National Federation of Atomic Energy Employees NFAEE DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY Regn.No.17/9615 Recognised by DAE vide DAE OM No. 8/1/2007 – IR&W/95 dated 13th June 2007 NFAEE OFFICE, Opp: NIYAMAK BHAVAN, Anusaktinagar, Mumbai 400 094 Web site: www.nfaeehq.blogspot.com; Email address: nfaee@yahoo.com

Ref.No: nfaee/sg/14/053                                                           21.04.2014

To

All Affiliates

NFAEE

Dear Comrades,

Seventh Pay Commission though its web site published a questionnaire containing 15 questions.

Asked to submit the reply by 10^th May 2014. All the Ministries as well as the Department also asked to submit their reply on the subject.

All affiliates are requested to submit their views on the questionnaire before 1^st May 2014.

So that the Federation can compile the same and work out for a uniform reply and can submit to the Department before 5^th May 2014 as well a sto the Pay Commission.

Copy of the questionnaire is attached along with this letter

Take it as most urgent and act immediately.

With fraternal Greetings

Comradely yours

Jayaraj KV

Secretary General

Address for Correspondence: Jayaraj. KV, Secretary General, NFAEE

PESS/UED; BARC, Trombay, Mumbai 400 085

Tel. No: (O): 022 – 2559 6519; (Res): 022 – 2746 4704; (Mobile): 9869501189

Email Address: nfaee@yahoo.com, jrajkv@yahoo.com

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

SEVENTH CENTRAL PAY COMMISSION

NEW DELHI-110001

Meena Agarwal

Secretary

D.O No. 7CPC/15/Questionnaire

9th April, 2014

Dear ………..,

As you may be aware the Seventh Central Pay Commissions has been constituted by the Government on 28 February 2014 with a view to go into various issues of emoluments’ structure, retirement benefits and other service conditions of Central Government employees and to make recommendations on the changes required. The terms of reference of the Seventh Central Pay Commission are available on the http://7cpc.india.gov.in.

2. A Questionnaire seeking the considered views of all stakeholders is enclosed. The response of your Ministry to this Questionnaire is sought. I shall be grateful if the replies are furnished to the Commission on or before 10th May, 2014, so as to enable the Commission to take them into account as part of its examination of the issues that it is mandated to address. The reply may be sent to Post Box No. 4599, Hauz Khas P.O, New Delhi 110 016, and in the case of email to secy-7cpc@nic.in.

Encl:- As above.

With Regards,

Yours sincerely,

(Meena Agarwal)

To all Secretaries to Govt of India

7th CPC Questionnaire

1. Salaries

1.1 The considerations on which the minimum salary in case of the lowest Group ‘C’ functionary and the maximum salary in case of a Secretary level officer may be determined and what should be the reasonable ratio between the two.

1.2 What should be the considerations for determining salary for various levels of functions falling between the highest level and the lowest level functionaries?

2. Comparisons

2.1 Should there be any comparison/parity between pay scales and perquisites between Government and the private sector?  If so, why? If not, why not?

2.2 Should there at all be any comparison/parity between pay scales and perquisites between Government and the public sector? If so, why? If not, why not?

2.3 The concept of variable pay has been introduced in Central Public Sector Enterprises by the Second Pay Revision Committee. In the case of the Government is there merit in introducing a variable component of pay? Can such variable pay be linked to performance?

3. Attracting Talent

3.1 Does the present compensation package attract suitable talent in the All India Services & Group A Services? What are your observations and suggestions in this regard?

3.2 To what extent should government compensation be structured to attract special talent?

4. Pay Scales

4.1 The 6th Central Pay Commission introduced the system of Pay Bands and Grade Pay as against the system of specific pay scales attached to various posts. What has been the impact of running pay bands post implementation of 6th CPC recommendations?

4.2 Is there any need to bring about any change?

4.3 Did the pay bands recommended by the Sixth CPC help in arresting exodus and attract talent towards the Government?

4.4 Successive Pay Commissions have reduced the number of pay scales by merging one or two pay scales together. Is there a case for the number of pay scales/ pay band to be rationalized and if so in what manner?

