Friday 27 November 2015

Report on the meeting of the Affiliates of CCCGPA, with Shri S.C.Maheswari, Secretary General, Bharat Pensioners' Samaj, New Delhi.

Coordination Committee of
                         Central Government Pensioners’ Associations, Karnataka (R)
  (Regd. Under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act 1960: Regn.No.1070/98-99)
                  No. 212,”Kaveri”, 7th ‘A’ Main, Hampinagar, Bengaluru-560104
                                       E-Mail : cccgpabangalore@gmail.com
K.B.Krishna Rao                          S. Radhakrishna                        O.M.Bhaskaran 
Chairman                                    General Secretary                        Treasurer                              
Ph: 23230545                             Mob: 9448880921                     Ph:23451578                                 
Mob: 9483467750                                                                            Mob: 9448519369

Report on the meeting of the Affiliates of CCCGPA, with Shri S.C.Maheswari, Secretary General, Bharat Pensioners' Samaj, New Delhi.
            Shri S.C.Maheswari, SG, BPS, New Delhi was on a visit to Bengaluru  to attend the  2nd Triennial All India Conference of All India BSNL Pensioners’ Welfare Association held at Ambedkar Bhavan, Bengaluru on 21-22, Nov 2015. CCCGPA, Karnataka , arranged a meeting of the Affiliates on Sunday the 22nd Nov. 2015 at Udayabhanu Kalasangha, Bengaluru and https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gifinvited him to address the meeting.
            The meeting commenced at 11-30 a.m. with Representatives of many Affiliates attending. Advisors to CCCGPA, Shri  B.Sadashiva Rao & Shri N.Bhaskaran  graced the occasion with their presence. Shri Narasimahan, Editor, Pensioners’ Advocate, the journal of All India Federation of Pensioners’ Associations, Chennai who was present in the meeting was invited to take the chair on the dais. The meeting was presided over by the Chairman, Shri K.B.Krisha Rao.
            Shri S.Radhakrishna , General Secretary, welcomed the Chief Guest             Shri Maheswari, Advisors, and  the Representatives from Affiliate Associations and stated that the meeting  assumes  importance in the back drop of submission of its report by the 7th CPC on 19th Nov. In his opening remarks, Shri Radhakrishna, terming the report as ‘retrograde’, called upon the Pensioners’ Associations to prepare themselves for a joint struggle  in the days to come to bring pressure on the Government to accept major demands of Pensioners ,most of which have been rejected by the 7th CPC. Complimenting the Ex servicemen on achieving their demand “One Rank and One Pension” through struggle, suggested that the Central Govt. Pensioners should take a lead from them in achieving their demands.
He said that Shri Maheswari  as the Chairman of BCPC and  Secretary General of BPS, the biggest  organisation in Pensioners’ Movement, has a role to play and he should see that “ isms without disturbing  the movement and egos not playing a role “ all the Pensioners’ Federations are brought  on a common platform  under his leadership so that “ we organise ourselves in such a manner that we will be able to force the Govt to review the 7th CPC recommendation in light of the demands of Pensioners made in the common memorandum submitted by BCPC”.
Shri K.B.Krishna Rao, Chairman, introducing the Chief Guest, said that                     Shri Maheswari, as the GS of Bharat Pensioners Samaj,  a  conglomerate of around 650 Pensioners Associations of different Disciplines & Departments,  is a workaholic and is always at the service of Pensioners . He said that Shri Maheswari  was the very first Leader of a Pensioners’ Federation to be called by the Pay Commission for an interaction and that in all he attended three meetings with the 7th CPC, including a round table conference. Echoing the opinion expressed by Shri Radhakrishna on the need for consolidating the Pensioners Movement, especially in the aftermath of 7th CPC, he stated that Shri Maheswari should take the lead, since his oft expressed desire of bringing all the Pensioners under a single umbrella could be achieved through this initiative and his dream of uniting Pensioners Associations would come true.
After self introduction by the Representatives of Affiliate Associations, who attended the meeting in good numbers, the Chairman requested Shri Maheswari to address the gathering.
