1. Shri Kamal Nath addresses a Press Conference on Winter Session of Parliament Commencing on 22nd November 2012.

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Posted By : AIPEU-GDS (NFPE) Odisha Circle.

1. A Commemorative Postage Stamp on the Consumer Protection Act Issued

On the completion of the enactment of Consumer Protection Act (CPA), 1986, a commemorative postal stamp was issued by the president of India, Shri Pranab Mukhrji here today. 

On the occasion Prof. K.V. Thomas, minister of state of consumer affairs, food and public distribution said that 1986 was a watershed year in the history of consumer movement in India that witnessed the enactment of the consumer protection act – the ‘magna carta’ legislation aimed at protecting the interests of consumers that they do not fall victims to the unfair trade practices and sub-standard services in the market place. He said that the special feature of this act is to provide speedy and inexpensive mechanism to redress the grievances of the consumer, and award compensation wherever appropriate. The act ensures consumer rights such as the right of choice, safety, information, public hearing and consumer education. 

The minister said India’s 1.2 billion consumers are the lifeblood of our economy. “A vibrant economy depends on effective demand from consumers for affordable quality products and services. Among the consumers, the disadvantaged groups, particularly vulnerable low-income earners, the unemployed, the physically and mentally challenged need our special attention. This is why, more than ever, we need a well-conceived, empowered and pro-active consumer policy”, he asserted. 

Prof Thomas said that it is a fact that the consumer movement in India gathered momentum with the enactment of the CPA, credit for which goes to our former prime minister, late Shri Rajiv Gandhi who had given a new thrust to the quality movement in India so that India could move into the 21st century with pride. This unparalleled act provides for the establishment of three tier disputes redressal machinery, consisting of the national commission, state commission and district fora. Since one of the most important consumer rights is the right to seek redressal, the act provides the consumers with a welcome alternative from the lengthy proceedings of civil court. at present, there are 627 district forums and 35 state commissions, apart from national commission, functioning in the country, with a disposal rate as high as 92%. , he said. 

Highlighting the importance of consumer awareness, Prof Thomas said that provisions of consumer protection act alone may not be sufficient for consumers to assert their rights under this act. Amongst the various efforts undertaken by the government, consumer information and education remain the two most important areas of concentration as they are the most effective means to counter the malpractices of the manufacturers and the market forces. Therefore, the department of consumer affairs is running a massive consumer awareness campaign under the slogan “jago grahak jago”. Joint campaigns are being taken up with other ministries/ departments which have consumer interface. Towards this end in view, the department has used railway tickets, utility bills and post cards to reach remote parts of the country. 

Minister of state of communications and Information Technology, Dr Kruparani gave the special features of the commemorative stamp and its objective. Issued in the denomination of Rs 5/, stamp shows consumer uniting against the banner ‘Jago Grahak Jago’. 

Posted by:AIPEU-GDS (NFPE) Odisha Circle.

1. Filling up of vacancies reserved for Persons with Disabilities- reg.

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1. Successful conductance of campaign programme by NFPE, Mayurbhanja Division for proposed one day all India strike on 12.12.12

 As a part of  the campaign programme designed by NFPE, Odisha Circle branch for the forthcoming one day all India Strike on 12.12.12 called by the Confederation of Central Govt. Employees and Workers, Com. B. Samal, Asst, Circle Secretary, AIPEU, Group-C, Odisha was given the charge of Mayurbhanja Division along with Com. Nirmal Singh from AIPEU, GDS (NFPE) and Com. Prafulla Panda from AIPEU, Postman/MTS

Accordingly, participating the  joint General Body Meeting of All India Postal Employees Union, Group-C, Postman/MTS and GDS(NFPE) organized by Mayurbhanj Divisional branch    on 25.11.2012 in the campus of Baripada Head Post Office  under the presidentship of Com. Baidyanath Rath, President, AIPEU, Group-C, Mayurbhanj Division, Com. Samal,  briefly described the history of P & T Trade Union Movement including justifications for setting up of 7^th Central Pay Commission, merger of DA with Pay and other demands and gave a clear picture of the role/contribution of NFPTE/NFPE for the betterment of the working class as a whole including that of GDS since the days when there was no separate ED Union. What have been achieved so far for the EDAs / GDS employees are only due to the effort of NFPTE/NFPE. There was / is no other union to take such credit except NFPTE/NFPE.  On behalf of AIPEU, Group-C, Odisha Circle branch, the GDS comrades who have been grossly misguided were tried to be made fully convinced the facts and appealed for submitting their resignations from AIPEDEU and joining in the newly formed AIPEU GDS ( NFPE)  to strengthen  NFPE once again from grass root level.