4.5 Is the “grade pay” concept working? If not, what are your alternative suggestions?

5. Increment

5.1 Whether the present system of annual increment on 1st July of every year uniformly in case of all employees has served its purpose or not? Whether any changes are required?

5.2 What should be the reasonable quantum of annual increment?

5.3 Whether there should be a provision of variable increments at a rate higher than the normal annual increment in case of high achievers? If so, what should be transparent and objective parameters to assess high achievement, which could be uniformly applied across Central Government?

5.4 Under the MACP scheme three financial up-gradations are allowed on completion of 10, 20, 30 years of regular service, counted from the direct entry grade. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the scheme? Is there a perception that a scheme of this nature, in some Departments, actually incentivizes people who do not wish to take the more arduous route of qualifying departmental examinations/ or those obtaining professional degrees?

6. Performance

What kind of incentives would you suggest to recognize and reward good performance?

7. Impact on other organizations

Salary structures in the Central and State Governments are broadly similar. The recommendations of the Pay Commission are likely to lead to similar demands from employees of State Governments, municipal bodies, panchayati raj institutions & autonomous institutions. To what extent should their paying capacity be considered in devising a reasonable remuneration package for Central Govt. employees?

8. Defence Forces

8.1 What should be the considerations for fixing salary in case of Defence personnel and in what manner does the parity with civil services need to be evolved, keeping in view their respective job profiles?

8.2 In what manner should the concessions and facilities, both in cash and kind, be taken into account for determining salary structure in case of Defence Forces personnel.

8.3 As per the November 2008 orders of the Ministry of Defence, there are a total of 45 types of allowances for Personnel Below Officer Rank and 39 types of allowances for Officers. Does a case exist for rationalization/ streamlining of the current variety of allowances?

8.4 What are the options available for addressing the increasing expenditure on defence pensions?

8.5 As a measure of special recognition, is there a case to review the present benefits provided to war widows?

8.6 As a measure of special recognition, is there a case to review the present benefits provided to disabled soldiers, commensurate to the nature of their disability?

9. Allowances

9.1 Whether the existing allowances need to be retained or rationalized in such a manner as to ensure that salary structure takes care not only of the job profile but the situational factors as well, so that the number of allowances could be at a realistic level?

9.2 What should be the principles to determine payment of House Rent Allowance?

10. Pension

10.1 The retirement benefits of all Central Government employees appointed on or after 1.1.2004 a re covered by the New Pension Scheme (NPS). What has been the experience of the NPS in the last decade?

10.2 As far as pre-1.1.2004 appointees are concerned, what should be the principles that govern the structure of pension and other retirement benefits?

11. Strengthening the public governance system

11.1 The 6th CPC recommended upgrading the skills of the Group D employees and placing them in Group C over a period of time. What has been the experience in this regard?

11.2 In what way can Central Government organizations functioning be improved to make them more efficient, accountable and responsible? Please give specific suggestions with respect to:

a) Rationalisation of staff strength and more productive deployment of available staff;

b) Rationalisation of processes and reduction of paper work; and

c) Economy in expenditure.

12. Training/ building competence

12.1 How would you interpret the concept of “competency based framework”?

12.2 One of the terms of reference suggests that the Commission recommend appropriate training and capacity building through a competency based framework.

a) Is the present level of training at various stages of a person’s career considered adequate? Are there gaps that need to be filled, and if so, where?

b) Should it be made compulsory that each civil service officer should in his career span acquire a professional qualification? If so, can the nature of the study, time intervals and the Institution(s) whose qualification are acceptable, all be stipulated?

c) What other indicators can best measure training and capacity building for personnel in your organization? Please suggest ways through which capacity building can be further strengthened?

13. Outsourcing

13.1 What has been the experience of outsourcing at various levels of Government and is there a case for streamlining it?

13.2 Is there a clear identification of jobs that can be outsourced?

14. Regulatory Bodies

14.1 Kindly list out the Regulators set up under Acts of Parliament, related to your Ministry/ Department. The total number of personnel on rolls (Chairperson and members + support personnel) may be indicated.

