Nabard officers strike work on Tuesday over pay

Over 5,500 officers and employees of the National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) will strike work on Tuesday demanding pay parity with their former colleagues in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in respect of updation of pension and special compensatory allowance implemented in RBI in 2003.

The All India Reserve Bank Employees' Association (class III employees' association) has also lent its support to the Nabard strike, according to general secretary of the National Bank Officers' Association (NBOA) K T Oommen.

Speaking to mediapersons on Friday, Oommen said, "When Nabard was carved out of the RBI in 1982, then chairman K Ramakrishnaya gave a categorical assurance of pay parity in the two organisations, after taking the due concurrence from then Union finance secretary RK Malhotra, Union additional secretary (banking) RK Kaul. The concurrence was also obtained from then RBI governor Manmohan Singh, who is today the prime minister. For the last 22 years, this parity in pay and other emoluments for Nabard employees has been observed identical to RBI's scales. Only now, there is an attempt to subvert this practice."

The All India Nabard Employees' Association (AINBEA) general secretary V K Bhosale added, "The fact is that the Union budget has announced plans for doubling rural credit. While this is likely to increase the workload of Nabard's employees and officials, in terms of our emoluments, what has been extended to us over the last 22 years is sought to be curtailed, despite clear policy of a parity in wage, pension and allowances between RBI and Nabard being in existence," he said.

Oommen added that the disparity had arisen in 2003, in respect of updation of pension and special compensatory allowance extended in RBI in September 2003 and May 2004, respectively. The board of Nabard, instead of extending the same to its employees has referred the matter to the Union government.

"In 2000, in Parliament the then Union minister for banking in response to a question categorically clarified that the pay and allowances of RBI and Nabard are exactly the same. Even the pension scheme in IDBI and Nabard are as that in RBI, unlike other banks which follow the Union government pattern. How can the bureaucracy today be seeking to overturn the pay parity between RBI and Nabard when the Parliament has sanctioned parity?" says Oommen.

The officers and employees of the apex agricultural financing agency cite two recent missives from the Union secretary (banking division) on May 6, 2004, and September 27, 2004, as the cause for their immediate angst.

"In the May 6 missive, the Union government official has written to Nabard that it would not be fair to extend all facilities given to RBI officials to Nabard employees as well. In a subsequent letter, joint secretary (banking division) G C Chaturvedi has wondered whether at this stage (read ""so many years after Nabard was carved out of RBI) parity still needs to be maintained between the two sister agencies," Oommen said.

Nabard, which has a working fund of Rs 5,58,809 crore (an increase of 12 times from the Rs 4,159 crore in 1982-1983 when it came into being) has its establishment expenses pegged at 0.63 per cent while its expenditure on staff is six per cent of the income realised during the fiscal 2003-04.

The income over expenditure as on March 31, 2004, has increased to Rs 1,460 crore from Rs 94 crore in 1982-83, with the net non-performing assets of the bank pegged at 0.0014 per cent of the net loans extended by it.