Monday, October 31, 2011

Consumer Price Index

CPI for July 2011 is 193, for August 2011 is 194 and for September 2011 is 197. As such, the rise in DA will be by 41 slabs w.e.f. 01.11.2011.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

BMS opposes proposed labour-laws

Union opposes labour proposals in the new National
Manufacturing Policy
By Shami J | October 27th, 2011 |


Bharataiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), the largest central trade union organization in India, has stated their opposition to the softer labour laws proposed in the new National Manufacturing Policy approved by the cabinet. Saji Narayanan C.K. National President, BMS, says “This is against the public assurance by Ministry of Labour and employment that anti labour proposals have been removed from National Manufacturing Policy at its intervention. There is no labour law in the country that is against country’s development or creating new manufacturing units. Including anti labour proposals in Manufacturing policy will only create opposition and there by work against the spirit of development of manufacturing sector.”

BMS had opposed the policies even in the draft stage. The sticking points in the draft included, Contract Labour Abolition Act being not be applicable to the units in the NMIZ, flexibility to downsize, restrictions on the right to join unions, Labour Laws be made more flexible, employment of women in three shifts, maintaining temporary status of employees, extension of shift hours, ease the burden of payment to labour at the time of closure of unit etc.

“The Government feels that development of industry can be achieved only at the cost of labour. It contradicts the Ministry’s own declared Industrial Policy (1991) clause that no small section of society can corner the gains of growth, leaving workers to bear its pains and that labour should be an equal partner in progress and prosperity,” said Saji Narayanan.

(Courtesy: frontierindia.net)

Friday, October 28, 2011

Greetings on Bhai Dooj!

Our greetings on Bhai Dooj!

The festival of Bhai Dooj (Hindi) or Bhau-beej (Marathi & Konkani) or Bhai Phota (Bengali) is celebrated by Hindus on the last day of the five-day-long Diwali festival. This is the second day of the bright fortnight or Shukla Paksha of the Hindu month of Kartika. On this day, sisters pray for their brothers to have long and happy lives by performing the Teeka ceremony, and brothers give gifts to their sisters.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Monday, October 24, 2011

AAO (1B) – eligibility age enhanced

After getting approval from the Ministry of Finance, Govt of India, necessary instructions for enhancement of eligibility age to 45 for promotion to the cadre of AAO under clause 1B have been sent to all Zonal Offices.

The last date for submitting the requisite form is 3rd November 2011 and the date of written-test is 13th November 2011.

Happy Dhanteras!

We wish you and your family a very happy Dhanteras!


Sunday, October 23, 2011

Class-III Federation goes wild – we reply

THE USUAL SUSPECTS!

            Old habits die hard. After a brief lull, the Class III Federation has trained its guns on its favourite whipping boy(s), NOINO & NOIW. In its latest circular dated 20th October 2011 on the subject of PLLI, Shri Arvind Nachane, GS of All India Employees’ Federation has launched a diatribe against NOINO/NOIW in a paragraph titled “The Professional rumourmongers”. We quote the relevant paragraphs as they appear in the Federation’s circular:

The NOINO/NOIW had circulated a message on 08-09-2011 that the PLLI for 2010-11 will be—HGA-Rs. 6300---Assistants---Rs. 5500; Record clerks—Rs. 4800; sub-staff—Rs—3900.

    Such unions survive only on the strength of rumours which is their staple food. Today, another message relayed by them conveys: “ Sub-staff results to be announced between 22-10-2011 & 31-10-2011 as per reliable information. No further extension of time is sought by LIC, today” The reality is that the Supreme court has now fixed 7th December as the date for hearing, with 13 petitions in different high courts bunched together.”

           Normally, we would not have reacted to such canards. Our constituencies are totally different & there is no need to lock horns & cross our paths. However, the above remarks were totally uncalled for & unwarranted.

            In the first place, we have never sent such messages. A normal, rationally thinking person can clearly understand that both the messages as quoted above contain nothing pertaining to Class-I Officers & hence NOINO could not have sent these messages. NOINO has never tread into territory of other classes except perhaps to underline & point out the inefficiency of the management in respect of delay in decisions pertaining to other classes, indirectly affecting the Class I Officers thereby. As far as the so-called first message concerning the PLLI is concerned, if at all NOINO had sent this message, there would have been a mention of the so-called amounts of Class I Officers.