14.2 Regulators that may not qualify in terms of being set up under Acts of Parliament but perform regulatory functions may also be listed. The scale of pay for Chairperson /Members and other personnel of such bodies may be indicated.

14.3 Across the Government there are a host of Regulatory bodies set up for various purposes. What are your suggestions regarding emoluments structure for Regulatory bodies?

15. Payment of Bonus

One of the terms of reference of the 7th Pay Commission is to examine the existing schemes of payment of bonus. What are your suggestions and observations in this regard?

RESOLUTION  adopted at the  National Convention of Central Government Employees

on 4^th April, 2014 at Nagpur.

1.       The National Secretariat of the Confederation places on record its appreciation over the massive and magnificent participation of the largest number of our members in the 48 hour strike on 12^thand 13th Feb. 2014.  It was a great manifestation of the confidence the members had reposed in the organization and their determination to win the demands through struggles.  The reports, the Confederation CHQ received both from the affiliates and the State Committee indicate the massive participation of the employees in the strike action throughout the county.  In some of the affiliates, the participation had been cent percent.  This must embolden the Confederation to pursue the issue with determination and organize further action programmes to ensure that the demands are got settled.

2.       The Secretariat has noted that the Government had pretended to ignore the massive action of the employees.  There had been no response from them so far.  In the wake of the strike action, it announced the composition of the 7^th CPC disregarding the united demand raised by the Staff side of the JCM National Council for the inclusion of a labour representative.  The Government also chose not to convene the meeting the staff side to discuss the draft terms of reference submitted.  It did not make any announcement on the question of merger of DA, Interim Relief, and inclusion of GDA within the ambit of the Commission and rejected the demand for making the recommendation of the Commission effective from 1.1.2014. 

3.       On every issue, which is included in the 15 point Charter of demands, the Govt. continued with its nugatory attitude.   In the last session of the Parliament, they ensured that the PFRDA bill becomes an Act despite the strongest objection and resistance of the employees by eliciting and receiving the support and patronage of the dominant opposition party, the BJP.  Even on an issue like compassionate appointments, no positive response emerged.   The period witnessed increased outsourcing of governmental functions.  Almost a third of the workforce is presently casual and contract workers with abysmally poor wages taking advantage of the acute unemployment situation in the country.  There had been no settlement of any issue raised by the Staff Side in the National Council JCM.  The JCM scheme has been made ineffective as not a single meeting of the Council was held in the last three years and even the decision taken at the National Anomaly Committee was thwarted through political intervention.

4.       The plight of the three lakh Gramin Dak Sevaks of the Postal Department is highly deplorable.  They constitute almost half of the Postal work force. But for them, the functioning of the Postal system will come to a grinding halt.  Their service conditions are presently worse off than even a causal/daily rated worker. Despite the Supreme Court’s decisions that they are holders of Civil Post and consequently are entitled to the benefits and privileges of a civil servant, there had been no improvement in their service conditions worth mentioning.  In spite of repeated presentation of their case both inside and outside the Parliament by people from all walks of life irrespective of party affiliation, the Government had been silent to the pleading for bringing them within the ambit of the Pay Commissions.  Confederation is duty bound and determined to change the situation and to bring them within the purview of the 7^th CPC.

5.       During its five year tenure the UPA II was in power, it intensified the neo-liberal reforms;  phased out all welfare measures; accentuated the unemployment situation; divested the PSUs; allowed unbridled entry of Foreign capital to subjugate the Indian people; ruined the indigenous industry; destroyed the livelihood of the farmers and agricultural labourers; allowed the prices of all essential food items to soar; privatised education and health care services; ensured that each of its decision was to favour the rich; granted huge tax concessions to the corporate; indulged in large scale corruption; squandered away the national wealth; siphoned off the poor man’s earning into the hands of a few rich in the country; sided with the entrepreneurs in all labour disputes;  took each and every political decision to sub-serve the interest of the imperialist powers especially the USA.  The pursuance of the neo liberal policies at the behest of the advanced capitalist countries drove the majority of Indian population to be below the poverty levels. In the comity of nations, India became the poorest and the last ranking in all fields. Indian youth were driven to be beggars at the doors of transnational corporations and developed countries.

