case of death of Clerical/Sub-Staff : 10 Lacs

(ii) The banks concerned will look after educational expenses of the children of the deceased upto and inclusive of graduation.

(iii) The bank will give immediate employment to one member of the family of the deceased in accordance with the guidelines of compassionate appointment. In case none is able to immediately take up employment, the Entitlement will be held in abeyance till one of the members of the family becomes eligible for and is in a

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position to take up such appointment. In case compassionate employment is not taken up, the pay and allowances last drawn by the deceased may be extended to the family till one of the children of the family reaches 21 years of age or till the date on which the deceased would have retired in normal course, whichever is earlier. Such payment of pay and allowance will be available only if the dependent is not gainfully employed elsewhere.

(iv) The loans for housing etc. which might have been availed of by the employee may be transferred to the family member if any compassionate appointment is given, irrespective of his/her normal eligibility. If compassionate employment is not sought by the family, the interest part may be waived and only principal be recovered from the compensation/other dues payable.

(v) In respect of the persons other than the Bank employee who may get killed as a consequence of or during robberies and/or attack of terrorists, the bank will pay a lumpsum compensation of Rs.3 Lacs to the family of the deceased.

(vi) In case of Bank employees/customers/members of public who actively resist bank robberies and terrorist attacks on bank, the bank may consider a Cash reward not exceeding 2 Lacs. In addition, the bank employees may be given an out of turn promotion, if they satisfy the minimum conditions of eligibility prescribed for direct recruits to the post but without reference to the number of years of service rendered. Employees not covered for criterion for promotion may be allowed three advance increments in their existing grade on a permanent basis.

(vii) All expenses for treatment of injury caused during or at the time of resisting bank robbery/terrorist attack on banks, including hospitalization of the victims (bank employees/members of public/customers) shall be borne by the bank.

(viii) The cash reward mentioned in clause (vi) above will be in addition to the compensation, if any, to which the person may be entitled to under the provisions of various Acts/Rules governing him/her.

(ix) These guidelines shall be uniformly applicable throughout the country including North-East and in left-wing extremist areas. It may also be ensured that no parallel scheme may be run by the Bank in this regard.

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RMROs User Rights in CBS

During the course of the discussion in CNC, the Management representatives shared with our General Secretary that all RMROs have been vested with passing powers in CBS as applicable to JMG Scale I, as suggested by our Circle Association. Those RMROs who are on operational and independent assignments will exercise unlimited passing powers.

Revision in Rental ceilings for leased accommodation/ car parking charges/maintenance charges

The rental ceilings for leased accommodation provided to officers in JMGS-I to SMGS-V were last revised w.e.f. 1.1.2011 and the rental ceilings for Mumbai and New Delhi were revised on 9th April, 2012. The Bank has now issued a circular giving effect to increase the rental ceilings at all levels to be effective from 01st July 2012. The revised rental ceilings are inclusive of car parking and maintenance charges. Out of the total entitlement, a maximum 25% of the rental amount will be available for car parking/maintenance charges/ security charges/society charges.

The salient features of the revised Rental Ceiling and other improvements are as follows:

i. The Rental Ceilings for leased accommodations inclusive of Car Parking and maintenance charges.

Grade/Scale Major ‘A’ ‘A’ Category ‘B’ Category ‘C’ Category

TEGSS-I 52000 37000 29000 22000

VII 50000 35000 27000 20000

VI 40000 30000 20000 17000

V 29000 23000 16000 13000

IV 26000 21000 14000 12000

III 23000 18000 12000 11000

II 21000 16000 11000 9000

I 20000 15000 10000 8000

ii. The rental ceilings applicable to ‘A’ Category centre shall be applicable at centres where B&Os (if not in major ‘A’) have been established and also for Project Area Centres.

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iii. State capitals situated in “other than major ‘A’ centres”, the rental ceilings applicable shall be that of ‘A’ category centres.

iv. In the composite areas of New Delhi (including Gurgaon) consisting Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad, the rental ceilings applicable will be of New Delhi and for Maharajpur, Loni and Ballabhgarh the rental ceilings of Major ‘A’ category shall be applicable.

v. The revised rental ceilings are inclusive of car parking and maintenance charges. Out of the total entitlement, a maximum of 25% of the rental amount will be available for car parking/maintenance charges / security charges/society charges.

INCREASE IN SCHOLARSHIPS TO CHILDREN OF EMPLOYEES

Class / Level of Study Existing Amount (Rs. Per annum)

Revised Amount (Rs. Per annum for FY 2012-13)

4th to 5th 600 1000

6th, 7th & 8th 1000 2000

9th & 10th 1200 3000

11th & 12th 1500 4000

At Graduate level for ordinary courses viz. B.A., B.Sc., B.Com, LLB and other courses

1600

5000

At Post graduate level i.e. M.A. M.Com., M.Sc., etc

2100

7500

Graduate / Post Graduate level for professional courses in Medicine / Engineering / Management studies etc

2700

10000

We have been requesting the Management to include more Educational Institutions from Tamilnadu where there is no entrance test but there are very high quality institutions.

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COM S.K.MUKHERJEE, SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT, AISBOF NOMINATED AS OFFICER – EMPLOYEE DIRECTOR OF STATE BANK OF INDIA

Com.S.K.Mukherjee, Senior Vice President of AISBOF and General Secretary of N.E. Circle has been nominated as Officer – Employee Director on the Central Board of State Bank of India.

Born on 27th November, 1955; he joined the Bank on 23.12.1975. He was promoted to the Officer cadre in the year 1982. Presently he is Dy. Manager and he has not taken up further promotion in the interest of serving the Bank Officers’ Movement.

Ever since he joined the bank, he envisaged keen interest in union/Association activities. From 1993 he has been an Office Bearer of the Circle Association. He was Dy. General Secretary before his elevation as General Secretary of N.E. Circle Association from 01.01.2009. He is also holding the position of Senior Vice President of All India State Bank Officers’ Federation.

He is a voracious reader, endowed with excellent qualities of leadership. He is hardworking and has excellent negotiation skills and he has endeared himself to one and all at the Bank level. As General Secretary of N.E. Circle comprising 7 states and with so many complicated issues of extremism, floods and conflicts, he has varied experiences and a mature mind.

LEAVE FARE CONCESSION – FOREIGN TRAVEL ENTOUTE TO LFC

The federation has filed a writ petition in the Chennai High Court challenging the communication issued by the IBA and the SBI withdrawing the facility of visiting foreign countries enroute LFC/HTC by our Officers. The SBI and IBA sought time for filing a counter and the case has been posted for a later date and the stay has been extended. Consequently , the facility of foreign travel continues. The stay has been extended upto Nov 14, 2014. Our Circle Association is following up the case. The Bank has submitted a counter.

PROMOTION TO MMG II AND III IN SUPPLEMENTARY EXAMINATIONS

The results of the promotional exams from scale I to II, Scale II to III held recently were dismal in all the Circles, leading to widespread heart burn and frustration, especially amongst the junior officers. On account of innumerable representations received from the members in this regard, the federation had frequent meetings with the executives of the Corporate Centre and the HR Department, explaining to them the hopes , aspirations of

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the officers. Due to the efforts taken by the Circle Association and Federation, the Bank has arranged supplementary examination and large number of officers came out successfully in the examination and got their career progression.

ISSUES TAKEN UP BY THE FEDERATION

PASSWORD SECURITY – INTRODUCTION OF BIO METRIC ACCESS CONTROL

Our federation has been in constant communication with the Management for introduction of additional line of security while accessing CBS in order to protect our officers which would immensely benefit the officers to work in a safer environment while using the technology platform. Accordingly, the Bank management has initially taken cognizance of the demands made by the federation in this regard and as a beginning measure decided to introduce the Bio Metric access Control to the front end tellers in the Bank and shortly introduced to the supervisory staff also in order to bring some relief to our officers in this regard.

ACUTE SHORTAGE OF OFFICERS

Nowadays the officers are under tremendous pressure of work due to acute shortage of staff and officers in the branches. This is happening on account of the decision of the Bank to proceed with opening of 1000 branches without augmenting the staff strength. Shortage of officers still continues on account of opening of new branches, and high rate of attrition etc. However, the business of the Bank witnessed manifold increase, whereas the manpower available was not commensurate with the growth of the business. The Association is not against the Branch expansion and improvement in business. The federation welcomes the move of the management to increase the number of branches but at the same time would like to caution that merely opening more and more branches without the sufficient complement of staff, would only result in the Bank losing out not only in business but also in the area of customer service. In this connection, the federation has taken up the matter with the Corporate centre for immediate action to ensure recruitment of adequate number of officers and employees in the Bank to avoid hardship to the existing workforce. Also the matter was discussed and put in the Agenda of CNC Meeting held in Mumbai on 11/3/2013.

NPA RECOVERY:

The federation further requested the Government to come out with appropriate measures to drive the NPAs formed due to the Corporate

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borrowings so that adequate funds are available to the Banks for further lending.

BANK’S BOOK OF INSTRUCTIONS- A REVIEW

There are enormous changes that have taken place in the Banking Industry during the last 2 decades on account of introduction of CBS, transition to the platform of BPR, introduction of RACPCs, SMECC, CCPC, CTS, MPsT, HLSTs, focus on alternate channels like Internet/Mobile banking etc. Hence, the federation has urged upon the Management for review of existing Bank’s Book of Instructions incorporating several changes and sent communication to the Management accordingly on 24.4.2014.

ISSUES CONNECTED WITH CROSS SELLING OF PRODUCTS

The Executives both at the Circles and the Modules, in their over enthusiasm to promote the business of cross selling such as SBI Life, mutual funds etc. are over emphasizing on the achievement of the cross selling targets, thereby putting a lot of pressure on the officers down the line who are required to take care of the budget commitments in the area of advances, deposits and reduction of NPA, etc. thus hampering the core business of the Bank.

The Bank's imposition in these area sends a wrong message among customers, especially amongst the younger lot, who keep interacting and spreading such incidents through social media like face book, WhatsApp . Etc. It is also noticed that Housing loans sourced from good clientele are being rejected/ asked to go to other banks as a result of their reluctance to take the insurance products.

Housing Loan- Greatest ACHIEVEMENT

The amount of housing loan available to members is now enhanced from Rs.20 lacs to Rs.60 lacs with a lot of other liberalised terms. Our Circle Association played a very prominent role in the achievement. The enhancement was possible because of our submission of data regarding the availability of improved housing loan facility in other smaller Banks including IOB, Federal Bank, NABARD, RBI and also for the employees of Govt of India. The Circle Association played a major role in providing particulars to the Federation and Management. The matter was also vigorously followed up by the Federation and thus the enhancement became a reality. Some more relaxations in the scheme have to be pursued.

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Performance of Chennai Circle SBI  CHENNAI  CIRCLE  

S  No   Particulars   Mar-­‐12   Mar-­‐13   Mar-­‐14   Oct-­‐14  

1   No  of  Branches     860   934   967   989       Metro   137   156   160   164       Urban   175   195   206   212       Semi  Urban   300   318   330   338       Rural   248   265   271   275      

 (Rs  in  Crores)  

2   Deposits  (Segmental)   56478.02   61990.17   69716.26   74818.10  3   Advances  (Segmental)   40686.20   50130.88   54475.09   56545.82  4   Net  Profit   1590.18   1579.57   1858.44   1067.78  5   NPAs   1881.84   2286.03   1946.44   2271.54  6   CASA   25668.38   28014.72   30604.30   0.00  

    CA     3034.50   3035.88   3251.84           SB   22633.88   24978.84   27352.46      

7   Business  Per  employee(Rs  in  lacs)   656.23   765.72   880.28      8   Profit  per  employee(Rs  in  lacs)   11.58   11.38   13.70      9   No  of  employees   13727   13881   13561   13036

    Supervising   4551   4420   4371   4252       Award   9176   9461   9190   8784  10   No  of  Zonal  Office   5   5   5   5  

    No  of  RBO  s   24   26   27   27  11   Market  Share               (Jun  2014)  

    Deposits       14.06%   14.99%   14.95%   14.86%       Advances       18.07%   18.13%   17.20%   16.79%  12   Other  SCB  Brs  in  T  N     6360   6889   7620      13   Advance  -­‐  Segmentwise                  

    C  &  I   5663.94   6882.98   7212.04           SME   10816.96   12879.21   12840.81           AGL   12404.52   16613.00   17355.21           PER   17464.72   20638.67   24279.06      

In the last 3 years our number of branches has gone up form 860 to 989 i.e.129 more branches opened. Deposits have gone up from Rs.56478 crores to Rs. 74818 crores. The increase is Rs.18340 crores and percentage is 32%. The advances has gone up from Rs.40686 crores to 56545 crores. The increase is Rs.15859 crores and the percentage is 38%. Business per employee has gone up from Rs. 656.23 lakh to Rs.880.28 lakhs and Profit per employee has gone up from 11.58 lakhs to 13.70 lakhs. But unfortunately the number of employees have come down from 13727 to 13036, reduction of 691 employees and officers strength has come down from 4551 to 4252,

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reduction of 299. This has lead to tremendous pressure on the officers. Taking leave has become a miracle and work pressure is leading to VRS also. 124 officers have gone on VRS during this period. We have suggested an urgent promotion exercise to JMG I and conversion of Specialist officers to Generalists. If that does not happen we will be forced to go on an agitation. Some more concerns we share below:

THE NPA IS INCREASING

Mounting NPAs are two-edged swords.

1. They do not earn interest income. 2. The quality and image of our Bank suffers. 3. With increased workload warranted for maintenance of NPA

accounts, like follow-up, insurance and legal proceedings, it adds to the burden and takes away quality time, besides increasing the afore-mentioned costs.

Unless staff strength is increased and proper training and motivation given there will not be good results. We require leaders not controllers.

CASA

Dwindling CASA Balances cause worry from the profitability angle. The low-cost and no-cost funds form the backbone of sustained profitability by improving the Net Interest Margin. While other metro circles have more healthier CASA Ratio, our ratios hover around 43-45%, the healthy ratio is expected to be around 50+. We need to mobilize more Savings Bank accounts and Current Accounts(Cr Balance). Let us take forward the direction provided by our CMC in opening more and more Current and Savings Bank Account, which will broaden our Customer Base as also our Market Share. Credit expansion over the enlarged customer base in the future, shall expand our operations to our true potential. The average Accounts to be opened may be more realistically seen as the average accounts per Region and Module, from the practicality angle.

There is high potential from Educational Institutions and the students. Moreover, we will have to concentrate on rural, semi urban branches where potential is high. Single officer branches if provided with one more officer will make a lot of difference. Instead of Top 100 let us Concentrate on bottom 100.

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TRANSFER POLICY ONWARDS

HRMS based transfer and auto-relief orders have demoralized the employees with very little time to mentally settle down. While the stoppage of salary after the month of notified relief is against the principles of labour laws and basic justice to the Working class, the impractical and unjustifiable movements are a cause for worry for the organization as well as the committed work-force. In the case of white-colored supervisory staff of India’s premier Bank, if this is not corrected, it shall be a bad precedence leading to demotivation and frustration among the loyal and sincere workforce. Balancing personal and public life is the motto of any strong Organization. The Organization’s care for one’s personal life, is the best principle in Human Resources Management. Immediate relieving instructions deny the democratic channel to lodge an appeal / grievance against the order, for consideration. The willingness of the employees as to their choice of postings / centres, should also be obtained, by way of their preferences or choice of places. In the absence of the above, the present system poses serious repercussions which will lead to disgruntled employees thereby seriously impacting the productivity and efficiency of the invaluable human resources.

This is a very serious issue which requires course correction. We have been discussing this.

CROSS SELLING BUSINESS

A part of our potential business is diverted to the cross selling business, either to Mutual Funds or SBI Life Schemes. No doubt the Bank earns a good amount as commission. But Bank also incurs huge expenditure. Still, this does not count for the performance in the appraisal and also, it diverts the main attention of staff with very good marketing talents, during office hours from doing our Core Business of Banking. Specialized Cells or Centers may be thought of as viable alternative, to ensure no loss of focus on our Core Business. Business leads may flow from the Offices/Branches to such specialized cells for appropriate follow up. Marketing of such things with additional attractive remuneration, during our stipulated office hours, definitely drains precious man hours in already staff-short scenario. This also encourages all the staff to take up this channel for earning additional remuneration, for the marketing done well within the office hours. Those who are recruited by SBI Life and Mutual Fund earn.

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ATM MAINTENANCE

With the outsourcing of many ATMS, the maintenance of such ATMs is no body’s baby. The outsourcing itself was to relieve our staff from the extraordinary call for duty at odd hours as also during normal working hours. While the relief was a welcome feature, we need to think of controlling and monitoring such outsourced services, with a well equipped Supervision. We are quite inadequately staffed to handle such services resulting in bad quality of upkeep of ATM space due to faulty A/C, Electrical Lighting and cleanliness. The image of our Bank takes quite a beating due to these issues besides the unwarranted drawing down of shutters without Bank’s knowledge. While the off-site surveillance is quite effective, we need to think of some voluntary services for such upkeep. The ATM guard may also contact the Volunteer for timely resolution of any pressing issues, which otherwise tarnish the image of the Bank as also chases our customers to other Bank ATMs, resulting in unnecessary cross-service charges. The TATA ATMs & Reliance ATMs are poorly maintained. In every ATM we can have a sticker whom to contact if it is not working and which are the nearby ATMs.

COST CONSICOUSNESS

The Circle has come a long way in cutting the Costs in almost all the controllable areas very effectively. Still, we need to introspect as to viability of a few existing Offices as also proposed ones. A Clear Projection should be made as to the turnaround time for such new offices, to ensure practical viability of commercial operations. Otherwise, a delayed turnaround may be just draining the hard earned profits, in spite of our best efforts. It was also mentioned that as part of our PM’s propaganda of SWACHH BHARAT, we have issued welcome guidelines for ensuring cleanliness of our office space. We issued a circular to branches before the Clean India Campaign itself regarding keeping the premises clean and safe. Strict monitoring of such outsourced functions is the only way to ensure cleanliness. We shall appreciate the Management in standing solidly by the Operating Staff in complying with the aspirations, in a sustained manner. Again to ensure full compliance, this too comes at an extra cost to keep the wash rooms and also the office spaces clean at more frequent intervals. But in the name of cost cutting let us not stop the essentials. Remember the saying, “Pennywise pound foolish”

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OUR CIRCLE ASSOCIATION

One of Our major achievement during this period is handling Court Cases. Though we don’t believe the courts are the right places for Trade Unions to seek Justice, we have got justice through the Courts. We share with you some of the successful cases.

Land Mark Judgement

Madras High Court quashes the charge sheets issued to the President and General Secretary

SBIOA(CC) is always in the vanguard of the movement for seeking Justice. In respect of the Charge Sheets issued to the President and General secretary of our Association, we have relentlessly been fighting to seek justice.

The Honourable High Court of Madras bench consisting of Hon. Jus. Chitra Venkatraman and Jus. Vasuki has quashed the Charge Sheets issued to the President and the General Secretary of our beloved Association and set aside the enquiry reports.

The full text is available in our Circle Association website www.sbioacc.com.

Excerpts from the Judgement:

..........the question is as to whether the demonstration held by the appellants, who are officers of the bank within the bank’s premises, would amount to misconduct and violation of the Service Rules.

.............The holding of a demonstration is held to be a constitutional right guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution of India. Thus, so long as the same is not violative of Rule 54, such holding of the demonstration certainly stands protected by Article 19. We fail to understand how holding a demonstration, per se, would amount to a misconduct. The respondents do not dispute that the right to hold a demonstration in a peaceful manner is one within the scope of Article 19 of the Constitution of India. (emphasis added)

.............In other words, the Supreme Court held that the class of servants of Government other than members of armed forces and forces charged with the maintenance of public order are entitled to the same rights with other citizens of the country guaranteed under Part III and they could not be excluded merely by reason of their being Government servants and the nature and the incidence of the duties which they have to discharge in that capacity.

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............... A peaceful and orderly demonstration, hence, is not violative of Article 19 (1)(a) or Article 19 (1)(b). Going by the above decision that associating demonstration with the status or a position of member of the group would not amount to misconduct, it is difficult to agree with the submission of the respondents that the status of the demonstrators as officers of the bank would take the case of the appellants as one of misconduct, violative of Rule 50(4), 50(5) and 50(6).

