One more demand acceded - Hotel Charges revised

Vide our letter to the ED (Personnel) dated 3rd September 2012, we had demanded increase in lodging charges at hotels during official tour. The relevant portion of the letter is reproduced below:

"We would like to bring to your kind notice regarding the following issues, where we feel that a substantial revision is overdue:-

1.      Revision in limit of re-imbursement of lodging charges at hotels to employees on official tour: - This limit was last revised on 1^st December 2008. Thus, a period of almost 4 years has elapsed."

Thereafter, we made regular follow-up for it.

We are pleased to announce that LIC management accepted our above demand and has revised lodging charges at hotels on official tour w.e.f. 01.01.2013 vide their Circular No: CO/PER/ER-A/016/2012 dated 24/12/2012.

The revised rates are as follow:

Employees in the cadre of	Maximum lodging charges that can be reimbursed (Taxes extra)
	Major Cities	Category-II cities	Other Places
ZM/ED	Rs.8000	Rs.4500	Rs.4000
SDM/DM	Rs.5500	Rs.3750	Rs.3000
SBM/ADM/BM/AO	Rs.3000	Rs.2200	Rs.1600
AAO/ABM(S)	Rs.2000	Rs.1500	Rs.1200

We thank the management for accepting our demand.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all..!!

Video clips of 16th Extended EC meeting

16^th Extended EC meeting of NOINO was held at Dehradun on 5^th & 6^th November 2012. Besides NOINO office-bearers - Shri Prakash Javadekar, MP(Rajya Sabha); Shri Uday Patwardhan, Financial Sector I/c, BMS; Shri T.Adhikari, Sr DM, LICI Dehradun Division; and Shri Pawan Kumar, Organizing Secretary, BMS also attended and addressed the meeting.

Video-clips of the meeting are available at:

 http://www.youtube.com/noinocentral/   and

 http://www.facebook.com/noinocentral/

NOINO news-bulletin

NOINO news-bulletin for and up to the month of December 2012 stands published & circulated. If anyone has not got it, he / she is requested to contact the respective Divisional / Zonal Secretary to get it.

KHOOBSURAT NOINO!!!!!

· ENTIRE SURAT UNIT OF CLASS I FEDERATION AFFILIATES WITH NOINO

·   135 OFFICERS JOIN NOINO FOLD

     NOINO has conquered one more frontier. This time it is Surat division in Western Zone. NOINO has been successful in hoisting the BMS flag for the first time in Surat division.

     For those who have been observing & following NOINO’s activities, this should not come as a surprise. Such successes have been achieved purely on the basis of NOINO’s diligence, dedication & doggedness in pursuing the issues of the Class I Officers.

     In a simple affair, the Surat unit of Class I Federation affiliated itself with NOINO on Sunday, 23rd December 2012 in a Special General Meeting called specially for this purpose. Smt. Anagha Sant, GS, NOINO; Shri Ganesh Kamath, Chief Advisor, NOINO; Shri Dattaraj Prabhukhanolkar, Resident Secretary, NOINO; Shri Vishwas Shastri, GS, NOINO WZ unit; Shri Anil Bhagdikar, President, NOINO WZ unit; Shri Amit Vaidya, VP, NOINO, WZ unit; Shri Ram Vadalkar, GS, NOINO Vadodara unit were present on this occasion. The SDM of Surat, Shri Girish Kumar was also present on this occasion. More than 100 officers attended the meeting.

    The historic special general meeting started with a resolution announcing the decision to affiliate the Surat unit of Class I Federation to NOINO. The resolution was passed unanimously amidst thunderous applause. Shri Malcolm Bhathena, GS of Class I Federation Surat unit explained why it was felt necessary to affiliate the unit with NOINO. He said that the entire officers’ community in Surat was impressed by the activities & achievements of NOINO. Shri Bharatbhai Parameshwarwala, President of Class I Federation Surat unit also spoke on the occasion. He informed that 135 officers had already paid their subscription. In addition to these, many officers also paid their subscription on the spot.

    Many officers also spoke their minds. Most of them said that the Class I Officers in Surat were reeling under intense bulldozing tactics & humiliation by the divisional management.

   Speaking on this occasion, Shri Vishwas Shastri, GS, NOINO, WZ unit spoke about the achievements of NOINO. He said that the WZ unit would be always with the officers of Surat & take care of their problems at all levels.

    The Senior Divisional Manager, Shri Girish Kumar, said that the customer of LIC was our GOD & it was our sacred duty to serve him / her at any cost. He wished the newly elected Surat team of NOINO all success.