6.       Those who were responsible in driving our country men to unprecedented deprivation have to now seek mandate, for their tenure is to end shortly.  No different is the approach of the major opposition party, BJP.  There is nothing to choose from these two political dispensations.  They were hand in glove together to demolish the sovereignty of the country; pauperisation of the people and supported every legislation to intensify the neo liberal exploitation of the common man.  They supported to the hilt the corporate houses.  But for the support extended by the BJP, the PFRDA bill would never have been made into a law.  The Act now provides for the extension of the new contributory pension scheme to those who were recruited prior to 1.1.2004 and the existing pensioners.  Despite the refusal of the Government to accept their suggestion to guarantee minimum pension, the BJP unashamedly supported the Bill, for they were the proponents of the neo liberal economic policies.  They supported this Government to increase the FDI and FII in all sectors of economy and announced that they would intensify the reform process if elected to power.  The conglomeration of Corporates in the country has now appointed the leader of that party to be the next CEO to run the country.  They have no use for the discredited UPA howsoever subservient it could be.  They know in a democratic system demagogy can play a vital role.  They are certain that BJP and its allies if elected to power will be much more pliant and compliant.

7.       The Corporate controlled media has created an illusion to the effect that there exists a consensus across the political spectrum in the country that the neo liberal policies will spur economic growth and the only point to be clinched in the forthcoming election is as to which political combination, whether the UPA led by Rahul Gandhi or the NDA of Narendra Modi is more efficient in pursuing the IMF dictated economic policies vigorously.  Economic growth is not akin to development. In the initial years of the introduction of the LPG, no doubt, the economy grew phenomenally, but the large majority of Indian people suffered. It permanently halted the bringing up of an egalitarian society.  It only enlarged the scope for maximisation of profit of the corporate giants; opened up larger and bigger avenues for corruption at the top of administration, whereby the ruling party and its leaders could amass wealth.  The scams unearthed by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India during the last five years of UPA II Rule speak volumes of the cancerous growth of corruption in our country.  The 2G spectrum involving Rs. 1.76 lakh crores,  the Coalgate of the dimension of Rs. 1.86 lakh crores, the corruption involved in the commonwealth games, the Rs. 40,000 cr deal in the Delhi Airport Privatisation scheme, The KG Basin related Gas price deal with Reliance, topping with Rs 48 lakh crores are a few that surfaced during this period.

8.       As part of the economic policy, concerted and continuous efforts were made to the job killing process in all sectors, through contractorisation, casualisation, outsourcing, privatisation etc. Contract workers now constitute 80% of the total work force in the private sector.  After the implementation of the 6^th CPC recommendations about 35% of the workforce in the Governmental sector is either contract or casual workers.  They are paid quarter of or even less the wages of the regular workers. 

9.       This election is not only to decide who should govern this country but more so to determine for whom the governance is. UPA having been totally discredited in the eyes of the common man has no chance whatsoever.  NDA must not have a chance once again for it is bound to pursue the neo liberal policies more vigorously than even the UPA. That is the one and only reason why the Indian corporate houses and the corporate controlled media solidly back the BJP and the BJP led NDA. The Political combination outside the NDA and UPA has a predominant presence in the 15^th Lok Sabha. They are capable of being the largest segment in the 16^th Lok Sabha too.

10.   It is in this background that the workers must assess the political situation.  In the forthcoming electoral battle, every worker must discharge his salutary responsibility.  Since the present state of affairs is the product of the neo- liberal policies and since both the UPA and the NDA are the proponents of those policies, one must have clear vision and exercise the franchise effectively to ensure that a pro-worker, pro-people combination of parties is in governance.  In the forthcoming election to the 16^th Lok Sabha, the Central Government employees must become a vehicle for change in the interest of the common people; rise above the divisive ideologies and misleading propaganda; identify their friends especially in the Left parties; and ensure the success of those who stood with them and fought for the cause of the workers and common people. 

