Dear friends and comrades,
I intended to give a New Year
Greeting alone.
But the enormity of the injustice
that is getting heaped upon our cadre day after day, whoever is the Chairman of
the Board or Member (Admn) stifles the thoughts and makes the heart heavy, not
permitting to joyfully convey a New Year Wish.
Even as we see happiness all around,
in many other cadres, higher than ours, lower than ours and our counterparts in
Customs, due to promotional avenues getting cleared, the Inspector born
community in Central Excise alone continues to be stuck-as of ever.
The Board will give an excuse of
infighting among the zones. But, what created the necessity for this infighting
is the question. Why such a clogging was created whereby one is desperate to
get over the others and get to the top. Why such gross regional imbalances were
perpetuated. How there could be a gap of over a decade in respect of date of
promotion of the last candidate from the same cadre, in different zones and
between Central Excise and Customs.
The story that there is a division
within the association and that is the reason for this catastrophe will not
have even a children believe it. These are not developments that have taken place
only after May 2017. The division in the association is being kept alive only
by the Board. All our efforts to convince the Board with logic, support of
rules, DDO certificates, constitutional provisions, etc have fallen on deaf
ears. That the Board is there only to confront the due benefits of the
cadre and to entertain someone who talks what is convenient and comfortable to
them, is evident from the proceedings in the last one year – after 17.01.2018.
From the past events also we see that
whenever the people of Central Excise cried of stagnation, the Customs people
were also benefited. Classic case is that of the upgradations in 1996-97. But
then, when they have stolen a march over their counterparts in the Central
Excise, there has been no step taken to even out the disparity. Even the
Board’s own decision to merge the three base cadres of Inspectors of Central
Excise, Preventive Officers of Customs and Examining Officers of Customs, taken
way back in 1996 is thrown tightly into cold storage.
The same thing happens in respect of
regional disparities also. Any suggestion given by the associations all along
to even out these disparities have been thwarted, within the association, by
those who stand to gain by the continuance of these disparities or by the Board
itself by not taking up the heartburn seriously and at every turn threatening
with the prospects of an All India transfer liability – a myth created just
like the enslaving shackles of an unavailable uniform.
Though temporary posts of ACs were
created to cater to stagnation and was kept out of the ambit of the Recruitment
Rules, with the service in the said cadre not to be accounted against regular
service, still these posts get distributed between the Central Excise and
Customs. The result is that the gap in the difference in promotional year
between both these streams gets increased at a geometric progression and the
overflowing promotees from the Customs side get to the Central Excise side to
boss over their seniors.
While there appears to be no
intention on the part of the Board to hear out the actual representatives of
the cadre, they do not want anyone, whether as a group, or individuals to take
up matters in litigation also. There is visibly an unwritten code to deny any
benefit, if it comes from the Court and make it available only if the last
resort is exhausted to deny it. Thus, it is a situation where there is no way
forward for the cadre on either side. Ultimately what is extended to us is only
to take whatever is made available at the pleasure of the Board or under extreme
compulsion. A leadership which will be ready to sing the praise of the
benevolence of the Board, for those small mercies are happily entertained.
This irreverence to the cadre (that
still remains the soul of the department) does not therefore permit me, to
easily wish, a very happy new year.
Yet, as our national poet believed,
‘Every child comes with the message that God is not yet disappointed of man’,
so do I also extend a wish that ‘every year, or every day comes with the message that
we need not yet be disappointed’.
Let us live to see the Sun shine,
some day.
Only our collective efforts and unstinting support to 'our own cause' can see us through this cold dark night.
The two day Dharna to be conducted on
8th and 9th of January 2019, could be a small step
towards exhibiting our collective anguish.
Even if at the
All India level, there are some positive developments in respect of the common
charter, and any deferment is made for the strike/dharna call, if our
membership allows, we should be ready to go ahead on our charter given in Part
II.
This resolve alone could pull us out
of this ignominy.
Fraternally yours,
R. Manimohan,
Secretary General
Dear Mani Mohan ji, the facts are hard. For improving our careers we require policy changes in HR, based on DoPT's HBRRs. The CR-2018 should be done as per DoPT's Monograph.
ReplyDeleteTo get this done, our proposed Protest has to be effective. We have to innovate in methods to make it impressive and effective.
SPOT’s focus is to give each store outlet the ability to target and Engage their customers when they are in close proximity to their store, real time promotions.
ReplyDelete