    Our ex-Zonal President Shri Vilas Purkar also spoke on this occasion. He said that BMS always believed in the slogan “Desh ke hith mein karenge kaam, kaam ke lenge poore daam” & said that all BMS activists always made a conscious effort to contribute towards the prosperity of the industry.

    The GS of NOINO Smt Anagha Sant guided the assembly. She said that the officers should have self-belief since it was mainly because of their hard work that the Corporation had reached such heights & also because they were selected as officers due to their meritorious works. She also appealed the lady officers to come forward & play more important role in the union activities.

    Shri Ganesh Kamath, Chief Advisor, NOINO gave the concluding speech. He congratulated the assembly for taking a historic decision of affiliating with NOINO. He said that according to Swami Vivekanand, fear was the greatest drawback of a human being & once this fear was overcome, it was possible to conquer everything. He said that the Central leadership of NOINO including our President Shri Prakash Javadekar was keeping a close watch on all divisions of LIC & insults of any Class I Officer would not be tolerated. He assured the officers of Surat that NOINO would take up all matters pertaining to Surat with the Zonal & Central management.

    The vote of thanks was given by Shri Bharatbhai Parmeshwarwala.

    The following divisional committee was unanimously elected:-

1.      Sri. Bharat .M. Parmeshwarwala – President

2.      Sri. B.C. Chaudhari – Vice President

3.      Sri. M.S.Bhathena – Divisional Secretary

4.      Sri. K.S.Rana – Organizing Secretary

5.      Sri.H.V.Passwala – Joint Secretary

6.      Sri.R.C.Gohil – Joint Secretary

7.      Sri.K.Z.Patel. – Treasurer

8.      Sri.C.C.Patel -  EC Member

9.      Sri.N.K.Barot- EC Member

10. Sri. P.L.Gajjarkar – EC Member

11. Sri. P.R.Soni - EC Member

12. Sri. G.D. Vesuna - EC Member

13. Sri. V.D. Gupta - EC Member

14. Sri. D.K. Kadva - EC Member

15. Sri. Naresh .K. Kantharia - EC Member

16. Sri. J.U.Khengar - EC Member

17. Smt. I.N. Agharkar - EC Member

18. Smt. H.D.Parikh - EC Member

             19.Sri. D.M.Maru - EC Member

NOINO calls for protest demonstration on 28th December

The frustration of Class I Officers is increasing day by day. The Class I Officers, particularly in the branches are over-burdened by the work-load. They are selectively being targeted. Many issues remain un-resolved. Consider this:-

• AO Batches of 2005 & 2006 and ADM Batch of 2008 not considered for promotion.

• Wage-revision has become due on 1^st August 2012. Management has not invited for discussions.

• No progress on the issue of One more option for pension.

• No recruitment in Class III & Cashiers. The burden of the same has to be borne by Class I Officers.

• In some divisions, Class I Officers are being selectively targeted on the issue of Excess & Wrong payments & are being pressurized to pay the amount.

• Compulsion of Property returns/DOPA/P-form.

• Subsidy in Mediclaim for Class I Officers is 2/3^rd of the premium. For all others (including retired employees) the subsidy is 3/4^th of the premium.

• In many places, Class I Officers don’t have adequate space to sit.

      NOINO has decided to stand up & protest this injustice being meted out to Class I Officers. We would be conducting protest demonstrations on the above issues at Yogakshem as well as at all other Zonal offices on 28^th December 2012 during lunch-hours. We appeal you to join the demonstrations in large numbers.

NOINO DELEGATION MEETS ED (P)

              A NOINO delegation consisting of our newly elected General Secretary Smt. Anagha Sant; Shri Ganesh Kamath, Chief Advisor; Shri Sanjay Ramdasi, Jt. Treasurer; Shri Dattaraj Prabhukhanolkar, Resident Secretary, NOINO; Shri Manish Patankar, Jt Secy, NOINO WZ unit, met the Executive Director (P) Shri M R Kumar and Shri T R Mendiratta, Chief (Personnel) on 14th December 2012. The following issues were discussed:-

A)   Batches for Promotion: In the ensuing promotion round of 2013, the AO batches of 2005 & 2006 & the ADM batch of 2008 have not been considered for promotion by the management. We strongly protested this fact & demanded that these batches should be considered. We submitted that by this decision, the officers are frustrated, demoralized & there is a lot of unrest among them. We presented our analysis of the statistics & argued that it was possible to consider these batches. ED (P) said that he would examine the statistics presented by us. However, he did not sound positive on this issue. We have suggested a few solutions. The primary solution was to increase vacancies. Just as AAO & AO cadres are considered inter-changeable, ADM & DM could also be considered inter-changeable & more officers can be accommodated. We also suggested that just as an AO is posted in a branch where BM is posted, similarly, ADM could be posted where SBM is posted. Splitting of portfolios can also be a solution. We also suggested that the current procedure of promotion should give way to the procedure of ‘promotion by application’. By this way, only those who are interested in promotion in the particular year would be considered & to that extent the competition would be reduced. On this particular issue (of ‘promotion by application’), ED(P) sounded positive. However, he said that the management would consider the implementation of this suggestion next year. We have also suggested long-term solutions (already demanded in our charter) like running scales & granting grades & benefits for eligible officers missing promotion for want of vacancies. NOINO will decide the future course of action in this matter shortly.