Given the fact that the Staff Association is a registered Association and that holding of the post in the Association even by an Officer is not an anathema to holding of the post of a General manager or an Officer of high order in a Bank, such post in the Union being recognised by the Management itself, in the face of guaranteed right to hold demonstration as a form of free expression and speech, the imputations are of very generic nature and goes against the very concept of forming a Union as well as holding a peaceful demonstration. While the respondents do not deny that the Union is a registered Union recognised by the Bank, we fail to understand how the participation by an Officer who incidentally holds the post in the governing body of the Union, would go against Rule 50(4), 50(5) and 50(6) of the Rules.(emphasis added).

It is not denied by the appellants that the demonstrations were held in the lunch hour. Even going by the note sent by the Circle Development Officer, Manager(Security), Deputy Manager (Security), Fire Officer and the Circle Security Officer dated 31.08.2012, the demonstration was peaceful. (Italics added).

...........Evidently, the demonstration caused no untoward incident to breach the peace to amount to misconduct.

Without going into the subject matter of demonstration held, the fact remains that as per the Circle Development Office's report, the demonstrator raised slogans as against the Chairman's announcement of 7 day banking, demanded 5 day banking and of regulated working hours. Thus the demonstration was against the policy and the report given dated 31.8.2012, which is the first information given, makes no reference to any disturbance alleged to have been caused to the customers or that the conduct of the petitioners even as Deputy Manager was of such nature to bring disrepute to the Bank.

In this background, could staging a demonstration be offensive of Rule 50(4), 50(5) and 50(6), that Rule 50(4), 50(5) and 50(6) of the Rules have to be reconciled with Rule 54(1) of the Rules?

As already seen, the Rules do not, in any manner, negative the right of

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holding a demonstration. Rule 54(1), in fact, negatives only such of those demonstrations which go against the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign state, public order, decency or morality, or which involves contempt of the Court.

Thus, if Rule 50(4), 50(5) and 50(6) requires any reconciliation with Rule 54, it is only such of those conduct which are incompatible to the reputation and goodwill of the bank and offensive of Rule 54, could be called as misconduct for initiating action and nothing else.

…………. we fail to understand the logic of the respondents that holding of such a demonstration has brought disrepute to the Bank or affected the functioning of the Bank, amounting to misconduct. (emphasis added)

……………… Thus, going by the decision of the Apex Court, the materials available are sufficient enough to hold that the status of the demonstrators as Officers of the Bank does not make their conduct violative of Rule 50(5), 50(6) and 50(7) of the Rules.

This takes us to the place of demonstration as a mark of misconduct. It is no doubt true that the demonstration was held in the premises of the Local Head Office during lunch hour. Nevertheless, except for a bald allegation, there is nothing to counter what is stated in the Circle Security Department's note dated 31.08.2012. In fact, the note is pronouncedly silent on this, which means, there was no disturbance at all either to the banking operation or the customers entering the Bank.

……………… Thus, so long as the demonstration did not disturb public tranquility and the working of the Bank, we do not find any justification to hold that the peaceful demonstration held in front of the Local Head Office by the Officers amounted to misconduct.

……………………. It may also be relevant to point out herein that on the identical allegations made against J.C.Modi, Ahmedabad and S.B.Batel, Ahmedabad, the Bank itself exonerated these participants…… …………………………………. and later on appointed as one of the Board members by the Government of India. Thus, if the charge memo was closed that the conduct of holding demonstration was not a misconduct, we fail to understand any rationale for making such allegation on misconduct to the other participants, particularly the appellants herein.

.……………………………… Whatever be the consideration which led to the dropping of the charges, we feel that given the identical set of circumstances and the charge sheet being of a cyclostyled form, the respondents should have thought twice before proceeding further in this matter. In the

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circumstances, we have no hesitation in setting aside the order of the learned single Judge. (emphasis added)

…………………………… However, when on the admitted facts, the proceedings appear ex facie discriminatory in character and that there are no specific complaints of misconduct and that the allegations of misconduct flow only from the general provisions regarding the code of conduct in relation to the official status of the appellants, who incidentally held the post of President and General Secretary of the Union, which is recognised by the respondents too, we do not find any ground to reject the case of the appellants at the stage of the charge memo. (emphasis added)

………………………Going by the decisions of the Apex Court referred to in the preceding paragraphs and this Court on the holding of a demonstration inside the campus, we hold that a mere demonstration held, per se, thus cannot be understood as a mark of misconduct under the Rules. It is no doubt true that but for the status of the appellants as Officers of the Bank, they would have no place in the Union which is essentially comprised of the staff in the rank of Officers. Yet, the same official ranking would not, in any manner, disentitle such a person from holding a post in the Union to participate in a demonstration, they being members of a recognised Association. The respondents are the one who granted the recognition to the association, which means, they recognised the Officer holding position in the union as General Secretary or President. When that being the case, with no grievance projected on the holding of office in the Association, we fail to understand how the demonstration held by the Officer would come as in conflict with Rule 50(4), 50(5) and 50(6) to become "misconduct" under Rule 64, inviting disciplinary action. (emphasis added)

…………………………… The allegations that discouraging the other officers from performing their lawful duties and raising slogans with the intention to disturb peace or disrupt the Bank's operation, are contrary to what is stated in the report of the Circle Security Department dated 31.08.2012. We do not find any good ground to accept or hold that there could be any embargo imposed on any employee to voice his/her view on the policy of the employer through a peaceful demonstration and such right cannot be scuttled by naming it "misconduct", thereby punishing a staff being a member of the Association. Thus, if for the purpose of making the Vice President of the Association a Director of the Bank, the charges could be dropped and that the participation and other allegations as contained in the statement of misconduct are not a misconduct, we do not know what one would call the present proceedings against the appellant as nothing but one writ with mala fide. (emphasis added)

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………………….. In the circumstances, even though the proceedings challenged before this Court are at the stage of charge memo, considering the weakness of the allegations made, not fitting in with the misconduct concept, and with discriminatory treatment writ large, we have no hesitation in allowing the Writ Appeals, thereby setting aside the order of the learned single Judge. Accordingly, the Writ Appeals are allowed and the proceedings challenged in the writ petitions are quashed. (Emphasis added)

……………………..Considering the order now passed by us allowing the Writ Appeals, thereby quashing the charge memo, it is not necessary to go further into the allegations made in W.P.No.16746 of 2011. In the light of the observations made in the Writ Appeals, the enquiry report stands set aside and Writ Petition No.16747 of 2011 stands allowed with a direction to the respondents that no further proceedings be taken up in the enquiry. (Emphasis added)

Dharma has triumphed.

Justice Triumphs Once Again – Check off Case.

GLORY OF UNITY: HISTORY WRITTEN IN GOLDEN LETTERS

The Management suddenly withdrew the check off facility which is deducting subscription from salary of members to Associations. Our beloved General Secretary approached the Honorable Madras High Court and got a stay order. Hon’ble Justice Kirubakaran stayed the impugned order of the Bank. The All India State Bank Officers’ Federation filed another writ petition at the Madras High Court on 24th September 2013 and the Hon’ble Court stayed the impugned order and made the stay operational to the entire country.

Based on which Check off to the members of our Circle Association was effected in the salary of 25.09.2013. However, for a few of our members who work at corporate Centre establishments, check off was not effected. Management also ignored the stay order of the Honorable High Court and effected salary on 25.09.2013 discontinuing check off to the members of all other Circle Associations. Our Circle Association & Federation were forced to file a contempt petition against Shri., Pratip Choudhuri, the then Chairman, for the breach of interim stay order. Bank tried to relieve the Chairman by arguing that the decision to stop the check off was taken by the CGM (HR) and not by the Chairman. But the Chairman had to attend the court even after his retirement lonely seeking the apologies for not obeying the court order. The Hon’ble Justice asked him to come forward so that he could be identified.

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In an affidavit filed on behalf of the respondents, the Bank has tendered an unconditional apology and the Bank’s advocate assured the Court that for the month of September 2013 the amount to be collected as ‘check off’ will be debited to the Bank’s Suspense Account and credited to the respective Circle Associations’ Accounts. The Hon’ble Justice has passed an order that this credit should be made on or before 15th October 2013. This incident is a remarkable one as there is nobody above the Court of law. The Madras High Court judgements brought the focus back on SBIOA(CC) and members throughout the country applauded and congratulated our General Secretary and SBIOA(CC). We must resolve to stand with him in the days to come.

Comrades, It was painful to see the former Chairman of our Mighty Bank in the Court. We have nothing against the Bank and we are confident that under the leadership of the present Chairperson the issues pending will be sorted out at the earliest.

Com.B.K. Awasthi, the President and Com. Y. Sudharshan, the General Secretary of the Federation and number of comrades from our Circle were present in the Court. There were numerous wishes and greetings from comrades all over the country. We thank all our comrades in our Circle as well as comrades from other Circles for their total solidarity and support.

WITHDRAWAL OF FACILITY OF LFC/HTC VIA FOREIGN COUNTRIES - STAY GRANTED BY MADRAS HIGH COURT

Quoting IBA guidelines the Management had withdrawn the facility of visit to foreign places enroute the furthest point with effect from 15th April 2014.

The extension of the facility of LFC/HTC has been based on the bilateral settlement between the Officers’ organization and the Indian Banks’ Association and the provision for visiting foreign countries is prevalent since 1982 under certain broad parameters. The facility was available to the Officers in State Bank of India through a similar understanding prevailing between the Federation and the Management and was being reviewed and liberalized from time to time.

This time duly authorized by the Federation your General Secretary, as the Vice-President of the Federation filed a writ petition on behalf of the Federation and our Treasurer, Com. Bhavani Sankar filed on behalf of the Confederation at the Madras High Court. The honourable Court held ,”Having regard to the undertaking given by the petitioners and having regard to the rule position, there shall be an order of interim stay until

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12.06.2014.” When the writ cape up for hearing on 13/06/2013, the Court extended the stay for a further period of 6 weeks. Now the stay has been extended upto 14th Nov, 2014.

SHARING OUR CONCERN ON NPA MANAGEMENT

You are all aware that the NPA portfolio of our Circle has been increasing both in absolute terms and also in percentage. The Circle management Committee had a detailed discussion with your General Secretary on this issue and had requested the help of the Association in tackling the burgeoning NPA levels. The then General Secretary had requested all the EC members to immediately convene Zonal Council and Regional Council meetings on the issue and to get feed back and suggestions from the grass root level. There was spontaneous response in conducting such meetings and based on the suggestions that had been obtained from members at these meetings, we prepared a Power Point on the strategies to recover NPA and to arrest further slippages. This power Point titled ‘Never Permit Avalanche” was presented to the CMC on 07.12.2011. The CMC was very appreciative of the suggestions that we had given and had a detailed discussion on the same. We have made presentations to the Management two more times and issued special bulletins and Circulars. We have also made available the presentation through our website and emails to members.

BRAVE STEP: STRIKE NOTICE SERVED ON THE MANAGEMENT.

The craving of every member of our Association to declare a strike was realized by the extraordinary courageous strike notice served by our General Secretary on the Management to observe One Day Strike on the 16TH of September, 2013 against a host of outstanding issues that remained unresolved. It was a very brave movement as the relationship with the Chairman was worst ever in the history. The Circle Management immediately responded and convened a CNC meeting to resolve all the problems raised in the meeting baring one or two and assured to conduct such meetings regularly. It was a major achievement of the Circle Association.

REVIVAL OF THE NEGOTIATING FORA

71st CIRCLE NEGOTIATION COUNCIL MEETING

The 71st CNC meeting of our Circle was held at LHO, Chennai on 24/02/2014. It was Chaired by Smt. Varsha Purandare, Chief General Manager of the Circle. Most of the issues such as fitment, increment, personal allowance, halting allowance, Travelling allowance, medical bills , officiating allowance etc. were settled at the respective Regional

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Negotiation Councils which were completed before the CNC. Pending cases were taken up with the DGM & CDO in the pre CNC meeting held on 23/02/2014 and we were assured that the pending cases would be settled at the earliest. List of pending issues were handed over to the CDO who agreed to follow it up with the modules.

Mrs. Varsha Vasant Purandare, Chief General Manager expressed her concern over the general trend in the business development, NPA, profitability etc. She referred to the persisting NPA levels of the Circle, the depleting income on ATM acquired transactions and the rising number of complaints being received from customers. She asked the Association to impress upon the members to focus on the above areas and improve the Circle position. She asked the Association particularly to convey to the members to concentrate on the following points.

Com. D Suresh Kumar, President of our Association referred to the difficulties being faced by Officers on account of late meetings being conducted by the controllers and the rude treatment meted out to them by the controllers. The issue of shortage of Officers and disproportionate punishment also were referred to.

Your General Secretary referred to the great success of the the Lok adalats conducted in the Circle. He said that withdrawal of retainers from Regional Managers and credit intensive Branches is not helping the cause of curtailing NPAs and business development. It should be ensured that there should not be any setback to the image of the Bank in the eyes of the public. He also referred to the letter addressed to the Federation which was circularized vide circular no.8 dated 13/02/2014 by the Association. He requested to give this feed back to the Corporate Centre. Bank’s decision to reduce ceilings on expenses incurred on purchase of mobile phone and call charges was referred. The inadequate maintenance of the outsourced ATMs also was brought to the notice of the CNC. A request to consider reduction in number of service years for becoming eligible for the next promotion as was done earlier once was also made. He referred to the recent Central Negotiating Council meeting , where it was pointed out that the standardization of medical expenses on the basis of rates prevailing at Mumbai is not correct as the rates sent by the Circle were arrived after comparing the rates prevailing at many of the hospitals at Chennai. He asked the Circle to take up the pending issue and arrange for an early solution. The following matters were also discussed. The issues discussed and response by the Management are given below:

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ISSUE OF REVISED FITMENT SHEET:

Revised fitment sheet shall be issued to Officers who unfortunately are punished with details such as original basic, reduction of basic w.e.f. date, postponement of increment up to which period, rate of restoration of original basic etc.

FURNITURE MAINTENANCE ALLOWANCE:

The issue has already been taken up with HRMS and they would be paid. (Since paid).

SECURITY

Bank is ready to recruit adequate security guards, but unfortunately there are not enough applicants.The security position of vulnerable Branches with single Lady Officer shall be reviewed and wherever required guards shall be posted.

SINGLE OFFICER BRANCHES

MM III incumbency branches with predominant loan portfolio shall be given priority for posting an additional officer.

ATM NODAL OFFICERS

After reviewing the position adequate Nodal officers shall be posted.

VVR CHECKING

Issues relating to VVR checking such as checking of system generated transactions, Forex related transactions etc. would be taken up with Corporate Centre.

ASSISTANT MANAGER (S)

Attachment of one Assistant Manager (S) to more than 2 Branches shall be reviewed.

WELFARE MEASURES – OFFICERS QUARTERS

Efforts will be taken to construct additional quarters at Ooty. The Association will get the approval from the authorities when the proposal is submitted.

PROBLEMS IN BIOMETRIC SYSTEM

Problems in Biometric System to be taken up with the Corporate Centre.

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RETAINER VEHICLES

The DGMs have been empowered to look into the issue on case to case basis.

REGIONAL NEGOTIATION COUNCILS

Regional Negotiation Council meetings are conducted regularly now in most of the modules. Coimbatore Module requires special appreciation for the same.

MONITORING OF CSPs

Wherever necessary Assistant Manager Specialists, who are monitoring the CSPs will be provided with vehicle for inspection.

Foundation Day Celebrations

The 48th Foundation Day was celebrated at Mercantile Plaza, Chennai on 14th August 2013. Dr. Victor Lewis Anthuvaan, Professor of Finance, Loyala Institute of Business Administration was the Chief Guest. Dr. Anthuvaan complimenting the Association for celebrating the foundation day detailed about the present economic scenario and the challenges that the Indian Banking Industry now faces. It was a thought provoking lecture, the excerts of which were published in our bulletin.

IMPROVEMENT IN STANDARDISATION OF MEDICAL EXPENSES

Chennai is considered as a centre medical tourism place where even people from many foreign countries and people from all States across the country visit to take medical treatment . The facilities extended and treatment offered are considered world class and consequently the fee charged on account of hospitalization in hospitals at Chennai and other places in the Circle can not be compared with similar charges at other cities such as Mumbai, Delhi etc. The hospitalization charges when renewed by the Bank, however, did not take all these factors into consideration. The matter was immediately taken up by the Circle Association with the Circle Management, Federation and at the Central Negotiation Council meeting. It was closely followed up and due to which the hospitalization charges were reviewed by the Bank and the charges now available at our Circle is the best in the country. This is one of the greatest achievements of the circle.

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72nd Circle Negotiation Council-08.10.2014

AGENDA

Matters pending out of the minutes of the last meeting held on 24.02.2014

a. Single Officer branches

In the last meeting CGM agreed that second officer will be provided to atleast Scale III branches. It has not been done. All Single Officer Branches have to be provided one officer in addition to a Senior Spl Assistant / Special Assistant.

b. Specialist officers attached to more than one branch

They can be deputed to other branches in case of need. LOS is not possible at 2 branches. Practically they are not able to help much. They are also denied deputation allowance, by some branches / controllers. (list provided)

c. Maintenance of TATA ATMs poor image for Bank

d. New Premises for Branches which are in very bad shape

Example: Athimanjaripet, Vanur, Pugalur etc [List provided ]

e. OVVR Checking for system generated entries

Even last week Rs.15 was deducted for ATM Charges which is not

possible to check but officers are pressurised to check.

1. Associations’ suggestions for Business Development and Cost Cutting

We made a Power Point Presentation for different segments along with

NPA Management and cost cutting.

2. Review Meetings being held after office hours frequently.

Even now the practice continues in almost all modules. The Branch

Managers and Specialist Officers who are attending these meetings

reach home in the middle of the night. Instructions need to be given to

the Controllers by the CMC to avoid this review meetings as far as

possible. Instead video conferencing, audio conferencing and

telephonic contacts can be done with advance notice of the time.

3. Acute shortage of officers – Steps to be taken

Immediate conduct of JMG Promotion test with relaxation of norms. One time exercise of promoting all senior Special Assistants and Special Assistants as JMGS. Special Recruitment of TOs with relaxation in

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eligibility can be done. Officiating has to be given to award staff in all branches where vacancy exists. Conversion of Specialists into Generalists or atleast permitting them to hold keys (done in Hyderabad Circle) will help. The JMG vacancies have been accounted with Special Assistants and Senior Special Assistants thus reducing the number of vacancies for JMGs which is not correct. A new promotion cum Transfer Policy has to be arrived at to encourage the youth to take up promotion. [Note given]

4. Quarters of officers – SAF Games Village, Coimbatore and Madurai. Provision of drinking water at Games Village Quarters and other places needed. Garbage collection not regular. Closed racks / cupboards to be provided.

5. Chennai Main Branch Premises We had pointed out in the earlier CNC as well as in the Regional Negotiation Council about the poor maintenance of Chennai Main Branch premises. We suggest that a AGM can be designated to take up the task of completing the renovation at the earliest. The Bank may appoint a consultant to help in completing the job.

6. Premises owned by Bank – poor maintenance- Annasalai Complex, AO, Chennai, RACPC, Egmore etc What happened at Chennai Main can happen at Anna salai complex also if immediate steps are not taken. An inspection of all Branches to be done as one time exercise.

7. Problems of CCPC, frauds & Uniform holidays Note enclosed.

8. Problems faced by Specialist officers (erstwhile RMROs, CRE PBs, and FSTOs) Already letters written to the CGM. Note attached.

9. IMT 2014 for Specialist Officers Has to be completed before Generalist in the month of Feburary.

Suffering a lot due to separation of families.

10. Role and responsibility for Specialist Officers in Scale II

They are asked to do all kind of works without any appreciation. Now

FSTOs are working in branches in violation of all norms. Those who have

been promoted as Scale II have to be shifted to another branch of

their choice and should be given the job of a field officer with Scale II

powers. FSTOs to be transferred to LHO / AU Coimbatore.

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11. Staffing pattern – A study required

Let us constitute a committee to study – vacancies for award staff and

subordinate staff not carried out with any norms.

