MEETING WITH THE CHAIRMAN OF TASK FORCE ON LEVERAGING THE POST OFFICE NETWORK ON 27.11.2014

MEETING WITH THE CHAIRMAN OF TASK FORCE ON LEVERAGING THE POST OFFICE NETWORK ON 27.11.2014

On behalf of National federation of Postal Employees, Com. Giriraj Singh, President NFPE, Com. R. N. Parashar, Secretary General, NFPE and on behalf of AIPEU Group ‘C’, Com. N. Subramanian, General Secretary, Com. Balwinder Singh, Financial Secretary & Com. A. Veeramani, AGS have met the chairman Shri. T. S. R. Subramanian, Task force on Leveraging the Post office Network on 27.11.2014 at Meghdoot Bhawan, New Delhi.

The Chairman of the Task force warmly welcomed the union leaders and explained how the postal network could be utilized in a positive manner. The interaction with the union side is mainly on the following points.

1.      E- Commerce

2.      E-Governance

3.      Aadhar Centre

4.      Financial inclusion

5.      Data collection for various departments

6.      Data updation for various departments

7.      More Insurance products

8.      More Savings Products

9.    MGNREGA, Old age / widow / Disabled, Pension, Transfer of Benefit schemes

10.  Physical network & Component

11.  Physical to digital

12.  Sale of prepaid cards for various telecom, Mobile services, TV channels as well as post paid payments.

13.  Market Surveys

In the memorandum we earlier submitted, many service/business activities of the state governments and other departments of Central Government including private players that can be done by the Postal Departments have been mentioned. All the same were also emphasized in the meeting.

The Chairman asserted us that there will be no retrenchment elsewhere and instead more staff is needed to be employed especially in rural areas. Our view of increasing the work and staff also is positively taken by the Chairman. We requested him to suggest in its report to make the GDS as full time employee while optimizing the Postal Network.

Let us wait and see what it will propose and recommend.

 

 

DA MERGER * INTERIM RELIEF * DATE OF EFFECT OF 7^TH CPC RECOMMENDATIONS FROM 01.01.2014 * INCLUSION OF GDS IN 7^TH CPC ETC.

CONFEDERATION INTENSIFIES STRUGGLE

MASS SQUATTING

On 18^th November 2014

Minimum 3000 Central Government Employees will participate at all state capitals to protest against the negative attitude of the NDA Government towards the demands of Central Government Employees. Make it a grand success.

M. Krishnan

Secretary General

Confederation of Central

Government Employees & Workers

Mob: - 09447068125

Email: mkrishnan6854@gmail.com

UNITED MOVEMENT OF CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES

NATIONAL CONVENTION OF JCM

NATIONAL COUNCIL STAFF SIDE

ON 11^TH DECEMBER 2014

JCM, National Council, Staff Side organizations will be organizing a National Convention of all Central Government  Employees at New Delhi on 11.12.2014. Railway, Defence & Confederation will participate in the convention. Convention will declare future course of action. DA merger, Interim Relief, Date of effect of 7^th CPC inclusion of GDS under 7^th CPC etc are the main demands.

M. Krishnan

Secretary General

Confederation of Central

Government & Employees

Mob: - 09447068125

Email: - mkrishnan6854@gmail.com

Direct Recruitment of Postman / Mail Guard in Postal Divisions / RMS Divisions VACANCIES

The registration of on-line application will commence by 00:00 hours on 15/11/2014 and close by 23:59 hours on 07/12/2014.

பஞ்சப்படி இணைப்பு ,இடைக்கால நிவாரணம் ,ஊதியகுழுவை 01.01.2014முதல் அமுல்படுத்துவது ,புதிய பென்ஷன் திட்டத்தை ரத்து செய்வது .கேசுவல் ஊழியர் பிரட்சினைகள் போன்ற மத்திய அரசு ஊழியர்கள் பிரட்சினையில் மத்தியஅரசு ஏற்றுகொள்ளததை கண்டித்தும் .GDS கோரிக்கைகளை ஏழாவது ஊதியக்குழு பரிசீலிக்க வேண்டும் என்ற கோரிக்கையை அஞ்சல் வாரியம் நிராகரித்ததை எதிர்த்தும் அஞ்சல் ஊழியர் சங்கங்கள் காலவரையற்ற வேலைநிறுத்தம்  

