People's Democracy

NABARD Employees & Officers On Agitation

MORE than 5300 employees and officers of NABARD through out the country have begun a phase of sustained agitation seeking fulfillment of their long-pending genuine demands. They are jointly observing day-long dharnas in front of all offices of NABARD all over India on every Friday of February month to press their demands. They have warned that if their demands were not conceded by this month-end they would be forced to go for strike actions in the month of March and thereafter. It may seriously affect the normal functioning of NABARD throughout the country.

The employees and officers have been agitating since June 2004 on the following demands:

• Maintenance of Development Financial Institution (DFI) status of NABARD without diluting the public sector character and share-holding pattern of RBI and Government of India (GoI) in NABARD

• Flow of smooth and concessionary funds from RBI and GoI to NABARD in order to channel the same at affordable interest rates to landless, small and marginal farmers of the country, primarily for whose benefit NABARD was created in 1982.

• Continuance of parity in pay scales and other service conditions including super annuation benefits for NABARD staff with that of RBI, which has been the practice for the last 22 years by virtue of no less than seven bipartite settlements signed between All India NABARD Employees Association and NABARD management.

As part of the agitation the employees and officers jointly observed one full day strike in NABARD on October 5, 2004; March to Parliament on December 16, 2004 to submit petitions to the Lok Sabha speaker, and the Rajya Sabha chairman; submitting a petition to the union finance minister on December 15, 2004 and many other agitational programmes.

In a joint statement issued on January 29, 2005, NABARD Employees Association secretary Rana Mitra and  NABARD  Officers  Association president L K Pingle have expressed happiness that many mass organisations, political parties and leaders have fully supported their demands as justified. They hoped that this support would continue as their struggle intensified in the coming period. (INN)