           We can understand the frustration of the Class III Federation led by Shri Nachaneji. The sole proprietary rights of rumours, insinuations, white lies, subterfuge & half-baked, concocted, cock & bull stories lay firmly with the Class III Federation from times immemorial & we have no mis-conceptions of usurping their numero uno postion in these areas which over the years the Federation has strode with ease. Everybody knows that NOINO is the organization which they can look up to for authentic information on issues concerning the employees. The above rantings betray the impression of a fallen general fighting a last ditch losing battle to save his sinking ship from receding into oblivion. Attacking NOINO/NOIW may also be a compulsion to stay in the limelight.

            We also understand that this is probably an envious & jealous outburst against the saffron surge amply demonstrated by the huge Maharally organized by NOINO/NOIW at Yogakshem on pending issues. An overwhelming majority of employees were happy to note our efforts in venting their feelings. At this juncture, this attack can only mean one thing--we all know that the Federation has acted as a puppet of the management since long & the anxiety to please its masters may have prompted it to issue such a circular & queer the pitch. We would like to point out to the Federation that our main & common adversary is the section of the management which ignores the issues of employees & not the peer unions. Positive, constructive & healthy criticism is always welcome. However, fighting among ourselves will not help our cause.

           We assure all the officers/employees that we would not be deterred by any such ill-directed vitriolic attacks & continue to fight for the common cause.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Meal Coupon amts raised – NOINO Maharally works

The Maharally of NOINO/NOIW on 12th October 2011 at Yogakshema started paying results from the very next day. The extension of the date of take-over of housing-loans by HFL came first. Now, the management has revised the amounts of meal-coupons (one of the demands made by NOINO/NOIW) from 1st September 2011. Following are the particulars:-

Cadre                Earlier     Revised
------                -------     --------
ZM(O)/ZM(S)        200          220
SDM                    175          190
DM                      150          165
ADM                    130          145
AO                      110          120
AAO                    100          110
Dev Officer            90          100
HGA                     80            90
Assistant              70            80
RC                       60            65
CL IV                   50            55
Regular part-timer  25            30

We thank the management for taking immediate cognizance. NOINO/NOIW will continue to follow-up the pending issues.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Joining NOINO en masse continues – now NCZ

The NOINO juggernaut rolls on..!! Responding to our membership drive in this month i.e. October 2011, officers in various parts of the country are joining NOINO. After 101 officers in Chandigadh(NZ) & 15 in Indore(CZ) joined NOINO, 10 officers in Varanasi(NCZ) & 8 officers in Kanpur(NCZ) joined NOINO on 15th October 2011. Shri Sudhakar Mishra, President, NOINO NCZ; Shri R N Pal, GS, NOINO NCZ; Shri Rajesh Dubey, All India Secretary, NOINO & the entire team of NCZ deserve congratulations for their persistent efforts.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

NOINO effect – STCs’ training hours normalized

Consequent upon our protest (refer our post dated 15.10.2011) on extended training hours, as suggested to STC’s by OD/HRD deptt of CO earlier, the Management has now suggested the STC's to complete the training in 4 days (which was earlier 3 days with extended hours) utilizing the normal office-hours only.

We appreciate the steps taken by the management and thank them for responding quickly to our representations.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

PLLI – latest position

Today NOINO met Chief(P) Shri Mendiratta basically to enquire as to when the PLLI instructions would be issued. Shri Mendiratta replied that the job had been entrusted to IT after providing them basic information about the unit-wise performance. Based on the same the exact percentage for each unit would be derived at & then the instructions would be issued. We submitted that the employees were expecting payment before Diwali & demanded that the matter should be expedited accordingly. Shri Mendiratta said that the management would try its best to hasten the process & that they were continuously in contact with IT to monitor the progress.

Officers join NOINO en masse (again) at Indore

NOINO is gaining strength day by day. Close on heels of the news of 101 officers joining NOINO in Chandigadh(NZ), yesterday 15 officers joined NOINO in Indore(CZ). The membership in Indore has crossed 60 now & well on the way to majority. The CZ team deserves special appreciation for their efforts. A special mention should be made of our Divisional office-bearers & activists Shri Rajiv Kalra(09907817262), Shri Vivek Verma(09425403590) & Shri Shailesh Lele(09826397985) who have strived hard.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

NOINO NCZ meets RM(P&IR), NCZ

A delegation of NOINO NCZ consisting of Shri Rajesh Dubey, Secretary, NOINO; Shri Sudhakar Mishra, Zonal President; Shri R.N.Pal, Zonal Secretary; and Shri Manoj Kumar, EC member, NOINO NCZ met the RM(P&IR), NCZ Smt. Nalini M. Ratnam on 17th October 2011 i.e. Monday at 12 noon. Shri Puneet Mehrotra, Asstt Secr.(E.R.) was also present during the meeting.