12. Problems at MCG/CAG/SAMB Branches – inclusion of Ernakulam with

Chennai

Association has to be permitted to take up issues of officers at

Commercial Branch Ernakulam. Better to bring MCG also in the control

of CGM for better co-ordination and control. No rules and regulations

related to HR Matters are followed. Job rotation not done regularly.

Many officers due for assignment but not given. Many officers are

overstaying in some centres.

13. Delay in DPC clearance from MCG for Housing Loans

14. Transfer Policy for Lady Officers

Let our Circle be the pioneer to draft one.

15. Option for postings Sc I to Sc V – Transparency

3 years back this exercise was done for scale III & IV and we could

satisfy 95% of the officers.

16. Cross selling, SBI Life and Mutual Fund Business

Regular Officers should not be pressurised to do cross selling. Staff of

this outfits sending message to BMs in the name of Controllers which

are offensive.

17. Security Arrangements in Branches / Shortage of Security guards

(List given)

18. Problems of Accountants

19. Training for officers

BMs, FOs and Manager Operations require regular training.

20. Office Accommodation for Circle Association / Chennai Module I and

Chennai Module II

21. Working on holidays – RACPC, Annanagar, Egmore, OMR

22. Vehicles for Inspection

List of Branches given

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23. Circle Welfare Committee Meetings and Sportsmen Officers’ problems

24. Image of the Bank - Lifts in LHO – Only 1 lift in LHO working

25. Withdrawal of non-banking day from rural branches [List given]

This has not helped but the suffering has increased, so it should be

restored.

26. Meeting halls at Administrative Offices and Canteens

27. Conducting Regional Negotiation Council, Customer Service

Committee Meeting at the Modules.

Except Coimbatore Module no other module conducts at periodicity.

Number of single officer branches in the Circle.

Total – 190 Branches

>100 Crore Business- 6 Branches >50 Crore Business – 41 Branches >10 Crore Business <50 crore – 123 Branches

The meeting was cordial. The CGM shared the concerns of the CMC like CASA Deposits, NPA etc and brought support to make the Circle number one in major parameters. We assured that we will go an extramile if we are treated as parters in progress and requested improvement inHR matters. The minutes of the meeting has been recived and we are following up the issues.

Suggestion for New Promotion cum Transfer Policy

For 10 years there was no recruitment in the Bank and the recruitment was started in 2008 after the Federation gave a strike call. Unfortunately last year there was not clerical recruitment. The present clerical recruitment is done only to fill the vacancies arising out of retirements. This will once again create a problem because our business has tripled in the last 4 years.

Even the clerical staff who are eligible for promotion are not interested to take a promotion for the reason that they will be transferred out of the module. Most of them are newly married or going to get married. The displacement of the family hampers taking up promotion. So we suggest the following.

1. For Trainee Officers Promotion For Trainee Officers the eligibility norm was reduced to 2 years once. The same can be followed for few years so that we get adequate

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number of officers who can take up the responsibility of the officers in one year.

2. For JMG Promotion For JMG Promotion, the eligibility norm can be reduced to 3 years

3. Transfer on promotion On Promotion, the Trainee Officers can be transferred to another module after completion of 2 years training period. For the training period they can be transferred to the adjacent region which they should be able to commute or they can be kept in the same region but not at the same branch. For those who are promoted as JMG, the transfer can be within the region only. For a minimum period of 3 to 4 years they should be kept in the same module. The next 2 years, they may be transferred to the adjacent module. In case of our Circle, earlier there was shortage of officers to go to Madurai Module. Now number of clerical staff have joined from the southern districts. They will be opting of transfer to Madurai module. Instead of knocking them out of the module where they are working, if they can be given options, the problem of shortage in one particular module will not arise. Within 6 years many of them will be promoted to scale II and would like to go for rural / semi urban assignment. So there will be sufficient request to go out of Chennai and those who wants come to Chennai can also be accommodated.

Problems in Chennai based southern grid of Cheques Truncation System

Declaration of common holidays for all the CCPCs functioning under the Southern Grid

Reserve Bank of India, the authority for overall supervision of the functioning of the CTS in the grids all over India, have brought in the common holidays system for all the operating CCPCs under the grid. As per the system, the number of holidays is restricted to less than 10 days for the calendar year 2014 as against an average of 20 days declared under the N I act by the respective State Governments, thereby depriving the officers and employees working in the CCPCs their legitimate holidays. Further, the common holidays as declared by RBI have no consideration of important festivals which have impact on local aspirations such as Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Onam in Kerala etc. and even the May Day which is celebrated world wide. The employees are emotionally very much affected not being able to celebrate

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such occasions with their families, relatives and friends causing irreparable effects on their social bondage with their loved ones.

As it is well known to all, our great Country is diversified in nature with the peoples of States having their own identities and way of life. Festivals like Deepavali, Id-ul fitre etc. are celebrated on different dates in different magnitudes across the States. Each State is having a number of its own festivals and celebrations which are close to their hearts with so much of sentiments and happiness. All the festivals of the Country including the local ones are celebrated by all the people irrespective of caste, creed and religion. Hence, the system of common holidays as envisaged by RBI is an act of deprivation and needs to be revisited.

In spite of the above difficulties, our colleagues both in clerical and officer cadre have been compelled by the Bank to work on such important occasions and the trade unions under the banner of UFBU, AIBOC etc. have been opposing time and again against the anti labour stand of the Reserve Bank of India which causes injury to fundamental rights of the work force in the matter of the genuine holidays.

The Southern grid consists of Tamil Nadu & Poducherry, Kerala, Karnataka, United AP States, Kolkata, Bhubhaneswar, Cuttack and Guwahati.

We understand that Kolkatta has a minigrid covering the city branches only. It can be converted into a full grid which can cover all eastern and north eastern states. Chandigarh can be attached to Delhi.

Secondly, we may suggest the formation of grid in every State so that the participating Banks transact their cheques under CTS in that particular grid. This will not only pave way for solving the problem of holidays encountered by our colleagues vis-à-vis N I Act holidays applicable for the entire State but would take care of the incidences of frauds being faced at Southern Grid which is increasing day by day as we would be able to have effective control over them with the cooperation of Law enforcing machineries of the State Governments. The nature of above said frauds and the stand of the Police Authorities and the status of criminal activity by miscreants in different parts of the Country are discussed in the subsequent paragraphs.

In the present scenario alternative Banking Channels like Internet Banking, Mobile Banking, ATMs, Digital Banking etc are available and they need to be encouraged. The use of cheques if reduced will also reduce frauds and save a lot of money for the Banks. Hence there is no need for the CTS to work on holidays.

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Incidences of frauds in CCPCs under CTS

We have come across many incidences of frauds occurring in CTS. In the southern grid, Chennai, there have been so far 81 of such cheques amounting to Rs.5.21 crores out of which payment of 40 Cheques amounting to Rs.3.40 crores was averted due to diligence of the centre head, Assistant General Manager and the team of officers and staff. Recently one single day 15 fraudulent cheques were found and the next day another 4 cheques were found. It has been found that the perpetrators are from northern parts of the country and are deliberately routing the fraudulent cheques in the southern grid so that they escape the clutches of the Chennai Police and other law enforcing agencies located therein. Each such incident has been promptly reported to the Management and also to the local Police authorities as and when occurs. But unfortunately, the Corporate Management is yet to take a concrete step to avoid recurrence of fraud and the Police authorities have expressed their inability to deal with the case as the fraudsters are away from their jurisdiction. Recently one accused has been arrested in Patna but due to lack of co-ordination between the Police Authorities of different states he may go scot free.

The modus operandi is as under :-

There are different types of frauds noticed as under. One is, the miscreants get hold of the cheques dispatched from the LCPCs to the account holders and smartly forge their signatures. While the operating functionaries in CCPCs pass such instruments after technical verification on the basis of the scanned images of the instruments, the signatures and stamps appearing on the instruments are so cleverly forged that it is very difficult to notice any change in the pattern or other features. The cheques are invariably presented through other public sector or private Banks than the issuing Bank. The Management has instructed the processing centre to call upon the customers and get their confirmations before passing the instruments and teams of staff are engaged in seeking confirmation over phone from the drawees of cheques on an ongoing basis. Even though this practice is yielding very good result and many fraudulent cheques are averted entry into the system, some cheques are escaping this scrutiny and drive due to large volume of instruments being handled at the centre coupled with shortage of staff.

Secondly, it has come to the notice that the fraudsters print the cheques in the lines of the genuine cheques pertaining to various accounts in Banks and route the same in clearing operations. The pattern and all the features are astonishingly matching the genuine cheques and signatures so perfectly

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forged that it is hardly detectable under normal circumstances during technical verification of images at the Centre.

It appears that even the recommendations of RBI authorities to their higher ups at the Centre have gone waste as no concrete action has been initiated by them. Whom could we complain if the Central Bank which is supposed to be leader of all other Banks in the Country remains inactive to this serious matter endangering the whole Banking industry despite the huge power vested in them.

It is also understood that the perpetrators cheat the innocent citizens luring them with business transactions and hefty payments forcing them to open accounts in Banks, get hold of cancelled cheques from those who are already account holders, take custody of cheque books and ATM cards along with PINs etc. in the course of their operations.

Considering the nature of the fraud which will damage the Banking system and the operating functionaries, we have to immediately take up with apex level to curb this criminal activity of gangsters and a thorough probe be carried out at national level. The Bank instead of taking suitable remedial actions, finds fault with the Officers and Staff working in the CCPCs and subject them to unwanted mental agony by issuing memoranda to those dealing with such instruments. The executives know very well that the officers are in no way at fault for this entire episode. Still, this unfortunate exercise of calling for explanations is being continued, which not only demotivates them but also demoralise them.

It is also pertinent to mention here that the CCPCs has detailed these fraudulent operations of the miscreants to their respective Controllers recommending suitable actions at the Corporate Centre level as the fraudsters are operating nationwide. The Law Enforcing Agencies have not appeared to have acted upon the matter.

Suggestions:

1. Form State Wise Grids instead of combining so many states together. 2. The scanning of the images should be done in colour instead of black

and white 3. The case has to be taken up at the National Level with the Crime

Investigation bureau as it covers many states. 4. Detailed guidelines to be issued to branches regarding the frauds

which are already taken place and precautions to be taken.

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PENALTY LEVIED UNILATERALLY BY THE MANAGEMENT

It has been brought to our notice that our Officers who are working as Joint Custodians in Branches are incurring and suffering monetary losses on account of the cash penalty being levied on them unilaterally by the Management. In most of the times, the details of penalty as soon as received by the Controllers from Reserve Bank of India are debited to the Joint Custodian’s account on the oral instructions received from the Controllers by the Branch Manager. Actually these penalties are levied for delay in reporting the ICCOMS. Without ascertaining the reasons for the delay in reporting or whether there is actually a delay in reporting by the joint custodians or note, these penalties are recovered immediately on the oral instructions from the Controllers. These Officers are denied an opportunity to prove their innocence. Any penalty should be recovered only after due verification and ascertaining the reasons thereof. Imposing of penalty without any disciplinary proceedings is violation of Service Rules. Similarly, penalty on account of cash shortage in the remittances sent to Reserve Bank of India by our branches which was found out by RBI on a later date are debited to the Joint Custodians of that Branch even without producing the concerned note slip. This practice should be stopped forthwith and the penalties thus recovered should be returned to the joint custodians and only after due verification the penalty should be arranged to be recovered or earlier practice of having the presence of our Cashier for verification should be restored. PROMOTIONS OF THE OFFICIALS WITHHELD IN SEALED COVER It has been brought to our notice that a few of our officer’s names have not found place in the Final Result Declared under various grades citing the reasons of disciplinary proceedings contemplated. In State Bank, the procedure is applicable in cases of officers in JMG Scale I to SMG Scale IV against whom disciplinary action is pending or contemplated in respect of promotion to the next higher grade or scale as also for their confirmation in the service,. i) Disciplinary action shall be deemed to be contemplated when: a. The officer has been placed under suspension OR b. The Disciplinary Authority passes on order to initiate disciplinary proceedings, OR c. CBI or any other agency has filed a charge sheet in the court for the purpose of commencing trial, or

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d. The bank has permitted/has taken a decision to permit CBI/other investigating agencies to prosecute the official. ii) Disciplinary action shall be deemed to be pending when a. A charge-sheet is served on the officer, OR b. The criminal trial against the official has commenced in a court of law. iii) Whenever a decision is taken by the Disciplinary Authority to initiate disciplinary proceedings against an officer, the same is communicated, in writing to the officer concerned on the lines of the enclosed format. It should, however, be ensured that the charge-sheet is served on the officer within a reasonable time of say four to six weeks. In our Circle, the results of the officials have been kept in sealed covers during

• the time of the explanations called by the Controllers • before the date of DA passes an order to initiate disciplinary

proceedings The mentioned cases are classic examples and we have requested the

Management to review all the cases of officials whose results have been kept

in the sealed cover and render justice to our officials since it affects their

mora

Issues of Specialist Officers

The primary objective of recruiting RMRO's and FSTO's from 2004 onwards was mainly for doubling of agricultural credit and reduction of NPA in agri segment. In 2008 the role of RMRO's were extended to cover the marketing and recovery needs of PER/SME segments and other parabanking activities etc. Likewise CRO (PB/ME) were also recruited in 2007 for specialized assignments relating to their respective segments. The sincerity and hard work put forth by them has been proved beyond doubt and they have become an integral part of daily functioning of RUSU branches.

Our Federation had been representing to the Management to absorb them as Permanent Officers which was conceded by the Management in 2010.

Post confirmation as RMROs certain additional responsibilities were entrusted to them. There was a change in their role play i.e 10% of the RMROs were converted into Agri FOs, 5% were converted into CRE (PB) and the remaining continued as RMROs in RUSU branches. Some of them were also posted as CSOs in RCPCs / ACBs and few as Desk officers in RBOs. A few handpicked RMROs were even placed as FIC in charge which is an MM III assignment.

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In order to address the challenges of loan growth and recovery under agri segment , CHRC in their meeting dated 22.02.2013 accorded its approval for utilizing the services of RMROs exclusively for agriculture segment alone and hence redesignated them as Field Officer (Agri / FI).

In this backdrop we have taken up their grievances which have made them to believe that they receive step motherly treatment form the Management.

a) Dilution of Roles and responsibilities:

The transition from RMRO to FO (Agri/FI) has not been completed in letter and spirit. The instructions and the expectations of the Corporate Centre have not percolated down to the Branch level. Dilution of roles and responsibilities is at the pinnacle and all works related to other segment advances like HTL, ETL processing , ETL subvention, Weavers credit card, Govt sponsored schemes, VVR checking, CERSAI, CCDP, Project Ganga, ATM, Statutory audit report/returns preparation, TDS , sanction / documentation of Agri gold loans, deputation to other branches for RFIA etc are done by them. In short all Branch routines are entrusted to them as in most of the branches they are the only officers other than the Branch Manager. Without any formal training they are being exposed to do the regular branch routines which may at times end up causing loss to the business interest of our Bank. Resisting the verbal order of the controllers’ results in earning their ire and ultimately with their AARF in their hands they have no other choice other than budging to their instructions.

In MM II incumbency branches the condition is much worse, which have only two officers viz., the Branch Manager & the Agri FO. In such scenario the needs of PER / SME segment customers have to be invariably attended by them. They also don’t have any clerical assistance to plan their routines effectively. In Scale III branches in addition to agri portfolio any one of PER or SME segment is invariably allotted to them. A simple procedure to assess their role in PER segment advances – is to Generate the number of LOS pertaining to PER segment advances logged in their CBS ID at branch level. This will tell tale their efforts and time utilized for doing other segment works.

Likewise the Technical Officers at Zonal Offices are allotted general works

that include typing, replying to returns, data collection from branches and

NPA follow up. The conditions of CRO (PB/ME) is much worse and they don't

even have CBS enquiry rights. Coming from a professional background they

have been trained in their academic days to perform and deliver. The

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reputation they have earned in our Bank in recent times depict a totally

negative picture. It is really demotivating to hear such phrases despite putting

their sincere efforts which has gone in vain due to the other sundry unrelated

works thrust on them. You can also seek the opinion of I&A officials regarding

their choice of assistance during Branch audits. Invariably they seek their

deputation for easy and early completion of audit work. Being utilized for all

other routines does not allow them to stay focussed in executing their

stipulated roles.. This year many of our comrades have been given poor AARF

marks by their immediate controllers. Nearly 20 RMROs were not eligible for

ZOC. The reason cited was under performance of the Branch in advances.

With multiple roles on their head and oral ban on agri advances in place,

using the same yardstick to measure performance is not meaningful.

After entrusting all general responsibilities like generalist FO, the designation of

FO (Agri/FI) have been classified as Specialist Officers (Non-Banking) which is

nothing but an oxymoron. This is definitely a biased approach and an illogical

classification. They are ready to don the role of generalist officers if an

opportunity is provided. So we have taken up with the Federation and the

Circle Management to take up the matter with Corporate Centre to convert

these specialists as Generalists with an option letter as it was done for the

Rural Development officers earlier.

b) Promotion policy:

The other area which requires immediate intervention is the career path of

these specialist officers. The recently concluded MM II promotion exam for

specialist officers 2013-14, they have performed well. But their duties as Scale

II officers have not been defined.

There are still a number of them waiting for promotion. So a relaxation of

norms may be considered. Similarly placed agriculture field officers in other

nationalised banks enjoy an on par promotion policy with their generalist

counterparts. The promotion policy adopted by some of the nationalised

Banks are produced below.

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Name of the Bank

Designation Qualification Scale Promotion policy Remarks Merit Seniority

SBI FO (AGRI/FI)

Agri/Vet/ Allied sciences

I – II II- III

4 yrs 3 yrs

10 yrs 9 yrs

CDO/P&HRD-CM/01 dt 31.03.2009

Canara Bank

AEO / Rural Officers

-DO- I – II II- III

3 yrs 3 yrs

5 yrs 5 yrs

Cadre treated as Generalist officers

IOB Agri officers / RDO

-DO- I – II II- III

3 yrs 3 yrs

5 yrs 5 yrs

Promotion on par with Generalist officers

Indian Bank

AM (Agri) / RDO

-DO- I – II II- III

3 yrs 3 yrs

5 yrs 5 yrs

Promotion on par with Generalist officers

Corporation Bank

Agri Field Officer (AFO)

-DO- I – II II- III

3 yrs 3 yrs

7 yrs 5 yrs

Promotion on par with Generalist officers

PNB AM (Agri) -DO- I – II II- III

3 yrs 3 yrs

5 yrs 5 yrs

Promotion on par with Generalist officers

After five years of service their agri counterparts in other Banks have the option of shifting to general stream. In IOB, Canara Bank and Corporation Bank agriculture officers after completion of 3 years of service are posted as Branch Managers. Hence the need of the hour is a time bound fast tract promotion policy purely based on merit and conversion to Generalists.

For shortage of 23 days many of them, especially CRE(PB) & (ME) have not been called for promotion. For Generalists the eligibility for promotion was brought down by 6 months. We have taken up the matter with the Management.

4. Other related benefits:

a) Provident Fund & Pension Fund:

We reproduce hereunder the text from the Reference Book on Staff Matters (Supervising Staff) S.No. 5.1.6 – Page 120 :-

“Contract Officers subsequently made Permanent : Reckoning of Contract Service”

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PER/49 of 1994-95 - The Executive Committee of the Central Board during their meeting held on 15.01.1995 approved that as a model employer we may treat the past service on contract basis of officers appointed as such and who were eventually absorbed as regular officers as continuous service in the Bank and extend the under noted benefits:

(I) To admit them to the membership of Provident Fund and Pension Fund from the date of engagement on contract basis if found eligible in terms of relevant fund rules.

(ii) To treat the service spent on contract for the purpose of seniority.

(iii) Officers who have already retired may be made eligible for pension subject to the eligibility conditions in the Pension Fund Rules as a result of increased length of pensionable service and in their cases service Gratuity paid by the Bank be recovered.

1. The benefit of contract service for refixation in pay also be extended to these officers The benefits which are already available in our service rules, were not extended to them at the time of confirmation. Admission to PF started after confirmation i.e on 02.08.2012 and in addition to this they were included within the ambit of the New Pension scheme. Our ECCB took a decision to implement NPS in SBI on 8th November 2010 and the scheme approval was given an retrospective effect from 1st of August 2010. Though their date of appointments dates back from 2004 onwards they were included under the new scheme.