B)    One more Pension Option:- We have once again reiterated our demand for this and  stressed(once again) that this should not be linked with our wage revision. ED(P) sounded positive on this issue & said that management would be following up the issue with Finance Ministry.

C)  Fixing of Responsibility for Excess/Wrong Payments:-  We pointed out that in some Divisions only Officers are held responsible and are pressurized to pay the amount. We have already raised this issue with the MD Shri Sushobhan Sarker on 11^th October 2012. We have offered some solutions like “Fidelity Insurance” and creating a “Reserve Fund” to cover the “Excess/Wrong Payments”. We said that after shifting our dependence to the computerized system, it is illogical to fix the responsibility, except for gross negligence or intentional mistakes. The incidence of such cases (the proportion of excess/wrong payments to total payments) is very low. The Outstanding amount is only about 40 crores. Out of this only about 40% was outstanding from policyholders. Due to shortage of staff, it is not possible to adhere to the usual procedure of one employee each for preparing, checking & passing the voucher. Resultantly, only two instead of three employees do the job. Thus, the risk increases, so also the amount of recovery from each employee. It is also not possible to check 100% payments while adhering to the customers’ demand and our cut off dates. On one hand, we expect the employees to meet the dead-lines of Claims settlement as well as maintain ‘NIL’ ratio & on the other hand we expect that no errors should be committed & manual calculations should be done. It is also expected that while settling claims, even premium should be calculated. This is practically impossible.  We asked a simple question. If the Data Vigilance Module can detect errors, then why care has not been taken to incorporate steps in the programming so that errors do not occur at all? ED(P) was very positive on this issue & said that he would be immediately talking to the IT authorities in this matter.

D)  Commencing Discussions on Charter of Demands”:- The delegation has  once again raised this issue and demanded that the management should immediately invite the unions for discussions on the charter. We submitted the “Addendum to the Charter of Demand” in “Core Financial Issues on actual DA applicable as on 1^st August 2012. We also reiterated that our charter should not be linked with “Banking Sector”. ED (P) said that the management was constantly following up this matter with the Ministry. There were some practical problems & when the management would be in a position to offer something it would invite the unions for discussions.

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E)  Class III recruitment & paucity of cashiers:- We have again raised this issue and also reiterated the need for it. The pressure of work in branches has increased manifold the major brunt of the same has to be faced by the Class I officers. ED (P) replied that some formula is being calculated to find out actual number of vacancies branch wise & some data collection was going on. He said that Class III recruitment was on the agenda of the management. We also raised the issue of shortage of cashiers & demanded recruitment of personnel exclusively as cashiers to ease the burden on the Class I Officers & to reduce the problems in the branches. ED(P) was not very positive on this issue & expressed that recruitment of Class III would be the best solution to this problem.

  

F)   Mediclaim Subsidy for Class One officers:- We once again pointed out that while this subsidy was 3/4^th for Class III, Class IV & also retired employees(including retired Class I Officers), the subsidy was 2/3^rd for Class I Officers & strongly demanded that the Class I Officers should also be granted 3/4^th subsidy. ED (P) was very positive about this issue & agreed to consider this demand shortly.

G)  Compulsion of filing Property returns for Class One officers:- We once again raised this  issue & expressed our dissatisfaction over the selective targeting of Class I Officers. We also protested the fact that such filing of property returns has been linked with the promotion & demanded that this condition should be removed forthwith. We submitted that the purported logic behind such compulsion was to have a check on corruption & also to check whether any person has assets disproportionate to his income. We submitted that the origin of corruption was in the mind & not depended on any cadre. ED (P) was not positive on this issue.  He said that submission of the property returns is in the best interest of the officers and especially for those who may occupy “key posts” in the organization. The numbers of anonymous complaints against the officers in key post have increased with the advent of RTI. He also told that unless and until any vigilance complaint is raised by an authority like CBI, the packets of property returns are not opened at all. He also appealed that the officers should give correct information to safe guard one’s own interest.

H)  Restriction on mail recipients: - We once again raised this issue & said that this move on the part of the management to restrict the number of mail recipients was undemocratic & gave rise to many practical problems. ED (P) assured to examine this issue at a later date.