The matters discussed were – (a) Transfer Policy within the Zone, (b) Information Sharing Meeting of the Zone, and (c) other matters related to Class-I officers of the Zone. Besides these common issues related to Class-I officers, a good no. of individual cases were also discussed.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Extended training hours at STC’s - we protest

Vide circular ref. CO/HRD/FPT/Cir no.1/2011-2012 dated 7.10.2011, the ED(HRD/OD) has instructed STC’s, all-over-India, to conduct training programmes from to for particular groups of Agents. The advised schedule exceeds, at both ends, the normal prescribed office-hours of the Corporation. NOINO wrote to ED(HRD/OD) in this regard. The letter is reproduced below:

15.10.2011.

The Executive Director (HRD/OD),
L.I.C. of India.

Dear Sir,
Re: Extended hours of training
            We draw your attention to a circular CO/HRD/FPT/Cir no. 1/2011-2012 dated 7.10.11. The Annexure contains the time-table of Training for Financial advisor & Wealth managers. The training is of three days duration. The timings of this training as shown in the time-table for each of these days is from to . We would like to submit the following in this context:-

  1. The duration of training for each day comes to 10 hours & 15 minutes. Our office-hours are for 7 hours including lunch hours. Why, then the duration of the training is more by three hours & 15 minutes?
  2. Are the faculty members expected to spend more than 10 hours during this training? If not, whether, instructions have been given to all the Zones to see to it that the duration of all faculty members is not more than 7 hours (at a stretch) including lunch hours & nothing more?
  3. Whether instructions have been given to all Zones to pay overtime/compensation to the faculty members for working overtime?
  4. The course coordinator may be forced to spend more than 10 hours in any case. If not, whether instructions have been given to appoint two or more course coordinators to work in shifts?
  5. If, indeed, the faculty members & the course coordinator have to work for more than 10 hours at a stretch, is this not inhuman attitude on the part of the management?
  6. Whether, attending a course for three continuous days for more than 10 hours going to really help the Financial advisors/Wealth managers? Whether they will be able to concentrate for such a long time? Whether this will serve the real purpose of this training?

      Over the years, the management has developed a tendency to flout the well settled norms in all fields including training. In the name of saving time & money, we are going overboard, it seems. We strongly demand that such a regressive time-table may be withdrawn immediately & the same may be re-drawn in keeping with the duration of the office hours. Overtime/compensation should be paid for those who have already worked according to the time-table.

Yours faithfully,

Ganesh Kamath
GS, NOINO

NOINO WZ writes to RM(P&IR), WZ (Camp: Satara)

14th Oct 2011

The Regional Manager (P&IR),
L.I.C.Of India,
Western Zone,
Mumbai.

Respected Madam,

            At the outset, we welcome you on your maiden visit to our Satara DO. On this occasion we take opportunity to remind you about our meeting with Zonal Manager on 29th August 2011 in which your good-self was also present. In that meeting we had discussed some of the following important issues of Class-I officers of our Zone which are yet to be resolved. We expect the Zonal Office to address the issues raised by us. The issues which we discussed were as below :-

1. Transfers of ABM(S)’s:  In respect of this we had submitted that only few transfer cases are left for consideration and these cases should be considered in the current round only. We were informed by the management in our discussions that there were excess marketing officials in almost all divisions in Maharashtra, but we feel that this should not be the reason for not considering the transfers of ABM(S)’s, because if at all any new criteria  of transfer is to be implemented, it should be implemented from the next year.  These ABM(S)’s who have applied for request transfer to their desired places are not at fault for excess number of marketing officials in a particular division. The move to recruit more marketing officials was a conscious decision taken by the then management in view of the situation prevailing at that time. How can the ABM(S)’s who are working outside their respective home divisions be penalized for that?

            We, therefore, again request you to consider the transfers of these ABM(S)’s and transfer them to their desired places as they have already completed more than 3 years and are due for transfers. 