This act runs in contra to the service rules mentioned supra and because of this they have been deprived of the social security benefits of backdated PF from the date of appointment and the old pension scheme.

c) Entertainment Allowance

FO (Agri/FI) and CRO (PB/ME) have been given budgets in advances and recovery. But their assignment is considered as non budgetary when it comes for sanction of annual entertainment allowances. While other general FO's doing the same role are given the benefit, they have been deprived of the same at the branch level.

The conversion to Generalists will be of great help to single officer branches where there is great difficulty in taking leave for want of reliever and this will also help the Branch Manager in marketing of our products and improve business and customer service. We request the CMC to do the needful.

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Few agenda items were discussed with the circle development officer and withdrawn based on his assurances to settle the issues. The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere. We also made a presentation on business development and NPA Management. We have assured the Management that we are prepared to go an extra mile if the Management also reciprocates. We will decide our course based on the actions of the management. LEARNING FROM THE SENIORS

Members meet at Chennai for Senior Members of SMG IV & V

For the first time in the history of our Association an exclusive members meet for the senior functionaries of SMG IV & V grades was held at Mercantile Plaza Chennai on 15th February 2014. Com. R. Balaji, Regional Secretary of Chennai, Zone - I welcomed the gathering. He appreciated the contributions made by them for the vibrancy of the Association.

The undersigned thanked the members for the large gathering, which exhibited how they hold the Association close to their heart. He reminded the members of their contribution in building the Association through various struggles and sacrifices and their role in building the different wings of the Association that have been doing wonderfully well in taking care of the welfare of our members. He referred to the Circle Association’s efforts in galvanizing the members across the country by defeating the sinister move of the then Chairman of the Bank to discontinue the Check off facility and the valiant action of bringing him back to his senses from the high pedestal of power by making him appear before the Honourable High Court of Madras through contempt of court proceedings.

The undersigned shared his concern about the cost cutting measures taken by the management some of which are hindrances in the performance of officials. He referred to the alternative measures suggested by the Circle Association through its letter to the Federation to take up the matter with the Corporate Centre. He also spoke on the 10th Bipartite latest developments.

The undersigned said that Management has been issuing letters to Officers asking them not to participate in Strikes from the days of Shri Talwar as Chairman. He clarified that there is no truth in the rumour that Officers who participated in the strike were transferred out of the Circle. He said, Truth is different, some of the Officers transferred to audit department opted for it and the remaining were selected on various other parameters such as age

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etc. Is it possible for the management to transfer all the officers who participate in strike that too a genuine strike for wage revision, he asked. It is guaranteed that for a collective action individuals shall not be held accountable.

Members then expressed their feelings and said that they want very much to be part of the Association. We were really feeling bad to remain in Office, when our comrades were fighting for our cause. Our hearts and minds were with the Association though the fear psychosis created earlier had made their physical presence at Offices. Even transfers will not dither us from our participating in the strikes. The meeting has restored our confidence. Frequent unit meetings and communications were also demanded by members. Some of the views of members are

Ø The fear psyche created by the earlier management that if anyone participated in strike, they would be transferred to other circle.

Ø Their participation in the strike would be entered in service sheets that may affect the promotions of career oriented officials

Ø Associations should strive to strengthen the confidence of its senior management members by frequent meetings and communications. At times they feel they are neither part of management nor part of Association.

Ø During strike period some of the senior management members may attend office. Such occasions members loyal to Association and participating in strike may be squared and victimisation may be unleashed. Hence hundred percent participation in strike has to be ensured.

The undersigned clarified various issues raised by members. The mood of the present management is entirely different from the previous one. No victimisation would be thought of for the strike at industry level and that too for the cause of wage revision. He allayed the apprehension of some members about the marking in service sheets referring their strike participation. He said such things had never happened and would never happen as strike is a fundamental right guaranteed by the constitution of India.

One inevitable outcome of this meeting is the consensus arrived among members to consolidate their strength and participate whole heartedly in the future strike calls. The meeting , a happy occasion for seeing friends working at different Branches ended with the vote of thanks delivered by Com. A. Ravichandran, Regional Secretary, Chennai, Zone II.

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Meeting again on 8th Nov, 2014

We had one more meeting with the Senior Comrades to seek their suggestions for improvement of our functioning and also get input on the general Body which was very useful.

SEEKING BLESSINGS OF THE ELDERS

Elders’ day is a day the Association celebrates every year to give thanks to the elders who have built the great edifice of SBIOA(CC). There were many struggles and sacrifices the elders carried out and it is but natural for us to convey our respects to them appropriately as we have the tradition of respecting and honouring them. Elders Get Together was held on 09/09/2011 and 02/12/2012. Elders meet for 2013 was celebrated on 23rd October 2013. A wellness camp was set up at the venue with the help of Doctors and staff from the Appollo Hospitals. More than 500 gathered at the venue. A scintillating dance programme by the students welcomed the elders. Dr. Arvind Babu from Apollo Clinic, Chennai spoke very vividly on preventive Health Checks and Health Management. Elders appreciated the Association for bringing the former Chairman to the Court.

Elders Meet 2014 held on 19th October 2014

The Association takes pride in celebrating the Elders as our Idols as it is their sacrifice and vision that has brought us glory and laurels in our life and vocation. Every year, we celebrate the “Elders Day” in which health specialist conduct Medical Camps, prominent speakers address their issues and also provide them an opportunity to meet their old friends.

On 19th October, 2014, The “Elders Day” was celebrated at the SBOA Junior College Auditorium. The elders were welcomed by an array of dance sequences choreographed by our school staff and performed by our school students. It was a show of colour, youth and energy in it’s glory.

Com.A.V.Joseph, Regional Secretary of Chennai I Module welcomed them with folded hands and saluted them for their valour and sacrifice. Our President Com.A.Krishnan lauded them for their contribution to the welfare of our members over the years. He also assured them that the residual issues in pension will be resolved during the impending wage revision.

The Chief Guest Dr.Sanjay Udip, hailing from a family of doctors and a Senior Consultant in ENT medicine addressed the gathering. He suggested the gathering to relive their ever green days. He stated that old age is not a disease but only a phase in the life of a human. We should be able to cope

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up with the change in physical and psychological characteristics of old age. He went on to explain the various problems connected with Ear and Nose and their remedies. He also responded to various queries raised by the participants.

The General Secretary was all praise for their contribution to the Association and assured them that he as a member of the AIBOC negotiating committee of Wage negotiations would be taking up the long pending Pension Issue. The elders were also invited to participate in the Silver Jubilee Conference of the Association to be held on 15th & 16th November, 2014 at Coimbatore.

2nd WOMEN’S CONVENTION

The 2nd Women’s Convention was held at Pondicherry on 16th March 2014 to mark the celebration of International Women’s Day. The participation by our lady comrades was excellent. Mrs. Sudha Sundararaman was the Chief guest and delivered the women’s day message and our DGM & CDO Shri K M Satpathy was the special guest. On the occasion of the Women’s Convention social welfare activities were also undertaken and children with various disabilities were assisted by the members by way of contributions. I congratulate all the Module Regional Secretaries and Zonal Secretaries for the excellent mobilization of lady comrades .

PINKATHON AT CHENNAI.

On April 13, Chennai hosted the first edition of MIOT Pinkathon Chennai 2014 – a women’s running event for the cause of breast cancer awareness. The event was first inaugurated in 2012 at Mumbai. Last year, almost 12,000 women participated in Pinkathon held across four cities. At Chennai, more than 5000 women and girls participated in the event. Our Bank sponsored the event with MIOT Hospitals. More than 100 lady comrades and 550 children of our SBIOA Schools participated in the event. Our Association took a registration drive for our lady comrades and made arrangements for them to participate in the event.

CADRE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES

15th Cadre Development Programme – At Manikandam, Tiruchirapalli

The programme was inaugurated by our President. Our General Secretary gave a special key note address. The inaugural session was unfolded by a special presentation on evolution of trade union movement by our former Regional Secretary P.Subramanian on 25/06/2013. On 26/03/2013 awareness

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was created about service rules, service conditions, communication, structure of our organisation, collective leadership etc.

16TH CADRE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME – COIMBATORE

Leaders are not born but they are made from members. We are believing in this and to make our members as future leaders, we conducted the 16th Cadre Development Programme at Coonoor, unique of its kind in the year. More than 90 cadres attended the Cadre Camp.

17th Cadre Development Programme – TANJORE

The 17th Cadre Camp was held at Tanjore on the 26th & 27th April 2014. More than 85 members participated in the Cadre camp. A session on why we need cadre and the road of cadre was handled by our President and our General Secretary handled a session on the historical perspective of Bank employees movement with special reference to officers’ movement. On the second day commenced with “YOGA” session and regular session was on various banking related topics. Finally an enthralling session on collective leadership was handled by Com. A Sridhar, our former Dy.General Secretary. It was well organized by Trichy cluster and very well appreciated by all the participants who returned with rekindled energy and commitment to the great edifice of SBIOA (CC)

18th Cadre Development Programme at CHENNAI

The 18th Cadre Camp of our Association was held at Chennai on 08.06.2013 & 09.06.2013. More than 75 Cadres have participated and they were imparted with the knowledge on Service Rules; Service Conditions, Preventive Vigilance and Organisational Matters including the History of our Organisation.

19th Cadre Development programme at MADURAI

The 19th “Cadre Development Programme” of the Circle and 4th in the Madurai Module was held on 24th & 25th of May 2014 at a unique, enjoyable and different atmosphere at Pillar Centre, Nagamalai, Madurai. The choice of the venue which housed the participants for two days in the picturesque green area was well appreciated by the members who had assembled in large numbers for the camp. Around 60 members from Madurai Module participated in the camp which proved a rich experience in not only developing their skills but also which made them to be away from the hustle

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and bustle of the city life in an atmosphere which recharged and rejuvenated them. The programme aimed at providing an insight into the “History of Trade Union” and our Association in particular, creating awareness in the “Service conditions” and “Service Rules” of our bank, imparting knowledge to practice “Preventive Vigilance” and thus inculcate the qualities of a leader has made our members vibrant and vigilant. Under the leadership of Com. Rishab we have had 13 Cadre Camps.

The office bearers of Madurai Module led by Com. R. Sethu, Regional secretary had made elaborate arrangements for the camp which in the end was very well appreciated by all the participants who returned with rekindled energy and commitment to the great edifice of SBIOA (CC).

FIELD OFFICERS’ WORKSHOP AT COIMBATORE

After a long gap a workshop for Field Officers at Coimbatore was arranged on 02/03/2014 by Com. G Selvaraj. It was held at SBIOA Mat. & Higher Secondary School. 86 members attended the workshop on the day.

Com. N Balakrishnan, Regional Manager, Region 4, Coimbatore inaugurating the workshop said that the Association is more than a mother in taking care of the physical, social and career development of members . Com. G Selvaraj, Regional Secretary, Coimbatore Module who made the introductory speech quoted various live disciplinary cases to make the members understand various aspects of Field Officer’s job. A session on P Segment Advances was handled by Com.K S Narasimhan, Chief Manager. The legal aspects of execution of documents was handled by Com. Chitra Nirmala, Chief Manager, Law, Coimbatore. Com. Manickam, Chief Manager handled a session on SME advances and Com. Sowminarayanan, Chief Manager (Rural) handled Agri advances. Com. Senthi Kumar T, Dy. General Secretary and Com. M Asok, Regional Secretary, Tiruchirapalli Module complimented and congratulated the members and gave a few tips on various aspects of Field Officers’ job. General Secretary clarified members queries and explained various aspects of credit management. Members who attended the workshop expressed their gratitude and thank the Association for the workshop. Congratulations to Com. G Selvaraj and the Coimbatore Team.

MOCK INTERVIEW FOR PROMOTIONS

Mock interview was successfully arranged on 12.08.2012 at Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Trichy for aspiring T.Os and JMGs. Nine aspirants from Chennai, Fifteen aspirants from Coimbatore, Twenty eight aspirants from Trichy and fourteen aspirants from Madurai were benefited from the

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programme. The panels consisted of DGMs and AGMs. Let us congratulate Com. G. Selvaraj, Regional Secretary, Coimbatore who started the initiative. When we received news that interview for Scale I to II was scheduled for 21st & 22nd August, we approached the Management to change the dates as one of the date was falling on our Strike Day. The Management postponed the dates.

ONLINE TEST FOR PROMOTION IN OUR WEBSITE

As an organisation that care in the career development of our comrades, the Association made available in our website sbioacc.com online test papers. It helped our comrades immensely to prepare for their promotion examinations . The effort drew wide appreciation from our members.

COACHING CLASSES FOR POs/TOs

A month long Coaching Classes for Probationary Officers and Trainee Officers for Confirmation Test was conducted at our Mercantile Plaza from 30.10.2012. We are happy to announce that more than 25 of the participants were confirmed as MMGS II.

BRAIN STROMING SESSION FOR CONTAINING NPAs

The Association is equally concerned in the growing NPA of the Bank. In a unique attempt to find and form the strategies to bring down NPA, the Association held a brain storming session at our Mercantile Plaza on 02.10.2012. Members from Retail Network/Commercial Network consisting of Processing Centres, Branches and Administrative Offices participated and came out with a lot of innovative suggestions which helped the Association to prepare a presentation to the CMC of our Circle.

FAREWELL & FELICITATION TO OFFICE BEARERS

A grand felicitation function was held at Musium Theatre, Egmore on 26.04.2012 to honour Com.T.N.Goel, President, AISBOF & General Secretary, SBIOA, Delhi Circle and Com.G.D.Nadaf, General Secretary, AISBOF & AIBOC and Convenor, UFBU for their yeomen service to the trade union movement in the Banking Sector. A large number of members including leaders from various affiliates of our Confederation participated and paid their rich tributes to the stalwarts.

These 3 years has seen leading stalwarts of the Association Office Bearers having retired from the Bank viz., Com. T.S. Venkatakrishnan, Dy. Regional Secretary, Coimbatore Cluster, S. Vijayarangan, Zonal Secretary, Vellore Zone, Com. M. Arunachalam, Regional Secretary, Coimbatore Cluster, Com.

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T.P. Chandrasekaran, Regional Secretary, Chennai Cluster, Com. V. Pandiarajan, Zonal Secretary, Virudhunagar Zone, Com. R . Krishnan, Zonal Secretary, Chenglepet Zone, Com. V. Santhaanam, Regional Secretary, Tiruchirapalli Cluster, Com. H. Manickam, Dy. Regional Secretary, Coimbatore Cluster, Com. D.S. Rishabadas, Former General Secretary, SBIOA(CC), AISBOF& AIBOC, Com. K. Manoharan, Dy. General Secretary, SBIOA(CC, Com. Albertraj Cappel, Dy. Regional secretary, Coimbatore Cluster. We acknowledge with gratitude the yeomen services rendered by these office bearers for the welfare of our members and for the cause of the Association.

MAY DAY CELEBRATIONS- 2013

Trichy

Circle level May Day Celebration was held at Our Trichy cluster on 1st May 2013. We are thankful to our Circle functionaries for having given us the opportunity of conducting this celebration in a grand manner at our module. The celebration was held at SREENIVASA HALL (Opp. Hotel Femina shopping mall) 82/13c Williams Road cantonment Trichy -620 001. More than 300 members participated in the celebrations. Com. C.P. Krishnan gave the May Day Message.

MAY DAY CELEBRATIONS- 2014 Chennai

The May Day Celebrations of the Circle was held on 01.05.2014 at our SBOA Jr. College Auditorium. Hundreds of members participated on the holiday. Shri.Bharathi Krishnakumar, an Eminent Scholar and Former General Secretary of Pandian Gramin Bank Employee’s Union and our General Secretary have addressed the Members. The Chief Guest Shri.Bharathi Krishnakumar said that the Trade Union is the only organisation that admits members without asking the Caste, Community, Religion, Nationality etc. He also emphasized that the late sitting by members deprive the job opportunity to the talented youngsters.

AREA MEETING; - CHENNAI

We conducted area meetings for the benefit of members who were deprived of the opportunity to update the members with the Organisational developments and to know their problems. Area meetings held recently are listed below:-

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Date Place

30/07/2012 Vellore

29/08/2012 Chennai

01/06/2013 Chennai

05/09/2013 Vellore

05/12/2013 Vellore

24/12/2013 Vellore

A separate meeting for senior members was held at Mercantile Plaza, Chennai on 15/02/2014. Unit meetings were held at major units. Our General Secretary, other Circle Office bearers and the Module Office bearers attended the meetings.

14/05/2014 Leather International Branch, Chennai

15/05/2014 Anna Salai, TFCPC, IFB, NRI Annasalai & SMECCC Chennai

16/05/2014 LHO, Chennai

22/05/2014 Administrative Office, Chennai & OSB Chennai

AREA MEETING AT PONDICHERRY

We conducted area meetings for the benefit of members who were deprived of the opportunity to update the members with the Organisational developments and to know their problems. Area meetings were held on 16/12/2013 at Puducherry. A unit Secretaries’ meeting was held on 19/10/2013 and another area meeting was held at Chingelput during July 2013.

A grand members meet was held at Pondicherry on 30/01/2014. Comrade. T Jayaraman, Dy. Regional Secretary a simple and humble leader who created a niche for himself among members by his easy approachability and dedicated service was felicitated on 30/01/2014 at the meeting on his superannuation from Bank’s service on 31/01/2014.

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AREA MEETINGS AT MADURAI MODULE

Periodical meetings at Zonal level has been held at all the Zones of the module. A list of such meetings held is given below. Such meetings enabled the membership to express their problems/opinions/suggestions, which were taken to the Executive Committee Meetings, wherever required. The deliberations of the Executive Committee meetings were discussed at these meetings enabling the membership to be aware of the day to day developments in the Organisation. The meetings became a tool to bring about transparency in the Organisation.

S

L

ZONE DATES

1 Madurai 10.08.2011/02.11.2011/14.08.2012/01.10.2012/

07.12.2012/15.04.2013/06.07.2013/14.08.2013/

23.10.2013/ 19.11.2013/21.04.2014, 28.10.2014

2 Dindigul 01.11.2011/14.07.2012/06.09.2012/25.11.2013/

22.04.2014

3 Ramnad 31.10.2011/19.11.2013

4 Virudhunagar 03.11.2011/27.09.2012/06.07.2013/19.11.2013,

30.06.2013, 27.10.2014

5 Tirunelveli 09.09.2011/04.11.2011/19.05.2012/22.12.2012/

28.10.2013/20.11.2013/05.02.2014/26.05.2014

6 Kanyakumari 10.09.2011/02.11.2011/11.05.2012/21.12.2012/

29.10.2013/21.11.2013/27.05.2014

AREA MEETING –

Some of the members could not attend the meetings held at the centralized area due to work pressure. They were deprived of the opportunity to know about the recent happenings. To overcome this, mini area meetings were conducted at some of the places for the members in and around their place of work, namely Attur, Salem, Sathyamangalam, Tiruppur, Ooty, Erode, Kothagiri and Coimbatore as below.

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SL. BRANCHES DATE

1 Salem 21.06.2013

2 Attur 18.07.2013

3 Tirupur 27.07.2013

4 Udhagamandalam 02.08.2013

5 Kothagiri 05.08.2013

6 Sathyamangalam 07.08.2013

7 Coimbatore 12.08.2013

8 Coimbatore 30.12.2013

9 Coimbatore 07.05.2014

10 Erode 06.05.2014

Area Meeting & Members Meet – Trichy Module

SL.NO. Branch Date

1 Pondichery 11.11.2011

2 Tiruvarur 15.11.2011

3 AU Trichy 21.09.2012

4 Trichy 05.12.2012

5 Karaikudi 06.12.2012

6 Tiruchirapalli 01.08.2013

7 Thanjavur 02.08.2013

8 Thanjavur 17.08.2031

9 Tiruvarur 18.08.2013

10 Pudukkottai 19.08.2013

11 Tiruchirapalli 12.09.2013

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12 Pudukkottai 25.09.2013

13 Sivaganga 27.11.2013

14 Kumbakonam 29.11.2013

15 Tiruchirapalli Main 11.07.2014

16 Thanjavur 14.10.2014

Foundation Day Celebrations- 2013

The 48th Foundation Day was celebrated at Mercantile Plaza, Chennai on 14th August 2013. Dr. Victor Lewis Anthuvaan, Professor of Finance, Loyala Institute of Business Administration was the Chief Guest. Dr. Anthuvaan complimenting the Association for celebration the foundation day detailed about the present economic scenario and the challenges that the Indian Banking Industry now faces.