 Among others, Com. Satyabrata Mishra, Divisional Secretary, AIPEU, Gr.-C, Mayurbhanj Division and his counterparts from Postman/GDS and GDS ( NFPE) also addressed the gathering.

 

 

 

1. CONFEDERATION WRITES TO POLITICAL PARTIES SEEKING SUPPORT

CONFEDERATION OF CENTRALGOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES AND WORKERS

Manihsinath Bhawan,A/2/95 Rajouri Garden,New Delhi. 110 027.

Website: confederationhq. Blogspot.com,E mail:confederation06@yahoo.co.in.

 

Dated: 22^nd November, 2012

D/14/2012(2)(PP)

 

Dear Sir,

                We write this to request you to kindly intervene and take up the issues/demands and grievances of the Government employees with the Government.

 

                As you are aware, the Government had been systematically and continuously shedding its functions since 1991.  This policy decision has resulted in outsourcing many of the sovereign functions of the Government.  Presently as much as one third of the manpower employed by the Government is casual/contingent/daily rated or contract workers who are given pittance of emoluments. Half of the workforce of the Postal Department, (which employs more than three lakhs of employees,) is Grameen Dak Sewaks.  They are not even treated as Government employees.  For decades they work on hourly rate salary system.  Both the GDS and the other casual workers are employed for carrying out permanent and perennial nature of work.  The Government thus violates the laws of the land with impunity.  No scheme is in vogue today for their regularisation. The Govt. refuses to induct them as regular employees even after decades of service to their credit.

 

                The Government employees were entitled for a statutory defined benefit pension scheme.  The Government has denied it to those whoa re recruited after 1.1.2004. The post 2004 entrants are brought within the purview of the New Contributory Pension scheme, thereby making their pension entitlement subject to the market vagaries.  The reason adduced by the Government for effecting the switch over from the defined benefit scheme to the defined contributory scheme was the increasing financial burden on account of the pension liability. The Committee set up by the Govt. to go into the matter itself has opined that the new contributory scheme would only make the financial burden to increase further. 

 

                The Union Cabinet has now decided to allow FDI in Pension fund operations.  This will pave way for the foreign monopoly houses to garner the savings of Indian people and maximise their profit. The real intent of brining in the PFRDA Bill has become unambiguously clear from the decision of the Union cabinet to allow FDI in pension fund management.

 

                The  negotiating machinery which was set up by the Government in 1964 to address the issues and grievances of the Civil servants called the JCM in the wake of the 1960- strike has been made non functional for the Govt. do not convene its council meetings, especially at the Departmental levels.  Even when it meets occasionally, the art of procrastination prevails. The machinery had a dispute settlement mechanism whereby the issues on which the Government could not agree could be referred to the Board of Arbitration, whose decision was to be final and accepted by both the parties.  There are presently seventeen awards given in favour of the employees.  The Govt. has decided to move resolution in the Parliament to reject every one of them.  Two such awards are coming up for rejection in this session of the Parliament.

                There are very many other issues, which are of extreme concern to the employees' viz. the never abating rise in prices of essential commodities, the restoration of compassionate appointments; the overdue wage revision; the untenable vindictive actions against the union functionaries especially in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department etc.  Having failed to reach any reasonable settlement through dialogue the Confederation in its last National Council meeting was constrained to take decision for a one day token strike on 12^th December, 2012 in pursuance of the 15 point charter of demands.  We send herewith a copy of the Explanatory Note on these demands.

 

                We once again request you to kindly intervene and persuade the Government to settle these issues.

 

                Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,

K.K.N. Kutty

Secretary General

CONTINUATION OF IT MODERNISATION PROJECT OF

 DEPARTMENT OF POSTS – PHASE II

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved the proposal of Rs.4,909 crore towards IT modernisation project of the Department of Posts, covering 1.55 lakhs post offices.

