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FEDERATION OF L I C OF INDIA CLASS-I OFFICERS’ ASSOCIATIONS

SOUTHERN ZONAL COUNCIL, CHENNAI

President : / S.Rajkumar
Secretary : / J.Arivazhagan
N.C.Member : / P.Madanagopal

ZONAL SECRETARY’S REPORT TO THE ZONAL COUNCIL MEET

HELD AT CHENNAI ON 16TH OCTOBER 2011

FEDERATION OF L I COF INDIACLASS-I OFFICERS' ASSOCIATIONS

SOUTHERN ZONAL COUNCIL, CHENNAI

ZONAL SECRETARY’S REPORT TO THE ZONAL COUNCIL MEET BEING HELD AT CHENNAI ON 16 OCTOBER 2011

Dear Friends,

On behalf of our Southern Zonal Council, I extend a hearty welcome to all the participants of this Meeting. I am pleased to present a brief report of our Zone's activities since our last zonal council (Special) held at Coimbatore on 23.01.2011.

On behalf of Zonal Council I wish all the Officers of LIC a Happy Deepavali.

Homage

We pay our respectful homage to the innocent victims of terrorist attacks, train accidents communal riots and natural calamities.

We also pay homage to the Trade Union Leaders who fought to their last breath for the cause of toiling masses and also to LICians who have breathed their last during service and retired life.

International Scene

We are hearing from the most developed countries, the news of people taking part in protest actions like Occupy Wallstreet Movement. People in the USA are marching in different cities carrying placards denouncing corporate greed. In Washington, the movement is known as OccupyDC Protest.Some placard read'. “ The blood,sweat and tears are free”.But the cost of living is killing me' “make jobs not war”,” war feeds the 1%”, “ the 99 % have a problem with the richest”, “ Hungry”, “eat a banker”,“One earth-one humanity-one love”.

In Boston,Chicago,Los Angels,Mannhattan,St.Louis,Kansas city,Missouri and in dozen other cities protesters were shouting, we are 99%.The marchers included,a slice of America's discontented, union officials,college students -worried about their job prospects,middle-age workers who have been recently laid-off and homeowners facing foreclosure. They were on the streets with anger at elites,a feeling of injustice,concern about job, fear about the direction of the economy and a clear desire to take action.

The size of the US economy, as measured by gross domestic product,has increased twenty-two fold.But economic growth has not benefited poor and vulnerable people. The statistics released by US census bureau revealed that poverty rate has increased from 14.3% in 2009 to 15.1% in 2010 and the number of people living in poverty rose from 43.6 million in 2009 to 46.2 million in 2010.It is appalling that 22% of the children fewer than 18 are living below thepoverty line IN A LAND OF PLENTY.

Paul Krugman wrote in New York Times--'-Back in 1980,just as America was taking its political turn to the Right,Milton Friedman lent his voice to the change with the famous TV series FREE TO CHOOSE, the genial economist

identified laissez-faire economics with personal choice and empowerment, an

upbeat vision ---but that was then,today free to choose has become free to die. Prof Stiglitz, who won the Nobel prize in 2001 and is now professor at Columbia University ,said there is a serious risk at least for a double -dip for the US and Europe and growth will almost surely be too anemic to create jobs.

EUROZONE countries are facing sovereign debt crisis.It has global ramifications.Banking led liquidity crisis is there in the aftermath of a default by Greece.Banks dump their holdings of sovereign debt and pull back their loans which are resulting in severe credit crunch.Large banks will cut back on their exposures even to countries not directly involved in the crisis,unemployment will rise and along with it, social unrest.

Over the past two years ,as Greece followed by Ireland,Portugal,Spainand Italy tumbled into a crisis,but strongman of the zone Germany was reluctant to lead as a rescue team.IMF chief Ms Christine Lagarde said-----political dysfunction and indecision was fueling a vicious cycle that threatened to send Europe and the US back to recession, there is a path to sustained recovery, much narrower than before, and getting narrower,we need strong political will across the world –leadership over brinkmanship,cooperation over competition,action over reaction.