REGIONAL CONFERENCES

The Regional Conferences have been completed in all five modules. These Conferences were like festivals in which there was very enthusiastic participation. It gave opportunity for the members to raise many queries and give various suggestions. In all the conferences the DGM (B&O) of the Modules participated. In Coimbatore Com. M. Sreenath, General Secretary, Kerala Circle and Senior Vice President of AISBOF was the Chief Guest. In Madurai Com. Y. Sudarshan, General Secretary of AISBOF and President of AIBOC was the Chief Guest. In Trichy, Com. G. Subramaniam, General Secretary, Hyderabad Circle and Vice President, AISBOF was the Cheif Guest. In Pondicherry, Com. Kanwar Singh, General Secratary, Delhi Circle, Vice President, AISBOF and All India President of SC ST Welfare Assocation was the Chief Guest. At Chennai Com. Sambit Mishra, General Secratary, Bhubaneshwar Circle and Vice President, AISBOF was the Chief Guest. We had inspiring lectures by Marbin Mainthan Muthaiah at Coimbatore, Prof. Raja Govindasamy at Madurai, Shri Bharathi Krishna Kumar at Trichy and Shri Vijayasenan, President, AIBOC Tamil Nadu State Unit at Pondicherry.

SEMINAR ON PUBLIC SECTOR

We played a leading role in organizing a seminar for two days i.e on 4th and 5th October 2014 under the aegis of AIBOC, Tamil Nadu State. In the first ever

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joint initiative, AIBOC, NCOA, SNEA and AIPEF have participated. On the 4th October, Shri. Gurumurthy, Corporate Advisor and commentator on economic and political affairs, addressed the members of the organisations at Vidhyodhaya School Auditorium at Chennai.

Shri Gurumurthy speaking at the seminar said that Basel III norms are not required for Indian Banks. It is required for merchant Banks that function in the west. One of the strengths of Indian Banking System is that it is 70 to 80% insulated from world economy. As for merger and amalgamation of Banks, he said that a general opinion cannot be given as it should be done on a case to case basis. Indian economy is rainbow in character. Banks, money-lenders, Societies, NBFCs and Postal system relate to India. Having only Large banks will be a disaster for India.

On 5th Oct. 2014, Dr.Venkatesh Athreya, Economist from M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation spoke about the State of the Economy in National and International Context. Com.K.Ashok Rao, President, NCOA put forth “10 Vital points on the Public Sector Undertakings and it’s relevance. The policy of privatisation of profits and nationalisation of losses has to be defeated only if the PSU employees unite together, he said. Dr.Arunachala Ramanan, General Manager of Reserve Bank of India has detailed the role played by RBI in saving the Indian Economy from the onslaught of Globalisation.

Com.M.Y.Jothi Muhammed, Neyveli Lignite Corporation and NCOA narrated how the Coal Sector played an important role in nation building. Com.Sebastian, General Secretary of SNEA has narrated the spread of Communication across the country and it’s pivotal role in nation building. He narrated how BSNL was deprived of license and permission to import machineries when private sector was luring and snatching customers away from BSNL by their networking across the country with imported state of the art machineries. Com.K.Apparsamy, President of TNEB put forth facts and figures to underline, how the power sector shaped the nation’s fortune and how Government strangulates power producing PSUs by asking them to stop production so that power produced by private sector could be purchased and put to use. Governments of the days play a vital role in making PSUs as lame ducks.

Com.K.Anandakumar, Senior Vice President of AIBOC spoke about the much awaited Wage Revision in the banking sector. He explained in detail the nitty-gritty of the negotiations and chided the callous attitude of the IBA in finalising the wage revision. He exhorted the bankmen to be prepared for a long drawn out struggle to achieve justice. The role NABARD in nation

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building was put forth effectively by Com.D.H.Chauhan, General Secretary of NABARD Officers’ Association.

DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS AND VIGILANCE CASES After the new team took over in July 2008, efforts were taken to attend the vigilance cases on war footing and with motherly care. The flaws in the conduct of procedures have been pointed out to the Vigilance Department then and there for the intervention of DA/Appellate Authority. Problems are

• Inordinate delay in conducting the Disciplinary Proceedings • Unnecessary mental strain and tension to the unfortunate members

and their family • Too many charges are framed for the sake of charges • Charges are repetitive in nature • IA/PO are totally depending on Vigilance/DPD Departments and at

times dictating the terms to conduct the enquiry as per their wishes and fancies

• The Principles of Natural Justice have been denied on many occasions to the CSO

• Time limit for conduct of enquiry & Appeals are not being followed • The list of documents/witnesses are not being served to the CSO along

with Charge Sheet as per the Vigilance Manual • Re-opening/Fresh enquiries were being ordered without any valid

reasons • Unethical practice of producing “Letters from the Branch Heads” to

cover the inability of the Management to prove the charges as Prosecution Exhibit despite the protest from the DR

• Severe punishments imposed by the DA/AA for even procedural lapses • Classification of misconduct – a lot of lacunae • Abuse of the omnibus clause in most of the charge sheet • Staff accountability is fixed for the cases of more than 5 years against

the laid down rules Classification of misconduct: In the Officers Service Regulations, Minor and Major penalties have been classified, but there is no classification of Minor and Major misconduct. Breach of any provision of the conduct rules is to be deemed as Misconduct. It is left to be decided by the Disciplinary Authority (in short DA) whether to

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initiate proceedings under Minor/Major penalty clause, thereby leaving scope for subjectivity. In case of Award Staff and also Government employees, major and minor misconduct has been defined, as a result, one doesn’t get major penalty for a minor misconduct. In case of Officers, though a large number of cases of proceedings under major penalty end up in exoneration or award of a minor penalty, depending upon gravity of misconduct proved after enquiry; but in many cases of minor misconduct, the officers end up getting a major penalty. Also, there is confusion and lack of clarity in the minds of some DAs, who think that, if Major Penalty proceedings are initiated, minor penalty or exoneration cannot be awarded. Abuse of the omnibus clause: Though conduct rules have been elaborated in the Service Regulations, the regulations at the same time, contain an ‘Omnibus Clause’ 50(4) “Every officer shall, at all times, take all possible steps to ensure and protect the interest of the Bank and discharge his duties with utmost integrity, honesty, devotion and diligence and do nothing which is unbecoming of a bank official” to fit the misconduct not specifically defined. The tragic reality is that in more than 90-95% cases, the officers are booked under this Omnibus Clause. It proves beyond doubt that where misconduct is specifically defined, violation is minimal. But more importantly, it indicates that there is an unbridled tendency among the DAs to abuse this provision and any conduct is dubbed as misconduct, by invoking this clause which ought to be attracted in rare cases but is applied in an overwhelming number of cases. If this clause is annulled, and instead if the vast variety of misconducts covered under this clause over the last over three decades are analyzed and specifically provided in the conduct rules, it will lead to better compliance and minimal breach on the part of the officers. In particular, what is unbecoming of a Bank Officer must be explicitly stated in the conduct rules. Staff Accountability The risk of facing ‘staff accountability’ is one of the major areas of concern, which reportedly makes the staff hesitant in taking decisions in vital matters, thereby jeopardising the interest of the Bank, or at least not taking fair risk. It is in this context that the controlling authority needs to be careful at the stage of fixing accountability on the concerned staff for his alleged act of negligence, omission or commission. He should consider the following aspects dispassionately while examining staff accountability:

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[REFERENCE: Para 22, page 145 of the Vigilance Manual in terms of which no disciplinary proceedings will ordinarily lie against any official for any lapse not detected within two successive internal regular audits/inspections of the same account or four years from the date of the event; whichever is later. (It is expected that second audit/inspection would be completed within four years). (CIRCO/ADV/35/2011–12 dated 19.07.2011)] Time limit for initiation of Disciplinary Proceedings Every Bank has evolved a system of Credit audit / inspection for non-borrowal/ borrowal accounts under which they are subjected to close scrutiny. This audit/ inspection would scrutinize pre sanction appraisal, documentation and disbursement of loans/advances and post sanction follow-of. If any irregularity is missed out by auditors/ inspectors in the first audit/ inspection, it is reasonable to expect that the remaining undetected irregularities will be detected in the second audit/ inspection and necessary disciplinary proceeding initiated against the concerned officials in the follow up action. Normally the second audit/ inspection would be completed within 3-4 years. The Commission has accordingly approved the proposal that no disciplinary proceeding will ordinarily lie against any official for any lapse not detected within two successive internal regular audits/ inspections of the same account or 4 years from the date of event ; whichever is later. In case any irregularity is detected subsequent to the second audit/ inspection, the auditors/ inspectors concerned will be held accountable and be liable for proceedings. This time limit will not apply to cases of (i) fraud (ii) other criminal offences or (iii) cases where malafides are inferable. 02. During the triennial period in office, we have helped our unfortunate members in submitting the explanations and statement of defence for the charge-sheets issued. The details are as under: Subject During the period 2011-14 No. of explanations submitted 122 No. of statement of defence for Charge-Sheets Issued 56 No. of Defence Briefs submitted by the Defence Representatives 42 No. of Submissions made for I.A’s Findings 42 No. of Appeals submitted to the Appellate Authorities/Committees 26 03. During the period under review, due to the efforts of our Association, 4 of our officers who have been suspended were reinstated and the

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punishments of “Dismissal from Service” in respect of 3 officers have been reduced to “Reduction in increments”. 04. It is disheartening to note that Charge Sheets are issued on the verge of Superannuation. SBIOA(CC) has attended all the cases with due care and helped our members to retire peacefully except 2 officials who retired under rule No.19(3) during the period. The conduct of enquiry was completed and the DR’s brief submitted in time. The Superannuation benefits for the officials who retired under Rule No.19(3) were settled with overdue interest for delayed settlement of Superannuation benefits. 05. This association, a protect gear for our members always guide and advise them to follow the legitimate instructions of their superiors, if it is oral, followed by written confirmation/communication to safe guard their interest of them and the Bank. 06. We through Circulars/Preventive Vigilance Programme (CDP) create awareness among our members, appraise them what is happening around, what to do? How to do? When to do?. “You Should Know” series is the latest brain child of our Association which is widely welcomed and appreciated not only by the members of our association but also various affiliates and the Management. 07. Yes, comrades, I am happy to announce that SBIOA(CC), a pioneer organization in the trade union movement will always work for safe guarding the interest of our members.

ENHANCING KNOWLEDGE

OUR PUBLICATIONS

MASTER STROKES

Our Circle Association has brought out a book on the successful court cases under the title Master Strokes which has been supplied to all our Branch Units. We request the members to have Unit Meetings and discuss the cases.

BOOK ON BANKING SECTOR REFORMS

Under the leadership of our General Secretary who has been co-opted as the State Secretary of AIBOC Tamilnadu State Unit a book titled “Banking Sector Reforms – Retrospect and Directions for Future” has been released

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before the Lok Sabha elections. Copy of the book has been supplied to all units. The book is a treasure which contains details of Banking in India, International happenings, the directions for Banking Sector, need for a decent wage hike, note of five day week etc. Please discuss the book in your Unit Meetings and also help us to submit our demands to the new Members of Parliament.

ONE POINT REFERENCE FOR DEFENCE REPRESENTATIVES

A book on Disciplinary proceedings titled, “One Point Reference for Defence Representatives” authored by your Regional Secretary was released by Shri S S Palani Manickam, the Union Minister at the AISBOF Conference held on 26th May 2012 at Mamallapuram. It was compiled by Com. R. Balaji.

BOOK ON SERVICE CONDITIONS

The book on Service Conditions of SBI Officers was updated and published. The book has been given to all our members for their easy reference on service condition matters.

SUPPLEMENT TO GATEWAY TO PROMOTION

A supplement to the book Gateway to Promotion was published to assist our comrades in their career development.

EMPOWERING MEMBERS THROUGH ‘YOU SHOULD KNOW’ SERIES OF CIRCULARS.

A new initiative to empower members was started by introducing a series of circulars named “You Should Know’ in response to the demand of many of our members in their interactions in various forums with us. We were told that there has been a necessity to impart adequate training and disseminate information to update knowledge on systems and procedures. 8 Circulars on various key roles such as Branch Manager, Accountant, Cash Officer and Field Officer, systems and procedures and preventive vigilance have been issued. The series of circulars update knowledge on systems & procedures of Banking and roles and responsibilities of various assignments. There have been a lot of feed back which appreciates the effort and keep it going.

ONLINE TEST

Our Circle Association through our website sbioacc.com provided opportunity for our members to go through an online test which was very useful for those who appeared for the promotion test. More than 600

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comrades have logged in and made use of it. For the first time an online test was also made available for the Specialist Officers which has been lauded.

PROMOTIONS

Promotion exercise is on. 5 of the AGMs who attended the Interview are promoted as DGMs. 46 scale II officers have appeared for scale III interview whereas the vacancy is 635. For Scale II there are 1811 vacancies and only 436 appeared the test. The final results declared show only 116 of them got promoted. In the JMG interview 56 candidates have been promoted. In the second promotion exercise 183 comrades were promoted as Scale II and 131 comrades as Scale III.

ISSUES TAKEN UP WITH THE MANAGEMENT BY THE CIRCLE • ORG/01/2013/24.01.2013 - Instructions to ATM Channel Managers for Holiday Work • ORG/10]/2013/04.04.2014 - Attempted Dacoity at the ATM of our Thanichayam Branch. Care taker of the ATM killed by the dacoits. Threat to safety and life of our Staff • ORG/20/2013/08.06.2013 - Payment of Personal Allowance • ORG/21/2013/15.06.2013 - Drought Relief Loan to Staff • ORG/42/2013/ 02.08.2013 - Denial of Genuine Trade Union Rights • ORG/45/2013/ 14.08.2013 - Problems of Assistant Manager (Specialists)-erstwhile RMROs / CROs • ORG/59/2013/ 21.09.2013 – Check Off Facility • ORG/69/2013/ 21.11.2013 - Inter Module Transfer -Assistant Manager (S) • ORG/76/2013/ 15.12.2013 - Outsourced ATMs, Annasalai Complex &Single Officer Branches • ORG/77/2013/ 24.12.2013 - Reimbursement of Medical Expenses of Shri D.S. Rishabadas, Deputy Manager • ORG/08/2014/ 24.01.2014 - Revision of Standardisation of Hospital Expenses - Revision for Chennai Circle and Clarification • ORG/10/2014/ 29.01.2014 - Transfer/Posting of Sportsmen • ORG/11/2014/ 30.01.2014 – Circle Transfer Policy • ORG/14/2014/ 03.02.2014 – Review meetings on Saturdays and other working days after office hours • ORG/17/2014/ 14.02.2014 – Online Voucher Verification In CBS system Generated Transactions Without Vouchers. • ORG/19/2014/ 18.02.2014 – Holidays Under CTS • ORG/26/2014/ 02.04.2014 – Transfer/Posting of Sportsmen • ORG/31/2014/ 29.04.2014 – Functioning of Chennai Based Southern Grid of Cheque Truncation System on 01st May 2014 (May Day) • ORG/35/2014/ 05.05.2014 – Issues affecting the officers and functioning of SAMB Chennai • ORG/40/2014/ 14.05.2014 – Promotion of Sportsman Officers

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• ORG/42/2014/ 24.01.2014 – Inter Module Transfer of Specialist Officers (Erstwhile RMROs) • ORG/44/2014/ 31.05.2014 - IMT 2014 Left out cases • ORG/50/2014/ 16.06.2014 - Promotion from Jmgs I to MM II Written test and Results • ORG/53/2014/ 21.06.2014 - Promotion Exercise 2014 • ORG/57/2014/ 27.6.2014 - Agenda for the 72nd CNC Meeting • ORG/59/2014/ 10.07.2014 – Completion of Transfer Exercise • ORG/64/2014/ 12.07.2014 – Agenda for the 72nd CNC Meeting • ORG/66/2014/ 18.07.2014 - Mass Communication Programme • ORG/67/2014/ 18.07.2014 – Office Accommodation • ORG/71/2014/ 02.08.2014 – IMT • ORG/72/2014/ 02.08.2014 – Job rotation • ORG/73/2014/ 02.08.2014 – ICT – Scale IV & V • ORG/77/2014/ 05.08.2014 – Organisational Elections • ORG/80/2014/ 08.08.2014 – Coverage of Housing Loans • ORG/83/2014/ 12.08.2014 – Promotion Test and Change of Postings • ORG/84/2014/ 16.08.2014 – Review meeting at Coimbatore reg. • ORG/87/2014/ 25.08.2014 – List of Elected Office Bearers • ORG/88/2014/ 30.08.2014 – Meetings, Melas on Sundays and Holidays • ORG/89/2014/ 30.08.2014 – ICT –Transparency in Registration • ORG/90/2014/ 02.09.2014 – Space for Office • ORG/91/2014/ 05.09.2014 – CNC agenda and participants list • ORG/92/2014/ 02.09.2014 – Transfer of Office Bearers • ORG/93/2014/ 15.09.2014 – Standardisation of Medical Exenses • ORG/94/2014/ 15.09.2014 – Stopping of Salary • ORG/96/2014/ 16.09.2014 – Transfer of FSTOs • ORG/98/2014/ 25.09.2014 – HRMS transfer Tracking system • ORG/99/2014/ 07.10.2014 – Housing • ORG/103/2014/ 23.10.2014 – Posting of Regional Secretary, CHN Zone I • ORG/104/2014/ 02.11.2014 – Relieving of Officers under ICT/IMT • ORG/105/2014/ 02.11.2014 – Reply to Complaint • ORG/106/2014/ 02.11.2014 – Housing – Waiver of Processing fee • ORG/107/2014/ 05.11.2014 – Invigilation work Issues Taken Up with the Federation • Incentive to Staff – Variable Pay in another form • Personal Allowance to Officers • Anomaly in Furniture Allowance • Stagnation Increment / Movement to Next Higher Scale Management’s E Circular SL.NO.653/2013-14 • Enhancement of Housing Loan • Revision of Standardisation of Hospital Expenses • Cost Cutting Exercise in our Bank

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• Reduction of Monthly Call Charges of Mobile Bill and withdrawal of the Second Mobile • Policy Guidelines 2014-15 -Arbitrary Decisions on bilateral HR Issues • Outsourcing Banking Business to Reliance Money Infrastructure Ltd.(Rmil) as Business Correspondent • Inter Circle Transfer • Enhancement of Housing Loan and repayment by officers who joined after 1991 • Revision of Standardisation of Medical Expenses • Specialist cadre Officers - Eligibility for Promotion from JMGS –I to MMGS II • Promotion Policy- Change of Eligibility Conditions for Promotion From Mm II To Mm III- Career Planning for PO / TO in HRMS From Scale I To IV • Issues of Specialist Officers • Promotion from JMGS I To MM II Written test and Results • Promotion Exercise 2014 • IT related frauds & problems • Housing Loan Enhancement • Pos, TOs, JMGs 2009 Promotion • CNC issues 19.07.14 • JOB orientation • ICT – Scale IV & V • Housing Loan to All India Service Officers • Withdrawal of gratuity • Letter given by Federation to Management • Staff Accountability ORGANISATIONAL ELECTIONS – 2014 – 2017

As per the provisions of Rule No.44 of Bye-laws & Rules of State Bank of India Officers’ Association (Chennai Circle), the Executive Committee of the Association at its Meeting held at Chennai on 20.07.2014 has appointed an Election Committee comprising the following members for the conduct of Elections to the posts of Office-Bearers of the Association.

Com. G.Thangappan , Asst. General Manager (Alternate Channel) ,Chennai LHO as Chairman and Com.J.Mari Ayyah, Chief Manager, Com. Sastha Selvaraj Manager, Com. S.Ramesh, Manager, Com. B.Ravichandran, Manager, Com. R.Pugalendhi, Manager, and Com.S.Mukundan , Assistant Manager of LHO , Chennai as members.

Direct polling was held on 16/08/14 and 19/08/14 and mobile polling was held at branches that are remote on 18/08/14, 19/08/14, 20/08//14 and 21/08/2014. Members in large numbers participated though there was an intervening holiday. Counting was taken up on 24/08/ 2014 and the results declared on the same day. The following were declared elected.