NOINO would be following up these issues in the future. The future course of action on the above issues would be decided shortly.

One Charter demand acceded – mobile exp. allowed

We submitted our Charter of Demands to the management for wage-revision and other matters on 23^rd July 2012. One of the demands in this Charter was to allow reimbursement of mobile expenses to the officers working on administration side. Earlier also we put this demand separately.

We are happy to announce that vide Circular No.: CO/Per/ER-A/013/2012 dated 12/12/2012 reimbursement of mobile expenses have been allowed to officers working on administration side. The reimbursement will come into force w.e.f. 1^st January 2013. The maximum amounts allowed are:

1.       AAO/AO/ADM: Rs.400/- per month / Rs.1200/- per quarter

2.       DM: Rs.500/- per month / Rs.1500/- per quarter

We thank the management for acceding to our demand.

NOINO protests non-consideration of new batches for promotion

Yesterday, i.e. on 11^th December 2012, NOINO submitted a letter to ED(P) protesting against non-inclusion of new batches for consideration of promotion in few cadres for promotion round 2013. The letter is reproduced below:

Date: 11-12-2012

The Executive Director (Personnel),

L.I.C.Of India.

Respected Sir,

Re: Batches considered for Promotion round 2013-14

According to the information received by us regarding batches to be considered for ensuing round of Promotions, we are surprised & disappointed to note that the likely batch of AO to be considered for promotion to ADM is again 2004. Since last 2 years the 2004 batch has been considered for promotion to ADM cadre. This has resulted into lots of resentment and frustration among the AO’s of batches 2005 & 2006. Last year too, our NOINO delegation had met the then MD Shri A.K.Dasgupta on 30.12.2011 and protested this move of management of not considering the 2005 batch of AO. In spite of this, again this year the batches of 2005 & 2006 have not been considered. We lodge our strong protest in this matter.

The officers belonging to these two batches are frustrated to see that in spite of their excellent performance, they are not even considered eligible for promotion. The solution to this is to find ways & means to increase the number of vacancies & reward these officers (from 2005 & 2006 batches) which we feel should be considered.

We, therefore, request you to consider 2005 and 2006 batches of AO for promotion to the cadre of ADM for the ensuing round of promotion.

With regards,

Anagha Sant

General Secretary,

NOINO

Batches for promotion 2013

As per information available with us, the following would be the batches to be considered for 2013 promotion round:

ZM(S)----------2009 & Earlier ZM(O)

ZM(O)----------2004 & earlier DZM/SDM

DZM/SDM----2008 & earlier DM/MM/CM

DM--------------2007 & earlier ADM/SBM

ADM/SBM----2004 & earlier AO/BM

AO/BM--------July 2007 & earlier AAO/ABM(S)

NOINO’s efforts pay – High cost treatment revised

     The Corporation has effected certain modifications in the scheme of Reimbursement of expenses in case of High Cost/Protracted Treatment vide circular CO/PER/ER-A/012/2012 dated 4.12. 2012. The modifications are as follows:-

A.   Addition of 5 more major diseases to the list of 30 major diseases hitherto covered under the said scheme. The diseases are:-

1.    Messeric Venous Thrombosis—Protein Deficiency.

2.    Christmas disease.

3.    Cerebral Palsy.

4.    Myasthenia Gravis.

5.     Pancreatitis.

B.   Removal of restriction of time limit of 180 days for re-imbursement of post-hospitalisation expenses for 4 more diseases in addition to cancer & kidney transplant (for which the restriction was not applicable already). The diseases are:-

1.    Thalassemia Major.

2.    Coronary Artery Disease.

3.    Chronic renal failure where transplant is not done & require dialysis.

4.    Brain surgery.

   You may recall that NOINO has been continuously striving to bring about changes / modifications in the said scheme. We would like to reproduce the relevant part of the letter submitted by us on 27.3.2012 to ED(P), Shri B Manivannan as well as MD Shri Thomas Matthew T:-

“Removal of condition of time restriction of 180 days :- At present, there is a time restriction of 180 days for claiming post-hospitalization expenses except for Cancer & kidney transplant. We demand that this limit of 180 days should be removed for all diseases/illnesses& the re-imbursement should be made till the full amount of ex-gratia is exhausted”.

      After submitting this letter, we have been continuously raising this issue in our later meetings with the management. We have followed up this issue as follows:-

          1. With ED(P) Shri B Manivannan on 2.4.2012.

          2. With MD Shri Sushobhan Sarker on 13.4.2012.

          3. With ED(P) Shri M R Kumar on 2.7.2012 & 24.7.2012.

We are aware that some more modifications are required. NOINO will strive to bring about those modifications.