But is there any political will discernible! TheUK government's focus is still on cutting the budget deficit; they still embrace 'austerity measures' whereas in the US,Obama likes to follow KEYNES, facing stiff opposition from Republicans. The crisis in the developed countries is looming large with the leaders still groping in darkness for lack of a coherent and clear-cut policy to root out the fundamental problem.

National Scene

In the inter-connected world, the developments in EUROPE and the US make an impact on the developing countries. IT and Financial sectors are instances. Our exports are impacted with the consequential fallout on the job market. Whether the projected GDP growth rate will be achieved, doubts are expressed by economists. The great debate is who is poor! .Major political parties are competing in looting public money. Some voices are heard exposing the evil deeds of those in power.

India had a workforce of 400 million in 2009-10. Of this, 53% was in agriculture and the rest 47% in non agricultural activity. The growth dynamics altered the structure of the Indian economy with a decline in the share of agriculture from 28.4 % in the 1990s to approximately 15 % in 2009-11. The share of services, including construction rose from 52 to 65 % during the same period.

What caused concern is that the share of industry remained static at 20 % during the period. It is inconceivable that all the surplus labour force in agriculture can be gainfully employed in the service sector. This underlines the need for restructuring our Industrial sector.

Food inflation stood at 9.13% for the week ended September 17 against 8.84 % a week ago. Even central ministers term it a 'grave concern'. Time and

again RBI has reminded Govt. that monetary measures alone are not enough to control inflation or price-rise.The demand-supply mismatches in the case of

many items resulted in the rise in their prices.The policy challenges are not addressed by the central government.

Constant increase in the price of petroleum products makes the lives of people miserable.The policy of the Govt.in abdicating their role, to determine the prices of these products and leaving it into the hands of private capital,whose

dealings have been found fault by the CAG have created an alarming situation.When prices of crude oil are falling in the international market,prices are rising in India and the Govt.sits pretty garnering the increased tax amounts.

We are told by Ms Uma Lele, development economist, that India is definitely off-track when it comes to Millennium Development Goals such as reduction in poverty and hunger.According to World Bank data,in 1990,China's share of poverty was the largest with 38% of the world's below-poverty-line population. In the same year, India's share of that was 24 %.Now,20 years later ,China's share of global poor has come down to less than 15% ,whereas India's has gone up to 32 %.Over 350 million people in this country are under-nourished-a third of our population.Unless our political leaders are persuaded to solve these issues ,social cohesion and integrity of motherland will be at stake.

Zonal Performance

Our Zone consist of 13 Divisions,One ZTC, 261 BOs, 215 SOs, Four STCs and ATCs with strength of 3119 Officers in our Zone.

NB performance of our Zone as on 30.09.2011 is follows:-

1. Number of Policies : 16,54,338 Growth rate (- ) 10.63 %

2. Single Premium : 641.98 crores Growth rate (-) 76.81 %

3. Non Single premium : 577.1 crores Growth rate (-) 25.23 %

4. Total Premium Income : 12190.81 crores Growth rate (-) 65.57 %

From the above it is observed that our Zone has to go a long way in achieving our Budget. It is a concern to us. We need to keep the flag of our Zone high always. We also need to find the reason for such performance, where do we lack in our efforts.We need to leave no stone unturned in fulfilling expectation of the Zone.

Statistics of HGAs applied for promotion to the cadre of AAO this year.

Division Name / Admin / Programmer / PA
TIRUNELVELI / 16 / 5 / -
KOTTAYAM / 16 / 4 / -
SALEM / 24 / 8 / 1
CHENNAI(I) / 19 / 4 / 1
VELLORE / 16 / 1 / -
MADURAI / 15 / 12 / -
THANJAVUR / 12 / 2 / -
COIMBATORE / 15 / 3 / -
ERNAKULAM / 19 / 3 / -
TRIVANDRUM / 11 / 5 / -
KOZHIKODE / 30 / 6 / -
CHENNAI(II) / 13 / 5 / 1
THIRISSUR / 15 / 3 / 1
ZO Unit / 4 / - / 2
Audit / 5 / 1 / -
Total / 230 / 62 / 6

The above poor response for the promotion to the cadre of AAO shows that there is no attraction to take more responsibility with out any monetary gains. It is the appeal of the council that management should consider grant of grade pay so that more number of employees will opt for promotion.