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S.No. Name of the ECMember Post Saravashri 01. A. Krishnan President 02. R. Balaji Vice-President 03. D. Thomas Franco Rajendra Dev General Secretary 04. M. Mohan Deputy General Secretary 05. K. Rajaram Deputy General Secretary 06. T. Senthi Kumar Deputy General Secretary 07. M. Shanmugam Deputy General Secretary 08. P. Vallikannan Deputy General Secretary 09. K. Bavani Sankar Treasurer 10. S.S.T. Madavaraj Deputy Treasurer 11. V. Sridhar Deputy Treasurer CHENNAI MODULE -1 12. A.V. Joseph Regional Secretary 13. P. Mohan Deputy Regional Secretary 14. S. Prakash Deputy Regional Secretary 15. J. Ramesh Babu Deputy Regional Secretary 16. G. Thirumal Rao Zonal Sec, Chennai Zone-1 17. J. Ravikumar Zonal Sec, Chennai Zone -2 18. M. Sundararaman Zonal Secretary, Chennai Zone-3 19. G. Sujit Deepak Zonal Secretary, Tiruvallur 20. S. Sampath Kumar Zonal Secretary, Sempalli 21. K. Ramesh Zonal Secretary, Dharmapuri CHENNAI MODULE -2 22. A. Ravichandran Regional Secretary 23. N. Gunasegaran Deputy Regional Secretary 24. J. Jalendran Deputy Regional Secretary 25. S. Tamilventhan Deputy Regional Secretary 26. M. Muralidhran Zonal Secretary, Zone 1 27. A. Prajeesh Zonal Secretary, Zone 2 28. S. Santhi Zonal Secretary, Kancheepuram Zone 29. A.V. Neelamegan Zonal Secretary, Cuddalore Zone 30. K.S. Gowri Shankar Zonal Secretary, Tiruvannamalai Zone 31. G. Mounissamy Zonal Secretary, Pondicherry Zone COIMBATORE MODULE 32. G. Selvaraj Regional Secretary 33. C. Balaji Deputy Regional Secretary 34. A. Periasami Deputy Regional Secretary 35. R. Rajavelu Deputy Regional Secretary 36. V. Mohanan Zonal Secretary, Coimbatore Zone 1

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37. V. Vetrivelan Zonal Secretary, Coimbatore Zone 2 38. S. Sampath Kumar Zonal Secretary, Tirupur Zone 39. R. Shanmugam Zonal Sec, Udhagamandalam Zone 40. S.K.P. Kartheeswaran Zonal Secretary, Erode Zone 41. K. Gunalan Sugirtharaj Zonal Secretary, Salem Zone MADURAI MODULE 42. R. Sethu Regional Secretary, 43. J. Joseph Stalin Deputy Regional Secretar 44. P. Nalla Perumal Pillai Deputy Regional Secretary 45. K. Pitchai Deputy Regional Secretary 46. M.Sekar Zonal Secretary, Madurai Zone I 47. A. Senthil Ramesh Zonal Secretary, Madurai Zone-2 48. T. Selvaraj Zonal Secretary, Dindigul Zone 49. G. Padmanabhan Thampi Zonal Secretary, Kanyakumari Zone 50. J. Jeeva Zonal Secretary, Virudhungar Zone 51. R. Ramnath Zonal Secretary, Tirunelveli Zone TIRUCHIRAPALLI MODULE 52. M. Asok Regional Secretary 53. A. Karunaharan Deputy Regional Secretary 54. K. Selvaraj Deputy Regional Secretary 55. T. Venkataramanan Deputy Regional Secretary 56. C.T. Nagappan Zonal Secretary, Tiruchirapalli Zone 57. S. Pandian Zonal Secretary, Tiruchirapalli Zone-2 58. K. Naganathan Zonal Secretary, Pudukottai Zone 59. V. Jayasankar Zonal Secretary, Thanjavur Zone 60. N. Sanjeevi Rajan Zonal Secretary, Nagapattinam Zone 61. V. Kani Zonal Secretary, Sivaganga Zone Dear Comrades, among the above, Com. Prajesh has more tan 30 years of service, four of the comrades have a service above 20 years, 12 of the comrades have more than 10 years of service, 21 comrades have more than 5 years service. So the executive Committee is a mix of youth and experienced. The execuctive has nominated 4 lady representatives and 5 specialist comrades who can contribute in their respective area. Coimbatore module will be nominating a lady comrade soon.

VICTORY TO THE MEMBERS

We thank you from the bottom of the heart for the excellent participation, support, involvement, affection and trust in the Leadership. We owe the victory to the rank and file of the Association who had been always standing up in solidarity with the Association. When we went around canvassing for

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votes we felt the pulse of the members. You have proved that you are the best judges. Now there is only one team i.e., Members' Team.

We will fulfill the aspirations of the members with utmost sincerity and see that the organisation's flag flies higher. At this juncture, we request you to share your problems with the Office Bearers without hesitation and put forward your views on every issue affecting the Bank and the membership.

Comrades, we thank the Election Committee for their meticulous planning, execution and patience.

I personally thank the Team Members of TEAM DIGNITY for their untiring work and patience. We thank our elders who had been blessing us with their commitment to the organisation. Nation First, Organisation Next and Individual the last has been one of our slogans. We are committed to it.

We also thank the Management for providing infrastructure and support for the democratic process.

Comrades contesting in Elections should be based on Principles and Policies. It should not be to bring down the image of the Organisation. Your suggestions are welcome.

Com. S.K. Vijayakumar filed a petition during the process. However the Honourable court did not intervene and the case is still pending.

HOUSING SCHEME

The SBI Supervising Staff Housing Society was started in 1968 at Madras and in 1969 at Madurai and similar co-operative societies were formed in different parts of the circle. The Bank accepted the demand that housing for its employees is one of the welfare measures and agreed to provide funds to Housing Societies at nominal interest. However, due to the paucity of funds from the management, the growth of housing was very slow and not as expected during the initial years.

The first scheme of the society consisting of 16 houses at Cochin was inaugurated by Shri.T.M.Aboo, Mayor of Cochin on 26th February, 1972. The foundation stone of Poonamallee High Road Scheme Colony (20 houses for Junior Officers) was laid Shri.A.B.Majumdar in 1972. SBI Supervising Staff Co-operative Society Ltd., Tirunelvei announced its scheme of construction of houses at Palayamkkottai in 1969.

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The loan facilities granted to the officers under the co-operative housing scheme were attached with many strings. Due to escalation of cost on building materials and cost of construction, the amount was not sufficient to build houses and the demand from members dwindled considerably. Due to persistent demands by the Association , the Bank Management agreed to extend housing loan facilities to individuals directly instead of through co-op society.

After introduction of Individual Housing loan scheme our Association was instrumental for developing lot of SBI colonies in different towns all over Tamil Nadu. In Coimbatore Module more than seven colonies were developed , in Madurai Module more than thirteen colonies and at Tirunelveli, Tuticorin and Tenkasi. In Tiruchirapalli more than three colonies at Trichy itself were developed. In Chennai also the famous Arumbakkam colony, Nanganallur Colony gave unimaginable houses and appreciation to our members.

UNITY ENCLAVE , ONGOING PROJECT- MAMBAKKAM , CHENNAI. The benefits of our members derived from our earlier housing projects , gave us strength to start another housing project at Mambakkam, Chennai. We did a Survey in Oct 2010 to start a housing project for our Officers. A Committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of the then president Com. D. Suresh Kumar. The strong belief of our committed cadre towards our mighty organization given their overwhelming response and made this project into a mega project. To fulfill the needs of our members , we are building 1110- 3 bhk , 420- 2 bhk, 225- 2.5 bhk and 120- 1 bhk in 21 blocks with 15 floors , totally 1875 flats with all latest amenities and modern facilities ,namely club house, swimming pool, Gym and inside the project three lac square feet of commercial complex and so on, with affordable price. Our 3 bed room flats cost around 46 lacs , whereas a private builder in the same locality is selling a flat of our size with lesser facility for Rs. 85 lacs and more.

It is a known fact that Anna Nagar developed only because of our schools, the property value and the rental value are much higher than any other place in Chennai. To pass on this benefit to our members , our association has decided and purchased twenty acres of land near our Mambakkam Housing site for starting a School and College..

We had our Unity Enclave members site visit on 14.08.2011. The DTCP approval was obtained on 20.12.2013. We had a mega glittering allotment function at SRIVARI Kalyana Magal , Chennai on 05.01.2014 and the Bhoomi Pooja was held on 25.01.2014. The DMD & CDO, Dr. J N Misra was the Chief guest and the Chief General Manager Smt Varsha Purandare and other

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Circle functionaries attended the Bhoomi Pooja. M/s Kembhavi Architects is the designers and structural engineers. The builders were identified and the LOI ( Letter of Indent ) was signed with the builder M/S Simplex Infra Structure Ltd. on 24/06/2014. The PMC M/s Sai Consultants are coordinating and supervising the construction works. A housing committee with all the Circle Office bearers, Regional Secretaries, Com. Pandiaraj, Com. Raju and Com. Veeramani as members is formed which monitor the progress of the project. Every second and fourth Saturdays the Committee regularly meets to review the progress of the project. One meeting is held at the site itself. An audit committee consisting of Shri M. Mohan, DGS, Chairman, Housing Committee, Sri R. Balaji, Vice President, Com. A. Ravichandran, Regional Secretary, Chennai II, Com. K. Bavani Sankar, Treasurer is on the job of auditing the accounts.

The construction works was started in July 2014 and it has been progressing well. For seven blocks earth excavation work has been completed .. The project will be completed and all flats will be handed over in Feb 2017 simultaneously.

Our Coimbatore Module and Madurai Module also have developed two housing plots for the benefit of our members at Coimbatore and Madurai respectively.

Relationship with other Trade Unions

Our Circle Association has been maintaining a very cordial relationship with the Central Trade Unions, Trade Unions in the Financial Sector like RBI Officers’ Association, NABARD Officers Association, LIC Officers Association & all the consitutents of UfBU.

Our relationship with affiliates of AISBOF

We are maintaining a very cordial relationship with all the affiliates of AISBOF and share information and ideas. We have been also participating in their meetings and conferences. Your General Secretary has addressed Officers of SBIOA Kerala Circle at Trivandram, SBIOA Patna Circle, SBIOA Bhubaneshwar Circle, SBIOA Bengal Circle, SBIOA Delhi Circle and participated in the General Body meeting of North eastern Circle along with our President Com. A. Krishnan. Our Regional Conferences were attended by Com. M. Sreenath, Kerala, Com. Kanwar Singh,Delhi, Com. Subramaniyam, Hyderabad, Com. Sambit Mishra Bhubaneshwar and our Federation General Secretary Com. Y. Sudarshan.

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We have also hosted many Presidents and General Secretaries Meetings and EC meetings of the Federation.

Our Relationship with Fraternal Organisation

We have a very cordial and functional working relationship with our sister Organisation which has given us many leaders at the circle. The Staff Union representatives led by Com. C.M. Baskaran attend all our functions and we have periodical meetings to disscuss various issues.

Our Office

Due to the unfortunate file accident we are temporarily functioning from our Institute at NSC Bose Road. We have asked the Circle Management to permit us to use the same building after restoring the Electricty or to provide an alternative office at Zonal Office Building or LHO. The Management has requested us to wait for a while.

Democratic Functioning

The Secretariat and the executive Committee have met regularly and discussed members issues and plans and collective decision is implement. The Dates of the meeting are

Secretariat Meetings

1st Meeting 27.07.2012 Coimbatore 2nd Meeting 29.08.2012 Chennai 3rd Meeting 24.03.2012 Chennai 4th Meeting 20.04.2013 Chennai 5th Meeting 21.03.2014 Chennai 6th Meeting 24.05.2014 Madurai

EC Meetings 1st Meeting 30.07.2011 Chennai 2nd Meeting 23.09.2011 Chennai 3rd Meeting 30.04.2012 Chennai 4th Meeting 27 & 28.07.2012 Coimbatore 5th Meeting 29.08.2012 Chennai 6th Meeting 1 & 2.02.2013 Chennai 7th Meeting 25.08.2013 Cuddalore 8th Meeting 29.12.2013 Trichy

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9th Meeting 09.04.2014 Chennai 10th Meeting 30.06.2014 Chennai 11th Meeting 20.07.2014 Chennai We will continue to invite Unite Secretaries of big branches as special invitees.

We have various wings of the Association which are expanding. We give below a brief account of them.

SBIOA EDUCATIONAL TRUST

The SBOA Schools have curved a niche for themselves in the educational spectrum of Tamil Nadu. However, before establishing itself as a premier institution, it had to cross several hurdles and tread the path strewn with official and bureaucratic apathy. Likewise, the huge amount required for infrastructure was raised through the collective effort of our Seniors by obtaining donations from well wishers, raising funds through Cultural events, release of Souvenirs and so on. Contributions for construction of the School during the initial days from the members were very liberal and there were a lot of hard work and sacrifices by the leaders in building the strong edifice. Late Com. N M Chellam was suspended by the Bank for collecting donations from members for construction of the School at Madurai and the General Secretary and other Office bearers were also charge sheeted. The land required was also obtained through the Housing Board at Chennai due to the efforts our former General Secretary Com.E.A.G.Moses. Infrastructure alone would not have brought the Institutions the premier position it enjoys now, Academic Excellence obtained through dedicated staff also contributed to this. The collective effort was awe inspiring and an experience which would guide us to obtain more laurels in the future. Glimpses of the past that follow will give you an idea about the difficulties that were faced in building the schools.

In one of “the EC meetings held on 18th July, 1972, Com.Moses suggested that we should ask the management to get admission for children of officers at schools at selected centres”.

In 16th July,1978 EC meeting “ General Secretary explained the members the discussion he had with the chairman of MMDA and their offer to sell a plot in Anna Nagar for starting a school. It was decided that a Trust be formed to run the school.

Rs.1 lac was drawn from S.B.I. Officers’ Co-op Thrift and Credit Society and to draw entire amount from the souvenir collections for this purpose. The name

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of the school should be SBI Officers Association Public/Secondary/Higher Secondary School.”

It was decided that Association must have full control over Society and the under noted office-bearers will constitute to govern the society.

1. President 2. Vice President 3. General Secretary, 4. Deputy General Secretary, 5.Three Organizing Secretaries, 6. Three Regional Secretaries and the Treasurer.

The school was eventually started on 6th June 1979.

Rajah.Sir.M.A.Muthiah Chettiar presided over the inaugural function of the Higher Secondary School started on 6th June, 1979. Fund raising efforts from all over the Circle went on vigorously was evident from the following. During the same period a school at Madurai also was begun.

In the Editorial appeared in the Officers’ Forum issue of July, 1979 with a caption of “A Dream Comes True”, it was revealed that more than 200 children were admitted in the Madras school and 125 children in the Madurai school. The TNHB has given a suitable site of 6.5 acres for the school in Anna Nagar, one of the City’s fast developing areas, on a hire purchase scheme for 9.50 lacs. Temporary sheds have been put up there and the foundation stone for the permanent building was laid on 6th June, 1979 by Shri.P.C.D.Nambiar, Chairman, State Bank of India. A congratulatory message received from the then Vice President Shri.Jagjivan Ram is published in that issue. (Officers Forum - July 79). Other congratulatory messages received are from various Members of Parliament, Ministers of State Government, Secretary, Anna Nagar Association, Governor of Tamil Nadu and Chief Minister of Kerala State, Rajah.Sir.Muthiah Chettiar, and many other top officials of the Central and State Governments and our CGM.

On 1st July, 1979, “Navagraha Fine Arts” staged a Drama ‘Kalyana Asai” at Thanjavur for the benefit of the school building fund of SBI Officers’ Association Educational Trust. Artists in the drama included our members, Dr.V.Varadarajan, Surgeon and President of “Navagaraha Fien Arts” and employees in Banks, LIC etc.,. An amount of Rs.60,000/- was collected under the able leadership of our then Zonal Secretary Shri.V.Karthkeyan. Mayuram Branch topped the list of contributors.

When collective efforts were being made by the Association to raise funds, there were some exceptional contribution from individuals which were highlighted in the issues of “Officers Forum”. The Officers Forum, August, 1979 issue carried the letter with photograph of Shri.M.Yesadian, Record Keeper,

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Anna Road, Chennai for his benevolence of contributing Rs.1000/- to the trust. He also assured to donate Rs.10,000/- by next month.

Enthused by the successful establishment of schools at Madras and Madurai, request for establishing schools at other Modules started emanating. In the EC meeting held on 27.09.1981, Sri T.N.Madannan briefed the members about the position of opening of a school at Cochin. He said that they are looking out for a suitable site from the Greater Cochin Dev. Authority. The committee set up for the purpose has already met and decided to collect Rs.100/- from each member in Kerala.

From the minutes of the meeting dated 7th and 8th December, 1981, it is learnt that “necessary circular was sent to all branches in Kerala for donation to the proposed school and only Rs.500/- received, so far.

It was also decided to start the school at Ernakulam as already decided viz. 1/6/1984. Shri.T.Madanan briefed about the opening ceremony of the school on 24/06/1984 and also the informal opening of the school on 18/06/1984 at Ernakulam.

In the EC dated 23/24/02/1984, “General Secretary briefed about the functioning of the schools at the three centres and the desirability of opening the school at Coimbatore. So the seed for expanding the network by opening at Coimbatore has been sown.

From then on the growth of the school accelerated in Top Gear is evidenced from the following events. The school function was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 23rd July, 1989, to mark the 10 years completion of SBOA School and Junior College.

The lands were purchased as below.

For Madras - 13 Grounds

For Coimbatore - 2.8 acres

For Madurai - 3 acres

When the schools grew and progressed benefitting everyone the management started to encourage the activity as it has brought a welcome Image for the bank. Many individuals and Institutions have donated for the cause of the school and helped in the formation and running of the institutions.

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Today, it is considered as the temple of education and we owe it to the elders who had the vision, foresight and commitment to build and transform the Schools into one of the best and much acclaimed Schools at Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Tiruchirapalli and Ernakulam.

A CBSE school has been opened at Madurai and Tiruchirapalli in 2012. Recently 6 acres of land has been bought for building a school at Madurai. 21 acres of land is bought at Mambakkam / Sonalur for starting a school and college there.

Introduction of Pre -schools

Any school of repute can build up a generation of informed learners only when they start very young. The reputation of the Schools and the demand for Pre schools from the public saw the establishment of Pre schools in all our schools in the year 2012 under the name SBOA TINY TYROS. These schools gained popularity from the very first year and the strength has grown especially in the branch at Chennai.

The alumni of the School are holding eminent positions in all walks of life and spread across the globe. The immense popularity gained by the School has brought fame to our Association in the Trade Union fraternity. Although the school students have achieved many land marks and brought laurels , some of the most important among them are listed below.

We have great singers like Nithyashree and Yazhini and great dancers like Aiswarya and Swaparnika. One of the students, A.R. Roshini won the national level Energy Conservation Painting in 2012 and received the prize from the President of India. In 2012-13, two students of the School won the ISPG & ONGC Quiz conducted in Hyderabad and sponsored to visit NASA.

Ashwin Abraham of Std. XII won the Silver in Asian Games – for Artistic Roller Skating. In 2011-12, Ramnath Bhuvanesh , another student won the 67th International Chess Grand Master at Brunei. He is the son of Com. Rajaram, Pondicherry. Abimitra D/o. Com. S. Sumathy, SME, Chennai won an International Medal for soft tennis.

Tejeswar of SBOA Matric has won the first ever medal for the country in Asian Roller scatting championship. There are many more champions of our schools. Several VIPs including the former President of India Shri Abdul Kalam visited the School and addressed the students. Asia’s Premier Magazine “Digital Learning Magazine” has done a survey among the top schools of India. Our school was ranked 5th. The SBOANZA a inter school Cultural Extrvaganza hosted by the Junior College and the Eco Art an art exhibition

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by students and teachers of the Junior college spoke volumes of their organisational skills and their talent.

Our Madurai School has produced 5 state ranks in class X , one in class XII and many more in different subjects. The School also achieved a 100% pass with distinction in the year 2012-13. Students of the School also have won the Vijay TV Little Genius contest, Chutty Vikatan’s chutty star award, National Carrom championship in 2008 and 2010 and national fencing championship.