2. Job Rotations:  In the ensuing round of Job rotations very few officers were job rotated. In fact 84 officers were promoted from ABM(S) to BM (only 2 of them refused) this year & 39 were job-rotated from AAO to ABM(S). We feel that there are 35 more vacancies of ABM(S) to be filled. We therefore request you to consider more officers to the cadre of ABM(S) in the supplementary round as early as possible.

3. Transfer of AAO’s:- Now the AAO notification has been issued and it will take around two to three months to complete this process as a result of which the officers who are due for transfer to their desired places and eagerly waiting for their transfers will be getting the same late. We, therefore, suggest you to transfer the eligible officers immediately without waiting for the entire round to complete.

4. Transfers of Physically Challenged officers:- At present we are transferring Lady promotee officers to their desired places after one year. This criterion for lady officers was introduced by our worthy Zonal Manager when he was RM(P&IR) of our Zone, for which he deserves a word of appreciation. On the same lines we request you to consider the transfer application of Physically Handicapped promotee officers after one year in the current round of Promotions/Transfers in the cadre of AAO. Needless to add here that the number of such officers is very meager, it may be around 2 or 3 in our Zone. This will also send a positive signal to all physically challenged officers.

5. Ill-treatment of Marketing Officials: - Every body concerned is aware that the entire Corporation is not doing well this year. This is a natural corollary of the prevailing situation in the entire Insurance industry as well as the economy of the nation. We are equally concerned about the situation. However, there is a disturbing trend on part of the senior officials to talk rudely to junior marketing officials particularly the ABM(S) & BM(S). We have also been reported with extreme cases of insulting of these junior officials that too in the presence of all. This type of attitude is primitive & not going to help. Though we don’t expect the management to treat the habitual non-performers with kid gloves, we also expect the management to behave in a more mature manner. The need of the hour is to encourage the marketing officials, not to demoralize them by chiding them rudely. An overwhelming majority of the junior marketing officials are very sincere in their works. If the whole Corporation is not doing well, then the strategists should also equally share the blame for it.
                               We, therefore, feel that the age-old method of talking tough should be done away with & more humane approach should be adopted.


6. Biased Attitude of Manager (P&IR) DM, Nagpur DO :-   We have informed you that Manager(P&IR), DM, who is also the Mentor of Class-I federation (a proof of which is already given to you) is acting in a totally biased manner thereby creating a lot of problems in the Nagpur Division. In the last week Class-III unions of Nagpur Division also held protest demonstrations against his biased attitude. We feel that basically a person who holds a post in the Union should not be given charge of such an important portfolio. We, therefore, again demand to relieve him of his portfolio immediately in order to avoid further complications.

7. Information sharing Meeting:-  We have repeatedly demanded that Information sharing meeting should be conducted at ZO/DO level in order to have a proper liaison between the management and the unions, however no such meeting is called by the ZO/DO. We again request to hold regular information sharing meetings at least on a quarterly basis at ZO/DO level.
                       
                        We hope looking at the severity of the issues you will do the needful in the interest of all officers of our Zone in particular and in the interest of our Zone in general.
           

V.V.Shastri
Secretary, NOINO, WZ.

Friday, October 14, 2011

NOINO EZ meets RM(P&IR), EZ

A delegation of NOINO Eastern Zone consisting of Shri P.K.Dey, Zonal Secretary; Shri B.B.Mondal, Zonal Treasurer and Shri Prodip Dutta, Divl Secretary, KMDO-I met the RM(P&IR), EZ Shri Samir Kr Das on 13.10.2011. Shri Piyush Chakraborty, Secretary(P&IR) was also present during the meeting.

Following matters were discussed in the meeting:

1.     Inter-Division transfer of AAO’s: NOINO EZ requested to continue the practice of inter-division transfer of AAO’s within the Zone in 2 years to which the management agreed subject to availability of vacancy.
2.     Inter-Zone transfer of AAO’s: When enquired, the RM(P&IR) informed the delegation that cases of all such AAO’s who had completed 3 years in the Zone were being considered for their requests and related notes had already been put up before the competent authority.
3.     Posting of officers on promotion: NOINO EZ pointed out that there were officers who were never transferred-out, there were also officers who were transferred-out on lesser occasions, and also there were officers who got posted outside his/her desired place on every occasion of promotion. NOINO EZ demanded uniformity in posting on promotion and requested to give preference of choice-postings to the officers who were earlier posted outside on more no. of occasions than the fellow ones.
The RM assured to take positive steps in this regard.
4.     Allotment of staff quarters: NOINO EZ demanded transparency in allotment of staff-quarters and suggested to put relevant data related to allotment of staff-quarters on the Zone’s intranet site.
The RM(P&IR) assured to convey the feelings of the Organization to the concerned department.

