GOVT. ASSURANCES... HOPE IT IS RELIABLE

Seeking better pay and higher allowances, at least 33 Lakh central government employees threatened to go on strike on July 11.

The Central Government on Wednesday assured representatives of the employee unions to look into the issues raised by them, following the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission’s recommendations and therefore the strike call for the 11-July-2016 was deferred.

The union members expressed unhappiness over the Government’s decision to increase the minimum pay to just Rs 18,000. They are currently demanding that the pay be raised to at least Rs 26,000 at a fitment formula of 3.68, as against the cabinet approval of 2.52. If the said ratio increases, then the proportionate increase in the calculation will definitely have escalating effects.

The government on its part has setup a High Level Committee to review the demands. The employees are also demanding withdrawal of the new national pension scheme (NPS), which came into effect from October 2004. The Committee is to submit its report within four months.

It was rumoured that before the Cabinet approval, the Govt. does not want to implement the new pay scales before Diwali. Now the situation is just like a bitter pill which cannot be swallowed nor spat out. The Govt. succeeded in its aim to defer the issue and was also successful in putting the brakes on the All India Association/Federation agitation programmes.

The present Govt. appears to be more qualified, both educationally and experience-wise, as compared to the previous regime. 33 Lakhs of employees who have dedicated their lives definitely should have a say in the matter of their pay and allowances and these are not to be compared with the employees of private organisations, who have less loyalty to their organisations and will jump ship whenever a higher salary is offered.

The current mindset in the corridors of power is that the starting salaries at the junior levels of Govt. service are much higher as compared to the private sector. Therefore, there is an attempt to lower the salaries at the entry levels, where the numbers of entrants are high and to enhance the salaries and perks at Grp-A levels, which constitutes less than 10% of the total work force. 

More than the inequality & the unfairness of the new pay recommendations, it is the perpetuation of the notion of superiority of the Grp-A officers that they are the policy makers and hence deserve higher pay... BUT THEY DON'T DECIDE POLICY, THE POLITICIANS DO...  They would like to equate themselves with the politicians and give themselves higher pay rises and perks as compared to the junior officers

Why don’t they think the other way around, i.e. if bright young minds are to be lured into joining the Govt. service at the lower ranks (other than Grp-A) then higher pay has to be offered as an incentive for them, so that their future interests are safeguarded and secured. This will result in having competent and motivated staff which will result in better governance as majority of the public dealings/ground/field work are done with the lower level staff and not at the Grp-A levels.

On the other hand if the Grp-A officers feel that they are underpaid as compared to their counterparts in the private sector, then they are free to leave the Govt. service and join the private sector, if they think they can sustain themselves there.

Now, as the strike has been deferred, our All India body has enough time to introspect and take a decision, whether to go along-with the apex federation of the central govt. employees or not.

 

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