Our Tiruchirapalli School also has produced many champions. The students of

the School won Hindu Young World Fest award in cartooning, Hindu Young

World Quiz award, national award in throw ball etc .

The Matric School at Chennai secured State ranks this year. One of the students won the 1st prize in the International High Jump competition held in Tehran. There have been many international medals won by students of the School in different sports. The Matric school was awarded the second best school in Chennai by Times of India.

Our Model School and the CBSE School at Ernakulam also have won several

National awards. Our Tiruchirapalli School also has produced many

champions. The students of the School won Hindu Young World Fest award in

cartooning, Hindu Young World Quiz award, national award in throw ball etc.

The SBOA Coimbatore has done well in chess with its players being ranked nationally. The players in their team for Basket ball ,Football ,Skating and Gymnastics have represented the Tamil Nadu at State meets. The Athletes of the school have clinched the overall championship at District meets. Coimbatore school has been graded as one of the best schools by Indian Express Group.

SBIOA Model Matriculation School ,Chennai has established itself as a fierce competitor at various cultural competitions conducted at the interschool level.

The popularity of the schools lies in the focus the Trust gives for providing the best of learning environments and the latest of technology support to enhance learning and keeping the students at par or even one step ahead of the others.

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Comrade, we office bearers seldom spent our office time in the school. The system of Reporting, Review and Planning is working well. Recently Com. T. Senthikumar, DGS was nominated as the correspondent of Junior College.

OUTREACH PROGRAMMES As part of the out reach programme of all the schools,every year, around Diwali ,Children contributed food grains and toiletries ,notebooks writing material and other essentials to help the less fortunate .The students went to various orphanages and spent time with the inmates .This is done by all the schools under the Trust. Teachers and Students on a regular basis visit and offer academic assistance to schools that do not have access to latest teaching trends.Students and teachers of the schools they are supporting academically are invited to observe and attend classes in the school. SBOA Ernakulum students have even gone out of their way to offer financial assistance to cost intensive medical treatment like cancer.SBOA Matriculation School Students contributed Rs.85,000/-towards purchase of walkers and hearing aids for Children of the Mary Clubwala Jadhav High School .Visits to orphanages ,homes for the aged and homes for the mentally challenged are also made to spread cheer and bring happiness to them and make our own children realise how much they have to be thankful for . The SBOA School and Junior College won the Mother Teresa Memorial award-2013 to 14, for outstanding social responsibilities in areas of Health , Awareness And Humanitarian Services was awarded to the Junior College by Indian Development Foundation(IDF) in the IDF Grants and Awards function, Chennai. S.M.Rajalakshmi of Std.XII was awarded the social ambassador award. The SBOA School & Junior College adopted the Corporation School at Puthagaram and basic amenities were provided to them.

The Educational Trust followed up an article on the inability of the Grand niece of V.O.Chidambaram Pillai , the renowned Freedom fighter ,to pay for her higher education in spite of being the Taluk topper in class X11.Finding the need genuine the TRUST decided to support her Engineering Studies completely from day one.Ms.V.Muthu Bramma Nayaki is now in the Govt Engineering College Coimbatore.

The Trust also donated 107 sets of class room furniture to TMP MCavoy Rural Higher Secondary School through our Madurai School.

We are planning to name the auditoriums in the memory of Com. K. Sitaram and Com. M. Muthukrishnan who are no more with us. STATE BANK OF INDIA OFFICERS’ CO-OPERATIVE THRIFT & CREDIT SOCIETY State Bank of India Officers’ Co-operative Thrift & Credit Society was born out of the Spirit of Cooperative movement and in the essence of the Co-operative philosophy that every worker seeks a better economic, social,

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cultural and political life. It was conceived as another economic service in the interest of the members of State Bank of India Officers’ Association (Chennai Circle) which was consistently asserting itself in the economic development and welfare of its members. State Bank of India Officers’ Co-operative Thrift & Credit Society was inaugurated on 14.06.1975 by Thiru Mannai P Narayanasamy, the then Hon’ble Minister for Local Administration and the then Chief General Manager of our Bank, Shri H.S. Majumdar presided over the function held at Madras LHO. A General Body Meeting was held on the same day and a Committee headed by Shri P. Shanmugasundaram, Former President of the State Bank of India Officers’ Association was formed. The First Office-Bearers of the Society were; Shri P. Shanmugasundaram - President Shri P.A. Devendra Dass - Vice-President Shri S. Chinnaraj - Treasurer Shri V. Unnikrishnan - Secretary First to initiate the proposal was Shri E.A. George Moses the then General Secretary of SBI Officers’ Association (Chennai Circle). First member of the Society was Shri R.N. Godbole the then President of SBI Officers’ Association (Chennai Circle) who enrolled himself on 09.07.1975. First Loan received was by Shri A.P. Jeyaraj, SO III for Rs. 5000/- repayable in 36 monthly instalments.

The introduction of the Emergency Loan of Rs.500/- repayable in 10 months proved very popular and this was soon made into the Medium Term Loan of Rs.5000/- for 36 months duration with a renewal option after repayment of 12 monthly instalments. The Medium Term Loan has witnessed periodical upward revisions. Presently, our Society is offering Medium Term Loan of Rs.7,50,000/- repayable in a maximum period of 120 months. The Emergency Loan was reintroduced on 28.10.2005 for an amount of Rs.25,000/- with repayment period of 60 months. Consequent to the accrual of more and more funds, deployed prudentially, the Board of Directors with the permission of the General Body enhanced the Short Term Loan to Rs.5000/- from Rs.2000/-. The same was later merged with Medium Term Loan. The Society then came out with the innovative concept of Marriage Loan of Rs.10000/- repayable in 40 equal monthly instalments. The same was subsequently enhanced to Rs.50,000/- repayable in 100 months. HOUSING LOAN TO STAFF OF THE SOCIETY :

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Rs. 1.5 Lakhs was sanctioned as House Building Advance to the Staff by the Board on 17.11.1993 which was further enhanced to Rs. 4.00 Lakhs. NET PROFIT : The Society’s profit has been in the rising trend ever since it was formed. From the Net Profit of Rs.20,332.73p. during the formation year 1975-76, it has to-day reached the level of Rs.2,37,75,640.03 thanks to the massive support of the members and the Share holders. DIVIDEND : Our Society has offered Dividend to the Share holders in the region of 6% to 13%. During the year 2013-14, the Society has declared the Dividend of 11.25% after adjusting to statutory reserves/requirements. MEMBERS’ WELFARE FUND AND FAMILY WELFARE SCHEME : Our Society has extended a Cash award of Rs.5000/- (increased from the initial amount of Rs.500/-) to the retired members as a token of their contribution to the Society. Having concern over the unfortunate demise of the members, the Society also extends financial relief of Rs.1,00,000/- from the Family Welfare Scheme and Rs.10,000/- from Members’ Welfare Fund to the bereaved family. These amounts were substantially increased from Rs.25,000/- and Rs.1000/- respectively as introduced in the beginning. SURETY RELIEF FUND: As a Welfare measure for the family of the deceased member and in order to relieve the Surety’s liability, Surety Relief Fund will be operative on any one of the following grounds.

“ Death, Dismissal, Discharge, Termination, absconding, Voluntary Cessation and Suspension of the Service”.

APPEAL : The society under the Presidentship of our President Com. A. Krishnan is performing excellently well with the support of Com. P. Vallikannan, Vice President of the Society and Mr. Ramanian, Secretary. In order to serve our members with much more benefits, we appeal to all our members to enroll themselves as “A” Class members in the Society and contribute for the growth of the Co-operative movement.

SBIOA INSTITUTE

The SBIOA Institute was established in 1979 under society’s Act. The Title of the INSTITUTE was “SBIOA Institute- TRADE UNION RESERCH “. This Institute was formed, with the model taken from the Jawaharlal Institute of Management

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studies, in New Delhi. Since inception this institute played important role in not only conducting various labour and Management related courses, but also many literary activities.

Here it is pertinant to mention the important programmes conducted by the Institute, since its inception:

2. Seminar – on- “ How Co-Operatives can help to increase productivity”- Shri S.M. Pasha

3. Programme on Effective communication 4. ������� ������� �������� ����������� - �������

������ 5. Understanding behaviours in organisation – seminar 6. ��������� ��������������� 7. Refresher programme for worker teachers “Industrial relations and labour

legislation” 8. Seminar - “The importance of Foreign investment. 9. Seminar- Barriers to and facilitators of communication. 10. ���� ������ ��������������� ( ���� ������� �������,

������ ���� ������ ��������������, ��������������� )

11. ����� ��������������� ��������� 12. workshop on laws related to women. 13. ����� ����������������� ��������� ����������. 14. Membership Effectiveness 15. Working conditions of Rural workers. 16. Certificate course on Industrial relations 17. Rural organisers Training course. 18. Role of Youth in National Development 19. Leadership and Interpersonal Effectiveness. 20. Teachers' Seminar 21. Motivation techniques 22. Staff Development programme 23. Evolution and different ideological orientation to Trade Unionism 24. The Institute also had conducted guidance classes for Personnel

Managmenet and Industrial relations. 25. Workshops on Diciplinary proceedings. 26. Awareness programme on Cash Department Procedure and stress

Management. 27. During the last 2-3 years the Institute has conducted many cadre

Development programmes and seminars. 28. The Literaty wing of the Insitute:

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1. The Literary wing of the SBIOA Institute was instrumental in bringing out the creativity of many members. More than 45 members brought out tamil books, though this Literary wing.

Department of Correspondence Courses of the institute was started in the year 1994, when Shri M. Balakrishnan was the General Secretary and Shri S Saravanamuthu was the president of the Association. Earlier it was felt that conversational Hindi knowledge is essential for the office beaers of the Association. Hence , Shri M. Dharmarajan, Programme Executive of the Institute initiated steps to organise spoken Hindi classes for the office bearers. The classes were attended by leaders like Shri M. Balakrishnan, Shri K.E.Kuppuswamy, Shri S Saravanamuthu, Shri Shanmugasundaram, Shri Ramaswamy, Shri Ganesan and others. Seeing the success of the classes, we started classes for the officers and staff members of SBI. Later , the Institute expanded its activities by starting classes like –

Diploma in conversational Hindi

Diploma in Conversational Tamil

Diploma in conversation al English

P.G. Diploma in Translation

P.G. Diploma in Journalism

P.G. Diploma in Personnel Administration and Human Resource Management.

So far institute has conducted 11 convocations and these were attended by great personalities like

(a) Prince of Arcot (b) Dr Kiran Bedi (c) Padmashree Shri C Subramanian (d) Former Prime Minister Shri Chandrashekharji (e) Vice Chancellor of Indira Gandhi Open University Shri Kulandaiswamy (f) Arutchelvar Shri Mahalingam, (g) H.H. Shri Surjit singh Barnala, Governor of T.N. (h) Shri S. Gurumurthy

The institute conducts classes all over India; We have study centers in all state capitals and also in all Districts of Tamil Nadu.

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Coaching classes for Banking Recruitment examinations:

There is a great demand for banking coaching ; In order to fulfil this need, our Institute started banking recruitment classes this year. Retired officers, experienced teachers are handling these classes . Institute gives complete study materials to all the students;

Seeing the Quality of training , many leading public sector Institutions, Private institutions, banks etc., nominated their staff members for the various training programmes of the Institute;

BHEL, Lakshmi Vilas bank, BSNL, DCB Bank, Faiveli corporation Hosur are regularly nominating their staff members for our courses.

The following are the publications of our Institute:

1) An Introduction to Transactional Analysis

2) Easy Reference to Discipline and Appeal Rules of SBI Officers’ Service Rules

3) Disciplinary Proceedings and Domestic Enquiries

4) Struggles and achievements

5) A Guide to Day to Day Banking

6) Service Conditions of SBI Officers

7) Superannuation Benefits and Death Relief to SBI Officers

8) Handbook on SIB Lending

9) How to be an effective Field Officer

10) Socio – Economic Programme on Co-operative Efforts

11) Analysis of Financial Statements

12) Gateway to Promotion

13) Stepping Stone to Promotion

14) One Point Reference Book for Retired Officers

15) Growth and development for Leadership effectiveness

16) Contribution of Tamil Nadu in Indian Trade Union Movement.

17) Hindi version of the above book – ������ ���� ������ �� ���� ���� �� ������”

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18) Technical Glossary

19) pechchu mozhi hindi sorkalanchiyam – compilation of conversational Hindi Terms with Tamil meaning.

20) Conversational Hindi word finder

21) Do Tarfaa rastaa

CDs: Conversational Hindi/ English/ Tamil CDs

We place on record our sincere thanks and gratitude to Com. Dr. S. Vijaya for her contribution to the Institute.

SBOA CO-OPERATIVE CONSUMER STORES:

A multipurpose co-operative stores was formed in 1979 mainly to protect the interests of our members who also are consumers of various goods. Initially, it served about 400 members who served at Chennai. Most of the times, they were exploited by the market forces and their real earnings were eroded by the high inflation that ruled the economy . Starting of the Society eliminated the middlemen, and goods were made available at moderate prices. The changing times and market conditions, though make it difficult to continue to run the stores.

TRANSIT HOUSE AND GUEST HOUSE

Our members who frequently visiting Chennai for various personal and Official purposes found it very hard to find suitable accommodation at affordable price in Chennai. The need to find a transit house at Chennai to help our members found shape when a building with 6 rooms was purchased in the early part of the 90s. Later, in 1996 the rooms were increased to 11. It was renovated in Oct. 2011. The rooms were airconditioned and all modern amenities made available.

A Guest House at Ooty, which is a tourist centre where our Officers visit for rest and recuperation was made available from 12.05.2003. There are 8 well maintained rooms. This was also born out of the necessity to help our comrades who found themselves in desperate situations seeking accommodation when they visit the tourist centre.

The Association also runs a Guest House at Kodaikanal which is too a tourist place, where 6 rooms are hired for our members at Hotel Anjay.

We are going to introduce online booking soon. WOMEN’S WING

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The Indian Independence provided a great opportunity to look into the issues of the social status in India as far as the Women are concerned. The Indian democracy also ensured a greater responsibility and greater role to womenfolk in the country. Democracy has no doubt recognized the equal right to women force in our country and it is a unique achievement that the Indian woman has secured the right of 50% of the seats in village Panchayats and now 33% seats in the Parliament. The Constitution of India has provided with equal rights and privileges to women. Certain special provisions are made to take care of the women folks, in the constitution and other enactments. These are demonstrative efforts on part of the Government and the political parties for having recognized the right of women population and to accord their legitimate place in the legislature. Our Circle has always been in the forefront in espousing the cause of women in general and our lady comrades in particular. The Women’s Wing of our SBIOA(CC) both at Circle level as well as Module level have been celebrating the International Women’s Day to spread the awareness amongst the women colleagues about their legitimate rights and also campaigning for the empowerment of the womenfolk in all walks of life. For the first time, in the Circle one Lady Representative from each of the Modules was co-opted to the Executive Committee of the Association in 2009. The first ever women’s convention was conducted at Tituchirapalli on 7th March 2010. The 2nd Women’s Convention was held at Pondicherry on 16th march 2014 to mark the celebration of International Women’s day. The participation by our lady comrades was excellent. Mrs. Sudha Sundararaman was the Chief guest and delivered the women’s day message and our DGM & CDO Shri K M Satpathy was the special guest. On the occasion of the Women’s Convention social Welfare activities were also undertaken and children with various disabilities were assisted by the members by way of contributions. Women’s Day has been celebrated in all the Modules and the calendar of the celebrations are listed below:- CHENNAI 10.03.2012 Women’s day celebrated with Chief Guest Smt.Saloni

Malhotra, the TIE Stree Shakthi Award 2011 & Sankalp Award Winner.

06.04.2013 International Women’s Day celebrated with Smt.Uma Raj Mohan, HOD of Valliammal College as Chief Guest.

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16.03.2014 2nd Women’s Convention held at Hotel Royal Park, Puducherry. Ms.Sudha Sundararaman as Chief Guest and Shri.K.M.Satpathy, DGM & CDO of our Circle as Special Guest.

COIMBATORE 16.03.2013 Women’s Day celebrated with Smt.Prema Rengachari, Founder - Vidya Vanam School, Anaikatti as Chief Guest 08.03.2014 Women’s Day with Smt.Andal Priyadharshini, Doordharshan Kendra, Coimbatore as Chief Guest. MADURAI

16.03.2012 Women’s Day Celebrated at SME, Madurai

16.03.2013 Women’s Day celebrated at SBOA School, Madurai

TIRUCHIRAPPALLI

08.03.2012 Women’s Day Celebrated

08.03.2013 Women’s Day celebrated with Smt.Manickathai, TN Science Forum Trichy as Chief Guest

A large number of lady officers participate in the Cultural Shows, Essay Writing, debates, Presentation of Paper, Poetry, Oratorical contest etc. Social Service Activities are also carried out from the voluntary contribution made by the lady comrades.

CULTURAL WING Humanity without entertainment is akin to having the same food for every meal of the day. The cultural programmes are opportunities for our comrades to spend quality time with their family members . It keeps them happy, energised, and enthusiastic and relieve them of the stress they undergo each day. The hidden talents of our members are brought to the fore and young talents of the children of our members use it to display their versatile talents in many fields. Cultural wing was started in Chennai in the seventies. The Cultural wing of the

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Association was on 24th May 1980 at Madurai. Since then the Cultural wing of the Association has spread across to all the Modules.

The details of the programmes conducted during the last three years are furnished below: CHENNAI I & II MODULE Date Name of the Programme 25.11.2012 Y.G.Mahendran’s “IDHU NYAYAMA SIR?” – A comedy Thriller drama 02.12.2012 “PILLAIYAR PUDIKKA”, by Kathadi Ramamurthy – A Family comedy drama 20.01.2013 Crazy Mohan’s “Crazy Kishkinta” – Full length comedy play 10.03.2013 Crazy Mohan’s “Chocolate Krishna” – Full length comedy

play 10.11.2013 Crazy Mohan’s “Crazy Kishkinta” – Full length comedy play 13.09.2014 Programme by Sun TV Artists/Officers We place on record our appreciation to Com. Ramesh Babu, convenor of the Cultural wing.

COIMBATORE

In same way to make our members free from stress and strain from the work load we have started Cultural Wing in our Coimbatore Cluster by which we have arranged some excellent Orchestra programme at Coimbatore, Erode and Salem apart from arranging tickets for hilarious dramas of S V Sekar, Crazy Mohan and Y.G. Mahendran to our members and family to enjoy a happy evening at Coimbatore, Erode and Salem.

Members talent in singing and playing musical instruments came out as many members participated in the cultural events. Some of them are:

1 22. 06. 2013 Coimbatore Orchestra 2 24. 08. 2014 Erode Orchestra

3 13. 10. 2013 Coimbatore S Ve Sekar’s drama event

4 26. 10. 2013 Salem Orchestra 5 08. 03. 2014 Coimbatore Suryanarayanan- Suriyan FM

A small tour to Yercaud was arranged on behalf of the cultural wing for members of Salem and Erode zone. Around 100 members participated in the tour and enjoyed the trip forgetting the routine work pressure. It was

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a nice and rare occasion as our members were spending a day with their family.

TIRUCHIRAPALLI

At Tiruchirapalli, the Zonal office unit members had the practice of assembling together during evening hours of a day once in a month to take part to informally share jokes and spend one or two hours humorously. Such meeting was named as “Santhosha Saaral”. The same was revived at the Module in order to relieve the members from stress, cutting across the barriers of positions. This was kicked off with a marvelous start by Pattimandra specialist Com. Raja on 27.01.2012, it was also decided to have one such meeting every month.

MADURAI

Cultural Wing of Madurai Module was inaugurated by the Deputy General Manager (B&O) Shri G S Narasimhan on 2nd March 2013 at 6.30 P.M. at the Open Air Auditorium of SBOA Matric and Higher Secondary School, Nagamalai, Madurai.

Com P Nallaperumal Pillai, Deputy Regional Secretary welcomed the gathering. Com R Sethu, Regional Secretary delivered the Presidential address. Shri G S Narasimhan, Deputy General Manager inaugurated the Cultural wing by lighting the traditional Kuthuvilakku. In his inaugural address Shri G S Narasimhan stressed the need for cultural activity and entertainment among our officers. He praised the association for performing various welfare activities.