11.   The Secretariat came to the inescapable conclusion that the settlement of the demands in the charter will only be possible through intensification of the struggles.  It recognised the need for larger unity. It will strive for bringing about such a united platform for joint action.  The inevitability of an indefinite strike action has to be emphasised.  The Confederation and its affiliates must prepare its members for such an eventual and unavoidable action, if the proposed 7^th CPC is to really revise the wages.  It is needed to ensure the withdrawal of the pernicious contributory pension scheme.  It only will ensure that there are no casual or contract system of employment in Government service.   The Government employees must be bestowed with democratic rights and above all must enjoy the facility for collective bargaining and right to strike.  The Gramin Dak Sevak system is a colonial legacy and no civilised country must endure such brutal exploitation.  All is possible through united and sustained action.  The Confederation has proved beyond any iota of doubt that it has built up an organisation capable of carrying out such an action.

12.   To ensure that the Indian people have food security, the farmers are not driven to commit suicide, the workers do have decent job environment and emoluments, the prices of essential commodities do not soar, there is universal public distribution of essential food articles; India has an independent foreign policy, this great Nation is not enslaved by western imperial powers once again, all communities and people of different faiths are allowed to live in peace and harmony; no communal violence erupts; all able bodied people have jobs and livelihood, there must be a Government which exist for the sake of the poor inhabitants of this country.  Central Government employees must take an active role in the ensuing General election and strive with their best to bring about such a Government.

13.   This convention calls upon every worker of the Confederation to fan out and reach out to the rank and file of its membership, explain the stupendous task ahead; to work in consonance with the understanding depicted in this resolution and ensure that they become instruments for a great political change in our country. 

14.   The Convention authorises the National Secretariat to review the political situation emerging after the election and take appropriate decision to mobilise the rank and file of the workers for an eventual industrial action to seek settlement of the 15 point charter of demands.

National Federation of Atomic Energy Employees NFAEE DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY Regn.No.17/9615 Recognised by DAE vide DAE OM No. 8/1/2007 – IR&W/95 dated 13th June 2007 NFAEE OFFICE, Opp: NIYAMAK BHAVAN, Anusaktinagar, Mumbai 400 094 Web site: www.nfaeehq.blogspot.com; Email address: nfaee@yahoo.com

Ref.No:nfaee/sg/14/035                                                                          07.03.2014

To

The Hon’ble Prime Minister

Govt. of India

South Block, Raisina Hill,

New Delhi – 110011

Respected Sir,

The Central Government Employees working in Department of Atomic Energy condemn the attitude of the Government not honoring its commitment of holding discussion with the Staff Side (JCM) National Council before finalizing the terms of reference of the 7^th Central Pay Commission.

In the meeting convened by Secretary Personnel on 24^th October 2013, it was agreed that the Government would consider the suggestions submitted by the staff side and will convene another round of discussion in the presence of Secretary Expenditure to explore the possibilities of an agreement in the matter.

It is unfortunate to note here that neither such meeting was convened nor considered the suggestion on terms of reference submitted by the staff side was considered and the suggestion by the staff side on Interim Relief, Merger of DA, Representation of labour Representative in the Pay Commission, Bringing the Grameen Dak Sewaks within the ambit of the 7^th CPC, Covering the employees appointed on or after 01.01.2004 within the purview of Defined Pension Scheme, Ensuring the date of effect from 01.01.2014, Settlement of anomalies raised in the National Anomaly committee has been rejected.

We therefore request you to intervene immediately and asked to review the Terms of Reference issued by the Ministry of Finance.

Thanking you. 

Yours faithfully,

Jayaraj KV

Secretary General

Cc:    The Secretary of the government of India

Department of Atomic Energy

Anushakthi Bhavan

CSM Marg, Mumbai 400 001

Address for Correspondence: Jayaraj. KV, Secretary General, NFAEE

PESS/UED; BARC, Trombay, Mumbai 400 085

Tel. No: (O): 022 – 2559 6519; (Res): 022 – 2746 4704; (Mobile): 9869501189

                                           Email Address: nfaee@yahoo.com, jrajkv@yahoo.com