The total expenditure for the project involving Rs.4,909 crore includes both implementation phase and operation and maintenance phase for the IT infrastructure of Post Offices. The IT project of the Department is a part of the Mission Mode Project (MMP) included in the National e-Governance Plan (NEGP).

The Department of Posts has a network of 1.55 Lakhs post offices spread across all the States and Union Territories of the country. The key objective of the India Post IT Modernisation project is modernization and computerization of all Post offices in the country including branch post offices in rural areas to create a urban-rural network spanning across the length and breadth of the country.

The IT modernisation project is expected to give following benefits to the citizens of the country:

•           Improve customer satisfaction due to faster and more reliable delivery of services

•           Enhance visibility and transparency

•           Provide access by multiple channels to the customers e.g. post office counters, kiosks, internet, mobiles ATMs etc;

•           Ensure delivery of "citizen centric services"

The IT modernisation project will provide a national asset and infrastructure for all users apart from the post offices including various government departments, business houses and the citizens to use the services effectively for their communication, banking, insurance and service delivery needs. The project will improve the delivery of mails, banking and insurance services rendered by the Post offices across the length and breadth of the country.

For the purpose of implementation, the IT modernisation project has been structured into 8 segments catering to IT infrastructure such as datacentre, network, computers and peripherals, software applications which will cover all the product and services of the Department of Posts, and change management which will help in effective transformation into IT mode. The project will be implemented in all the 1.55 lakh post offices in a phased manner over a time period of 2 years, to be followed by the O&M phase over the period of contract.

The project will be rolled out to all the post offices covering all States and Union Territories in the country a phased manner.

Background:

The proposal of the Department of Posts is in continuation of the proposal which was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 26th Aug 2010. The overall project has been segregated into eight RFPs, of which, selection of vendors have been finalized in case of 5 RFPs and LOIs have been issued. Of these 5 RFPs, in four cases the contracts have been signed with the selected bidders. In respect of two RFPs the financial bids have been opened and selection of the bidder is under process.

SH/SK

(Release ID: 89274) {22.11.2012}
Posted by: AIPEU-GDS (NFPE) Odisha Circle.

1. Effective campaign programme organized by NFPE unions of Bhubaneswar Division for successful conductance of one day all India strike on 12.12.12.

As a part of  the campaign programme for the forthcoming one day all India Strike on 12.12.12 called by the Confederation of Postal employees and endorsed by the National Federation of Postal Employees, a joint General Body Meeting of All India Postal Employees Union, Group-C, Postman/MTS and GDS(NFPE), Bhubaneswar Divisional branch  was held  at 1800 hours on 20.11.2012 in the campus of Bhubaneswar GPO under the presidentship of Com. R C Mishra, Circle Secretary, P-III, Odisha  and Vice-President, CHQ. Com. B Samal, Com. S K Swain and Com G S Panda, Divisional Secretary of P-III, P-IV and GDS ( NFPE) respectively arranged the meeting and attended along with their members which invited overwhelming response for cent per cent success of the coming one day strike on 12.12.1

Com. I P Seikh , Asst. General Secretary, R – IV addressed the meeting as the representative from NFPE headquarters. Among others, the meeting was also addressed by Com. R N Dhal, CS, R-III, Com. D B Mohanty, CS, P-IV, Com. Nirmal Singh, CS, AIPEU GDS(NFPE).

Narrating the justification of the 15 point charter of demands, all the leaders appealed one and all to bring a thundering success to the one day strike and  requested the non-participating Federations, Unions/Associations to jump into the mainstream now leaded by the Confederation and extend their moral support.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ODIA STRIKE BULLETIN AND CHATTER OF DEMAND

Schemes & Facilities for the Senior Citizen

1. Schemes & Facilities for the Senior Citizen

A demographic revolution is taking place throughout the world indicating a phenomenal rise in the population of the elderly. According to a UN estimate, the population of the people aged 60 years and above is expected to grow to 1.2 billion by 2025 and to 2 billion by 2050. Today, about two thirds of all the older people are living in the developing world. As per the Census 2001, in India, there were 77 millionpersons above 60 years constituting 7.5% of the total population of the country. This number is projected to go up to 12.4% of the population in 2026. Such an increase obviously will throw up numerous challenges in designing old age specific programmes and schemes and addressing their issues in a comprehensive manner.  