NFPE * FNPO * AIPEU-GDS (NFPE) * NUGDS

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES

FEDERATION OF NATIONAL POSTAL ORGANIZATIONS

ALL INDIA POSTAL EMPLOYEES UNION GDS (NFPE)

NATIONAL UNION OF GRAMIN DAK SEWAKS (FNPO)

CENTRAL HEAD QUARTERS, NEW DELHI – 110001

 

Dated – 11.11.2014

POSTAL JOINT COUNCIL OF ACTION DECIDES TO GO FOR INDEFINITE STRIKE DURING THE THIRD WEEK OF FEBRUARY 2015. DATE OF STRIKE WILL BE DECLARED IN THE

2014 DECEMBER 4^TH PARLIAMENT MARCH

Government and Postal board are totally negative and insensitive towards the demands of five lakhs Postal and RMS employees including Gramin Dak Sewaks and Casual, Part-Time Contingent employees.

EVERY DEMAND IS EITHER REJECTED OR INDEFINITELY DELAYED
1	Inclusion of Gramin Dak Sewaks under 7th Central Pay Commission and grant of civil servant status	Rejected. Government decided to appoint separate committee with the approval of recognised GDS union.
2	Casual Labour wage revision and regularistaion	Pending for the last six years. Revision of wages due from 01.01.2006. File still pending with Government. Poor employees are starving.
3	Cadre restructuring of Postal, RMS, MMS, Admin, Postal Accounts employees	Long pending in the Directorate. No improvement.
4	Merger of DA with Pay	Rejected by Government
5	Grant of Interim Relief	Rejected by Government
6	Date of effect of 7th CPC from 01.01.2014	Government not ready to give any direction to 7th CPC.
7	Scrap New Pension Scheme.	Rejected by Government
8	Remove 5% ceiling for compassionate appointments	Government not ready to remove the condition.
9	GDS Medical reimbursement scheme	Pending for last six years
10	MACP anomalies including promotees case	Rejected inspite of several CAT/Court Judgment
11	Postmaster Cadre related issues including permission to write IP/PS Group ‘B’ exam and parity with LSG, HSG-II regarding service length for promotion.	Still pending. Attitude of the Department is totally negative.
12	System Administration case	Rejected. Not ready to consider the demands on its merits.
13	RTP service regularization	Rejected. Inspite of CAT orders not ready to issue general order
14	SBCO related issues	Rejected on flimsy grounds.
15	Postmen related issues	No progress
16	Parity in cash handling allowance	Rejected.
17	Counting of Accountants special Allowance for pay fixation on promotion	Rejected.
18	Computer and Technology related several issues	No progress. Situation worsening day by day. Employees are suffering. Public agitated
19	Harassment of staff on account of CBS & CIS	Still continuing
20	Allotment of funds for sanctioning all pending Medical, TA, OTA and RPLI/PLI incentives	No progress. Bills pending for months together
21	Overtime allowance revision	Pending for 27years
22	Circle processing centers (CPO) of PLI/RPLI at CO/ROs and stop redeployment of posts	Rejected
23	Sunday, Holiday compulsory working	Still continuing in certain circles
24	Office Building and staff quarters cases	No progress. Situation worsening. Staff are suffering
25	MNOP related issues	Suggestion of staff side rejected
26	Quality of uniforms, Chapplas and kit-items	No improvement
27	Chennai Postal Accounts victimization	Still pending
28	Stop Postmen/MTS open market outside recruitment	Still pending. No progress
29	Filling up of all vacant posts including canteen employees	Slow progress
30	Creation of justified new posts	Total Ban imposed on creation of new posts
31	Prompt convening of Monthly meeting, Bi-monthly/four monthly meetings, JCM Regional Council meeting, JCM Departmental Council meeting, Formal meeting with Secretary (Posts)	Periodicity is not maintained. In many divisions. Circles no meeting is held for months together
32	Prompt holding of Departmental promotion committees (CPCs)	No progress

Dear Friends and Comrades,

Meeting of the Postal Joint Council of Action was held on 11.11.2014 at New Delhi. Shri D. Theagarajan, Secretary General, FNPO presided. Com. R. N. Parashar, Secretary General, NFPE presented agenda items for discussion. General Secretaries of affiliated Unions/Associations of NFPE & FNPO attended. Com. M. Krishnan, Ex-Secretary General of NFPE was also present in the meeting. PJCA reviewed the progress in settlement of 39 points charter of demands submitted to Secretary, Department of Posts on 28.08.2014. PJCA came to the unanimous conclusion that not even a single issue is settled by the Government and Department. Employees are suffering but authorities are turning a deaf year towards their genuine demands. Rome is burning but Neros are fiddling.