Besides above issues, some more miscellaneous matters like problems arising due to transfer of housing-loan portfolio to HFL; delay in AAO promotion-round and others were also discussed.

Employees’ Housing Loan - the Maharally effect

    The effect of Maharally on 12.10.11 at Yogakshem by NOINO/NOIW has begun to tell. The management issued a circular yesterday i.e. on 13.10.11(dated back as 11.10.11 for obvious reasons) that one more final option is being given to the employees to convert their past loans to Employees Housing Loan scheme. The option is to be exercised by 31.12.11. There are some problems in this circular too(which we will take up) as the onus seems to be solely on the employee himself for everything, but at least about two months period has been given to convert these loans. The circular reference is CO/L&HPF/736/2011-12.
    NOINO/NOIW will continue to follow-up the pending issues.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

NOINO news-bulletin – October 2011 released

NOINO news-bulletin for the month of October 2011 stands released. Anyone, who has not received it, may kindly contact his/her Zonal/Divisional Secretary to get it.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Maharally unexpectedly successful

         As decided earlier, a Maharally was organized by NOINO & NOIW on 12th October 2011 at Yogakshem to focus on the pending issues of the employees/officers as well as to highlight the inability of the management to address these issues for a long time.  The Maharally exceeded all expectations. At 1.30 hordes of employees/officers descended on Yogakshem to participate in the rally. More than 1000 employees/officers indulged in robust slogan-shouting. The whole Yogakshem area was jam-packed.

         Shri Brahmesh Hardikar, Secretary, NOIW welcomed all & highlighted the issues which NOINO/NOIW were focusing on viz. One more pension option, Problems in Housing loan, Problems after EFEAP implementation, 6% PLLI to all, Cashier problems in branches etc.

         Shri Atul Deshpande, GS, NOIW gave an intense & fiery speech. He stated that due to the transfer of the staff housing loan portfolio to LIC HFL, the employees were aggrieved on various problems. He also stated that the repayment method adopted by LIC HFL was erroneous & consequently, the employees had to pay much more than what they would have paid had the portfolio been with LIC itself. He quoted many figures to prove his point. He said that on an average if 50000 employees availed of loan of 12 lakhs, then together we would be paying about 3000 crores more to HFL. In this background, he charged that there were reasons to believe that a section of management deliberately transferred the portfolio to HFL without taking the unions into confidence. He also said that NOIW demanded CBI enquiry in this matter. He also demanded that the Housing loan portfolio be brought back to LIC.

         On the issue of PLLI, Shri Deshpande said that the management was adopting the ‘Divide & rule’ policy by granting different percentages of PLLI to different units & demanded uniform 6% PLLI to all. He also reiterated the demand of NOIW/NOINO that total Income should be the only parameter on which the PLLI should be based.

        Shri Deshpande also expressed displeasure on the delay in Class IV recruitment & criticized the management for not meeting the deadline set by the court. He also demanded that the management should absorb all the temporary Class IV staff who have worked for even less than 5 years. Shri Deshpande warned the management of an intensified stir if it failed to meet the employees’ demands. Everybody was enthralled by his straightforward style of speech.

        Thereafter Shri Ganesh Kamath, GS, NOINO launched an all-out attack on the inefficiency, lack of transparency & the unilateralism of the management. In his usual acerbic style of speech laced with satire & interspersed with humour, he went hammer & tongs at the dual standards of the management which expects the lower management & the employees to be proactive but inordinately delays the decisions pertaining to the issues of the employees. He quoted several examples to buttress his arguments.

         He said that the management did not bother to have discussions with the unions since 19th July 2010. He lamented the lack of progress on the pension option issue & said that the management was singing a different tune this year. He expressed the anguish of the employees on the issue of Housing loan issue where they felt left in the lurch due to the unilateral decision of the management to transfer the portfolio to LIC HFL.  He exposed the hollowness of the management’s claims that the EFEAP problems have been solved by quoting several examples. He said that while several crores of rupees were showered on WIPRO which miserably failed in the implementation, it conveniently ignored the employees who were toiling day & night for EFEAP implementation without any extra remuneration.

