Wage settlement and 2nd option for pension have left bankers more distraught than happy. Media that claims that nothing is taboo for it has shown absolutely no interest in examining why bankers are not happy with it, especially with the way 2nd option for pension has been given. But the matter certainly calls for some look in. Wage settlement has made them unhappy because they were given to understand they will be kept on even keel with the government employees who have been bestowed everything in 6th pay commission. That in reality they are no where around them is now well known. The entire ghost of corruption hangs around the necks of the government employees despite opulence coming their way through pay commission. And bankers who sustained India and its fledgeling economy even during the period of the worst recession when great banking behemoths of the world collapsed have been roundly cheated by the government as most of the bank employees see it. No doubt government could perform this feat because some of the key leaders of UFBU chose to be on the side of the government.
But more than the settlement it is the matter of 2nd option for pension that has hit them the most. Govt. through IBA having no official status told the bankers that banks did not have enough money to pay pension to all employees. A strange argument indeed. The government has money to pay to all its parliamentarians for doing nothing; it has money to give dole to farmers and other wilful defaulters of banks; it has money to pay to those organizations that are perennially in loss and are surviving on tax-payers' money for years on, but it has no money to pay pension to its bankers who are filling the coffers of the government year after year!
Finally, it was settled that the serving employee would cough up 2.88 times of whatever they received by way of arrears for the month of Nov 07. On an average an employee had to pay up Rs. 70000/- to become eligible for applying for 2nd option. Those who had retired in order to become eligible for 2nd option had to pay up 156% by way of interest on the amount they had received as bank's share of provident fund. It was a huge sum of money.
Why this 2nd option? Well, when the original offer of pension was made in 1995, the scheme contained a clause that said if there was any break in the service the employee would forfeit his pension. There was a huge protest and many either did not opt for it or withdrew it after opting for it. Long after the scheme was closed, government withdrew the clause. Since with the withdrawal of the contentious clause the offer of pension had acquired a new status, the legitimate expectation was fresh option would be given to those who had not opted in the first place or had withdrawn because of that sinister clause. Banks quietly made an announcement of the modification and before majority of employees could know about it, the scheme was closed. So most of the employees were left high and dry. That is the history behind the 2nd option. We have a democracy where people's own government consistently cheat them.
When pension was allowed in 1995 for the first time for banks other than SBI, it was implemented with effect from 1.1.86 and rate of interest charged was a mere 6% against 288% and 156%. And instead of making it effective from the due date, it was made effective from 27.11.2009, a date decided by the esteemed and erudite troubleshooter of UPA the honourable Pranab Mukherjee.
Now let us now contrast it with what the statute (Pension Regulations, 1995)--a statute is a government instrument--says. It says "the bank shall be a contributor to the fund and shall ensure that sufficient sums are placed in it to enable the trustees to make due payments to beneficiaries under these regulations." The statue further stipulates:
a) the contribution by the bank at the rate of 10% per month of the pay of the employee; b) the accumulated contributions of the bank to the PF and interest accrued thereon up to the date of such transfer in respect of the employee...It further lays that the "bank shall cause an investigation to be made by an actuary into the financial conditions of the fund every financial year on the 31st day of March, and make such additional annual contributions to the fund as may be required to secure payment of the benefits under these regulations." Nothing of the kind was done. Instead, money was forcibly taken from the pockets of bank employees who have been contributing and contributed to the well being of the nation. The settlement became due on 1.12.2007. An employee retiring from the bank on say 31st July 2009 would, as per the statute in force, have got his/her pension from 1.8.2009. But no, the much learned Pranab Mukherjee decides it would be paid from 27.11.2009. Was it his birth day or that of someone close to him and his family? Can you find more blatant abuse of power in a civilized country where a government tramples upon its own statute? The aggrieved bankers have naturally knocked at the doors of honourable high courts and the apex court of the country, because left to these politicians in power, they will have the same drama enacted all over again. We are already witnessing activities in the theatre of the absurd. There is no end to absurdities. The shortfall as suggested by the actuaries were shared in the ratio of 70:30 by the banks and employees. While employees have been made to pay their share of 30% through their nose, banks have been allowed amortization of their share by RBI and the government. Can anyone find a better example of institutionalized cheating of its own people by the government of a civilized country?