None of our demand is unjustified. Five lakhs Postal and RMS employees including Gramin Dak Sewaks and Casual, Part-time, contingent employees cannot remain as mute spectators. There is a limit for our patience. Government and Postal Board are treating our patience as our weakness.

Taking into consideration all the above aspects, the PJCA unanimously took the following decision.

1.      Entire five lakhs employees of the Department of Posts will go on indefinite strike from the third week of February 2015, if the demands are not settled before 31.12.2014.

2.      The date of the indefinite strike will be declared in the 4^th December 2014 Parliament March.

3.      Every effort should be made by all All India/Circle/Divisional Unions to ensure maximum participation of employees in the Parliament March. Minimum 20000 employees should participate in the March. All should bring flags and banners.

4.      Laaders of INTUC, CITU, AITUC & JCM National Council staff side will be invited to address the Parliament March.

5.      Next PJCA meeting will be held on 03.12.2014 at 5 PM to decide the date of indefinite strike.

Let us march ahead with Determination and courage. This is time to show your sincerity towards the cause of five lakhs employees of the Department of Posts. Let us make the parliament March a Historic success. Let us unite together and make the indefinite strike a Thundering success. Let the Government and Postal Board understand that we are not Dumb-Driven cattle. We are workers and not beggars.

AWAKE! ARISE!! UNITE!!

Come in the Thousands to the Parliament March

Let us declare the indefinite strike in the presence of 20000 Postal Employees on 4^th December 2014

Yours sincerely,

R. N. Parashar                                                                                     D. Theagarajan

Secretary General, NFPE                                                                     Secretary General, FNPO       

P. Pandurangarao                                                                                P. U. Muraleedharan

General Secretary                                                                               General Secretary

AIPEU-GDS (NFPE)                                                                               NUGDS (FNPO)

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES

1^st Floor, North avenue Postal Office Building, New Delhi – 110001

FEDERATION OF NATIONAL POSTAL ORGANISATIONS

T-24, Atul Grove Road, New Delhi – 110001

 

No.PJCA/AGTN/2014                                                                     Dated – 12.11.2014

To,

Ms. Kaveri Banerjee

Secretary,

Department of Posts

Dak Bhawan, New Delhi – 110001

Madam,

Sub: -  Reply to Charter of Demands Submitted by Postal Joint Council of Action (PJCA) on 28.08.2014.

Ref: -   Your office letter F. No. 9-10/1997-SP (SR Section) dated 29.10.2014.

Please refer to your office letter cited above wherein Action taken Report on the items included in the Charter of demands submitted by PJCA on 28.08.2014 is furnished. Actually the Charter of Demands submitted by us on 28.08.2014 contains 39 items. Charter of Demands attached to our earlier letter dated 01.08.2014 intimating the decision of PJCA contained only 38 items. But when memorandum is submitted on 28.08.2014 the following item was also added as item no. 39.

Item No. 39 -  Revise Postmen/Mail Guard/MTS Recruitment Rules. Stop open market recruitment. Restore seniority quota promotion.

This item was earlier discussed in the JCM (DC) and it is assured by Secretary (Posts) that the Recruitment Rules will be reviewed after one or two Recruitment/Promotional exam are over, as DOP&T may not approve immediate revision of Recruitment Rules already approved by it. Now more than two Postmen/MG/MTS recruitment/examination is over and hence it is requested to take action to revise the Recruitment Rules and stop open quota recruitment. Entire vacancies may be earmarked for GDS and Casual Labourers as existed in the pre-revised Recruitment Rules.

You are requested to include the above mentioned item also in the charter of demands and “Action Taken Report” may be furnished on the above item also.