Shri Maheswari, in his hour long speech, spoke in detail about the need to unite all Pensioners’ Associations/Federations and on recommendations of the 7th CPC. He said that he fully agrees with Shri Radhakrishna on reviving Bharat Central Pensioners Confederation (BCPC) and in fact  “BCPC Blog spot” has already been designed which will be available for access shortly. He requested all the Associations, to send their contributions to be put up on the blog. Explaining the importance of Social Media and its strength, he called upon all Pensioners’ Associations to make best use of the Social Media. He said that a website www.pesnioners media.com has been designed with the idea of providing a platform for all Pensioners’ Associations,  whether affiliated to BPS/BCPC or not, to put up their publications on the website which would be accessible to about 8,27,000 viewers.
Speaking on the other important subject ” 7th CPC Report”  he said that though the recommendations  basically are  for revision of pay and pension of Central Govt.  Employees and Pensioners, the report impacts all State Governments and PSUs. Thus, the total number of Employees and Pensioners effected is 3 crore and in terms of Votes it is 6 crore. He opined that, if all of them, a big section within the middle class, come together ,the Govt. cannot ignore their demands. Hence, there was an urgent need to unite all Pensioners and Senior Citizens.
            Explaining the salient features of 7th CPC report and analyzing its recommendations, Shri Maheswari stated that he was totally disappointed with the recommendations, as most of the demands of Pensioners have not been accepted by the Pay Commission. The major demands were 1) reduction in the ratio of difference between minimum and maximum pension and 2) OROP for all. He said that  BPS had included these 2 demands along with  many other,  in its Memorandum  and he had pleaded  for acceptance of these  demands in all of his meetings with the CPC . Fortunately, Pay Commission has recommended OROP/ parity in pension. But on an analysis of the recommendation he found that the parity is beneficial only for the officers at the top level and not for others. Continuing he said that at the best it could be termed only as “modified parity”. On the possibility of the recommendations being accepted by the Government, he said that since the Finance Minister himself had said the Country’s economy is quite strong  and one of the Members of the 7th CPC has said that the impact of the recommendations is financially manageable, and since the additional expenditure on account of its implementation  , is expected to be around 0.65 % of the GDP, there may not be any difficulty for the Government  to not only accept the report in Toto, but improve upon some of the recommendations.
            Concluding his speech he called upon the Pensioners Associations to conduct a membership drive, educate the Members at the grass root level of their rights, develop a second line of leadership and establish their own Media instead of expecting the Print and Electronic Media to espouse their cause.
            Answering a question by Shri S.S.Ramanatha Rao, Vice Chairman, CCCGPA, as to why at the National level, NCCPA and BCPC should not be combined for effective functioning, Shri Maheswari  said that he welcomes the suggestion and that  on his part, he would extend all cooperation and he would be  calling for a meeting of all the stake holders soon .Shri Maheswari answered many questions  put to him by the Representatives of Pensioners Associations on pay commission’s recommendations and on revision of pension.
            Shri T.V.Suryaprakash, Secretary, Coffee Board Pensioners’ Association and Joint GS, CCCGPA sought the help of Shri Maheswari in resolution of the long pending demand of the Pensioners of Statutory/ Autonomous bodies regarding extension of CGHS or any other medical facilities to them. He requested that the resolution on the subject sent by CCCGPA may be passed at the AGB of BPS scheduled to be held at Amritsar on 29-11-2015 and sent to the Government.
            Shri S.Radhakrishna, GS,CCCGPA summed up the discussions and proposed a vote thanks.
            Shri Maheswari was felicitated jointly by Shri B.Sadashiva Rao and Shri N.Bhaskaran. He was offered a shawl, a garland and a bowl of fruits. A memento with the photo of Shri Maheswari on it and a citation which read ‘Felicitation to Er. Mr.S.C.Maheswari, Secretary General, Bharat Pensioners Samaj, New Delhi, in recognition of his yeoman service to Pensioner Community” was presented to him on behalf of the CCCGPA, Karnataka and its Affiliates.







AIC AIBSNL at Bangalore on 21st & 22nd Nov.2015