Officers, employees, and retired employees of NABARD, who are on an agitation from one-and-a-half years, have now under the banner of UFOERN (the United Forum of Officers, Employees and the Retired Employees of NABARD) decided to intensify their stir to seek resolution of long-pending pension-related issues.
They have planned a full-day dharna by executive committee members at all centres on February 22 and a daylong strike on March 30. They will also be holding a series of other forms of protests till March 30.
UFOERN in a press release said that employees of NABARD, which was carved out of the Reserve Bank of India by replacing three of its departments — Agricultural Credit Department, Rural Planning and Credit Department, and Agricultural Refinance and Development Department — to give focus to agriculture and rural development in 1982, were getting all benefits on a par with RBI employees. However, from the last seven years, pension regulations of the RBI have undergone several revisions with the approval of the Department of Financial Services, Union Ministry of Finance. But the DFS is yet to approve the same revisions for NABARD employees and is creating a disparity between the employees who had opted for NABARD and who had stayed back in the RBI.
The officers, employees, and the retired employees want the following proposals and settlements in their favour which were already implemented for RBI employees: full pension after 20 years of service; calculation of pension based on last pay drawn or the average emoluments for the last 10 months, whichever is more beneficial; revision of pension with each wage revision; and reopening of pension option one last time and giving another option to those employees who could not opt for pension.