Zonal Federation activities

We are happy to inform that our Zonal Council Meet is taking place with the new Office bearers of all the Divisions except one Division. It means 13 Divisional units have completed Annual GB for the year 2011-2012. We thankall the Divisional Office bearers for conducting the AGBs.

The strong struggle of our Officers under the Banner of LICClass-I Federation has made everybody in the Corporation to recognize us as a force to reckon with which is capable of fighting for their cause. The same has been proved. This is not end of mission. We have to march a long way to achieve all those pending issues which remained un-answered at All Indialevel.

At Zonal level, we have made all efforts to solve the issues raised by our Divisions. The issues attended are:-

  1. Pending Leased accommodation applications are cleared.
  2. During the last round of promotion/transfers, we met the zonal authorities on several occasions and impress upon them to consider two years transfers for all the cadres. We have achieved 100 % transfers up to AO cadre.
  1. In respect of ADMs we were able to get transfers for some officers after completion of two years. There were some omissions in respect of inter zonal transfers in the cadre of ADM. Zonal Federation has timely intervened and taken up the matter with Zonal and C O level. This ensured these transfers were materialized and they got their posting as per theirChoice.

4. 41st Annual General Council Meeting of Federation of LIC Class-1 Officers Association was held on 11 and 12.07.2011 at Bodh Gaya where Lord Buddha attainedenlightenment. Total 53 Office bearers from our Zone attended the General Council meet. One office bearer from eachDivision participated in the deliberation.

The following resolutions were adopted unanimously in thisGC meet.

a. To form a committee to submit a detailed report on the pending issues to the Management.

b.To form a committee to prepare draft charter on wage revision which is due from 01.08.2012.

  1. To send a notice to Management for not restoring NGI due to strike on 18.02.2010 and Relay Hunger strike from 01.02.2010 to 05.02.2010.
  2. To form a committee to make Zonal councils, as an independent accounting unit.
  3. Let us resolve to ensure continuous participation in all the Federation activities by all the Officers.
  4. To send a resolution to the management urging them to restore the privilege, which was available as special leave for attending Annual General Council conducted by All India Class-I Federation and Recognition of our Federation.
  5. LIC must implement, Board resolution on pension of Rajasthan High court Division bench order in this regard.
  6. Federation to join as party in the ongoing cases at Kerala High court with regard to the denial of Promotion to Sri B R Nair AAO Trivandrum.

4. Meeting with ED (P) was held on 29.07.2011 at Chennai to discuss on the various pending issues.We have brought to the attention of ED (P) about our list of pending issues. To be specific, we could inform our ED (P) about the followingissues:-

  1. Delay in AAO Notification for the year 2011 was conveyed.
  2. Shortage of Manpower - We have informed ED(P) acute shortage of man power in all cadres and requested him to take necessary steps to fill up the shortages so that we can effectively serve the policy holders.
  3. We have submitted a comparative statement on perks that are paid to the Officers of Reserve Bank of India.
  4. Retention of Officers on promotion who are physically challenged.
  5. Spouse joining.
  6. Inter Zone transfers of ADMs on promotion. Such transfers to be effected after completing two years.

5. Meeting with Zonal Manager and Regional Manager (P&IR) was held on 01.10.2011 to discuss the following pending matters at Zonal level.

  • Compassionate pending cases of transfers such as Medical Grounds, Spouse Joining etc were discussed.
  • Posting and transfers of ABM (S) were discussed.
  • We have requested to publish the option for posting online transfer through our web site.
  • Suffering of SOs officials due to 1+1 Officers strength were discussed. In the process we were informed by them that, if we get more Officers in this round of promotions onthat basis every effort will be taken to post 1+2 officers in the SOs.
  • Some of the divisions enough officers strength have been provided by the Zone, Proper distribution to be worked out in consultation with the IR department. All the Divisional Secretaries are to discuss this with their Manager (P&IR).

6. A lengthy discussion was made in respect of promotion from HGA to AAOs. We have suggested few points to them, so that more HGAs accept their promotions to AAO. This will facilitate the Divisions to have sufficient officers. During the interaction, we emphasized for retention of promoted Officers, so that more HGAs will accept the promotion. Since we have to take care of transfers, it is not fully possible to retain all the AAOs who are promoted during this round.