         Shri Kamath also questioned as to why the management was not making the ‘Statement of Intent’ (of PLLI) public. He also demanded that the parameters of PLLI should be made public before the commencement of financial year & not after that. Shri Kamath also pointed out that NOINO/NOIW had suggested two solutions to overcome the problem of paucity of cashiers,  viz. recruitment of cashiers (exclusively as cashiers & not as assistant-cum-cashiers) & creating a new cadre between Assistant & HGA to get the benefit on promotion. Shri Kamath came down heavily on the ill-treatment of junior marketing officials by the senior officials & demanded that the rude behaviour be stopped forthwith. He also quoted other examples like delay in AAO notification, delay in results of Direct recruit officers etc. He also pointed out that even the intercoms of the prestigious Yogakshem were out of order for more than 3 months. Shri Kamath exhorted the management to take the unions into confidence on policy decisions & take timely steps to arrest the slide.

        Shri Manish Patankar, President, NOINO, Mumbai unit proposed the vote of thanks. The impact of the meeting was seen among the employees who were seen discussing animatedly about the meeting & the issues raised in it even long after the meeting was over.


Shri Brahmesh Hardikar, Secretary, NOIW initiating the Maharally
Shri Ganesh Kamath, General Secretary, NOINO addressing the gathering
Participants at Maharally
Shri Manish Patankar, President, NOINO, Mumbai Unit saying thanks

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Board clears PLLI

LIC Board cleared the payment of PLLI to the employees of the Corporation for the financial year 2010-2011 in its meeting held today. The clearance has been made for minimum 2% at Corporate level. If performance of any particular office does not qualify for 2%, then minimum 1% will be paid to the employees of that particular office. If performance of any office qualifies for more than 2%, they will be paid >2%.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Tribute to Steve Jobs by Prakash Javadekar

Dear friends,

Three apples which changed the world:

First apple - which brought Adam and Eve together.

Second apple - which Newton saw and developed concept of gravity.

Third apple - which Steve Jobs developed and changed the way we live.

Thank you Steve, will not forget you.

Yours truly,

Prakash Javadekar,
President, NOINO
Member of Parliament &

National Spokesperson, BJP.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

October 2011 – membership drive month

         On the auspicious day of Navami of Shardiya Navratra NOINO has rolled out the month of membership-drive. It starts today, the Navami of Ashwin Navratra i.e. 5th of October 2011 and continues till 31st October 2011.
         NOINO has decided to contact each and every non-member Class-I officer of LIC of India during this period. Besides verbal request, they (non-member officers) will be handed-over a request letter in hard copy along with a membership-form.
         The request letter which is to be handed-over in hard copy is reproduced below. The membership-form is also being reproduced for the convenience.


5th October 2011
------------------

Dear friend,

We are ‘National Organization of Insurance Officers’ popularly known as “NOINO”. We started working for the betterment of Class-I officers of LIC of India since 2002. We are affiliated to the largest Trade Union Organization of India i.e. BMS (Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh) and, as such, have an ideological base. Also, we have support of almost 1 crore workforce through BMS’ different affiliates in all the industries and almost all the offices in India.

Prior to 2002 it was seriously being felt that the causes of Class-I officers in LIC were not being represented before the management at all, not to talk about achieving it. Whatever Class-III & Class-IV were being given, on the basis of it, Class-I were also being paid something. The Class-I officers were in a desperate plight. And, as such, NOINO was started.

Since its formation, NOINO is continuously striving for the betterment of Class-I officers. Let us have a brief look what we achieved:

1.      GI scheme 2004: This was our first breakthrough. We were able to get it implemented for all classes of employees, and, due to which, the premium amount was significantly lowered.
2.      Wage revision 2002 (effected in 2005): NOINO was the lone ranger in Class I which successfully fought the battle after the erstwhile so-called majority Class I association agreed to 12% increase & the officers got about 2.8% more rise.
3.      Compensation on ULIP conversion: Due to our efforts Class-I were paid compensation for extra works beyond office-hours for the first time in 50 years.
4.      Election Duty: The dogged pursuit of the Election duty issue by NOINO led to the path-breaking verdict of Mumbai High Court which forced the Election Commission to restrict themselves from deputing LIC officers and employees in election duty.
5.      Circular 144: The draconian condition of age limit for certain marketing posts (notoriously referred to as Circular no. 144) was successfully fought back by NOINO by organizing a huge congregation of officers on 8th May 2006. Due to this lot of officers were able to compete & get promotions which otherwise they would not have got.
6.      Ace competition 2009: The management went back on its word & drastically reduced the award money. NOINO fought this issue fiercely & compelled the management to revise the award money not once, but twice.
7.      Jeevan Aastha Plan: Successfully fought back the extension of Plan up to Republic Day, a national holiday giving much needed relief to the branch marketing officials who had toiled continuously for more than 45 days prior to the extension.
8.      Back-up issue: NOINO’s uniqueness lies in its innovativeness & its quest to excel. Two years back we conducted a survey on the issue of back-up from 270 branches across six Zones. We submitted a comprehensive 12 page report consisting of our findings, analysis & solutions. One of the solutions suggested was centralized back-up to avoid late-sitting. This was accepted by the management & after the implementation of EFEAP, the branches have become back-up free.
9.      Tax on perks: The matter of tax on perquisites particularly for those staying in staff quarters was pending in the courts for several years. We suggested a practical solution, i.e. the Corporation should bear the tax on perks. We augmented our argument with similar examples in other financial institutions. Due to our consistent follow-up, the management agreed to bear tax on perks. Several employees were benefited due to this.
10. Wage revision 2007 (effected in 2010): We were the only Organization among all classes of employees / officers who followed-up the matter with Finance Ministry and were able to convince the authorities at all levels to pay a better wage than that of Banks - a major breakthrough in the history of the Corporation.
11. Spl conveyance allowance to PH: Got increased the spl conveyance allowance to physically handicapped employees / officers.
12. Housing Loan solution: We suggested the immediate solution for housing-loan deduction problems in March 2011 which was accepted by the management in toto and employees / officers were given great relief as till then, even deductions of installments were not being effected.

Besides above, there are many, which, if we include, the list will be very long and exhaustive. The above ones are only significant ones. We only wish to add that we are very sincerely following-up all the issues which Class-I officers of LIC face in their day-to-day life and genuinely need for a respectful survival.

Now, if you think that we are genuinely doing something for the betterment of Class-I officers of LIC of India, we request you to please join the Organization (NOINO) and strengthen it so that we may do something more better.

The membership-form is enclosed, herewith. We request you to please return it to us duly filled-in along with the admission-fee and the subscription-fee of (total) Rs.205/-.

Thanking you for your sustained support to us,

Yours brotherly,

Ganesh Kamath
GS, NOINO

Encl.: Membership form.

Any Class-I officer who is not yet our member but wishes to be; and, due to any reasons what-so-ever, could not be contacted by our activists, may download the membership-form given above, take a print-out, fill in and send it to our national headquarters address (as given on the form) with a DD of Rs.250/-. The DD will be in favour of “National Organization of Insurance Officers” and payable at Pune (as our Central Committee’s account is being maintained at Pune).

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

CVC allows finance ministry to select LIC chairman

    Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), the country’s largest investment institution, may finally get to see a new chairman as the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has allowed the finance ministry to go ahead with the selection process. The ministry had put the selection on hold pending a report from the CVC, which is investigating corruption charges against two contenders for the top post.
    The CVC has told the selection panel headed by the Finance Secretary RS Gujral that it would take some time to complete its inquiry against former chairman TS Vijayan and managing director Thomas Mathew T. It has said that the ministry in the meanwhile can seek clearance from the LIC’s central vigilance officer on all the potential candidates and proceed with the selection process.
    "CVC has not cited any time frame and has asked the selection committee to finalise a candidate and then seek its clearance," a member of the selection committee said requesting anonymity.
    LIC has been without a chairman since May when the government refused to grant an extension to Vijayan.
    The selection committee, which has met twice so far, will take a final decision next month. The committee includes J Hari Narayan and CS Rao, the current and former chiefs of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority.
    CVC had recommended a probe by the CBI into the investments made by LIC.
    In July, the CBI cleared both Vijayan’s and Mathew’s names in the LIC Housing Finance scam.
    CVC’s go ahead could put Vijayan and Mathew back in the race for the top post, but officials say they are unlikely to find support in the selection committee.
    The other LIC officials in the fray are acting chairman DK Mehrotra, executive director in-charge of international operations Sushobhan Sarkar and executive director (underwriting and re-insurance) TT Mathew.

(Source: A well-wisher of NOINO)