Our officers children entertained by exhibiting their talents by performing western group dance, solo Bharathanatyam dance, solo drums music and group music programme using different musical instruments. A drama which stressed the need for preserving rain water was played depicting the importance of rain water storage implemented at our school. A grand gala programme by Shri Jegan and Shri Raja Annamalai of Fynn Software involving the officers and their families was enjoyed by all officers.

UNITY THROUGH SPORTS

SBIOA Sports Wing Sports play an important role in the society. Sports, recreation and healthy competition help to bind the society through shared achievements and cherished moments. Sports help to maintain health, decrease stress, and motivate people by rewards and recognition. Sports help to develop healthy

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bondage among participants, families, states to states and even among countries.

SBIOA Chennai Circle is pioneer in promoting sports, recognizing and rewarding sportsmen who have sacrificed a greater part of their good life, time and family to keep the brand SBI aloft. SBIOA, Chennai circle takes pride in presenting the various sports promotional activities and also some of the important developments, every sportsmen comrade and every sports loving official would love to recollect and cherish spanning more than 4 decades..

Demanding work, monotonous job routine, stress and strain, sacrificing the weekends to discharge their duties with utmost diligence and commitment is becoming the order of the day for any official of SBI. Our visionary leaders felt the need to break the shambles, to find a way to relax and to rejuvenate in order to ensure a quality life for the comrades, felt Sports is the best remedy. Swamy Vivekananda once said that “you can reach heaven by playing football than reading Bhagavat Geetha”. Our leaders also felt that forming an active Sports Wing is the best remedy to reduce the stress of a demanding work culture, to promote unity, belongingness, sharing and caring among the SBIOA’ns. It is with pride, we acknowledge that the master move of the association in forming a sports wing has been doing wonders among the members.

During the year 1975, our Central Committee at its meeting held on 14.09.1975 decided to form a Sports Wing for our association to help the members to develop their talents in sports, decided to promote togetherness among members through sports. A sub committee was formed and Shri. P. K. Ramakrishnan was chosen as the Convenor, the other members being Shri. V. Unnikrishnan and Shri. V. Devaraj being the other committee members. Earlier matches were played only between four teams comprising of Commercial Branch, Madras LHO, Madras Main branch and Branches Combined.

State Bank of India, Chennai Circle “Sports Wing” was inaugurated on 16th January 1976 by Shri. S. Sriraman, Hony. Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association at the Madras Cricket Club premises. We have so many International sportsmen in our Chennai Circle. Com. O Chandrasekarn, Olympian footballer, Com. Amarnath, Olympian Basketballer, Com. V. Chandrasekar, the Arjuna Awardee in Table Tennis. Of them, Com. O Chandrasekar was a member of our executive committee during the year 1969-70.

SBIOA sports wing spread its wings to Tiruchirapalli, Madurai and Coimbatore during 2009-10. The officers along with their family members actively

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participate in sports activities conducted in all the modules and participation increases every year.

For the welfare of our members, a sophisticated Gym with latest equipments has been established at Chennai with an appointment of a sports trainer to manage it. It is heartening to see that our members as well as their spouses and their children are largely benefited due state of the art technology gym.

We furnish the sports events conducted during the period 2011-2014.

Sports Meet 2011-12

Chennai Module Annual sports meet 2011-12 was declared open by Olympian Shri Dinesh Naik, International hockey Player,. Speaking at the inauguration, Shri Dinesh Naik expressed surprise and happiness over our large participation. He also expressed the need for banks to recruit sportsman in their ranks, who are the brand ambassadors. Com. A. Ravichandran has been elected as the Sports Director and Shri.Muralidharan of LCPC, Chennai National hockey player of the Bank has been co-opted as the convener of the annual sports meet, after the retirement of our beloved S.E. Raghuraman, who has done a yeoman service for the development of sports in SBIOA Chennai circle and known for his organizing capacities.

The association takes pride in informing that two of our comrades Pradeep John and P. Mohan have won the National Beach Volleyball Championship held recently at Chennai and they were honored by the association and its sports wing.

The Annual sports day was celebrated in a grand manner with the presence of General Secretary of our Federation Com. G D Nadaf along with other circle General Secretaries on 29th April 2012. During the occasion, two of our sportsmen comrades who have been promoted as Officers Com. Cedric D Cruz, National Hockey Player and Com. Gopalkrishnan, International Basketball player were honored.

Sports Meet 2012-13

The 22nd Annual sports meet was inaugurated by Shri Kedarnath, our ex-employee and former Ranji Player. He gave useful tips to the wards of our members who are budding sportsmen, and also gave valuable suggestions

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to the young cricketers. He is running an Academy to develop Cricket in the State.

The Annual Sports Meet for the year 2012-13 was conducted on 24/03/2013 and the Chief Guest for the Day was Shri Mohammed Riyaz, Olympian Hockey Player. The highlight of the day was the Tug-of-war game for both men and women which had lots of fun and joy. The newly promoted sportsman officer Com Maria Samson, National Hockey Player, was honoured.

Sports Meet 2013-14

The Annual Sports Meet for the year 2013-14 was inaugurated 20/04/2014 by Shri Anand Natarajan, International Athlete and Superintendent of Customs, Chennai. He himself holds a Doctarate in Physiotherapy and gave lot of tips to the sportsperson, particularly to the Bank Officials who spend most of the time tide with their seats, to get rid of resultant joint aches. He inaugurated the event by playing shuttle with our General Secretary Com Thomas Franco Rajendradev, as his partner.

We take pride in bringing out to the members that Com C M Ranjith, Deputy Manager, CCPC and former International Footballer, has been nominated as the Coach for Tamil Nadu Senior Football Team and has created history by winning the South Zone Championship of Santhosh Trophy Football Tournament held in Chennai in February 2014. Kudos to Com Ranjith.

Adding another feather to our cap is nomination of Com Pradeep John to the Indian Beach Volleyball Council and Coach of Indian Beach Volleyball Team. SBIOA (CC) congratulates both the Comrades for their achievement.

The Annual Sports Meet for the year was held on 12th April 2014 in which Shri Naveen Raja, International Volleyball Player was the Chief Guest and Shri Keerthivasan, General Manager (NW II) was the Guest of Honour. Smt Keerthivasan inaugurated the Tug of War for women. The members enjoyed the Silambattam and other folk stunts performed by Shri Syed and his team of students. For the first time, the sports meet concluded with a grand dinner to the members and their family.    

 

Sports Meet 2014-15

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Shri A Sivaraman, renowned Indian Volley Ball Player and Senior Manager of Indian Overseas Bank inaugurated the 24th Annual Sports Meet on 21st September 2014. He was so happy to be amongst us and was thrilled to see the involvements of our officers and their family members in sports. He also expressed that he would try similar events in his Bank also.

The beauty of our annual sports meet is the opportunity for our fellow comrades to join with national and international players of our bank, which otherwise would have been a distant dream. Hats off to the internationals, who realize that their presence and participation in our annual sports meet, will go a long way in promoting unity through sports among ourselves.

Some of the achievements of our eminent sports persons during the period are listed for information: .

• Com.C.M.Ranjith, Asst. Manager, CCPC, Chennai has become a “A” Licence Coach approved by the World Football Federation (FIFA). He has been appointed as National Coach for the Indian Junior Team and Chief Coach for Tamilnadu Team.

• Com.Pradeep John, Manager, IIT Chennai has been appointed as the

Chief Competition Director for the Lusofonia Games/Portugese Games (Beach Volleyball) held at Goa.

• Com.S.Balaji, Dy.Manager, RACPC, Egmore and Com.P.Mohan, DM.

HLST, Chennai Zone II, were appointed as Technical Managers for the above tournament.

• Com.P.Mohan and Com.Pradeep John won the National

Championship 2012 of Beach Volleyball and also Hindu Indian Coat Guard State Volleyball Pro Challenge Trophy. The schedule of Sports meets conducted in the other modules are listed below:-

COIMBATORE The Sports meet at Coimbatore has been a regular feature since 2011. The following is the schedule of the Sports Meet conducted at Coimbatore . Coimbatore also became the first Module outside Chennai to host the Inter Module shuttle Tournaments in 2013-14.

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S no DATE CHIEF GUEST PRESIDED/KEY NOTE ADDRESS

1 21.05.2011 Shri Sandeep seth DGM D Suresh kumar D S Rishabadas

2 03.02.2012 D Suresh kumar D S Rishabadas

3 25.11.2012 Shri K S Mohan DGM D Sureshkumar Thomas Franco Rajendra Dev

4 08.12.2013 P Kishore kumar DGM D Sureshkumar Thomas Franco Rajendra Dev

TRIUCHIRAPPALLI The 3rd Annual Sports meet of our Tiruchirapalli Module inaugural function was held on 11.12.2011 at our SBIOA School, Trichy. It was presided over by Com. V. Santhaanam, Regional Secretary. Com. M. Asok, Dy. Regional Secretary and Dy. Director of Sports Wing welcomed the participants. The inaugural function was attended by over 100 comrades including 24 women comrades from far off places such as Pondicherry, Cuddalore, Edayakurichi, Karur, Perambalur, Katuputhur, Musiri, Thanjavur, Ammapet, Pudukottai etc.,

The 4th Annual sports function was inaugurated in a grand manner on 25.11.2012 at 8.30 a.m. Our comrades along with their spouse and children in response to our call came and attended in the Annual sports meet. All the Regional Council members attended the Inauguration.

The 5th Annual Sports function was inaugurated in a grand manner on 10-11-2013 at 08-30 AM. Our comrades along with their spouse and children participated in large numbers in the Annual Sports meet. More than 100 comrades including many women comrades of Tiruchirapalli Module participated in the sports meet enthusiastically.

MADURAI The Second Annual Sports Meet for the year 2011-12 was held on 29.01.2012, 05.02.2012 & 26.02.2012 at our Nagamalai Pudukottai School Premises. More than 150 members and their family actively participated on all the days. The following Games were conducted : Badminton, Tennicoit, Chess, Volley ball, & Cricket.

On the final Day, the prizes were distributed by the Chief Guest Shri M Kaja Mohideen, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Armed Reserve, Madurai city. He was very much impressed by the efforts of a Trade Union conducting Sports Meet for their Officer Members. He in his Special Address, emphasized the

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importance of sports for the physical and mental fitness. A dedicated volunteers team coordinated the events guided by Com Senthi Kumar T, Regional Secretary

The third Sports Meet was conducted on 20.01.2013, 03.02.2013 & 10.02.2013 at our Nagamalai Pudukottai School Premises. More than 160 members and their family actively participated on all the days. The following Games were conducted : Badminton, Tennicoit, Chess, Volley ball, & Cricket.

Prizes were distributed by the Chief Guest Shri V Ajith Kumar, ADRM Southern Railway, Madurai. He was astonished by the participation of the members along with the family in the Sport Activities. He congratulated the Office Bearers for their initiatives in conduct of the Sports.

The Fourth Annual Sports meet of our Madurai Module was inaugurated by Com V Seetharaman, Regional Manager, RBO IV on 16/02/2014. In his inaugural address he has praised the Association’s involvement in various activities. He quoted the physical exercise to the body will give relief from stress and strain to our officers.

More than 180 officers including their family members enthusiastically participated in the various sports events held on the inaugural day.

On 02/03/2014, final events of the Sports meet was held. Around 200 officers including their family members participated in various sports activities. Com. J Joseph Stalin, our Deputy Regional Secretary welcomed the gathering. Our Regional Secretary Com.R Sethu delivered Presidential address. The Chief guest Shri G S Narasimhan, Deputy General Manager, Madurai Module gave away the prizes to the winners. Shri P K Mohandass, Assistant General Manager, RASMECCC, Madurai gave away the prizes.

We place on record our sincere thanks and appreciation to Com. K. Bavanisankar, Director and Com. Muralidharan Convenor of the sports wing.

SOCIAL SERVICE WING Man is primarily a member of a social community. He should not only be concerned about himself but also have concern for the welfare and development of society as a whole. It is truly said that “Jana-Seva” is “Janardhana-Seva”. The feeling of self-satisfaction that comes when one sees the unshed tears of joy in the eyes of one whose hunger has been appeased, whose thirst has been allayed and whose needs are fulfilled is indeed heavenly.

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Social service is based on the ideal of brotherhood of man. It is a natural impulse to help men in distress. It is a noble impulse. It cannot be rendered without an element of self-sacrifice. One has to spend time and energy for it. Nowadays man is concerned only about his own welfare. Obligations, noble thoughts, duties towards society have been pushed to the background as the centre-stage is occupied by a rat-race for materialistic trifles Social service is not confined to isolated deeds and words of charity towards the disabled, helpless or the poverty stricken. Doctors can serve by attending to the ailing without being influenced by thoughts of pecuniary gains. The service rendered by an individual or an organisation to improve the social conditions of society is called ‘social service’. This service is rendered on humanitarian considerations and without any motive of profit. Only those people to whom the interests of society are more important than their personal interests come forward to render social service. With these in mind, our visionary leaders started our Social Service Wing and I am extremely happy to share with you that our enlightened association is carrying out such service on many occasions with the help of service minded, dedicated and thoughtful members in extending their help both financially and physically and the services rendered in time have been appreciated by the public and great personalities in the society. A few such initiatives done our organization is listed below for your information. We donated Solar lamps to the children of Vattapakkam Village 16.03.2014 - An amount of Rs. 25,000/- was contributed as cost of an artificial limb for one special child of Satya Special School, Pondicherry. 16.03.2014 - Distribution of Provisions to the inmates of Old Age Home @ Coimbatore was done. Our school children have donated lakhs every year for the poor and our Junior College was awarded Mother Therasa Award by India Development Federation. Blood Donation Camps have been arranged by our Association on many occasions and we are proud to share with you that entire medical camp team were enthused by the active participation of our members during the occasions. We also have an excellent rapport

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with the leading hospitals at Chennai and other places for the benefit our members and their family. Our campaign for Organ Donation has succeeded as more than 1000 members have signed up for organ donation. We request you to kindly inform the family members about this. Let each man uphold the ideal of “Help ever, hurt never” as his motto and contribute his bit to make the world order politically powerful, socially stable, economically efficient and spiritually strong. The Social Service Wing of SBIOA(CC) is second to none in doing yeomen service to the society. Publications during the period SBIOA(CC) has been a pioneer in publishing Books for the members. First Promotion Guide book was published in 1971. First Service Conditions book in 1975. During this period we have published the following books: 1. Master Stokes 2. Tamil Marunthugal 3. Service Conditions (updated) 4. One point Reference Book for Defence Representatives 5. Gate way to Promotion (updated) 6. Banking Sector Reforms - Retrospect & Directions for future (BY AIBOC TN) 7. Diaries with themes The following publications are released today

1. Let us lead a Healthy life with Nature 2. Random thoughts for stress free life 3. Why Public Sector ? 4. Officers Forum 5. You should Know 6. Podhuthuraiyin Sadhanaigalum Savaalgalum (Tamil) by Mr. S.

Gurumurthy. (Speech) (The achievements and challenges of the Public Sector.)

Using Technology & Social Media

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Our Association is using Science & Technology for improving our communication and for keeping closeness with membership and also develop their knowledge and skill. Some of them are Website: The Association has a website sbioacc.com which is updated regularly by Com. M. Sundarraman, Com. G. Parvathi Sundar and Com. Sastha Selvaraj. Facebook: Our facebook page www.facebook.com /SBIOACC is regularly updated and administered by Com. Prajesh, Zonal Secretary News & Events – Emails : Everyday we send a email containing important news related to Banking for updating members knowledge. They need not read so many financial news papers. Daily Thoughts: We send interesting, motivating, thought provoking emails everyday to members which may be a quote / powerpoint / photos / stories some of which we have compiled as a coffee table book for the participants of the General Body. Members who are not getting can send a request to sbioacc@googlegroups.com. Promoting Promotion Optees: Conducting online test during promotions and providing interview tips which has helped the promotes. This year we made online test available for specialist officers also. Power Points: Power Points have been prepared on NPA Management & Business Development and presented to the Management and the members. Retirements During the period under review a number of our members have retired from the active services of the Bank. All these members had actively participated in all the activities of the Association and we place on record their invaluable contributions both to the Bank and the Association. The list of these officers is given in annexure. GOING FORWARD

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FUTURE PLAN IN A NUTSHELL For the Association

• Training for Office Bearers – Committee constituted with the following members. Com. T. Senthikumar, Com. R. Balaji, Com. M. Shanmugam and Com. V. Sridhar.

• Training on Disciplinary Proceeding – Committee Constituted to plan regular training programmes with Com. Rs. Balaji as convenor.

• SBIOA Discussion Forum has been started taking queue from the

suggestion of Shri S. Gurumurthy. The following are the co-ordinators from the EC. Com. T. Senthikumar, Com. M. Shanmugam & Com. SST.Madhavaraj.

• A discussion forum website and blog will be released today. The Forum

will conduct monthly meetings, seminars, conduct research and bring out publications. Shri S. Gurumurthy has agreed to guide us for some time. Quarterly publication of “officers forum” will be also used for discussion.

• Planning for future

In this Golden Jubilee Year our diary will focus on Trade Unions and to all our members we plan to provide a leather purse with our logo, one badge with our log and a VCD containing very useful contents. Once in two months we will have meetings to get suggestions for the future. Some of them are

1. Meeting with former Office Bearers 2. Meeting with experienced TU leaders 3. Meeting with Specialist Officers 4. Meeting with Probationary Officers 5. Meeting with Lady Officers

On 14th August 2015 we will release a perspective plan for few years and also a documentary of 50 years.

• Cadre Development Programme and formation of a Volunteers Corps • Completion of survey on officers staying away from home & not getting

leave • Strengthening Joint Forum of Public Sector Trade Unions

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• Formation of District Committees of AIBOC • Updation of Gateway to Promotions • Book for Retirees • Lobbying for 5 day week & LFC abroad For Educational Trust

• Preparation of a perspective plan for 5 years and implementation of the same.

• Establishing SBOA method of teaching in two years • Orientation Programmes for Correspondents, Principals, Teachers,

Parents & students • Train and make international champions in Sports & Games • Continue Environment Education & Citizen’s Development for

children. • Clean India Campaign – Adoption of an area • Have concerts to mobilize funds for the new school & College • Starting of a school at Mambakkam – Sonalur and a college of

Finance & Administration. For Institute

• Strengthen the Correspondence Courses • Broaden the Banking Coaching Classes • Conduct Research & Organise seminars collaborating with

Jawaharlal Nehru University, IIT, Chennai , Madras University and IGNOU

• Renew the Registration

For Social Service Wing

• Participate in the Clean India Campaign by adopting certain areas in each module.

• Have an exposure programme to Alapuzha Municipality which turned a stinking municipality into a beautiful township with people’s participation and Corporation’s involvement

• Each module will choose one area, clean up, have compost pits, vermi composting, kitchen garden, parks, avenue tress and medicinal plants.

For Cultural Wing

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Have more programmes involving our officers and family members. Show case talents. Organise family get together, picnics, tours & LFC together.

For Sports Wing • Conduct Camps and Inter School Competitions for children in

Association with the school • Adopt clubs which are struggling • Fight for more recruitment of sports persons • Annual sports meet valedictory on 26th January

For Women’s Wing

• Collaborate with women’s organisation and organise trainings on women’s Rights, Legal Rights, Counselling etc in addition to celebrating International Women’s Day every year and conventions once in two years.

For Literary Wing

• Revive and bring out publications, organise debates regularly

Before we say Good Bye

Dear Comrade, The period has taught us many lessons. They have made us stronger. They have helped us to enlarge our vision.

An Organisation needs involvement of the majority of the members. The youth have to be involved more. Women have to be involved more. As Com. E.A.G. Moses says, “Trade Union has to take care of the member and family from cradle to grave”. Let us strive to achieve this fully.

We welcome new ideas, new debates, new vision, new wings and new comrades.

Trade Union Movement is a journey

The road will not be always smooth

There will be difficulties

There will be pitfalls

There will be threats

There will be challenges

There will be dreams

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Together we will reach the destination

Our distination is better quality of life

Our destination is a more equal country

Our destination is a world with Equity and Equality Together we Can; We will. Comradely yours,

D. THOMAS FRANCO RAJENDRA DEV GENERAL SECRETARY