The entire process will be as follows:-

  1. Transfers will be considered first.
  2. All efforts will be made to retain the Officers who are promoted in this year and whose age is 55 Years and above.
  3. Organizational needs will be taken care besides individual needs.

7. We understand some of the Divisions have made an effort to conduct Officers meet at Division level by calling outside scholars, specialist on specific field, health education and picnic etc. We heartily congratulate the divisions for their innovative efforts to make the divisional/Zonal units, vibrant one.

8. We are happy to inform the house that our beloved ex-Zonal President Sri. K.Asokan of Kozhikode Division has been unanimously elected for the post of Editor Our Voice at 41st All India General council meet at Bodh Gaya. We are proud to inform the house that e-ourvoice has been launched on 01.10.2011 in our web site. It is our request to our Officers to contribute for its better presentation at world level. Suggestion and contributions are welcome.

9. We are proud to inform the house that an All India Secretary (IT/Admin) post has been retained by our Zone. Sri. S.Sekar of Tirunelveli Division has been unanimously elected for the post at 41st All India General council meet at Bodh Gaya.

10. It is our request to our Officers to visit our web site and contribute for its better presentation at world level. Suggestions and contributions are welcome. This is the time to appreciate all the Officers who have contributed for such web site for our Federation. Let us all join together and thank those officers who have contributed for launching our Web site.

Zonal Secretary and Zonal President have made all efforts to ensure that the AGB of all the Divisions are attended by them and the message of the Federation is conveyed to allmembers. We could meet around 2000 officers during our meetings and understood the sufferings and problems faced by our officers at DO/BO/SO Level.

The Zonal Secretary has met the Divisional leaders and officers of Salem, Thanjavur, Kottayam and Madurai. He will be visiting all the Divisions. During the meeting points raised by the officers have been clarified. This gave an opportunity to have first hand information of the problems faced by the Officers.

We want to convey to the All India leaders that only in our Zone more then 500 Officers participated in the relay hunger strike from 01.02.2010 to 05.02.2010. Sofar condonation of this strike has not been given by the management. Similarly 18.02.2010 one day strike condonation is also pending with the management. We request our All India leadership to take up the matter with the management on priority basis, so that increments for all the officers are restored.

There is no information session for Class-I Federation at Zonal/Divisional level. It should be addressed.

The management should be transparent when shifting of officers from administration to

Marketing and vice versa.

The details of the GB conducted by the Divisions are as given below:-

DETAILS OF GENERAL BODY AND TOTAL OFFICERS

Sl. No. / Div. Name / No. Officers / Our Member / Subscription paid for 2011-2012
1 / TIRUNELVELI / 132 / 48
2 / KOTTAYAM
3 / SALEM
4 / CHENNAI(I) / 240 / 200 / 156
5 / VELLORE
6 / MADURAI
7 / THANJAVUR / 240 / 192 / 190
8 / COIMBATORE / 244 / 234 / 150
9 / ERNAKULAM / 200 / 170 / 79
10 / TRIVANDRUM
11 / KOZHIKODE
12 / CHENNAI(II) / 217 / 134
13 / THIRISSUR
14 / ZO Unit / 243 / 230 / 211

The following points need to be considered while preparing draft charter to be submitted to the Management which is due on 01.08.2012.

a)Mediclaim premium to be paid by LIC 100%. Sum Assured to be increased to 2 lakhs and 5 lakhs.

b)Lump sum Medical benefit to be increased.

c)Programmer allowance, Professional and Audit and Inspection allowance and professional allowance for CA and others to be increased.

d)Mobile, Newspaper and entertainment allowance to be increased

e)Interest free advance for computer, car etc.

f)Key allowance for officers handling Cash to be paid.

g)Considering the cost involved in transport expenditure during transfers, re-imbursement to be not on the basis of Railway fare, but as per actual spent in the trucks etc.

h)One more Pension option for all the Officers.

i)PF deduction at present 10% should be increased to 12%. Equal amount to be paid as management contribution in case of PF optee.