GUWAHATI: All India NABARD Officers’ Association (AINBOA) demonstrated a protest in front of the NABARD Assam Regional Office in Guwahati on December 16, from 10 am till later in the day. NABARD officers have been protesting nationwide against a deduction in their pay and benefits, particularly grade allowance and dearness allowance.
The Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance, Government of India conducted the eighth wage revision since NABARD's founding in 1982, and it was the first to deduct NABARD officers' wages and allowances, which had been equal to RBI's wages and allowances in all seven previous wage revisions. Even former NABARD personnel were seen participating in the rally to show their support.
The NABARD officers have been in a state of agitation since the DFS order was issued on September 14, 2022, and the Administrative Circular was released on September 21, 2022, to implement the order. Since there is now no regular Chairman of NABARD and an Additional Secretary of DFS has been acting under temporary leadership since August 1, 2022, there have been several representations and rounds of discussions with DFS officials over the past two months. The only option left, according to the officers, was to strike, which will be followed by a march to Parliament and a hunger strike. The ninth settlement's (2017-2022) substantial drop in allowances for officers hired by NABARD has had a drastic decrease of their gross emoluments by 10% to 12%
NABARD officers from all over the country are planning to march toward the Parliament in the last week of January 2023. The Secretary of the AINBOA Guwahati unit says “The agitation had begun around September 14 when we received the settlement communication from the Department Of Financial Services(DFS), Ministry Of Finance, Govt of India. Since then we have been resisting by strictly adhering to the office timings and wearing black badges but this was the first formal strike which we have demonstrated nationwide.”
He says “Since the establishment of NABARD, we have been drawing our wages at par with what RBI officials draw. All previous seven settlements over the last forty years have been on the lines of that of the Reserve Bank of India for the historic and organic link between both institutions. Now, since we have been carved out of RBI in 1982 and going by the mandate by which NABARD has been established and the way NABARD works and performs its operational duties is almost similar to RBI. What RBI does for general banking, we do specifically for Rural and Agricultural Development. Otherwise, the mandate is the same.
We were carved out of RBI in 1982 and during the initial years of NABARD’s formation, many of the RBI employees opted to join the new rural financial organization. Since then, we have been drawing our wages at par with the RBI officers.”
He adds, “But now, for the first time since 1982, our wages have been reduced, particularly grade allowance and learning allowance has been deducted which has impacted us severely. The quantum by which it has been deduced in different cadres is not the same. Grade A and Grade F officials i.e. the Assistant Manager and CGMs are the worst hit in this wage settlement. For other grades, it is somewhat less than RBI but not at par with RBI which we used to get in earlier settlements before September 14, 2022. Because already the wage revision was due on November 2017 but it got implemented in September 2022. The wage revision process was already delayed. Our major concern is the pay parity at par with the RBI which we were enjoying since our establishment has been seriously hampered because of the wage revision.
Wage Revision in the banking industry happens every five years. About the 8th settlement since NABARD’s formation in 1982, officers say “Our wage revision was due from November 1, 2017, but it was only implemented in September 2022. Every five years, wages are revised as per the industrial norms. The wage revision was supposed to be done on November 1, 2017, but as per the pattern, first, the wage revision is carried out for commercial and nationalized banks. Once that is done, RBI revises its salary, and based on RBI’s revision, NABARD and other similar financial institutions also do the same. In the 8th wage revision, wage revision for commercial banks was delayed. It happened in December 2021. There was a delay in the implementation of the 2017-2022 wage revision.”
Regarding the response from the Department Of Financial Services under the Ministry Of Finance, Govt of India, officers say “Our association and management have been in dialogue with the Department of Financial Services. We have been able to convince them that some anomaly has been done and the pay parity similar to RBI which we used to get earlier has been deducted. Dialogue is ongoing but we haven’t received any written communication from the govt yet.”