The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment announced a National Policy for Older Persons in January, 1999. This policy reaffirmed the commitment of the Government to ensure the well-being of the older persons in a holistic manner. The National Policy for Older Persons essentially envisages support from the State to the older persons to ensure their financial and food security, health care, the need for shelter as well as other needs of the older persons, providing them an equitable share in development, giving them protection against abuse and exploitation, and ensuring the availability of services to improve the quality of lives of the older persons.

Thirteen years have elapsed since this policy was announced. Keeping in view the changing demographic pattern, the socio-economic conditions and the technological development in the country, the Government is in the process of bringing out a new National Policy. The draft of the new policy is ready. The new Policy is expected to cover a wider spectrum of the issues and challenges facing the elderly.

An institutional mechanism has been put in place to monitor the implementation of the existing national Policy for older persons and to advise the Government regarding the formulation and implementation of the policy and programmes for the aged through a National Council for Older Persons, under the Chairmanship of the Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment. The Council was first constituted in the year 1999 for a period of five years. It was reconstituted for another period of five years in the year 2005. However, the composition of this Council was not comprehensive enough as it did not contain sufficient non-official members to maintain regional balance. Besides, it also did not include the representatives of some of the Ministries/Departments dealing with issues related to the senior citizens.  With a view to address these issues, the Council has been re-constituted and has now been renamed as the National Council of Senior Citizens. A Resolution to this effect has been issued in the Gazette of India (Extraordinary) on 22^nd February 2011.

The Parliament enacted the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act in December 2007, a landmark development. This Act has made the maintenance of parents and senior citizens by children, and where there are no children, then by the relatives, obligatory and justiciable through Tribunals. The Act has to be brought into force by the individual State Governments. It is not applicable to the State of Jammu & Kashmir, while Himachal Pradesh has its own Act, with the concerted efforts made by the Ministry, all the States and UTs have been persuaded to bring the Act into force in the respective States.

For the effective implementation of the various provision of the Act, the States and UTs are required to take further steps, such as framing Rules, appointing Maintenance Officers, and constituting the Maintenance and Appellate Tribunals. As per information available in the Ministry, 14 States and 5 UTs have taken all these necessary steps.

The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment is also implementing the “Integrated Programme of Older Persons" since 1992 with a view to improve the quality of life of older persons by providing basic amenities like shelter, food, medical care, entertainment opportunities, etc. Under this Scheme, financial assistance up to 90% is provided to Governments/Non-Governmental Organizations/ Panchayati Raj Institutions/ local bodies etc. for running and maintaining old age homes, day care centres, mobile medicare units, day care centres for Alzheimer's disease/Dementia patients, physiotherapy clinics for older persons, sensitization programmes for children, particularly in schools and colleges, Regional Resource and Training Centres, etc. About 350 NGOs are being supported every year for running and maintaining around 550 projects.

In order to address the increasing demand for care givers, the National Institute of Social Defense (NISD), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, has been conducting One-Year, Six-Month and One-Month Courses on Geriatric Care. Besides, the Institute also collaborates with reputed institutions for organising short term training programmes for the caregivers.

To ensure effective implementation of the policies and programmes of the Ministry and also to augment the activities of the NISD, the Ministry presently supports 3 Regional Resource Centres (RRTCs) namely, (i) Anugraha, New Delhi, which caters to the requirements of the northern States, (ii) Nightingale Medical Trust, Bangalore, which caters to the requirements of the southern States, and (iii) Integrated Rural Development and Educational Organization (IRDEO) which caters to the requirement of the north eastern States. These RRTCs undertake (i) Training of functionaries of grantee organizations under IPOP and monitor their work; (ii) Advocacy and awareness generation; (iii) Liasion with the concerned State Governments in the field of old age care, with specific reference to the implementation of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents & Senior Citizens Act, 2007, and the National Policy for Older Persons, 1999 and the other programmes and interventions for the senior citizens; (iv) Maintain a data-base of the institutions working in the field of old age care; and (v) Research and such other functions as the Ministry may assign from time to time.

The need of the hour is to create a caring society, especially for the ageing population with the help of representatives from the Central Ministries and Departments, the State Governments, experts, academicians and many other stakeholders.                      

 (PIB Features.)

Posted by: AIPEU-GDS (NFPE) Odisha Circle.