Yours faithfully,

R. N. Parashar                                                                         D. Theagarajan

Secretary General, NFPE                                                         Secretary General, FNPO

Copy to: -

Shri Arun Malik, Director (SR & Legal), Dak Bhawan, New Delhi – 110001

NATIONAL FEDERATION OF POSTAL EMPLOYEES

1^st Floor, North Avenue Postal Office Building, New Delhi – 110001

FEDERATION OF NATIONAL POSTAL ORGANISATIONS

T-24, Atul Grove Road, New Delhi – 110001

 

No.PJCA/AGTN/2014                                                                             Dated – 12.11.2014

To,

Ms. Kaveri Banerjee

Secretary,

Department of Posts

Dak Bhawan, New Delhi – 110001

Madam,

Sub: - Programme of agitation by Postal Joint Council of Action (PJCA)

Ref: -   (1) Charter of Demands submitted by PJCA on 28.08.2014

            (2)  Your office letter No. f. No. 8-10/1997-SR (SR Section Dated 29.10.2014

Meeting of the Postal Joint Council of Action held on 11.11.2014 reviewed the reply given by the Department to the Charter of demands submitted by PJCA on 28.08.2014 and also the progress made in settling the demands.

The PJCA meeting came to the unanimous conclusion that not even a single demand is settled and no positive approach in settling the demands is reflected in the action taken report. The PJCA is totally disappointed to read the reply. Discontentment among employees are growing day by day. Further it is noted that as many as 58 items submitted for discussion in the JCM (Departmental Council) was disallowed even without giving an opportunity to the staff side to explain the position on each case.

In view of the above position the Postal Joint Council of action unanimously decided to further intensify the agitational programmes. Accordingly the following decisions are taken.

1.      Entire five lakhs employees of the Department of Posts shall go on indefinite strike commencing from the third week of February 2015.

2.      Date of commencement of the indefinite strike will be declared in a massive Parliament March to be held on 4^th December 2014. 20000 Postal and RMS employees including Gramin Dak Sewaks and Casual, Part-Time, Contingent employees will participate in the Parliament March, which will be addressed by the leaders of PJCA and leaders of Central Trade Unions and JCM National Council Staff side.

This is for your information and necessary action.

Yours faithfully,

R. N. Parashar                                                                                     D. Theagarajan

Secretary General                                                                               Secretary General

NFPE                                                                                                    FNPO

Meet the PM’s Postmen

Meet the PM’s Postmen

Inland letters addressed to Narendra Modi, at the India Post office in Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi - Aditi Malhotra/The Wall Street Journal

On a recent morning at a post office in New Delhi two postmen sorted through almost 5,000 envelopes sent from across India all marked to one addressee: Narendra Modi, the country’s new prime minister.

 

Letter-writing may seem outdated in the age of WhatsApp, Hike and Facebook Chat, but the letters inside the bags filling the dusty floors of this local post office are a hand-written testament that the dwindling practice still survives in India.

 

It’s also evidence that Mr. Modi is inspiring– and inviting — people to put pen to paper.

 

He used a recent national radio address to ask citizens without access to email or the Internet to get in touch. “Send me a letter, with your ideas and suggestions. I assure you that it will reach me and I will look at it with utmost attention,” Mr. Modi told All India Radio listeners.

 

And they did, in droves.

 

“I’ve never seen such an inflow of letters” for a prime minister or his office, said Dal Chand, the postmaster at the post office in Nirman Bhawan, a complex in central Delhi that houses several government departments. On average, Mr. Modi receives between 3,000 and 5,000 letters a day from around India and all of them come through this delivery office.

Rajendra Singh Rana, extreme left, sorted letters at the Nirman Bhawan post office - Aditi Malhotra/The Wall Street Journal

Mr. Chand’s colleague Rajendra Singh Rana, who sorts letters into pigeonholes ready to be sent to the correct department, delivered mail to the prime minister’s office between 1989 and 1999 when the Internet had yet to reach India. But none of the leaders he was postman to “kept the local post office so busy,” as Mr. Modi, said 56-year-old Mr. Rana.

India Post, the country’s state-run postal network, is the largest of its kind in the world with around 150,000 post offices across the country. In recent years the service has, like many of the country’s state-owned enterprises,been making a loss and losing out to private sector couriers.

 

Since Mr. Modi became prime minister though, the Nirman Bhawan post office has had to add two new staff members to handle the increased letter load taking the total number of employees to 52.

Sukhbir Singh, right, and Jaspal, left, the postmen who deliver mail to the prime minister’s office in New Delhi - Aditi Malhotra/The Wall Street Journal

The postmen’s hours too have extended. Instead of winding up at lunchtime, the two men in charge of delivering letters to the prime minister sometimes go on a second round to get all the missives to his office before the end of the day. The work has been especially intense in the past few weeks during the festival season when Indians have been diligently sending greetings cards to their prime minister.

