On To A New Guard... D.Krishnan writes

Dear Friends,

The Leadership of LIC has virtually passed on to a new Guard, and obviously, it is bound to bring with it, changes in perceptions and Attitudes too. I have, at my individual level, sent my letter of Greetings to


 Sri M R Kumar who is the new Chairman, Sri T C Suseel Kumar, new MD, and Sri Vipin Anand, another of the two new MDs. I honestly hope this is a change which carries positive portends for all of us Pensioners.

You might be aware that LIC Management had invited the Various Associations representing the Employees, for what they termed as 'Information Sharing Session', on the `11th and 12th of March. The management offered 10% increase across the board, which was promptly rejected by the Employee Associations, saying, it will have to be commensurate with the growth and surplus registered by the LIC and  an independent, stand-alone offer at a percentage level was not acceptable.

I also had a fairly lengthy talk with Sri Raj Kumar, Gen. Secretary of the in-service Class I Federation who took part in the talks with the Management. He said, the talks, which in fact was clearly part of the Wage Revision Negotiations, was a positive one, though the offer was only 10%. Normally , such a clear offer in percentage, would not be forthcoming in the very first meeting.

Sri Raj Kumar said that the second option for Pension had come forth after a massive, 10 year long follow-up. He said, though immediately there was no  indication about apportionment for Pension Revision in these talks, he felt that it could be taken up at the next stage.

One Remarkable matter he shared was relating to Family Pension, where LIC had put up to the Board, a proposal for increase to 30% from the existing 15%. It appears the Board had sought some clarifications which need to be answered.  The LIC Management was pretty confident that this will go through. It seems, this point has not been made public, except in the information-sharing session, just over. This is excellent news to all of us pensioners. Let us hope that the proposal to be approved by the Board, is also accepted by the Central Govt soon enough.

Family Pension is also a significant matter taken up by us in our efforts through the PMO that is currently on.  Since it is too glaring an anomaly, I do feel this correction will be carried shortly, through the Board Approval.

Sri Raj Kumar was saying, that since all Demands carried Financial implications to LIC, one could understand their method of scoring the points one by one. This was mainly in response to my query as to whether the Management of LIC did not indicate, that the total budget would cover the Pensioners' Demand for Revision of Pension too. I had mentioned earlier that in the Bank Negotiations held recently, the indication was there from the IBA that whatever was on offer , would also include an outlay for Pension Revision for Pensioners.

When I pointed to RBI being given Pension Revision, Sri Raj Kumar said, that they had not been given a second option for Pension as we have been given now.

The Date now on hand for our next Hearing in the SC, is 26th of March. This again is a Computer generated Date, and one is not certain this will actually turn out true. We are, however, keeping a close tab on the movements around the date  of Hearing and shall let members know when developments do take place. More, as they come in .... With Greetings..

D.Krishnan 

General Secretary