But I am impressed with the poser of Sagarika Ghosh on CNN-IBN. She boldly anchors Face the Nation where she claims nothing is a taboo. If so, why this banking episode does not find any space there? Is the conscience of the nation so bland, so vapid that it does not care for such things?
We would like to hear something from those pretending to be concerned with the concerns of the nation. One hopes concerns of a nation are not limited only to the parliament and things associated with parliament.
But more than the settlement it is the matter of 2nd option for pension that has hit them the most. Govt. through IBA having no official status told the bankers that banks did not have enough money to pay pension to all employees. A strange argument indeed. The government has money to pay to all its parliamentarians for doing nothing; it has money to give dole to farmers and other wilful defaulters of banks; it has money to pay to those organizations that are perennially in loss and are surviving on tax-payers' money for years on, but it has no money to pay pension to its bankers who are filling the coffers of the government year after year!
Finally, it was settled that the serving employee would cough up 2.88 times of whatever they received by way of arrears for the month of Nov 07. On an average an employee had to pay up Rs. 70000/- to become eligible for applying for 2nd option. Those who had retired in order to become eligible for 2nd option had to pay up 156% by way of interest on the amount they had received as bank's share of provident fund. It was a huge sum of money.
Why this 2nd option? Well, when the original offer of pension was made in 1995, the scheme contained a clause that said if there was any break in the service the employee would forfeit his pension. There was a huge protest and many either did not opt for it or withdrew it after opting for it. Long after the scheme was closed, government withdrew the clause. Since with the withdrawal of the contentious clause the offer of pension had acquired a new status, the legitimate expectation was fresh option would be given to those who had not opted in the first place or had withdrawn because of that sinister clause. Banks quietly made an announcement of the modification and before majority of employees could know about it, the scheme was closed. So most of the employees were left high and dry. That is the history behind the 2nd option. We have a democracy where people's own government consistently cheat them.
When pension was allowed in 1995 for the first time for banks other than SBI, it was implemented with effect from 1.1.86 and rate of interest charged was a mere 6% against 288% and 156%. And instead of making it effective from the due date, it was made effective from 27.11.2009, a date decided by the esteemed and erudite troubleshooter of UPA the honourable Pranab Mukherjee.
Now let us now contrast it with what the statute (Pension Regulations, 1995)--a statute is a government instrument--says. It says "the bank shall be a contributor to the fund and shall ensure that sufficient sums are placed in it to enable the trustees to make due payments to beneficiaries under these regulations." The statue further stipulates:
a) the contribution by the bank at the rate of 10% per month of the pay of the employee; b) the accumulated contributions of the bank to the PF and interest accrued thereon up to the date of such transfer in respect of the employee...It further lays that the "bank shall cause an investigation to be made by an actuary into the financial conditions of the fund every financial year on the 31st day of March, and make such additional annual contributions to the fund as may be required to secure payment of the benefits under these regulations." Nothing of the kind was done. Instead, money was forcibly taken from the pockets of bank employees who have been contributing and contributed to the well being of the nation. The settlement became due on 1.12.2007. An employee retiring from the bank on say 31st July 2009 would, as per the statute in force, have got his/her pension from 1.8.2009. But no, the much learned Pranab Mukherjee decides it would be paid from 27.11.2009. Was it his birth day or that of someone close to him and his family? Can you find more blatant abuse of power in a civilized country where a government tramples upon its own statute? The aggrieved bankers have naturally knocked at the doors of honourable high courts and the apex court of the country, because left to these politicians in power, they will have the same drama enacted all over again. We are already witnessing activities in the theatre of the absurd. There is no end to absurdities. The shortfall as suggested by the actuaries were shared in the ratio of 70:30 by the banks and employees. While employees have been made to pay their share of 30% through their nose, banks have been allowed amortization of their share by RBI and the government. Can anyone find a better example of institutionalized cheating of its own people by the government of a civilized country?
But I am impressed with the poser of Sagarika Ghosh on CNN-IBN. She boldly anchors Face the Nation where she claims nothing is a taboo. If so, why this banking episode does not find any space there? Is the conscience of the nation so bland, so vapid that it does not care for such things?
We would like to hear something from those pretending to be concerned with the concerns of the nation. One hopes concerns of a nation are not limited only to the parliament and things associated with parliament.
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