 

Mr. Chand, who has worked for the postal service for 35 years and been postmaster at the government’s main sorting office for just over a year, thinks there’s another reason for the increase in mail.

Aditi Malhotra/The Wall Street Journal

 

The prime minister’s personality and his ability to connect with his countrymen explains the uptick, Mr. Chand said as he grabbed a fistful of postcards all destined for Mr. Modi’s desk.

 

Among them are pale blue inland letters that come ready stamped, cost as little as 2.5 rupees (about 4 cents) to send and fold up into a self-adhesive envelope.

 

The correspondents using these addressed the prime minister variously as “His Excellency, Mr. Narendra Modi,” “The Pride of India: Narendra Modi,” and some simply use “Modiji,” (“ji” is an often-used honorific in Hindi.)

Then there are bunch of yellow-colored post cards, some with handdrawn lanterns and rangolis(Indian designs) to wish the prime minister a happy Diwali. Another contains a short poem titled “Namo Namo, the Conqueror.” Others are marked “urgent” including one asking Mr. Modi to expedite a response to a right to information request.

 

Even before Mr. Modi’s on-air request for letters, his postbox was bulging. He received an average of 5,000 letters a day in the first week of July, weeks after becoming prime minister and, a few days after his birthday on Sept. 17, more than 100,000 letters and postcards arrived for him, staff at the post office say.

 

With Mr. Modi in charge, “people have immense hope,” said Sukhbir Singh, who has been one the prime minister’s two postmen since 2010. The “aam janta,” or the common people, he added, “see an opportunity in Mr. Modi to solve the smallest of their problems.”

A sack full of mail ready to be delivered to the prime minister’s office - Aditi Malhotra/The Wall Street Journal

Mr. Singh and his colleague Jaspal, who goes by only one name, are assigned the two “beats” known as 10 and 27 that cover all the mail directed to the prime minister’s office. Beat 10 handles letters sent by speed post and any mail that is addressed to a particular person in the prime minister’s office. Beat 27 deals with letters, postcards and registered mail for Mr. Modi.

 

As they prepared the last round of sacks full of letters, postcards, couriered mail and parcels for the prime minister for the day on Wednesday, the two discussed what it was about Mr. Modi that made people write to him in such numbers. They settled on a single word: approachable.

Prasad to meet top officials from Amazon, Flipkart

New Delhi, Nov 10:  

In a bid to reinvigorate the postal department by linking it with the booming e-commerce industry, IT and Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is scheduled to meet the heads of Amazon India and Flipkart this week.

 

Amazon India Vice-President and Country Manager Amit Agarwal and Monique Meche, Vice-President of Global Public Policy at Amazon, are scheduled to meet Prasad tomorrow.

Flipkart co-founder and CEO Sachin Bansal is also expected to meet the minister on November 13, sources said.

 

They said the agenda of the meeting is to discuss ways in which India Post, the world’s largest postal network, can be utilised by e-commerce players to deliver goods across the country.

 

Prasad, they said, is of the view that with its unparalleled rural reach, India Post would be best suited to offer delivery services to e-commerce players.

 

The Government is also looking at using e-commerce to improve the efficiency of postmen, and contemplating ways to incentivise them for timely delivery of goods.

 

“The postmen are expected to get some reward for timely delivery of products, although it’s just an idea as of now,” said a source.

 

India Post has over 1.55 lakh post offices, of which more than 1.39 lakh are in the rural areas. On an average, a post office serves an area of 21.21 sq km and a population of 7,175 people.

 

According to market analysts, the last-mile delivery of products ordered by online shoppers will figure as one of the major deciding factors for e-commerce firms such as Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, and so on.

 

These firms offer one-day delivery to their clients and the demand is expected to further intensify as they are investing in logistics to ramp up their delivery system.

 

The opportunity in back-end logistics for the online shopping segment is estimated at Rs. 3,500-4,000 crore, a major part of which is last mile delivery.

 

According to a joint study by consultancy firm PwC and industry body Assocham, the size of the e-retail industry is poised to touch $10-20 billion by 2017-2020 and e-commerce firms are expected to spend up to $1.9 billion by 2017-2020 on infrastructure, logistics and warehousing.